What a terrible night to have a thread 2017 - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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"What a terrible night to have a thread 2017" , posted Wed 25 Oct 07:50post reply

Hey folks, I've been extraordinarily absent around here for the past few months but I've felt the siren's song of the Cafe recently, what with it being official Halloween season and all.

I thought that while it's tempting to confine most Halloween discussion to That Series I would encourage us all to discuss some other spooky game that comes to mind. And no, Maou, That Game doesn't count.

I've been playing a bit of Chou Makaimura R lately trying to finally get through all the stages that are unique to that version, and I find it really funny that while Arthur and Red Arremer are in Marvel vs Capcom Infinity (and still aren't enough to get me to play that shambling pile of a game), the Makaimura/Ghouls n' Ghosts series has completely fallen off the map, and that I find that to be really unfortunate, since it was a great series. I know we got a pair of technically-related Maximo games, but they don't even come close to capturing what made the parent series fun and interesting.

Just like I like to imagine that there's a parallel universe out there where Sega somehow dominated the console market past the Dreamcast, I like to believe there's a universe where it was Makaimura, and not some other famous supernatural themed series that was its contemporary, that continued to receive tons of decent sequels on whatever their universe's equivalent of the Gameboy Advance was.

Anyway, I'd like to invite anyone who wants to to talk some about their favorite Halloweeny game, or about Makaimura, or whatever! Just not That Game!



Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
(secretly hoping someone mentions Nosferatu for the SFC!)

End of Spoiler







You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.

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"Cake from hell" , posted Wed 25 Oct 11:15post reply

THE BEST VIDEO GAME FOR THE SEGA DREAMCAST IS ILLBLEED







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"Re(1):Cake from hell" , posted Wed 25 Oct 11:33:post reply

MY SCARY HALLOWEEN GAMING STORY: I was all set to play Bayonetta for the first time and even have it installed, but then I ran out of time and October is almost over and the prospect of playing a horror-themed game post-season is too aesthetically terrifying to consider.

Karasu, you cannot stop me from talking about Rusty, I have sacrificed too many virgins to turn back now! In the spirit of the season, I resurrect the link to my solitary, haunted Rusty playthrough in hopes of forcing this better-than-50%-of-real-series-entries Dracula clone on more people!

Nier Automata freaked me out this year with its searing intensity...while not a ghoulish game, terrifying robot cults and the unremitting harshness of the world made my heart race. Especially Route C!

Also I still think the ice cream boss in Gunhouse is quite scary and hilarious





人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は...

[this message was edited by Maou on Wed 25 Oct 11:34]

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"Re(1):Cake from hell" , posted Thu 26 Oct 05:37post reply

quote:
THE BEST VIDEO GAME FOR THE SEGA DREAMCAST IS ILLBLEED



Ahh, Illbleed...

I would encourage everyone to play Gargoyle's Quest/Makaimura Gaiden on the original Game Boy this Halloween. I replayed this a couple of years ago and thought, wow, everything about this game is just really good. It's beautiful in black and white and the gameplay totally holds up. The wall jumping/flight mechanics feel very unique and original to me. If you haven't played it, trick-or-treat yourself. It's on Virtual Console.

Plus there are some spooky bosses with scary names, like Zundo Druer, Bellzemos, and Zakkudruzer. The latter of which is a horrifying/cute skeletal human torso fused to a two-headed demon snail. Gargoyle's Quest II (also really good) even has "Goza", which I figure has to be a shout-out to the fake Sumerian god Gozer from Ghostbusters.





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"Re(2):Cake from hell" , posted Thu 26 Oct 08:39post reply

Hope everything is going well with you Karasu!

Just a reminder that this game's development will be surviving through its second Halloween





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"Golden Axe 5 w/ Ryo and Robert" , posted Thu 26 Oct 09:48:post reply

Ryo Sakazaki wielding an Axe is scary





Long Live I AM!

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"Re(1):What a terrible night to have a thread " , posted Thu 26 Oct 14:40post reply

quote:


Anyway, I'd like to invite anyone who wants to to talk some about their favorite Halloweeny game, or about Makaimura, or whatever! Just not That Game!


But, But... You have to carefully reproduce the WORD of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere!






