Hoorah!! I must be feelin' good about this page laterly cuz Its all I kept thinkin' bout as the page inched its way to its 5000th hit!!! Woohoo...hey these numbers aren't astounding to most people but every since the new page went up a little over 3 weeks ago, I've had about  1000 somthin' hits.... that has just about floored me!  First and foremost lemme thank everybody for stoppin' by, its been a great few weeks for me, nothin' like a thousand hits in a week to make a person feel good.  Anyhoo back to the subject at hand.  As many of you may know Konami is "Gearin Up" to release Metal Gear Solid for the playstation, and as many of you may know, this game is lookin' quite fine!  Well I'm doing some Research and Development on a Metal Gear page, similar in vein to this page, giving you guys the chance to play all the chapters of the series available for emulation. Lots-O-Midi, Roms, and other stuff to boot.  Hopefully I can get it ready intime for the October/November release of the Playstation game. 
    Speaking of Midi, I'm adding a few choice cuts for the random-midi player on this page(really the what's new page, but who's counting?).  Currently the midis only play on the Whats New page(the 1st page), but if you guys want more music on the site just give me a whistle.  The new stuff is really really good(with stuff from Dracula X, Symphony of the Night, and even the Genesis Bloodlines), so have a listen.
  Complaints about problems downloading Roms are being addressed as I type, new uploads of Vampires Kiss, and the Fmsx emulator are on the way..to replace the corrupted versions.  Just give me a little time.  I was gonna offer something special for the 5000th visitor but that number came and went, so I'm offering something special(no monetary value but hey) to the 6000th visitor of the site, just save the counter image on the navigation frame, and send it attached with an email...we'll see what we can do..hey no doctored up images k? unless their funny..hehe  K, well I'm out of here, hope you like the          everychanging look of the site, keep sending email, and for god's sake sign my guestbook.

Sup Kiddies! Hey last month I told everybody to go out and buy the Castlevania: "Directors Cut"(as I like to call it) for the Saturn.  Well now that I've spent the last 3 weeks playin' this puppy I felt it might be a good Idea to tell you guys what I thought about it, and if it was worth it. 
  If you've read any of the reviews in EGM or anyother mag for that matter you probably have a good idea what to expect.  For those that don't, well letme start by saying this game could've been a Really great game, along the lines of a directors cut for Castlevania.  Unfortunately for us however, much like Capcom's botch up with Resident Evil, the product is far from what the  creators had intended this game to be.  First and foremost, this game was develoved by KCEN(Nagoyo), a diffrent development team from the one that worked on the extremely successfull Playstation version.  The guys at KCEN however didn't seem up to the task, as they acomplished the minimalist of additions that were intended for the game. 
  Lets Start with the Addition of Maria because Richter was already in the PSX version.  They added Maria, with Magic, a little dose of  durability, and even some halfway decent theme-music(she starts the game with a variation of the Vampire Killer theme).  But the problems begin with how the magic comes into play in the game.  Most of the stuff is way too powerfull, among them include what I like to call her "Yoga Flame Move", where she thrusts a plume of Fire in the general direction of an enemy.  Kewl , but way too effective, I haven't seen a single boss(let alone enemy) withstand it.  She is also given a maneuver where she summons an Owl "familiar" much like Alucards Bat Familiar(with a similar attack pattern).  This was a very kewl addition, but the lack of any building of experience and attack points for the Owl seem to make summoning this bird of prey more of a hassle than anything else. The should've made Familiars and Weapons more a part of Richter and Maria's quest, now that would've been kewl.
  On the Weapons Front, Maria fights Street Fighter style, with mostly her legs doing jump kicks and the occasional fireball.  Really, she's more Street Fighter influenced than any other Castlevania Character that I've ever seen.  She even has a downward fireball like Akuma's.  Who'da thunk it???  Her use of the secondary weapons(Axe, Holy Water, ect.) seems to be used a lot more efficiently than Alucard or Richter too.  Although she can't Item Crash, she usually does more damage with the secondary weapons, or she just plain shoots more of them... In the case of the Axe, she lets loose three at a time, unlike Alucard and Richter's measily one.  Holy Water, also Trickles down stairs, and moves in a Wider Attack Radius than Alucards, much like Richter's use of it.
