/vr/ - Retro Games

Both are great.

>>6504950
Neither. I find both to be among the weaker CV games.

>>6504950
like all games on SNES, they tend to lean toward the unplayable side of things.

>>6505004
>muh console wars

The one that wasn't a copy-pasted inferior phone-in

>>6505031
>copy-pasted
It just uses the same sprites, but the actual level design (and level assets) are all new. Like 50% of the bosses are new, too, including final boss.
>inferior
I dunno, I'd say Rondo ends up having the better boss fights overall, but Dracula X has better level design.
Both are pretty good though, I don't really understand people who claim to like one and hate the other. Makes me think they didn't really play at least one of these. Maybe they didn't play either, which wouldn't be surprising considering how much internet people just parrot youtube stuff.

>>6505036
>50% of the bosses are new

So the other 50% are copypasta

>>6505042
Yeah I already said sprites are mostly the same, but what matters the most, the actual levels, are all new, same with the assets for the levels and backgrounds.
It's time to stop pretending that you like Rondo and hate Dracula X. You probably don't like either of them much.

Richter is gay

>>6505068
This. Fuck him and his games.

>>6504950
Rondo of course. Only mongoloids think X is better.

>>6504950
>Which side do you fall on?
I'm on the idort side.

I will be honest, since there is no point in lying on the internet. I have not played Dracula X.

Both are great but I like DX better.

If people actually gave a chance to DX instead of parroting 25 years old memes, they'd actually like it more too.
It's the kind of game that grows on you the more you play it, especially as you learn all the tricks and stuff you can pull.

As far as I'm concerned if you don't even know that you can hold Jump to change the direction you're facing without moving or that you can hold Attack to moonwalk, you don't know the game well enough to have a worthy opinion.

The fucking Werewolf is the only boss I still can't seem to Perfect constitently

>>6505996
consistently

Protip n°2 (the first protip being in the first webm): If you use the whip when about to land from a high jump, you can bypass the long ass "land and rest on knee" animation and save time.

With great timing you'll learn to whip at the perfect time so that the transition is almost seemless.

>>6504950
Only a contrarian would chose Dracula X. Come on

I side with speedo dracula.

>>6505036
> Like 50% of the bosses are new, too, including final boss.

Pretty sure the only new bosses are the panther in stage 1, the mage in stage 4' and the giant skull in stage 6 (bad ending), but even then the stage 6 boss uses Shaft's attack from Rondo stage 6. Also I thought the skull itself was from Rondo too but now I don't remember.
Some like the Sea Serpent were also visually reworked.


This being said all bosses play somewhat differently. Personally I have much more fun learning the bosses in DX than in Rondo; except for Dracula, the DX one tends to be boring; although the Rondo one is a pushover and isn't exactly much better either.

More pro tips, please.

>>6505036
In no world does Dracula X have better level design than any of the 16-bit Vanias.

>>6504950
They're two completely different games. There's no reason whatever to discuss them side by side.
That said, the SNES game is one of the worst classicvanias. God-awful gotcha enemy and stage design feels more like a cinematic platformer than an action game. Getting better at the game is not learning the jumping and attacking mechanics but puzzling out very specific strategies. For example, bats hanging off ceilings can't be killed in advance: you MUST jump right at them to activate them and only then you can kill the bat. Throwing knives at the bat literally does nothing. You have to commit to the jump, the bat will fly at you, and you have to whip in time--that's the only way to kill it.
And the whole fucking game is like that. The SNES Dracula X is a horrible fucking game by classicvania standards.
Pic unrelated.

>>6505985
I gave it a chance just last month and by god, it's one of the worst in the series by a long shot. I played it decades ago, but I didn't remember how awful it really was in every way conceivable sans the visuals.

>>6506039
Don't play the SNES version, it's legitimately awful. Not because it's not a port of Rondo but because it's got some of the worst level and enemy design in the series.

>>6506114
Anyone got a patch for rondo, I'm tired of just reading a pdf/txt ?

Whenever I play a 16-bit Castlevania, I make it my duty to continue the strength and robustness of the Castlevania series. To this end, I hold Castlevania duels. Taking two Castlevanias between my hands, I apply pressure, squeezing them together until one of them cracks and splinters. That is the “loser,” and I throw away the inferior one immediately. The winner gets to be played again. I have found that, in general, the cartridge based Castlevanias are tougher, and the CD ones are genetically inferior. I have hypothesized that CD based Castlevanias as a race cannot survive long in the intense theater of competition that is the modern retro gaming world. Occasionally I will get a mutation, a Castlevania that is cracked, or covered with rental store stickers, or more dirty than the rest. Almost invariably this proves to be a weakness, but on very rare occasions it gives the Castlevania extra strength. In this way, the species continues to adapt to its environment. When I reach the end of the pack, I am left with one Castlevania, the strongest of the herd. Since it would make no sense to throw this one away too, I pack it neatly in an box and send it to Konami, along with a 3×5 card reading, “Please use this copy of Castlevania for breeding purposes.” This week they wrote back to thank me, and sent me a coupon for Death Stranding. I consider this “grant money” to experiment with modern console games. I have set aside the weekend for a grand tournament. From a field of hundreds, we will discover the True Champion. There can be only one.

