/vr/ - Retro Games

It's got wonderful atmosphere. I think it's way too easy though and the level design isn't as good as 1/3/bloodlines/x68. Kinda funny that it's the only game where Dracula actually just gives you free chicken.

Still like it though, lot of memories and the mood is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

>>9552953
The only Castlevania I think is actually pretty good and ambitious. The intro level is amazing. Uncensored patch helps too

>>9552958
>the level design isn't as good as 1/3/bloodlines/x68
Picrel alone is more varied and better than all of those with much trickier platforming. Not sure what your priorities are, though

>>9552965
>Not sure what your priorities are, though

Mostly challenging "footsies". My favorite thing in Castlevania tends to be nailing those high commitment whips and jumps against relatively dynamic and unpredictable baddies.

Second most important being just good platforming making use of those tense high commitment jumps.

Castlevania 4 is generally just a bit too easy. Feels like the stages weren't really designed around the 8 way whipping and changeable jump arcs, since there's so many times where you can easily whip enemies from the floor below or before they can even attack you, and the platforming rarely puts too much pressure on you.

Hell I remember picking it up for the first time in ten years (with almost no memory of any of the stage layouts and bosses) and making it up to the final boss rush without a game over. That's kind of how pushover the game is. Combine that with how loooooooong it is and it can start to feel kind of monotonous in a single sitting playthrough despite how nice the art and music is.

I don't hate it but I like it mostly for the atmosphere and nostalgia. I think I'd put it below 1, 3 ,Bloodlines, x68, and Rondo in terms of level design and mechanics.

Rondo and Bloodlines are much better. SC4 has too much platforming. In Castlevania enemys must kill you, not pits

>>9552958
I agree. Best atmo in the series but a bit too easy for me.

>>9553026
>SC4 has too much platforming. In Castlevania enemys must kill you, not pits
That's an awful opinion and game design philosophy, the best example is Goemon 2 vs. Goemon 4 on SNES. 2 had amazing creative platforming while 4 just lazily thew enemies at you. Every child could make a game that just throws enemy waves at you. It's as shallow to make as it is to play

>>9553026
Rondo I think is actually similarly as easy as CV4 BUT I like it better because it has more interesting enemies, and it's shorter so the easiness doesn't start to bore you before you hit Dracula.

Rondo is my second favorite after x68. The little additions to the moveset and how much faster paced it is is great.

x68 though is fucking KING in terms of footsies, platforming, challenge, everything.

>>9553029
Castlevania is a very different beast from most other platformers. It's entirely designed around very limited jumped arcs and high commitment attacks. Much like Ghouls and Ghosts, its mechanics work well for tight action and maneuvering around enemies, but its platforming is naturally more limited than games with more flexible jump arcs.

>>9553034
>Rondo is my second favorite after x68

Sorry I meant to say "Bloodlines is my favorite after x68".

You really haven't lived till you've used the pole vault to i-frame through a tricky boss attack as Eric.

Is the emulating the PSP remake the best way to play the original Rondo? Since it's literally on the cartridge as a bonus.

>>9553029
Castelvania is 2d soulslike aboute killing monsters, not mario.

>>9553036
You just described old games. They all used to play like shit at one point, see NES Goemon. And even if you just want a game where the entire difficulty comes from enemies, there are much better games and genres, be it Contra, Mega Man, Actraiser if you actually care about commitment like >>9553010, Hagane (20 times harder than every CV), the aforementioned Goemon 4 which is still decent, Osman, Shinobu 2, unironically Indiana Jones SNES or Viewtiful Joe now since it's retro or all those cinematic platformers, some of which are good and similar to CV. No reason not to let CV evolve naturally like all other franchises... Well, now Konami turned it into Metroid shit and it's basically dead anyway, so whatever I guess

>>9553034
Nobody discus chronicles. Is it really good?

>>9553010
>Castlevania 4 is generally just a bit too easy.
I don't really see it, it's the only one where I need pixel perfect jumps to a point where, after not playing it for a time, I'm wondering if it's even the right way, like here
https://youtu.be/PpyXquYhA9o?t=246
or where you often have so many different enemies on screen that it can easily become overwhelming. Most other vanias I played feel a lot more straightforward
>Feels like the stages weren't really designed around the 8 way whipping and changeable jump arcs, since there's so many times where you can easily whip enemies from the floor below or before they can even attack you
It doesn't feel like it's designed around the more precise whip because there are moments where the more precise whip is useful? There are also plenty of instances where enemies are so far up that you couldn't hit them with neutral attacks or where you have to lash down:
https://youtu.be/LTuefyqOGyM?t=56

>specific Castlevania IV thread, not Castlevania but Castlevania IV
>immediately fills up with shitposters who can't make a post without seething about it instead of just ignoring the thread and instead of not regurgitating their stupid opinion for the umpteenth time
I know it's probably just one samefag who is obsessed with Nintendo, but it's still sad to see

>>9553048
Yeah I don't really get the "it's too easy" complaint either, it feels like it's a hindsight thing. There's so many stupid tricky jumps in this game that cause instantaneous death. And the whip's flexibility and air control is very double-edged because correcting your momentum mid air often makes it go limp when you don't want it to.

Granted my only point of reference is the first Castlevania and I found the two pretty much on par in difficulty, just in different ways.

I'll probably either play 3 or Rondo or Bloodlines next

>>9553051
I'm the OP of the thread and I don't mind, I just wanna talk Castlevania.

>>9553053
4 is honestly the one that frustarated me the most on my first playthrough, even if that was partially on my side like forgetting I could just kill ecoplasm and stuff, which made the dance hall level even more hell than it already is

>>9553041
Nah, best way is Retroarch. You need turbograffix bios in sys. No shaders, but with filtration on.
PSP fine if you use PSP, not PPSSPP, res too small

>>9553045
>Hagane

The fuck are you talking about.

Hagane is easy as shit comapred to almost every Castlevania outside of 4 and Rondo. I'ts a great game but it's not comparable to Castlevania at all since it's much less methodical and has a much more acrobatic moveset, you can attack while moving, etc. it's an entirely different style of gameplay.

>You just described old games

No. Castlevania has a particular style and particular style of challenges. It's not better or worse, it's it's own thing which has its own particular pleasures.

If you don't like buying your jumps and attacks a wedding ring, they're not for you. But if you do it's a blast. Personally I love 'em all (except Dracula XX)

> it's the only one where I need pixel perfect jumps to a point

I don't remember almost any jumps that felt pixel perfect, though there are certainly some jumps like that in Castlevania 3.

What makes action-platforming hard (in a fun way) isn't pixel perfect or strictly timed jumps anyway. It's putting interesting pressure and challenges and multitasking on you while your platforming. CV4 doesn't really do that.

Anyway I'm not going to get into a pixel by pixel autism level design comparison but running through the entire series almost fresh, all of them gave me satisfying challenges except 4 (and Rondo, but Rondo it was less of a big deal because it's shorter and had more fun stuff going on).

Why 1 and 3 are so hard? I can complete only stage 15 and 6. The corridor to Death and the Castle (levels 7 and 9) are insane.

>>9553053
>Yeah I don't really get the "it's too easy" complaint either, it feels like it's a hindsight thing.

