I think the thing with the designs is not that they’re that crazy for castlevania, they’re not that far off ayami kojimas beloved art style, but just that if you’re playing a crossover party fighting game where all you’re favourites show up, you want them to look how you remember them.
I'm not that hot on the designs generally (at least not for the characters they're associated with) but I agree that's probably the biggest problem yeah. If the game was still a Castlevania spin-off that had designs by the Death Note guy _but_ had an original cast I don't think it would have drawn quite as much ire in that regard, than as it is with Light Yagami Simon. ...Though you'd then have the problem of trying to sell a Castlevania fighting game with characters that no one recognizes because they were all literally made up for the game. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.
It's funny to me that people shit on the DS games for having anime style visuals (despite Rondo doing it and even having full Anime cutscenes a decade prior... and looks 1000% better than the awful PSP remake) when compared to this it's the fucking Mona Lisa. And personally, as a CV fan I do think this game looks kind of ugly and weird, or at least WILDLY unfitting of Castlevania.
@@warbossgegguz679 I can't speak for any other CV fans, but my largest problem with the Dawn of Sorrow/Portrait of Ruin art style is just that it's bland as shit, with no real stand-out identity. It could just be '90s bias on my part, but the art to Bloodlines and the original Rondo of Blood feel more fitting for Castlevania; even if they're still products of their time. _That said,_ I would actually argue that PoR's anime style is closer in spirit to Bloodlines' style than Ayami Kojima's art would be, I just wish it had more soul to it. As for the PSP Rondo remake, I don't mind the art in it at all, but it's the redesigns of Richter and Maria that get me. I can't say anything was particularly _wrong_ with Richter's original design, and Maria's redesign obfuscates the gag behind her RoB character; that if you're having trouble playing this manly game for men, you can just play this unassuming cute little girl who is secretly stupidly powerful and has a _much_ easier time of it. I mean, I guess one could argue that kind of humor no longer had a place in CV by that time, but I feel like it robs RoB of a bit of its character. I mean, yeah she still _is_ a little girl, but one who looks more believable as a monster hunter compared to the original.
@@warbossgegguz679 Cause Rondo cutscenes aren't available in the Murica ver hence the nonsensical sequel they made on Netflix. They literally don't know the plot of Rondo cause it's cutscenes aren't there
I choose a weird art style over the boring anime style of the DS games. It's not that the anime style doesn't work, but it's just that the anime style they went with is so bland. @@warbossgegguz679
To be even more nerd-y about this game, the Time Reaper was sent by Galamoth 10000 years in the future. This is a reference to Kid Dracula of all the Castlevania related things, which really adds to the whole timeline crossover aspect of the game.
Glad to see you cover this one, it’s always been one of the most fascinating games in the series lol. While Judgment is certainly not perfect & has with SO MANY bizarre elements it’s one that I’ve found more and more interesting as time goes on, especially because of what made it so controversial back then making it extremely fascinating today. Castlevania has SO MUCH potential as a fighting game… it’s very unlikely but I hope to see Castlevania return to the format in a more traditional style one day in the future.
Stocke! Hey there! I see you around a lot! Well, since you've been to a lot of the same videos as me, haha, you probably already know, but in case you don't... Have you heard of the aptly-titled Castlevania: Fighter? It's probably the best fighting-game, but Castlevania, that we are going to get. Worth a look, if you are a fan of the series!
4:37. Hey man Zatch Bell is a great game. Fun Fact the American and Japanese versions have different rosters because the dub wasnt far along enough. So the American version doesnt have the movie villain and Ponygon doesnt have a partner. So to make up for this, fan favorite Barry was given a character slot for the American version. The Dev really is top tier.
Man, this channel's not only pumping out quality FG content but it's also making me nostalgic for the exact same issue of Nintendo Power that I first ever read and became a subscriber for as a kid, getting me into retro stuff. Though I admittedly don't remember much about it, and think I've lost the copy I had... I sure don't remember buff, sexy Death Note vampire hunters being in it, but time flies! Edit: Holy water being broken in a Castlevania game? Gosh I never heard of that one before, Holy Water has NEVER been the strongest subweapon in any Castlevania game, it truly shocks me that out of all weapons that HOLY WATER is the broken one, man imagine. (But seriously has it ever been bad in a Castlevania game?)
Portrait of Ruin actually has a really bad version of the Holy Water in the main game, yet again, it becomes good in Richter Mode. I also hardly ever use it in Bloodlines, so uh, you could at least argue that Holy Water hasn't always been broken in all games.
Julius mode in Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. Holy Water in both games are easily Julius’s worst sub weapon; Cross does great damage and Axe covers the same angles whilst being spammable and not pathetic. And of course, Grand Cross melts bosses.
@@GuileWinQuote Also do POWER INSTINCT fighting game series and the 8ing made Kamen Rideer Climax Heroes fighting games and the Ultraman Battle Evolution fighting games
Today's Eighting was originally two companies, Eighting and Raizing, both born from the shambles of two other companies, Toaplan and Compile, and before starting the Bloody Roar series and moving full time to fighting games the mostly made shoot 'em ups like Sorcer Striker and Battle Garegga. In fact, these days they're better known for their shmup output than they are for fighting games.
@@zero123alpha6 Compile had been one of the biggest console/PC shmup developers back in the day, believe it or not. Their biggest shmup series was Aleste (with MUSHA on the Mega Drive bring the most highly regarded one), with a bunch of other titles like Zanac, Gun-Nac, Gunhed/Blazing Lazers, the Spriggan series, Guardic, Guardic Gaiden/The Guardian Legend, and Rude Breaker, among others.
