Castlevania: Bloodlines - Can it compare to Super Castlevania IV? (Sega Genesis) | Cannot be Tamed

Today I'm reviewing the only Castlevania game made specifically for a Sega console? Is it a good entry in the series? How does it compare to its Super Nintendo counterpart? Watch to find out.
#SegaGenesis #Castlevania #Bloodlines
Castlevania: Bloodlines was played on a model 2 Genesis using a MegaSD cart and recorded on a AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable 2 Plus. Music comes from the game soundtrack.
If you're interested in the Mega SD, you can fine one here *affiliate link*: stoneagegamer....
Intro artwork, logo and banner by: @theMagdalenRose
"Cantina Blues" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons...

[@OnlyGamingClips]

I honestly prefer Bloodlines over Super Castlevania 4. I have both collections on Switch and I always find myself playing a run as Eric LaCarde. I prefer the speed of Bloodlines to S. CVania 4. But after I got the Advance Collection, I'm either playing Circle of the Moon, or Aria of Sorow.

[@DanielHuman1996]

I love when Pam goes goth, Mistress of the Dark!

[@1989Ezal]

Elvira is Mistress of the dark.

[@EffySalcedo]

yes 👏👏 Pam got it 😁

[@mrtwit5212]

Hey Pam...ever thought of doing old scary movie reviews?

[@ryanspengler4877]

This is the Pam the world needs... Pamsylvania...🧛‍♀️

[@toryficarola]

We need Elizabeth Bathory cosplay Pam NOW!!!

[@onesandzeros]

This is a quality post.

[@Mr_Wheez]

😂

[@makaveli4205]

I'd like to go there

[@martial_matt]

Agreed

[@RickyHadou]

Bloodlines was my first Castlevania and it’s my favorite till this day. The soundtrack is what enticed me to this game and I’m forever grateful .

[@bluenomad73]

Amen, Bro.

[@playitwithvenga8169]

Hey ! Take a look to a "remastered" version with better sound and even the one with digital...They call MSU-MD version. It was a cool add

[@tsitracommunications2884]

Same with me

[@spriles]

Pam, you're killing me. You did the music dirty! Reincarnated Soul, Old Sinking Sanctuary, Iron Blue Intention, Calling From Heaven are amazing!

[@mattecandini9066]

Bloodlines is unique, addictive, dual character, custom-programmed for the megadrive. An absolute masterpiece

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

Its way shorter than the SNES version and the quality is pretty crap though the first 3 levels are psychedelic and very cool

[@indeimaus]

the ol' youtube recommends a random video and it turns out to be fantastic bit!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks for checking it out, welcome to the channel!

[@reptilez13]

Of all people its Indiemaus!! Crazy lol

[@LuxxVeritas]

IKR! How’d you sneak into my feed🤔 especially when I’m always “don’t recommend”-ing everything😂

[@andreasaristidou2578]

Had the same feeling! Great video

[@metalagent47]

same

[@RON_FBG]

I personally liked bloodlines better than super castlevania 4

[@philosophyoftrucking]

First rule of sexy Pam: don’t talk about sexy Pam.

[@Pan_Z]

0:53 Elizabeth Bartley is supposed to be Elizabeth Báthory. In Japanese her name is written as バートリー (Baatorii). The translator probably didn't make the connection.

[@davezanko9051]

Ends by saying "looks aren't everything", all while dressed up in a very appropriate (and very stunning) outfit. Love the sense of humor behind that. One of the reasons this is such a great channel.

[@Levitz9]

IIRC, this was Michiru Yamane's first game where she served as a composer! I love her music. She went on to compose for the Kingdom Hearts games.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Yoko Shimomura is the Kingdom Hearts composer (and also the best soundtrack, Parasite Eve). Michiru Yamane mainly composed Konami games (Suikoden, Symphony of the Night).

[@shotoclone6315]

"Looks arent everything" Sure... Miss high cheekbones & dreamy eyes, with an enchanting buxom goth look.

[@filiperamos9667]

😂👍

[@tlacahetl]

Me like 🤤

[@SECONDQUEST]

I love Bloodlines, was one of the first castlevanias I played as a kid. I really enjoy playing Eric, the sounds of his charge jump is very nostalgic. I also liked to show friends the spear spin you can do by attacking and pressing left and right back and forth. Sorta useless but really flashy for the time

[@Cannotbetamed1]

I never even realized that was a move for Eric in the time I played him.

[@MrPantera1987]

Played a while ago, but I think it's useful for defending against thingies thrown by some enemies at ya.