>>6506039
the key can actually be useful

>>6506198
Another thing that webm demonstrates is that Item Crash shouldn't just be used to damage enemies, in fact I mostly use it when I know I'm going to get hit and I won't be able to dodge it in time.

Another example for the key, getting up these stairs without getting hit by the boneheads is actually tricky, but you can get rid of them safely using the key

>>6506109
>And the whole fucking game is like that.

It's really not. The ceiling bats are pretty much the only example of that kind of stuff and it's nowhere near that bad and they're not that numerous, in fact the only other instance of them past the first stage, is in an optional stage.

Also, your complaint can be summarized by "in this case the game won't let me cheap my way through enemies before they start posing the smallest challenge", but in reality DX is lot more leniant than Rondo and offers tons of ways to cheap your way through challenge if you want it.

A good example is how in Rondo, it takes to have 50 hearts to be able to throw 3 subweapons at a time, but in DX, it only takes to have 30. It's the one Castlevania game that lets you spam subweapons the most if you want to.

>>6506069
Rondo has WAY too many instances of literal straight lines.
On top of this, a lot of backgrounds and foreground look boring and underdetailed.

if you look at the beta version of Rondo, it shows an earlier version of a stage 3 part.... which looks just like some of the later parts of the game, boring brown/orange bricks. In stage 3, it got changed eventually and the stage got more details and personality, but not other parts of the game later on.
I think it demonstrates that the later parts are rushed and unfinished. It's the only reason why you'd have that same boring background and literaly straight lines.

>>6506039
Bats and Medusa-Heads work pretty much the same.

In some scrolls, they spawn depending on what side of the screen you are, but in most scrolls, they spawn depending on what direction you're facing. Both are easily exploitable

>>6506039
Using the whip during a backflip allows you to land on platfomers that are higher

Fun fact: the Jap and PAL booklets have their own dedicated art for the game instead of re-using Rondo like the shitty US version.

When you also know that both the Jap version and PAL version aren't called "Dracula X", and thus don't re-use Rondo's title; no wonder the americans all parrot this "cheap version of Rondo" meme.


Several US magazines had covered Rondo under preview or import, and put it on a pedestal. As a result it looks like marketing for DXX in the US was all about claiming they're finally getting the Rondo they wanted, the marketing backfired and it's still giving a bad rep to the game by people who can't think for themselves.

Ive played 1,3,4,64,Sotn,the gba and ds games but have never played those two.
The fact that people debate which is better is great, means I have two great CV's to look forward to

>>6506619
You also need to play Akumajou Dracula on X68000 (don't play Chronicles it's a butchered port) as well as Belmont's Revenge on GB (there is a colourized version part of Konami Classics), and Bloodlines

That's 5 great CV games you can look forward to

>>6504950
I prefer Rondo of Blood personally it's just easier to pick up and play and is far less frustratingly difficult. But Dracula X is still a good game, I guess I'm just not good enough to enjoy it to the same extent as Rondo.

This is the version I played. I thought it was very good and I was ultimately a bit disappointed by Rondo when I played it, save for a few real highlights.

>>6506625
It's as butchered of a port as you want it to be.
You have an option to play the classic unchanged version.

>>6506739
Even the classic version is butchered

>>6506764
Idk man i played the classic version on PS1 and loved it

>>6506725
This for me as well. Maybe it's the overhype but I thought Rondo was nice, just not among the best. And Dracula X definitely impressed me more.

>>6504950
Rondo

>>6506116
I love how they just end up copypasting purple spear dudes everywhere out of pure laziness.

I like the good one because it's better than the bad one, which is bad.

>>6506837
They're one of the best enemies in the game though. Anyway Castlevania was never about huge enemy variety, it's about consistency between platforming and combat, and Dracula X has both of those.
It's like complaining that Castlevania 1 is nothing but lazy skellie copypaste.

>>6506837
They're only in stage2, stage 5 and stage 6. That's 3 stages out of 9, stage 5 being optional, and on the bad endings route.

