Weird Fighting Games - Castlevania Judgment

[@braystar8578]

So fun fact: In Japan Simon always had red hair! Even in the first Castlevania title, seen in the Japanese instruction booklet. This explains the other two redesigns giving him that, but Konami also still used the American barbarian design quite a bit (It was still used in the boxart for the Japanese version of CV1), including the original X68000 version of Chronicles (Before Ayami Kojima's redesign in the PS port). Now Konami has settled that the mainline Simon is the barbarian version, which does make it a little funny that he's the only Belmont to get super jacked up lmao.

[@MechaG]

And then in LoS, he was a red-haired barbarian.

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

Smash bros kinda cemented the look

[@Drzuul]

Thanks for the fun fact. I feel like stuff like this happened a lot with that era of Japanese game development

[@CyanBrown]

no matter how hard someoe might hate this game, one thing cannot be denied: the ost slaps hard

[@zersky495]

Light Yagami if he grew out his hair and was buff

[@haroldnecmann7040]

Chad note

[@Miraihi]

I remember this game being slandered so much back in the day. Thanks for giving it a fair review. Judgement's soundtrack indeed contains one of the best official remixes of the classic tracks.

[@Drzuul]

I’ve played a lot of bad fighting games and judgment isn’t one of them. It’s a completely competent arena fighter and I had a lot of fun playing it. Hopefully more people will give it another try.

[@EditKingNumber5]

5:38 Reminder that this game was released 1 year after TF2

[@Drzuul]

Castlevania judgement had hats a year before TF2!? Truly this game was ahead of it’s time

[@saumench8650]

grant is half mummy because in castlevania 3 you have to beat a mummy to unlock him

[@Miraihi]

Grant was cursed to be the monster haunting the clock tower as far as I remember. Anyway, this is Takeshi Obata's take on his cursed form. Completely fair. It's still overdesigned of course.

[@nightmaregats]

Wasn't a cyclops/ogre?

[@saumench8650]

@@nightmaregats cipha was the cyclops

[@nightmaregats]

@saumench8650 you're right about Cypha, but Grant was turned into a monster in the clock tower and you had to defeat him to break the curse

[@nessdbest8708]

Makoto

[@Samevi]

Judgment Trevor with the eyepatch and shorter hair in Curse of Darkness Trevor's clothes would go so hard as an older Trevor design, not gonna lie.

[@Drzuul]

I had the same exact thought, the eyepatch compliments the curse of darkness design well

[@camdyn357]

Eric actually can do the pole vault, you just have to do a dodge without moving in any direction

[@SpaceFrog999]

Man, I actually love that Grant. He’s got like an Aba, Faust, Necro type energy. I’m also a sucker for spikes and claws

[@Drzuul]

Now that you mention it, give him red hair and a big key and he’d be the spitting image of a gender swapped aba

[@joe_mama__]

Judgment's character designs are neat and they are too overhated, but I wouldn’t want them as the main Castlevania designs.

[@sonicphoenix7]

nah they are pretty wack

[@IPITYTHEFOOLZ]

I dont get it. The art style today looks nothing like the nes stuff so idk why this bothers people so much. Like look at Eric Lecarde as an example. What is he even supposed to look like. I think its fine if a game does their own interpretation.

[@sainttan]

I like that they aren't technically their gaming counter part, but representative to fight in this tournament.

[@Faapu]

I think in a vacuum these designs are pretty sick, they just don't look like the characters they're supposed to be

[@Drzuul]

If I was into HxH I'd be more hype. Still waiting for another 2D jojo fighter

[@zuufettegt133]

I've always considered this a game that really needs a sequel to refine, polish, and expand on the ideas here. I'd prefer if it had Dissidia's gameplay and RPG elements, but I also feel that Dissidia's gameplay would work with any license, including Castlevania, most Shonen anime franchises, or even if Nintendo wanted a spin-off Smash Bros game.

[@Drzuul]

That’s not a bad idea. The gameplay isn’t even that bad but with another iteration it could be so much better. The dissida formula would work pretty well with castlevania. Although I wasn’t the biggest fan of the last one on ps4 but the psp version was addictive.

