Sequelitis - Castlevania 1 vs. Castlevania 2
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- Everyone knows Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest was a huge disappointment after Castlevania 1, but why?
In Sequelitis, I passionately discuss the relationships between video game sequels and their predecessors. I also crack a lot of jokes which may or may not be funny.
Getting a laugh or two out of a video is a-okay with me, but I hope along with it we can open up channels for more intelligent discussion on game making and how designers both young and old can learn from the greats and not-so-greats.
Since I’ve first watched this video, I have:
Graduated high school
Got married
Had a kid
Bought a house
.....and I still return to this video for how good it is
This made me smile, much love to your family and your future.
Flex. Chill bro I'll get there too just give me some time.
@@DeDodgingEse lol not flexing. Just crazy to me how much time has past since I first watched this series.
@@lambiepie6436 Lol i know bro. Just crazy how 10 years results differently for different people. Ill get that house soon this race aint over!
Lmao same
Damn 8 years later and this is still a quality video
Yep.
Unlike 99% of TH-camrs, Arin can TALK, and he can WRITE.
Man's a genius. He plays up an image of being a goofy idiot, but you can tell from how hard he works on everything that he's got some serious talent.
Damn 9 years later and this is still a quality video
Saiyajin Slayer except for the bits about the whip delay, I’ll agree.
some game developers even use this series to help further develop their games
"ANSWER 4 HOURS!"- my favorite part
Mine is the dumb skeleton
DYEHINNNGHGEEEGHGEEEGH
I Hope you see where I'm coming from so I don't have to waste my fucking time EXPLAINING IT!
+SSJ Infernape Agreed
Which one?
"Nrrrrrrgghhh!!!"
Or
"Whenarya gonna run out an' fall apart?!"
TH-cam: "No mature content"
Arin 'Egoraptor' Hanson's first line: "Castlevania 1 was so fucking cool."
Priceless comment
Too be fair, the video came out before TH-cam was so strict.
@@niclaswa5408 But still, it's odd for TH-cam to say that there's "No mature content," only for an F-bomb to be dropped in the first line.
@@ignaciocue That’s true, but TH-cam didn’t become so strict on swearing until around ~2016/17
We can say curse words are just... immature.
* cue rim shot *
Q: What's Simon Belmont's favorite chicken restaurant?
A: Church's
That's funny ^J^
But of course!!
WOW
eeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy :D
yooo
3 years ago I joined the Art Institute to learn how to make video games.
First day: Instructor shows me Sequelitis.
I learn about Egoraptor.
I learn about GameGrumps.
I learn about StarBomb and NSP.
My life is then complete.
Best 100,000+ bucks I threw into anything.
+Darkovika Gaming They actually showed sequelitis in class? Was it censored?
Corbin West Not even slightly XDD it's not like, going to Harvard with professors. These instructors don't have teaching degrees- they just have years and years of experience in the video game industry. So of course, they themselves curse like sailors. In fact one of them WAS a sailor, he had been in the navy before the game industry lawl
Heh. Getting shown something like Sequelitis during a tutoring session sounds like my kinda class.
Corbin West X3 It was very fun. Don't get me wrong, the stuff I've been taught is incredibly difficult and arduous, but the people are fun and the way it's taught it fun ^_^ He wanted us to understand that there's more to video games than what we might think on a normal basis, and Arin does a really good job of that X3
***** I feel like it's been so long on these Sequelitis videos that there just isn't very many new people coming to them- it's mostly us who love them and keep returning XDDDD Not to mention, ultimately, it wouldn't matter what the individual says, point is, an industry professional who was a Lead Designer on Skyrim saw Sequelitis and used it to teach his first batch of students! That screams "dude's got something right" to me hahaha
It is so strange to hear Arin in a nearly 20 minute segment not talk about penis.
9 YEARS... 9 FKN YEARS... And I still enjoy the 4 Sequelitis.
Bring this back Egoraptor 😔🙏
I dont think he will sadly, at the very least this did help inspire other people to make similar series about talking about game design. Sure will miss the way he used comedy as a part of it too though.
He sort of shot himself in the foot with the ALttP vs OoT having a lot of unpopular opinions, and also how his presentation was... less than tactful about it. However, the main reason he doesn't create his solo content anymore is because Game Grumps pulls in more views with less effort, being simply LP of various games, old and new. As VulanFaux mentioned, though, the inspiration for critical retrospectives is pretty significant.
“I’m afraid its been… much longer than that now.”
i'm afraid egoraptor never talks about persona JRPG games from ps2 to mid ps4 and talks shit about waifus
3:56 The best part ever.
DaRon Penn 3:57 on repeat lol
U idiots this is best 4:45
I miss this series so much... I know he’s busy, and I understand that. I’d just love to see more of these. Even if it takes long because of GG. Love it so much.
I had a night with friends when we took turns playing cv1. Everytime you died we had some sort of punishments planned out like taking a shot or we. Was one of the best nights of my life and i recommend this to anyone that havent done it ;D
sounds cool xD
Taking a shot every time you die in CV1 sound like a recipe for alcohol poisoning
@@Livestreamlurker I agree man. That's just pure masochism right there.
13:16 What I find interesting (albeit kind of flawed) about this argument is that it essentially boils down to "the open-ended, back-tracking nature of Metroidvania is inherently bad". But as Super Metroid, Symphony of the Night, and literally every game that was inspired by those two has proven, the formula isn't bad... Castlevania 2 just did a shit job of implementing it.
I agree
At the same time Jeremy Parish and other game historians have pointed out how vital Castlevania 2 was to the birth of the "Metroidvania" genre. Certainly it's hard to go back to now, but it revolutionized a lot of game design concepts and saw a lot of imitators in its day.
