Battletoads in Battlemaniacs is bad, I used to love that game when came out, not anymore…
You going to be a hype man for anyone who agrees with you, Po? I don’t care why the jumps are the way they are in Castlevania. Jumping was a chore in that game and easily it’s biggest flaw. How don’t you can champion the jumping when the stiffness of them got fixed in the sequels.
“Fixing” the jumping is one of the bigger reasons why Super Castlevania 4 is one of the least replayed games for me personally, and I bet lots of CV purists agree.
8-way whip and midair jump control makes that game way too easy. It has those things but still retains classic Castlevania game design which is like giving Mega Man the ability to fly for an unlimited time in his games. SCV 4 is a good looking and sounding game but the gameplay suffers way too much.
The subweapons in SCV4 just make easy situations even easier as opposed to making hard situations easier, as it has been before that game.
I don’t even consider SotN a real Castlevania. The reason why SotN is fun and keeps being one of the most replayable games ever made has nothing to do with the level design or challenge the game offers. It’s a huge game with insane variance throughout the whole game which makes replaying it a different experience every time, as you have so many different weapons, items and spells to experiment with every time and almost every screen is loaded with little secrets. Top that off with a top notch soundtrack and beautiful artwork and you have a really outstanding game.
But comparing the two games and saying one is better because it has better jumping, is like saying Mario RPG or Paper Mario are better than SMB3 or SMW because the former has better combat.
Rondo of Blood has proven that you can have oldschool jumping in a Castlevania game without being too difficult and still having to stop and think for a moment before engaging to solve a situation.
Bloodlines on the Genesis also has that sweet spot just geared more towards the hardcore CV fan.
It’s a real shame they don’t make classic Castlevanias anymore. I mean I like Metroidvania games but they don’t satisfy the same craving for me that classic CV games do.
TL;DR Castlevania is about deliberate movement and combat and Metroidvania is about exploration and experimentation. Vastly different games with vastly different mechanics that only have the name and artstyle in common.
One of the things you’re missing is that the lack of mobility in the earlier CV games is what kept the balance. The enemies were legit threats because you couldn’t simply jump over them like you can in SoTN, or whip them from farther away like you can in SCV4. They make already tight level design in CV1 even better because they’re more than just obstacles, they’re actual threats.
If we liken balance in CV to fighting games, CV1 Simon is probably akin to Ryu. He has an answer to everything, but none of those answers are overwhelmingly amazing (unless you factor in busted multishot Holy Water.) You get into the later games, SCV4 Simon is like ST Vega, he can fuck up his enemies without them even knowing what happened, and Alucard in SoTN is basically SamSho2 Ukyo, who none of his enemies really have a prayer of defeating once he gets to a certain level.
I love SoTN and SCV4, but the abilities they give the player actually work against the environments those characters exist in and undermine them to a certain degree. I’m betting some of you guys who don’t like the jump physics are younger and have grown up with games where you are able to control your jumps, though I’m a bit older and played these games when they came out, so that might account for some of it.
I think @“po pimpus” @crotchpuncha & @ArtVandelay did a great job in explaining why CV is better designed than GnG. Although they were both designed as arcade games, CV1 is “complex” whereas GnG is merely “complicated,” the difference being that a smart phone is complex; it has reasons why it is what it is, while IRS tax code is just complicated seemingly for the sake obfuscation.
I’m playing Pokemon Yellow on my 3DS and goddamnit this game is broken, glitchy, fucked up mess hahaha. Gen 1 hasn’t aged well at all.
Dragonite can’t fly, moves with 100% accuracy still miss, how can Dodrio fly and not Dragonite?? That’s some BS!
And Misty maaaaan this bitch destroys poor Charmander he doesn’t have a chance. I seriously thought Bubblebeam was the best move in the game as a kid, that’s how many times I got destroyed. You can’t pick Pikachu because he gets fucked up, Nidoking gets fucked up, Pidgeotto gets fucked up, see this is why everybody picked Bulbasaur and rape that bitch. Blastoise is cool too but he doesn’t have any moves, but I always liked his design.
Well, the discussion and topic IS subjective. Not sure why you would think I was being objective about that statement. On topic though, the progression of the Splatterhouse series went from great to mediocre, especially the PS3 version which is a disservice to the series imo.
As far as the 8-bit Castlevania games are concerned, Simon’s Quest and Castlevania III actually aged well but CV 1 hasn’t imo and seeing the responses from other people in the thread, it’s pretty polarizing. Can’t please everyone.
I’ve recently seen those and some feedback from other people saying the emulation has improved a bit from the previous apps on offer from Sega.
I concur on the archaic aspect of on-rail shooters. Looking back now, it was very limiting and linear; even if it was updated with hi-res graphics, modern gaming consumers wouldn’t be too kind to the restrictions the game imposes on players.
Props also for bringing up Warframe. I’m re-installing it soon. Oops, sorry for going off on a tangent there… That was on another thread lol
Yes, as a matter of fact I just played Ghosts N’ Goblins back to back with Castlevania 1. While you cannot alter your jump arc much in GnG (it can be lengthened by the use of attack with jump and movement) you can alter the landing direction and turning is a breeze. The jumping and movement are a much more effective tactic to avoiding most enemies than in Castlevania. You are correct that a lot of items need to be avoided because they are garbage. However, getting a dagger or shield cross makes the game very manageable and the game is made easier by the level select code (and using save states makes it even easier). There are patterns to enemies and where they spawn, but it is challenging because they have the ability to swarm you quickly and overwhelm your senses. The level design has a great amount of platforming (unlike Castlevania) and a few alternative paths to take. The enemy placement is not so much a problem as the amount of damage they can sometimes take. The biggest problem in the game is a lack of lives and checkpoints as it is easy to push through a previous section only to die to something that is placed in an unfamiliar way further in the level.
