Episode 202: Castlevania Dracula X

The last game of our remake-themed month, this one's... special.  Once again, Ryu Anime Belmont dons his dramatic gloves and whip and sets out to save the inexplicably ninja Maria, who refuses to help him this time.  This is, really, a wholly different game than Rondo of Blood, but does it hold up on its own?



Whip right to that download.


Show Notes

(03:00) BIRDEMIC.

(04:00) With feathers.

(10:00) I'll be the one to say it... this looks like it belongs in G Gundam.  Unrelated: I want a Let's Play of Zach doing Cuphead.

(17:00) Zach's also been delving into Papers Please, as recommended by Yahtzee.

(21:00) Some preliminary thoughts on Dead by Daylight.

(26:00) Talking a bit about our experience with SkyFactory.

(31:00) Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor.  It's a weird... life/chore simulator?  Highly recommended for an odd experience if it's on sale.

(38:30) We talked about a lot of interesting games on this episode, but if I can only recommend one, it has to be Clandestine.

(47:00) Finally getting around to Dracula X.

(59:45) Rankings of Blood... X!


Next time on Last Time, Kirby's Dream Course!

Adorable energy balls at at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@alasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Episode 163: Little Girl Power [Castlevania Rondo of Blood]

Montages are cool and so is Dracula fighting!  Follow our surprisingly anime protagonist through the deadly traps of Drac's castle... at least until Mario takes over and does everything for him.  Heroic!



Aria of downloads!


Show Notes

(01:00) At least one of us was thinking of this.

(02:45) Stars protect us!

(03:10) Now with 'poons.  It actually sounds pretty good, though.

(12:30) MGSV Spoilers, guys!

(15:20) Motorsnakles.

(19:30) End of spoilers nukes!  Not at all relevant to anything, is Gyarados a bird?

(35:10) US-1.  It was a thing.

(41:00) Windfishing.

(48:00) Rondo of intros!

(1:00:30) Rank of shadows!


Next time on Last Time, Soccer!

GOOOOOOOOOOOAL!

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Episode 125: Hallowhip [Super Castlevania IV]

Such potential for spooky, but so much was wasted. Who wants to be a badass Dracula hunter when you could be a cowering horror movie star? I'm seeing a lot of hands... Well, I suppose you're in luck, because we've got a Belmont with whip in hand to go fight some monsters!



Download in all 8 directions!


Show Notes

(02:30) History!  A quick note, though: Napoleon was exiled to Elba, not Sardinia.

(02:45) Some back and forth on Neptunia.

(07:00) Coin Crypt!  It's a Rogue-like with coins!  And surprisingly few crypts!  Ignore the story trailer, though - they completely miss their opportunity to showcase the awesome music.

(13:00) MGS V continues to be great, even if it has some tonal dissonance.

(18:45) Talking about the difficulty curve and mechanics that help (or don't) reinforce it in Castlevania IV.  Specifically, whipping any direction makes the subweapons much less useful and physics-defying jump arcs make the platformer much easier.

(25:00) The worst room in the game.  Too many peanuts.

(32:45) Where does this game fall on our list?


Next time on Last Time, Golden Axe!  Not a structurally sound axe material.

Rise from your gra... wait... what?

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Episode 119: This Game is So Bad We Didn't Even Mention Dracula [Castlevania: The Adventure]

You know what was awesome about Castlevania?  Precision movement, perfectly sized platforms, methodical and premeditated advancement, and a satisfyingly effective attack coupled with special weapons suited for a variety of situations.  You know what this game has?  None of that.  Also, falling platforms and endlessly spawning bats over them.  Also, no color.  The music's still pretty good, though!



Our downloading isn't well suited to its challenges.

Show Notes

(29:45) Whippin' out them rankings.  Baseball (BG), StarTropics, and Alien Storm get lashed at.

Next time on Last Time, Pokemon Trading Card Game!

Double colorless at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Episode 62: Dracula Killing Club [Castlevania 3]

Back during the Black Plague years, the Belmont family was so powerful, they were kicked out of Europe. Yes, the entirety of Europe. That is, of course, excepting Trevor Belmont, who was apparently either less powerful or just not a dick. He then went on an epic journey (which way he went depends on who you asked) and gathered companions who had suspiciously similar jump arcs. Together, faced Dracula. How does the story end?!
*Spoiler: Dracula loses.  It's cool, though; he just comes back*



If you chose the wrong path, you might end up with a different companion download.


(01:55) Not to say that we have perfected storytelling these days.

(02:45) #11: The Matchstick City.

(03:00) Behold, the Sword of Some Dude!  Magnificent.

(08:00) Buy this, get a second game free.

(08:30) Geremy enumerates the Humble Comic Bundle.

(10:30) Deadlands on Xbox?  Might be pretty sweet.  We discuss Xbox One exclusive series and the economic viability thereof.

(16:00) Encrypted conversations, and the importance of people not listening to our League chat.

(22:00) Prequel land!  Check out this sweet intro.

(24:00) Related: the castle that likely inspired Stoker's Dracula is up for sale.

(26:00)  Zach's feelings on matrimony... with your jump arc.

(27:15) Vampire Killer is an oddly specific name for a whip.

(33:00) Alucard is basically Kirby in this game.

(35:30) Out-of-theme enemies.  Also, sadly, you can't just dump Trevor.  Also, Alucard can't attack on stairs.

