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Castlevania 35th Anniversary retrospective; because this series has been around as long as I have been ALIVE

Krathoon

Member
I'm actually not a big fan of the first Castlevania. I like the settings, but the controls feel so stiff compared to other 2D platformers of the time, though I understand that the game was designed with this in mind. Castlevanias that came after that have been great.
They had that thing where you could not jump off stairs. I think they got rid of stairs in most of SOTN.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I'm actually not a big fan of the first Castlevania. I like the settings, but the controls feel so stiff compared to other 2D platformers of the time, though I understand that the game was designed with this in mind. Castlevanias that came after that have been great.
I hear ya.

Castlevania games (along with many old school platformers) have rigid controls needing perfect timing. No floaty jumps, no double jumps, instadeath into a water pit etc.... The characters and monsters rarely jump high, so it's difficult to jump over an enemy or scoot under a jumping enemy. So most of the time you have no choice but to either kill it asap or just take the hit ramming into the monster.

I think devs at the time did this on purpose to make games harder (so it lasts longer).
 
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NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
CV IV is longer but it doesn't really become much of a game until you get to the castle. Everything before that is way too easy to be worthwhile. Bloodlines is lean and mean.
Yup. I’m not a fan of IV because it’s a bit boring. It’s a slow game. A good chunk of the game is more about “see? We can do this on the SNES!” than interesting gameplay. Bloodlines is all about action, and the show is usually kept for boss battles.


I'm actually not a big fan of the first Castlevania. I like the settings, but the controls feel so stiff compared to other 2D platformers of the time, though I understand that the game was designed with this in mind. Castlevanias that came after that have been great.
The stages were tailored around the controls. It’s the bosses that weren’t, so they were basically a war of attrition and a matter of having a good subweapon and enough hearts. Lose a life against one of the later bosses and you might just as well restart the whole stage. Beating Death with just the whip is not for the faint of heart.
 
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