Episode 320: A Castlevania Deep Dive (Patreon)

Yes, we've talked about the original Castlevania before, but the last time was as part of a general survey back in the Kickstarter era, which was—brace for it—seven years ago. It's almost retro itself at this point.

I was motivated to create this episode once I learned that I'll be involved (to some small degree) with the Castlevania collection release at my day job, Limited Run Games... though we recorded this show before that had been announced or even 100% confirmed, so you won't hear it mentioned here. But between that project and my new boss' generous "welcome to the gig" gift of a copy of Akumajou Dracula for MSX (which then inspired me to hunt down an actual MSX to play it on), I've had Castlevania on the mind a lot lately. Naturally, the thing to do was to pull together a few of the biggest fans I know and give the groundbreaking NES game a proper shakedown, along with in-depth looks at the various alternate versions and remakes Konami has created for it through the years. In addition to the original Castlevania, we also talk the MSX game, Super Castlevania IV for Super NES, the dire Haunted Castle, and the excellent X86000 game (and its remix on PlayStation).

The lovely cover art comes courtesy of Greg Melo! Edits, as always, by Greg Leahy.