[@munchratt]

I think the designs are kinda neat!! If i were to pretend that they AREN'T redesigns of some really iconic characters, I'd be pretty on board for the looks of most of them. I don't find myself particularly moved by any of the castlevania designs that aren't done by Ayami Kojima (although I kinda also love the goofy 80's anime thing going on with the Rondo designs) so I don't think I'm TOTALLY offended by most of these interpretations. I've never been super huge on Simon's generic barbarian thing (and think he kinda stands out like a sore thumb compared to nearly every other character in the series), so I definitely like whenever he gets to do his funny red hair gothic strong man thing, but his Judgement design is definitely the weakest outta this roster. I think the open shirt and short shorts combo is just kinda weak, and I DEFINITELY don't like how young and twunkish he looks! Definitely a bit too Light Yagami for my taste. I fully admit the blond barbarian is his most ICONIC look, but I think my ideal Simon would be the Ayami Kojima red hair Simon design, but with barbarian Simon's headband. Lovely video!

[@Drzuul]

Yeah I agree Ayami Kojima's Simon is my favorite. I see a lot of people hung up on the death note thing but I've never watched it so I think I'm able to look at things a bit more objectively. The barbarian look never jived with me but I've come to at least be indifferent to it. Thanks for the comment

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

Simon Belmont is just Light Yagami in a Halloween costume.

[@Drzuul]

I’ve never watched death note so I’ll have to take your word for it

[@ChibbyTonx]

To be fair, there's just enough space for two Belmonts before they get repetitive. With Simon being the default Belmont to include since he's the most popular/important to the franchise, that only leaves space for one more. I feel the only two obvious choises would go to Trevor or Richter. The former because that way we get the reunion of playable characters in Dracula's Curse, and the latter because of the importance of Rondo of Blood. Being one or the other was not going to affect the game too much imo. It's possible they could have gone with someone like Juste, a Belmont who doesn't need a whip to fight, but I think even for his time he wasn't that popular. Part of me would have liked to see Julius in the game instead of Simon/Trevor to give a sense of finality to the series. It'd be like having the first Belmont against the last Belmont. It's possible the Golem was in reality "the creature" from Frankenstein during development. It would explain why it runs on electricity and its search for humanity. Why they ended up calling him golem is anybody's guess. Carmilla also had an appearance in Circle of the Moon, but she looks less than a dominatrix and more as a generic vampire woman. Still, se wasn't only known as a floating mask by the time Judgement arrived. The biggest insult in this game were not necessarily the new designs for the characters. Some of them work, and some of them don't, but that could have been ironed out with better direction and maybe a better budget. No, I believe the worst insult were the changes to the personality of certain characters. Maria comes to mind. She got the worst one by far, with her being obsessed over the other characters' breast size. One interesting topic to discuss when Judgement is thrown to the Castlevania mythos is the appearance of Cornell. Back in the day, Koji Igarashi kicked many titles out of the canon, including Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness. With Cornell appearing in Judgement, these two games were reintroduced to the canon apparently. It's funny to think about this considering Cornell was included because the game needed a werewolf and he was the top choice to include. Had Simon kept his scrapped werewolf form from back when the first Castlevania was in development, this would have been different. On the topic of the cross on the Belmont's back, it might be a catholic reference, which is a neat piece of storytelling. I'm not catholic myself, but my grandma is, and I remember that she used to tell me that "just like Jesus carried a cross on his back, so do we must carry ours", and "the size and weight of one's cross depends on how big and heavy God believes you're capable of carrying". There's even a legend of how donkeys (or asses, it's difficult to see the difference) got their own cross marking on their backs after Jesus rode one to enter a city. Even if it's unlikely, I wish this concept could get a sequel. It could be better implemented as a traditional 2D fighter. There were some characters I'd have loved to see in the game but didn't make it to the final roster, like Soma and Charlotte. If a new Castlevania fighting game were to be released, I'd love to see also some representation from the Lords of Shadow continuity. Gabriel definitely would be the top choice to add to the roster, alongside maybe that continuity's version of Cornell or the Daemon Lord.