Back in 2007 I managed to save enough money for a Wii, my mom put in some of her money to help me get enough although she didn't have much. I didn't have enough money to get many games, so I have to be selective. This one strikes me with the cover art, I was a huge fan of Bloody Roar back in the days as well, but I didn't know that it was the same developers. Gotta say I play tf out of it, it was my first castlevania game despite being a spinoff. It's my favorite game up to this day. My mom is gone, my Wii died, but I still have this game on my drive, I play it on occasion and it reminds me of how much fun and simple life was back then.
There's a common misunderstanding about Simon's design, he was always a bishounen redhead, but at some point they decided to go for the goofier conan the barbarian design. Later they went back to his redhead self in the 2000s, and recently they went back to the Conan the Barbarian design again.
This game holds a special place in my heart. Not only did I get it day 1, being a Castlevania fan and fighting game nut, but I was dominating the game's online leaderboards as Dracula during the period of time the game was active (he's actually quite good once you realize he plays by completely unique rules/mechanics). My score was so much higher at the time it actually put me off from playing Ranked, since, due to the rubber banding of the score system, one loss cost me as many points as about ten or so wins. That's largely why I stopped playing.
Don't have much to say honestly. Good video, so here's a comment for the algorithm my dude. As a Castlevania fan, I think that the concept of a Castlevania fighting game should still be revisited and improved upon, and even if not, this game is still pretty decent!
Wow, I had no idea people didn't like the Obata art, I thought it was rad as hell. I always thought his stuff was a fun balance of camp and cool, and that's what I think of when it comes to the Castlevania series as a whole I guess, so it seemed like a fun fit. To be fair, I never played Judgement so I can't say if the game itself influenced what people thought of the art, but it seemed fine to have different art for a spinoff, like you pointed out, that's not new for the series. That being said, I very much appreciate this dive into this, it's nice to see this forgotten stuff checked out, especially the weirdness that was Wii fighters!
I didn't mind the art too much, but there were a few nitpicks. Simon looked like Light from Deathnote dressed as Simon while Dracula, Death, Grant and Cornell looked off from their original designs. No complaints about Trevor. I think being a fighting type game on the Wii that leaned towards the motion controls, though the gamecube controller worked fine, was the biggest turn off. Something no one expected or wanted. The music was good though.
@@Ramsey276one The reason this game exists is because Koji Igarashi wanted to insert Montion controls into Castlevania. He knew that it wouldn't work in a prolonged adventure but in an action game where matches don't last too long, maybe that could work?????????
Good to see you finally cover this one. I remember discovering this game on Ye Ol' TH-cam in like 2009 or late 2008 from a compilation of all the characters' supers. I always wanted to know more about the game but could never find any good footage of it. Always liked the style of it and the care that was put into it; Aeon gets a unique voiceline for every character during his super, including his mirror match! Love that. Also never got the hate for Simon's Judgement design as you point out, but I loath Grant's redesign. I remember not caring for his characterization in this either, hell I don't think he even shows up in that Netflix series. He always got the short end of the stick from Castlevania III gang.
I wasn't a fan of Obata's Simon Belmont at first but I kinda talked myself into it when I described it as "a male bodybuilder Light Yagami photoshopped his head onto for ego reasons"
I recently got into Sonic Riders Tournament Edition and am having a blast. I tihnk if this game got it's own Modbase, one that would fix issues like Animations, Weapon Balancing, and the lack of cool characters to play as, then this game could be taken more seriously. I want to see a true scene of this game.
I love these videos not only for discovering cool stuff, but for the fair approach and great production. Little things like the description boxes in the character section (plus the gif at 10:27) show the effort that goes into each video. Not a CV fan, so i don't have much to say about this game, but I can see why the artstyle was/is so divisive. Which is a shame, because in motion the game looks fantastic for a Wii title, and there's a good game here. It's not for me, but I hope it gets more fans. Also, in a bit of a tangent: when you mentioned the over-designed bondage style being common back then, I instantly remembered the atrocity that was Bomberman: Act Zero. That one was a real case of bad 2000s edge.
The speed at which views are coming in is a shame, but thank you for making it anyways. People gotta' learn about this game, especially me. I was more positive on it than most, and even I eventually told a friend that I didn't want to play it anymore out of boredom. Finding tech builds my respect for it.
While I dislike the designs, and think some of the character story motivations are dumb...I do like how it actually puts some respect on my boy Grant's name.
Hearing someone have some pretty nice things about Judgement feels nice. I had so much fun with this game back when, and all I can remember was video after comment, after message board trash talking the game. It's not perfect, but I remember having some fun weekend nights playing this one.
this game means a lot to me since me and my friends play this game whenever we get together we all think its shit but it dosent matter just mashing and swinging is so much fun i love it horrible art style and all
Honestly holy water sounds like a very cool way to balance a game. From what i see is that it's the best item in the game so you want it. So what if the best characters can't start with it but the low-tiers have access to it no problem.
I've seen multiple streamers go into this game thinking it's the worst Castlevania game, only to walk away realizing it's an absolute blast once you get past the redesigns. I think the style looks AMAZING but yeah it's hard to think of these characters as the actual Castlevania characters. That really is at the core of this games hate and it makes sense because it's a crossover game! It's all about seeing these familiar faces come together and fight, but if you redesign them then the faces aren't familiar anymore, are they? Personally I was always okay with the redesigns because I consider them better than Ayame Kojima's redesigns. She's a great artist and her own designs are great but I always felt her interpretations of older characters sucked. Mostly that's because I'm a Richter fanboy who likes him as a hotblooded anime protagonist and not as an arrogant aristocrat. I got a lot of crap for the opinion throughout the years only for those same people to hate this game for the redesigns...and WOW was the conversation around the designs broken! Like with Simon? Everyone complained that he didn't look like Conan, but NO ONE brings up the red haired design that had been used for at least 3 games by that point which is what the Judgement design is based on! THAT was Simon's canon design at the time. THEN you get to Maria. "Why did they turn Maria into a little girl!!!" because she IS a little girl? I mean yes, Saturn SotN Maria with her fighting game input moves would have been amazing but Igarashi went out of his way to de-canonize that (completely redoing her gameplay for the PSP SotN). Also I have a soft spot for bandaged and masked characters so I like what they did to Grant. I think they were going for a Jack the Ripper inspired design? Everyone always says Voldo, but the bandages remind me of Power Stone's Jack. But yeah, this is one of my favorite Arena Fighters. As a side note, Alucard and Shanoa are apparently top tier with Dracula at rock bottom.