[@RyanLeCocq]

Anytime I open up my subs panel and see you dressed up, I’m like “Oh hell yeah, it must be vampires!”

[@Cannotbetamed1]

My one reason to dress up!

[@YDwelve]

@@Cannotbetamed1 Dress up or... drop the disguise? O_o

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

@@YDwelve I knew it, they walk among us. Aaaaggghhh.

[@TheMultiGunMan]

I was a HUGE Sega Genesis guy when I was a teenager (the Genesis and SNES were the two big consoles back in my teen years). Thank you for doing this video. Please do more Sega Genesis videos.

[@SECONDQUEST]

Aww. Bloodlines has some of my favorite tunes.

[@NintenDub]

You bet your fuggin ass. The genesis was a horrendously programmed mess by devs resulting in diarrhea sound and music 80% of the time.absolute dogshit. This game is the pinnacle genesis music. In instrumentation, samples,m and composition. Above phantasy star and a lot of the other touted musical gems. The genesis has digshit music. And bloodlines music seems like it was programmed by something not human

[@gypate74]

Same composer as symphony of the night, a really talented woman.

[@willthomas2310]

@@NintenDub I disagree! When people make statements like that, it's clear to me they didn't play many genesis games growing up or at all. When it came to american composed games, they usually left much to be desired. Japanese composed games worked magic around the genesis soundchip, cause they used a entirely different programming system for the music. Listen to the Sonic franchise, shinobi franchise, Thunder force franchise, SOR franchise, Dynamite headdy, Gunstar heroes, Midnight resistance, Gauntlet 4, Devilish, Musha, Ristar, capt America & The avengers... just to name a few. All had sum of the hottest soundtracks in the 16 bit generation

[@kingboobs20]

@@NintenDub Here have a downvote.

[@clarencegutsy7309]

@@willthomas2310 Love to see someone else recognize how good Gauntlet 4's music was.

[@tk848]

Wow what a coincidence. I've been playing Bloodlines the last few days. It's included in the Castlevania Collection on PS4.

[@kadosho02]

How does it play within the collection? Thought about buying it, if it was ever on sale 🦇

[@tk848]

@@kadosho02 it plays really well. I bought it about a month ago for 7.99. I'm not sure if that price is still the same.

[@dextersbeard3472]

@@kadosho02 it plays great you can get a physical edition of the collection on limited run games website

[@kadosho02]

@@dextersbeard3472 I'm good, bought the digital version on sale. The waiting with LRG, kinda bugs me. Great product, and price though. Just the whole 3-4 months (who knows how long) till it arrives

[@gleng8125]

Move over Elvira! Love when Pam gets her Vamp on 🧛‍♀️

[@hungrygoriya]

The whip noise is so strange in Bloodlines... I found it really distracting. I appreciated your insights here... nice work!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks! some Genesis sound effects are just awful.

[@jaytpmc]

The ONLY issue with the game

[@seblastoise9332]

Finally unlocked "Goth Pam" outfit! I love it!

[@GeorgiaRidgerunner]

Bloodlines and scv4 are my favorite castlevania games of the 16 bit era

[@cnk9822]

The funny thing about this game is that it combines the story of the Dracula books by Bram Stoker for some reason.

[@MrLtia1234]

yeah, from this point the original Dracula became Castlevania canon! :-)

[@Bojanglez667]

Nice video, I have very fond memories of this game from childhood, which is why I find this one to be almost my favorite, only being eclipsed by Castlevania III.

[@fredericnouri2016]

16-bit speaking, I think Super Castlevania IV was the best possible showcase of what the Super Nintendo was capable of. I played Bloodlines recently though and it's a great title. I love your videos my dear !

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thank you!

[@DesertRainReads]

At the time, absolutely, and SCIV is still a masterpiece. Bloodlines is a fantastic game too, but SCIV is an absolute classic.

[@charlesgraves2147]

I think the R-Type series showed of the most graphically. But this was a dope game too.

[@RoyceMusic333]

This is the Best soundtrack of all castlevania IMHO. Thanks for sharing.

[@nhlcbj]

Lady Pamitrescu, so we finally meet

[@widardd]

Nerd stuff presented by a gorgeous vampire lady? How am I going to resist THAT?

[@hemangchauhan2864]

Banger OST. Main theme is one of the best in the series.

