By Matthew Walden on May 16, 2015 05:20 am
1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Symphony of the Night remains the undisputed king of the Castlevania series, responsible for shaping an entire genre of exploration-based action games. Its continued popularity two decades later fueled an enormously successful new Kickstarter game from its legendary designer, Koji Igarashi.
2. Castlevania
The very first title in the Castlevania series also hit stores during the first year of the Nintendo Entertainment System's US release. Castlevania's precise action and gothic atmosphere stood head and shoulders above its contemporaries. Facing creepy bosses and a wielding a versatile arsenal, Simon Belmont knocked down the doors of Dracula's castle with aplomb.
3. Castlevania: Bloodlines
Bloodlines has never been one of Castlevania's most beloved games, but the amount of unbridled ingenuity on display in the game's haunted hallways makes it one of the best. If you value experimental ideas, prepare to fall under its spell.
4. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
For years, Rondo of Blood was spoken about in hushed tones by importers and collectors as the best Castlevania that never left Japan. We finally received English ports of the Turbo Grafx game recently, and the game's branching paths, secret rooms, and superb action lived up to the hype.
5. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Castlevania had a rocky history on the Game Boy, but Igarashi nailed the format with his trilogy of Game Boy Advance games that nearly match his revered Symphony of the Night. Aria of Sorrow is widely considered the best of the bunch.
6. Super Castlevania IV
Like its 8-bit predecessors, Super Castlevania IV was one of the early stars of the Super Nintendo. The game took wonderful advantage of the 16-bit system's graphic innovations like translucency and Mode 7-enabled background rotation. Plus, the supernatural soundtrack was absolutely killer.
7. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
After the success of the Game Boy Advance Castlevania games, the Nintendo DS received its own trio of demon-slaying "Igavanias." Each DS game has its fanbase, but with clever rune-drawing mechanics and classical castle exploration, Dawn of Sorrow may go down in history as the last of the grand style, capital-C Castlevanias.
8. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
The last Castlevania game to arrive on the NES was also the most ambitious. With multiple endings, alternate paths, and a cast of assistant characters, Castlevania III combined the non-linear direction of more experimental Castlevania games with polished action and a sense of purpose. It's also ridiculously difficult in all the right ways.
9. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
We didn't know it at the time, but Order of Ecclesia was Koji Igarashi's swan song in the official Castlevania franchise. With his final game, he revamped the art style, added an enormous difficulty spike over previous DS titles, and let the player explore far beyond the boundaries of Dracula's castle.
10. Akumajou Special – Boku Dracula-kun
Akumajou Special, also known as "I'm Kid Dracula," is a colorful Konami spinoff title that features many of the Castlevania touchstones twisted into campy and cute parodies. It's also an intense action platformer that plays like it received a healthy infusion of Mega Man DNA.
11. Vampire Killer
Vampire Killer is a forgotten offshoot of the Castlevania series, but it still had a powerful impact on several future titles. This MSX 2 game came out the same year as the original NES Castlevania, but it featured drastically different gameplay with open-ended, Metroid-style exploration. It's a theme Castlevania would return to later in more successful iterations.
12. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
Depending on how you look at, Lords of Shadow either saved or ruined the Castlevania franchise. With a gigantic budget and hack-and-slash gameplay reminiscent of God of War, it certainly forged a bold new direction for the series. Taken on its own merits, it's an admirably ambitious game, even if didn't quite capture that ephemeral Castlevania feel.
13. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
It was a small adventure on the Wii's digital game service, but it did deliver a proper 2D side-scrolling Castlevania title on a console. The Adventure ReBirth revives the story of Christopher Belmont from a dormant Game Boy game, but this time, the action snaps like a whip. It's a Castlevania back alley well worth exploring.
14. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
Although it's often maligned for its confusing translation and esoteric puzzles, Simon's Quest implemented plenty of interesting concepts. Between a day-and-night cycle that strengthened enemies and its fresh RPG leveling elements, Simon's Quest was an awkward, yet important, step for the series.