I play this game quite allot, and for all the other fighters I've got for my Wii, I'd have to say that this one has grabbed my attention the most! And I've never played a main line Castlevania game... But this, this sticks! and for a game that runs at 30 frames a sec, it's barely noticeable in battle and does nothing that changes the smooth flow of gameplay (just make sure to toggle on 'deflicker' in the options menu). I've always liked seeing how far the Wii could be pushed in terms of background detail and character models, and judgement really scratches that itch for me since I'm a sucker for older hardware (generally anything from PS3 and under). So uhhh, an updated version of the existing game on the same system with more characters? I'd dig that! Sure, it's never going to happen... but i can pray! but who am i kidding... Praying is something you only do in a church and I'm not a religious man who needs deep meaning in life, so this will have to do for now.
I ended up picking up the game earlier this year and having quite fun with it. I pray this game gets something of a competitive scene also THOSE ARE A SACRED GIFT is such a quote
I always felt like this probably couldve been a fun game to just mess around in, but I couldn't get any of my friends to actually play. Everyone has the usual, "ew gross, Judgement" reaction to it, and I'm like Okay but It's still kinda fun though lol
This is my guilty pleasure fighting game. I even hosted it as a mystery game tournament in my local to good reception. People enjoyed the games jank, so it worked great as a funny side-tournament
Just started watching and haven't watched the video yet, but I just wanted to say I appreciate you making a video about this. Your research and knowledge being applied to a game that's very significant to me is a very nice treat! Also, I highly recommend Ragnarrox's video about Castlevania if you ever get the chance to check it out.
This video made me get into Judgement and i love it now. Ive only been able to do single player stuff and labbing holy water combos since i dont have many people irl to play with and online isnt an option for me but i would LOVE to run tournaments for this game someday.
I know that frames are important to maintain, but I'm one of those people with funky vision that can't seem to tell the difference unless it suddenly changes during gameplay, so I don't fully understand why a low framerate is bad as long as it's consistent. Do fighting players just naturally make inputs so fast that thirty literally can't keep up?
as long as the game is polling inputs at ≥60 checks per second and knows how to order them correctly then the main issue with a lower framerate would be that while the game can "keep up," about half the inputs will be buffered *between* frames. this is a very small amount of time, of course, but at high levels of play i suppose the delay can be disorienting
I remember this game. It came out around the time I learned Fate Unlimited Codes was a thing and that 8ing made it. I don't know why, but I just presumed Judgement would play like that game but with Castlevania characters obviously. Even after the screenshots made it clear it was more of an arena fighter, I still held out hope haha. Playing around with it now though in Dolphin, you could sorta see the potential.
I would absolutely love making a video on that game but the company nukes any video that mentions it...so one day!! Closest thing to a real fighting game urban legend lol
"Castlevania is known for its beautiful 2D sprites, memorable character designs and intense, heavy feeling but satisfying side scrolling action. We should make a fighting game!" "In 3D!" "Yes! In 3-... Wait wh-" CASTLEVANIA JUDGEMENT
Honestly this game is great but its probably the only fighting game I know of where one of the big things holding it back was the character designs. I remember way back in 2009/2010 a lot of people in my local FGC and nearby states like Cali didn't fuck with the game at all and the character designs being mostly terrible was a commonly cited reason. Either cause they liked Castlevania and thought the new interpretations were unrecognizable or they didn't like CV and just thought they were plan awful like Simon's belt jacket. Its unfortunate, if the character designs were closer to the source material it woulda probably done a tiny bit better.
Personally I think Leon and Soma are the biggest snubs of the roster. Having a time travel game without characters from the beginning and end of the timeline is straight-up madness. Not having Richter is also pretty nuts considering his popularity, but I imagine the biggest hurdle to designing a CV fighting game is figuring out what the hell to do with all the whip characters.
Leon would've been awesome, which makes me realize I forgot to mention Hector as well! Yeah it's definitely hard to theory craft how to make whip dudes different....but no Richter is wild in hindsight lol. I wanna know how Obata would've bdsm'd him out!
Man now this makes me imagine the roster for a new Castlevania fighting game (Which I will now compile, split based on eras) Classic Era: Trevor Belmont (Castlevania 3) Sypha Belnades (Castlevania 3) Simon Belmont (Castlevania) Post Trilogy Era: Richter Belmont (Rondo of Blood) Maria Renard (Rondo of Blood) Eric Lecarde (Bloodlines) Cornell (Legacy of Darkness) Alucard (Symphony of the Night) Mobile Era: Soma Cruz (Aria/Dawn of Sorrow) Shanoa (Order of Eclesia) Jon Morris (Portrait of Ruin) Tried to cover pretty much every major era of classic Castlevania, probably missed a few though!
I still can't get over just how many belts Trevor is wearing. It's like Obata was trying to one-up Nomura in seeing how many belts one could fit on a character. I also don't understand why they invented Aeon for this game when Saint Germain was right there.
A minor peeve of mine regarding Cornell is this game changed his backstory from going through training to unlock his lycanthropic powers that his bloodline sealed to going through training to control his lycanthropic curse and hopes to remove it. Cornell wanting to remove the temporal effects Aeon placed on him keeping him in beast form is understandable though.
