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Tag: Castlevania

Posts related to Konami’s popualr video game series, Castlevania.

Dot Nyet

Dot Nyet

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew finishes up Cobra Kai, while D. Bethel finds a wonderful world to explore in Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

BRAVE NEW CAPTAIN: D. Bethel rounds out the episode discussing his (mostly spoiler-free) thoughts of Captain America: Brave New World. On the whole, he liked it!

TOPICS:

(00:00) Intro – February’s over, suddenly!
(01:45) Andrew’s WiG: The end of Cobra Kai
(31:51) D. Bethel’s WiG: Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
(45:20) Outro – D.’s thoughts of Captain America: Brave New World (mild spoilers)
(52:21) Outtakes

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Too Many Johnnies” (5 February 2021): Where our hosts have their first big sit-down conversation about Cobra Kai.
  • Full Frasier” (16 September 2022): Where Andrew discusses the fifth season of Cobra Kai.
  • New Machine, New Problems” (29 November 2024): Where Andrew shares his thoughts on the first part of Cobra Kai, season 6.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Again For the First Time

Again For the First Time

ON A VOYAGE: A quick Star Trek check-in as D. Bethel finds an appropriate point in his Deep Space Nine watch-through to start watching Star Trek: Voyager.

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew is unimpressed with the most recent installment of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers on Netflix: Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury. Unfortunately, D. is equally unimpressed after finally giving a go to Netflix’s Castlevania series.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Nerd Business” (31 July 2014): Where our hosts discuss the impact and legacy of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
  • The Unpop Culture” (28 July 2017): Where D. Bethel tries Netflix’s Castlevania for the first time and can’t get past the first episode.
  • Films in Quarries” (18 June 2021): Where Andrew starts investigating the confusing origins of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.
  • Doctor Ennui” (27 August 2021): Where Andrew dives deep into the Super Sentai pool.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Zeldavania

Zeldavania

A MISERABLE PILE OF SECRETS: Our hosts spend a bit of time reminiscing on the 25th anniversary of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night––the video game that put the “-vania” in “Metroidvania.”

WEEK IN GEEK: After a week off, our hosts have been busy being nerdy! Andrew finally caught up with all the Spider-Man movies while D. Bethel dipped another toe into deck-building video games with the very popular Slay the Spire, developed by MegaCrit.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Nerd Business” (31 July 2014): Where Andrew and D. Bethel first discuss Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as a game that matters.
  • Trusty Rusty” (10 August 2018): Where Andrew talks about the video deck-building game adapted from a physical one, One Deck Dungeon.
  • We Still Don’t Know $#!&” (31 May 2019): On the show’s fifth anniversary, our hosts discuss the prevalence of “RPG elements” throughout, basically, all video games at this point.
  • Good Gamefeel” (28 June 2019): Where our hosts discuss the first non-Castlevania Metroidvania game developed by the adopted father of the series––Koji “Iga” Igarashi––Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
  • Reliable Virtual Helmets” (27 September 2019): Where D. Bethel plays his first real roguelike deck-building game, Meteorfall: Journey.
  • Smell the Duke” (04 February 2022): Where D. Bethel plays a bit of the clever deck-building game, Griftlands.
  • Bigger Than the Batman” (11 March 2022): Where D. Bethel talks about the indie game currently on his docket, A Plague Tale: Innocence.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Crypto ATM

Crypto ATM

PACHINKO IS CRYPTO: Our hosts walk a snake-like path this week as they discuss everything from recent trends in the sketch cryptocurrency/NFT market to the news that Konami may be getting out of pachinko and back into making video games again. It’s quite a conversation, in other words.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Heart Law, Article 9” (03 July 2014): Where our hosts discuss why Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is an important game (by their metric, at least).
  • Recorded Entirely in Esperanto” (01 May 2015): Where our hosts discuss the fall of “the final domino” on Konami’s game-developing existence.
  • Milkbloods” (09 April 2021): Where our hosts first discuss the shady business of NFTs.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

I Am The State

I Am The State

LOST IN ZEBES: With a lot of internet chatter focusing on the 35th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda‘s 1986 release, it made D. Bethel upset because another major Nintendo franchise was also released that year that nobody––much less Nintendo itself––seems that interested in celebrating, the weird, wonderful Metroid. D. Bethel talks with Andrew to see why this game and the series it spawned never gained the legs and legacy of Nintendo’s bigger franchises.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Good Gamefeel

Good Gamefeel

A RITUAL CIRCLE OF ARIAS OF THE NIGHT MOON: Mentioned last week, both Andrew and D. Bethel have put some time into the newest Igavania game––meaning a Metroidvania game specifically made by Koji Igarashi––Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and they are enjoying the presence of both nostalgic throwback and interesting choices that move the genre forward.

RELEVANT LINKS:

Source: Sony
  • Part 1 of D. Bethel’s playthrough of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • Clip from “Harvester of Sorrow” by Metallica (written by Hetfield/Ulrich) from ..And Justice For All (Elektra Records, 1988).
Shortcast 67 – Baguettevania

Shortcast 67 – Baguettevania

WEEK IN GEEK: It’s an indie game kind of week as Andrew reports on the Zelda-like shop sim, Moonlighter, by Digital Sun while D. Bethel starts a conversation about everybody’s current favorite rogue-like platformer (kind of a Metroidvania, kind of not; definitely not a “roguevania”), Dead Cells, by Motion Twin.

RELATED EPISODES:

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shortcast 62 – Not the Episode Title

Shortcast 62 – Not the Episode Title

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew finds fitness inspiration in the modular experience of Zombies, Run! while D. Bethel can’t stop thinking about Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon.

Watch D. Bethel play (with the aid of his dog, Rusty) through the opening levels of Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Episode 141 – The Unpop Culture

Episode 141 – The Unpop Culture

WEEK IN GEEK: In a fit of nostalgia, Andrew picks up The Sims 3 again (starts at 1:49) while Dan can’t get past a nit-pick to enjoy anything Netflix’s Castlevania has to offer (20:46).

SDCC 2017: [starts at 34:04] It was a big weekend for nerd culture as the San Diego Comic Con dropped a bunch of new trailers on the world. Dan and Andrew look at three trailers and how they seem to be pointing out the creative direction of their respective studios with Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok, DC/Warner Bros.’ Justice League, and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.

For reference, here are the three trailers the discussion focuses on.

Thor: Ragnarok

Justice League

Ready Player One

RELATED EPISODES:

WORKS CITED, REFERENCED, OR CONSULTED:

LINKS:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio

Episode 127 – Dying Without an Error

Episode 127 – Dying Without an Error

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew does his best to navigate menus and complex relationships playing Crusader Kings II while D. Bethel gets horribly disappointed while playing Samurai Shodown VI.

A TWISTED LEGEND: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been released to universal acclaim as a launch title for Nintendo’s new console (and as a tombstone for their previous console) but how much is pure nostalgia, how much is hype, and how much is it actually a good game. Well, neither Dan nor Andrew have played it, but with the conversation surrounding the game they do ask a pertinent question, “What is as Zelda game and does this new game meet it?”

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio
-“Dungeon” by Bit Brigade (based on music by Koji Kondo)