15. Sexy Parodius
It's not an official Castlevania game, but Sexy Parodius is still an essential experience for fans of the franchise. An entire level in this wacky-shoot-'em up plays out as an extended Castlevania homage, complete with an enormous Medusa-head boss. It's one of the rare times you can see these classic elements in a humorous context. (Image via Shadowserg)
By Matthew Walden on May 16, 2015 05:17 am
1. Natus Vincere Takes on the Alliance
The International Dota 2 Championship has grown to become the highest-paying eSports tournament in the world. Above, fans have filled Benaroya Hall to capacity while they watch Natus Vincere take on The Alliance.
2. In the Heart of the Storm
This giant crowd assembled for a StarCraft II: Heart of the Storm DreamHack tournament that took place in in Tours, France. (Image by Adela Sznajder)
3. Absolutely Stoked for Blizzcon
The crowd goes wild during the opening ceremonies of BlizzCon 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center. The famous StarCraft II Invitational took place at this event, with Genius of Team ZeNEX taking home the 1st place prize of $25,000.
4. Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm caused quite a stir recently when ESPN2 decided to broadcast the championship round of Blizzard's collegiate tournament for the game. Love it or hate it, eSports like Heroes of the Storm are taking the world by ... well, you know.
5. DreamHack Winter 2014
The opening festivities at DreamHack Winter 2014 were suitably lavish, considering it's the biggest computer festival in the world. Tournaments were held for a number of games, such as Counter-Strike: GO, Hearthstone, and League of Legends. (Image by Jennika Ojala)
6. League of Legends
Fans give a standing cheer for pro League of Legends players gathered in Athens, Greece. The Gazi Music Hall reached its full capacity with champions, junglers, feeders and more.
7. Raising Hell With World of Tanks
The Hellraisers team wins the final game of the World of Tanks Grand Finals 2015. This April event was held in Warsaw, Poland, as part of the Wargaming.net League.
8. MVP vs. Nestea
BlizzCon continues to be an astoundingly popular destination for eSports fans, with 2011's Starcraft II matchup between MVP and Nestea amassing a giant crowd of spectators. After a hard-fought tournament, MVP trounced the opposition and took home $50,000.
9. Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice
Top players from around the world gathered in Poland to compete in League of Legends and StarCraft II for the Intel Extreme Masters tournament in 2013.
10. A Battle to the Death in the City of Goodwill
You can feel the tension in this awesome shot of The Alliance versus Natus Vincere battle during The International Dota 2 Championship in Seattle, Washington.
11. Team Newbee Competes Like Pros
Don't let their name fool you: Team Newbee once won $5 million in The International Dota 2 Grand Finals. Above, they're pictured competing in another Dota 2 match during ChinaJoy 2014, held in Shanghai.
12. Moving Up In the World!
Schuyler Wireman can't contain his excitement when The Alliance wins first place during The International Dota 2 Championship in 2013.
13. The Coming of the Storm
It just came out in 2014, but the multiplayer online battle arena game SMITE has already skyrocketed to worldwide popularity. Team Titan coach Job Hilbers watches from the wings as his crew battles OMG from China at the SMITE World Championship in Atlanta.
14. Australian Fnatics vs. Swedish Ninjas
With the release of Global Offensive, Counter-Strike entered a new era of popularity with pro FPS gamers. The finals of the CS:GO ESL One tournament play out on giant screens as the Australians and the Swedes battle for the title of world champs.
15. The Sweet Taste of Victory
Kelly Ong Xiao Wei and Alex Garfield react with stunned disbelief when their team, The Alliance, won first place during The International Dota 2 Championship in 2013.
By Matthew Walden on May 16, 2015 05:01 am
1. Super Mario Bros. Beaten In Under 5 Minutes
There are people who are good at video games, and then there are masters who must have descended from immortal game playing gods. For starters, LordSaradoc holds the world record for beating Super Mario Bros. in 4 minutes, 57.69 seconds, without the assistance of emulation tools or save states.