[@limen008]

I feel like the last stage music "Calling From Heaven" is criminally underrated

[@RockoEstalon]

I found weird the criticism of the Sountrack. Reincarnated Soul, The Sinking Old Sanctuary , Calling From Heaven and, obviously, Iron Blue Intention are great tracks. The only track I would call weak is The Prayer of a Tragic Queen. The Discolored Wall (Stage 3) is also a little lacking but that's more like an ambiance track. Obviously, Michiru Yamane would outdo herself a few years later in Symphony of the Night.

[@z0ktwf680]

i liked both castlevanias, but in Bloodlines i prefeer to play as Eric for the same reason, John whip i feel the frames it have its delay its too quick, so made it a bit hard to use. Super Castlevania IV i liked a lot the whip mechanics and the frames of it attack it have the perfect delay, but enemies are so basic that they are just a piece of cake, even bosses. Now, i didnt know you can use john whip in different angles the first time i played it because i got my game without instructions manual so i played the game entirely without it, after figuring out you can whip in different angles i found out it wasnt like SCV iv i was getting hit way more times than jump and whip way, in other hand in-game you dont have hints you could use your whip on the ceilings or in other ways, so basically you can live without even using those features, but if you play as Eric you find its easier to use the spear as it also can attack in different angles and with a good delay on its frames, do a spinning spear, and the jump that its better than swinging on ceilings. Castlevania IV sadly main problem its the difficulty, enemies are like if they were ported directly from the NES and not reworked around the new whip mechanics (unlike blood lines where enemies have a better ai), so having enemies with the basic AI like the Old NES games agaisnt your new whip mechanics wouldnt be a hard game, it feels like they worried more about in the graphics and effect deparment than gameplay. only true menace in this game are the jumps and the spike traps (and ouf couce knocked back by medusas)

[@Wildseven88]

Absolutely love this game and its music. It was my first Castlevania and have so many happy memories sat in front of the Megadrive as a kid trying to beat this!

[@rhyss4761]

I'm drinking the blood of nostalgia and I can't stop!

[@popcornchokes84]

Pumped for some Castlevania during my lunch break. Thanks!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Enjoy!

[@YDwelve]

I'm a simple man. I see Castlevania, I click it

[@krisfrederick5001]

You're a simple man for more than that

[@lorenzovergata3347]

What is a (simple) man? A miserable little pile of secrets

[@foxtrot801]

Maybe a simple kid

[@elgatofelix8917]

@Clark Griswold you had to retype and repost that comment several times with different spellings because it kept getting censored huh?

[@M3LCH10R1]

I don't think I'll ever get enough goth Pam.

[@LuxisAlukard]

Before I start watching, I gotta say: This girl knows what outfit to wear for vampire games! =)

[@nathanixslade]

Very professional and honest review like i see in Metal Jesus channel. keep the good work, youtube needs more channels like this.

[@ErinPlays]

Your outfit is so on point for this review! And even though I love this game, I do agree with you about the skies being a bit ugly. Great review as always and thanks for the shout out!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thank you! Your video on the meanest parts really helped me out.

[@ErinPlays]

@@Cannotbetamed1 yay! I’m so glad 😄

[@belmontlegionplays3853]

Bloodlines has one of the best genesis soundtracks that can stand on its own but it just happens to be paired with an awesome Castlevania game.

[@upgamerFranzo]

Similar to how Eric is a spaniard, and his surname was probably meant to be Ricardo rather than the French-sounding Lecarde.

[@TimDavis77]

Glad to see Castlevania: Bloodlines getting the Pam treatment.

[@CyborgHobbit42]

"...like John has somehow found himself in an 8-bit game". Perfect way to describe that.

[@davidaitken8503]

The whole game looks 8-bit. It reminds me of the Genesis version of Battle Toads where there are certainly some visual enhancements, but overall it still looks very 8-bit. The graphics in Castlevania 3, despite the NES hardware limitations actually look better in a lot of ways with more properly proportioned characters that look less cartoony and goofy than many of the characters in Bloodlines.

[@rancidtastetv4953]

@@davidaitken8503 It looks better than SCIV for me

[@davidaitken8503]

@@rancidtastetv4953 Only a complete idiot would claim Bloodlines looks better than SCIV. It isn't even in the same league. I always laugh when Sega fanboys think the cheesy attempts at special effects with the water and the tower rocking back and forth are impressive. The backgrounds are just plain ugly and the characters look goofy. Castlevania 4 is one of the best looking 16 bit games. I'm sorry you have such bad eyesight. What's next? Are you going to claim Sparkster for Genesis has more impressive visuals than Sparkster for SNES?

[@davidaitken8503]

@@DTW-bx2vy Not only does Bloodlines not capture the original design and art style of the Castlevania series, it actually looks inferior to it. Castlevania 3 has properly proportioned characters, more detailed background art, and no goofy looking multi-jointed gear bosses or face-crotch Dracula's.

