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Episode 410: Castlevania Ranking Hootenanny (Patreon)

Published:
2021-10-11 13:00:01
Imported:
2021-10

Downloads

Content

Following hot on the heels of our extremely correct and authoritative Mega Man Ranking Hootenanny, newly minted co-host Nadia Oxford steps in to force Jeremy Parish and Kurt Kalata to apply similar academic rigor to the Castlevania franchise (just in time for the series' 35th anniversary, and also Halloween). Take it away, Nadia...

Greetings, good people of Warakiya. I am Nadia Oxford, the co-host of the Axe of the Blood God RPG podcast, and the host of the Sharlayan Dropouts Final Fantasy XIV podcast. Now I'm stepping up to the mic as a Retronauts host, and I am very happy and proud to lend my voice to this powerful force of retro video gaming.

I enjoy pain and strife, which is why my debut episode is a ranking of the beloved Castlevania series. I've been a Castlevania fan since Simon's Quest mystified me as a little girl, so this was a fun list to put together. I'm joined by Retronauts' king vampire, Jeremy Parish, and Castlevania expert Kurt Kalata. We jive together for most of the episode, but that doesn't mean there aren't some contentious selections here. Listen, I'm just saying I'll go to war for Super Castlevania IV, even if nobody else will.

If you enjoy my debut as a Retronauts host, feel free to flag me on Twitter @nadiaoxford! We'd also love to have you as a listener/supporter of Axe of the Blood God and/or Sharlayan Dropouts. For now, just enjoy our Castlevania ranking...if you dare. [Flicks lights on and off rapidly]

Music this episode:

  • 06:38 - Castlevania The Adventure: Battle of the Holy
  • 18:51 - Dracula X (SNES): Opus 13
  • 24:43 - Circle of the Moon: Awake
  • 32:38 - Belmont's Revenge: Praying Hands
  • 40:34 - Simon's Quest (NES): Bloody Tears
  • 49:53 - Portrait of Ruin: Iron Blue Intention
  • 55:23 - Dawn of Sorrow: Cross of the Blue Moon (Animated Intro)
  • 1:00:02 - Castlevania (NES): Heart of Fire
  • 1:07:54 - Order of Ecclesia: Jaws of a Scorched Earth
  • 1:17:55 - Dracula's Curse (NES): Rising | The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP): Poison Mind
  • 1:26:15 - Aria of Sorrow: Floating Garden
  • 1:33:51 - Super Castlevania IV: Dracula Battle/Prologue Theme
  • 1:44:30 - Rondo of Blood: Illusionary Dance
  • 1:57:18 - Symphony of the Night: Requiem for the Gods
  • Closing - Symphony of the Night: The Tragic Prince

Files

Comments

Eric Plunk

Nadia has ascended to Dracula’s hosting throne! Whoo hoo!

Anonymous

Yay! I freakin' love Nadia!

Paul

I wonder what is the Mega Man 2 of Castlevania, and by Mega Man 2 I mean "great but overrated, always incorrectly placed as the best despite glaring flaws"

Anonymous

I found Circle of the Moon to be extremely enjoyable at the time. It was my first time playing a Castlevania game (and first extended time with a Metroidvania). It certainly had flaws. But it was unquestionably one of the stand out titles for the GBA at launch. (I do agree the boss was super hard. I didn't realize at the time I should have been grinding more and had to restart a new game to beat it.) And I actually think it was good that I started with a weaker entry in a series where each individual game is similar to the others. Each subsequent GBA and DS game could be even more enjoyable. And when I finally purchased Symphony of the Night on Xbox Live Arcade I could appreciate it more than if I started with that.

Moomoo

Didn't Nagoya they basically have zero time/resources to port SotN to Saturn? KCET was a beast when it came to making 2d out of technically non-2d assets (which I surmise they also did with Gradius Gaiden.) Symphony of the Night was a borderline S tier for me, but not so much because of the brokenness, as Kurt suggested as its flaw. (Metroidvanias were usually a cakewalk, and at that point I can't fault SotN for the crazy fun weapons.) It had more to do with the design, which consisted of too many long shafts and hallways for my liking. Aria and Dawn of Sorrow had less crufty castles. If Dawn makes it into a collection, here's hoping they take out the seals, because that aside, it was even more refined than Aria in many ways. Order of Ecclesia has lots of great ideas, but the rock/paper/scissor weakness system is overdone. Timespinner was an interesting homage. ETA: I remember reading Haunted Castle was originally a non-Castlevania game.

littleterr0r

Never heard Jeremy pound the table so much before.

