"Hence the victor is..."                                                  

"And to approbate this vouchsafe, gladdingly congenialize our splendiferous recipient, envisaged by dint of Rondo of Blood--Tera!"

"Ooooooh. ... What?"                                          

"Palpably, eyeful, properly bestow obeisance forthwith upon the subjugators, thereby ratifying their exertions and innovational capacities."

"Eh... I, uh..."                                                    

"Oyyyyyy.

He wants you to give a speech signifying how you feel about this victory on behalf of Rondo of Blood and its supporting cast."

"Oh, I see. Well, he may not speak our language, but he's cute anyway. Don't you think?"

"Duly noted benediction. Did you know that the size of man's pate is verbatimly proportionate to the panorama of his vertebral pilaster?"

"Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii gotta go..."                                    

"NO! Wait, wait, wait, waiiiiiit! You can give your speech, my lady. I promise he won't be bothering you anymore.

Reinhardt, you sick freak."

"But all I said was--"                                                

"Gehhhhhhhhhhhhhh-houuuuuuuuuut. Out-out-OOOOUT!

Must breathe. Hwaaaah-wawawa. Hwaaah-wawawa. OK. Sorry about that, folks.

I'm truly sorry for that outburst. So with this regrettable episode hopefully out of the way, Miss Tera, the stage is all yours."

"OK--I'll give it a try.

Good people, I feel very strongly in my heart that Dracula X: Rondo of Blood is a true work of art. As Reinhardt said ... well, I don't know what he said, but he was right in thinking that too many games rely on the clichéd formula of 'go around and around until you reach the boss.' Rondo wanted to be something more--it wanted to provide stages where every pit holds a secret, where every wall is anything but an obstacle, and where every bit of the environment is key to finding and unlocking your desired path to that ultimate evil. It offers gamers familiar landscapes--like the Town of Jova, the dungeon and the castle keep--and allows them to explore this terrain like never before, especially when you consider the ability to locate multiple split paths whose destinations are many. And it does all of this with an accessible yet genius approach to platforming. Who knew subtlety could hold such stature? For instance: Maybe you'd uncover a lift that'd take you to an alternate boss? Maybe a pirate ship control room that'd let you skip over an annoying enemy or two? Or perhaps you'd uncover the Ferryman, who would take you directly to a new stage without even having to face a boss. Simple and effective, I'd call it.

You can play the game dozens of times and always find a different combination of routes to utilize on the way to the final battle with Count Dracula. Pure nostalgia is its most important ingredient, true, but it's hardly limited in that regard because it worships and expands upon everything its ancestors hoped to be. Did you ever want to know what lay within the buildings of Jova? Well, only Rondo knows the answer.

Thank you, Mr. Librarian, and thank you, everyone, for this award!"

"Very nice, my dear--it's good to see someone around here with a bit of sense. That's the way it is with the ladies.

And speaking of the 'fairer race,' I'd like you all to welcome our next speaker. A kind and caring young woman of virtue. A woman of honor and dedication. A confidant of my very close friend and young master, Alucard--please extend a warm welcome to the first female warrior of the Belmont clan, and one hot momma, Sonia!"

"Excuse me--'one hot momma'? Listen here, Osama Bin Neutered: Don't make me send Al over there to fix you real good. Next time you come over for roast wereduck, we'll cut out the set, and they'll be no Countesses Gone Wild or Blue's Clues for you!"

"NO, NOT THAT! I was so close to figuring out Blue's riddle this week! The peanut threw me off--I thought it was Celine Dion. The 'hot momma' thing was overstated; I swear that I just read what's on the card ... that I wrote, but that's not important right now.

Pity is. Mercy is. Yes?"

"You just have to know how to handle these librarians.

Allllll right--calm down, old man. I was just venting. Go back about your business now. But watch what you say, OK?"

"Yes, YES, thank you, fair lady! Look out, Blue, I'm a-comin' to get you!! And what's ya gonna do, brother, when Libby-mania runs wiiiiiild ... on YOU?!

Eh, um... Uh...

Oh-ho--very sorry. Please forgive me for my senility, Miss Sonia. You see, some deviant once lifted my chair off the ground about 43 times in a row, repeatedly crashing my poor noggin into the ceiling. It was terrible. I admit that the crack in the floor was a bad choice of interior design.

But never mind that--you may continue the festivities. Thank you for understanding."

"I'd be glad to.

As you know, ours is a series that has evolved slowly over the course of fifteen years and therein, at times, very painfully. In the early days, Belmont heroes had as much trouble climbing stairs as they did dodging the Reaper's scythes. True, limitations were tackled as the systems advanced and developers better applied their increasing knowledge, but old habits die hard.

When it comes right down to it, the control scheme of a game is what can make or break the entire effort. All of the advanced fighting moves in the world won't make a difference if you can't control them in smooth and timely fashion. With this understanding, some developers knew that making controls essential to the core of the game was the answer if not the top priority. We've chosen the five games that best showcase this line of thinking, and the nominees for 'Best Control' are:

• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: For allowing Soma to conveniently pull off and switch between special attacks without any in the way of button combinations.
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow: For following Aria's lead in presenting a second-nature control scheme where the action flows freely, quickly and without a hitch.
• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance: For its sheer sense of speed in blazing through the castle combined with expert precision in guiding along the hero.
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: For Alucard's smooth-moving, intuitive mechanics in which the fluid hero is aided by well-defined button-mapping.
• Super Castlevania IV: For its superb whip control, stunning brandishing technique, precise jumping, and the assigning of sub-weapons to a single button.

I know the winner, and by clicking on the link below, you'll soon know, too!"