Nah, I went into the game not remembering almost anything about its level layouts or bosses and it was still nearly a first try 1cc, to the point that it's boring.

If you ask me what makes the game hard, it's mostly an endurance fest. It's so fucking LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG that if you're trying to 1cc or play in a single sitting, you just start to get fucking tired and pay attention less by the time you hit the later stages.

Anyway I'm trying to 1cc CV3 right now and even though I've had both games since childhood, there's literally no contest between them in terms of difficulty.

>>9553061
>Hagane is easy as shit comapred to almost every Castlevania outside of 4 and Rondo
Damn you must suck at Castlevania. You won't find many people who share this opinion
>I'ts a great game but it's not comparable to Castlevania at all since it's much less methodical and has a much more acrobatic moveset, you can attack while moving, etc.
So is Mega Man and most MM games are still harder than CV, almost like what you are describing has absolutely no bearing on difficulty when there are a million enemies or they just do cryptic shit and attacks without telegraphing
>No
YES. Actually, believe it or not, nearly every franchise in existence had much stiffer (shittier) controls and even these elevator jumps of which the best example if probably Zumo Fighter. But I guess you can stick to Castlevania 1 since most following games gave the player a bit more control

>>9553048
Hitting multiple enemies in succession thanks to the 8-direction whipping feels amazing, it's the only actually cool thing you can do in these games. Never seen any serious criticism of it other than new = bad.

In Rondo Maria gameplay is so good, Richter jump is awful, cant kill Shaft, only Franenstein, cant pass Dracula's first form.

>Damn you must suck at Castlevania. You won't find many people who share this opinion

I've 1cc'd Hagane and done the same for Castlevania 1, Bloodlines, Rondo, and 4. 3 and x68 are the only ones I've not managed.

>>9553070
>So is Mega Man and most MM games are still harder than CV

They're not though? All the Nes Mega Man games give you tons of resources, generally don't have particularly tough patterns, are easy to learn. Even moreso for the SNES games where you have even more resources available. I can't think of a single MM game I'd rank above CV in terms of difficulty.

>no bearing on difficulty when there are a million enemies or they just do cryptic shit and attacks without telegraphing

Castlevania doesn't do that. At this point you're basically making up shit to be mad at like a scrub.

>YES. Actually, believe it or not, nearly every franchise in existence had much stiffer (shittier) controls

Can't think of any of my favorites that do. Mario, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Contra, Metal Slug, Castlevania, etc. all control very well and have gameplay that's designed well around their particular mechanics and goals.

Completed american animation, so good. Now starting Curse of Darkness

>>9553047
Chronicles is okay but an inferior port of the x68 version. There's a lot of little things that make it a worse game, like the timing/speed being off on the werewolf boss that makes the fight less fun.

>>9553083
Even original mode?

>>9553075
>I've 1cc'd Hagane and done the same for Castlevania 1, Bloodlines, Rondo, and 4. 3 and x68 are the only ones I've not managed.
My dad works for Nintendo
>They're not though?
Talk to more people. MM games are hard and sometimes straight up bullshit which is universally acknowledged, be it Quick Man´s lasers, Heat Man´s platforms, unfair enemy placement, etc. vanias are quite fair in comparison
Just play Zero games if you just want to beat up enemies and have a modicum of depth, because the combat in Castlevania games definitely doesn't have that
>Castlevania doesn't do that. At this point you're basically making up shit to be mad at like a scrub.
They actually do throw shittons of enemies at you sometimes
>Can't think of any of my favorites that do. Mario, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Contra, Metal Slug, Castlevania,
Literally all of those had controls and jumps that improved with sequels, even SMB3 still had much stiffer controls than SMW. takes exactly 10 seconds to go on this website https://www.retrogames.cc/, type in "Super Mario Bros 3" and "Super Mario World", click any that fits the bill for each, then jump upwards from a standing position at a diagonal angle and try to reverse your trajectory at your maximum height H and see in which game it's easier to do that, and then repeating the same thing with sprints and other variables that come to mind. Then, if you aren't a dishonest, mentally ill person, you will come to the hardly shocking conclusion (newer game on newer platform) that SMW is a lot more responsive

>>9553086
Yeah specifically original mode. I think they just got a few timing and engine things wrong when porting, like the Werewolf boss in particular being too fast was probably a clockspeed thing or something.

But yeah I'd recommend just playing it on an x68 emulator. Great fucking game. It might not have the killer presentation of 4, bloodlines, or rondo, and it might do a few things heretical for the series (like allowing you to change your jump arc and whip diagonally mid-air), but it's just sooooooooo fucking good. It's just bursting with great level design, fun set pieces, dynamic and unpredictable enemies, tense platforming and bosses, etc. It's got it all. Only thing it doesn't have is Bloodlines more intricate moveset.

>>9553091
Intresting information, thx, I am on second lvl. Then I will restart on retroarch. Where I can download rom? No on cdromance

Gotta love how the defense of anti-IV autists is literally that they like to eat shit
>it has good controls and thus actually some platforming that requires a little bit of precision
>Grug not like, just let me hit zombies
>it lets me do more than one thing with the whip
>Grug just want do one thing

>>9553090
>My dad works for Nintendo

You're on a retro game board, and you think people haven't actually gone for 1cc's or 1lc's?

>Talk to more people.
>As opposed to actually playing the games back to back and judging the difficulty yourself.

I've actually based my judgements on playing these games and comparing them to eachother, not word of mouth.

>Literally all of those had controls and jumps that improved with sequels

To give one example, not NInja Gaiden got worse when they nerfed the the vertical hitbox on your jumping sword swing in 2. This made hitting enemies while landing much more finnicky and annoying, and thus slowed the pace of the game.

3 kind of addressed this by adding a poweru p that increased your sword range, which was a nice compromise. It also made the jump floatier.

I think I consider the controls in 1 and 3 both superior to 2, but 1 and 3 are both "different" and enjoyable in their own ways.

>>9553094
x68 does the changeable jump arcs and diagonal whipping (to a lesser degree on that last one) and is better in literally every way since it's actually challenging, balanced, has good level design, etc.

It's sadly not as much as a feast for the eyes though.

>>9553103
>feast
Rondo and Bloodlines has much more pretty graphic then lV too

>>9553103
>better buzzword better buzzword better buzzword
Post example or shut the fuck up and stop letting IV live rent free in your head

>>9553104
Yeah all 3 are wonderful games in terms of presentation.

I really like how they all have a very different style too. Between Rondo's shounen anime stylings, Bloodlines EDGINESS, and IV going for a more traditional gothic literary mood. I love the experimentation of this era of the franchise.

>>9553104
>Rondo and Bloodlines has much more pretty graphic then lV too
No they have ugly colors and blatantly repeating tiles

>>9553105
>Post example

One time on an old retro game forum I got into an argument with an autist who thought Rondo was the WORST GAME EVAR. I ended up posting screencaps of level design he thought was "flat" to show how much actual variety and platforming it had.

It was incredibly autistic and went nowhere and I'm never doing that again. You can't exactly argue about level design analytically without fucking dissecting the damn maps on a grid. Go fucking the play game, it's good. Even if you like IV better, it's worth experiencing. Every Castlevania is (except 2 and Dracula XX). Series is good and everyone should experience it.