Almost like this video is wrong
He isn't saying it is inherently bad; he is saying that dispite the modern gameplay advancements and sound/visual effects that make the design more stylistically enjoyable, it is still something that he enjoys less than the more focused gameplay structure of the classical Castlevania games. For instance, the major difference between Castlevania 2 and modern Castlevania in how you progress the game is in Castlevania 2 you grind to get an item, but in modern Castlevania you have to backtrack and explore previous areas to obtain an item that let's you progress. You still need an item to proceed instead of just proceeding, but in my opinion, and where I differ with Arin's opinion, is how you access this item needed to progress. Mindless grinding imo isn't fun, but exploration can be fun. How you get the required item has changed, but the design of how you progress hasn't.
TL;DR - He isn't saying it is inherently bad. He is stating that in his opinion it isn't as enjoyable as the more focused design of the classical Castlevania games. Subjectivity is implied!
@@boe362no, he stated that the newer CV games are like snacks while CV1 is a high class desert. Sure he’s not saying it’s inherently bad, but he’s very clearly disrespecting it
#1 GAME FEEL 2:00
#2 DAY AND NIGHT 2:42
#3 TOWNS AND THE RPG 4:08
#4 HEALTH AND CONTINUES 5:28
#5 THE PALETTE 6:49
#6 STUPID ENEMY SHIT 8:14
#7 THE BOSSES 10:20
#8 WHERE DO I FUCKING GO?! 10:50
HOW TO FIX IT 11:40
THE EPILOGUE 13:08
You are just an Angel😘
awesome
oh thx person
I just love jumping around those time stamps, hearing Arin yell over and over.
😂😂😂
Underated and hilarious comment
Konami tried something different back then. Now they don't try anything anymore.
The only thing Konami is trying these days is to commit corporate suicide.
#FucKonami
gizoginjr No. They only care about their slot machines.
Jdoggad And Yugioh
They tried pachinko :|
What huh?
What?
Eh- What?
An element in a game wasn’t made soley for me to have fun?
OOOH NO...
THATS..
NO...
That's probably the most genius thing he's ever said
Evasion in RPGs is the first one to come to mind.
Well sadly,that's how most games today work.
Was waiting for the EA logo
@@philkovach948 honestly
13 years ago and still one of my favorite videos to come back to
Really liking this series. It's nice to see someone break down and really explain in detail design choices and mechanics and why they do and do not work. It's also GREAT to here someone step up and rip an overhyped game to shreds. Even if it is a good game, or a surperb game, every gave has it's flaws. Someone's gotta point these flaws out and it's nice to see it being done.
It's already done AVGN, he's more experienced this guy that needed to train to complete wind waker, a game for 11 year olds.
Jim Major That was exactly my point. Example, I'm a sucker for zelda games. Grew up with the franchise, have played most of them, so hearing someone have the BALLS to really tear Ocarina of Time to shreds, is quite different. Or how he rips apart Simon's quest. Everyone says it's the best game ever, no exceptions but... it's not, and he's pointing out why. Not that these are bad games, but people very easily overlook the seemingly obvious design flaws because they like the game. Someone's gotta point these out.
Jim Major Then he's going to have an hard time in them, couse he fucking messed up his playthrough for ocarina of time so bad. He's a fucking idiot at videogames, go and watch his video about it. Then you tell me who's a true gamer, he isn't.
.
Jim Major
xD No prob, and a return High Five to you. Thanks for helping out in the comment chain.
Damn! The nostalgia of watching Sequelitis after 10 years.
Obligatory "I miss when Arin used to animate" haha, but for real, this series is so good. There really aren't that many other things like it. Hope he does another some day.
I honestly think this video is one of the best ones on all of TH-cam. Anyone can learn from it and anyone can laugh at it. It’s been 8 years since I first watched it but I still come back every now and then to have a laugh and hear some good ol’ objective observations of game design.
it felt good
it felt good
it FELT GOOD
IT FELT REALLY GOOD WHEN I BEAT THE SHI-
-T OUT THAT PUSSY
-T OUT MY MEAT
I thought he yelled what a piece of shit lol.
@@nandabun 😂
*WTF ARE U TALKING ABOUT*
Thing about modern Castlevanias is that levelling up seems to be more there just to make backtracking easier, because backtracking ends up a necessary evil in exploring a huge map. Okay, you CAN grind a lot, but that tends to defeat the point. And after a point, most enemies started giving tiny amounts of EXP, so your levelling petered out after a point, and it was mostly at a point where you could deal with the enemies with only moderate ease. So "grinding to beat a boss" was never... A thing. The only two Metroidvania-style Castlevanias I would consider to have focused more on the RPG than the action would be Symphony of the Night (Alucard attacks and moves stupidly fast, c'mon) and Harmony of Dissonance (Juste can just... Magic shit up).
Castlevania was the first game that came to mind when I started playing Dark Souls. It has the same sort of gameplay style Arin mentions in the video; having to take your time and plan things out so you don't get killed every five seconds. Combat, too, since the weapons have a pronounced delay (especially the bigger ones), so you have to learn to time your attacks. Not to mention the overall atmosphere and style of the game.
Dark Souls reminded me of the Classicvanias along with the Metroidvanias. Brilliant enemy placement and level design along with strategic item equipment and exploration. The dark, gothic atmosphere also felt similar.
SlyBiffrons And look! imagine that dark souls 2 comes out and makes almost the exact same mistake that Castlevania made. Went from thought out and difficult enemy placement and strategy to simply putting more enemies with more health...
XxCQOTDxX Ha, I was trying to nail down why I wasn't enjoying DS2 as much as DS1 but that comparison makes it really obvious. I had made the Castlevania 1 = Dark Souls 1 comparison before so I don't know how I didn't notice that sequel parallel.