[@rancidtastetv4953]

@@davidaitken8503 Now say it again without crying

[@PheonixKnght]

Always love seeing you dressed up talking about vampires.

[@godzillagorilla986]

I've literally learned more in this review that the last 20 years of reviews. I'm not sure how others left SO MUCH out. You're criticisms were fair enough. No diagonal whip slash. Bad backgrounds. Crappy sound effects. But all in all, still a pretty good game. Now, what about Rhondo of blood??? And it's comparisons?

[@Cannotbetamed1]

I still need to play that one.

[@InsidiousOne]

Dracula X for SNES is way underrated.

[@destructiveforce7943]

Man, I loved bloodlines. It's one of my favorite Castlevania games. LeCarde was my favorite character. He also has a move that allows him to spin the staff, damaging anything in front of him, above him, and then the opposite direction, and sometime striking things multiple times as the staff spins (my favorite move).

[@worsethanhitlerpt.2539]

The SNES version is way longer with better graphics and music. Bloodlines is OK but its kinda dumb the animation on the characters is jerky and the special FX are not very impressive

[@Jo_Ta]

@@worsethanhitlerpt.2539 More pixelated, best sound but worse soundtrack, less smoother playability, too easy and worse performance. On the other part, the FX are different, not better or worse. Both are great games but Super Castlevania IV has more name than game.

[@evanseifert8858]

I kind of like the limitations on diagonal attacks. The eight-way whip really overshadowed the subweapons in 4, so it makes sense that they wanted to tone it down.

[@biged3561]

I agree the whip had too much freedom and didn’t compensate the enemies for the changes and made getting the sub weapons almost pointless

[@thiagodeandradeneves4585]

Love this game, always played with Eric. Oh, and you look extra classy as Castlevania Pam 🦇🍷

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Oh thank you!

[@fenomozo9108]

I get the visual critique and the sfx one too, but the music is pretty memorable!!

[@davidaitken8503]

No old school Castlevania game has bad music but I would definitely put this behind Castlevania 1, 2, 3, 4, and Rondo of Blood.

[@markwayman8260]

I'm playing this for the first time currently. I'm enjoying it. Thanks for your video! 😊

[@briandaniel7514]

Castlevania will always be one of my all time favorite games ever... The original castlevania was the third game I ever owned and symphony of the night is still one of, if not, my favorite games ever...

[@atranfanatic]

Rondo Of Blood here, but Symphony comes in second.

[@DamienPaulLabonte]

The first nes game I saw was Castlevania. My exclamation was "LOOK AT THE COLOURS! Excellent series. Thank you for sharing!

[@lopoisaac]

I'm impressed by some effects in this game, like the fake reflections and the rotation of the sprites (even the snes needed the Super FX chip!). I suspect the reason of the lack of detail in the backgrounds could be due to all these sprites and effects on the screen (maybe the developers decided to simplify in order to gain speed?). Thanks for the extensive review Pam, you're the best!

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

Yes. Some of those special effects are very costly. Plus, it's only an 8 mbit cart, which is pretty low for a game with such level variety. Shinobi 3 is also an 8 mbit cart but that game mostly avoids the gimmicky special effects, choosing to maintain a constant level of excellent sprite and background detail throughout. Gunstar Heroes had the effects AND detail on an 8 mbit cart, but Treasure were simply wizards with the Genesis, so that doesn't count. :) Konami were no slouches either though. I am guessing that Bloodlines was probably rushed to meet the 1993 xmas season. It's telling that the US version came out first, in December of 1993.

[@davidaitken8503]

I honestly always thought the effects in this game looked really cheesy. My brother actually thought the reflections in the water weren't displaying properly on his emulator. The first level of Sparkster for the SNES does this effect far better. Where are there sprites rotating anywhere in this game? It's been a while since I played through it but I don't think there are any.

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

@@davidaitken8503 The reflection does look slightly better on the SNES because they applied a transparent layer over it. The Genesis obviously doesn't do true transparencies, so they couldn't do it there, making it look a bit less impressive. On the other hand, the Genesis effect is a bit more technically impressive simply because transparency moves to mimic the water swaying. I don't know why your brother thought that it looked "broken". Maybe his emulator was indeed shitty. Then again, it does looks A LOT better on a CRT as opposed to modern displays. It was pretty amazing back in the day. There is sprite and background rotation effects all over this game. For an obvious example of sprite rotation, check out the big statue head that rolls to the side as you hit it, on the "reflection level". Seamless sprite rotation done in software. I do agree that a lot of the effects in this games, while being very impressive during the xmas or 93, look a bit gimmicky now. The game would've aged better if they invested into more traditional graphics detail and animation instead of all the (then) cool special effects.

