We're kicking off the Negative World March Madness: Third Party Edition, where our favorite non-Nintendo games go head to head and only one may prevail. The matchups are as follows:

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

Vote for the game that you think should win the matchup. Please vote on every matchup. Not having played a game does not disqualify you from voting. If a game has appeared on multiple platforms, use your discretion in choosing which version to consider. Please cast your votes in the following format, bolding the game that you choose to advance:

(1) Game 1 vs. (8) Game 8
(4) Game 4 vs. (5) Game 5

Polls are open until Thursday, March 19th, 2015 at 11:59 PM EST. Enjoy!

Tournament Link

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@GameDadGrant

Mine's purely because I haven't played what it's up against. SCIV isn't a bad game, but it's not one I am eager to replay, especially since the three GBA games are on the VC as well.

Posted by

ludist210

on: 03/18/15, 20:09

@GameDadGrant I'm not crazy about SuperVania myself, it's probably my least-favorite Castlevania, but I guess I can accept being in the minority there.

I'm more deflated by Radiant Historia's limited popularity: that's maybe my favorite turn-based JRPG ever. That said, it's received more votes than I anticipated, and I know it was decently popular around here when it launched.

I seriously hope the whole Nintendo DS Virtual Console thing comes to Wii U (or 3DS, but Wii U's already been announced) and that Radiant Historia gets a second chance there. It did sell a lot better than Atlus anticipated -- it got a handful of reprints if I remember right -- so at least it did well for them the first time around.

Posted by

nate38

on: 03/18/15, 20:11

@GameDadGrant

Well, I never played Radiant Historia.

Going beyond that, though, I prefer the level-based Castlevanias to the meandering Metroid-style ones, which seem to put actual level design on a much lower priority than RPG-esque battling. That's just not as interesting to me. Castlevania 4 is the best of the bunch because it has a great sense of progression (from outside the castle walls, to the wilderness areas within the walls, to the different chambers of the castle all leading up to Dracula's moonlit tower), an amazing soundtrack and sound design, and gameplay that strikes a great balance between challenging and fun. There's still some of the intentional stiffness from the NES titles to keep the flavor of the series intact, but Simon gets better whip mechanics that make the game far more manageable, and the enemies are designed around these limitations and abilities. There's also some great variety in the game, such as with the swinging from hook-to-hook mechanic, the rotating room, jumping across giant chandeliers, and running from a room that's being cut up from below. A lot of these things would only be possible on the SNES as well, so it's a good use of more power giving more gameplay options.

IMO, there's really nothing at all that SC4 does wrong. What the heck is so disappointing about it?

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 03/18/15, 20:15

Edited:

03/18/15, 20:16

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

1. Never played Runner 2 and only a bit of Chrono Trigger. But I liked CT enough.
2. Tales of Symphonia is one of the few RPGs I enjoyed, but it doesn't compare to my love of Castlevania.
3. I never cared for Phoenix Wright and love all Layton games. Easy choice.
4. REmake is amazing. The only mainline FF game I've enjoyed is XII.
5. I'm not a big MM fan and Revelations was a surprisingly good RE game despite what else was being done with the franchise.
6. I've never been a huge fighting game fan and I enjoyed VVVVVV quite a bit.
7. I never played Radiant Historia but Super Castlevania has some cool mode 7.
8. This is easily the hardest choice for me to make. SK was in the running for my game of the year last year. But C3 is one of the all time great games. I went with Contra because of 2 player co-op and you blow up a car when the game first starts for no reason.

Posted by

gojira

on: 03/18/15, 20:38

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

Posted by

anon_mastermind

on: 03/18/15, 21:16

gojira said:

8. This is easily the hardest choice for me to make. SK was in the running for my game of the year last year. But C3 is one of the all time great games. I went with Contra because of 2 player co-op and you blow up a car when the game first starts for no reason.

This makes me want to play Contra III all of a sudden...

Posted by

ludist210

on: 03/18/15, 21:30

@GameDadGrant

Your lack of taste is appalling. Subsequently you must be destroyed.

Posted by

chrisbg99

on: 03/18/15, 22:05

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 03/18/15, 23:04

@ludist210, @nate38, @TriforceBun

Just to be clear, I'm not even complaining that Radiant Historia isn't getting as many votes. I'd be fine with it losing to Rondo of Blood if it was put up against that Castlevania game. I just don't think Super Castlevania IV is that good. At least, not a good Castlevania game.

Also, you guys should totally play Radiant Historia, on account of the fact that it is awesome!

TriforceBun said:

IMO, there's really nothing at all that SC4 does wrong. What the heck is so disappointing about it?

EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING. Just....everything. I'll have to write up a separate post about it. I don't want to muck up this thread with my SC4 belly-aching. Keep a look out for it!

@chrisbg99

Your Final Fantasy VII is my Super Castlevania IV.

Posted by

GameDadGrant

on: 03/18/15, 23:06

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

I haven't played as many of these titles as the prior bracket, so I went based on many of the opinions from people whose taste is closest to my own.

Posted by

Beardednerd

on: 03/18/15, 23:56

@GameDadGrant

Yea Castlevania 4 was a step back from the NES games and the weakest of the 16 bit games, including those not on Nintendo platforms. But I haven't played Radiant Historia yet I'm afraid (where's DS Virtual Console?) and even a weak Castlevania still provides some fun.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 03/19/15, 00:13

@GameDadGrant
@Jargon
Sounds like the game's more controversial than I thought! Interesting...

Hope you guys don't mind if I take a stab at making a poll/thread about SC4!

Posted by

TriforceBun

on: 03/19/15, 00:58

@Beardednerd

Have you played VVVVVV, Shovel Knight, or Radiant Historia?

Cause ya should! Sell your copy of Kid Icarus Uprising and buy these three games!

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 03/19/15, 02:40

@DrFinkelstein

VVVVVV is very good and all, but it's facing some real tough competition there. Even among those who aren't big fighting fans, most people have a lot of love for Street Fighter II. It's iconic.

Posted by

Jargon

on: 03/19/15, 02:48

Unfortunately I feel like a lot of these 3rd party games are ones that maybe half of NW have played, if even that. Will be tough for them to stand against the 3rd party games nearly everyone has played.

Posted by

Zero

on: 03/19/15, 02:55

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

Voting for a bunch of games I've never played, this round.

a) Never played either. Strangely though, the more you guys talk up Chrono Trigger as this be-all end-all game, the more I become convinced I wouldn't like it. But hopefully I'm pleasantly surprised if/when I get the hankering to investigate. For now, I throw a bone to Bit Trip.
b) I started Tales of Symphonia and played only about an hour. I liked the feel of the game, but the story seemed kinda juvenile and it didn't grab me enough to actually commit a bunch of hours - which is a big reason I don't play RPGs very much. On the other hand, I love Castlevania.
c) I love the idea of the Phoenix Wright series and I played most of Ace Attorney, but I sorta hated the "Phoenix needs to find clues in this room" portions of the game. And it's basically just a well made interactive book. Layton has puzzles, though. So he wins.
d) RE, I guess.

e) Don't have any real history with Mega Man, but those are clearly well designed games. The only think I remember about Revalations is the misspelling and that first trailer with Tits McGhee in it.
f) Throwing a bone to VVVVVV, a game I have actually played and enjoyed. I might have been more careful if Street Fighter had much of a chance of losing, though.
g) Here's how I'd rank the pre-Symphony Castlevania games I've played: Rondo (PC Engine)>3>1>4>2. So 4 doesn't come way up on the list, but I still like it. Radiant Historia? Another SNES RPG that I'll never have time to play. Sorry, but I'm going to be voting against a lot of those. I'm sure they are amazing and all. Could someone produce a version I could play in like 10 hours rather than 40?
h) Throwing a bone to Shovel Knight, since I always felt Contra III was ruined by those dumb top-down sections.

Posted by

kriswright

on: 03/19/15, 04:19

Radiant Historia isn't an SNES RPG bro. DS!!!

Posted by

Zero

on: 03/19/15, 04:25

@Zero

Oh. Well... I can't keep all these Lufias and Radiant Historias and Valkarie Chronicles straight in my mind. It's all categorized together in one big dump labeled "Shit That's Too Long To Bother With".

Posted by

kriswright

on: 03/19/15, 04:30

Edited:

03/19/15, 04:30

kriswright said:

@Zero
It's all categorized together in one big dump labeled "Shit That's Too Long To Bother With".

...Off I go.

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 03/19/15, 05:39

(1) Chrono Trigger vs. (16) BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
(8) Tales of Symphonia vs. (9) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
(4) Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney vs. (13) Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
(5) Resident Evil (REmake) vs. (12) Final Fantasy IV

(2) Mega Man 2 vs. (15) Resident Evil: Revelations
(7) VVVVVV vs. (10) Street Fight II: Turbo
(3) Radiant Historia vs. (14) Super Castlevania 4
(6) Shovel Knight vs. (11) Contra III: The Alien Wars

Posted by

TheBigG753

on: 03/19/15, 05:41