>>9553108
Are you blind or just nintendofangirl?

>>9553096
>You're on a retro game board, and you think people haven't actually gone for 1cc's or 1lc's?
I think you are too busy with shitposting, quite frankly. Maybe post proof of anything you say
>I've actually based my judgements on playing these games and comparing them to eachother, not word of mouth.
Sometimes we are wrong so it can help knowing everyone disagrees with us for a revaluation
>not NInja Gaiden
Not like it matters since those games suck. Good job ignoring my Mario example, though. Just one of the most significant games of all time

>>9553112
I have eyes and Google. This looks like shit

>already seethed about Nintendo three times
Reminder that all the IV hate on this dead board is because of this guy's Nintendo derangement syndrome

>>9553113
>I think you are too busy with shitposting, quite frankly. Maybe post proof of anything you say

My old youtube has some 1 life clears uploaded of Contra Hardcorps, Ghouls and Ghosts (arcade version) etc. uploaded.

Could post those with a link to this thread in description if you like.

>Sometimes we are wrong so it can help knowing everyone disagrees with us for a revaluation

And sometimes the vast majority are scrubs who don't actually play the game or barely remember them since childhood.

>Not like it matters since those games suck

They're great.

>Good job ignoring my Mario example, though

I think it's arguable whether "being able to reverse your trajectory" means better controls. More flexible? More options? Sure. But game mechanics aren't just "more = better". Sometimes *gasp* actually putting restrictions on a players options or mechanics can be used to create interesting puzzles and engaging scenarios! Wow!

Did I miss a lot if completed BL and RoB with save states? Anon just told me that in the Japanese version of BL there are infinite continuations, and I was saved everywhere. It was a lie
I am pretty bad in retro.
1 and 3 are so hard? I can complete only stage 15 and 6. The corridor to Death and the Castle (levels 7 and 9) are insane.

>>9553118
>literally all but two of the classic titles are on nintendo consoles
>YOU JUST HATE IT BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE NINTENDO

What did he mean by this?

>1 and 3 are so hard.

>>9553131
1 is a moderately average 1cc if you use sub weapon cheese on the last 3 bosses. If you don't it shoots up a fair few difficulty ranks since those bosses are very tough and very random so you can't memorize them.

3 doesn't have anything as twitchy as those bosses but it's a lot longer and more memorization oriented so it overall feels harder.

If you're not going for 1cc's it's whatever. Anyone who's not a child should be able to scum through them without too much trouble. But the same can be said for almost any old action game.

>>9553120
>My old youtube has some 1 life clears uploaded of Contra Hardcorps, Ghouls and Ghosts (arcade version) etc. uploaded.
You said Hagane
>And sometimes the vast majority are scrubs who don't actually play the game or barely remember them since childhood.
And sometimes you are just a retard who is wrong
>They're great.
lol
>I think it's arguable whether "being able to reverse your trajectory" means better controls.
No it's not and 99% of people agree, which is why games evolved the way they did. People like to have control, interactivity and creative freedom, which also doesn't make them easier as there is more room to fuck up and a million ways to design games to balance it out Tank on Atari 2600 isn't actually harder than Star Valor

>>9553124
Obviously you won't "git gud" at the games, but you won't miss anything by using save states. It's almost like watching a full playthrough with no commentaries on youtube.

>>9553078
Red hair forge master my fav

>>9553141
>You said Hagane

I've 1cc'd a lot of shmups and old games over time. I only really recorded or uploaded the ones I considered particularly challenging. Hagane I thought was an easier clear and took me very little time to do, so I didn't bother recording it.

I don't know why you think that one is a crown jewel of difficulty, I've never heard anyone hold that up on retro forums as particularly challenging. I guess the second loop where everything has super extra HP is harder

>No it's not and 99% of people agree, which is why games evolved the way they did

Even if it were true that consensus means better, that's really not true. There are tons of enduring franchises (including modern, still running ones) that are built around strategic limitations.

Dark Souls for example is pretty much just OG Classicvania combat in 3d. You have non-cancellable attack animations that are not instant and can't be moved during, mobility options which are very limited and set your trajectory in stone for a very specific location, etc.

Or then there's the enduring popularity of many horror games and action-horror games built around strategically limited controls. Resident Evil 2 Remake may have done away with tank controls, but it still put harsh limitations on players movement and dodging options and it was applauded for it. The same could be said of Dead Space 1 and 2 which are absurdly popular and are more or less based on the same very rigid control limitations of RE4-5 and Remake 2, just applied to a more high adrenaline action game.

Making it so you can move and attack at the same time or change the trajectory of mobility moves isn't better or worse (or even more popular are less). It's a design decision that enforces different styles of play.

>>9553153
Learn to format your posts and stop Reddit-spacing so much. Not subjecting myself to that again until then

>>9553158
>le reddit spacing

>>9553141
>No it's not and 99% of people agree, which is why games evolved the way they did.

If that's true than how come caw of dooty shooters where you move at the speed of molases and have no movement options and have to hide behind cover replaced boomers shooters (where you jog and jump at 30 miles per hour) for like 20 years?

>>9553136
>Anyone who's not a child should be able to scum through them without too much trouble.
I am lame, cant even complete jap version, even usa with 10 lives.

>>9553165
Like, by your logic Halo should never have been popular because it had really stiff jump physics and slow movement and was built around slow-ass analog stick aiming, while games where you moved super fast and fluidly and had near perfect control of your own inertia both on the ground and in air had been popular for nearly a decade.

>>9553062
>The corridor to Death
Never found that all that hard honestly, I made it first try. But yeah the problem is that any chip damage will make Death even more difficult. Well, unless you blast him with holy water

>>9553189
It's not as hard a setpiece as it looks since the medusas are really predictable, so you just sorta focus on the axe armors.

>>9553193
Do you go for the candles or no? Since you have to jump and it changes the medusa sine wave height.

I just started playing it on Castlevania Collection and it froze the game on that corridor just like in the real American version, lol.

>calling 4 easy while defending rondo
>the game where you are rewarded with an easier path when falling down a pit instead of dying
>the game where you can oneshot all bosses with item crush
gamefaq called and wants its opinion back

>>9553128
Not that anon but 4th gen is when castlevania went multiplat. 1 and 3 don't have "rivals" other than Vampire Killer on msx.
Also, it's true that there's at least one guy on /vr/ that has a weird obsession with both castlevania IV and nintendo.
Not to say everyone who says IV is "too easy" is the same guy, but yeah if you're on this board and on a castlevania IV thread, there's high chances he's shitposting and samefagging.

>>9552965
this is a great level, but even as somebody who tries to give IV its due it does kind of have stretches that just feel oddly barren of challenge where you're just obliterating everything haphazardly.

>>9553124
I usually cut some slack for people who savescum just to continue at the start of a level but yes, the intensity of the final level of bloodlines comes from the threat of a hard gameover. rondo has unlimited continues so you don't really have an excuse there.

>>9553107
>Yeah all 3 are wonderful games in terms of presentation.
IV's look is really cool conceptually, and it does make good on it in a few areas with the hand drawn backgrounds and some great effects like the torch statues lighting on the way to drac, but alot of the areas just have butt ugly backgrounds, pixelpuke stuff you'd see in in some crappy shovelware.