[@davidaitken8503]

@@Prizrak-hv6qk My criticisms of the graphic effects are in comparison to other games of the era, including Super Castlevania 4. I'm not unfairly comparing it to some newer game nor am I dissing games from this era in general as they are some of my favorites. Though I didn't get the opportunity to play Bloodlines on original hardware, I grew up on 8 and 16 bit game systems and have seen plenty of games on NES, Turbo Grafx 16, Sega Genesis, and Super Nintendo on a CRT the way they were intended. The water bobbing up and down is part of the reason it looks so cheesy. It doesn't really make sense, and the vertical line heavy pillars in the scene doesn't help matters. I hate to tell you this, but that big statue head is not using sprite rotation in any form. They are just shifting horizontal and vertical lines a bit. This is the same way they pull off the even cheesier wobbling tower that has the center of the screen as its' central axis and not the base of the tower as it should. If you want to see what the effect should actually look like with proper rotation that actually affects gameplay, you should play the introductory level of Super Metroid. While escaping the space station, the tower starts to sway from side to side. It's very cool. Every time someone claims a Genesis game is using rotation effects of some kind, it seems like it's usually just the horizontal and vertical line shift trick. It isn't particularly hard to do and it offers extremely limited range because you can only shift things a little bit off before the image falls apart. It isn't rotation, just a little bit of wobble. The first level boss of Contra 3 and the helicopter in Time Trax are examples of some of this image manipulation on SNES. Mega Turrican on the Genesis actually has some sprite rotation, scaling, and even mozaic effects in it, but that is done by the master coders at Factor 5. No one else can even come close.

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

@@davidaitken8503 I don't get your point. Of course none of the Genesis games have true sprite or background rotation and scaling. It's just not something that the Genesis VDP had built into it. So, every time you see it in a Genesis game, it is simulated using various software tricks. However, some devs did make it look pretty convincing/seamless. The stock SNES couldn't do sprite rotation (or scaling) either... only background. They often used the trick of switching a sprite to a background tile and rotating that, in order to make it looks like a sprite is scaling or rotating. I am very aware of Super Metroid. For (simulated) rotation that effects the gameplay on the Genesis, check out the bonus stages in Sonic 1. Red Zone rotated the whole play area and Panorama Cotton has scaling and rotation effects all over the place. Anyway, I rented Bloodlines when it came out, long after I had a SNES as well and I still found it to be a pretty impressive looking game. The graphics had a lot more depth to them on a CRT than you get with an emulator on an LCD. Some Genesis games are just like that. Off the top of my head, Alisia Dragoon is another really good example of a Genesis game that suffers greatly from being played on an LCD now.

[@slappymcphee]

So glad that I found your channel. Have been digging through your back catalog and your intonation along with facial expressions show that you are working to be engaging. Truly a pleasure to view.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks so much, welcome to the channel!

[@Miicrowahvei]

I never thought the backgrounds were plain or ugly, quite the opposite. I like a lot of black also, like in NES games, because it's mysterious. For those who do think the backgrounds are plain, fortunately the examples in this video belong to segments that take up only a little bit of the game.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

No, the plain and ugly backgrounds make up about half of the levels.

[@aryinc]

makes it look like a nes game in that regards or one of those instances where a genesis game gets ported over to the mastersystem. Like it shows it's struggle with colour. I also tought bloodlines looked quite beutifull, bloodlines definitely looks better then the europe version but then i saw shinobi 3 aggainst it and good god. My brother once had the europe version but he's and impulse seller sometimes. Now goes up towards 2/300 in stores. Tough some things this castelvania does are technical marvels, like the tower of pisa. But could have been done better i agree, they could have done more.

[@skijumpnose]

Forgot to say i love the soundtrack of this game and cool that you mentioned Gunstar Heroes! One of the best Genesis games.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

I played some Gunstar Heroes to get the footage I used in this and I did so badly at it. I could not remember how to pick up items, and wasn't planning on playing long enough to bother figuring it out.

[@pkkingcrimsonrequiem1332]

Bloodlines is the one time the Genesis nailed the orchestral sound.

[@cbarger2327]

There are a few games on Genesis that get it right. Check out Gauntlet IV’s amazing soundtrack.

[@chavesa5]

I'd say I want to know how they pulled it off, but honestly I have no clue how any of that magic works.