[@KopperNeoman]

Castlevania stays true to the proper vampire mythos on the question of the supernatural elements - no nonsense about "true faith" or anything: the Cross holds power over the bloodsuckers because of Christ's perfect sacrifice upon it ending the era of blood sacrifices. It's not your belief that gives it power, it has power in and of itself. The place where Castlevania fictionalises things is in Chaos. Far from being a mere rebellious creation like Satan, Chaos is just as powerful as the Holy Trinity, but is evil. Dracula isn't the Antichrist, he's the Negachrist: Chaos' own Jesus bringing hope to evil, rather than a shoddy knockoff who will reign for a mere decade.

[@artemis1993]

Although it's unofficial, there's a neat Castlevania fighting game made on the MUGEN Engine

[@ChibbyTonx]

@@artemis1993 Neat! I'll give it a look when I can.

[@ChibbyTonx]

@@KopperNeoman I guess. I just thought it was a neat piece of design. Castlevania is very popular here in Mexico because of these showcase of religion as a weapon against evil, despite the demonization of video games that most old people have. Although it does recall me of Charles Vincent and how that guy was armed to the teeth with crosses all over his body. It's kind of ironic he got turned while being surrounded by so many crosses. On the topic of Chaos, I can definitely see the fictionalisation. Playing Aria of Sorrow, somehow the idea of Chaos sounded too japanese to me. I can't put my finger on why exactly, but it might have something to do with the mixing of Greek and judeo-christian mythologies through a somewhat exagerated lense. Fitting, I suppose, for Castlevania. It does make me wish the developers had gone with a more lovecraftian inspiration instead though. Both Chaos and the Time Reaper do sound like creatures from outside the boundaries of comprehension. I'm also totally down to see bad guys finding and dealing with even bigger bad guys than themselves.

[@Drzuul]

@ChibbyTonx Two Belmonts is a good number but I can't help myself I'd love to have them all! Trevor and Simon were safe bets but I'd trade Trevor in a heartbeat for Julis because I feel like he deserves more representation. The idea of golem possibly being derived as a stand in for Frankenstein's monster is an interesting one. Especially considering this design looks way different from any other golem in the series (In fact he looks more like that one boss at the top of the tower in dawn of sorrow) I never really considered that the N64 games had to be made canon because of Cornel's appearance in this game that's actually pretty funny. The cross is a religion reference. I'd love to see a sequel but lets be real here I'd love to see any new Castevania game 2D or metroidvania ideally a game covering the final battle with Dracula mentioned in Aria of sorrow's intro.

[@iksdistek]

I love your cadence bro, wouldn’t mind a “guide to babbys first fighters”. Never touched a single one

[@Drzuul]

Like a how to get into fighting games video? Not a bad idea

[@jasongarrett768]

I think Shanoa’s design is the only one I actually love. Like genuinely striking gold with that idea. I would prefer it to be less busy at the edges and and have more practical shoes but the concept itself is rock solid. It’s the only one I’d love to see adapted(with a lot of tweaks) as an option in the main series. Simon, Sypha, Grant, and especially Maria make my eyes hurt though, either from being too damn busy or for mangling the characters beyond recognition. Maria is an extreme case and that goes into her portrayal too. She’s supposed to be a wrecking ball disguised as an anime child straight out of World Masterpiece Theatre. Instead it’s constant boob size jokes.

[@Drzuul]

I think IGA has a bit of a bias for Shinoa so I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave her redesign extra attention. They certainly didn’t with some of the others

[@TeryJones]

12:01 - Yeah that checks out XDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXDXD

[@lodadadodo]

I Love the Judgement designs theyre just so fun to look at

[@NoneyoBizwiz]

Hahaha "Death is a representation of the current state of the series" got me good job on the video my guy 👍

[@Drzuul]

👍 thanks

[@grunkleg.2934]

The best part of the story is that the Time Reaper is actually an underling of Galamoth (he's that giant, Egyptian-looking secret boss from SotN that has tons of health). The little we've encountered Galamoth, his goal has always been to overthrow Dracula, so that part's consistant. The extra funny thing is that Galamoth doesn't make a physical appearance in Judgment, even though he's the whole reason this game even happens. Also Maria's whole character arc basically being her overcoming breast envy was... something. I also find it sorta weird how Shanoa was the only recent character they included in the game, obviously to promote OoE. Aside from Aeon and random-ass Golem, I'm pretty sure Shanoa's the only character who was introduced after the year 2000. I think they should've put in Hector or especially Soma Cruz. They would've been nice representation for some of the newer titles without feeling too similar to others on the roster. Hector could do summoning stuff with his innocent devil forges while Soma could tap in to some of his Dominance powers and other weapons. As for character designs, the big problem with most of them is that they're way too busy. Like I know that a Castlevania character isn't gonna look like they walked out of a Kirby game, but there comes a point where a design has so many unnecessary details, it just ends up looking really ugly. Though I will say I find it amusing how compared to every other girl on the roster, they actually toned down Shanoa's feminine appeal compared to the OG design (even the little girl, you don't write character interactions like Maria's while changing her design to look like that with pure intentions)