Played that game quite a lot at the time. Despite Maria's story can be silly, I actually really loved her gothic magical girl look and personally my favorite character. I have her figure back when I used to buy gaming merch like plushies or figurines. I even drew couple of pictures that version. That being said, Cornell might be the best design in that game and possibly one of the coolest finishers as well.
Castlevania Judgement was the culmination of where castlevania was going since the late 1990s. Immediately after this was Lords of Shadow which got the series got back on track before killing it again a few years later. Now castlevania lives on in Smash and pachinko machines.
Yo! I have this game! Played it back in the day and when I was looking up info or tech for this there was surprisingly almost nothing, glad to have seen this video, hope you are doing well!
its still in active development so id say hold off for a while but there's really no other fg like it it feels like a really polished version of a weird game youd find on fightcade that struggles to break 10 players on the weekends (its one of the few games in recent memory that can have a 7-3 matchup on launch that only gets worse with every patch lmao)
If these character designs existed completely separate of Castlevania, I think they'd be spoken of far more highly. I personally love Simon's design, it just doesn't fit him at all. Absolutely agree on Trevor as well, while still being very different, it still feels like Trevor. It also helps he's not wearing shorts and has his chest (mostly) covered.
Yes, i could never forget this game, because we have amazing versions of classic castlevania themes righ there. Speakin in "8ing", you could do a video talking about "Fate: Unlimited code", for ps2. Is a amzing fighting game that don have the love that deserve.
wow, the combos in this game do look really cool! Love how you can find things to appreciate in any game. I agree I think these designs are underrated and some are really great!
Me and my roommates played a ton of this in college, despite it's flaws. We definitely noted the irony of Dracula being the weakest character and the little girl being the strongest.
When you called that anime art style “generic”, you’re not doing it justice by calling it that. It looks amazing! Man I wish M2 would give us a DS collection already.
Given that the character designs were done by a revered manga artist, you would think they’d be accepting of it. I think masculine Simon looks lame. Redhead Simon Belmont looks way cooler imo, especially done by the Death Note artist and is my favourite design by far. It’s a shame he wasn’t in Smash Ultimate as an alternate appearance. Instead we got lame ass masculine Simon.
I think the thing with the designs is not that they’re that crazy for castlevania, they’re not that far off ayami kojimas beloved art style, but just that if you’re playing a crossover party fighting game where all you’re favourites show up, you want them to look how you remember them.
I'm not that hot on the designs generally (at least not for the characters they're associated with) but I agree that's probably the biggest problem yeah. If the game was still a Castlevania spin-off that had designs by the Death Note guy _but_ had an original cast I don't think it would have drawn quite as much ire in that regard, than as it is with Light Yagami Simon.
...Though you'd then have the problem of trying to sell a Castlevania fighting game with characters that no one recognizes because they were all literally made up for the game. Swings and roundabouts, I guess.
It's funny to me that people shit on the DS games for having anime style visuals (despite Rondo doing it and even having full Anime cutscenes a decade prior... and looks 1000% better than the awful PSP remake) when compared to this it's the fucking Mona Lisa.
And personally, as a CV fan I do think this game looks kind of ugly and weird, or at least WILDLY unfitting of Castlevania.
@@warbossgegguz679 I can't speak for any other CV fans, but my largest problem with the Dawn of Sorrow/Portrait of Ruin art style is just that it's bland as shit, with no real stand-out identity. It could just be '90s bias on my part, but the art to Bloodlines and the original Rondo of Blood feel more fitting for Castlevania; even if they're still products of their time.
_That said,_ I would actually argue that PoR's anime style is closer in spirit to Bloodlines' style than Ayami Kojima's art would be, I just wish it had more soul to it.
As for the PSP Rondo remake, I don't mind the art in it at all, but it's the redesigns of Richter and Maria that get me.
I can't say anything was particularly _wrong_ with Richter's original design, and Maria's redesign obfuscates the gag behind her RoB character; that if you're having trouble playing this manly game for men, you can just play this unassuming cute little girl who is secretly stupidly powerful and has a _much_ easier time of it. I mean, I guess one could argue that kind of humor no longer had a place in CV by that time, but I feel like it robs RoB of a bit of its character.
I mean, yeah she still _is_ a little girl, but one who looks more believable as a monster hunter compared to the original.
@@warbossgegguz679 Cause Rondo cutscenes aren't available in the Murica ver hence the nonsensical sequel they made on Netflix. They literally don't know the plot of Rondo cause it's cutscenes aren't there
I choose a weird art style over the boring anime style of the DS games. It's not that the anime style doesn't work, but it's just that the anime style they went with is so bland. @@warbossgegguz679
To be even more nerd-y about this game, the Time Reaper was sent by Galamoth 10000 years in the future. This is a reference to Kid Dracula of all the Castlevania related things, which really adds to the whole timeline crossover aspect of the game.
Ah, a man of culture...
Galamoth is also the superboss of Symphony of the night, as if to tie it back into alucard yet again.
@@nahnah390 is that the boss with a 10 million hp?
@@nahnah390 Man I had no idea that boss had such a cool lore! Well justified for that tough ass boss.. now where is that shield rod?
Soma was gonna be in the game but when Obada told him he was going to redesign his jacket, he backed out.
Thanks Obada
based Obada
And then became Aeon instead
Shame Soma wasn’t in Judgement. Same for Jonathan. I wish he was there too.
Glad to see you cover this one, it’s always been one of the most fascinating games in the series lol. While Judgment is certainly not perfect & has with SO MANY bizarre elements it’s one that I’ve found more and more interesting as time goes on, especially because of what made it so controversial back then making it extremely fascinating today. Castlevania has SO MUCH potential as a fighting game… it’s very unlikely but I hope to see Castlevania return to the format in a more traditional style one day in the future.
ey!!! srsly unlikely coz fuck konami amirite! XD atleast we have fan games and indies to be proud of
"Traditional? If that's what they want, let's introduce a brand new Castlevania cryptocurrency!"