[@pkkingcrimsonrequiem1332]

@@chavesa5 Said magic is FM synth. Under the right hands the YM2612 could do wonders.

[@emmanueloverrated]

Check Beyond Oasis if you want orchestral arrangement.

[@secondghost]

Very few games really take advantage of the music the Genesis can play. Bloodlines Vapor Trail Super Hydlyde Jurrasic Park Those games have some of the very best music the system has to offer. Check them out if you get a chance.

[@QoreMTG]

Awesome Review, Bloodlines did have Beautiful Music composed by A young Michiru Yamane , Bloodlines Gave us "Iron Blue Intention". : )

[@LameDadRetroGamer]

One of my favorite series. The older 2d style platforming games are true masterpieces. Great video

[@martymartin2894]

I only started playing this as i got a genises mini but noticed the limitations of whip guy right away no diagonal from ground.

[@CrypticusOfficial]

My favorite of all CastleVania games. I love the weird, Treasure-style bosses & level mechanics.

[@MoeLesteur]

Bloodlines is better to me. I mean just the soundstrack , Iron Blue Intention ? The prayer of a tragic queen ? The game is lit.

[@BB-te8tc]

I loved Konami's Sega Genesis output. Everything felt like an alternate universe take on a hit SNES game. Can only imagine what a Metal gear game would look like on the Genesis.

[@candmmi]

Contra Hard Corps beats Contra 3 hands down

[@mrlaidback83]

@@candmmi tell me about it. I especially hated the nauseating, rotating overhead levels.

[@davidaitken8503]

@@candmmi Nope. Not even close. Like Bloodlines, Contra Hard Corps felt like a big step backward from the SNES game, not only in visuals and audio, but especially with the much more limited control.

[@davidaitken8503]

@@mrlaidback83 It's hilarious how Sega fanboys always bash the overhead levels of Contra 3 even though they were excellent additions to the game, much like the hallway levels in the original Contra and the overhead levels in Super C. Contra 3 is a bonafide masterpiece.

[@mrlaidback83]

@@davidaitken8503 You sound exactly like a Nintendo fan boy calling me a Sega Fan boy just because because of a difference in opinion. Contra 3 may be a masterpiece to you but not to me. I had a lot more fun with Contra Hard Corps and so therefore, it's definitely the better game imho.

[@anthonywheeler2082]

I'm glad you're reviewing more Castlevania games. I always appreciate your reviews and how you never hold back.

[@urinefromuranus]

Went on a big castlevania kick earlier this year, this was one of my favorite ones

[@mkendall8393]

Here because of a KZbin recommendation as well. For once they were spot on. You are more professional than most reviewers. Great job and subscribed as well! Keep it up great content!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks so much, welcome to the channel

[@Leeon_King]

3:11 I can just feel the frustration in those swings lol

[@Cannotbetamed1]

haha, I was questioning if I was just bad at the controls or if diagonal swings weren't an option.

[@mikhailkrauser9255]

Great video, great thumbnail. Something about this video feels much more grounded/grass roots than heavily over produced content, while still having really good quality and effort put in. It's refreshing for sure. Keep up the good work!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks!

[@TheCantrell]

Some of the tunes in this game live in my head. I've had this one since near launch, and it's given me a lot of great hours.

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

Yeah, the old fashioned tunes are great. The sound effects from the Atari days stick with me. Megaman’s music has got to be the best though. Castlevanias tunes are pretty good. It sounds a bit cheesy to say, but how anyone can’t see that games are art must be crazy. I bought the vinyl of Hyper Light Drifters sound track, sounds fantastic when not digitally compressed. The composer at team Cherry is pretty cool as well. Some massive talent in the indie scene.

[@JessesAuditorium]

The color matching doesn't go unnoticed 🩸

[@robmoye7373]

Love me some Castlevania, and this is one of the best. Soundtrack by the great Michiru Yamane. It will grow on you guaranteed.

[@weezking]

KZbin sneaked you into my feed and well, for the first time did not disappoint. I saw "Castlevania review" and I said "Don'tmind if I do !" . Great video and will definitely check out the rest of your video's.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks so much, welcome to the channel!

[@michaeljoseph9390]

1- I had never heard of Elizabeth Báthory before you mentioned her in this video. Her story was fascinating. 2- your shirt has the perfect gothic vibe for this review.

[@mrmagoo-i2l]

Theres a Biographics KZbin video about her, one of the better ones. Caligula is pretty good as well.

[@itsalolmor]

The production value on your channel has improved tremendously, congrats! And thanks for the video!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Glad you think so!