[@WHORERR0R]

nah man the judgement redesigns are sick

[@bonnefetebaby8234]

Waggled when I should’ve wiggled 💀

[@redhand8836]

Just a slight correction: when you were showing Dracula's various designs you showed "Kid Dracula" in there. That's actually Alucard, not Dracula.

[@Drzuul]

Shh I wanted an excuse to put kid Dracula in the video

[@Sofetch_S]

I LOVED this game growing up. It definitely wasn’t classic Castlevania but it reminded me of Power Stone

[@Drzuul]

It reminded me of PowerStone too that game doesn’t get enough credit for how much it did well

[@gu-moo2141]

came here cause the title and thumbnail made me confused, the art of simon looked so death note i wasn't sure if it was the same person, the simon in the thumbnail didnt look familiar to me and thought it was just a weird light yagami, and now i've learned castlevania had a fighting game and the designer/artist is in fact obata wild stuff lmao

[@Drzuul]

I know what you mean. It’s like seeing Akira Toriyama designs in chronological order trigger.

[@Trauson]

I played this one back in the day. It became a minor hit around the smaller cons in my area, thats why I know about it. But OMG was so broken... xD

[@sainttan]

I loved Aeon as an original character for the game as well as his super Requiem of the 13th Hour, whose unique dialogue for each cast.

[@Drzuul]

Yeah I noticed that while editing. Too bad landing his super is a pain.

[@vapersmith7859]

Yeah I remember this time period it felt like a Golden era of gaming the Wii and its where I first truly began to step up to the plate in gaming in a big way with Twilight Princess.

[@Drzuul]

This generation was my favorite, so many amazing games

[@n1lknarf]

12:01 brutal 😅😢😭

[@sonokawaray]

Personally I actually like redhead Simon, since they gave him his own personality and motivations for this game. Instead of a Conan reference and not much else, we got this young hotshot from a long line of heroes who's super eager to prove he lives up to their legacy. I could see this Simon taking on Dracula in Castlevania 1 or 4, getting cocky in his victory and leaving himself open to Dracula putting the curse on him that led to his titular quest in the second game.

[@Drzuul]

I don’t actually like the barbarian either I’ve just come to accept it after smash ultimate. It would make sense for this version of Simon to get too cocky and wind up getting cursed. It would fit well into the story too because no other Belmont got cursed because Simon passed his knowledge down the lineage.

[@brotbrotsen1100]

In lords of shadow mirror of fate, simon is pretty much a red head Barbarian. Kinda like that Design. the early belmonts have so many designs i wish they would do something with the Franchise again and give us some kind of final Design going Forward.

[@Face742]

I personally like the designs outside of the context of the castlevania franchise

[@somersaultinggiraffe1901]

Castlevania Judgement remake but it's a 2D fighter with the OG designs.

[@Drzuul]

IGA actually floated that idea when he was doing interviews for this game. He said something along the lines of “if the game is successful maybe we’ll do a 2D version on the DS.” I wonder if a 2D version would of been more successful

[@ELV13S]

simon belmont imo is the red haired guy while conan belmont is the barbarian, and the blue haired is peter belmont...id like to think theyre the same person in diff universe where that is the default look of their identities and we just live in ta universe where we use 3 at the same time

[@Drzuul]

The way I see it we live in the universe without Dracula making us very lucky because vampires are scary.

[@n1lknarf]

The designs are super cool tho, but I understand why fans of symphony of the night wouldn't like them. It's def a soulcalibur clone game.