Anonymous

The original NES Castlevania was a seminal game for me. To this day, I remember reading the game manual at a restaurant with my parents and imagining what the game would be like. This is before Nintendo Power or any reviews so I bought it on the appeal of the box art and the good will I had for Konami after enjoying Rush'n Attack. Even though Jeremy sideswiped the cold war era action game, I see it as a dry-run for Castlevania. The six level linear design, the boss fights, the constant use of jump and a melee weapon all point to common DNA. Rush'n Attack is clearly a stepping stone to Castlevania at Konami.

Kormakur Gardarsson

What a fun episode! More in this vein, please, and more hosting from Nadia!

Alexander Pero

I would love to see a ranking of “non-mainline” castlevania titles. Castlevania Judgement should be S-tier. Best fighting game on the Wii. Tatsunoko WHO??

Anonymous
>>69623509

Since you mentioned Rush 'N Attack, maybe you would enjoy this remix of some the audio tracks in the game

Paul

Thank you Nadia for your wisdom of putting Super Castlevania IV correctly in the S-Tier.

Anonymous

Great episode! I had a great experience with the NES titles, barely played the SNES Castlevania, and never had a PlayStation (or a GBA). So, when I got a DS lite and picked up Dawn of Sorrow, for me it was absolutely amazing. I have since gone back to play Symphony, so I will recognize it's greatness.

David

I really enjoyed this episode, despite having listened to/read quite a few times Nadia’s, Jeremy’s, and Kurt’s opinions over the years. Nadia’s decision to structure the ranking in terms of tiers is brilliant. Listening to the episode, it feels like the tiers about classic 2D Castlevania games are somewhat fixed nowadays. I guess the more interesting debate nowadays would be to rank all of the soundtracks in the series. (Spoiler: it’s obviously from this game, in which Dracula makes an appearance in an unexpected place: https://youtu.be/VrHqIzG6ai4)

Julian

Please consider renaming this episode Bloody Tiers.

Anonymous

I didn't keep track while listening; is there a list of the, um, list?

Kevin Bunch
>>69595391

If I had to guess it'd be Rondo of Blood or Chronicles, with are both indeed great games but certainly have their issues

Anonymous

Great episode and great job hosting it Nadia. I really liked the tiers ranking and by ranking them ahead of the recording you removed some of the busywork and gave more space to the opinions and debate around the games' strengths and weaknesses. Very smart!

Anonymous
>>69729168

I know this doesn't tell you where the tiers start and end but the music list in the notes acts as a rough guide to each game's ranking

Anonymous

Interested to see how Bloodstained would fit in. I played it on Switch and hate it.

Riley Hall

I'm with Nadia. Super Castlevania is 100% S tier

Anonymous

Agreed with Jeremy and Kurt concerning Order of Ecclesia. I just could not get into that game, despite having tried it several times. I just didn't find it as enjoyable as Portrait of Ruin was. Great art though.

Anonymous

I love Nadia and want her to rotate as host. She’s also right about Super Castlevania IV

Anonymous

Did I miss Kid Dracula?!

PurpleComet
>>70007364

I think Nadia specifically said titles like that wouldn't be in the running.

Anonymous

Awesome job hosting Nadia! I'm liking the expansion of the hosting pool :)

Anonymous

Nadia, fantastic job hosting. This episode was very fun to listen to. I’ve unfortunately never played SotN. Now, if they’d only release it on Switch…

Anonymous

Great hosting, Nadia!

Anonymous
>>70789037

If they did it would likely be the botched "SOTN/Rondo" package that was released on PS4 that's actually a port of the PSP games, so it has new voice acting. An inexcusable act.

Anonymous (edited)

Comment edits

2023-02-12 21:49:51 If there's another ranking podcast, I hope it uses the "make a list ranking them numerically & average the number for each title" format. I know it's a silly complaint cuz it's not the point, really, but I found the gulfs in number position and such in the Mega Man podcast were more exciting than tier differences.
2022-01-20 20:33:12 If there's another ranking podcast, I hope it uses the "make a list ranking them numerically & average the number for each title" format. I know it's a silly complaint cuz it's not the point, really, but I found the gulfs in number position and such in the Mega Man podcast were more exciting than tier differences.

If there's another ranking podcast, I hope it uses the "make a list ranking them numerically & average the number for each title" format. I know it's a silly complaint cuz it's not the point, really, but I found the gulfs in number position and such in the Mega Man podcast were more exciting than tier differences.

Anonymous

Nadia did an outstanding job hosting!!