Halloween season is upon us, and you know what that means: Where other people decorate their homes with cobwebs and giant skeletons, I decorate mine with a Castlevania-related video. This time around, it's a look at a Castlevania spinoff called Kid Dracula. Well, technically, this video is about Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-Kun! Or just Kid Dracula. It's a little bit Castlevania, a little bit Mega Man, and just a few minor quirks shy of being an all-time Famicom classic.

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!

Production notes:

• NES and Famicom footage in this episode was captured from  @Analogue  Nt / Nt Mini / Nt Mini Noir via RGB out.
• PS1 footage captured from PlayStation hardware via RGB cable.
• Super NES footage captured from Super NES model 2 via JP21 SCART cable. - Standard definition video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister and  @Retro Tink  5X.

I may have gone a little overboard with this episode, but it seemed worth doing. For one thing, the creator of the Golgo 13 series, Takao Saito, recently passed away. And for another, upon revisiting this game in the context of its original release chronology on NES, I came away deeply impressed by how much the developers attempted to do here. Did they nail it? Oh, lord, no. But where this game is easily written off as a kludgey mess when viewed in light of the entire nine-year NES release library, back in autumn 1988, it tried to do a LOT with the limited resources and collective game design wisdom of the time. Containing a good half-dozen presentation and gameplay styles, a globe-spanning storyline, and a genuine good-faith effort to recreate the essence of the manga property it's based on, Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode is damn impressive for what it is. (Albeit a heck of a mess.) Kids: Beware of tiny 8-bit boobies and blood spray.

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more! Production notes:

• NES and Famicom footage in this episode was captured from  @Analogue Nt Mini Noir via RGB out.
• Standard definition video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister and  @Retro Tink  5X. There is a small amount of visual distortion in the upper portion of some footage that the latest Retro Tink firmware update appears to address.

We have a follow-up to a 1986 classic here, in deed if not in name: Life Force, the sequel to Konami's Gradius. Well, sort of. It's complicated. But since we never saw the actual Gradius II on NES, this will have to do. Life Force makes use of the same excellent power-up system as Gradius with some refinements, including a new weapon option, new handling of Options, a revamped shield, and perhaps most importantly a far more forgiving respawn system upon the player's inevitable demise. Along with these improvements, Life Force also incorporates two-player simultaneous action and introduces a unique dual-format scrolling system seen nowhere else in the Gradius series. It's quality fare, and a real technical and gameplay highlight for the NES... a feat that becomes all the more impressive when you consider how it had to be scaled back from the Famicom release to work within the constraints of U.S. cartridges.

Video Works is funded via Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/gamespite) — support the show and get access to every episode up to two weeks in advance of its YouTube debut! Plus, exclusive podcasts, eBooks, and more!

Production notes:

• NES and Famicom footage in this episode was captured from  @Analogue  Nt / Nt Mini / Nt Mini Noir via RGB out.
• Standard definition video upscaled to 720 with xRGB Mini Framemeister and  @Retro Tink  5X. There is a small amount of visual distortion in certain vertically scrolling sequences that the latest Retro Tink firmware update appears to address.