>>9553107
IV has a cool look conceptually and a few standout backgrounds, but a lot of it is just inexplicably ugly with nonsense coloring. think one of the guys they had doing background art couldn't hold up their end.

>vocal idiots who created their own Mandela Effect believing shit molded together by interns is better than Castlevania IV
Almost like in a Tales of thread

>other good/popular games the IV team had a significant impact on (Masahiro Ueno, Mitsuru Yaida, Kazumichi Ishihara, Satoshi Kushibuchi, Akira Sōji--Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>Metal Gear
>Contra series (IV's director)
>Frogger series
>Lethal Enforcers 1 and 2
>Bangai-O
>Guardian Heroes
>Dynamite Headdy
>Gunstar Super Heroes
>Rocket Knight Adventures
>Advance Guardian Heroes
>Astro Boy: Omega Factor
>Silhouette Mirage
>Alien Soldier
>Suikoden V
>Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ōgon Kiseru (IV's main designer)
>Gokujo Parodius
>Snatcher
>Grandia III
>Little King's Story
>Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland
>Endonesia
>Moon
>UFO
>Paper Mario: The Origami King
>Super Mario RPG
>Gradius Gaiden

>other good/popular games the III team had a significant impact on (Hitoshi Akamatsu, Shinji Kitamoto--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>The Goonies II (the only other game III's director directed)
>Asterix
>Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (music composer)
>Contra I

>other games the Bloodlines team had a significiant impact on (Takeda Takashi, Yasushi Takano--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement):
>Goemon: Shin Sedai Shūmei!
>Contra Hard Corps
>Vandal-Hearts I and II
>Rocket Knight Adventures
>Gradius Gaiden (the only other game the main designer designed)

>other games the Rondo of Blood team had a significant impact on
(Yoshiaki Yamada, Toru Hagihara--no Kazumi Kitaue involvement)
>The Goonies II
>Metal Slug 5 (the only other game the director [co-]directed)
>yes, that's really kinda it

>>9553335
>>The Goonies II (the only other game III's director directed)
kek

Loved the Mode 7 segments with the scaled backgrounds and remember them blowing me away back then, same with Terranigma(?) except Castlevania used it for actual level design and enemy spawn points
Still cool 30 years later

If it is so easy then just use the hard mode password. Castlevania 4 is my favorite of the classics, the atmosphere, the music, the level variety.

>>9553357
>If it is so easy then just use the hard mode password
don't do this. only major difference is making often hard to see bats a constant annoyance. if you want something harder try to 1cc it, pretty manageable one.

>>9552963
>Uncensored patch
wait what got censored?

>>9553543

https://youtu.be/A6Rz67PwHHM

See the description for more details.

>>9553335
So you're saying that, because people worked on a lot of games, that automatically makes game X the best. Do you even realize how stupid that sounds?

Anyway, your lists are hand picked and biased. Just going on mobygames and you'll find that the Rondo devs worked on a lot of other games

tl;dr you are full of shit

>>9552953
>on the verge of tears by the time the credits rolled

>>9553717
I genuinely don't even know what your gif is supposed to say

>>9553073
>cant kill Shaft
Grab the Bible from the breakable wall before the boss rush, it makes every boss easier but especially Shaft because you can use it to knock away his fireballs. For the lightning orbs, admittedly that's kind of a crapshoot but if they start drifting away from each other you want to be between them, towards each other you need to backflip away from both of them ASAP. For his third attack, try to backflip over the orbs when they come towards you. It's tough but doable.

As for Dracula phase 1, grab the cross at the start of the level. Whenever Dracula shows up, toss a cross at his face and then backflip over his fireballs. It might take some time to get a good feel for how far from him you have to be, but once you get the timing down he's completely toothless. Also, he'll do the magma ball attack on his 4th teleport first, then on every 5th teleport after that.

>>9553047
Chronicles is fine except for Level 2. Plenty of Castlevania games have bats, but no other game in the series has a level that's literally nothing but bats. Arrange Mode is way easier than Original because there's no knockback (even on Hard) and depending on your tastes the music will either sound awesome or ludicrous (or both).

>>9553062
If no one's already said it, axe armor attacks in 1 can all be deflected while standing so long as you got one whip upgrade, no crouching required. As far as medusa heads go, so long as you don't stop moving forward, you can straight up walk right past them without stopping to whip them or moving out of their way.

That might make Death's hallway a little bit easier for you, if you didn't already know. You also got a slab of meat hidden in the wall right before you ascend the stairs to that hallway.

Is it just me or is it hard to get Rondo to look good in emulation? Is it because of the PC Engine’s weird resolution? I’ve tried a bunch of filters, scaling options, and such but it just never looks right to me.

>>9552953
I don't think it's the best Castlevania, but it has an amazing atmosphere and I love the finale. The treasury, the clocktower and the final stage are all awesome and I think the last bosses are some of the more interesting in the series.
>>9553090
Quick Man's lasers are perfectly fair, though. They might be annoying for a first time player, but they're consistent. Now Heat Man's blocks, fuck those, they're always out of sync and work differently to any other version of disappearing blocks.

>>9552953
I need to play it more. Most of the time I just play Bloodlines but if I'm being honest I had more fun playing Super Castlevania IV.

>>9553882
>depending on your tastes the music will either sound awesome or ludicrous (or both).
The only soundtrack I like is the original X68K system music.

>>9553335
Hey, Gradius Gaiden and Metal Slug 5 are awesome

How are people always bitching this game is too easy? It's like a million times harder than say, Super Mario Bros. 3 and you never hear anyone bitch about that game being too easy.

>>9553693
>Do you even realize how stupid that sounds?
No I think that's a good indicator. But maybe if you ever apply for a job you can tell the CEO that, maybe it works. Now keep pretending your overrated Reddit games made by retards are better than 4

>>9554569
Because people expect a certain level of difficulty from a Castlevania game. As far as SC4's difficulty, in my experience it's really tough to 1LC and extremely easy to 1cc.

>This Nintendo game is too easy because I've mastered every level now that I'm in my late 30s. I wish it had more random unpredictableness so I could brag about its arbitrary difficult to my pretend internet friends and win an argument

>>9553335
goonies II is heccin reccin rootie tootie kinoroonie tho

>>9554941
"People" are retarded seething chimpanzees desperately grappling for social status and their shitty opinions don't matter.

>>9553335
>>other games the Rondo of Blood team had a significant impact on
You forgot about at least one small game called symphony of the night, iv autist.

>>9555409
Actually, it's the contrary. Other Castlevania games are more challenging than CV4 yet they are more predictable. There is very little RNG in them, most of the games is like math.

And on the contrary, it's the unpredictability that sucks in CV4. Getting killed by glitches, by the wheel which depending on the situation you have no time to dodge, or by spikes with bigger hit detection than they look while the game scrolls up and you don't have time to see them coming.

So you have it all backwards. CV4 should be more challenging yes, but also less unpredictable, because that in the case of CV4 it's those aspects which are objectively bad game design.

>>9553041
The PSP remake is kind of ugly, but the additions and changes they made are good.
I would still play the original first and then play the Dracula X Chronicles version after, though.