2. Super Punch-Out!! Beaten While Blindfolded
Zallard1 recently pulled off the near-impossible feat of beating Super Punch-Out!! while blindfolded for Awesome Games Done Quick. AGDQ is a veritable superhero of charity, raising money to fight cancer while engineering some of the most outrageous game stunts out there.
3. Mega Man X & Mega Man X2 Simultaneous Run
Aura Puffs has a cuddly YouTube user name, but his Mega Man skills are completely intimidating. He's managed to complete both Mega Man X and Mega Man X2 at the exact same time using a single controller. His synchronized play-through takes multitasking to a new level.
4. Bloodborne Beaten With a Rock Band Guitar
Bloodborne's gothic and fog-drenched atmosphere seems like a natural fit for some heavy-metal wailing. Twitch streamer gbbearzly decided to hook up a Rock Band instrument and thrash his way through the formidable game with some incredible guitar licks.
5. Soulcalibur V Pro Destroys Opponent Without Looking
Sure it's a bit showboaty, but French gamer Kayane, one of the top Soulcalibur players in the world, takes on the competition with style. Without looking at the screen once, she demolishes her opponent with a flurry of combos at Paris Manga in 2013, a display of skill still talked about to this day.
6. Ikaruga Double Play
Ikaruga is considered one of the best-shoot-'em up games ever created, and juggling its complex black-and-white polarity system often feels like patting your head and rubbing your belly at the same time. Enter: two joysticks, one expert arcade gamer. A now-famous YouTube video features an unknown Ikaruga pro who controls two ships at the same time, executing intricate combo chains with panache.
7. An 85-Year Old Man Sets the World Record for Wii Bowling
The joke about grandparents loving Wii Bowling is true. John Bates, an 85-year-old resident of Onalaska, Wisconsin, set the world record at 14,000 perfect games of Wii Sports Bowling. That takes extraordinary skill, and an extremely long attention span.
8. Expert Player Beats Dark Souls Using Only His Feet
Srwfe is a Taiwanese Dark Souls master whose soul level is so high he can navigate its blighted caverns with the most dexterous pair of feet you'll see all year. His Twitch stream has viewable archives of his adventures, which are sure to inspire jealousy.
9. Ninja Gaiden Beaten With a Dance Pad
Dark Souls isn't the only game experts have trounced with their feet. Nick Hagman rigged up a Dance Dance Revolution pad and began an 8-month quest to beat Ninja Gaiden, one of the hardest NES games, using a frenzy of dance moves. You can follow his epic quest on YouTube.
10. Kaizo Mario World Deathless Run
Kaizo Mario World is the most infamous hack of Super Mario World, turning the peaceful game into a nightmarish hellscape of invisible blocks and death traps. Speedrunner dram551 performed a flawless play through in 14 minutes and 29 seconds without getting killed once. Unfortunately, dram551 is not an actual keyboard cat, but he does possess inhuman skills.
11. Tetris World Record 19-Second Blitz
Everyone thinks they're pretty decent at Tetris. That is until they see the world-record-breaking video of keroco racing through a 40-line game in 19.68 seconds. The pieces move so fast it's often hard to comprehend what's happening.
12. Japanese Model Haruna Anno Beats Super Mario Bros. Without Looking
Cool guys don't look at explosions, and cool women don't look at the games they play with polished perfection. Haruna Anno has a day job as a Japanese model, but she made waves when a video circulated of her tearing through the original Super Mario Bros. without even glancing at the screen.
13. A Master Pulls Off 16 Button Presses in One Second
If you've played any of the classic Adventure Island games, you'll recognize the main character, Master Higgins. He's based on a real Hudson executive, Toshiyuki Takahashi, who became famous for his ability to fire off 16 button presses in one second. He went on to invent the turbo button for video game controllers so the rest of us mere mortals could catch up to him.
14. The Most Boring Game In The World Played for a Week
Desert Bus is a joke game created by the entertainers Penn & Teller that consists of driving a bus down a straight route for 8 hours in real time. A team of gamers created a charity to benefit children's hospitals called Desert Bus for Hope, where they marathon the mind-numbingly dull game for a week at a time. So far they've raised millions of dollars through their commitment to dull digital life on the road.