Yeah the feel just isn't there... Both games are easy once you understand how to play and realize that you have to be careful and think about how best to approach a situation. The difference is that DS was a fair challenge that gave you overwhelming satisfaction when you finally managed to get through an area. Enemies were generally tough on their own and had unique ways of being introduced to the player. On the other hand DS2 just puts a ton of High HP enemies in a small room together which encourages just goading them out 1 by one and using boring and tedious tactics that give no sense of accomplishment. (Firing poison arrows for example)
XxCQOTDxX
Haha, that is pretty much how the DS2 endgame went for me. Poison arrows for enemies, lightning spear for bosses.
A decade later and this video is still a banger
Castlevania 2 is a bad, poorly made game. But it did lead to, IMHO, the very good Metrovania games. Everything needs a start, and its not always a shiny process. I only wish that Zelda would have invested another game or two in the style of Zelda 2. Just not as cryptic, and with better level design. I think a Metrozelda game would be kind of interesting. lol
MetroidVania* those are the absolute best castlevania games ever made, if you want a game that gets the classic CV formula perfectly right before the MetroidVania games came around then Rondo of Blood is the perfect one, Rondo of Blood is from my experience the best classic style castlevania game, I love playing Symphony of the night, I love non-linear game design, hell my favorite game of all time is metroid prime which has a ton of exploration to it, and in symphony of the night you control Alucard who is probably the most broken character in any action RPG ever
Minecast Zyad48 Agreed.
Minecast Zyad48
Yeah! Alucard is broken as fuck! Finally someone notices!!! Im surprised that SotN has so much praise, considering that its so damn broken. SotN is literally the 2nd worst RPG Castlevania, obviously just after Simons Quest for number 1. Its just Alucard is too damn versatile & OP, it just eliminates any challenge the game has to offer.
Order of Eccelsia is the best of the RPG Castlevania games, in my opinion. So they really did get better as they went along, considering OoE is the most recent & the best. & Simons Quest as the 1st & worst, & SotN was the 2nd, but 2nd worst, but still enjoyable.
MrKockNoker true it eliminates all challenge after a while but you gotta admit that absolutely wrecking everything with Alucard is pretty fun, also as for the other MetroidVania castlevania games I dabled a bit with aria of sorrow on the GBA with an emulator which is pretty fun but ppl say that the DS games are better and when I get my 3DS I'll be sure to try them out
Minecast Zyad48
yeah, I literally played all the RPG Castlevania games. All 8! & in my opinion OoE is the best, & the 2nd best is Circle of the Moon for the GameBoy Advanced. Those 2 are the most challenging & most balanced.
Funny story about CV2. The second issue of Nintendo Power magazine had CV2 as the cover story and I couldn't wait to play it. I finally got my chance over a friend's house one day and I must have gotten further than anyone else in the neighborhood because I remember more and more kids showing up to watch me play. The excitement in the room as I made my way to the final boss battle was palpable. So there's Dracula in all his reformed glory, and the first thing most people do is throw their special weapon, which I currently had set to the golden dagger. It hit Dracula and proceeded to drain half his health with one hit. It also froze him in place so I could get in a few swings with my flame whip. And suddenly it was just over. All of the anticipation of a boss battle on par with the original game and I beat the final boss without losing a life. I think that was my first real big video game letdown.
Yeah, I've always wanted to see CV2 remade with an actual boss in each mansion. I even made an attempt a long time ago when emulators started emerging and I could take screenshots of the levels. I stitched them together and removed the sprites in a graphical editor, then imported that into Gamemaker along with the sprites of Simon doing different animations. I remember I had the first town in a somewhat playable state before a HD crash wiped it out and I lost interest.
+Tepis Inferno God is battle in Castlevania Chronicles hurt me
***** vs Death in Castlevania Chronicles
***** Death was easier in castlevania due to the whip down feature in that game
***** a little bit good troll man
Did anyone else come back to this especially for BUONES!!!!!
KingGhidorah5464 hell yeah man
I honestly can't find when that is...
3:56 buones
BOONZ
KingGhidorah5464 i came for ANSWERFOURYEARS
I remembered watching this when it came out. What a time to be alive
Hey Arin. Your Sequilitis episodes so far are awesome but it'd be nice to see a few more. Make em shorter if you have to considering the animation and graphics you do for them.
One 10 minute Sequilitis a month is better than one 30 minute Sequilitis a decade.
***** if you havent played it maybe you should play the first one and LTTP and ocarina and you may appreaciate it more
***** yeah but grumps is amazing
then don't give an opinion on it and keep your fucking gob shut
I agree, i love Arin's humor, he might be my favorite youtuber :)
*****
The first one is brilliant, but most people want to be spoon fed what they got to do, so they don't like it very much. The second one is a sidescroller for the most time, and the combat is a little of a guessing game, so it is very hard, and not very fun.
Much of what I like about Symphony of the Night is the atmosphere. It makes backtracking enjoyable.
+tibschris If you think Symphony of the Night backtracking and Simon's quest backtracking are the same, then you're an idiot
THEGREATMAX Who said that? I was giving one example of where backtracking gave me some level of satisfaction.
tibschris Well that's great, but it's kind of pointless to just say random things. He never said that backtracking couldn't be fulfilling in some games, just that it's not at all in Simon's Quest.
So again, way to say completely pointless random things I suppose
In reference to the more modern CV games:
"Are you getting any sense of genuine satisfaction from having to run back and forth through places you've already been?"
To that I answered "yes" and provided a specific example. I directly responded to a point raised in the video. The only random and pointless thing was your attempt to contort my comment to make it look like I was referring to Simon's Quest in some way. I specifically mentioned the game I was talking about. I never said or even implied that I thought that backtracking in SQ was similar to SotN.
tibschris Well then, it's better to wait until someone's done talking instead of trying to pick their argument apart halfway through, so you're still wrong. He covered those games and how they do it better. You're still wrong, congrats
i really want a sonic sequelitis
we need a sonic sequelitas
#sonic sequelitis
+Joshua Jacobs Sonic is a poop franchise
+Cole Norrid Is this the en espanol pronoun version of Sequelitis
+Joshua Jacobs first of all we need any sequelitis possible cus there are nun
Still love this video but I do feel some aspects of it are off-more specifically his commentary on the series other entries. Metroidvanias are not necessarily about difficulty, there about exploration. And while you could grind against enemies to make the game easier you never need to do that. In aria specifically some bosses are wicked challenging even with pretty good gear.