    Sticking points have also been mildly addressed.  I enjoyed seeing that they "fixed" the section of the castle that Maria couldn't access(THE Totally Spiked Room where you used the BAT's Sonar to navigate through it), they gave Maria a spell where she becomes next to untouchable and she has no problems walking over the spikes.  The spiked corridor at the Cathedral  section is still inaccessable because of the inability to become mist.  That blows...But Maria does get to peruse the castle a little easier than Richter did on the PSX.  Her Triple-Jump along with long  Alucard-esque UP-DOWN Jump helps her access just about any area in site.  Pretty kewl actually.
  The New Areas, ahhh the bread and butter of this game. The Two Addtional areas are actually pretty kewl.  The Underground Garden(A hauntedly twisted Poisen Ivy-esque greenhouse) is probably the best of the two.  This level is located exactly where the old Hidden(secret) Unfinished Level was located in the PSX version when you used Richter... Somewhere during the quest, don't know when, the trapdoor near the castle-draw-bridge opens up.  Kind of kewl that they would "fix" the mystery of the Unfinished level(Truly makes ya feel its more of Directors Cut)  The Underground Garden has the honor of being the largest area and the only new area with a  boss(The Skeleton General I think).  The General is a little too easy to kill however, again because of the all purpose Yoga Flame move.  Do ya see a patern.  I'm pretty sure this level along with the other new area, the Cursed Prison are both mirrored in the second castle(I haven't reached them on the other castle yet). My current percentage with Maria is 114% so far and I'm perusing the second castle these last few days.... Strange, I've lent out the game a few times to my friend, and maybe that combined with me finishing the first castle, has made me lose a little motivation to play...but I think its just a passing feeling. 
    The Meat and Potatos of this game are its Graphics, and unfortunately some were ensentially BOTCHED by KCEN.  Transparencies that were rampant throughout the psx version are now gone, or replaced by some crappy dithered graphics...  Some effects that highlighted the psx version are now gone, including light sourcing from the candles, and enemy deaths.  Some deaths were changed in lie of this versions inability to compete.  Slowdown is rampant, which is pretty much unforgivable because this game should've had use of the Capcom 4-Meg Ram Cart or othersuch ram add-on, that would've given the game virtually no loadtime or slowdown.  This was a huge let down, because the Saturn version has MORE slowdown than the psx version.  Certain areas(slowdown troublespots) from the psx were remedied but they wound up botching other ones in so many instances it was scary(in a bad way). Loading time has been increased everywhere??!!! Those really cool CD passageways that hid the loading time on the psx are here too, but they aren't used to any effect because the damn system starts loading after you exit the tunnel as opposed to during your transit.... SHEESHH!!! What the Hell were they thinking!! Polygonal effects are also in trouble too, areas wher polygons were used like the transport gateway where polygon stones would enter with you, have been replaced by what appear to be sprites, that don't move at the same clip....they look like flying crap actually... just a little goof...but come on!! I still haven't beaten this game with Maria yet, so I'm hoping she has her own distinct ending(at least something like her Dracula X:Rondo of Blood ending)... same I hope goes for Richter... Thats what keeps my hopes high...
  Other Extra Goodies Include an extra Item for Alucard, pictured on the left.  Its a pair of boots that make Alucard run twice as fast as he used to... Kewl Idea.  Oh and don't forget the two familiars that were left out of the U.S. Version(Another Demon, and Fairy).
  The game is currently available for purchase from several sources, among them Electronics Boutique, and my personal favorite Buyrite.com   The latter of which being the cheapest, selling the game for a paltry $32.49.  I'll tell you this, its worth it for $30 bucks, but not for the high import price that EB is pullin($54  I think), screw that.  If you never owned Castlevania go out and get this one, but much like Res Evil Directors Cut, if you have the original, think twice before getting this one... It may or may not be worth your time.