[@Voidsworn]

Easily one of my favorite Castlevanias.

[@counterstrike89]

Gunstar heroes was amazing, love that music and effects.

[@wilytyote]

People usually prefer SCIV, but I always thought this had more of the NES Castlevania feel. There's a decent patch that improves the game's color palette, as well.

[@personavisceration371]

I prefer Bloodlines, but IV always felt so much more ploddingly slow like the NES titles. Honestly, I put Bloodlines closer to Rondo as the characters and the entire game feels faster. The only thing that holds this back is lack of an 8 way whip like Pam mentioned.

[@wilytyote]

@@personavisceration371 I agree with all your points. I will say that the lack of an 8-way whip can be good or bad depending on the style of CV you're in the mood to play.

[@mukepon.]

Thank you for always having a fun video😊

[@Learn4Live]

This game has interesting level's designs, and I like how versatile are the weapons and bosses. Your review explained very well the strengths and weaknesses of this Castlevania: Bloodlines.

[@eidolon0170]

Glad I found you! Great video. I could watch you talk about Castlevania forever tbh. Keep up the quality content.✌️

[@BoogiepopFearGhoul]

I think the attacks are more limited in this game because the designers realized that the Castlevania IV system was broken. I'm not sure why the backgrounds are more plain than expected, but perhaps it was because Konami had very little experience developing for the Mega Drive.

[@davidaitken8503]

Castlevania 4's attacks are not broken. They just needed to make more attack variation in the enemies to give them a fighting chance. I play the second quest exclusively (copy down that password). They send a lot more enemies out at you. Bloodlines felt like a big step backward from Castlevania 4's flawless controls, graphics, music, and sound effects.

[@BoogiepopFearGhoul]

@@davidaitken8503 If the enemies weren't modified to reflect the change in attacks, such that they could be despatched with ease, then the attackes were broken. The Castlevania IV system is the equivalent of changing Super Mario Bros. so that Mario starts the game with a fire flower that he can't possibly lose.

[@davidaitken8503]

@@BoogiepopFearGhoul Nope. You need to play the second quest. They send a lot more enemies at you from all directions. Castlevania Bloodlines is laughably inferior to Castlevania 4 and is a huge step backward.

[@davidaitken8503]

@Tom Ffrench You have more variety and flexibility with the single character in Castlevania 4 compared to both characters combined in Bloodlines. The boss fights aren't better in Bloodlines. I thought you said you never played this game. You're just a troll bot, as I suspected.

[@CastleKingside]

I remember having fun with this game. Didn't notice how bad those backgrounds were until you mentioned it.

[@donaldmatheson6200]

This was my first Castlevania game and I still love it. Missed out on the NES titles when they were new as I was still ZX spectrum bound in those days.

[@raphacanale]

I love this game, but I think it's quite short. Great vídeo! Cheers from Brazil.

[@s.t.houtdoorsnz.1454]

Imo it's one of the best genesis games, it may lack in some colour areas but the soundtrack and atmosphere is just incredible (I actually loved the tunes to this) and like you say the sprite work on bosses. I think it's my favourite atmospheric castlevania next to rondo of blood.

[@arenidas]

5:20 damn, drowning in water and a spear in the chest all at once. Way to go out

[@SanicSez]

Pretty sick video, James Rolf would dig this. Great history tie in, I didn't know about her. Castlevania needs more love, and I was unaware of the mechanics of this game. Makes it seem like they wanted you to pick the lance guy. We all know Rondo of blood Japanese release is king of this era though

[@JoshuaJacobs83]

So glad KZbin recommended this video. I lost my channel a while back and forgot the name of your channel. Great videos as always

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Welcome back!

[@JoshuaJacobs83]

@@Cannotbetamed1 Thank you!

[@eyetunes7754]

Love me a Succubus reviewing Castlevania. Please do Symphony of the Night next

[@ricardocosta4694]

Congrats! That's a very nice theme to talk about!!!

[@AutismFamilyChannel]

This game often gets overshadowed by it's Super Nintendo counterpart, but I feel that its soundtrack is superior, having two characters to choose from is better, and the locales are more varied. #4 does have better character mobility and actions, but there's just something about Bloodlines that makes it more replayable to me.

[@MegaAshWilliams]

Sega. SEGA. We've got Sega here.... See, nobody cares.

