Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)

[curses]

Dracula X seemed fine to me in the mid 90s and again in the early 2000s.

And Castlevania 64 is another game that's inferior to Dracula X.

[reyvgm]

Dracula X seemed fine to me in the mid 90s and again in the early 2000s.

And Castlevania 64 is another game that's inferior to Dracula X.

Well, he said games released before Dracula X, not after. And while Castlevania 64 is kind of bad, the sequel (Legacy of Darkness, which actually contains the entire 1st game too) is pretty awesome. The controls and camera were fixed and it's actually really fun to play. It also has the best story too, with actual vampires, multiple endings and lots of locations outside the castle, which kind of disappeared once SotN came out.

IF the only version you played was Castlevania 64, then I urge you to play Legacy of Darkness. CV64 just left a bad taste in everyone's mouth and because of it, no one played Legacy of Darkness. But LoD is a great product and much better than Castlevania 2, Dracula X, Harmony of Dissonance, Portrait of Ruin, Castlevania Chronicles (X68000 version) and Castlevania Rebirth.

[Carnivol]

Always loved Vampire's Kiss / Dracula X.
Fantastic game, loved the path branching and replayability in doing mix and match with whom you save and stuff.
The soundtrack conversion from CDDA tracks to the SNES sound chip is pretty ace too.

what is it, exactly, about this game that just doesn't cut it?

My general impression of it all is that it's just the thing I like to call the "Forbidden fruit" thing. Just like people for some reason consider Sonic CD God's gift to man and for ages claimed Symphony of the Night on Saturn was the infinitely superior and bettererest version in the universe. People for some reason instantly convince themselves that whatever version/game they didn't get to play is factually better than the one they played (based on something they've read/heard about how apparently the "other" version had stuff that wasn't in the version they got to play themselves)

[reyvgm]

People for some reason instantly convince themselves that whatever version/game they didn't get to play is factually better than the one they played (based on something they've read/heard about how apparently the "other" version had stuff that wasn't in the version they got to play themselves)

Quoted for truth.

[SargeSmash]

Agreed on Legacy of Darkness.  It's still a little sketchy, but it's a huge improvement over CV64.  Really, it's what the game should have been at first release.  It's not perfect, but it's also better than one would expect.

[Spooniest]

Ok, so I played Legacy of Darkness for a while. Made it to Mr. Sea Monster at the end of the first level, and got trashed. They ported over the boss music from Rondo.

Not a bad little bit of game, that is. I can see why you like it.

[reyvgm]

Ok, so I played Legacy of Darkness for a while. Made it to Mr. Sea Monster at the end of the first level, and got trashed. They ported over the boss music from Rondo.

Not a bad little bit of game, that is. I can see why you like it.

Keep playing, it gets better.

Oh by the way, which one is Pink?

[Spooniest]

Who's Jethro Tull???

[Idkbutlike2]

Is Blondie the lead singer!?

[reyvgm]

No one got that was from a Pink Floyd song

[Spooniest]

No one got that was from a Pink Floyd song

I got it! Wth?

[curses]

Wow, you're exactly right. I never seriously considered Legacy of Darkness because I thought it would have many of the same shortcomings of Castlevania 64. So it really has everything from 64 in it? Because I thought that it was pretty much a completely different game that was built on the same framework as 64.

Right after it was released, I spent lots of hours playing through it multiple times per character and game mode, too. I tried to play that game again within the last few years and I quit at the part where you have to carry the stupid bomb. What were they thinking?

[reyvgm]

Wow, you're exactly right. I never seriously considered Legacy of Darkness because I thought it would have many of the same shortcomings of Castlevania 64. So it really has everything from 64 in it? Because I thought that it was pretty much a completely different game that was built on the same framework as 64.

Right after it was released, I spent lots of hours playing through it multiple times per character and game mode, too. I tried to play that game again within the last few years and I quit at the part where you have to carry the stupid bomb. What were they thinking?

Yes, the stupid bomb level is what finally made me stop playing the first game. But then, years later, I played LoD just to see if it was as cumberstone as the first one, but it wasn't.

After you finish the game with Cornell (which actually takes place before CV64) you unlock the characters from the first game and you can play through their entire CV64 story and levels, but with much much better control and camera. I think a couple of levels are changed though. Oh, and the bomb level is not as annoying and touchy as the first one.

[Bregalad]

Super Castlevania 4 was a one time deal. I don't think it's fair to compare its controls to the other (sidescroller) games because then they will all be horrible (including Rondo).

Why would it be unfair to compare a game with its predecessor ?
I'm sorry but when a game manage to be inferior to it's predecessor on the same system, even if it's not a terrible game by itself, this is a serious problem.

