Jicsan's Collection Show Off Lunar/Castlevania

[Jicsan | 586]

I wanted to share some stuff from my collection with all of you.  I'll be posting things here over time instead of all at once.  Please comment on what you think and maybe point out some things I might be missing or would want to add to my collection.    I don't have my own space right now, had to give my game room to my second son almost ten years ago, so my whole collection is packed away in a tiny four square foot closet.  And it's packed floor to ceiling.  So this is a fun way for me to 'display' and share! Enjoy!

 

First up is my Lunar collection.  Thought this would be great to show off at the top here, seeing as I have a Lunar 2 avatar that I've used forever.  These pictures didn't turn out super great, I might re-take them if I ever have time to dig all this stuff out again.

The Sega CD versions of these games are my favorite.  Maybe it's nostalgia because I played them first, but I really think they are more fun to play and I like the older style of graphics (the animated cut scenes blew my mind back in the day).  Don't get me wrong though, I love the re-makes too.  Many years ago now I bought those two Japanese Mega CD and three Saturn games on eBay for almost nothing.  I didn't get the mpeg versions on Saturn because I remember they weren't very cheap.  I don't recall why I didn't get the Japanese Playstation versions, seems like I should have. Up in the right corner is the Ghaleon boxing puppet, has was a pre-order bonus, everyone has him so he got mostly cropped out.  There's an Alex puppet apparently, but impossible to get.  You can see I've got two each of the US Complete versions on Playstation.  Well not quite, the first one is the actual retail release and the second one is an empty retail display box:

These displays are very cool, as you can see they have different artwork on the back.  I forgot to open the front flap for the pictures, I think that it has different text about the game printed under there.  I will try to remember to update next time I get them out.  Also the Lunar 1 boxes are the same size, the Lunar 2 display is the same size as the Lunar 1 display, so significantly smaller than the final retail version. 

Here are some guides and the portable games.  I didn't realize until today that my Lunar 1 Complete guide had gotten discolored on the front cover, it was fine on the back cover and inside though.  I'd also like to get the Sega CD versions of the guides someday.  I don't have the Japanese version of Dragon Song (Lunar Genesis) or the PSP game, but I feel like I'd gotten past buying games that I couldn't play properly at this point in my collecting.  Plus Lunar Dragon Song was so bad I didn't want a second copy.   At some point I'd like to get a CIB Lunar Magic School on the Japanese Game Gear.

I don't remember exactly how I got this demo disc.  I think it was a pre-order bonus, but I'm not 100% on that.  It's great that I have it though.

Aside from the Japanese Saturn and Mega CD games I'm the original owner of all these games.  I even still have the receipt for Lunar 2 on Sega CD:

There are still plenty of things still left for me to collect for Lunar.  Like if I win the lottery (which I don't play anyway) I would get all the disc variants.  There are guides, posters, the Japanese GG game, Japanese manga, art books, and soundtracks that I could go after.  And if I see them out and about I'd snag them up, but I don't like collecting via eBay very much.  Oh, I do have one of the posters for mailing away directly to Working Designs, but it's in one of many poster tubes right now.  I remember it's for one of the Complete games, but I haven't looked at in so long I don't even remember which one it was.

I have played them all (didn't finish Dragon Song though) and I love this series.  I haven't played them through in many years now, I may have to set aside some time for that.

[doner24 | 1,195]

Love Lunar, bought and played the two on PS1 back in the day and still have them complete. Have picked up some guides and the GBA game over the last decade too. 

[drxandy | 3,225]

Niiiceeeee stuffffff, lunar rulesss! 

[The Count | 526]

Neat collection for sure. I especially like your demo disc. Don't forget to grab one of those boxing puppets!

[Jicsan | 586]

3 hours ago, The Count said:

Neat collection for sure. I especially like your demo disc. Don't forget to grab one of those boxing puppets!

Thanks!  Yeah I have the Ghaleon puppet, he's in the first pic but mostly cropped out.  Those puppets seem to be more common than the game!

[Jicsan | 586]

Okay here's my most of my Castlevania games.  There's more Castlevania in my collection; guides, imports, cd soundtracks, figures, etc. but I think this was enough pictures for today.