>>9555848
You are making the overwhelming mistake of thinking I give a shit.

I play games to have fun, enjoy shitting yourself in misery arguing about which is "better" because it's "harder" your entire life.

>>9552965
Varied between boring horizontal sections and boring vertical seconds? I like CV4, but I don't get what posting a zoomed out screenshot of levels with no enemies proves when the enemies and their placement are more important than platforming or how non-flat the level is.
I don't get what's particularly "tricky" about the platforming in CV4 either. Every part of it is fairly easy, except a few parts where the checkpoints are spaced too far apart.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzXtYhCoTpM

>>9552953
It's a great game. Easier than the NES trilogy though, a bit too easy. It's fair to say the level design did not account for how much better your whip is. Then you get whiplash with Dracula X having some bullshit jumps, those god damn spear enemies everywhere and an annoying Dracula fight.

>>9555848
Can't believe you didn't mention the 8-2 platforms. There are ways to play them well but you can still get fucked by RNG. They're the biggest problem in the game IMO, at least with the B-2 platforming you can learn it.

>>9553045
>Hagane (20 times harder than every CV)
lmao, no

The game is really too easy, to the point of being dull. You can steamroll 90% of the game on your first try by just whipping in every direction, without even paying attention to the level design and enemy placement and without using subweapons (of which you'll always have 99 of). The game only starts fighting back with some instakill platforming and more challenging bosses near the end,but it's too little too late.

>>9555865
I don't hate 4 either but a lot of the trickiness in the game is mostly bad
>whip swing ends in a deceptively momentumless hop that isn't in sync with the prior movement
>mode 7 barrel room's difficulty comes from combining pits with intermittent lag spikes
>rng ghost bridge
>if you make a single errant horizontal input instead of up-diagonal in the collapsing staircase stage it's death
>dungeon requires you to jump on spike platforms that will kill you if you graze a pixel of the horizontal hitbox
around the dungeon stage I definitely had gotten the impression that the game's challenge was too concentrated in gimmicks and the bread n butter was ineffectual.

>>9552953
CV1
>boomerang axe armor throws projectile that hits you both crouching and standing, challenge is being able to quickly recognize a low or high throw and whip correspondingly until you get in range to wail on it
SCIV
>axe armor's high throw can be ducked safely negating all challenge as long as you spam crouch whip. any challenge requires the addition of bats or stairs

this tells you a lot.

most kino Dracula fight, much better than the ones where he transforms into 80 different things like Aku

>>9556743
Pretty sure upgraded whip in CV1 can hit both high and low axes. I agree axe armor is kind of a joke in 4 though.

>>9556758
Yes, after quickly defeating him and his disco balls with healing items and seeing the bats dying I quietly shouted: "Thats it? Where's his second form? Where's the transformation? This game feels like a bootleg hackjob". As you can see my expectations were subverted as I truly experienced real art.

>>9556743
You can duck under 1's high throws, and as >>9557189 points out, you don't actually need to do that or line up your attacks accordingly to deflect them. 3 is the one you're looking for where you can't duck and whatnot, maybe Rondo?

And even then, axe armors in general aren't really that bad unless there's something assisting them. Even in 3, probably most of your axe armor woes are going to be because you crouched too close to a flight of stairs, so now your back's turned against the incoming attack you hoping to whip away. Rondo armors are just pretty easy to deal with, even sometimes with you having an advantage against them, save for that one time in the bonus level where they, go figure, have medusa heads assisting them.

>>9552958
It's easy for casuals with no goal but to see the end credits. Its actually one of the hardest games to Speedrun

>>9557385
>psh playing the game? who cares. if you follow arbitrary rules then it really opens up

I never got the "IV is easy" meme. Rondo and Bloodlines are easier. Even CV1 is easier overall (provided you use the HW stunlock for Death).
Only real hard CV games are III, X68000 and Dracula X.
Anyway it's not like any of you provide any evidence of actually being able to beat any of these games without continuing.

>>9557424
Everyone uses rules for what they consider a "win" or completion, yours just happen to be very easy
Can't judge a games difficulty anyway unless you use common challenges like 1CC, no death run, or Speedrun tend to be the most standard

>>9557549
If you're talking about 1CCs, IV is way more generous with lives than 1 or especially Bloodlines, that alone makes it easier. 1LC is another story of course.

>>9557549
rondo generally has harder bosses, the only real pushover is the dragon. the second boss most people encounter, the werewolf, is probably harder than every individual fight in IV save drac. bloodlines is simply harder overall, even more so if you equalize it with 1cc for both.

>>9557872
Bloodlines is pretty easy though.
I'd also say Slogra is harder than any boss in Rondo, but castlevania's bosses were never the reason why the games we're hard, the level design is. Most bosses on CV1 are pushovers.

>>9557882
>Slogra
not one of the guys who bitches about Castlevania IV's difficulty but barring some RNG once you find out you can just duck under his entire phase 1 he becomes weirdly easy, just kind of annoying to deal with

>>9558593
Also the fact that the game decides to get incredibly generous with checkpoints during that endgame boss rush makes the difficulty of each boss almost irrelevant since you can immediately try again.
In that way the boss rush before Shaft in Rondo is far more difficult than any boss-based section of IV.

Anyone ever played the Rondo PC port? And yes, that's a thing

I have a problem where it's always either zoomed in or zoomed out on fullscreen TV and I have no idea how to fix it

>>9558983
It's not a port, it's an emu+rom executable.

>>9557882
>Slogra is harder than any boss in Rondo
slogra has two simple patterns you'll learn the basics of on the first attempt. werewolf is significantly more complicated.

>>9557882
bloodlines difficulty is appropriate for a game with mandatory limited continues.

>>9552953
yes, I discovered it when I was an adult, I agree it has a lot of soul, proof that retro isn't a meme about nostalgia and games that were played when young

>>9558983
>mednafen icon

>>9559072
It has passwords and the jp version.
Bloodlines only has moderate difficulty but nothing on par with IV's last 4 levels, or Rondo's 5b

>>9559139
>but nothing on par with IV's last 4 levels
? yes it does. stage 5 and 6?

Most of the classicvanias are pretty close together in difficulty so I don't know why people have to dickmeasure over them. It's not like Kirby vs Battletoads. You're also comparing games with difficulty settings vs games that have multiple loops if you want to mess with that etc. In conclusion, Hagane is for casuals, any baby can 1cc that.

>>9557549
Sometimes I feel like people call games "easier" when they're fun enough to not feel frustrating when you die.

>>9559540
Hagane is way too easy to just go jumping and flying all over the place and getting to the end of the stages just fleeing every enemy
Way cool mechanics though

>>9557565
>Everyone uses rules for what they consider a "win" or completion, yours just happen to be very easy
>Can't judge a games difficulty anyway unless you use common challenges like 1CC, no death run, or Speedrun tend to be the most standard
This^
Shitters on /vr/ spam continues and use save states to see the end credits and think they can judge a games difficulty objectively lol

1cc
No miss
Speedrun

Those are objective standards you can use to discuss difficulty within those rules/goals

That chandelier jump can fuck right off.

