Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin was the second Castlevania game released for the Nintendo DS and was released by Konami in 2006. Portrait of Ruin is set in 1944, before the end of the Second World War, and Dracula‘s castle has appeared in man’s darkest hour, to push humanity over the brink into ruin.
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Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Nintendo DS
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was the first Castlevania game released for the Nintendo DS and was released by Konami in 2005. It is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow on the Game Boy Advance and continues the story of that game.
Swords and Serpents, NES/Famicom
Developed by Interplay Productions and published by Acclaim Entertainment in 1990, Swords and Serpents is a first-person, party-based RPG with tile-based movement for up to four players. You can either build a party of four characters yourself, in single-player mode, or up to four different players can control one party member each in multiplayer mode*.
*= An adapter, like the ‘NES Satellite‘, or another four-player expansion peripheral, is required if you’re going to play with that many players (but, let’s face it, very few will, although it’s nice – and fairly unique – to have the option to do that).
Slayer, 3DO
Based on TSR‘s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Second Edition ruleset, Slayer is a first-person Role-Playing Game that was developed by Lion Entertainment and released exclusively for the 3DO in 1994. The game was published by SSI in North America; by Mindscape in Europe, and by T&E Soft in Japan (under the title “Lost Dungeon“).
Mysterium, Game Boy
Developed by Maxis Software and published by Asmik Ace Entertainment for the original Game Boy in 1991, Mysterium is an obscure first-person dungeon-crawler in which you play an alchemist’s apprentice exploring a maze – called the Mysterium – in order to complete a test.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Sega Saturn
Konami‘s brilliant PlayStation game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1998, but it was only ever released in Japan (under the title “Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku“). Thankfully, an English translation patch is available to make the game playable to those who can’t read Japanese. The patch – created by ‘Knight of Dragon’ – also features numerous bug fixes and improvements.
For those who’ve never played Symphony of the Night before: it is a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood and is rightly regarded as one of the best Castlevania games in the long-running series (if not THE best).
Continue reading Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Sega Saturn
Paradroid Redux, Commodore 64
Paradroid Redux is a fan-tweaked version of Andrew Braybrook‘s classic Commodore 64 shooter, Paradroid. The Redux version includes bug-fixes, enhancements and additions, and runs faster and smoother than any other Paradroid version that preceded it. It also includes all of the three previous versions of Paradroid in one package.
Paradroid, Commodore 64
I’ve already covered the re-made “Paradroid Metal Edition” on this website, but haven’t yet featured the original Paradroid – the highly-rated scrolling action game designed and programmed by Andrew Braybrook and published for the Commodore 64 by Hewson Consultants in 1985.
Lunar Legend, Game Boy Advance
Developed by Japan Art Media and published internationally by Ubisoft in 2002, Lunar Legend is a handheld remake/re-telling of Game Arts‘ classic RPG, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, with new graphics, content and story changes.
Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon, PC
The MS-DOS version of Cinemaware‘s Sinbad and the Throne of the Falcon was released in 1989 and it is not a bad game although the fighting sections – it has to be said – are a bit pathetic.