Stocke! Hey there! I see you around a lot! Well, since you've been to a lot of the same videos as me, haha, you probably already know, but in case you don't...
Have you heard of the aptly-titled Castlevania: Fighter? It's probably the best fighting-game, but Castlevania, that we are going to get.
Worth a look, if you are a fan of the series!
for real, a 2d fighting game similar in style to darkstalkers or skullgirls would fit so nicely with the franchise imo
Not this guy again…
4:37. Hey man Zatch Bell is a great game. Fun Fact the American and Japanese versions have different rosters because the dub wasnt far along enough. So the American version doesnt have the movie villain and Ponygon doesnt have a partner. So to make up for this, fan favorite Barry was given a character slot for the American version.
The Dev really is top tier.
Also Fate/unlimited codes, the way some attacks work directly reference how they work in the original visual novels, it's amazing
Mamodo Battles is the GOAT for sure. Shame that Mamodo Fury was dogshit.
I love that zatch bell game. 8ing made so many of my favorite childhood games
Man, this channel's not only pumping out quality FG content but it's also making me nostalgic for the exact same issue of Nintendo Power that I first ever read and became a subscriber for as a kid, getting me into retro stuff. Though I admittedly don't remember much about it, and think I've lost the copy I had... I sure don't remember buff, sexy Death Note vampire hunters being in it, but time flies!
Edit: Holy water being broken in a Castlevania game? Gosh I never heard of that one before, Holy Water has NEVER been the strongest subweapon in any Castlevania game, it truly shocks me that out of all weapons that HOLY WATER is the broken one, man imagine. (But seriously has it ever been bad in a Castlevania game?)
I was really hoping someone would have a hyper specific memory for a 14 year old random magazine like I do when I was writing this, haha
Thanks 🙇🏼
Portrait of Ruin actually has a really bad version of the Holy Water in the main game, yet again, it becomes good in Richter Mode. I also hardly ever use it in Bloodlines, so uh, you could at least argue that Holy Water hasn't always been broken in all games.
@@GuileWinQuote that issue of nintendo power was the first I ever read, so thank you for reminding me of that.
Julius mode in Aria and Dawn of Sorrow. Holy Water in both games are easily Julius’s worst sub weapon; Cross does great damage and Axe covers the same angles whilst being spammable and not pathetic. And of course, Grand Cross melts bosses.
@@GuileWinQuote I specifically remembered the "No Richter or Soma" comment from that issue haha
You should definitely talk about the Bloody roar series one day. Def a underrated series. More People should play and know about it!
*cough cough,*..
agreed. - bloody roar extreme combo breaker grand champion
@@jerimiahsaiah Congrats! It'll definitely happen at some point 🤠
Naw we pretty up on BR serious
@@GuileWinQuote Also do POWER INSTINCT fighting game series and the 8ing made Kamen Rideer Climax Heroes fighting games and the Ultraman Battle Evolution fighting games
Watched top 8 for BR at Combo Breaker shit was so hype
An overhated banger from 8ing. I'm one of those 8ing fans you mentioned and even I didn't realize how good it was until somewhat recently.
Today's Eighting was originally two companies, Eighting and Raizing, both born from the shambles of two other companies, Toaplan and Compile, and before starting the Bloody Roar series and moving full time to fighting games the mostly made shoot 'em ups like Sorcer Striker and Battle Garegga. In fact, these days they're better known for their shmup output than they are for fighting games.
Compile did shmups too? I know them for Puyo
@@zero123alpha6 Compile had been one of the biggest console/PC shmup developers back in the day, believe it or not. Their biggest shmup series was Aleste (with MUSHA on the Mega Drive bring the most highly regarded one), with a bunch of other titles like Zanac, Gun-Nac, Gunhed/Blazing Lazers, the Spriggan series, Guardic, Guardic Gaiden/The Guardian Legend, and Rude Breaker, among others.
Can't believe this guy just admitted to be "waggling his wiimote"
You deserve way more subs these niche fighting game topics that don't get talked about too much are amazing
I'm just glad anyone's watching! Thank you for checking my stuff out 🙇🏼
@@GuileWinQuote of course, this stuff is great
Back in 2007 I managed to save enough money for a Wii, my mom put in some of her money to help me get enough although she didn't have much. I didn't have enough money to get many games, so I have to be selective. This one strikes me with the cover art, I was a huge fan of Bloody Roar back in the days as well, but I didn't know that it was the same developers. Gotta say I play tf out of it, it was my first castlevania game despite being a spinoff. It's my favorite game up to this day. My mom is gone, my Wii died, but I still have this game on my drive, I play it on occasion and it reminds me of how much fun and simple life was back then.
There's a common misunderstanding about Simon's design, he was always a bishounen redhead, but at some point they decided to go for the goofier conan the barbarian design. Later they went back to his redhead self in the 2000s, and recently they went back to the Conan the Barbarian design again.
Make up your mind, devs!
XD
Maybe if the games get rebooted use the more bishounen design to represent a young simon and the conan esque design for a more mature simon.
You're the only TH-camrs I think of for making a 4:3 aspect ratio video and I love it
This game holds a special place in my heart. Not only did I get it day 1, being a Castlevania fan and fighting game nut, but I was dominating the game's online leaderboards as Dracula during the period of time the game was active (he's actually quite good once you realize he plays by completely unique rules/mechanics). My score was so much higher at the time it actually put me off from playing Ranked, since, due to the rubber banding of the score system, one loss cost me as many points as about ten or so wins. That's largely why I stopped playing.