>>6506869
oh yeah I had forgotten about the ones in stage7, because all 3 can be ignored (there is a rosary for the firs tone, and the 2 next ones you can just jump the other side and not mind them)

Same sprites. Same ganeplay mechanics. Rondo is bigger. Dracx is harder. Both are fun. Rondo has better music, but the snes game is no slouch. Both have great graphics and animations. Rondois the better game, but the snes game is still awesome.

>>6506772
Remember when Star Wars special edition came out and everyone flipped their shit because it butchered the original movies?

Well, Chronicles is worse than that, because the differences aren't just a couple of things here and there, we're talking chore changes.

"Gamers" have no standard like that. They'd rather play an inaccurate recreation or a butchered port rather than the original game just because the former is slightly easier to play (you mean I have to install a new emulator? Fuck that shit man). It happens all the time on /vr/.

>>6508725
fawkin geemers myeehn

sotn is still 10x better

>>6506204
> Item Crash shouldn't just be used to damage enemies, in fact I mostly use it when I know I'm going to get hit and I won't be able to dodge it in time.

here is a good example, in both cases I was stuck in the corner and couldn't possibily have dodged another way

>>6504950
If you had asked literally anyone in the 2000's they would have laughed, called Dracula X shit, and said Rondo is hands down the best classic style game in the series.

>>6511262
That's because the only people who were old enough to play Castlevania back then weren't stupid zoomers with shit opinions

>>6509121
god damn this boss is so much slower than rondo

>>6511281
and yet it's harder and more intense than in Rondo

The one thing I hate about Rondo is the bible.

If I use the bible, it trivializes so many things it feels really dumb.

If I don't use the bible, it feels like I'm not playing to the best possibilities the game offers.

Fuck that bible.

>>6511550
just use the axe, it's objectively the best subweapon in every castlevania

>>6511554
in Rondo the bible does everything the axe does except better

Dracula X is basically a proper CV4. Hazard and monster placement is in-line with 1 and 3, really encourages building a rhythm like those games do. Very satisfying. Rondo has more content and more of an adventure angle, being a missing link between those other games and SotN. They're both very good.

>>6509121
>>6506204
>using subweapons at all in any Castlevania game that's not Haunted Castle

Fucking casuals.

>>6513763
Rondo has bosses like the giant red eye which are pretty much designed to be fought with subweapons

>>6511579
except take skill or fun to use

The SNES version of bloodlines is better because the baseline is stronger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbTl5qvHQVY

>>6513985
Why delete a good post?
The music in DX sounds great and I prefer it over the crappy mixing in RoB.

>>6514000
>complaining about versions of Castlevania music
there is no issue with any Castlevania music except HoD which is just crap
they're all great
but to say RoB is crappy mixing is ridiculous and contrarian

I hate the slow move speed in X.

Rondo is easy but it's got fun enemies and level layouts and has a ton of charm. Not my favorite CV but a nice experience to boot up every now and then on a rainy day.

My personal classicvania ranking would be something like:

Akumajo Dracula x68 > Bloodlines > Castlevania 1 > Rondo of Blood > Castlevania 3 > Castlevania Rebirth > Castlevania 4 > Dracula X

>>6514020
>I hate the slow move speed in X.

When you jump, you go just as fast as in CV4, and both things together, the walk speed and jump speed, lead to more intense gameplay than in most of the series if you ask me.

For instance when fighting enemies like the axe or spear knights, or the giant sword knights, you know you gotta whip as fast as possible; but at the same time watch for cues for when they're about to attack because you can't waste a second if you want to dodge it in time. If you're a little late, the jump speed can save you, but not if you're TOO late.
There is an intensity in those scenarios that you're not going to find in CV4, due to how streamlined everything is (it's like a constant regular flow at middle speed, the ups and downs aren't as high or low as in DX); and you're not going to find that kind of intensity in Rondo either due to how fast the character moves, which in the end makes gameplay more leniant

>>6514097
>When you jump, you go just as fast as in CV4, and both things together, the walk speed and jump speed, lead to more intense gameplay.

That's a big problem for me too, because part of what I like about Classicvania when it's done right is the grounded "footsies" where positioning is key and jumping is a highly committal last resort (almost like a fighting game). To me, the games should be emphasizing the better maneuverability you have on the ground for intense back and forth positioning.

To each their own though. I absolutely, positively, cannot stand slow move-speed in almost any genre. Even shmups, if you stick me with a really slow moving ship (Raiden III), I instantly lose any ability to have fun with the game.

Let's roll!

>>6514363
CV1/3 and Rondo, and maybe others too, also have the increased speed when jumping, jumping shouldn't be underestimated in those either. In fact it's a great mechanic since you put yourself at risk when jumping indeed, so there is a risk/reward (speed) factor with jumping that you don't find to the same extent in CV4 or X68K

DX just makes the difference bigger

>>6505985
why does this look like it has too many frames?