While his commentary on castlevania 1-2 holds up I feel like the ending bit is just egoraptor not being a fan of the metroidvania structure. Which is odd considering his love of Zelda 1 which is very reminiscent of metroidvanias.
Actually, I believe I've heard that SoTN was inspired by Zelda rather than metroid.
I think the point is that the original game, Castlevania itself, is ironically not a metroidvania. That collector's formula was adopted with Simon's Quest, and the series has since never looked back at what made the original game special.
I agree that he made it sound like all those games are consequently bad, and I don't think that's true. But they *are* different. If someone is hoping to experience a spiritual successor to Castlevania 1, they'll have to look for it in a different game franchise.
@@Aejums What about castlevania 3, super 4, bloodlines, chronicles, rondo of blood and the gameboy ones?
Notyep Dranel this isn’t a metroidvania
@@darkartsdabbler2407 what do you mean by "this?"
Castlevania 2?
Zelda?
Symphony of the night?
Metroid?
Every time I watch it I'm disappointed by his last point about the metroidvania style games.
I understand and respect that he prefers shorter, denser experiences, but then he just goes and shits on anyone that likes the opposite. The whole dessert vs snacks analogy is just kinda pretentious (and I really hate using that word).
I prefer to think of it as a 100m sprint vs a cross-country hike. The few dozen seconds of the sprint are more intense and challenging than any comparably sized part of the hike, but the enjoyment of the hike comes from the gradual progress, all the small seemingly insignificant things that you discover along the way, and being able to look back on the whole experience and feel a sense of progress.
Take Super Metroid for example. Most of the power-ups don't hand you victory on a silver platter, they just remove the artificial boundaries to your progress. But in the course of the long journey you took to get that power-up, you honed the skills you needed to use it to its full potential.
Gabriel Munn Hey maybe you are right, however Simon's Quest is not a good metroidvania, let alone a good game.
Marcel Weber
I've not played Simon's Quest, and from what I've seen it looks tedious as fuck. But his last point was about the newer SotN style games, not Simon's Quest.
Gabriel Munn
Yeah I do see your point and I partially agree with you as opposed to him, but do keep in mind that in the end they're just different styles of gameplay. Yeah Castlevania 1 and Order of Ecclesia and Lords of Shadows are all from the same franchise AND from the Metroidvania sub-genre, but they all essentially feel extremely different from each other. One has a much more Ghosts 'n Goblins arcade-y feel to it. Another has heavy rpg elements a la Zelda 2: The Linkening (The Adventure of Link of course) and the last...well that just plays like a God Of War Alpha demo (yes I did just call that game a shitty, buggy, incomplete mess of a ripoff).
It's this difference in overall experience that people respond to when judging these games. Some people prefer the linear uber-intensity that great grandpa NES used to boast in his prime, while others respond more strongly to games like Symphony of the Night (which ironically feels more Metroid that classicvania in my opinion). And that's where his ending comments come from in this video. That dichotomy of flavors that has ripped the fans of the franchise into two subgroups.
And I say two because I've still to meet the person to actually enjoy and recommend Castlevania: Lords of War and its sequels ^_^'
It's especially annoying when games like Zelda 1 and Metroid are considered masterpieces, yet this and Zelda 2 do similar things and are considered crap.
Krebons1200 but the adventure of link was extremely different, almost completely in fact O.o
The big difference between castlevania 2 and 1 is the padding. One was padded all the way to hell, whereas the other was quite linear.
13:27 - T'be fair all of these games also differ from Simon's Quest in the most important way: You don't lose all the shit (hearts/gold) you were grinding up when you die. Just whatever you earned compared to your last save.
To be fairrrr.
Also these games follow the Metroid style of gameplay where it’s more like finding “locks and keys” by exploring. I feel like egoraptor kind of painted metroidvanias in a bad light in this video tbh, it’s probably one of the few points in this video I disagree with
@@andresortiz9558
Back then, Egoraptor viewed Super Metroid as like a perfect game. And I think that because Castlevania took a similar approach, he hated it since it was different from the NES Castlevania games. He thought of SOTN like a Super Metroid ripoff but worse in every way. So it's not that he hates metroidvania games, he just dislikes the Castlevania ones.
@@arekmg0003 I see, although I can now understand what ego raptor was trying to say in the video, I do believe that he could have articulated his point better. Nevertheless, thank you for clarifying.
@@andresortiz9558
No problem. That's where a lot of people disagree with him because the metroidvania games in the Castlevania series are definitely amazing games. Sure Simon's Quest can be considered a metroidvania as like SOTN, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia...But no way are they on the same level of quality. In fact, Order of Ecclesia kinda does what he is asking for since that game is really hard. Even if you grind, even if you collect the best weapons...You will still lose if you don't plan or be careful since the enemies and bosses in that game are really hard.
But because Castlevania 1 on the NES is his favorite game in the entire series, it wouldn't suprise anyone if he's just being blinded by nostalgia and just hates that Castlevania took a different approach when SOTN came out.
"Castlevania 1 is to Chicken as Castlevania 2 is to Churches"
So...Church's Chicken?
Bomber Jac lol.
He means the castlevania 1 is good
And castlevania 2 is boring
He actually mentioned that on Game Grumps and said that he didn't make that joke because it was too obvious.
