Posts tagged “Castlevania”

Video Game of the Month:

Mighty Gunvolt Burst
A while back, two of the people who were the driving forces behind the Mega Man and Mega Man X franchises created their own video games: Mighty No. 9 and Azure Striker Gunvolt respectively. The first one had… problems. The second one was pretty good. Well, now they’ve been combined in an 8/16-bit game that truly does feel like you’re playing a brand new Mega Man game. The main difference is that you don’t gain specific weapons by defeating bosses; instead you gain weapon configuration options by finding hidden modules throughout the stages. These let you craft your own weapons: trajectory, speed, # of on-screen bullets, etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum. Seriously, the sheer number of configurations you can do is insane. The only problem is that the menu system UI is not user-friendly, and since there is no instruction manual it is pretty difficult to figure out how to navigate it. But the game itself is a lot of fun, especially to me since I do so heart the original Mega Man series of games.

Show of the Month:

Castlevania
Lemme ask you a quesion: Do you like the writing of Warren Ellis? If you do, then this show is for you, because it was written by him and is full of the kinds of touches that he loves to include in his works. This “series” is really just a feature-length pilot episode inexplicably broken up into four parts. I don’t know why they bothered to do that. It serves to introduce us to (most of) the main characters based on the video game Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (my favorite of all the Castlevania games). It is surprisingly well-done for a video game adaptation, and the inclusion of a corrupted church as the real villain of the piece is an inspired (and very Ellis) choice. The characterization of Trevor Belmont as a disgruntled former hero who is now basically an alcoholic is great. There are a couple of great, well-choreographed action scenes that let you see just how much of a badass Trevor actually is, and towards the end of the series when he rallies townfolks and shows them just how you defeat demons is a great moment where you really see, holy shit, this guy is something. I do wish the show took place in more than one location; the Castlevania III game has sprawling, varied settings, from swamps to forests to caverns and clock towers. You get some hints of that in this pilot, but I do hope the actual series coming later expands the setting to include all of the crazy, wacky things that you can find in a Castlevania game.

Comic Book of the Month:

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur
A comic book about an absurdly intelligent little girl, Lunella Lafayette (in recent issues it was discovered that she is actually the single smartest human being currently in existence), who gets bonded to an enormous, pea-brained dinosaur. Most of the fun of the book comes from playing off Lunella’s immense frustrations with the fact that because she’s just a kid she doesn’t have any of the resources or freedoms to take advantage of her huge intellect. She’s often railing at the sheer stupidity and lack of understanding that surrounds her, from her well-meaning-but-clueless parents to the idiocy of the superhero community that she gradually becomes a part of (she develops crime-fighting gadgets and eventually the superpower of being able to swap minds with Devil Dinosaur). It’s a great read, Lunella is a fascinating character, and the art does a great job of expressing the emotions going on in this preternaturally gifted girl.

I was going to post footage from the Dumbfoundead/Open Mike Eagle/Nocando/Threeni show that I went to last night, but the sound from the footage I recorded was all blown out and it sounded basically like bursts of static. Other people recorded it, but they haven’t posted it online yet, so I can’t post it here for all y’all.

To tide yourselves over, please indulge in Super Mario Crossover, a version of Super Mario Bros. where you can play as Mario, Link, Simon Belmont, Bill (from Contra), Samus Aran, and Mega Man. Yes, it is actually as awesome as it sounds. Just click the image:

(via Newgrounds)

In the evening was an hours-long Ghost Hunters marathon. So we watched that and did some rudimentary cleaning during the commercials, like laundry and going through the mail that had piled up on the chair.

At 11:00 I made Carrie a root beer float and for myself made a bowl of ice cream into which I crumbled a lemon cupcake (with chocolate frosting). In bed I worked on a movie review—look for it soon! I had a heck of a time falling asleep, though! I was up ’til all hours. ALL.

When I finally did fall asleep, my dreams were basically a combination of Ghost Hunters and Castlevania. Like as if the Ghost Hunters team were investigating Castlevania.

Yesterday (Wednesday) when I went to work I found a birthday present on my desk: a robotic bank and some candy! After work I picked up Carrie for lunch and made Mandarin chicken. I took Carrie back to work and headed straight to SafeWay to buy some burgers and buns.

It was an exceptionally nice day, so the two of us sat out on the front porch for much of the late afternoon. I played Kirby Squeak Squad (birthday gift from Kevin) on my DS and Carrie played some backgammon on the MacBook.

Originally we were gonna barbeque with the Tarbet clan, but they all got the sick, so Carrie & I just barbequed out on the front porch. Well, Carrie barbequed on the front porch; I got really sleepy and took a nap. The burgers were very tasty.