Soma not being added is specially weird cause he could be slapped right in and fit in with the art style perfectly
A sequel for this game has so much potential if done correctly. Great vid btw
Thank you for checking it out!!!!
Don't have much to say honestly. Good video, so here's a comment for the algorithm my dude. As a Castlevania fan, I think that the concept of a Castlevania fighting game should still be revisited and improved upon, and even if not, this game is still pretty decent!
takeshi obata's art goes SO hard
I think the devs at 8ing are fans of putting high execution barrier behind their games to truly uncover how broken they are (and fun as a consequence)
I love just how many people just agreed to call Simon as "Buff Light Yagami" in this game.
Wow, I had no idea people didn't like the Obata art, I thought it was rad as hell. I always thought his stuff was a fun balance of camp and cool, and that's what I think of when it comes to the Castlevania series as a whole I guess, so it seemed like a fun fit. To be fair, I never played Judgement so I can't say if the game itself influenced what people thought of the art, but it seemed fine to have different art for a spinoff, like you pointed out, that's not new for the series. That being said, I very much appreciate this dive into this, it's nice to see this forgotten stuff checked out, especially the weirdness that was Wii fighters!
I didn't mind the art too much, but there were a few nitpicks. Simon looked like Light from Deathnote dressed as Simon while Dracula, Death, Grant and Cornell looked off from their original designs. No complaints about Trevor. I think being a fighting type game on the Wii that leaned towards the motion controls, though the gamecube controller worked fine, was the biggest turn off. Something no one expected or wanted. The music was good though.
It was just really different
I think that was the problem, a sort of whiplash
@@Ramsey276one The reason this game exists is because Koji Igarashi wanted to insert Montion controls into Castlevania. He knew that it wouldn't work in a prolonged adventure but in an action game where matches don't last too long, maybe that could work?????????
@@orangeslash1667 Reminds me the Bleach Wii games
@@Ramsey276one Surprisingly Eighting did work on some Bleach games before Judgment.
Okay, you are a man after my heart, giving Castlevania 64 propps and shitting on LoD1 and LoD2.
Bless you, GuileWinQuote.
CV64 has the best atmosphere on the N64 and one day the world will accept that....!
IT'S NOT FORGOTTEN, IT'S REMEMBERED BY EVERYONE WHO PLAYED IT
.......Whether fondly or not!
The music, at least, is SO good.
Good work as always.
Enjoy seeing you make new content, especially since i can feel the passion in the video.
Thank you for the support 🙇🏼
Good to see you finally cover this one. I remember discovering this game on Ye Ol' TH-cam in like 2009 or late 2008 from a compilation of all the characters' supers. I always wanted to know more about the game but could never find any good footage of it. Always liked the style of it and the care that was put into it; Aeon gets a unique voiceline for every character during his super, including his mirror match! Love that.
Also never got the hate for Simon's Judgement design as you point out, but I loath Grant's redesign. I remember not caring for his characterization in this either, hell I don't think he even shows up in that Netflix series. He always got the short end of the stick from Castlevania III gang.
I think Aeon riffs on that fact when he hits him with his Super
XD
I mean, to be fair, you could just completely skip Grant in the original game
No one forgot about Judgement, we simply do not wish to remember it exists or talk about it
I'll never forget this game it blew my mind when i was a kid and I listen to the ost all the time
RIP Golem
too pure for this timeline
I never actually picked this game up to play but I used to listen to it's soundtrack all the time, it's so awesome.
I wasn't a fan of Obata's Simon Belmont at first but I kinda talked myself into it when I described it as "a male bodybuilder Light Yagami photoshopped his head onto for ego reasons"
So glad you mentioned the grant infinite hahah. Love that good old 8ing buffer exploit
Some ideas in this game have huge potential
I recently got into Sonic Riders Tournament Edition and am having a blast. I tihnk if this game got it's own Modbase, one that would fix issues like Animations, Weapon Balancing, and the lack of cool characters to play as, then this game could be taken more seriously. I want to see a true scene of this game.
I love these videos not only for discovering cool stuff, but for the fair approach and great production. Little things like the description boxes in the character section (plus the gif at 10:27) show the effort that goes into each video.
Not a CV fan, so i don't have much to say about this game, but I can see why the artstyle was/is so divisive. Which is a shame, because in motion the game looks fantastic for a Wii title, and there's a good game here. It's not for me, but I hope it gets more fans.
Also, in a bit of a tangent: when you mentioned the over-designed bondage style being common back then, I instantly remembered the atrocity that was Bomberman: Act Zero. That one was a real case of bad 2000s edge.
I've been waiting for this. Love this series and love your content.
I really enjoyed my time playing this when I found out about it a few years ago so it's cool to see a video on it after all this time
Dude, that was one of my favorite WII games! Thanks for covering it.
4:47 Thought we would forget about Tatsunoko vs. Capcom huh?
The speed at which views are coming in is a shame, but thank you for making it anyways. People gotta' learn about this game, especially me. I was more positive on it than most, and even I eventually told a friend that I didn't want to play it anymore out of boredom. Finding tech builds my respect for it.
The art style still is why I want to check this game out! Like, that artist knows how to make anything look insanely cool.
While I dislike the designs, and think some of the character story motivations are dumb...I do like how it actually puts some respect on my boy Grant's name.
Hearing someone have some pretty nice things about Judgement feels nice.
I had so much fun with this game back when, and all I can remember was video after comment, after message board trash talking the game.
It's not perfect, but I remember having some fun weekend nights playing this one.
I genuinely like this game and had a lot of fun with it. I still play it sometimes too
Aeon is just a grown-up Near lmao
this game means a lot to me since me and my friends play this game whenever we get together
we all think its shit but it dosent matter just mashing and swinging is so much fun i love it horrible art style and all
Honestly holy water sounds like a very cool way to balance a game. From what i see is that it's the best item in the game so you want it. So what if the best characters can't start with it but the low-tiers have access to it no problem.