***** oddly enough, I've never had it.
lizandra vega churches in castelvania 2 heal you. chicken in castlevania 1 heal you.
that comparison wasnt about the game, also he said ^^^ before the comparison
I always forget that these videos never really had an ending they just kinda ended
They do have a climax and end. This one ends with a analogy which describes the relationship with the two games. The Castlevania 4 one ends with the lesson of what a good sequel is and how it gets there and how to acheive that goal. The Zelda one ended with how the goals in zelda should be acheived and how they should feel. The megaman one didn't end fairly well I would admit, I would have moved the conection to thecharacter part after the "list of cool shit"
It's 2019 and I'm still waiting for a continuation of this series. It's OK I'll get some coffee while I wait
This is why Circle of the Moon is one of my favorites, because it's like it mixes the old style and new style of Castlevania perfectly.
Exactly.
Yes it does, it's an excelent RPG and also because it was so FUCKING HARD!!.
About the palette: Simon's Quest's palette is quite dull, yes, but it also gave a very gloomy and somewhat depressing mood, which helped the atmosphere. At least, that's what it did for me.
Yes but it's not like the first game had an upbeat or happy time to it either. You can add less boring colors and keep the same atmosphere, and in some cases even enhance it
Agreed, and the grey town he cites as an example is a damned _ghost town_. It has no inhabitants and that's why it looks like that. The Castlevania II color palette is fine; IMO it's a ridiculous complaint. I get that he's an animator so he thinks about contrast, but I think that sometimes rules can be broken, depending on context.
@@SimBol1216 I always thought it was a beautiful game.
I've watched this awesome video so many times and I just realized how much humor and information Arin packed into this less-than-15-minute video.
*Standing Ovation*
Honestly I'm that kind of guy who just mows down a bag of chips haha
Nothing like mowing down a big bag of doritos. Mmmmmm
>Cant stand that Mario has brown hair and black moustache
>Own character has brown hair and black eyebrows
Major Gnuisance so glad he went back and changed that.
Its a shame it was tied to a pretty lackluster video.
Uh, you know you can have black eyebrows and have brown hair? Are you serious?
@@Cpg443 that wasnt the point
*wtf ARE U TALKING ABOUT*
11:15
How I feel when I try to do combos in Skullgirls.
0:16 I thought the actual reason games from that era were so difficult was because the developers tended to do their own beta testing, and since they designed the levels, it never seemed as hard to them as it would be to the average player?
the end explanation of chips and deserts, loved it.
Regarding the later Castlevanias
He himself might not appreciate it as much but there are other ways to play the game than just wanting to conquer a challenge. Being able to explore a world at our own pace and find little secrets to get rewards that grow our character over time is just another way to enjoy a game, not an inferior one.
well Castlevania 1 respects 1 playstyle. Metroidvania respects 2. Metroidvania attempts to cater to both speedrunners that want to beat the game as fast as possible and completionists that try to get all the best weapons armor etc. The original castlevania uses its gameplay to force the speedrunners to slow down while still giving the completionists the full experience of a game.
I just recently played SotN for the first time recently, and I see what he's saying. But I still thought it was hella fun. Naw, I don't find it as satisfying as Castlevania 1 but it's pretty damn good in it's own right.
Awesome Man well Egoraptor's argument assumes it is possible to create a perfect game, but no game is truly perfect.
Yeah. Metroid shares a lot of things with the later castlevania's and I sure dont think of any of them "as fast food".
zed4567
I feel like that is everyone's problem with this video. Egoraptor is is trying to point out how the metroidvania style's lengthens the game through grinding versus actually beating a hard boss skillfully. Neither is good or bad, but it is tremendously easier to make the player grind for a few levels rather than designing a good challenge using all the abilities the player already has.
When I played Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, I really felt it was a spiritual successor to games like CV1, and many of the NES classic difficult games. Smart enemy placements, delayed button response, timing and rhythm. CV1 particularly had this.
3:57 “WHEN ARE YOU GONNA RUN OUT AND FALL APART” shit still cracks me up
I really like this intelligent reflection of you, Arin (or Egoraptor, if you prefer). the way you integrate the angry, yet comedic hyperbole of someone's thought of the game with a more composed voice and well articulated information to back it up is genius. However, I crave more... In truth, these videos have become somewhat of a variant of the "Dessert Vs. Chips" analogy, where it is both something of a dish that takes time to savor, but is also addictive to the viewer. That being said, I recall a while back that you and JonTron had stopped playing A Link to the Past because the both of you were working on your own separate videos regarding the LoZ series. Now, i know that you are a busy man, especially with the marriage (congrats, by the way! You and Suzy are an awesome couple!), but I do desire some news about how that (or any news about your work, really) video is coming along. The only LoZ games I've played were in fact Wind Waker and Majora's Mask, so I'm a bit uninformed to both new and old titles in the franchise, and how you thought of games like MegaMan and Castlevania have (so far) been just about what I thought of them, ans still think of them. So yeah... that's basically all I wanted to say... Oh, and love all the Game Grumps that you and the gang have been putting up (except for any video where Ross is put in control of anything essential, of course :D). I'd like to say that I want you to start playing an RPG, but the idea of following a story and its dialogue ha never REALLY been your forte, so I guess I'll just stay happy with what you play.
This takes me back to being 14, watching this on an ipod touch in school. The world is so different now. Thank you for this reprieve from the complexity of real life, Arin.
I didn't mind the backtracking part of more recent Castlevania games, mainly because of the way that some areas could only be accessed if you had a movement skill, aka double jump and hovering, to get to areas that were otherwise inaccessible without them. It was something even Super Metroid had, and that was one of the most popular variations of platforming during its time.
I respect why Arin says he stopped making this series, but I highly enjoy it. I love hearing his opinion and the way he formatted his videos! (He was truly ahead of the video essay bandwagon xP)
And then Egoraptor made a fucking billion episodes of Game Grumps (which no one asked for) and no episodes of Sequelitis (which everyone wanted / would've cured cancer and probably world hunger).
he chose the eat it all route
It's a lot easier to just play games and talk about random crap than it is to put out thoughtful videos with animation and game design theory.
