Downloaded a NES Emulator yesterday and played Castlevania 3 for the first time in about 10 years.

All I can say is: this is what a sequel should be, whereas Castlevania 2 was everything a sequel shouldn't be.

Rant:
I remember first playing Castlevania 2 and being pumped beyond belief. At first, it was fun but when I realized you return to life right where you died and had unlimited continues - I about puked. One of the things that made CV1 great was the challenge. 3 of us had it in the 8th or 9th grade and it took forever to beat the Grim Reaper (mainly because the game would randomly overload and crash). The music and bosses were great. The action and scenes were cool. CV2 threw all that in the crapper. I remember getting to the end of the first Mansion in CV2 and realizing: THERE WAS NO BOSS. What a flaming turd. There is only 1 boss in the game you HAVE to beat (the rest you can simply run by). And that boss is a Dracula imitator who you can kill without him ever moving. God that game is awful. I need to find the "Angry Video Game Nerd" video where he rips it. Classic.

Rave:
But, if you have not played CV3 and you loved CV1, you must. It is nearly perfect. Gameplay is nearly identical to the first, but there are a ton more enemies, levels, and cool bosses. You have the ability to pick up companions, which really enhance the game, giving it a new dynamic.

Anyway, go play CV3 today. You owe it to yourself. It could be the last great game made for the NES.

CV2 was Oblivion compared to Zelda II

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I'm a huge fan of the Castlevania series and I'll totally agree with you on both the rant and the rave. CV1 is an awesome game for its challenge as is CV3. CV2, even back in the day, I figured out was pretty bullshit with the whole infinite continues thing. Even worse, the parts where you've got to equip the red/blue/white gems and just sit there waiting to be teleported. The game gives you absolutely 0 hints as to that being what you're supposed to do (I remember having to call the Nintendo Power Line to figure that out).

"The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night"

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Lol, yeah we bought and beat this game in one afternoon. Hardly any bosses made for no real roadblocks other than a couple completely unexplained tricks you had to pull off.

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Larreth Wolfsong (long retired)
Lanys T'vyl, Everquest

Zinky, Lvl 60 Warlock
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There was a hint for the crystals, sorta.

I bought it and played up to the point where you needed the red crystal for the tornado and was stuck on that for 2 weeks before I broke down and called the hint line.

"It just blows my mind how fucking horrible it is. Why? Why is it so bad?"

a friend showed me how to do it or I never would have guessed

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In all honesty though, pretty much all Castlevanias have had some sort of "WTF am I supposed to do now" moment of some kind. In SOTN, I got to the part where you face Richter in the Throne Room and killed him (to get the shitty ending). I was like, "There is no fucking way the game is over"...so I reloaded my save and spent probably a good 2 weeks wandering around the castle exploring every nook and cranny before I was randomly looking at items in my inventory and noticed what the description text for the Gold and Silver rings said. My brain nearly exploded.

The GBA/DS games are also notoriously guilty of the "dead end" freakout too. The CV2 ones just happen to be the worst because getting stuck wandering around with the shitty day/night mechanic makes life miserable. The even shittier kicker is the fact that the game has 3 endings, all of which are tied to how many "in game" days it takes you to beat it.

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Yeah, I don't like shit like that. I usually play a game once, beat it and then I am done forever with it. I don't feel like beating a game 4 times just to see all the possible endings.

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I have always been a fan of multiple endings. CV2's mechanic of time played was lame. But, I really liked how CV3 had 4 endings depending on what character you had with you when you beat Dracula.

Yeah, that is more tolerable because it gives you a different game play experience the next time around. But the whole "do it faster" thing is stupid.

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The caster chick in Castlevania 3 was blatantly OP!

not so much, cause she was a glass cannon. I always preferred the guy who could skip half the level by crawling on the ceiling.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

I LOVED Zelda for Super Nintendo the Master Sword version. I miss it =(

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This is proof CV3 was great.

I thought Alucard was the best because you could turn into a bat and skip any hard jumps, alongside shooting fiery balls of death.

Beating it without getting a companion was no joke.

I think many a moon ago I beat CV3 without a companion, I'll have to do it again just to be sure I've done it. I remember hating doing it with Grant (the pirate) because the level of going back down the Clock Tower was such a pain in the ass. Using Sypha wasn't bad, the boat being the harder of the levels. Alucard felt almost like cheating sometimes because of the bat thing.

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