Unpopular opinion: CV1 is still the absolute peak of classic Castlevania.
The level design and gameplay is basically perfect. You can replay it basically infinitely and have a lot of fun every time, the pacing and flow of the game is impeccable. CV3 is fun but it has too many "that part"s and the other characters simply aren't as fun as Simon/Trevor and also they keep fricking trolling you with the knife and fire subs like they only did that a few times in CV1 but it feels like every other candle in 3 is the stupid fricking knife or Sypha's shitass fire attack. SCV4 is too easy. Bloodlines is cool but limited continues frick off. Rondo is probably my second favorite. Chronicles third favorite but not as good as the original but also has the best soundtrack in Arranged mode.
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3 > RoB > Bloodlines
The first game is too primitive and short.
It being short is part of why it's so good. The pacing is perfect. It's short but every single screen is challenging and fun without being bullshit.
3's level design is just unfair. Not fun at all.
I mean, if you suck ass, sure.
but does it have a PC port like Simon's Quest?
It has a ton of them
MSX, DOS, Commodore 64, and Sharp X68000 off the top of my head
none of those count, it's gotta be for Windows 10 bro
Castlevania Anniversary Collection I guess but also just emulate are you stupid
not port, those are emulation. stupid.
Why the frick does an NES game need a PC port
because it's cool
MSX and X68000 are not ports mongoloid
by "that part" i mean shit like this
this is objectively not a fun thing to be in a video game
castlevania 1 does not have completely dogshit sections like this
It's fun to me because it demands focus and precision. Maybe you kinda suck at videogames.
It just demands memorizing the pattern. It's the most boring part of the game when you know how to do it.
Just Alucard your way to the top, homie
bump
Is it possible to climb the wall with Grant?
Is that really an unpopular opinion? I share it and I've never really felt it's that unusual.
1 is a good example of a game that just executes what it wants to be well and doesn't overextend itself. On paper 3 is maybe better but because 3 is so long and sprawling it has several genuinely bullshit/unfun parts while everything in 1 is solid all the way through and nothing drags. SCIV is just CV for people who like the 'idea' of CV games but don't actually like them, while Rondo while pretty good is just straight up not as good as CV1 and imo is carried by its relation to SotN giving it more exposure than it would otherwise have had.
I agree with this guy. 1 being the best is a solid opinion.
Cv1 is extremely unbalanced, to the point that you either get raped or you cheese the whole game like it's nothing. Certain subweapons are so broken that they feel like cheating, using them feels AWFUL and not satisfying at all. On top of that the enemy patterns have way too much RNG, you can get fricked just because an enemy randomly went in a certain direction and those moments come off as blatantly unfair. The later games don't have these problems to the same extent as Cv1.
Sounds like you have a serious case of needing to get good
Just use the Cross
It's almost as good as Holy Water but doesn't feel as cheesy
I’m nearly certain there is 0 RNG in the AI, as in a can know what the AI is going to do every time.
Hell, even the Dracula fight was cracked and speed runners found out how to generate a perfect spawn and sequence.
The only RNG in the game is the placement of Death's scythes; and they take a second before they start to move to let the player have his bearings
That's literally the point of the sub weapons. Why do you think they give the specific sub weapons that would be useful for the next part?
CV1 is pretty much perfect. Just peak arcade game design and refinement
>SCV4 is too easy
Yeah but diagonally whipping is too fun
This. The only reason people say its easy is because they fixed the controls. Not to mention having a dedicated subweapon button and you can move while crouching. Difficulty through janky controls is bad game design.
It depends. Castlevania 1 is entirely designed around its limited controls and is fantastic for it as it's a curated challenge. Games that are designed as if you have full, tight control of your character yet saddle you with limitations are terrible, on the other hand. The issue with SCV4 is that it is designed as if your controls are limited like before, yet they no longer are. Thus creating the exact opposite problem.
I still think about how kind the game is right at the end with the Dracula fight. Even if you game-over, you spawn at the bottom of Dracula's stairs and there's enough supplies to take him on. I love that shit, shows the devs knew players would be at the end and want to keep that momentum.
After a few playthroughs I learned that destroying candles with the subweapons gives you multipliers more often. That's pretty cool. At first I thought multipliers were just super rare but nope I just didn't know about that mechanic.
I don't think it's my absolute favorite, but I've replayed it the most and it is very well designed as a first entry in its series. A lot of of series start off with a first game that's kind of rough. It's where they're clearly still working things out, and the sequels make critical improvements that shape and boost the series.
Not Castlevania. The first game emerged feeling already complete.
The first Castlevania is a shining example of Konami's mentality and craftsmanship (and in a way, Japan as a whole), that is to say taking popular concepts while they're new and hot, refining them and making them their own and, when it's a hit, sticking to it until it vastly overshadows what it is they were inspired by to begin with.
