This particularly rainy day here in Tennessee brings to mind the countless rainy days I endured at as a kid, just trying to sneak in one more hour of Boktai before a storm rolled in. You probably heard about this one if you were of the appropriate market segment at the time of release, around 2004ish. To be honest, I think I read about it in a Nick magazine at a friend’s place. You might have even run across the “GunSol” chip in Megan Man Battle Network 4. The point is, you might have heard of this one, or shiiiiit, I might be tripping and low key a great deal of people have played this one, either way, it’s a gem.

The game stars Django, a young vampire hunter and wielder of the solar gun Gun Del Sol, on a mission to avenge his father, formerly the world’s greatest vampire hunter and original wielder of the solar gun. Django, the Solar Boy, is joined by Otenko, who is both the embodiment of the sun’s will, and a tour guide. Our hero’s journey takes him to Istrakan, City of Death, in pursuit of the Count of Groundsoaking Blood, the murder of his father.

Fight or flight; you almost always have a choice.

Throughout the traipse through Istrakan, Django battles scores of Undead, the occasional Immortal, and even his own palatte swap with his modular solar gun, the Gun Del Sol, which is capable of focusing sunlight and firing it in various fashions. You can proceed through each zone using stealth or brute force, however stealth is mostly encouraged. You can expect no less than stellar gameplay from a Hideo Kojima production, so I won’t dote on the way this game oozes with style in every facet, from the menus to the enemies reactions.

Django’s aesthetic is more relevant than ever after 2012’s hit Django Unchained.

What I will speak on is Boktai’s main feature, the solar sensor. Utilizing a small cell on the cartridge, the game can recognize whether or not it is exposed to direct sunlight. Don’t ask me if you can fool the sensor with some kind of special lamp, because I never got that desperate. Shit was never that real. I did suffer at times, though. You can store solar energy in the solar bank for literal rainy day, but other than that, you’ll have to be outside on a good day if you want to rip the Immortals a new one. I say “have to” only because the Pile Driver mechanic for disposing of Immortals’ remains, accomplished by dragging their coffin back through the level to Pile Driver at beginning, requires direct sunlight to execute. The only ways around needing to ACTUALLY feel the sun beaming on your flesh are the Rising Sun grenade and the Tonniar.RM items, both supply a small amount of artificial sunlight for a limited amount of time. As you can imagine, this can be a pain in the ass. Even the game realizes this, and warns you repeatedly about prolonged exposure to the sun.

When it’s all said and done, this game is excellent, provided you can find a nice day to play. A word of advice if you decide to pick this one up: A cloud can’t stop the sun from shining.