November 12, 2024
Working on getting back in the groove, focusing on smaller updates to help flesh out the site and keep things moving. And we start with by filling in some of the gaps in the Konami family. We have a Review of Parodius, the calssic team-up shooter in the vein of Gradius. This first adventure for the soon-to-be franchise isn't strongly Castlevania related, although it has some minor nods. More would come down the line, though, in its many sequels.
Meanwhile, over in Horror Cinema we get into a couple of TV works. One is the 1979 Salem's Lot, which is really quite boring. The other is the firstt two (and counting) seasons of AMC's Interview with the Vampire, which you absolutely should watch.
More will come. I just wanted to get something up now to show there's still life here.
October 31, 2024
I know it's been a while. I hate the fact that I'm not getting regular updates on this site but, well, my brain has been dumb. I've been fighting some burn out / writer's block and it's been hard to focus on all my projects. Brain space has been hard, so while I can just write about whatever randomly from time to time over on Asteroid G, sitting down to do a major update here has felt like pulling teeth. I love the series, but sometimes updating this site feels overwhelming.
However, I tackled it for today so I could get out an update in time for Halloween. And, man, I needed to because there was a lot to cover. Obviously the first thing we have to discuss is the Castlevania Dominus Collection. Surprise released in August, this is a collection of the three Nintendo DS games, which fans have been begging for, plus Haunted Castle and, an even bugger surprise, Haunted Castle Revisited. I have my review for the collection up, as well as that new remake (the first new classiv 'vania in nearly 15 years!), but suffice it to say it's a must buy.
Along with, and because, of that collection I've had to do a bunch of additions for the site. Over on the Series page we now have coverage for Haunted Castle Revisited. And since she shows up twice now in the series (due to that remake), we've got a bit of a bio up for Selena Belmont. She shows up in two games, so it's time to give her due coverage.
While we were looking at the new collection it seemed only fair to also go back and cover the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and update the Castlevania Advance Collection, both of which now have details on the Limited Run Games Ultimate Edition physical collection.
That's it for this round. Hopefully it won't take me forever to come back and do another update after this...
April 5, 2024
It was silly of me to say, "hey, I'm gonna update again next week," when the following week was the start of a vacation. I never update during vacations. I can't get my brain to focus on things when I am in relaxation mode. Just doesn't happen. Still, we're back now and can continue the update train.
First, we have news: V Rising, the top-down, vampire-based Diablo-like, officially announced they will be getting Castlevania content. Titled "Legacy of Castlevania", this expansion will come in two parts. The first is a free update that will add Simon Belmont to the game as a boss fight, and grant players that defeat him two new powers and Simon's iconic whip. The other half will be a paid DLC featuring cosmetics for the characters, the castle, and a couple of reimagined themes from the classic series. For those looking for a little extra Castlevania content, this might sate for at least a bit.
Onto updates for the site, we first hit the Chronology section of the site were we cover the events of the prelude episode of Castlevania: Nocturne, taking place in 1783 AD. This first section covers story for Julia Belmont (who gets a new bio page) as well as Richter Belmont and Olrox (who have both been given quick refreshes for grammar to their pages along with having bio information added for 1783 AD). This is the first step in covering the character histories for the new season of the anime, and I'm trying to do this in cohesive bits so as to not overload myself as I go along.
We also have a new review up in the Horror Cinema section for Dead Alive, the 1992 hororr-fest from director Peter Jackson. For those looking for over-the-top amounts of gore and gonzo zombie action, this film absolutely does not disappoint.
Finally, as part of the ongoing efforts to refresh the content of the site, bit by bit, we head over to the Series section and add updates for grammar and links for: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Castlevania: Nocturne in the Moonlight, Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night, Castlevania 64, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, and Castlevania: Legends.
March 9, 2024
Okay I know, I know. It's been far too long since I updated this site. But I did have a lot going on. Just, frankly too much to list here, and my brain has only so much space in it to handle things. Sadly this site fell by the way side. But we're back, and I do have good stuff going on.
For starters, I meant to have this posted many, many months ago, but we finally have an updated version of the Castlevania: Nocturne series page, along with a review of the first season. I wanted these out when the season came out, but, again, life got in the way.
But then we turn to the Series section because I'm going through the pages, chunk by chunk, and doing updates. First, I'm re-editng them, going through with a grammar pass (as my previous spellchecking software stupidly didn't also check grammar). But I'm also adding in new hover-over insets. For example: Simon BelmontThe first hero of the Castlevania series (by release date), he's been featured in more games, and referenced more times, than almost any other character in the series..
I've been using similar hover-overs for a while now on my other side, Asteroid G, and I really like them. Plus, but having them coded the way I do I can easily drop them in place of any link I have, helping to lessen the number of links I write wrong, fuck up, and then have broken on the site. So an extra layer of Q/A, which is great.
It takes time to do these, so I'm going chunk by chunk throughout the site. This first round, in the Series section, includes: Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, The Castlevania Adventure, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Castlevania: Bloodlines, plus Vampire Killer, Haunted Castle, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Chronicles, Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, Castlevania: Dracula X, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, and Video Game Generations.
I'll do a few of these with every update, and I promise to have more content as well besides just editing pages. I want to get to updating once a week... but we'll see how my schedule goes. Anyway, until next time...