In contrast, Castlevania has a relatively useful bunch of RNG weapons with the watch being the antithesis of challenge as most bosses can be frozen solid with it long enough to deplete their entire life. Certain breakable blocks generously contain power ups and health and certain candles drop a book that kills everything on screen. Most levels consist of stairs that are a pain in the ass to use in coordination with items depending on enemy direction and are unnecessarily slow to climb/descend. The few platforms there are are made challenging by weak directional jumping and flying enemies knocking the character off when grounded due to clumsy turning and movement. The game is much easier to beat and therefore much more friendly to the average player. To me that does not make it better as I would rather sprint to my death in a blaze of glory than walk toward the finish line while being weighted down.
P.S. Complex and complicated are synonyms, unlike convoluted (extremely difficult to follow), which is not the word that would describe either game outside of maybe the item use on stairs in Castlevania as it presents some awkward situations. The item use in Castlevania is a double edged sword with respect to complexity as it trivializes many challenges in the game, but it is really the only thing saving the game from complete mediocrity.
P.S.S. There is no balance in either title like the one attained in Nintendo’s NES Super Mario Bros. games, Konami’s golden era beat 'em ups, or Capcom’s Darkwing Duck where the cost of doing something wrong is almost equal to the benefit of doing something right with a slight handicap. There are certainly better games later in each franchise. I have little commitment to either.
P.S.S.S. It is my opinion that Dark Souls has no balance. It just has cannon fodder enemies, overpowered bosses, easily exploitable patterns, easily exploitable hitbox/hurtbox shenanigans, and arbitrary stamina limitations. The franchise is polarizing as few people appear to have a moderate opinion on it.
P.S.S.S. Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles is the best rail shooter I have ever played. It makes a lot more sense than most of the Resident Evil games. It acts as a responsive, abridged, high definition version of all the convoluted shit that happens in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica and even contains a set of segments that illuminates the relationship between Leon and Krauser. I would certainly welcome more rail shooters with that quality. I think there are quite a few games that could make the transition flawlessly.
Most all nes games had shit for jumping, I remember just a lot of games had stiff controls, and enemies would just knock you back or just 1 shot you in the air like in almost any platformer, even megaman, ninja gaiden, metroid, and even super mario 1, Contra miss a shot someone hits you are dead . I think Mario 3 might have had the best jumping in a platformer on nes.
I liked the jumping on a lot of NES games, but Super Mario Bros. 3 is very flexible with its platforming and has fun level design.
What game isn’t easier cheats, the fuck kind of stupid ass argument is that?
You obviously prefer games that are the equivalent of punching yourself in the dick.
So useful subweapons, stairs, and balance are bad things? Got it. Totally makes sense.
The battle mechanics are shit but it’s a better single player game than the rest of the pokemon series could ever be. I think it’s the pokemon fanbase turning an rpg into a competitive multi-player game is the worst thing ever. I’d trade in all of the stuff that other stuff for a good game tbh.
Like just for one game it would be awesome for Nintendo to give up on the competitive community.
All this Pokemon as an RPG talk is bananas af
Pokemon is absolutely an RPG. Mental to think otherwise.
Personally think the games peaked with Gen 3.
The only good things after that were online trades, and TMs being reusable.
Pokémon is competitive with the single player boring story being an rpg.
And the best gen was obviously 4. 3 came close because of its superior Battle Frontier, but some mechanics held it back, like the lack of a move-based Physical/Special split.
5 was a weather team snooze fest with a boring region and ugly sprites and 6 can be beaten blindfolded by a child.
Speaking of Gen 5 though. Aged horribly. Most of the sprites were already pretty bad, but besides the graphics and competitive bias, both games were stupid linear.
For a region based on the USA, Unova seriously lacked freedom. Not to mention that Hard mode was nothing but a grindfest. Hack levels of uninspired.
At least BW2 had the World Tournament, which was pretty sick. Miss the Gen 3 Battle Frontier though.
The physical/special split by move was good too. Forgot about that.
Speaking of Pokémon, GSC. The level curve is absolutely atrocious.
The Gen 3 Hoenn games kinda had this problem too, especially early game, where Roxanne had a Lv.15 with the stronger wilds floating around 7-8 and the strongest trainer reaching 10 or 11.
Enjoy a 2h long grindfest to evolve Torchic.
Nothing compares to Gen 2’s level curve though. That was way too dumb, it made no sense.
Didn’t a really early gym leader in Gen 2 have a really tanky pokemon with Rollout?
Miltank was more of a scrub killer than anything.
Sure it was tanky and Attract is seriously annoying, but there was a Dig TM nearby to dodge Rollout, you could status it, there was an in-game trade of a Machop in the Mart for an Abra and you could buy an Abra at the gamecorner for a 100 Coins (2k bucks), you could spam Mud-Slap for Accuracy cheese…
Most people who really had issues with it didn’t had a Geodude, were scrubs and relied on Quilava.