Here they are all together in one pic:

Here's the classics, these 4 games are some of my all time favorites.  I had all of these in my youth.  Sadly I traded them in, along with all my other childhood NES games, for a Game Gear of all things.  I know some of you love Game Gear, but that burned me and is now one of my biggest regrets.  I very quickly traded that Game Gear toward a Sega CD Model 2, for which I got the Lunar games, so at least that happened.  So over time I've been re-getting all those games I foolishly traded away.  First I got Castlevania II sometime in the way early 00's at GameStop when they still had them (it was also around this time I re-bought most of my games, but loose).  That box is ratty and it's been on my list to get upgraded for some time.  I got Castlevania a few years back from someone on Nintendoage, but I've forgotten who.  And I eBayed Castlevania III, last year maybe, the box isn't pristine but it's acceptable.  A buddy found me Super Castlevania IV semi locally and grabbed it for me, it's the Majesco version and still needs a manual, but I'm glad to finally have it in box again.

Here's Castlevania Dracula X, also got it around the same time as Castlevania II in the early aughts.  Yeah, I got lucky that it was the one I got CIB again so early on.  After Dracula X and the first two Game Boy games, I'm the first owner of all the rest of these.  Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite games of all time, I've played through it many times over the years.  I have the pre-order soundtrack cd and a demo cd (I think), I should look for those for a picture.  The greatest hits one I have is still sealed. And Castlevania Chronicles is great, but I'd really rather just play 1 or 4.

The Genesis game is so good.  I found the cardboard version at Toys R' Us back when they were clearing out their 'last gen' leftovers.  Who knows why I opened it though, since I had the other one it seems rather dumb for younger me to have done that.   I'd never played it to the end until recently (had to get that trophy on PS4), I think I had a psychological block to overcome because I had convinced myself this one was impossible hard.  It wasn't.  And of course, I forgot to put these in the picture of them all together.

I'd always argue with people that the N64 games weren't that bad, and that they were quite good once you get going.  And I'd probably still stand by that, but at this point I haven't played them in so long I only vaguely remember them.  The two PS2 games I also enjoyed in the past, but haven't revisited them in years either.  I'm motivated to play them again though, since some of the Netfilx series was inspired by Curse of Darkness.

Here's Lords of Shadow 1 & 2.  I liked these more than most it seems.  I didn't mind that it was reboot, and I liked the God of War inspired game play.  The budget on these games was higher, the spectacle was amazing, and the story went interesting places (

Spoiler

get the dlc for the first one, to find out how Dracula gets his demon powers

).  The second one I think was really unfairly judged by everyone.  It's even metroidvania-like, unlike the first.  Castlevania Judgement is good for a laugh, mostly from the "what were they thinking" factor.

I didn't get a Game Boy till the Color came out.  So I got loose carts for Adventure and Belmont's Revenge, they've long been on my list to upgrade.  However I don't particularly like them, and just like Bloodlines I didn't ever finish them until the PS4 collection motivated me to get the trophies.  To those of you who beat these without save states... you guys rule cause I doubt that I will ever have that much patience.  Never finished Legends, they didn't include it on the Anniversary Collection, so I'm still not motivated.  Legends is another I'm super glad to have already.  And I got Castlevania on GBA Classics, because that's what a fan/collector does.  What they shouldn't do is open it up, play it for 5 minutes, and stick it in the box; which is what I did.

Alright the GBA and DS games are the true continuation of this series to me.  The 3D games are enjoyable, but these are where the good stuff is.  Oh and the Double Pack is sealed, I think by then I'd finally learned not to open everything up if I already had it.

 

 What's your favorite and least favorite Castlevania?

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by Jicsan
Had to take bloodlines picture

[Jicsan | 586]

I was wrong about the SOTN demo, it was in fact just a soundtrack selection. The package looks like it should be a demo so my brain just filed it away as one.

[drxandy | 3,225]

The side bar PS logo threw me off too, super nice castlevania collection though!!

