I decided to play all the good Castlevanias

[Anayo]

I beat Castlevania IV.

This is a wonderful SNES game. I cannot say the same about its status as a Castlevania game. It checks all the boxes that a Castlevania game is supposed to. Somehow, though, the fun felt cranked down relative to the Genny, PC Engine, and NES versions. Each stage kicked my ass, but it left me feeling drained, not pumped up. This improved toward the end when I faced a boss rush followed by Dracula himself, but my Castlevania ranking so far still looks like this:

1) Rondo of Blood (PC Engine CD ROM)
2) Bloodlines (Sega Genesis)
3) Castlevania (NES)
4) Castlevania IV (SNES)

I'll admit this has a little to do with playing Sega as a child rather than Nintendo, but I don't think that's %100 percent the issue, since I adore other SNES titles from Konami, like Axelay. If anyone else felt the same as I did feel free to chip in. Maybe you can help me get to the bottom of why I feel this way.

[Ziggy]

Answer as quick as you can which is better: TMNT Turtles in Time on the SNES or TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis?

[strangenova]

Answer as quick as you can which is better: TMNT Turtles in Time on the SNES or TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis?

Turtles in time! Hyperstone heist is good but not good enough

[Anayo]

Turtles in Time is better.

I own Hyperstone Heist. I've played through it once and it's unlikely I'll ever do so again. It looks like a million bucks but it's way too repetitive.

[pierrot]

Answer as quick as you can which is better: TMNT Turtles in Time on the SNES or TMNT Hyperstone Heist on the Genesis?

Turtles in Time in the arcade. Not even a contest. I burned so many quarters in the arcade on that cab as a kid. So relatively speaking, I'll take Hyperstone Heist as the more original, less hamstrung port.

[Sarge]

I'll take Turtles in Time, but I can consistently nail the body slam maneuver in Hyperstone Heist almost every time. It's pretty fun to wreak destruction on the Foot that way.

As for Super Castlevania IV, I like it, but like all the 16-bit games, I feel there are aspects that weigh down each of them, so I'm actually a bit loath to pronounce any of them my favorite. Bloodlines is probably my least favorite, but even it is excellent. I mentioned before about the wonky hit detection, and it will likely remain my primary beef with the game.

And then there's Dracula X which, despite the "downport", is still a pretty good game. It's probably the absolute cheapest (as in cheap shot, not price) of the 16-bit games, with the invincibility frames being minuscule and maddening bats and other vermin abounding.

[Anayo]

The most recent thing that happened was

that I killed Richter and got the stupid ending. I was stumped, so I looked up what to do next. An hour or two later I unlocked the inverted castle.

Usually it's a "mood killer" for me when I can't figure out what to do next and have to look it up in a guide. SotN gets kinda obtuse but there's some special quality about it making it so good that nothing could get in the way of all the fun I was having. I'm pretty sure Rondo of Blood has lost its first place spot on my list.

[Xeogred]

You'll have to keep playing to see if you still think that in the end. There's a lot to love about Rondo's simplicity and higher difficulty.

Agreed though, some of the gimmicks in SoTN are just way too cryptic and weird. No shame in looking stuff up for this one.

[Anayo]

Yeah SotN is the first Castlevania that forced me to consult game faqs.

I think the most disturbing thing in this game so far was that one monster that was a sphere of human bodies tangled together, with dozens of them falling out and lumbering toward you to attack. I daresay it sickened me a little (in a good way).

[Ziggy]

I think that boss makes an appearance in another Metroidvania.