He also started up a business that he had no idea would get so popular and chose to continue that route because he gets to make money doing something he loves. These videos are great and he has always voiced that he *wants* to do them; but at the end of the day, he makes little money off of them.
I know why he does it I just wish he would make a sequelitis episode every now and then with the millions of dollars he makes off of Game Grumps.
Sentay0 He doesn't make "millions". In fact, from views alone, he makes barely anything; certainly not enough when it is split between him, Danny, Ross, Barry, and Suzy. He makes more money from supportive viewers, who buy merchandise and keep the show going on.
But rather than complain, why not contact him? He's pretty receptive to thoughts and criticism!
7:50 still makes me laugh 6 years later
4:33 at the time I first saw this, I had no idea that this sort of thing was actually a thing and IT EXPLAINED SO MUCH
I'm sad that Sequelitis didn't get more videos added. Such a well done video that has held up well.
Good vid. Agree on a lot of points. I feel like I enjoyed Zelda when I was younger but I crave a more explorative experience now and something not as hand-holdy. Thank goodness I discovered Dark Souls.
This . . . explains so much. . . .
OH? SO NOW YOU'RE JUST GONNA START *SHITTING* ON ZELDA? NO, WHY EVEN BOTHER GETTING UP?
11:04 - 11:24
taking notes in school.
We all have experienced true despair taking notes
McPixman I think he made a deeper point than that.
"you shouldnt just plow through a game with no thought"
-arin "wont use the shield in ocarina of time" hanson
Savage
Please make at least 50 more of these, you kill it man very entertaining
Back when Egoraptor was Egoraptor, when Castlevania was Castlevania, and when Konami was Konami. 😭
Well, Castlevania wasn't really Castlevania back then either...
So... when Egoraptor was Egoraptor, Castlevania was already an empty husk, and Konami was.... well.... still pretty awful. Sounds about right.
Konami is Konami and Konami is the worst
"But Castlevania took it a step in the right direction"
*camera pans over and zooms in to the right side of the screen*
Oh Arin, you are subtly a genius
11:15 when the teacher is changing slides to fast
Dude, Arin, we really want another episode of Sequelitis. All of the eps so far have been great, and I seriously believe this is the preeminent game analysis program. The way you do the analysis in such a human, understandable way is perfect. You use analogies, humor, and personal playing experiences to make this series feel like an (intelligent) conversation about games instead of just a diatribe of terms and abstract concepts that sounds soulless (like a lot of other in-depth game review shows on TH-cam). This series really changed how I looked at games. I understand that a lot of people were upset over the Zelda episode, but I think it’s important that we have these sorts of discussions about game design, especially if there’s disagreement. I don’t even care what games you cover, I just love these videos, and it’s a shame that there are so few of them. I also know these vids take a long time to make well, so I’m not even asking for any consistency of releases, I just want more Sequelitis.
For all of those saying that people should stop complaining and wait, look at when this video and the next Sequelitis came out. Within the same year, 3 fucking years ago. I think people have the right to complain at this point.
No, we don't. This is free content resulting from painstakingly long hours analyzing a game, writing a script, and animating/editing that he does for a very small payout-work ratio. In the end, it's what he wants to do and enjoys doing that matters, and do you think he still has the mood to make this stuff after people complain endlessly about it?
We're his paycheck, though. You have to remember that. I'm not saying that complaining is the only answer, I'm just saying it's been quite some time since he released something huge like Sequelitis and the people are getting a little fed up over the wait. Sure, he enjoys doing this stuff and we like it, but if there's too long of a wait between each episode, then people start to unsubscribe and he loses money, so it's in his best interest to try to release something in a timely manner. I'm fine with waiting a little while longer if it means that it comes out, it's just that it gets a little tedious and annoying.
NulltheShark
He's mentioned that he wants to do another Sequelitis on Zelda, but with all of Game Grumps, Starbomb, and helping out Ninja Sex Party (as well as the other shows on the Game Grumps channel and finishing "Luigi's Ballad" AND mentioning there will be more Starbomb videos to come), saying that "this is his paycheck" isn't exactly the most accurate thing to say. He's already got a huge plate full of projects that are paying him as it is, and as IISharmouta said, a 13-20 minute video going incredibly in depth with analyzing, animating and editing the video is a lot more than it may seem like. For all we know he IS working on one as we speak, but there isn't a lot of spare time for him to devote to it, and he doesn't want to half-ass it just because people are clamoring for it. If he's going to make one and release it he wants it to be good, probably because he doesn't want to be using his fanbase to make money for shitty content.
No, we are not writing his paycheck. We don't deserve anything. He is a human being providing free content and he didn't ever sign a production contract. He can spend as much time as he wants on whatever he wants. He also has two other projects he does. He produces plenty of content. Simply because he hasn't made the specific thing that you want, does not make you in the right to complain when he records albums, animates, is on shows on Polaris and is a member of Starbomb. He has things to do outside of youtube and though you may think his living relies on people who only care about sequelitis, the very fact that Luigi's ballad has over 5 million views discredits that belief. How obnoxious do you think all those people sound when you're trying to juggle that many projects at the same time? My best guess is, he could care less about the people who complain and are acting entitled. I know I wouldn't.
Eric Bell I guess so. That does make sense.
The thing is people dont play video games solely for satisfaction. Thats not where the enjoyment factor SOLELY comes from. Rpgs are never meant for the kind of satisfaction that you would get from a hard action game.
People enjoy rpgs, like the metroidvania games for instance, over simons quest because they're not cryptic and beginner player hostile. Youre getting much more from better rpgs than simons quest because they're not 4 hours of grinding for a pathetic payoff. People play video games to have fun. The reason why not everybody prefers castlevania or other hard platformers is because OF the huge difficulty. Sitting on youre couch for hours on end getting pissed off and frustrated doesnt sound like, and ISNT, a pleasent time.