A Talking about Japanese History sword in hand


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"Re(2):What a terrible night to have a thread" , posted Thu 26 Oct 15:19post reply

quote:


Anyway, I'd like to invite anyone who wants to to talk some about their favorite Halloweeny game, or about Makaimura, or whatever! Just not That Game!

But, But... You have to carefully reproduce the WORD of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere!



I'll come up with some funny joke that will connect this to the current topic of discussion at some point







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"Re(2):What a terrible night to have a thread" , posted Fri 27 Oct 04:07post reply

quote:


Anyway, I'd like to invite anyone who wants to to talk some about their favorite Halloweeny game, or about Makaimura, or whatever! Just not That Game!

But, But... You have to carefully reproduce the WORD of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere!



Argh, I've inadvertently broken my own rule with my very own signature! It's caused me to incur 'curse' status so now I can't use my primary weapons!

Maou, fortunately for your own 'curse' status I think the case could be made that Rusty owes as much to Valis or El Viento as it does the Greatest Game (controversial opinion!!!) So I think you're in the clear!

Professor, I'm still not sure what to think about that game. I'm sure it will be fine and I will play it like crazy but I still wish Iga had been a little more adventurous in designing it!

Hey speaking of ripoffs, I was recently reminded of the terminally miserable Vampire: Master of Darkness for the Game Gear. Unlike Rusty, which plays pretty well, Vampire's protagonist's control never feels right and it's repetitive and bland!





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"Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Sun 29 Oct 09:11post reply

Gather around the campfire, children, and I will tell you a TERRIFYING Halloween story of one man who loved Akumajou Dracula soooo much, that he started dabbling in the truly dangerous occult. Yes, he started exploring the Dark Arts and began to find twisted joy in the horrifying Frankenstein's Monster that was Dracula XX for SFC. Truly one of the most arch blasphemies against the sacred Rondo text I have ever known. But to see the demonic glint ("Dracula XXstacy") in this man's eye when he talked about the "redeeming features" and "expanded Richter moveset" was enough to nearly hypnotize you into joining his unholy rituals. I barely escaped with my life. That man...was Karasu.
quote:
Rusty owes as much to Valis or El Viento as it does the Greatest Game
There are many reasons to think that we owe PCE Valis's divine cheesecake a debt for Rusty's cheeky approach to vampire killing.

Another blasphemous project for the Witching Hour: famed Dracula clone Rusty is better than 50% of real mainline platform Draculas, and I am saying it out loud in the Church of Madman again! No priest can stop me!

Dracula X > SFC "IV" > Akumajou Densetsu "III" > Rusty > Dracula I > Vampire Killer "Bloodlines" > X68000 > Dracula II > Dracula XX





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"Re(1):Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Mon 30 Oct 06:15post reply

quote:
Gather around the campfire, children, and I will tell you a TERRIFYING Halloween story of one man who loved Akumajou Dracula soooo much, that he started dabbling in the truly dangerous occult. Yes, he started exploring the Dark Arts and began to find twisted joy in the horrifying Frankenstein's Monster that was Dracula XX for SFC. Truly one of the most arch blasphemies against the sacred Rondo text I have ever known. But to see the demonic glint ("Dracula XXstacy") in this man's eye when he talked about the "redeeming features" and "expanded Richter moveset" was enough to nearly hypnotize you into joining his unholy rituals. I barely escaped with my life. That man...was Karasu.


Well. Since this has the flavor of an intervention, how should I start? "It's not habit-forming"? "I can stop whenever I want to"? Or maybe "It's a 100% natural product, so it's really good for me"?

I'm in no way prepared to claim that XX is as good as X, or even as IV or III (lest anyone think my mind has truly crumbled). Maou, I should also note that it turns out that I'm completely wrong about Richter's moves in XX being more expansive than in X-- I think I must crave the amazing, super mobile version of Richter who's code-playable in SOTN.

Anyway, I had intended to write quite a bit on this subject but I'm time-constrained, so I wanted to make sure I answered Maou's epic call-out in a timely fashion. The short version: Dracula XX is not a great Castlevania game, but it's far from a bad one. Its excellent soundtrack and serviceable gameplay and graphics make it a decent game, one that's hardly worthy of being hated as much as it often is. I think we'd have a far more positive view of it as a Castlevania game absent the incredible awesome Dracula X. If I can collect my thoughts a little better I'll go into more detail at some near future point.

quote:
Another blasphemous project for the Witching Hour: famed Dracula clone Rusty is better than 50% of real mainline platform Draculas, and I am saying it out loud in the Church of Madman again! No priest can stop me!