I've seen multiple streamers go into this game thinking it's the worst Castlevania game, only to walk away realizing it's an absolute blast once you get past the redesigns. I think the style looks AMAZING but yeah it's hard to think of these characters as the actual Castlevania characters. That really is at the core of this games hate and it makes sense because it's a crossover game! It's all about seeing these familiar faces come together and fight, but if you redesign them then the faces aren't familiar anymore, are they?
Personally I was always okay with the redesigns because I consider them better than Ayame Kojima's redesigns. She's a great artist and her own designs are great but I always felt her interpretations of older characters sucked. Mostly that's because I'm a Richter fanboy who likes him as a hotblooded anime protagonist and not as an arrogant aristocrat. I got a lot of crap for the opinion throughout the years only for those same people to hate this game for the redesigns...and WOW was the conversation around the designs broken! Like with Simon? Everyone complained that he didn't look like Conan, but NO ONE brings up the red haired design that had been used for at least 3 games by that point which is what the Judgement design is based on! THAT was Simon's canon design at the time. THEN you get to Maria. "Why did they turn Maria into a little girl!!!" because she IS a little girl? I mean yes, Saturn SotN Maria with her fighting game input moves would have been amazing but Igarashi went out of his way to de-canonize that (completely redoing her gameplay for the PSP SotN). Also I have a soft spot for bandaged and masked characters so I like what they did to Grant. I think they were going for a Jack the Ripper inspired design? Everyone always says Voldo, but the bandages remind me of Power Stone's Jack.
But yeah, this is one of my favorite Arena Fighters. As a side note, Alucard and Shanoa are apparently top tier with Dracula at rock bottom.
Fate Unlimited Codes is one I think is worth talking about
0:20 subscribed
8ing also did the fate unlimited code
Babe wake up, Guile posted
I can’t be the only person who wants a Castlevania Warriors game?
Insane how that hasn't happened yet!!
I play this game quite allot, and for all the other fighters I've got for my Wii, I'd have to say that this one has grabbed my attention the most! And I've never played a main line Castlevania game... But this, this sticks! and for a game that runs at 30 frames a sec, it's barely noticeable in battle and does nothing that changes the smooth flow of gameplay (just make sure to toggle on 'deflicker' in the options menu). I've always liked seeing how far the Wii could be pushed in terms of background detail and character models, and judgement really scratches that itch for me since I'm a sucker for older hardware (generally anything from PS3 and under). So uhhh, an updated version of the existing game on the same system with more characters? I'd dig that! Sure, it's never going to happen... but i can pray! but who am i kidding... Praying is something you only do in a church and I'm not a religious man who needs deep meaning in life, so this will have to do for now.
I ended up picking up the game earlier this year and having quite fun with it. I pray this game gets something of a competitive scene
also THOSE ARE A SACRED GIFT is such a quote
It was forgotten for a reason. Or a hundred.
I always felt like this probably couldve been a fun game to just mess around in, but I couldn't get any of my friends to actually play. Everyone has the usual, "ew gross, Judgement" reaction to it, and I'm like Okay but It's still kinda fun though lol
Excellent video! I especially love how its in 4:3, TH-cam needs more modern videos like that.
This is my guilty pleasure fighting game. I even hosted it as a mystery game tournament in my local to good reception. People enjoyed the games jank, so it worked great as a funny side-tournament
Just started watching and haven't watched the video yet, but I just wanted to say I appreciate you making a video about this. Your research and knowledge being applied to a game that's very significant to me is a very nice treat! Also, I highly recommend Ragnarrox's video about Castlevania if you ever get the chance to check it out.
This video made me get into Judgement and i love it now. Ive only been able to do single player stuff and labbing holy water combos since i dont have many people irl to play with and online isnt an option for me but i would LOVE to run tournaments for this game someday.
Not different universes - different points in the timeline.
I know that frames are important to maintain, but I'm one of those people with funky vision that can't seem to tell the difference unless it suddenly changes during gameplay, so I don't fully understand why a low framerate is bad as long as it's consistent. Do fighting players just naturally make inputs so fast that thirty literally can't keep up?
as long as the game is polling inputs at ≥60 checks per second and knows how to order them correctly then the main issue with a lower framerate would be that while the game can "keep up," about half the inputs will be buffered *between* frames. this is a very small amount of time, of course, but at high levels of play i suppose the delay can be disorienting
What a blast from the past. I remember unlocking the boss medals in order of ecclesia to link my ds to the wii and get new accessories and costumes.
I remember this game. It came out around the time I learned Fate Unlimited Codes was a thing and that 8ing made it. I don't know why, but I just presumed Judgement would play like that game but with Castlevania characters obviously. Even after the screenshots made it clear it was more of an arena fighter, I still held out hope haha. Playing around with it now though in Dolphin, you could sorta see the potential.
''not all created equal'' that sweet 8ing touch of kusoge 👌🏻👌🏻
Man I love your videos! Would love to see you talking about Death Cargo, even though you focus mostly on the technical aspects of the games
I would absolutely love making a video on that game but the company nukes any video that mentions it...so one day!! Closest thing to a real fighting game urban legend lol
@@GuileWinQuote I understand, it was surprisingly hard to find footage of it haha
Love your videos man thanks for the content!
"Castlevania is known for its beautiful 2D sprites, memorable character designs and intense, heavy feeling but satisfying side scrolling action. We should make a fighting game!"
"In 3D!"
"Yes! In 3-... Wait wh-"
CASTLEVANIA JUDGEMENT
As a non-castlevania fan, I think I might like this one. It might be my fave castlevania game
Honestly this game is great but its probably the only fighting game I know of where one of the big things holding it back was the character designs.