What is Castlevania? Gameplay wise it's a clone of Ghost'n Goblins (one of the hottest arcade games from their competitor at the time, and even the Famicom port had just released and been doing well which probably helped to push this game out) but it can't be a 1:1 copy now so, what was the latest hottest horror anime at the time? vampire Hunter D. Throw that into the mix. And just to make sure it's not too obvious and because we need more monsters, let's throw in some iconic horror figures too. That's basically it, the only originality is the way other popular existing things are mixed together.
and yet it's a masterpiece because Konami took this seriously and wanted to excel; not like Capcom which despite their arcade hits didn't have nearly as much footing in the console department and outsourced GnG Famicom to Micronics. They tried to reivent GnG a few years later with the Gargoyle's Quest series but that quickly died off. Meanwhile Konami was still making classicvanias, because unlike Capcom they realized there was still a market for it (possibly because Konami was already a lot more US/Europe centered than Capcom was); and a few years later they did manage to reivent the Castlevania series, while Capcom tried to reivent GnG a second time only to be so embarassed it didn't even have the name anymore.
Now Castlevania even has its own animes which are more popular than Vampire Hunter D ever was so even that has come full circle. And I'm sure most of the viewers of that never even heard of VhD, just as I'm sure some CV fans will deny it ever was a clone of GnG. Konami excelled, persevered, prevails.
https://shmuplations.com/castlevania/
>He probably used moneybags as score items for the same reason, I suspect. (laughs)
He probably used moneybags as score items because Ghost'n' Goblins did the same, I suspect.
>(laughs)
>not like Capcom which despite their arcade hits didn't have nearly as much footing in the console department
they got guilty of this even later on. most genesis and pc engine capcom games are outsourced ports. the games capcom did develop were either downgraded snes ports (genesis) or developed in total secrecy (pc engine)
You are probably overplaying that inspiration a bit, I think. Castlevania was very clearly primarily inspired by Universal and Hammer horror films. To the point of the fake credits reflecting this.
Never read the books, but the Vampire Hunter D OVA was sci-fi, which Castlevania isn't at all. Alucard from the later SotN definitely has some influence though.
to be fair to capcom I think castlevania was just a more applicable premise in the long run, GnG was too goofy to carry a franchise like that.
If it had level passwords it'd be the best Castlevania for the reasons you mentioned. It's only flaw is having to beat it in one go.
Game's super short, like an hour long at most, usually less. Passwords would be nice but unnecessary.
Castlevania 3 is the Sonic 3+K of Castlevania, and by that I mean only homosexuals that like gay bullshit say it's better than the vastly superior game that preceded it (Castlevania 1 and Sonic 2 in this instance). More characters and bullshit level design doesn't make a game good.
Castlevania 1 is Castlevania 1.
Castlevania 3 is Castlevania 3
The hell with what some of you people are talking about.
>You are probably overplaying that inspiration a bit
Fighting vampires and monsters with a whip, and with a similar fashion style
Main vampire guy isn't just a vampire, he has all kinds of different monsters as henchmen
Enter that vampire's guy, in the first corridor fight zombies and a feral feline.
Soon after that, fall in a trap floor, down a chute into the castle's underground/sewer, followed by fighting Medusa.
In the end, look back at the castle from a cliff (though to be fair, this one is an entire trope in itself; but still the connection is there)
All that was in VHD and I know I'm probably forgetting/overlooking other things. Simon's Quest would make the inspiration even more obvious by using the vampire's design 1:1 for Dracula (pic related); and the following games would take more like the throne room in Rondo/SotN looking eerily similar, and using the same "old bored vampire" routine. SotN would also use the horsebock jump through the castle's half-closed bridge; and I would say even Alucard's re-design has some semblance of D.
I'm not deying the Hammer influence, just saying that the VhD influence is stronger than most people realize
There was also some Lupin - Cagliostro's Castle in CV1 as well; and that influence too continued in the rest of the series. People already noted it in CV3, what I I noticed was pic related
Which looks somewhat similar to this one, but I don't have a good picture of it to show all the common points and I admit this one is a little more farfetched
Castlevania is basically if Conan the Barbarian was the human character in Vampire Hunter D instead and could resolve the story before it fully began. Also, if he had medieval tools rather than faux-futuristic tools, so it's more like he has Indiana Jones' whip.
CV2 was very underrated. It gets hate for no reason.
>It gets hate for no reason.
Some of the platforming in the mansions sucks. The false flooring also sucks.
So true.
The fact is Castlevania IV is the best one and people who b***h about the great controls are contrarian homosexuals.
And 2 was shit no matter how contrarian you want to be.
Castlevania 1 feels like playing laser tag where running is not allowed
Idk if I should agree or disagree because I can’t get past the Medusa heads
that's cool. i have two in regards to castlevania...
1.) the series peaked at castlevania 4.
rondo & bloodlines are great but CV4's controls elevate it into being a more fun and enjoyable experience than the other two games.
2.) symphony of the night irrecoverably ruined the franchise.
the metroidvania games are boring with their overemphasis on backtracking and don't really get fun until you unlock the richter/julius mode (or an equivalent) in them.