15. Super Metroid 4-Way Speed Run Race
Its winding pathways have made Super Metroid a favorite game for speed runners to attempt sequence-breaking records on. Awesome Games Done Quick hosted this breakneck charity run between a group of the best Metroid players in the world. It's a nail-biting 45 minutes you won't regret watching.
16. Taking on the Armies of Skyrim Unarmed
By this point, unarmed Skryim builds have taken off as a viable path, but it took a brave, foulmouthed viking by the name of Robbaz to kick off the entire movement. If his salty language doesn't turn you off, prepare to stand in awe of his fists made of steel.
17. Dark Souls Vehicular Manslaughter
Twitch streamer The Prixie boldly steers a new course for innovative Souls games-control schemes. Unintimidated by guitar players or feet fiddlers, this pro deftly wields a racing game steering wheel to destroy every difficult Souls boss that stands in her way.
18. Speed Runner Plays Half-Life Upside Down
Unsatisfied with his status as one of the greatest Half-Life speed runners, quadrazid flipped the view and reversed the gravity on Valve's classic game. Although he's occasionally disoriented in his videos (can you blame him?) he still plays better than most people right side up.
19. A Blindfolded 14-0 Win in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Undeterred by the wins of other blindfolded speed runners in Super Punch-Out!!, Jack Wedge took the challenge back to its roots this year, completing the original Punch-Out!! in a flawless streak while blindfolded. His bouts against Soda Popinski and the notoriously impossible Mike Tyson are balletic displays of ingenuity and memorization.
20. Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Relay Race
Imagine all three tough-as-nails NES Ninja Gaiden games played back to back, by two competing teams filled with some of the fastest fingers on the planet. Awesome Games Done Quick produced this must-watch, high-wire act and raised a ton of money for The Precent Cancer Foundation.
21. A 76-Hour Just Dance Marathon Sets World Record
Alot of astounding video game feats take extraordinary concentration and reflexes, but Carrie Swidecki's accomplishment required inhuman stamina. She set the record for playing Just Dance 4 for 76 hours, 4 minutes, 52 seconds consecutively. We're not sure how she even survived.
22. The Mexican Runner Attempts to Finish Every NES Game
The NES has one of the most difficult game catalogs of any system, so when The Mexican Runner committed to beating all of them on his Twitch channel, he got everyone's attention. Watching him dismantle games like the Silver Surfer is a thing of beauty.
23. A Volley of Perfect Parries Wins a Street Fighter III Tournament
By now, the moment has become a legend in video game history: In a tense final tournament match between two all-time fighting game champs, Justin Wong managed to parry an entire multi-hit Super Combo from Daigo Umehara's Chun Li. A single parry takes practice and precise timing to pull off, so 17 parries in a row was almost like witnessing someone leap over the Empire State Building.
24. Super Mario Galaxy 2's Grandmaster Galaxy Evil Remix
Grandmaster Galaxy's "The Perfect Run" is considered the pinnacle of difficult Mario levels. It wasn't challenging enough for MrBean35000vr, though, who decided to remix a Master Quest version of the level. His creation is a gauntlet of punishing and painful traps so hard that he may be the only one alive who can survive them.
25. A Solo Spelunky Eggplant Run Through Hell and Back
Staying alive for more than 5 minutes in the challenging platform game Spelunky counts as an accomplishment. Expert player Bananasaurus Rex went the extra mile though. He managed to singlehandedly carry an eggplant (an essentially worthless item) all the way to the game's secret final boss, a feat that had always required careful coordination between two skilled players.
26. Dark Souls Beaten With a Pair of Bongos
The Dark Souls community seems to be in a continuous state of one-upping each other with the most ridiculous controller methods they can think of. PIctured here, gbbearzly (who beat Bloodborne with a guitar) hooks up some Donkey Kong bongos and whales on some difficult Dark Souls bosses.