[@tequilafeline6552]

to say that alucard is just the sword guy would be right, sure yeah he has the mist cloud and wolf but in what way would that benefit in an arena fighter where you're already close enough to your enemy. Also he may have had all those weapons but they swing exactly the same way each time. He's a master of weapon usage just not weapon style. more surprised he doesn't keep the moon jump.

[@Drzuul]

I think turning into a wolf or bat could be fun maybe as an install or as a movement option

[@robertsilvermyst7325]

Death Note art does not work for Castlevania characters outside of Cornell and Aeon.

[@kitestar]

To this day I only really see judgment’s worth is a official game genie for order of ecclesia that somehow has a castlevania-themed button bashing waggle fest bolted on (Outside of course that the artwork was a collab with the death note auteur…also the soundtrack too)

[@Drzuul]

I’m actually in the middle of playing order of ecclesia and the link capability came in handy, it was also a pleasant surprise. I miss little things like that

[@nightmaregats]

Death represents the current stage of the series 😂

[@cheatsheet3325]

Carmilla (Camilla) had another design in Circle of the Moon.

[@Drzuul]

I’ve repressed most of my memories of circle of the moon

[@ehhorve857]

21:12 nah, long hair wouldn't have been a problem. monster hunter 3 has plenty of hairy critters, it has no problem. zelda: twilight princess has a buddy named midna, whose most prominent ability is a GIANT hand made of hair. the judgement team just... didn't, for some reason. NNAAAAOOO wy neglect golm, hee JUST a WIDLL GUYYYYYYYY

[@Drzuul]

Good point. Golem is golem not much to say about him other than I liked his story mode.

[@brandongreen4439]

Hey now, don't think I didn't see that shade thrown at Vampire Survivors by the end there. Even if you don't end up having interest in playing it yourself, I suggest taking a listen to the OST, all available on Poncle's KZbin channel. It's full of *very* good remixes.

[@Drzuul]

I actually wrote this before the vampire survivors dlc, unfortunately it caught a stray. I’ll be sure to check out those remixes.

[@brandongreen4439]

@@Drzuulhuh! Honestly i didn't realize there was anything else that would've had that kinda "Have a castlevania therefore check it out" thing. For the record though, do check out the Ode to Castlevania stuff for VS. the amount of love packed into everything is staggering.

[@bugs1yb1ins]

I like the look of this game

[@BeeLy1011]

This was one of my first fighting games and my first Castlevania game...both are things I love dearly today so it must've done something right lol This game is definitely flawed, but it's pretty fun once you get into it. I even played in the Vortex Gallery tournament for it recently (though I don't think it's been uploaded yet) Also it's kinda funny how Cornell is the one redesign that everyone universally loves

[@Drzuul]

That’s a strange first but not a bad one as it is a lot of fun and easy to pick up. I had no idea vortex gallery covered this game I’ll have to check that out. Unlike the other designs Cornell is just a cool wear wolf, people can vibe with that.

[@F1ghtGam3r]

Drzuul vs Khanage in Castlevania Judgement ❤

[@zarzunker2451]

Putting in a cheat code rock paper scissors style isn’t the only way to play a fighting game. Timing and reflexes over inputs for me.

[@KopperNeoman]

That's just a verbose way of saying you prefer arena and platform fighters over tournament ones.

[@Drzuul]

I like the way you articulated your opinion

[@zarzunker2451]

@@KopperNeoman “verbose”? Nah dude. I put it simply just calling it out for what it is. Labeling those styles as tournament/arena muddy up the definition and is therefore verbose.

[@RedHeadFury-]

Adachi pfp? Splendid.

[@Drzuul]

The profile picture will be adachi forever I refuse to change it

[@RedHeadFury-]

@Drzuul splendid.

[@MrConnman123]

I think the character designs are fine on their own and even fit the gothic horror aesthetic of Castlevania but the problem is that they don't fit the characters they're supposed to be representing, Simon should be bigger and bulkier, Maria should be a super-girly loli, I just get the impression that Obata wasn't too familiar with the source material and Konami wasn't going to reject his designs because Death Note was massive during the late 2000's.

[@Drzuul]

I think you’re on the money with that one because in the many interviews I read while researching this video it was constantly mentioned they went to Obata to draw in a new audience. AKA we want money! lol. It could be that he was told to do whatever he wanted or maybe he wasn’t given any direction at all. He probably doesn’t even remember working on this

[@davidpumpkinsjr.5108]

I think this game would have been much better received if they had used classic Castlevania characters designs (at least for alternate skins) instead of injecting pure, uncut anime into the players' eyeballs.

