Together Retro August 2020 - Birds are Jerks

[Nemoide]

I have a number of platformers in my backlog, but I decided to start a game I got pretty recently: The Smurfs for Game Gear!
The fact that it's a European licensed platformer is enough to herald some aspects of this game that are going to frustrate me.
Birds aren't jerks in this game, they're helpful friends! Unfortunately, bugs are jerks and the controls are a bit floaty with some weird momentum. I got up to Act 4 which is a swamp level and ended up with a game over fairly quickly: touching the swamp water is instant death, you mostly have to jump on frogs heads which disappear/reappear and climb on vines. Unfortunately the vines are up at the top of the screen and you can't even see your character while making extremely dangerous jumps. The game has a password system, but I didn't make it far enough to get a password and there are no continues. T_T
I'll try again later! Thankfully, the graphics are bright and appealing and The Smurfs makes me nostalgic, so I'm enjoying it when I'm not dying in the swamp.

[Ack]

All right, I checked out the NTSC-J release of the original Castlevania. Two things jumped out immediately: the film grain is way more obvious on the title screen, and there is a difficulty option!

I ran some comparisons between versions, and it appears the NTSC-U release may be based on the "Normal" difficulty of the NTSC-J. However, running through "Easy" difficulty nets the same ending and end credits, and you also get access to an Easy-based version of the Hard Mode run at the end. For those of you unaware, Castlevania restarts with a harder variation when you beat it. This mainly means more enemies and tougher bosses who do more damage. However, if beaten on Easy for NTSC-J, you get the added Hard Mode enemies, but they do Easy difficulty damage, and you get all the other benefits to Easy, like starting with 30 hearts and keeping subweapons after death.

And I have played a lot of original Castlevania over the last few days...

[Ziggy]

And I have played a lot of original Castlevania over the last few days...

Ain't nothing wrong with that!

[Ack]

For laughs, I also booted up the Castlevania IV intros in NTSC-J and NTSC-U. The Japanese release has blood dripping from the title screen, which the US release lacks. More entertaining to me is the story scroll, which has Dracula as a bat burst from his grave. In the US release, the tombstone is illegible. However, in the Japanese release, the name on the grave clearly reads DRACURA. Ah, mistranslations.

[Ziggy]

Also in the Japanese version, the tombstone has a cross atop of it which is missing in the NA version. There's some other minor changes, like the topless statues, but the biggest change is Stage 8. In the NA version, Stage 8 has green slime but in the JPN version it's red blood.

https://castlevaniadungeon.net/games/scv4foreign.html

Another thing, I think the box art and cart label is really weak for the JPN version. I think the NA box art is arguably much better. It also has a jerk bird on it!

[opa]

The soundtrack for CV Rebirth is awesome

[PretentiousHipster]

Maybe I should try to get back into the game Claw. Fantastic graphics but way too frustrating, especially the seagulls and hermit crabs.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Aight, I'm playing Dracula II for the second time. I've also beaten Castlevania II (NES) once in the past.

Some thots:

1. The game is very good overall. Is this really considered one of the weaker games in the series, or is that a meme? It's pretty solid.
2. I like the weight of the attacks, but the jumping blows. I clench my butthole every time I leap over water.
3. The music really sounds different coming out of the FDS. Overall, it sounds a bit more high-pitched and chipper. You can really notice it in the intro of Bloody Tears, for instance.
4. The day/night mechanic is cool.
5. What's up with experience. Hearts give me XP but only from the "hard" enemies? Okay.
6. The dialogue has been a matter of discussion for ages, though I'm pretty sure there are still "lies" in the Japanese games. Also, seems like there were puns, jokes, and weirdly phrased stuff that was translated horribly. Also, the way the text "unrolls" feels smoother in Japanese. In English it has like this slow dramatic typewriter effect.
7. I prossess a rib.

[Ziggy]

1. The game is very good overall. Is this really considered one of the weaker games in the series, or is that a meme? It's pretty solid.

I also think it's a solid game, with the big exception of the "I don't know what I'm suppose to be doing or where I'm suppose to be going" problem. I really like everything about the game with the exception of it's non-linear nature. The other thing that really frustrates me is the fake floors in mansions. It is so very frustrating when you fall through a false floor. So you end up tossing holy water on EVERY block. Yeah, that makes for a fun game. Not knowing where you're suppose to go and when you finally get there you have to throw holy water every step.

3. The music really sounds different coming out of the FDS. Overall, it sounds a bit more high-pitched and chipper. You can really notice it in the intro of Bloody Tears, for instance.

I've read that it's because of the ROM size limit for the FDS version, when it was ported to NES they had more space so I guess they decided to fix up the music.

4. The day/night mechanic is cool.

It really is a cool mechanic, but the text box takes way too long for how often it happens.

5. What's up with experience. Hearts give me XP but only from the "hard" enemies? Okay.

IIRC, if you farm a certain enemy too long you will no longer gain experience from them. Or it might be after you level to a certain point, certain enemies will no longer give you XP.

[marurun]

Yeah, the FDS tunes definitely feel a bit strident and thin. By the time the NES version came out Konami was a bit more comfortable with the stock NES audio and I think they did a fantastic job turning the music up a notch.

The translation was actually pretty straight. The Japanese NPCs lied and were just as full of hooey and weird sayings.

Zig, I think your second guess is correct. As you go up in levels punier enemies will cease to give you experience.

I should also note that I love Castlevania 2 a great deal and enjoy it despite some of the weirdness. I think Symphony of the Night and the later Castlevania titles could not have existed without it.