Oct 032012
Our four part series detailing the many stellar songs of Castlevania begins with this look at the NES and Game Boy titles.
Our four part series detailing the many stellar songs of Castlevania begins with this look at the NES and Game Boy titles.
YES!!!! I knew it! 😀
This is awesome! and can’t wait to give it a listen! ^^
I don’t wanna sound obnoxious, but like I asked in the past episode, are you open for suggestions? But even if you’re not, this is great, and I’m looking forward to check all the picks you have!
That creepy Castlevania II intro music will never be the same. Thanks Chris.
The Castlevania series features some of the greatest videogame music compositions ever. It’s amazing how much good music one can find throughout the entire series. I’m really happy to have met Kinuyo Yamashita after a Video Games Live! show and get her autograph for both my NES cart of Castlevania and SNES cart of Mega Man X3. Female Japanese composers have pretty much crafted a large chunk of the greatest game music on the planet.
Some great selections from CV1-3. I also would have included “Clockwork,” “Aquarius,” and “Riddle” (gimme dem arpeggios!) from Castlevania III. The Famicom version of the soundtrack is very interesting to me. It’s something I wish North America got originally, but I also don’t mind the more chiptuney stuff we got instead. Nevertheless, I think it’s badass that the game’s audio programmer Hidenori Maezawa (of Contra/TMNT fame) actually helped design the soundchip for the Famicom version.
I did some VGdrumming to Castlevania II and Castlevania Adventure 2, links here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdF_2-x93HE and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Thh3r2kZcM
Does anyone else notice that CVII’s “Dwelling of Doom” and Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Far Beyond The Sun” sound really similar?
The Castlevania: The Adventure song you played was “Battle of the Holly” (‘Holy,’ among other words, were officially mispelled in the liner notes). Despite its great tunes, CV:A is probably one of the most poorly-aged games on the Game Boy. Good God movement in that game is painfully slow!
The Castlevania: Adventure 2 tracks were “Praying Hands,” “Ripe Seedes,” and “Phyco Warror.” All incredible stuff, although I would’ve loved to hear “New Messiah” and “Original Sin” in there. From a drummer’s standpoint, I find that way too many tracks in that game reuse the same exact beat, just at different tempos. Doesn’t bother me too much though.
The official CD release for these two games is a little interesting, because they touch up the songs with reverb, which fans of the soundtracks may or may not like.
Awesome of you to include a NESkimos cover here. Brings back memories. They recently reunited after a looong period of nothing, so to answer your question, yeah, they’re back!
And in case you don’t include this in subsequent podcasts, the remix of “New Messiah” in WiiWare’s Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is effing phenomenal. All the songs in the game are essentially remixed in the style of classic Konami arcade games like TMNT: Turtles in Time and Sunset Riders (over-the-top orchestral hits and all). I can literally headbang to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S4i1D4rQzw
One more track I’d love to share: Vomitron’s badass metal medley of Castlevania 1’s music. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRfVKrC0nfc
Looking forward to hearing some CV4, Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood in the next podcast. Also from now on, you will be called “BURETTO!!” See ya at NYCC!
DA NA NA NAAAAAA!!!!!
MMMMmm that sweet Castlevania music. Can’t wait till you get to CV4.
This is great and I didn’t grow up with these games. First Castlevania game that I played was SOTN on PS1 which is still arguably the best game in the series
You guys rock. I was waiting so long for this episode.
Show only gets better and better, keep it up fellas.
Mega Man special after this 4-part series? 🙂
Alright, now that I’ve actually listened to the podcast, I can properly comment on it!
I have to admit, even though I am a HUGE fan of the CV series in General. I actually didn’t get started with any of the NES games. It all started for me with Symphony of the Night, and even then, I was like 10 and i didn’t fully grasp the masterpiece I was playing, even so, it left such a huge impact on me that later I wanted to get the GBA so badly mainly to play Circle of the Moon. Which is a game that actually had covers from a few of the songs played here, such as vampire Killer and Aquarius.
Of course, once I got older and the internet made it far easier to find info and listen to music, I quickly caught up on the beauty of the original games. So even though I didn’t exactly grow up with any of the NES games, their legacy and impact on me is still palpable. And like Chris mentioned about the Town Music of Dracula’s Curse, there’s something just so… Complex about that song, and i just really, really love it.
Also, yeah, like Patrick K Mentioned, the CV: Adventure song you guys played was Battle of the Holy, which is absolutely one of my favorite songs of the series, some of the covers of that song are just phenomenal. I also echo his desire to have heard “New Messiah” but I do understand, there’s just so much good CV music, and even 4 shows is not even nearly enough to cover it all!
Still though, great first episode! and I do feel you guys did get a very damn good selection of the NES and GB games, and i am absolutely looking forward to listen to the future episodes! ^^ Keep up the great job Brett!
Ooh, this month is gonna be good…
Oh man am I looking forward to this. Probably my favorite series of all time as far as music is concerned.
I made a thread for Castlevania month over in the VGMpire forum.
Forgot the link: http://www.lasertimepodcast.com/forums/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=1355#postid-13503
Such a good show. Can’t wait for the next three. Next podcast any way we can get a metal gear show. Thanks
This castle is so vania. Well done sirs (and that’s before I’ve even hit play).
Hey, how’s this for a Mario callback?
Swing your arms from side to side
Come on it’s time to go, DO THE MARIO!
(I’m drunk)
hey hows it going guys, im kinda new to this website, looking forward to this podcast. im crossing my fingers in hopes that u guys at least mention Circle of the Moon, i feel like its a bit underrated for how good of a game it is. hands down my favorite gba game, “Aquarius” and “Inclined response of souls” are the 2 tracks that mainly stood out for me but the whole soundtrack is amazing
[…] (Castlevania parts 1 2 3 […]
that Grandia 2 theme is so hot!
that shit is on steam right now,,, kinda feels dated in a way many 16-bit JRPGs don’t BUT still fun, partially thanks to the rad tunes
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