SNESdrunk reviews

[darsparx]

Man that's a backlog larger than my zelda one is right now both ways that's scary right there....(even though I'm not going to touch those cd-i games...those don't count for zelda)

[dunpeal2064]

Castlevania 4 frustrating? Clearly people who complain haven't played the NES games . Just the 8 directional whip attack is enough to break the game.

EDIT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww_PjqYQi5E he explains it really well

I haven't had the chance to watch the video, but I agree that the full control of the whip drastically changes the game, to the point where it no longer felt like the NES games. I don't think I use any subweapons when playing IV, whereas I strategically plan out what to have where in the older games.

Still a fun game, just not a great vania imo. Still, looking forward to that review!

[Gunstar Green]

Super Castlevania IV (Where are the first three Super Castlevanias, Konami?! ) is a game that I have a lot of mixed feelings about. The music is fantastic and despite the complaints about directional whipping making the subweapons kind of a pointless relic it's still fun to play. It's not controller-smashing hard like it's predecessors but honestly dialing back from Castlevania 3 isn't that much of a bad thing.

But it's a little uneven as a game. It's like they made the beginning and the end first and didn't know what to do with the rest of the game. It starts off strong, creepy and exciting and then starts to drag in the middle only for things to click again near the end.

It's one of the few games that I enjoy where I can say I'd probably like it more if it were a little shorter. It's a minor complaint since there are passwords to revisit my favorite parts.

[dunpeal2064]

Pretty much agreed. The game isn't unplayable, I still think it is a good game. Just not a good sequel, because:

dialing back from Castlevania 3 isn't that much of a bad thing.

I do see it as a bad thing, as someone who loved CV1, and then loved CV3 even more. Its a sequel, so I want it to be even crazier. I want it dialed up, not down.

It would have been perfect as a spin off (which they are obviously fine doing), but I did find it to be a disappointing follow up to 3, which was a very fine-tuned experience.

[ZeroAX]

Oh don't get me wrong, Super Castlevania is my favorite non Metroidvania game in the series, but I'm just saying the level design could have been better if they used the 8 directional whip (seriously watch that video, he makes the same argument).

It's just a completely different experience than NES Castlevania because of it.

[SNESdrunk]

Pretty much agreed. The game isn't unplayable, I still think it is a good game. Just not a good sequel, because:

dialing back from Castlevania 3 isn't that much of a bad thing.

I do see it as a bad thing, as someone who loved CV1, and then loved CV3 even more. Its a sequel, so I want it to be even crazier. I want it dialed up, not down.

I don't think it was dialed up or down, really. It's different altogether.

Obviously being a sequel and all, it's fair to compare SC4 to the NES games that came before it... but SC4 represents a different kind of experience than those games. I think the developers saw an opportunity with the SNES hardware and as a result put way more of an emphasis on atmosphere and mood. As Gunstar points out, the level design for the middle of the game is kind of flat, I agree. But it's just so damn cool (for me anyway) to just hang out and soak in the atmosphere. The library and the torture chamber are two of my favorite levels because of the music and just how they look.

[Gunstar Green]

I do see it as a bad thing, as someone who loved CV1, and then loved CV3 even more. Its a sequel, so I want it to be even crazier. I want it dialed up, not down.

It would have been perfect as a spin off (which they are obviously fine doing), but I did find it to be a disappointing follow up to 3, which was a very fine-tuned experience.

I get where you're coming from. I think Capcom handled it better with Mega Man X which also sacrifices difficulty over the classic games while adding new abilities and also making it a spin off.

And then Konami themselves did this with Dracula X.

Maybe they should have just called it Super Castlevania without the IV and left that go for another time.

[dunpeal2064]

Yeah, I totally get what you guys are saying, and agree. Super IV is a great SNES game, and it really has some fantastic stuff going on. I actually find the game quite enjoyable for the most part. I think Super Castlevania would have been a perfect name, and left room for Konami to still drop an actual 4, like Capcom did with MMX/MM7

Interesting point with Mega Man X, because I absolutely love that game. I think I felt more okay with MMX, because we already had 6 MM games in the classic style, whereas we only had two CV games, so I was still craving more. It felt like the CV style was just taking off when IV completely changed it, whereas I felt the MM style had been fairly rinsed.

Plus, Mega Man X is just awesome.

[Gunstar Green]

You can even make a comparison with the SCIV whip since one of the common complaints with Mega Man X is that your primary weapon is too powerful, taking away a lot of usefulness from the special weapons.

But I guess it wasn't as jarring because Mega Man had already done this in the past, specifically with Mega Man 5 where the Mega Buster is basically a BFG.

Edit: I think the big difference is Mega Man X used its new mechanics and mobility to the fullest in its level design where as SCIV spent most of the game forgetting the changes it made.

[dunpeal2064]

Mega Man is all over the place. The first game set the idea up of using the subweapons, but MM2 totally ruined this with the Metal Blade. Then 3 gets back on track... and then 4 goes back the other direction, and then 5 takes that even further.