Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Act III

 

Portrait of Ruin draws to a close, as unfortunately this super-good game has an end. Took about 8 hours, would have been totally fine with it taking another 20. Today I take out the last four portraits.

Ya know, I'm starting to wonder if Konami saw these 2D 'Vanias as B-Team projects and most of their resources went into the 3D console 'Vanias. Which would be kinda comical considering how much better-regarded Iga's 2D creations are. I don't even really think of the 3D 'Vanias as the same series.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin - Act II

 

Next I wade through my favorite of the painting zones, the desert, fighting off Shishio cosplayers.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (Nintendo DS, 2006)

 

In my continuing quest to figure out what the best of the big eight Iga-Metroidvanias is (the six portables, plus Symphony and Bloodstained), I've got two left and this is one of 'em. It's definitely a major contender. And I'll say this, Circle of the Moon isn't going to win, probably because it's the Iga-Metroidvania that doesn't even contain Iga.

Regardless, this game is freaking fantastic, and is a direct sequel to Castlevania Bloodlines.

Castlevania Bloodlines (Sega Genesis, 1994)

With this one, the series arrives on the Sega Genesis with a bang. I found this game to be more fun than the NES installments, even though it still has a brutal final battle. In keeping with Sega's early 90's tradition of acting younger and hipper than Nintendo, this game stars the hip young descendants of Simon Belmont, and takes place in the 20th century.

In Europe, this one was called Castlevania: The New Generation, which is very 90's. The New Generation! Rad to the max!

(Originally posted in 2010 (one of my first posts on here), now remastered for 2025 - As my next game Portrait of Ruin takes place during World War 2 and this game takes place during World War 1, and star a son and father duo respectively, it made sense to revisit this.)

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Julius Mode

 

I finished Dawn of Sorrow months ago, but I've got one more thing to take a look at. Finishing the game unlocks "Julius Mode", one of the many 'Vania postgame modes where you play as a different character. However this one is particularly notable because A) They really went the extra mile here, giving you a party of three new characters to switch between, and B) It's the closest we'll ever get to a Julius Belmont 1999 game (which is kind of crazy considering that's technically the canonical final battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, and we never got a game for it).

Highlander 5x03 - Manhunt

 

It's always cool when we get an early-series immortal to show up in a return episode later on. In this case it's Carl Robinson, who first appeared in "Run For Your Life" and went from being a slave to a baseball player. ...then later ended up in trouble, before becoming a baseball player again. Well, now we're back in the "trouble" cycle. This is one of those episodes where the primary threat is a conundrum to solve rather than a particular bad guy.

Darkwing Duck (NES, 1992)

Darkwing Duck was one of the many shows/things I was into as a kid. Like HUGELY into. That said, I don't know how long I was a fan of this show. It might have been like a month or something. Either way, it was memorable. I liked it for the same reasons I liked Carmen Sandiego and Dick Tracy, it had a cool roster of bad guys with their own gimmicks and whatnot and a crime-fighting hero trying to apprehend them all (but never actually seeming to).

I don't know what happened with the show or what the overall mythology was. Were there multiple seasons? Did new Big Bads get introduced? I don't know. I didn't even follow the TMNT lore that deeply and TMNT was the biggest thing on the planet.

In any case, this is a game that I 100% would have begged for if I'd had an NES as a kid. Probably near the top of the list for it too. This, Power Blade, Mega Man 3, Metroid, and Super Mario Bros 3 are probably the first things I would have gone for. ...that is, if I didn't burn through the game budget getting terrible Terminator games.

Highlander 5x02 - The End of Innocence

 

One of my favorite episodes, almost entirely because the "bad guy" is one of the most formidable and cool immortals in the show's run. Duncan faces a serious threat this time around, and we get the return of Richie. Except now he's bad-ass heel Richie.