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

I dunno Richter exists and people like him

[@Drzuul]

That definitely would have softened the blow of the redesigns. But they went all in on anime and didn’t look back

[@compacta_d]

Isn't Maria a magic user? I thought all her summons were magical beings?

[@Drzuul]

I always assumed they were regular animals because funny

[@F1ghtGam3r]

This is my favorite Castlevania game of all time ❤

[@Drzuul]

Nah nothing will ever be better than Rondo of Blood it’s perfect

[@F1ghtGam3r]

@@Drzuul I'm biased towards fighting games

[@Drzuul]

@@F1ghtGam3r I understand that very well

[@F1ghtGam3r]

​@@Drzuul ever thought of doing a collab w/ other fighting game KZbinrs? I recommend GuileWinQuote, Khanage, Baberuthless, or HollowShy

[@Drzuul]

@ I’m open to collabs with anyone as long as the idea is fun

[@MILDMONSTER1234]

People take issue with Simon being an anime pretty boy and not Conan the Barbarian but he only ever looked like a hyper macho Conan knock off in the US. Everywhere else he looked more like your standard anime pretty boy just not to the extent of Judgement of course

[@Drzuul]

8-bit boomers trying to trick people into thinking Conan the barbarian is peak character design. Always stuck out like a sore thumb to me

[@MilenAnessar]

Judgment design to me is weirdly mixed, funnily enough there are only "Interesting cool new interpretation that could arguably better than the source" and "goddamn terrible and off character" with almost no in-between. No shades Obata-sensei but sometimes you gone too far, but eh nobody's perfect anyway. What is perfect is the OST, the only thing in the game I found no complaint with. I didn't own Wii and didn't get to play this game, so I cannot comment on the gameplay. Looks like passable Arena fighter.

[@Drzuul]

If it was all bad it would be easy to write off but there are some real interesting ones here, like you said it’s weirdly mixed

[@Joebicycle-c2n]

Disagree on grant. I think it sells the idea of a leper in an interesting way. But im biased towards radical designs because they are interesting.

[@Drzuul]

That’s a good point I think I’d like it more if they incorporated more of the pirate into his redesign.

[@Joebicycle-c2n]

@ to be fair pirate is a mistranslation. He’s moreso a rogue

[@arrombaacasa390]

Algum dia eu vou fazer alguém joga esse troço comigo 👹

[@Drzuul]

Fighting games are best played with friends

[@arrombaacasa390]

That's the plan 👹👹😲

[@nightmaregats]

Did you use an emulator to play this game?

[@Drzuul]

I played on Wii U through its native Wii emulation, I’m one of the 10 people that own one. If you want to emulate I’d try dolphin

[@Dropbearded]

To me, some of the designs are almost decent (Cornell?) but most are just godawfully, eye-searingly ugly. Just amazing eyesores, it's almost impressively bad. I'd take the bland & boring Portrait & Dawn designs over these any day, which really is saying something.

[@Drzuul]

I don’t think the portrait designs are bad but the art style is. Like Soma is a great design that looks bland in Dawn of Sorrow

[@themis-xis9265]

Hot take I like Grant redesign his original design was boring. Half mummy Half man with spikes looks cooler for me

[@Drzuul]

Do you stand behind the pin cushion shoulder pads?

[@gamerdog1919]

🗣️They're not beating Goku!

[@Drzuul]

I want no smoke from goku he’s too strong

[@gamerdog1919]

@@Drzuul okay 👍

[@GamesAndAnimes]

I love Judgement. I brought and played it as it came out and finished it to 100%. The character designs was never a problem for me, even some fit not my taste. The only problem I would give today is, that it is a arena fighter and not a 2d or 3d fighter. The biggest problem with arena fighters is the camera on one player and the other player can be far far far in the background and split screen is a awful solution for that problem. Shrinking the view to give both player the best view is a sign for a bad design.

[@Drzuul]

Yeah that’s the Achilles heel of arena fighters, the camera. Power stone did it the best by having a semi isometric camera and small stages