Rpgs and platformers have their own enjoyment factor for different sorts of people. Its not like a pyramid effect where one is so obviously higher-class and more exquisite than the other.
Nobody plays a game for boredom, though.
***** Well at that point you just dont like rpgs in general.
The reason I play rpgs (Which isn't many just because I don't own many) is because I like the feeling of becoming stronger at my own pace and not because it's scripted. (if that makes any sense). Let's compare Mario to Pokemon for a sec. Mario has a clear goal of saving the princess. However you have everything you need to do it but just need to be able to get through it. In Pokemon you have to acquire and earn your strength to earn your goal of becoming champion. I know Mario isn't the greatest example there but that's the most basic way for me to explain why people have fun with rpgs. Idk this comment may be completely irrelevant.
***** Its not irreelevant at all. Youre point is a good one.
lavulman Im saying people play games for different kinds of fun and satisfaction. I never bother trying to beat rondo of blood because I wind up stting on my ass in a shitty mood so I dont bother and play some thing I can actually enjoy throughout. But to some people eventually beating a super hard level and feeling satisfied is their idea of fun.
I also like the feeling of stisfaction though. The kind of satisfaction that comes from building my character and having all these cool attacks I can do as a result of that character building.
My problem here is that ego is blatantly saying how hard action/platformer games are so perfectly surperior to rpgs and how what I like to play is the equivalent of junk food, while the kind of games he prefers are just so divine and should be put on a pedastal for years to come in comparison.
Its insulting to say the very least and he should treat rpgs with more respect. He says that rpgs, the metroidvania ones anyway, are just the equivalent of simons quest with a walkthrough. Even though he said himself the game was broken in its entirety. Even if you know where to go, the game isnt fun at all. Jumping is sluggish, rewards arent gratifying, grinding is ridiculous and tedious, the visuals are boring, the bosses are an absolute joke, EVERYTHING IS A JOKE in this game. But thats so obviously not the case with symphony of the night and etc.
He's generalizing without rational/respectful reasoning and it just feels mean-spirited in general.
Egoraptor: makes me want to fall asleep.
Me: I should be asleep by now but I don't care it's fun to watch.
P.s these videos are super hilarious and I wish you made more sequelitis videos.
IMO Egoraptor game reviews were easily the best ones I’ve ever watched on TH-cam to this day. Very objective, high quality and constructive. It’s been 13 years but I still go back to this video.
I JUST realized this is what Mr. Plinkett's review style reminded me of.
This video proves that old TH-cam had quality it just happens that Smosh and peers didn’t know how to edit
10 years and still good quality
This is a work of ART. Nice editing, pace and... everything.
"It all bled together" "WOOOPS DID JUST SAY THAT OUT LOUD" probably my most favorite phrase in the world
It's amazing how one Super Smash Bros. inclusion can encourage you to learn and play a completely new franchise to you.
Have you played 'Castlevania III Dracula's curse' yet? Totally recommend! That's the last gloomy and eerie in the franchise. After that it's all sparkles and flashy characters. I wish they would back to that, when you really had the strong feeling of being hunting monsters in a haunted castle. :'(
Opening:
"Castlevania 1 was so fuckin' cool."
You have my attention, Egoraptor.
Happy 2024 everyone! Hope everyone has a great year and ego raptor makes another sequelitis
I enjoyed the video but disagree with the closing comments on newer takes on Castlevania. namely order of Ecclesia.
the leveling system is not THAT important, different weapons are usually designed to deal with different attack patterns and weakness. and boss battles have patterns that play into forcing you to choose different weapons which in turn force you to play differently to maximize that weapons hitbox.
Granted the enemy placing and design can't be as intelligent as a pure linear Castlevania. but OOE combines both linear levels with frustrating enemies that require planning and an explorable Dracula's at the end which can be difficult to traverse.
*granted there are attacks later on that feel rather powerful and don't force you to understand its hitbox.
It's videos like this that make me think about how much Egoraptor would like dark souls, then I remember the game grumps where he played demon souls and all he did was talk about how they tell how to do stuff instead of showing you, (and he was referring to how they told you to press r1 to attack and is completely untrue of the game mechanics themselves)
If you ignore the messages then you won't learn the basics of the games. There are actually things the messages don't tell you that you have to learn. Like you have to time your parry, you can't kick with every weapon, you don't always do a lunge attack with a forward strong attack, you have to quick tap the sprint button to jump, etc. The game was made slightly more fair by giving you the knowledge of how to attack.
Funny thing is this whole video reminded me of how I feel about Dark Souls (Talking about the first Castlevania) I really wish Arin would give it a try
Dark souls was the best game of last gen
Shark Lizard The best game of last gen was The Last of Us story-wise.
For gameplay, I'd say...wow this is a hard decision. There were a lot of games with awesome gameplay.
Last of us is overrated, it was good sure, but the story was nothing new, it used a lot of old conventions, there are a lot of better story based games out there, and If you want a zombie based story game, the walking dead was better than the last of us.
Not respecting the players time is a fundamental problem that exists even in Elden Ring.
Know the difference between be killing a two hundred enemies to farm level 1 smithing stones to try out a new weapon vs just letting me buy the upgrade after I’ve proven I can kill the enemies
4 hours
I'm here 12 years later. Old but gold
Egoraptor, you should start up a gaming channel.
Watch the Game Grumps, dude!
+Joshua Lupyan he was joking (I hope)
Too bad egoraptor is too busy animating these days
+T.R.S. Yeah, maybe if he was able to actually make a living doing let's plays on TH-cam, he could truly follow his passion and make a really great gaming channel. Too bad let's plays don't generate more views on TH-cam. :/
bruh, check out game grumps
WE NEED MORE SQUILITIS!
