Tag Archives: halloween

Castlevania [NES] – Review

You know, I still remember checking out Castlevania on the NES in the early-to-mid 2000s, marveling at the foundations of the series that spawned one of my favorite games at the time, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. This had to have been late in my middle school years, perhaps even my first year of high school. I had already been turned onto video games for a year or so, and not too long before I had scored an incredible haul from a garage sale that furthered my interests in retro gaming. It was a NES with, like, all the heavy hitters. I’m talking multiple Super Mario Bros. and Zelda games, Metroid, Contra, the Zapper, and of course, Castlevania. What stuck with me most about checking out Castlevania was its difficulty. I could only get so far – maybe the second boss – before burning out and throwing in the towel.

Fast forward to Halloween afternoon, 2021 and I STILL hadn’t played a thematically appropriate game for the month of October. As one does with scary stories, horror movies, and the like, there’s just something fitting about consuming them in October. At least here in North America, fall is starting to FEEL like fall. It’s getting darker earlier and colder, which makes it harder to enjoy physical activities outdoors, and on top of that, everything’s dying. Why not revel or find solace in a piece of entertainment that mirrors the increasingly dire situation that surrounds oneself? Well after days of seeing Philip Summers – aka “The Hand-Drawn Game Guides guy” – post about his Castlevania exploits on Twitter, I decided I’d do the same!

Continue reading Castlevania [NES] – Review

Games I’ll Potentially Play This Halloween

When I was bored at work earlier today I realized my only obligation on Halloween this year is school, and that’s only until noon. Seeing how I live in a rural area and I don’t get trick-or-treaters, I’ll have the rest of the evening to myself, and probably some friends. Naturally, I began concocting a list of Halloween related games I could potentially play.

The first on my list, and one I will definitely play is Batman: Arkham City. Primarily because Calender Man hinted that I should visit him on Halloween, but also because dressing up as a superhero is commonplace on Halloween.

Bloodrayne. Maybe it’s time to revisit Bloodrayne: Betrayal.

Castlevania. I’ll probably have nothing better to do on Halloween so I might as well play a game in this great series and slay Dracula.

Condemned: Criminal Origins. A really good game.

Costume Quest. I actually don’t have this, but it’s onlya download away. This role-playing game came out last October and features a group of children trick-or treating. A solid title from the well-regarded studio Double Fine Productions.

Dracula Unleashed. Or perhaps any other “spooky” game on the Sega CD like Night Trap, Mansion of the Hidden Souls, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, or Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. I’ve always wanted to play this game and this is the perfect excuse to pick it up.

Fester’s Quest. This NES game has players controlling Uncle Fester from the TV show The Addams Family. Scary indeed.

Geist. This poor GameCube first-person shooter might just be at the right place at the right time this Halloween.

Grabbed by the Ghoulies. More ghosts?

Illbleed. This Dreamcast game seems really strange.

Juggernaut. Speaking of strange, this PlayStation adventure game is off the charts.

Left 4 Dead. What list of Halloween related video games would be complete without Left 4 Dead, or any other game featuring zombies.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. Playing the full-motion video Sega CD game would remind of my youth in the 1990s, and it’d be the perfect excuse to write about one of my favorite Sega CD games.

Overblood. This Resident Evil clone has a soft spot in my heart, just like another spooky PlayStation video game: Space Griffon VF-9.

Resident Evil. Any game from this survival-horror series would be right at home on Halloween.

Shadowgate. A spooky point-and-click adventure game perhaps?

The Simpsons: Night of the Living Treehouse of Horror. I received this poor Game Boy Color platformer for my birthday one year and never progressed far in it.

The Thing. I did just see the new movie.

TimeSplitters: Future Perfect. One of my favorite levels from this game was a horror themed mansion.

Honorable Mentions:

Alone in the Dark
Darkstalkers
Dead Head Fred
Death Jr. 
Friday the 13th
House of the Dead
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge/The Pumpkin King
Zombies Ate My Neighbors 

Anyone else planning something similar? What titles did I forget about?