(39:10) How hard was it?


Next time on Last Time, Kirby's Dreamland 2.

Emailing us will not give you new powers, but you should do it anyway.

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Bonus Episode 4: Castlevania

For our first Halloween, why not a vaguely horror themed game?  We only talk about it every episode, so it's about time we got around to recording one on it.  Alex rejoins us, and we talk about character alignments!  Whip it good!




Swallow our download to gains its abilities!

(00:30) We talk about sexy existential dilemmas.

(06:00) Jump arch matrimony!

(08:50) Angry lesbian stories.  Also, wall chicken.

(18:00) Sub-items, and why they're actually useful in this game.

(21:00) Mechanics!  Not that kind.

In summation, play Castlevania.  It will enrich your life.

Episode 29: Somebody Call Me a Belmont [Castlevania: Symphony of the Night]

This week, we tread where no man dare to tread.  No man except a vampire!  And most people who own a PSX way back when.  It's a terrible night to not know how to backdash!



Let us download tonight for pleasure.  The bandwidth is still great.

(01:00) A brief alcoholic interlude, followed by what we've been playing.  Geremy and Zach played some SC2.  Nocturne, for the uninitiated, is a game about demons n' stuff.  Wonderful 101 is super weird, but kinda fun!  Bat nipples...  Tyler talks a bit about Thomas Was Alone.

(10:30) In Showdown Effect, katanas are the default.  Also, Burnout: Paradise is a pretty cool game that doesn't afraid of crashing.

(13:15) Videogame treadmill.  It's a thing that needed to be.

(14:10) When to get a new console.  Bungie continues to lend its mighty aid to Microsoft.  The PS2 may have been a thing.

(18:30) Why buy a console over a computer.

(21:40) What game would you play for the rest of ever if you only had one?

(23:00) Castlevania: SotN is pretty sweet.  CD loading rooms:  Amazing.  Zach and Tyler briefly debate the merits of 2D games and whether they should exist.

(28:15) WHY?!

(29:30) Cross-douken!

(30:30) Just a list of things this game does...

(31:30) What Zach was talking about.  Also, Alucard definitely gets vengeance.  Nooo!  My powerups!

(35:20) Sweet opening music. The rest of that video has the full soundtrack; it's killer.

(39:45) Pointlessness of sub-weapons.  They may help you get it all done.

(43:30) What is a man?  Die you monster!

(45:30) Just text is worth exploring.

(47:30) Play it!  It's worth the price.


Next week, you'll be cool enough to play Mega Man X!

Super lemons?  We have them at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.

Episode 25: Dude, Where's my Castle? [Castlevania II Simon's Quest]

We start to dig into the meat of sequel month with a game that forever changed a franchise.  Whip yourselves into shape to explore the most inscrutable logic in a Castelvania game, and embark with us upon Simon's Quest!



I bet you can't find the way to the download without a guide.

(01:30) A quick shout out to the only guy who has left us an iTunes review: Newtosmartphones966842266!  Thanks, random person!

(03:15) We've been playing games! (gasp)  Tyler's been binging on FTL and City Folk still, with a dash of Oracles.  Multi-stage bosses are totally a thing.  Zach's been playing XCom, in which Geremy and I are both genre savvy, but not dangerously so. 

(12:30) Goddamn built-in graphics cards.  Also, laser keyboards!  Also, also, pop-up buttons on your touch screen!

(14:15)  Geremy's been playing a decent amount of KoL, Mega Man X, Mega Man 2, a new Dwarf Fortress run, Red Dead Redemption, and Fortune Street.

(17:20)  Also in that list, but deserving its own mention, a Flash-esque visual novel game called Save the Date.  Mess around for about 10 minutes with the save state functions; that's how you play the game.  It's not groundbreaking, really, but worth a look if you're feeling introspective.

(18:15) It's a brief mention, but Zach actually picked up State of Decay.  Here's the most recent installment of Epic Battle Fantasy on Newgrounds.  I highly suggest checking the top picks of the game portal every month; Super Meat Boy debuted as a Flash game here back in the day.  Speaking of Flash games, Gemcraft 0 is pretty epic, as are the others in the series.

(21:30) The game Geremy's talking about here is Receiver.  Burning Wheel, for the interested, is a fairly unique tabletop RPG system.

(23:50) Our least favorite sequels.

(27:30) A quick reference to the Spoony Experiment.  Watch his FF series.

(28:30) First impressions of Castlevania 2.  You can't play it without a walkthrough.

(31:00) Insta-death: hero or menace?

(34:10) Our favorite term for old games, apparently: economy of retries.  We talk about dying in this game.

 (37:30) Castlevania 2 as an adventure game.  It actually does this pretty well.  It has some location consistency issues, though.

(41:20) Zach learns most platformers let you alter your jump arc mid-air.

(45:00) Comparison to Metroid.  This one is less forgiving.

(47:00) This gets really old.

(55:00) Final thoughts. Really, this game isn't as bad as people say it is, but it's not great.


Next week, we wander back to Hyrule to fight Ganon. It's Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.

Want to explore a conversation? Send us some mail at

Geremy@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Tyler@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 Zach@lasttimeonvideogames.com,
 or LTOVG@lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 You can also go to the show page at plus.google.com/+LastTimeOnVideogames or comment on the site at www.lasttimeonvideogames.com.
 Also, you can follow our tweets @LTOVG.