The Anatomy of Super Castlevania IV | III | Stable condition

There’s a lot of ground to cover in stage one of Super Castlevania IV—literally. This opening level sprawls even further, and introduces more game mechanics, than even the massive first stage of Castlevania III. Many of the tricks and lessons it teaches cover the same ground as the previous game, as we’ll see here in […]

The Anatomy of Super Castlevania IV | II | Theme of Simon

The Anatomy of 16-Bit Castlevania: Phase One | Super Castlevania IV Once you pass through the castle gates, you really get a sense of what Konami was trying to bring to the table with Castlevania on this newer, more powerful hardware. You don’t immediately face a threat upon reaching the castle grounds, but everything seems… livelier. A […]

The Anatomy of Super Castlevania IV | I | The bloodletting

The Anatomy of 16-Bit Castlevania: Phase One | Super Castlevania IV Dracula is dead! Long live… Dracula!? It’s true: You can’t keep a good villain down. Or a good franchise. Especially when that franchise’s thin excuse for a plot revolves entirely around a specific villain. 1991’s Super Castlevania IV saw Konami extending its popular NES trilogy […]

The Anatomy of Metroid Fusion | 9 | Bad mister frosty

As irritating as the game’s insistence on giving away the surprises in store for this upcoming sequence was, there’s no faulting the trip to the next sector itself. This is Metroid Fusion at its best, doing something no other Metroid game had ever done to this point. Arguably Zero Mission would go it one better, but at […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 15 | Kefkaesque

This is it: The big payoff for everything that’s come so far. The three diverging story paths converge once again, with everyone arriving in Narshe — some admittedly by a more circuitous route than others. All that Final Fantasy VI has presented to this point comes to a head here, and after the upcoming battle the nature […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 14 | Dive alert

Sabin’s chapter is surprisingly lengthy. Even after teaming up with Shadow, sneaking through an Imperial base, fighting through Doma Castle, and undermining the supernatural order of the human race’s afterlife, there’s still more to do. Shadow won’t take part in it, however; if you’ve managed to hang on to him to this point, here’s where […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 11 | Triple triad (part the first)

Until now, Final Fantasy VI has treated Terra as the game’s main character. Even in the brief sequence where you controlled Locke, you didn’t really control him — he made his way through the Narshe caves on auto-pilot, and the entire multi-party battle transpired with Terra unconscious in the background. She’s been a constant presence through […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 10 | Down the dolce vita

The other side of Mt. Kolts doesn’t offer many points of interest to choose from. Two or three hours in, FFVI is still very much in “linear” mode as the story’s premise continues to unfold. The only point you can travel to here is the Returner hideout — which, if we’re still going with the Star Wars parallels […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 9 | Martial law

There’s a lot to say about South Figaro, considering it’s a totally optional space in this portion of the game. However much time you spend there, though, all roads will eventually lead you to Mt. Kolts, the path leading to your next story objective: The base of the rebellious Returners. Coincidentally, a new party member happens to […]

The Anatomy of Final Fantasy VI | 8 | Anatomy of a town

Once you get to South Figaro, you can… …skip right past it, as a matter of fact. For the moment, nothing in the city is mandatory; in fact, you don’t even need to stop there at all once you complete the cave linking the city to Figaro Castle (or at least its former resting spot […]