I'm endless in my blasphemies, but I don't love Rusty quite a much as Maou does! It's a great game, but I think the level design and enemies are relatively bland through most of the game. MAOU TAKE NOTE: I think that all of this is more than made up for by its excellent soundtrack and even more excellent boss designs, which would have blown Castlevania players away at the time. Given all that I'll always wonder if Rusty suffered from a lack of an editor, or that it began life as a boss rush game that they hastily added platforming levels to or whatever. I mean, how amazing would Rusty 2 have been? We'll never know!





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"Re(2):Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Wed 1 Nov 06:42post reply

one spooky game I'd really *like* to get into is Baroque for Saturn, but I haven't really sat down with it yet.

I did try the CG atrocity that is Horror Tour though. it was much more tour than it was horror.







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"Re(3):Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Thu 2 Nov 08:29post reply

quote:
one spooky game I'd really *like* to get into is Baroque for Saturn, but I haven't really sat down with it yet.

I did try the CG atrocity that is Horror Tour though. it was much more tour than it was horror.



Having never heard of Horror Tour, I watched a bit of 'gameplay' video on Youtube and... I had forgotten that there were interfaces like that in games in the past! Still, there's something strangely attractive about the super-dithered-looking CG!

Didn't Baroque implausibly get remade for the Wii a while back?





You have to carefully reproduce the world of "Castlevania" in the solemn atmosphere.


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"Re(4):Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Thu 2 Nov 09:11post reply

quote:
The short version: Dracula XX is not a great Castlevania game, but it's far from a bad one. Its excellent soundtrack and serviceable gameplay and graphics make it a decent game, one that's hardly worthy of being hated as much as it often is.
Oho! You have achieved two fearful Halloween feats: 1) a resurrected Halloween thread that persists after October 31, indicating that it is truly an Undead Thread and not just cursed, and 2) instilling a sense of terror and suspense about what the true goodness of this Dracula XX might be. Have these past fifteen+ years of hating Dracula XX been a lie? What other scary revalation might be in store? And will relief from the suspense be delayed until next year's Halloween thread?





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"Re(4):Horrifying Dracula XXcentricities" , posted Thu 2 Nov 09:22post reply

quote:
one spooky game I'd really *like* to get into is Baroque for Saturn, but I haven't really sat down with it yet.

I did try the CG atrocity that is Horror Tour though. it was much more tour than it was horror.


Having never heard of Horror Tour, I watched a bit of 'gameplay' video on Youtube and... I had forgotten that there were interfaces like that in games in the past! Still, there's something strangely attractive about the super-dithered-looking CG!

Didn't Baroque implausibly get remade for the Wii a while back?



The remake was definitely on PS2, and I own it. However, I have mixed feelings on it. I put a decent amount of time into it, but after a few days I gave up on the game and never came back. I have it in the same mental category as Crimson Tears. Cool conceptually, but it was not really the right game for me.





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"Makaimura Maldita" , posted Sun 12 Nov 21:17:post reply

Baroque was made for the Saturn and later ported to the PS1.
The game was remade for PS2 and that version was later ported to Wii.

quote:
Just like I like to imagine that there's a parallel universe out there where Sega somehow dominated the console market past the Dreamcast, I like to believe there's a universe where it was Makaimura, and not some other famous supernatural themed series that was its contemporary, that continued to receive tons of decent sequels on whatever their universe's equivalent of the Gameboy Advance was.


Well, don't forget that Chōmakaimura was included as one of the 20 games of the Mini Super Famicom, while Super Ghouls'n Ghosts was included in the Mini Super Nintendo and SNES Classic (the US and EU versions share the same software catalogue). On the other hand, Super Castlevania IV was only included in the Western software line-up and is replaced in Japan with Ganbare Goemon. So in a sense, Arthur was better represented than Simon Belmont for the most sold hardware of September.

Also, don't sleep on the excellent Maldita Castilla EX, released on PC, Xbox One, PS4, 3DS, very soon on Vita and hopefully someday on Switch.





Même Narumi est épatée !

[this message was edited by chazumaru on Sun 12 Nov 21:17]