Wow, part five of the Quarterly. That’s a bunch of parts, guys. I was actually thinking about skipping this week’s update since last week’s comic was linked to hell and back and the server is still experiencing aftershocks and probably deserves a day off. But no, there’s too much good stuff this week and I couldn’t wait any longer to post it. (I wrote some stuff this week as well, but it’s definitely not the highlight here.)
Coming of Age: Game Boy Takes the Lead
Another of the chapter break articles, Coming of Age demonstrates a touch of continuity within the book. Don’t worry, though. It’s not like comic book continuity, where you need to remember what happened to some lame character in an obscure issue in the ’70s. I just mean it builds off the Lynx discussion in the previous chapter, that’s all.
Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge
In the first of two totally stellar Konami-centric write-ups by Mr. Nomali, we discover not only that the second Game Boy Castlevania was miles beyond the first (which we knew already), we also learn why. Spoiler: it’s not Christopher Belmont’s breezy short-shorts.
Operation C
Orbiting the Castlevania II write-up like one half of a binary pair is an equally passionate hagiography of what has been described (by this article, in fact) as the only truly great portable Contra game until Contra 4. Yes, Operation C is Contra. This was in the awkward phase where Konami was deeply terrified of the political ramifications of videogame titles.
Metroid II: Return of Samus
And finally, we round off this update with my own look back at Metroid II. It’s a lot more forgiving than the rather cranky review I wrote for 1UP a few years back. Maybe I’m mellowing with my old age… or maybe I’m just coming to better appreciate Nintendo R&D1’s occasionally sideways approach to game design.
Apologies in advance if you’ve already revealed this somewhere else, but what’s the theme (if any) for the next volume? The birthday candle at the end of the first book was….interesting.
That is a mystery (for now).
Bah, you and your “old man from NES Zelda” mysteries.
In terms of series climax when it comes to Castlevania, I’d agree with Rondo of Blood, but not Symphony of the Night, even though the latter was a direct sequel.
So is the next planned review Battletoads?
Nice Castlevania review. Can you tell me exactly which Bach and Debussy work is present in it?
Also, the flying jellyfish also downgrade your weapon.
Debussy’s “Passepied,” the final movement of his “Suite Bergamasque,” plays in the second stage of Dracula’s castle. Bach’s “Chromatic Fantasia” (here rendered as “Chromatische Phantasie”) plays during the battle with Soleil.
Thank you.