Old School Castlevania Fans...

[Kazuki Dash]

I'm looking to see input from others on this analysis of Super Castlevania IV:


(Audio NSFW, but yet oddly appropriate)


This totally seems to make sense to me but I'm wondering what veterans who know the series inside & out the series think.

 

[LoneSage]

I can't see the video, but I'm guessing it's the sequelitis video? Lemme just copypasta my old post from when I viewed the vid:

I recognized those faults, even as a kid. The biggest joke is the invincibility potion, far and away the most worthless item Simon can pick up. Remember when you pick it up in the first level? There was absolutely no thought put into where it should go. Invincibility works in Mario and Sonic, not Castlevania. Simon still walks his slow pace. There are no dangers that make you think "man, sure would be nice to be invincible for a few seconds here".

Likewise, a lot of this is viewed in retrospect. Despite how massively popular Castlevania was, even a lot of people who liked the first three games never beat them. I would go so far to say that the majority of people who had played those games back then had never beat them. From that viewpoint, it's easy to see Konami intended SCIV as Castlevania: EASY MODE.

 

[Darklighterx]

Sounds like the guy didn't like having options.
Hindsight is 20/20.
I await his genius game and level design for a future Castlevania title.

His delivery is annoying and intended for a preteen audience.

 

[Yodd]

I don't know about all that, and I don't plan to watch the video, but I personally think SoTN was the beginning of the end for CV.

SoTN was great, but virtually every CV after it (bar all those garbage 3d games) aspire to be just like it.


Give me 8 and 16 bit CV any day of the week.

 

[NebraskaDragon]

I don't know about all that, and I don't plan to watch the video, but I personally think SoTN was the beginning of the end for CV.

SoTN was great, but virtually every CV after it (bar all those garbage 3d games) aspire to be just like it.


Give me 8 and 16 bit CV any day of the week.

SotN is one of my all-time favorite games, but you are right. None of them since have been as great.

 

[LoneSage]

It's not that he didn't like having options, it's that the options were useless with the overpowered whip. It's funny this thread was made because I just went thru IV and beat it two nights ago; in the back of my mind I thought of this video at times.

IV is still a brilliant game, even if some people think the colors are too 'brown-ish'. The soundtrack itself is on a whole other level compared to most other SNES games. But the design? It doesn't stack up to the original CV. The original CV is devilish and the design is impeccable - it's aged like fine wine. It depends on rote memorization and choosing the sub-weapons really makes a difference, unlike IV where candles with sub-weapons are everywhere and it doesn't mean a thing what you choose.

I don't know about all that, and I don't plan to watch the video, but I personally think SoTN was the beginning of the end for CV.

It's worth a watch. He also did a sequelitis on Mega Man X, thing was 20 minutes long and never bored me, surprisingly.



PS wtf konami where's BLOODLINES on the virtual console, pricks

 

[TurboCro]

Back in the day, I preferred Castlevania 3 for alot of that reasoning. Now I prefer SCV4 for having controls that are responsive.

And yea, SOTN = the best of the series. I'm surprised I didn't burn out my PS playing it for hours. How is the XBOX port? It looks like shit via PS2 on a flatscreen.

 

[SouthtownKid]

Blah blah blah

 

[Yodd]

Blah blah blah

Bloodlines was better than Super CV IV.

 

[SNKNostalgia]

Back in the day, I preferred Castlevania 3 for alot of that reasoning. Now I prefer SCV4 for having controls that are responsive.

And yea, SOTN = the best of the series. I'm surprised I didn't burn out my PS playing it for hours. How is the XBOX port? It looks like shit via PS2 on a flatscreen.

It has a filter which helps with HD LCDs. If you don't use the filter the image tears and the music sounds like a 128kbps mp3, blehhhh.

 

[smokehouse]

Those reviews are ok...but a bit too spastic, i get what he is trying to say but overall but it is poorly implemented...

I guess I'm one of the few guys that doesn't cut games to pieces? For the time, Super Castlevania IV blew me away. I didn't think of enemy timing, I didn't think of item placement... it was 1991 and I had never seen anything like that before...Seriously, I was 14, I didn't need to dissect games with a scalpel in order to enjoy them.

The game was beautiful, the controls were a serious improvement, the sound was superb, the levels were big, the enemies were big...

Nearly everything he says are improvements in other games he claims makes Super Caslevania worse. He might as well saved us the spastic ADHD crap and simply said "I don't like this game because it is not a complete copy of CV1 when it comes to gameplay."

CVIV was fucking hard at points...the levels were big/challenging and that music, superb for an early 90's cart based title. I still love CVIV...it has never seemed like a shitty title in the slightest.

People are WAY to picky anymore...this, in part, is why most modern games suck a fat cock....

 

[RBjakeSpecial]

That video was a bit too fast for me, but the points are well thought out. I always felt something felt wrong about Super Castlevania IV. I really need to get it off of VC and play through it again. The points about the whip at the end and the items are really good.

I think Rondo of Blood is a much better game and perfect continuation of the series.

I agree with this video about Castlevania II. I've never been a fan of that one.

SotN is amazing. I try to get into the new DS ones, but I just keep feeling like they aren't as good as SotN so I play SotN again. I don't know how many times I've played through it.

 

[RBjakeSpecial]

Those reviews are ok...but a bit too spastic, i get what he is trying to say but overall, it is poorly implemented...

I guess I'm one of the few guys that doesn't cut games to pieces? For the time, Super Castlevania IV blew me away. I didn't think of enemy timing, I didn't think of item placement...At the time it was 1991 and I had never seen anything like that before...

The game was beautiful, the controls were a serious improvement, the sound was superb, the levels were big, the enemies were big...