Also, there's definitely parallax in Dracula X.  Check the first stage.

You're right, Stage 1 of Dracula X looks amazing, with this transparent fire.
However, all the other levels lacks parallax, transparency, mode-7, or whatever effects makes them looks like SNES levels.
Super Castlevania IV has parallax in ALL levels except the parts which uses mode 7 (obviously as only one background layer is possible in mode 7).

I haven't played Haunted Castle but I have a game called Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge on the gameboy and it's not very good. I've heard the first (Castlevana Adventure) was even worse though.

[reyvgm]

I haven't played Haunted Castle but I have a game called Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge on the gameboy and it's not very good. I've heard the first (Castlevana Adventure) was even worse though.

CV2 for the Gameboy is pretty good (the best of the 3 GB games) and the music is incredible (the composition).

But again, SCV4 was a one time deal. If that's your "standard" or your first CV game or at least the one that "clicked" for you, then I wouldn't recommend you try any of the other sidescrolling games of the series. You'll just be disappointed.

Since my first was the NES version, I have no problems accepting CV games with fixed jumping or one-directional whipping. To me, SCV4 is a step back after playing Castlevania 3. Sure the game has great controls, graphics and amazing music, but CV3 had so many levels, multiple paths, levels and endings that after the initial SCV4 graphical awe passed, I felt disappointed with how short and easy the game was. I mean, I beat the game on the first day.

[Spooniest]

Sure the game has great controls, graphics and amazing music, but CV3 had so many levels, multiple paths, levels and endings that after the initial SCV4 graphical awe passed, I felt disappointed with how short and easy the game was. I mean, I beat the game on the first day.

I agree with you there. It's not hard enough. It seems like they were trying to milk the "drama" aspect of the game for all it was worth, either because they couldn't or didn't want to make a game as hard as CV1. Here's an interesting question, though:

Which is harder, Super Castlevania 4 or Rondo of Blood? You've got the multi-directional whipping in SCV4, but Rondo has the itemcrashes, which, IMO, do reduce the difficulty a bit. Plus, Rondo's Dracula just ain't happenin', so to speak.

Oh, by the way,

the stupid bomb level

[reyvgm]

Which is harder, Super Castlevania 4 or Rondo of Blood? You've got the multi-directional whipping in SCV4, but Rondo has the itemcrashes, which, IMO, do reduce the difficulty a bit. Plus, Rondo's Dracula just ain't happenin', so to speak.

The entire game? Rondo's way harder. In SCV4 you even get food from candles.

As for Dracula? I had a much harder time beating Dracula in SCV4 than in Rondo. Item crashes helped a lot yes.

[Spooniest]

Hate to ruffle feathers continuously (and remember that the fact I can say so much about it does mean that I played the game), but the more I think about it, the more Dracula X just irritates me, and not in a fun way.

In Rondo, there were chicks you could save if you figured out a simple puzzle that was isolated to that level. It was kinda cool, gave your system a chance to show off its fancy redbook audio that was enough to support bad voice acting, hey, neat. But you could figure out the puzzle, save the chicks, and be done with it. It was simple.

In Dracula X, they condensed this feature down to one insanely ballbustingly hard puzzle that spans over three levels of the game. And there isn't even the reward of getting to see a badly acted voiced cutscene from it, just a few dopey lines of text and a different screen at the end. Oh, and you get to fight Death, too, which, while not wholly unappreciated, seems like something that should just be "in the game" and not need to be unlocked.

Playing Dracula X feels like a chore. When I play Rondo, I feel like I can relax and have a good time.

[Bregalad]

You're right that SCV4 is a step back in the sense there is only one playable character and one path. But that didn't prevent the game from being DAMN GOOD !

And yeah Dracula X is another step back because not only there is still only one playable character, there is two paths but you'll need savestates to take one of them because it's impossible without cheating or being a PGM, and you get the horrible NES control sheme.

And don't get me wrong, I played the NES castlevanias before SCV4. It's just I dislike the NES control sheme being used on a SNES controller which have 2 more buttons and 2 more trigger buttons !! Up + B to use an item was understandable on NES because there was no other free button, exept select but it's not easily reachable while playing. But on the SNES this is plain stupid.
Same goes with jump lengths, it was okay in CV1 as it's an early NES game, and they used the same game engine for CV2 and CV3, and didn't care to fix this problem, But after getting it right in Dracula Kid (NES), and SCV4 (SNES), I have no idea how it went in Rondo of Blood but you'd expect Dracula X to allow you to change your jump direction.

[Spooniest]

The big kicker, IMO, is that Rondo feels like somebody on the team said "I want to design a game well." Dracula X feels like an executive said, "I need a game that I can market quickly."