Castlevania Appreciation Thread

[marurun]

In terms of actual play-feel in-game, I'd say Circle of the Moon is the weakest of the GBA/DS entries. I give it maybe a 7/10 total on account of the DSS card system and the quality music. I think Aria of Sorrow is the best (I haven't yet played Order of Ecclesia), at a 9/10. So yeah, it's a pretty narrow spread. Harmony is an 8/10 in my book, too.

[noiseredux]

I started playing SUPER! Castlevania IV last night, which is one that I'd only played a bit of back in the day. I haven't put much time in yet, but so far seems good. Though I'm finding sections involving using the whip to swing over large gaps to be tough to get used to.

[Ziggy]

(Super) Castlevania IV is the first game I ever played in the Castlevania series. For that reason, it was my favorite for many years. But after I got more and more fond of the other games in the classic series, IV slipped out of first place. After a while, it even stuck out as an odd duck to me because of how different it plays than the rest of the classic games. But I've decided to take it for what it is. It's one of the best action platformer games ever with one of the best game soundtracks ever. How it stacks up again other games in the series is irrelevant. It's an amazing game.

Have fun, Noise!

[PartridgeSenpai]

I booted up Super Castlevania IV a week or so ago and it was just SO crazy to me how dead-on accurate Simon plays in Smash Bros Ultimate compared to his SCV4 appearance (with the exceptions of some of Richter's moves, of course). It's legit like he just hopped out of CV4 and into Smash Bros. It's a hell of an achievement that I couldn't help but just constantly be thinking about while I played.

[noiseredux]

well, I was getting a bit frustrated with some of the platforming but I managed to power through and am now finally in the Castle. I'm at level 7 or 8, I can't remember now. But it was very cool to finally get to the castle and be treated to a remix of the first level of the original game. That was a cool touch. So far, I find the game extremely mixed. There will be small sections of a level that make me want to rage-quit, but then you've got boss battles that require absolutely no strategy other than "hit Y a bunch of times quickly." There are parts that I think are awesome - but most of that is audio/visual stuff and kind of little touches for series fans. We'll see how it goes from here, though.

[Ziggy]

Reading this made me want to rush through the game. I actually rage-quite on the clock tower level, and I've been playing this game since the early 90's!

[noiseredux]

Reading this made me want to rush through the game. I actually rage-quite on the clock tower level, and I've been playing this game since the early 90's!

oh, well I'm glad to hear it's not just me then. I mean, I've certainly played plenty of Castlevania games over the years - just not this one. I was worried that I'm losing my skills or something. HG101's CV book actually commented that IV was extremely EASY, so it really caught me off guard when I was struggling with it.

[Ziggy]

It is really easy, depending how you compare it, but it definitely has a few tough platforming areas. There's quite a few spots that have really tight platforming. Like, you jump onto a new platform but there's an enemy right there that if you don't quickly kill will knock you back into a pit. And there's an entire level that's filled with instant death spikes. But as far as taking damage, it's a lot less challenging than the NES games.

[noiseredux]

well yeah, I don't really die because of enemies - I die because of environment. But I feel like in the bulk of the NES games, I don't find myself dying AS often. I guess you could say it's an easier game if you're good at platforming. I don't necessarily think that's my strong suit. Things like those platforms that pretty much instantly flip and drop you - I hate that stuff.

[Ziggy]

Yeah, I feel like the game is a lot more forgiving with damage taken. Also, you can find meat everywhere. A lot of times it's not even hidden, it's just in a candle on your normal path of the game.