Nearly everything he says are improvements in other games he claims makes Super Caslevania worse. He might as well saved us the spastic ADHD crap and simply said "I don't like this game because it is not a complete copy of CV1 when it comes to gameplay."

CVIV was fucking hard at points...the levels were big and challenging and again...that music, superb for an early 90's cart based title.

People are WAY to picky anymore...this, in part, is why most modern games suck a fat cock....

Three responses popped up while I was writing mine.

The mode 7 stuff was killer. I remember the rotating level and the mechanics really impressing me at the time.

I NEED to play this again!

 

[SNKorSWM]

Kind of agree with the guy. SCIV was a brilliant display of Mode 7 on the SNES, but gameplay wise it is extremely easy. Remember how in the Castlevania 1 or 3, the sight of medusa heads in areas that require precise jumping would make you cringe with fear? But in SCIV you can swing the whip around Simon to generate a "force field" of sorts that completely negated the threat.

 

[SNKNostalgia]

Also, why does he keep doing the "I'm not going to even talk about Castlevania 3" thing is his video?!?! I fucking love that game, albeit a pretty damn hard one out of the series.

I love the atmosphere of SCIV the most, but I enjoy the gameplay of Bloodlines a little more out of the two. Then of course there is Rondo Blood for PCE, which is the best old style Castelvania game to me. I just haven't gotten a chance to play it till 8 years later due to it being a pricey JP SCD.

 

[Takumaji]

SotN is one of my all-time favorite games, but you are right. None of them since have been as great.

That's because Konami killed the original formula with SotN. Backtracking and RPG elements should have had no place in CV in the first place but what can you do.

SotN is not a proper CV in my opinion.

Oh, and CV4 has quite gaudy colors, gameplay-wise it's great, though.

My all-time faves are the original CV and 3 on NES and of course Bloodlines. Friggin' amazing game.

I also tried to get into Simon's Quest but lost interest after a few hours. Guess it's a good game, just not my cup of tea.

 

[LoneSage]

rondo of blood is nowhere near as great as a lot of people say it is

it's a cool game and all but after the years of hype it got from assholes who deemed it god-status, i was a bit let down. surely part of the hype stemmed from 'it's a jap only game and you can't play it and oh man it's so awesome but guess what YOU CANT PLAY IT nyah nyah' mentality, even if it was subconscious.

 

[Takumaji]

Well, X is excellent, I just don't agree with the notion that it's the best of them all.

 

[Yodd]

That's because Konami killed the original formula with SotN. Backtracking and RPG elements should have had no place in CV in the first place but what can you do.

SotN is not a proper CV in my opinion.

I agree 100%

Like I was saying before, SoTN marked the beginning of the end for the classic CV franchise. While it was certainly a good game on its own, its Metroid like exploration and power up options just didn't make sense in the Castlevania "universe". Though I guess you could say Simon's Quest started them down that path.


What I would like to see in a future CV:

1. 2d
2. Return to the original 8 and 16 bit gameplay roots.
3. No SoTN style gameplay
4. Borrow branching stages from some of the latter classic CV's
5. Controllable whip elements from Super CV IV
6. Playable as multiple characters (maybe)

 

[ki_atsushi]

rondo of blood is nowhere near as great as a lot of people say it is

it's a cool game and all but after the years of hype it got from assholes who deemed it god-status, i was a bit let down. surely part of the hype stemmed from 'it's a jap only game and you can't play it and oh man it's so awesome but guess what YOU CANT PLAY IT nyah nyah' mentality, even if it was subconscious.

Rondo of Blood is the best in the series. Branching paths, hidden bosses, multiple endings, 2 playable characters with very different styles... and notice the whip is fixed. Definitely has the most replay value of all.

 

[Takumaji]

broken,

pretty sure they won't do us the favor. A proper CV like that wouldn't sell very well, reviewers and most dumb gamer kids would slap the "retro" (god I hate that word) label on it and arrogantly blather on about anachronistic graphics and *gasp* unbearably straight-forward gameplay, just like they did with G.Rev's Strania.

 

[Comrade Porn King Mikhail]

I guess I'm one of the few guys that doesn't cut games to pieces? For the time, Super Castlevania IV blew me away. I didn't think of enemy timing, I didn't think of item placement... it was 1991 and I had never seen anything like that before...Seriously, I was 14, I didn't need to dissect games with a scalpel in order to enjoy them.

+1

SCIV holds some great nostalgia for me and still retains an awesome gameplay feel. Bloodlines, Rondo, SOTN, and SCIV are all superb experiences but I don't see Konami doing any future full scale releases outside of additional portable Metroidvania sequels. Maybe we'll see additional downloadables like Castlevania Rebirth, but I doubt these retro titles hold enough gameplay depth to appease most modern gamers who expect 20+ hour sandbox romps.

We can expect $10 Castlevanias, without the depth of the $50 full scale games we desire.

 

[Yodd]

Maybe we'll see additional downloadables like Castlevania Rebirth, but I doubt these retro titles hold enough gameplay depth to appease most modern gamers who expect 20+ hour sandbox romps.

I have been thinking of getting a Wii just for Rebirth. I dunno why they haven't put in on PSN and Live yet.

 

[wataru330]

I have been thinking of getting a Wii just for Rebirth. I dunno why they haven't put in on PSN and Live yet.

A wii found its way into my living room for the 1) kids, 2) Wife, & 3) Gunblade NY/LA Machineguns double pack (a distant 3rd...)

Then, I discovered the ReBirth games.

*totally* worth the price of admission!

As much as I enjoy Castlevania, the M2 treatment of Gradius is top shelf.

I don't even like horiz STGs for the most part; Gradius ReBirth is the business tho.

 

[Yodd]

god damn Konami putting all the awesomeness on the Wii.