Castlevania: The Social Retrospective

Celebrate All Hallows Eve with an off-the-cuff look back at the ultimate vampire-hunting franchise.

By: Jeremy Parish October 31, 2012

Like '60s intellectuals with LSD and college students with anonymous bi-curious sexual encounters, we at 1UP have been experimenting with social media of late. We all know dot-com websites like this one are sluggish dinosaurs struggling to remain alive in an ice age precipitated by smartphones and Facebook, so like everyone else with a shred of common sense, we're all dickering around with Twitter and wondering if having a high Klout score actually means anything.

As part of that venture, I've been throwing things at a Tumblr account over the past couple of months to see what sticks. For the most part, success on Tumblr appears to involve swiping other people's artwork or photography and reblogging it without credit, but the old-fashioned content-loving part of my brain has been curious to see if more traditional original and credited content will pan out. Turns out the answer is "no," but I've been enjoying it anyway. Over the past few weeks -- inspired by my recent interview with Symphony of the Night composer Michiru Yamane -- I've been focusing our Tumblr posts on the history of the Castlevania series.

Catching Up With Castlevania's Composer, Pt. 2

The second part of our massive interview with goth-rock maestro Michiru Yamane.

By: Jeremy Parish October 31, 2012

While I was in Tokyo this year, I was able to arrange a meeting with one of my all-time favorite video game musicians, former Konami composer Michiru Yamane. While she's no longer working on the Castlevania franchise, which currently rests in the hands of Spanish developer Mercurysteam, Yamane remains active in games, most recently producing the excellent soundtrack to quirky all-girls fighting game Skullgirls. We published the first part of our extensive interview yesterday, discussing her roots and inspirations as a musician, so be sure to check out that piece before delving into the Castlevania-centric second half below!

Special thanks to Ms. Yamane and to 8-4 Ltd., who arranged and interpreted our interview.

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 2 | METAL GEAR TURNS 25

How Re-Releases Fail to Preserve Some of Metal Gear's Distinct Charms

Cover Story: Playing the older games on modern platforms can mean sacrificing certain moments.

F

or a series as popular as Metal Gear, it sure is filled with things you don't expect to see in such a big franchise, whether it be a dramatic subversion of players' expectations or frequent breaking of the fourth wall. Rather than do the latter merely for the sake of winking at the camera, Kojima and company have made great use of the fourth wall to bring a unique charm to the series that is rarely, if ever, found elsewhere.

Unfortunately, much in the same way as Metal Gear Solid 2's con job will not be as effective for someone playing the game for the first time now or in the future as it was for those who played it in 2001, some of those charms may be lost or poorly transitioned as the older titles in the series are ported to more modern platforms. Whether as a result of digital distribution or playing the game on platforms other than the one they were originally designed for, the full Metal Gear experience may forever be restricted to those with access to the original version of the games and their respective platforms.

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 2 | METAL GEAR TURNS 25

Patriot Games: America Through the Lens of Metal Gear

Cover Story: How Metal Gear's treatment of the U.S.A. has changed over the years.

T

he original Metal Gear debuted in Japan on the MSX2 console three days after the United States of America's Independence Day celebration -- July 7, 1987. A coincidence, no doubt, but a wholly fitting one given the important role that America plays in the series' overarching narrative. Both America the political entity and America the paragon of individual freedom figure as characters of sorts in the Metal Gear mythos. It's important to make the distinction between the two, because rolled together they'd become a tragically bipolar figure in desperate need of therapy, medication, and possibly institutionalization to curtail the danger it represents to itself and others.

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 2 | METAL GEAR TURNS 25

Cover Story: Metal Gear Turns 25

1UP commemorates a quarter-century of tactical stealth action.

With so much history behind it, it's hard to talk about Metal Gear without getting a little caught up in nostalgia and awe. The series constantly challenges video game traditions. Each new Metal Gear game strives to be cinematic, bold, and filled with subtle gameplay systems that allow for player experimentation. This is the essence of Metal Gear: It's as much about sneaking around to avoid conflict as it is about testing the boundaries of the world around the player. Each unique adventure presents a gripping narrative rich with social political commentary that engages the state of the military world and the effects of rapidly growing technology.