>>9559985
>in order to enjoy the challenge of this game you have to artificially introduce tedium
the other castlevania games are difficult without the need for large amounts of repetition.

>>9560016
Which ones are difficult for you?

>>9556678
This is just straight up lying

>>9560038
he's right about it having some conspicuously barren stretches of ineffectual pve, but the game does have enough tricks it throws at you throughout to not really be that bad.

>>9560016
That post is about judging difficulty, not whether you enjoy a certain challenge. Esl or just so mad you can't read properly? :)

>the other castlevania games are difficult without the need for large amounts of repetition.
Difficulty depends on a particular challenge, spamming continues or reloading save files until you brute force the final credits is trivial and vague, not legit, not a win and definitely doesn't let you compare game difficulty

>>9560246
>he's right about it having some conspicuously barren stretches of ineffectual pve
not even trying to be a smartass I genuinely wasn't sure which game you were talking about for a second, given how Rondo's second level is like 7 screens of straight hallway

>>9553094
I just don't understand why you can't jump off stairs and the lower amount of enemies in IV (yes I know its a SNES limitation).
It's a compromise, while IV has a much better whip, stuff like bloodlines, X and rondo just have much more freedom of actual movement I enjoy more.
X is still a bad castlevania game, but it has better movement options.

This game managed to feel more "cinematic" than modern movie games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTguEEbUar0

>>9553867
he's calling OP a pussy

>>9558593
Slogra still gives me grief to this day once I get to his second phase. I never understood what the trick was to fighting him so I usually just wind up dying once or twice and eating a lot of damage. Because sometimes when he lands after being hit he's immediately in the lunging attack frame.

>>9560912
I 1cced CVIV and I largely agree with the complaints leveled against it by continue peasents. game is too reliant on wonky platforming gimmicks and has limp pve design.

>>9557565
people are judging it within the default intended playstyle of the rest of the series excluding bloodlines.

>>9552958
I greatly appreciated the chicken

Any thoughts on the Wiiware remake of the first Gb game? It looks pretty good.

>>9563381
It probably plays alright but the visuals are disgusting, like you're playing a castlevania casino game.

>>9562661
There's a very specific timing where you can jump over his beak during the insta-lunge. When Slogra lands, it makes this "duh-dun" sound and if you jump at a certain point between the "duh" and the "dun" you'll barely be above his beak. And if you've been moving since you last hit him, you should be out of range of any subsequent lunges.

>>9563394
I fucking hate Konami and what they have done to the things I love

>>9563394
>>9563381

Kinda this, yeah. When it comes to gameplay and game design, Rebirth is fucking great, normal mode and new playstyle for the kids and hard mode with classic for the men, and holy hell is it night and day, at least for me. Feels like a more advanced Castlevania 1.

The visuals really do feel all over the place and are probably recycled from Iga's games, though. Can't name many examples off the top off my head, but I get this sense that a lot of stuff if from SoTN and AoS? Personally, I don't like the graphics and sound more because it doesn't have the same feel as the original Adventure games, you know? Like I look at the first game and there's sometimes this otherworldly feel to its enemies and bosses, its setting vis a vis the NES games' spooktacular (and I don't mean that in a way) kind of thing going on, and Rebirth just completely misses that. Granted, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy Rebirth's aesthetics despite all that, but shit, dude, why are there more Haunted Castle and Dracula's Curse songs than from either Adventure game?

>>9559985
>spam continues
I mean, if a game allows you unlimited continues, then that's fair game. You should be able to judge a game's difficulty just fine.
Save staters are cheaters who don't have a say, though, yeah.

>>9563381
it's a petty thing but I hate how they memed the walk animation with him having his arms at a weird 90 degree angle. his stride looked relatively normal in the gb game.

>>9564146
It seems to use stock sound effects as well. Every wiiware game looked like a low budget fan game at best.

>>9563381
I always forget this exists

That triple boss fight at the end was legit terrifying as a kid. They got it so right, too bad those characters became comic relief in later releases.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ty2E-TF4Fg&list=PL79DA330B8AE4C836&index=27

CV4's atmosphere is just sublime, and this alone makes it more notable than many of the other titles in its franchise. It's a work of art.

So cozy. I don't want to kill your dog, ghost man ;_;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIn-PXpfSg4

>>9566430
I never found the secret room...

>>9564164
>You should be able to judge a game's difficulty just fine.
no you can't, spamming continues trivializes most hard spots and reduces the need for long term strategy or even short term in some places...

example most shmups allow you to see the end credits if you spam continues, but since the games autoscroll and bosses time out they basically beat themselves even if you don't do shit just spam continues. Another example is beat em ups, you can spam continues and win with no strategy at all. Final Fight is pretty tough to beat on one credit but use 10 or 20 continues and its totally mindless shit. Same applies to platformers

>>9567996
This is a pretty stupid comparison because shmups and Beat em Ups are about attrition and the "continue" spam is only a thing because they drop you back in right where you stopped. A platformer like Castlevania restarts you at a previous checkpoint. So you can't tank your way through a segment by spamming continues since you still have to do segments you didn't beat on your own merit all over. All the continues do is eliminate the repetition of having to re-do levels you've already beat. You're just talking about an arbitrary challenge run at this point.

Dunno why people always hate on the directional whip, I wouldn't want it as the default but the game itself definitely worked better with it and is unique for it.

>>9568108
nope
platformers like ghosts n goblins also have checkpoint system, yet the difficulty of the games (and the player skill required) is reduced astronomically when you compare a legit 1CC run vs a continue spammed run.
Although you get sent back to a checkpoint you regain full armor again and can tank a couple hits, meanwhile in Castlevania games you typically can tank many more hits via the lifebar. And simply being able to re-try jumps and fights is in itself a tremendous difficulty reducer and skill reducer, nevermind being able to tank extra hits to make it to the next checkpoint

If you saw the game over/continue screen during your run, the run is dead, the game beat you.

If you're spamming continues it means you failed in execution and/or strategy.

>>9569989
You're obviously right that it's easier with continues. 1CC is a thing for arcade games though, it's generally not something people care about as much when talking about console games like Super Castlevania IV. The game even gives you passwords, it's not like they didn't expect continue usage or expected most people to play it in one shot. It's an interesting challenge to play it though while avoiding continues, and the game resets your score if you continue (though not many people care about score in Castlevania either). Worth trying just to see the game in a new light.

>>9570000
>It's an interesting challenge to play it though while avoiding continues,
yeah when I first noticed people doing 1CCs I thought it was just an interesting challenge but after getting a bunch myself I don't consider a game ''beat'' until I 1cc it. After that there are other interesting challenges.

>>9553073
Killing Dracula as Richter is fun. Just gotta practice a bunch and you’ll be able to pull it off no problem. It’s satisfying to do.

>>9569998
>the game beat you
the game beats you if you don't continue and quit, it's like getting up during a 10 count in a boxing match.

>>9570115
>myself I
emphasis on this part

>>9570115
>>9571029
Yeah, I see where you're coming from. Ever since I've started going for 1CCs more, I don't feel as satisfied with just beating games with continues. I'll probably revisit the Castlevania games soon and try beating them without using any. Starting with either I or IV.