27. Player Jumps Across the Hellmouth in Destiny
If you've ever stood in front of the Hellmouth's gaping chasm and wondered if it was possible to clear it in a giant, virtuosic leap of faith, SmileB4DEATH has a video for you. Using a Bladedancer Hunter, a Sparrow, and some well-timed Arc Blades, he crosses the entire pit flawlessly.
28. Beatmania IIDX World Record Set With Hair-Trigger Hands
On Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew would face an emergency, and Data would bust out his superhuman, lightning-fast hands to reprogram the ship. That's nothing compared with expert player DOLCE's mastery of Beatmania. With 1,836 perfect button presses in 2 minutes, he's faster than man or machine.
29. Blindfolded 100 Percent Run For The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Runnerguy2489 grabbed everyone's attention at the beginning of the year when he completed three dungeons in Ocarina of Time while blindfolded. If you tune into his YouTube channel, you can watch history unfold as he attempts to complete the entire game, including collecting all 100 gold Skulltulas, with a sack over his head.
30. A New Super Mario 64 World Record Set in April 2015
Hot off the presses! Allan "Cheese05" Alvarez has just set a new world record for collecting all 120 stars in Super Mario 64: 1 hour, 41 minutes, 16.87 seconds. That's a solid 3 minutes faster than the previous record. The video of his attempt is a balletic performance of nimble jumps and camera manipulation. It's hard to imagine anyone doing it better.
By GameSpot Staff on May 16, 2015 03:00 am
The Witcher Adventure Board Game
Taking place in the Witcher franchise, the board game is designed for 2-4 players and features detailed, maps, figures and quest lines where you take on the roles of characters from the Witcher universe.
The Witcher Stories (Novel)
The novel series (which excludes the short stories) is called the Witcher Saga, and focuses on the story of Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, the Child of Destiny.
The Saga
photo by Yuri Kravtsov
The Saga is a series of six books which focus on the story of Geralt of Rivia and Ciri, the Child of Destiny.
The Witcher: The Adventure Card Game
The Witcher Card Game is a non-collectable game for 2-5 players. The goal is to hire the Geralt and his friends to aid you in your fight against the monsters that roam the land. Collect attack cards, events cards and gold. The player with the most at the end, wins.
The Hexer
The Hexer was a 2001 fantasy film (which was also made into a 13 episode TV series). But don't get your hopes up. Both were considered a failure due to the vast changes from the source material.
The Witcher Comics by Dark Horse
Geralt meets a widowed fisherman whose murderous undead wife resides in an eerie mansion known as the House of Glass—which seems to have endless rooms, nothing to fill them with, and horror around every corner.
The Witcher Soundtrack
Written by Adam Skorupa and Paweł Błaszczak, the soundtrack features 29 tracks with the total running time of 73 minutes 13 seconds and was voted "Best Fantasy Game Soundtrack" in the 2007 Radio Rivendell Fantasy awards.
By GameSpot Staff on May 16, 2015 12:41 am
Polish fantasy writer, Andrzej Sapkowski, first wrote The Witcher as a short story in 1986 for the purpose of entering a magazine contest. He came third.
CD Projekt decided to develop a new engine, REDengine, to implement their vision for The Witcher 2.
The game's art design was inspired by the Slavic culture, with minor influences from Celtic, Germanic, and Scandinavian mythos.
CD Projekt released the Director's Cut patch on July 31, 2009 for The Witcher to North American players which removed censorship in the game, mainly revealing nudity on erotic cards.
The original music for The Witcher was composed by Adam Skorupa and Pawel Blaszczak. It released in 2007 and won "Best Fantasy Game Soundtrack" by the Radio Rivendell Fantasy Awards.
In April of 2009 CD Projekt RED announced that The Witcher: Rise of the White Wolf had been put on indefinite hold due to complications with Widescreen Games.
In The Witcher 2, protagonist Geralt was more than a 100 years old.
Dandelion's supposed real name is Julian Alfred Pankratz viscount de Lettenhove. But his original Polish name, "Jaskier", literally means "Buttercup." Not quite befitting of the womanizing bard.
Conan O'Brian reviewed The Witcher III: Wild Hunt on a Clueless Gamer segment.
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