The ending deliberately misunderstands the IGAvanias. Leveling up is something that happens as the game progresses, it isn’t really a crutch. The aim of the non linear games is more exploration, resource management, and customisable combat than the puzzle action structure of the classicvanias and that is fine. They aren’t lesser games for being less difficult, and not understanding brings down the quality of the video. I am of the minority who like Castlevania:The adventure for the gameboy, but I will question your sanity if you think that is a better game than Symphony of the Night. By the logic presented in this video, Haunted Castle version M is the best Castlevania. That isn’t true, because game design isn’t all about challenge, other factors are involved.
This guy genuinely has no clue what he is talking about in every video ive seen of his and is filled with contradictions at every turn, its pretty impressive. Basically, old thing good new thing bad.
This video seems like a product of its time to me, im pretty sure he's admitted to not playing any metroidvanias before on game grumps, he shouldn't expect to understand their inner workings and appeal.
Standards for video game essays and comparisons were a lot lower 12 or so years ago and I'd say it does raise an interesting point about other grind heavy games and how they rely in crutches like avatar strength and flashy visuals instead of having solid design that really makes the player improve and think
It's kind of a bummer that the Arin from this video is very different from the Arin we have now. But it's awesome to be able to go back to these and see his best work.
It just occured to me that this video is already THREE YEARS OLD?
ikr like even before game grumps
It's nice to see how Shovel Knight took elements, like towns and utility items, from Simon's Quest 2 and fixed them:
-The player doesn't have to make a voyage back to towns from a level
-Giving the player the option to recover money lost on death
Maybe the reason the whip has a delay is because whips have delays
If in the making of a video game you have to pick between good mechanics and mechanincs that make sense, always pick the good ones, whether it's delayed or not it's good if the game is built around that.
yeah well so does swords but in the older zelda gamdes there was no delay and that works better for that game
It's like the stupod man in the video didnt know games are real LIFE
You spoke to my soul......what...What! WHAT.....
TheRadioSquare Video games are definitely not real
7 years later and this is still one of my favorite videos of all time.
please, a sequeltis for metroid and super metroid
There's a fake sequelitis that does those two games, but I don't really think it's as good as this Sequelitis.
Super Metroid is really just a enhanced version of Metroid, there is backtracking in it but it is possible to sequence break the game by using some of things like the wall jump.
@@AllHailKingKurt The game even encourages this with one of the short gameplay demos showing Samus bomb hopping.
Even though Arin is a highschool drop out, I still consider him to be one of the most intelligent people I know. I have spent literally hundreds of hours listening to this man and the fellows who share time with him on the GameGrumps channel and I have come to respect who he is, and what he believes in. I sure don't agree with him all the time especially when it comes to video games but his perspectives on life have truly gotten me through some tough times. I have been helped to learn how to accept myself and my passions regardless of societal pressure or negativity. Please don't ever stop animating, voice acting, having fun or do something simply because it is what the fans want. you are the artist and you are a true inspiration, and probably the funniest most insightful person I have had the pleasure of listening to. sorry for the long post, Hi from Canada.
Does anyone feel like Dark Souls is a real successor to Castlevania.
No. No one. Please, in no of either way is Dark Souls the successor of anything just because it's hard. Casuals today only know about DS as a "hard" game.
Yeah no. Dark souls is NOT castlevanias successor. Please don't insult my childhood
Dark Souls? Yes. Dark Souls 2? No.
If anything "Castlevania is to DaS as Castlevania 2 is to DaS2" is a fantastic comparison.
Dixit Dominus "Casuals today only know about DS as a "hard" game". What kind of useless fucker uses casual anymore?
***** you don't use a sword in castlevania DONT EVEN COMPARE IT
After many days of cracking up at this video, i have finally played a castlevania game for the first time today. I've only scratched the surface of the surface of this game and its already rooting that fun gameplay for me. The joy i experienced from this video all those years ago is carrying my momentum through the game and driving me to complete it one day.
Thanks for existing Mr Grump 😄💟
Next Sequelitis should be RESIDENT EVIL 4 vs RESIDENT EVIL 5. oh yeah. ooooh yeah!!!!!
he said something about metal gear at Comic-Con
+Jordan Johnson for the next sequelitis??? mgs3 vs mgs5
No... Resident evil vs resident evil 5
Mickael Mc never played 5 but re4 is in my top 5 favorite games. And it teaches you spanish 😄🍺
Jesus Christ, this video was WAYYY ahead of its time. Then there's the fact that this video might be older than some people watching it....
This video is older than my little brother and I’m about 3 years older
"when are you gonna run out and fall apart?" lmao, still hilarious
@Egoraptor aside from Game grumps i believe thus series is so underappreciated. you are the finest critic, you analyze and critique Games from the gamers standpoint, understanding both the psychology of the gamer and game designer, but also give credit where credit is due, highlighting and respecting aspect of design that are critical and put them into words so garners can understand why it is they are appreciating a game. you put so much thought and consideration into these, it's truly remarkable. ps is dan single?
High class dessert: Sequelitis
Snack: Game Grumps
for him its the opposite. with the paycheck of course
I just recently played Castlevania 1 and holy f*cking sh*t, it was the first time in a long time I felt genuine stress and anger in a video game. Enemies were brutal, level layout was unforgiving, bosses made Dark Souls look like a kiddy park, and my God, the relief I felt after beating Dracula was like ascending to Heaven. This game was truly an experience, one that allowed me to see what old school gaming was like, and lemme tell yah, gamers in that time were built on stronger stuff.
It's been 7-8 years, and Sequilitis is by far one of, if not, the best TH-cam mini series ever created.
I know nobody probably watches these any more but I just noticed how personally offended Faptor sounded at 11:22 when he said, “and some of them even lie to you.”