After 25 years, we've seen a lot happen to protagonist Solid Snake. From the growing threat of nuclear proliferation to the alarming growth of large paramilitary corporations, the Metal Gear games tackle these hefty topics despite presenting themselves through an action movie-style lens. For all the preaching you see in a Metal Gear game, you also see Snake benefit from weapons made possible through the same advances in technology -- even the Metal Gear MK. II owes some inspiration to its nuclear-equipped big brother. Nevertheless, the series most richly rewards players for choosing the path of non-lethal stealth; a stunning contrast to its themes of conflict and war.

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JULY 2 | METAL GEAR TURNS 25

The Snake and the Wheel: The Cyclical Nature of Metal Gear

Cover Story: Deja vu? Exploring the meta in Metal Gear.

O

ctober 1998. I'm creeping slowly through the tank hangar of a military installation located in the frigid wastes of Alaska's Shadow Moses Island -- or rather, my proxy Solid Snake is. A comforting sense of familiarity settles over me as I slink around the corner of a parked tank in order to avoid the line-of-sight of a patrolling soldier. The guard wanders obliviously in the other direction, and we make a quick dash for the elevator in the north wall. We'd been here before, Snake and I.

Not exactly here, of course; ten years before, the action transpired in the far warmer climes of Outer Heaven, a rogue military state along the South African border. Back then, Snake was a tiny 8-bit sprite, the tanks were background objects drawn with the awkwardness of false perspective, and the soldier's line of sight was so hilariously limited that moving even a few pixels from his laser-precise 12 o'clock position would render Snake effectively invisible. Yet the creators of Metal Gear Solid managed to lift that experience from hardware that was creaking with age when the game debuted (on MSX in 1987, and the NES version I knew in 1988), rejuvenate it with cutting-edge visuals and presentation, and somehow retain the heart of the game I had enjoyed so long ago. The enemy guards were smarter now, though their poor peripheral vision had been supplanted by crippling nearsightedness. The tanks looked a lot more realistic. The dynamic snow-covered environments outside the hangar meant enemies could track me by my footprints. Yet this was still Metal Gear through and through.

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF MAY 21 | WHAT IF?

Video Game Rumors from Another Reality

Cover Story: Not only are these game rumors not true, they're not even real rumors... at least, not in our world.

I

n another world -- a more interesting world than our own -- the rumors below rule Internet forums, spread like the plague through the school yard, and merit regular debunking by Snopes' video game urban legends section (which doesn't even exist in our reality; that's how lame real life is). Please enjoy this glimpse into the playground lies of another universe's video game fandom.

Parappa the Rapper's Brown Note

From the Chiptuned blog: "Parappa the Rapper's next-to-last stage features the hero rapping through a medley against his instructors for the right to jump to the front of the line of a gas station restroom before disaster strikes, messily. Rumor has it that this rap battle contains a brown note in order to increase the realism of the sequence. Gamers with audio setups capable of rendering a wide range of sound frequencies play this sequence at their own risk."

1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF MAY 21 | WHAT IF?

The Nintendo Play Station: A Retrospective

Cover Story: As Nintendo and Sony prepare to announce the Play Station 4 at E3, we remember the console that set the stage for modern gaming.

A

s we gear up for E3 2012, the biggest announcement expected to come out of the L.A. Convention Center this year is the latest generation of gaming's console goliath, the Play Station 4. Based on early reports from trusted third-party developers and info leaks from Chinese parts suppliers, the PS4 seems a given -- and with its arrival, the continued dominance of the games industry by joint Sony/Nintendo venture Taido should be a lock as well.

With the PS4 right around the corner, now is as good a time as any to look back at the history of the Play Station family and how two Japanese giants teamed up to put an entire medium in a 20-year hammerlock.