>>9569980
there's a few enemies that use it well and are cool to fight, there are also a few where you just up cheese them from a lower platform. I agree the multi-directional whip was cool and it was an obvious idea they had to try out at least once but I wish there had been a more consistent game built around it.

>>9571042
>I'll probably revisit the Castlevania games soon and try beating them without using any
Outside of IV and bloodlines I don't think the other castlevanias have enough give to really make it engaging, it's basically just be perfect and have the game memorized so you only die 4 times.

>>9552958
I liked it. I was never a fan of the "fuck you" tier shit some of the earlier games pulled.
Any death you eat feels like your own fault.

>>9552953
I need to get back to it, I keep attempting Bloodlines runs but Super Castlevania IV is so much easier to get into which makes it more fun for me. I also really like Harmony of Dissonance on GBA.

>>9572231
>I also really like Harmony of Dissonance on GBA
hats off to you because most of the fanbase relentlessly shits on that one, doesn't have a defensesquad either like circle of the moon. my advice to you regarding bloodlines is figuring out where the 1up candles are in every level.

>>9552953
Cool. If you liked SCV4 that much you'll love the other 16bit CVs as they're all superior to it in different ways, but especially Rondo. Bloodlines also has it's own directional whipping and swinging around if that's your thing

>>9553994
Based knowledge sharer

If it is too easy then just use the hard mode password or play the hard mode hack, maybe it will be a nice challenge for such a hardcore gamer.

>>9569998
If you have to autistically obsess over replaying a game until you get a "perfect" "run", you're the one that the game has beaten. There are untold pleasures (and thousands of games) that you will never experience because your hitbox clipped a werewolf on jump #3,558 (again). Just ignore that autistic itch, beat the damn game, and move on.

Ps I beat the game

>>9572476
I don't think I'll ever understand the love for Rondo

>>9552965
Soul

>>9572785
It's a better DX with voiced cutscenes. The fact that it has a flowing story really ups the presentation

Favorite levels? I have a soft spot for the castle entrance/ball room.

>>9572456
Not that guy but OP of the thread and I personally really liked Harmony of Dissonance. It's rough and a bit of a pale imitation of Symphony of the Night but I did enjoy it the more I played it. It has issues but it also has a lot going for it, I do like the general atmosphere and the simple but effective story and the classicvania-esque physics. So far it's probably the most "creepy" Castlevania I've played, there's something unnerving about its atmosphere.
https://youtu.be/IJhQgp4rkVs

Also while I do have some contrarian tendencies I genuinely think the soundtrack is great. Honestly from what I heard from Aria so far a couple hours in I was kinda disappointed by how generic the tracks are in comparison.
Just have to adjust to the harsh soundfont but the compositions are seriously amazing. I find it genius that the tracks feature a lot of harmonies and dissonance. A shame they never really got touched again officially.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdpK7ugjipU

>>9567954
In the castle main hall, in the part where the chandeliers are falling, you gotta whip the block under one of the chandeliers

>>9573459
Reading your post made me realize that man, I don't think I actually have a favorite level in IV, I think I just end up enjoying myself in the moment for the most part. Though, it's maybe a tossup between the Library, Dungeon Cellar, and Treasury. The old lady portraits that just stop you dead in your tracks by instant grab and the carpet ghosts always amuse me so, and I just really like the tune, so I guess Library.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OC_YTWX0II

>>9573687
My guy, you hit a lot of what I like about HoD myself. A gothic mystery story where you're probably figuring out things just as the protag does, trying to figure out how to get everyone out of this alive, carried along by what feels like a half-dead castle slowly brimming to life with you in the middle of it. Skeleton Cave A feels like it's where Dracula's minions are stored before they're properly brought back in time for the next Belmont to ruin everything, you're just early.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zES1nrVijj4

Is bloodlines as cool as it looks?

>>9574906
Bloodlines is a badass game for guys, you play as a linebacker and you fuck up ancient statues and robots that some faggy nerds made and then you beat the shit out of a woman at the end

>>9574926
But what if I wanna play as the spear dude?

>>9574906
Bloodlines is pretty good yeah.

>>9574906
yes and no. there are a lot of boring armor robots and stone golems.

>>9552953
>crying at Castlevania
nigga pls

>>9552963
>>9553670
There's barely any English in the Japanese version in the first place.

>>9575592
*Japanese in the Japanese version.

>>9553043
>2d soulslike
Go back to >>>/v/

>>9553268
>Not that anon but 4th gen is when castlevania went multiplat.
No it isn't
Castlevania 1 was ported into many PC platforms, inclduing Amiga and C64

>>9554034
Try Sony Megatron shader on a 4K screen

>>9575091
same thing but slightly gayer

>>9574278
The one I usually pick is the Treasury, just because that track is so fire and it yet out of the millions of CV remixes it never gets reused.

>>9552953
One of the best games I played in the 2010's. So grateful to Egoraptor and AVGN for introducing me to it

Just finished Bloodlines and Rondo without savestates, so satisfying, this are best parts. Now Super lV and sharp. Nes games are too hard, last 3 levels are insane in 1, 3

>>9575965
>Egoraptor
Reminder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx2nrS9bD3E

>>9574926
The Americans are always the best cv protagonists

>>9552958
>I think it's way too easy
Have you at least beaten it in hard mode?

>>9576049
I don't get my opinions from ecelebs and youstrokers

This thread reeks of fucking plebbit, the fuck is wrong with /vr/?
>verge of tears
>retroarch recommendations
>"high commitment"
>"game design philosophy"
>"soulslike"
Jesus Christ, what a bunch of S O I zoomers. No wonder video games are fucking dead.

>>9576280
Aww, gonna cry and shid yourself over it? Tell me more about how hurt you are.

>>9576280
Mad because people are enjoying games, /v/ might be more your speed

>>9575949
You mean like fan remixes? Well that's disappointing if true, Treasury is great. If you mean officially, yeah, that too, I know we get the occasional Simon's Theme/Dance of The Holy Man, but outside of Circle of The Moon and that one little bit of Dracula's Theme in Lament, I don't think we get much and that's criminal to me.

Really, this arguably applies to a lot of Classicvania soundtracks save for 3 and for some fucking reason Haunted Castle. Portrait of Ruin has I think just one song from Bloodlines, and then we get another song from HC and I think maybe two from some Egyptian-themed Konami franchise. Granted, they were for Egyptian-themed levels, but it still feels silly despite that.

>>9573459
Either the cave/waterfall/ruins level or the twisting tower. Ironically those were probably both the most frustrating levels for me but they were just so memorable in spite/because of it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQRMjAg2jN0

>>9575650
Have you tried the C64, DOS and Amiga versions of CV1?

>>9552953
>had me on the verge of tears by the time the credits rolled

the Requiem theme didn't hurt.

>>9576049
you know, you know, so, you know, so
I was gonna go into the other room and make lunch while the dude talked in my headphones but if he's gonna keep dumping his horrible tics on me then I guess I'll just use a podcast like usual

>>9578515
I'm not a huge fan of IV but I have to admit the ending is cinematic as fuck in a good way, Simon bathing in the light of Christ with the organ music playing

>>9575650
Wasn't Amigavania an extremely shitty and inexcusably ugly bootleg?

