Nintendo 64 20th Anniversary Tribute: Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness!
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Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness was released only around 11 months after Castlevania 64 and is more like an enhanced version of it that features new stories, better graphics and camera controls, additional bosses and locations as well as the two new protagonists Cornell the Man-Beast and Henry Oldrey who uses a gun instead of a whip, his claws or magic to fight the undead hordes.
Cornell the Man-Beast drawn by MandarinSwift
“As a long-time fan of the Castlevania series, upon finding out about the Nintendo 64 tribute, I immediately gravitated to Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness. Though, like many, I tend to enjoy 2D installments in the series more, CV:LoD wasn’t one to be missed – despite having those awkward, at times frustrating, early 3D controls.
As for choosing to represent CV:LoD over Castlevania64, it seems closer to the game its designers originally envisioned rather than just a hasty “special edition” with a tacked on prequel as some might say at first glance. The design team may have used many of the same textures and some other resources from the original Castlevania 64, but many of the levels and their contained puzzles were redesigned otherwise – making some more interesting.
It contains more of the characters noted in early development news for CV64 that didn’t get as much time, if any, in it – such as Legacy of Darkness’ main story which focuses on Cornell as he attempts to rescue his kidnapped sister from Dracula, and his sorrow in finding out that his once dear friend, fellow man-beast Ortega, has turned against him.
However, one’s left with the feeling that the design team still wanted to be able to do more – especially with the interesting day/night mechanic that didn’t feel very fleshed out.
It would be interesting if the team could take a go at it again with today’s advancements in game-making, though even the consideration of that is quite doubtable with Konami…not exactly being the company it once was.
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As for the Nintendo 64 itself… There will always be a soft spot in my heart for the N64 – especially considering all of the time I spent playing on it with friends in high school – both at their houses and in the Senior Lounge at school where we had a few systems hooked up to play at lunch or after we got out each day. The N64 definitely spelled good times.”
