ROM Hacks: Castlevania: The Adventure Done Right!

[RHDNBot]

Update By: ProstatePunch

Konami GB Collections were a very early dip into colorizations of Game Boy games.  Unfortunately, many of them were marred with crappy palette selection and terrible tile work.  This patch is a first step in providing better quality color releases of the individual games in these collections, resulting in a definitive experience.

Other hackers (tidi, hiro1112 and Ugetab) have created hacks that provide autoboot, whip retainment, and speed-up hacks that have greatly improved quality-of-life.  Those patches are included in this all version (richirobot), as well as the following improvements:

• Almost every enemy sprite has been re-colored in some way.
• The main character sprite has been redrawn and re-colored.
• The fully-powered whip fireball was given actual fireball colors.
• Candle color was changed, and the design was reduced in size.
• Color palettes for every level were altered to make the game more realistic, also resulting in better blending of objects into backgrounds.
• Health bar was changed to a solid red rather than a color changing system, consistent with other Castlevania titles.
• Inclusion of the "autoboot+speed+whip hack" by richirobot (with credits to tidi, hiro1112 and Ugetab) here.
• Removed the ability to reboot the game to the selection menu using Start+Select+A+B.
• Removed the ability to go back to the game selection menu at the title screen by pressing Select.

Hopefully this provides an experience more consistent with other "DX" quality releases.

Note: Original images removed due to reports of photosensitivity issues

RHDN Project Page

Relevant Link

[ProstatePunch]

Probably should have put this in the main feed, but inspiration for new colors was taken largely from manuals, guides, and other games in the series.

[ShadowOne333]

Glad to see this finally released! Congratulations, mate!
Also, if you won't mind, would you happen to share exactly the change required to disable the Start+Select+A+B reboot code? That could help the original autoboot hacks as well so they behave as standalone titles altogether without that last "bug".

[ProstatePunch]

Yeah, so I'm not 100% sure that it would be applicable to the other games, but my next project should reveal that to me.  Stay tuned!

[Algunar]

A splendid QoL work performed here.

Definitely the ultimate version of this game for me!  

I will put a review of it anytime soon, if and only if I do not forget to do so...

[ProstatePunch]

A splendid QoL work performed here.

Definitely the ultimate version of this game for me!  

I will put a review of it anytime soon, if and only if I do not forget to do so...

Glad to hear it! Yes please, the more reviews the better!

[capncrunch992]

If I may offer a little constructive criticism: The color choices don't work too well with real hardware, such as Flash carts. How the GBC or GBA displays these colors is quite different from, say, a backlit computer monitor or LCD television. Deeper colors don't show too well, and multiple fore- and background elements that exist within similar color spaces just tend to bleed together. That's one of the reasons developers opted for the strange and often contrasting palette choices that were used in the colorized re-releases. Maybe there's a way to achieve a balance?

I'm also not sure the revised player sprite is necessarily an improvement. It appears that the sprite actually lost some detail. That, or a couple of the colors used in the revised sprite are so similar that they're bleeding together. From what I've seen of the character's artwork, Christopher would normally wear a reddish tunic with a silver neck. Depictions of his waist and legs vary from source to source, but you might consider silver, green or a duller shade of white.

[ProstatePunch]

If I may offer a little constructive criticism: The color choices don't work too well with real hardware, such as Flash carts. How the GBC or GBA displays these colors is quite different from, say, a backlit computer monitor or LCD television. Deeper colors don't show too well, and multiple fore- and background elements that exist within similar color spaces just tend to bleed together. That's one of the reasons developers opted for the strange and often contrasting palette choices that were used in the colorized re-releases. Maybe there's a way to achieve a balance?

I'm also not sure the revised player sprite is necessarily an improvement. It appears that the sprite actually lost some detail. That, or a couple of the colors used in the revised sprite are so similar that they're bleeding together. From what I've seen of the character's artwork, Christopher would normally wear a reddish tunic with a silver neck. Depictions of his waist and legs vary from source to source, but you might consider silver, green or a duller shade of white.

With or without a backlight?  I do need to do more extensive testing on my flash carts, but wanted to release first. Im aware the colors may need some tweaking, but this hack will be tailored specifically towards backlit hardware when all is said and done.