Imagine playing Castlevania because of the platforming

>>9580793
That's not hard to do, unless you're referring to metroidvanias.

>>9578935
the buildup to the dracula fight would be impressive today. the torches coming on and the ominous music with a hint of euphoria at the end. I also like to think the leap of faith had a religious connotation, god will not strike Dracula down for you but he will give you a wink right at the end.

>>9572456
>most of the fanbase relentlessly shits on that one
I've certainly seen people complain about it and state they don't like it, but I don't recall any particularly intense vitriol barring the kind of guy who's life was apparently ruined by Metroidvanias.

It sure isn't perfect, it's derivative of Symphony Of The Night to the point that it's a little embarrassing, such as Juste Belmont very obviously being intended as a substitute Alucard down to his looks and even the inexplicable blue afterimage effect he has. It also does the thing with the two castles as well as the possessed ally, the one where you track down Dracula's parts, and so on. The audio samples for the music are also on the rough side for the GBA, and being designed around the original GBA screen in mind, the colors are bright and starkly saturated, which can look harsh on a lit screen.

That said, I think Harmony Of Dissonance is a good game, the two castles are implemented in a SUBSTANTIALLY better manner than Symphony itself did (even if secretly holding out on half of the game's map unless you pay attention is very cool and based), the two castles are distinctly different and you go back and forth to progress, involving some creative problem solving, rather than the upside down castle just being awkward to traverse.
In spite of rough instrument samples, I think the compositions are very good and I enjoy them a lot, and the oddly saturated colors (or occasionally very gray with stark red highlights), all have this abrasive visual (complimenting the music) which makes me think of Dario Argento's Suspiria, among other things. It's born out of trying to adapt the game to hardware limitations, but it looks oddly pleasing in a surreal and dreamlike manner. The art is also gorgeous as hell to me, and I love the bosses.

For being a near shameless derivative, I think there's still a lot of good things, and some which it does a lot better.

>>9564110
It's harsh, man.

>>9573459
I like the Treasury.

>>9553103
>x68k
>balanced
Bullshit. I've beat the game before but the odds are extremely stacked against you throughout. Surprise obstacles you'd never see coming even with patient play, enemies that overwhelm you if you make a tiny mistake, little to no opportunities for healing per level and spastic boas fights mean that your margin for error in that game is absurdly small. It's not balanced.

>>9559072
You can make the continues unlimited without needing a password

Playing Rondo right now, pretty damn good. I heard people say it's really hard but maybe I'm just getting better at this, I do need some retries per level but it feels manageable.

>>9583303
Most of the challenge in Rondo comes from the boss fights, and they're all very learnable.

Just came here to say I never played this game before a few years ago despite owning a snes since 1992, I started playing a few months ago and kind of left it at the 1st level. well over the past week I beat the whole game. I was playing like 4 levels per day and saving after the boss fights. I finally got to Dracula and his second phase is kinda cheap, you just gotta memorize the location of his purple bolts. i finally beat the game. great game I give it an 8/10
rondo is still better

>>9583303
rondo is really easy, easier than the nes games and perhaps even 4.

Just curious but what do the tablets with roman numerals work for? I always picked them up but never figured out why they exist
the II and III and such

>>9586483
Rondo is easy, but IV is completly braindead. Whenever I play IV I sorta go autopilot until the game is over. I don't even mean that in a negative way, that's just how the game is designed. I think the NES Castlevania games require a bit more concentration and don't let the player zone out the entire time.

>>9552953
I'm glad you enjoyed it, OP. It is a lovely game for sure. Truly oozes atmosphere. It's like a child's mind reading a fantasy novel come to the screen or something. Wonderfully unique OST as well. Gameplay is solid and a 1cc is absolutely a decent challenge. Not everything has to be hardcore difficult to be fun. A 10/10 for me as well.

>>9552953
Am I the only one who thinks this game is bullshit hard? Especially the later levels and that one Slogra boss? All those cheap deaths you have to memorize what to do, and execute perfectly over and over again. If you mess up once you might as well start the game over, and spend another hour getting there with your cross subweapon.

It's the stairs and knockbacks in the later levels that are absolute bullshit. In fact, I would say Dracula X on the SNES is easier. It's difficulty is in the enemy placement, not the level design.

I finally beat it. This is my first action adventure Castlevania that I managed to beat. Beautiful game, but it had me rage quit at several spots. The final boss gave me a lot of trouble until I figured out that I can get life refills as much as I want at certain points during the fight as long as I don't hit him. Next I'll try the first game on the NES or maybe the x68k version.

>>9588443
If IV made you rage quit you're going to want some chill pills on hand for x68. It's a lot like IV in presentation but way harder.

>>9588443
I'd say you should probably go with 1 first. Not that it's a walk in the park or anything, but 1 probably has the least, if really any, bullshit of the older games, indeed it's oftentimes praised as having perfect design. That, and it pretty much serves as the foundation of the franchise and will probably give you a grasp of the mechanics in a way the IV probably hasn't. Not that X68K et all aren't fun or anything, but X68K or Chronicles for that matter is filled with stuff that will probably piss you right the fuck off.

>>9588443
Good job but not to spoil your achievement, was it a 1cc win or did the game beat you and force you to use continues? Using continues or save loads invalidate any run

/vr/ rules

>>9588841
fuck off tranny

>>9588635
>>9588738
Thanks for the heads-up bros. It's rage time once again, I guess, but I don't mind really. Makes a niga feel alive.

>>9588443
Castlevania IV has zero adventure elements. It is an action game. SotN is an action/adventure.

>>9590383
Wrong, I feel adventurous when I use the whip to swing from one hook to the next.

>>9552953
Thisth game is so art- and soulful it had me on the verge of tearsth by the time the creditsth rolled. One of the purest gaming experiencesth I've had in yearsth.

>>9591682
Sorry about your speech impediment.

>>9591652
Adventure is a genre, not a descriptor. It means like the game Adventure. It should really be Adventurelike the same way we have Roguelike, though almost no one realizes this anymore especially with the advent of the bastardized term "metroidvania".

>>9591937
>Adventure is a genre
It was always a vague and bullshit naming convention because fucking anything can be an adventure in some form of another, going on a journey to kill vampires and other monsters is an adventure. When people call Final Fight a "Beat Em' Up" that name at least distinguishes it as a game where you go and beat the shit out of a lot of people.

>It should really be Adventurelike the same way we have Roguelike,
I refer to them as Point & Click Adventures, optionally Text Prompt Adventures, but those tend to be grouped into the former at times.

>though almost no one realizes this anymore especially with the advent of the bastardized term "metroidvania".
Metroidvania isn't maybe the most graceful, but it's about as valid as Roguelike, describing a type of game which features certain gameplay and design similar to notable titles which made them famous.

>>9588443
>Next I'll try the first game on the NES or maybe the x68k version.
If you thought IV was hard in any way don't even think about playing X68K.

>>9562254
It really is quite soulful
but honestly I'm just nostalgic I think

>>9557565
Fuck you, I have high standards, I make sure to beat every game one handed.

>>9553034
>webm
just move TOWARDS the skeleton. stop dipping into the line of fire and then retreating. he can't hit you if you're right in his face and have your whip out.

>>9564371
>Verification not required