>>6504950
are we really debating this? The PC Engine version is vastly superior in every single way. The SNES version cut content, audio sucks, graphics aren't as good, and was just a sloppy ass port overall.

>>6506625
Took a screenshot of this. You da mvp

>>6505642
>"Ending the Belmont Line"
>What is Julius?

>>6514990
Some fag IGA pulled out of his arse because he forgot the Morris clan replaces the Belmonts.

>>6514990
A miserable little pile of secrets.

>>6515006
You take that fucking back, Julius is cool as fuck.

>>6515675
It's my headcanon that Julius is the last "Belmont" but is officially of Morris family, and is a few sons down from Nathan Graves, and the War of 1999 is the final fight between them. None of the shitty MetroidVanias beyond SotN and CotM are canon

>>6515675
>needs an army to back him up with slaying Dracula
>his theme is just a rehash of Haunted Castle
>doesn't even have his own videogame
>wears a leopard print jacket
Nope, he's a homo anon.

>>6508725
>They'd rather play an inaccurate recreation or a butchered port rather than the original game just because the former is slightly easier to play
Emulating the game isn't even difficult. I literally just downloaded a x68 emulator last night on my toaster of a PC and within ten minutes, I was playing Akumajou Dracula just fine. Unless you actually bought the PS1 game when it was new and still own it, there's no reason to pick that version over the original.

Found a funny glitch.

At the end of the first scroll of stage2, when you jump on the last platform, you lose control of the character and a small cutscenes makes him jump on the bridge and walk onto the next screen.

This happened, and it didn't even register as being dead, so I was stuck

I have been meaning to try and glitch things here to my credit, I had already found the weird <- -> movement before

Why did they never bother porting Rondo to PSX?

>>6517130
I have nightmares of this happening every time I get to that part.

>>6517392
Just play it on PSP

Im still upset that the Castlevania collection for Switch didnt include Dracula X, its one of my favorite ones and they act like it doesnt exist.

Dracula X is an okay game but I don't know how you could possibly say it's better than Rondo when it's literally just a watered-down version of Rondo

>>6517748
>when it's literally just a watered-down version of Rondo
That's the problem, it's not a "watered-down version" as it's actually a completely different game, it just uses the same sprites for Richter and the enemies.
I still like Rondo better, but I was fooled into thinking dracula X was "a watered down version" from people online, and then when I finally played it I was pleasantly surprised, it's a solid game and was perfect to play when I was itching for more classicvania.

I'd very much like to know what happened for people to believe this shit for 25 years

>>6517748
>>6514687

I believe it comes from 2 things: US marketing for the game and US reviewers at the time.

Rondo had some exposure in magazines under "preview" and "import" and it was praised to hell.
So it looks like when DX made it to SNES, the american marketing was all about trying to say "you're getting the Rondo you wanted so much".

Indeed, *we* call Rondo "Castlevania: Rondo of Blood", but Rondo's true name is Dracula X: Chi No Rondo. The Rondo part is a subtitle, the name of the game is Dracula X.
Meanwhile the SNES 1995 game was called Dracula XX, which differentiates it from "Dracula X" (Rondo) but still says it's a spiritual successor.
On top of this, for the US release of Dracula XX, they changed the official art in the booklet to that of Dracula X: Chi No Rondo; despite the game having its own new dedicated art in the booklet in the Jap version.

It is also worth noting that PAL release didn't use the name Dracula X and sticked to the new art in the booklet.

And then, shit like pic related would be the double edge of the sword. Have stupid marketing that pretends a game is not what it is and you get stupied reviewers meme as a response that are still anchored in people's brains today.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, after all, it wasn't uncommon at the time to have several completely different version of games sharing the same name, and at the same time, it makes "sense" to call "Dracula XX", a sequel to "Dracula X" which we didn't get, "Dracula X" itself just like Final Fantasy IV was FF2.
It would take require further researchs to back up this theory.

>>6519008

>>6519008
>Indeed, *we* call Rondo "Castlevania: Rondo of Blood", but Rondo's true name is Dracula X: Chi No Rondo. The Rondo part is a subtitle, the name of the game is Dracula X.
>Meanwhile the SNES 1995 game was called Dracula XX, which differentiates it from "Dracula X" (Rondo) but still says it's a spiritual successor.
>On top of this, for the US release of Dracula XX, they changed the official art in the booklet to that of Dracula X: Chi No Rondo; despite the game having its own new dedicated art in the booklet in the Jap version.

In case you don't get it, this implies that in the US they changed the name to make it sound like the SNES game is the same as the PC Engine game.