I remember way back in 2009/2010 a lot of people in my local FGC and nearby states like Cali didn't fuck with the game at all and the character designs being mostly terrible was a commonly cited reason. Either cause they liked Castlevania and thought the new interpretations were unrecognizable or they didn't like CV and just thought they were plan awful like Simon's belt jacket.
Its unfortunate, if the character designs were closer to the source material it woulda probably done a tiny bit better.
I never forgot. Aeon is my favorite character. Dude is so cool.
Personally I think Leon and Soma are the biggest snubs of the roster. Having a time travel game without characters from the beginning and end of the timeline is straight-up madness.
Not having Richter is also pretty nuts considering his popularity, but I imagine the biggest hurdle to designing a CV fighting game is figuring out what the hell to do with all the whip characters.
Leon would've been awesome, which makes me realize I forgot to mention Hector as well!
Yeah it's definitely hard to theory craft how to make whip dudes different....but no Richter is wild in hindsight lol.
I wanna know how Obata would've bdsm'd him out!
HOLY NUTS, I WAS JUST WONDERING WHEN THIS MONTH'S VIDEO WOULD POP UP
I'm gonna have some entertainment for tonight, oh boy
Love your vids man and I like the Obata designs
Thank you!
They've definitely grown on me too..even Simon's lol
They did tatsunoko vs capcom??? That game was amazing
"I'll even defend the 3D games " I too am a man of culture.
I grew up playing Bloody Roar and Clash of Ninja, and didn't even realize until this video, that they're both 8ing :o
Pretty sick
Maria in judgement: A-cup angst.
Maria in rondo: D cup at age 12.
Man now this makes me imagine the roster for a new Castlevania fighting game
(Which I will now compile, split based on eras)
Classic Era:
Trevor Belmont (Castlevania 3)
Sypha Belnades (Castlevania 3)
Simon Belmont (Castlevania)
Post Trilogy Era:
Richter Belmont (Rondo of Blood)
Maria Renard (Rondo of Blood)
Eric Lecarde (Bloodlines)
Cornell (Legacy of Darkness)
Alucard (Symphony of the Night)
Mobile Era:
Soma Cruz (Aria/Dawn of Sorrow)
Shanoa (Order of Eclesia)
Jon Morris (Portrait of Ruin)
Tried to cover pretty much every major era of classic Castlevania, probably missed a few though!
I still can't get over just how many belts Trevor is wearing. It's like Obata was trying to one-up Nomura in seeing how many belts one could fit on a character. I also don't understand why they invented Aeon for this game when Saint Germain was right there.
A minor peeve of mine regarding Cornell is this game changed his backstory from going through training to unlock his lycanthropic powers that his bloodline sealed to going through training to control his lycanthropic curse and hopes to remove it.
Cornell wanting to remove the temporal effects Aeon placed on him keeping him in beast form is understandable though.
Played that game quite a lot at the time. Despite Maria's story can be silly, I actually really loved her gothic magical girl look and personally my favorite character. I have her figure back when I used to buy gaming merch like plushies or figurines. I even drew couple of pictures that version. That being said, Cornell might be the best design in that game and possibly one of the coolest finishers as well.
Would love a rerelease
Having wanted this game as a kid but never playing it and only seeing footage, I never realized it was motion controls ngl
Castlevania Judgement was the culmination of where castlevania was going since the late 1990s. Immediately after this was Lords of Shadow which got the series got back on track before killing it again a few years later. Now castlevania lives on in Smash and pachinko machines.
Yo! I have this game! Played it back in the day and when I was looking up info or tech for this there was surprisingly almost nothing, glad to have seen this video, hope you are doing well!
the instant 8ing is mentioned as a dev i am instantly sold on a fighting game
(one day in the far off future i hope DNF Duel gets a GWQ video)
its still in active development so id say hold off for a while but there's really no other fg like it
it feels like a really polished version of a weird game youd find on fightcade that struggles to break 10 players on the weekends
(its one of the few games in recent memory that can have a 7-3 matchup on launch that only gets worse with every patch lmao)
Fan Service: the game. Always enjoyed this game, and a sequel would be awesome
With Soma, Hammer, Yoko and J!
Also ARIKADO
XD
If these character designs existed completely separate of Castlevania, I think they'd be spoken of far more highly. I personally love Simon's design, it just doesn't fit him at all. Absolutely agree on Trevor as well, while still being very different, it still feels like Trevor. It also helps he's not wearing shorts and has his chest (mostly) covered.
2:16 he turned the Bandit into Rem from Death Note too lol
Yes, i could never forget this game, because we have amazing versions of classic castlevania themes righ there. Speakin in "8ing", you could do a video talking about "Fate: Unlimited code", for ps2. Is a amzing fighting game that don have the love that deserve.
They're all unrecognizable from the pre established visual
wow, the combos in this game do look really cool! Love how you can find things to appreciate in any game. I agree I think these designs are underrated and some are really great!
Can you cover WakuWaku7 and Galaxy Fighters
Me and my roommates played a ton of this in college, despite it's flaws.
We definitely noted the irony of Dracula being the weakest character and the little girl being the strongest.
Twink? No good sir, that right there is a Twonk.
When you called that anime art style “generic”, you’re not doing it justice by calling it that. It looks amazing! Man I wish M2 would give us a DS collection already.
the music is so good in this game
Given that the character designs were done by a revered manga artist, you would think they’d be accepting of it. I think masculine Simon looks lame. Redhead Simon Belmont looks way cooler imo, especially done by the Death Note artist and is my favourite design by far. It’s a shame he wasn’t in Smash Ultimate as an alternate appearance. Instead we got lame ass masculine Simon.
God those designs are so fucking raw reminds me a ton of some old atlas stuff