As for the main character, you cannot have detail and color without overlays like Mega Mans face.  You either get a shaded character who looks like wood, or a character with 3 colors.  There is no middle ground here due to hardware restrictions. I (and most of the other colorizers) prefer color over monotone shading.

As for color choice on Christopher, I went off the official manual for the original DMG game here

[PowerPanda]

This patch is a first step in providing better quality color releases of the individual games in these collections, resulting in a definitive experience.

I'm on board! 

I would love for the next game to be Operation C. I played through it for the first time today, and it was definitely built for an unlit screen, rather than modern displays. There are some very odd jagged edges that make an otherwise beautiful GB game look like a bad romhack.

[ProstatePunch]

I'm on board! 

I would love for the next game to be Operation C. I played through it for the first time today, and it was definitely built for an unlit screen, rather than modern displays. There are some very odd jagged edges that make an otherwise beautiful GB game look like a bad romhack.

I've taken a look at it. Both fortunately, and unfortunately, it uses much different code than Castlevania in the collection. So after some initial poking around, I deciced to take a break from Konami GB v1 for now.

But Operation C is on my short list, likely after my next project.

[EvilJagaGenius]

I think I like most of the new colors, though I do agree I like the old Belmont sprite more than the new one.  I also tried removing the autoboot functionality (just made a simple anti-patch from the autoboot patch - I guess I just like having the compilation), but noticed "CASTLEVANIA" in the intro was showing some visual garbage.  I don't know if you want to fix it, it's only a tiny nitpick for me.

I've not beaten this game yet, only messed around with the first stages while debugging Goomba Color.  Time to change that.

[ProstatePunch]

I think I like most of the new colors, though I do agree I like the old Belmont sprite more than the new one.  I also tried removing the autoboot functionality (just made a simple anti-patch from the autoboot patch - I guess I just like having the compilation), but noticed "CASTLEVANIA" in the intro was showing some visual garbage.  I don't know if you want to fix it, it's only a tiny nitpick for me.

I've not beaten this game yet, only messed around with the first stages while debugging Goomba Color.  Time to change that.

That visual garbage is fixed in my patch, unless its something different. Or maybe the revert did something. Can you show me a pic? I think that was some tile editing I did experimenting with a different "Deluxe" for the title screen. I was going to pull from that area since it was not longer in use, but I abandoned it since I'd have to sacrifice other title screen detail due to putting it under the "Adventure"

As for Christopher Belmont, you are entitled to your opinion, but I'll never understand how people can prefer a well-shaded person with the same wooden color for the whole sprite versus one with distinguished and detectable colored faces, clothing, and body. You can't have both due to hardware restrictions.

[TheGershon]

I've gotta say, as much as I appreciate the effort, especially for combining the QoL features into one single patch, I have to echo some of the previous statements about the color choices. I just don't like the colors of the backgrounds or the enemies, and I don't like Christopher's sprite edit. Although they're a bit garish at times, the original palettes let enemies stand out from the backgrounds, for example. To make a suggestion that could potentially please everyone, an alternate patch that only incorporates the more subtle changes like the first screen with the trees and background, the health bar being solid red, the timer and score being on a solid black background, etc, could be nice. Just my two cents.

[capncrunch992]

With or without a backlight?

My Game Boy hardware is non-backlit, although I do occasionally use a GC Game Boy Player that I have hooked up to my TV set.

Most any palette choice will be visible on a backlit screen, but there's still the issue of darker colors bleeding together, or individual elements not being distinguishable from the BG or each other. This is a problem when both Christopher and the enemies are in areas with darker BGs, and both sprites themselves consist of deep colors. The life bar can be especially hard to ascertain since it blends in with the floor tiles in a lot of stages.

When CotM was first released, some reviews praised the more realistic approach to the graphics, but many others found the game was difficult to see due to Konami's choice of deeper, darker tones. Of course, this was before Nintendo introduced the frontlit (and later backlit) SP. But even playing CotM on today's hardware, the color choices almost feel like a kind of dim glaucoma is being superimposed over the game at all times. Unfortunately, that seems to have prompted Konami to go the extreme opposite direction with the next GBA CV game and choose an offensive assortment of technicolor graphics and frills. But I digress. Surely, there can be some compromise between realism and practical design.

[MathUser2929]

it seems even faster than the hack I posted. Did you speed up climbing too?