[leonemesis | 44]

Outstanding Lunar collection! I´d know about the games for a long time, but only last year that I managed to get both PS1 releases in great condition. The Working Designs boxes are amazing but they get damaged so easily. Not to mention there´s a bunch incomplete copies out there. Anyway, I gotta make up the time to play them, but it´s been difficult with work and other real life stuff.

Now, your Castlevania collection is insane, a level I´d like to reach someday. I regret not looking for the GBA games before, nowadays they are so expensive... By the way, which of the GBA games are considered the best one? Aria of Sorrow?

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,011]

7 hours ago, Jicsan said:

Alright the GBA and DS games are the true continuation of this series to me.  The 3D games are enjoyable, but these are where the good stuff is.  Oh and the Double Pack is sealed, I think by then I'd finally learned not to open everything up if I already had it.

I'm with you here. For some reason, people tend to overlook outstanding games on handhelds. Hopefully the mainstream appeal of the Switch will change people's perception of handheld consoles as options for mainline games. 

[drxandy | 3,225]

I feel ya on the gba classics series, I had the same feeling buying Zelda.. like do I need this again?? Haha and the answer is always of course ya do.

[Jicsan | 586]

4 hours ago, leonemesis said:

By the way, which of the GBA games are considered the best one? Aria of Sorrow?

They're all good, but Aria of Sorrow is the best of the three.

[chuppy44 | 56]

I'm most of the way towards a complete US Castlevania set as well, no kind of display for it yet though. I think which of us is closer to completion would depend on whether you consider Kid Dracula as part of the set since that is surely the toughest one to get (I've got the box and manual for it but no actual cart, oddly enough). If you don't count that then you are closer since I am missing a box and manual for Dracula X along with a few of the more recent games and a Bloodlines manual.

Fav game in the series is SotN by quite a margin. Least fav is probably Mirror of Fate though I only played the demo for it so I can't say for sure.

On 8/17/2020 at 1:42 PM, Jicsan said:

The second one I think was really unfairly judged by everyone.  It's even metroidvania-like, unlike the first. 

Agreed, and I didn't care for LoS1. My only beef with LoS2 is the soundtrack. If they just replaced it with a proper CV soundtrack it would be among the best of the series.

[twiztor | 847]

great Castlevania collection. @Jicsan what's your thoughts on the Bloodstained games and whether they count as part of the run.

[Jicsan | 586]

On 8/20/2020 at 8:41 PM, chuppy44 said:

whether you consider Kid Dracula as part of the set

It probably should be considered.  I don't have it, but I'd love to get it.  I've never once encountered it out in the wild, and now it's gotten to the level of "too much money".  I will probably get a loose one someday and just put it in a custom case. I haven't played the GB version, but I did play the Famicom version they localized in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.  Also, I do have the PSP game with the remake of Rondo of Blood, I just failed to include it in the picture.  Thought I'd dug them all out, there's so many and I wasn't keeping them all together.  I keep the NES games with the other NES games.  Same reason that I forgot to put Bloodlines in the big picture.

SotN or just regular ol' Castlevania are probably my favorites.  Mirror of Fate was just ok, you could play it to fill in some lore for the Lords of Shadow games, but it's not necessary.  My least favorite is GB Castlevania Adventure.  At least we got Castlevania Adventure Rebirth to make up for it.

[Jicsan | 586]

3 hours ago, twiztor said:

what's your thoughts on the Bloodstained games and whether they count as part of the run

I love Bloodstained.  I backed the Kickstarter (first and only time) so I was super hyped for it.  Now I haven't played Curse of the Moon 2 yet because I'm waiting to get the physical copies from LRG.  The first Curse of the Moon was great and I'm looking forward to finally playing the second.  Ritual of the Night was amazing, they've just got to be making another one like this.

So I feel that Bloodstained is Castlevania in all but name.  Konami ain't gonna make anymore.  And Koji Igarashi was Castlevania's most prolific creator.  So yeah, I'd say they count in a way.  I intend to get them all as they come out just like I did Castlevania.

Here's a link to where I posted my backer rewards.  I'll take a picture of all my Bloodstained stuff next chance I get. 

 

[leonemesis | 44]

Bloodstained looks pretty neat, been holding off because price kept going down, physical is like 20 bucks now, think I´ll finally bite the bullet.