[@generaftery9351]

Everything you said. I like to play up until munitions factory just to hear iron blue intention. I never grow tired of that track. This and the first game are my favorites. If i have to hear one more time about 4's amazing multi-directional whipping, and Symphony being the best installment I'll vomit. NES Castlevania, Rondo, Chronicles and Bloodlines are my personal favorites. They're all tied for first place. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[@AutismFamilyChannel]

@@generaftery9351 Yes, sometimes the metroidvania aspect of newer Castlevania's feels daunting and not as repayable to me. Sometimes I just like to spend one afternoon in the castle and call it a day, rather than a weeklong adventure...which is also great, just a bit too much sometimes.

[@ricsim78]

Better soundtrack than Super Castlevania 4? LOL no way. It is good but Super Castlevania is by far the better game with a superior soundtrack. To each their own, I guess. I actually do not like Bloodlines much, the bosses are cool, as is some of the graphic effects. But the characters, the animations of John, the fact he is not even a damn Belmont, and the control limitations are horrible. The Genesis color limitation rears its head again, but graphics are really good.

[@partycity1113]

@@MegaAshWilliams who ask you WHO ASK you see no ask you

[@icelevel2437]

Very informative vid thank you. Looking forward to giving this a try in the Anniversary Collection as Portrait of Ruin is my favourite game and I am going through each game.

[@DanHemsath]

Believe it or not, Bloodlines is actually my favorite Castlevania. I loved the early 20th century setting in contrast to the medieval one of it predecessors. For me, the music and bosses were highlights of the game. Even though the Genesis had some serious sound issues, the original music in Bloodlines is some of the most original and melancholy of the series. Definitely respect your criticisms, though. I just never paid a lot of attention to the backgrounds, although I always did find John's lack of a standing diagonal whip attack weird, too. Like Contra: Hard Corps, I really respected Konami for not just rehashing the same game they made for the SNES, but making something original and distinct.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

I do like that they change up the setting a bit.

[@rogue-like4life]

I had both growing up and I found myself playing Bloodlines a lot more without even putting thought into the decision. It feels much more like the NES ones in regards to difficulty and mechanics. Super IV feels a little easy and slow in comparison plus the OST sounds much better on Sega IMO. I read in the box set that the composer did previous ones but he said that Bloodlines was the first time he was able to take his time to put it together the way he envisioned it.

[@rogue-like4life]

Oh and I'm excited to play Dracula X since I just bought it a couple hours ago. Rondo of Blood is the ultimate in the series so I'm going to enjoy spotting the differences 🎉

[@GameSack]

I disagree with some of your criticisms, but you know what? That's OK! It's a videogame. I'm more likely to criticize the wonky stair-walking animation where the characters themselves do not place their feet on the top of the stairs. Also the goofy walking animations in general. It seems like your main complain was the skies. And there's no accounting for taste when it comes to music. While I love Bloody Tears, Vampire Killer, and Beginning (the 3 standout tunes from the original 8-bit games) I love the "new" stuff even more, and that goes for Super Castlevania IV as well. I've always considered Eric as the game's "Easy Mode" but it's worth it to play through the game with both characters as there are (very small) parts of the game you'll see with Eric that you won't see with John. I'm glad that you had fun with the game! Everyone should play it.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

There were more dull looking levels that I didn't mention, the clockwork and pistons were quite plain in their design. But overall, the looks aren't as important as how fun it was and how good the movement controls are. I probably should have played with Eric first.

[@jimdietz784]

One of my favorite KZbinrs talking about some of my favorite games! yay!

[@nracicot]

Of all the old Castlevania games, this one is my favorite. Sure the attention on the graphics are not on the sky, but there's so many good little ideas that brings the game to life (windows blowing while the dog howls at the beginning and ravens eating corpses). The last stage is crazy and the music is fantastic. The first soundtrack composed by Michiru Yamane. Still interesting to hear a totally different view on the same game.

[@Herugor]

Great analysis. There aren't many people on youtube pointing out the parts of a great game that they don't like. Instant sub.

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks! Welcome to the channel.

[@megaman1806]

I don't know why but Pam is reminding me of Miriam from ROTN.

[@lazyPawdy]

New sub. Thanks KZbin for the recommendation! Been watching a bunch of old game/retro reviews lately, took them forever to recommend yours. Keep it up!

[@Cannotbetamed1]

Thanks! Welcome to the channel

[@berndb7674]

You totally look like a vampire queen.^^

[@ischmidt]

The algorithm gifted me with this video this morning, and I like it. I have to stick up for the OST though - this was composer Michiru Yamane's first Castlevania game, and I think she did an outstanding job on a system not known for great music. Several of the tracks in this game became fan-favorite parts of the series canon and were remixed in later games.