Congrats @vinny for getting through it—real proud of you. These games can be real rough to complete for your first time, and the fact that you're able to say you have all the classicvanias under your belt without the use of save states is a huge accomplishment. As people age it gets harder to maintain the same amount of patience for repeating a level over and over, so it's both inspiring and awesome to see you stick to your guns and get through these nasty little games.
Just wanted to add that if you're ever hankering for a little more VinnyVania, I'm sure plenty of us would enjoy watching a stream of you "testing out" the 3 GB titles, as "unofficial" as they might be (the first is pretty dire but the second is a lot of fun). Also, please don't overlook the Wiiware title "Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth"—that is a straight-up realCastlevania game that was lovingly made using the old series as inspiration, and is one of the most refined classicvania games made. For the series, Rondo definitely has the presentation on lock, but Adventure ReBirth is unparalleled when it comes to (aggressive) level design. For that reason alone, you shouldn't be ashamed to bump the life stock up to 9.
Even if you don't get around to it (and I wouldn't blame you—there's a lotta stuff to do!), I expect Symphony to be plenty of fun and am looking forward to seeing how you guys take the genre pivot, especially since you're likely to lose a lot of the challenge that awaited you from the very start of the series. Thanks for all the videos and fun talky stuff!
Ha, wonder what they're gonna do for next time when they beat Drac in like 15 minutes. Maybe Vinny will try the other paths in the meantime? Good work either way—if Austin and Alex hear the *sweet jams* of Opus 13, I can die happy.
Dobu_GM's comments