Castlevania Appreciation Thread

[Anapan]

Yeah, Saturn NITM has dithering instead of transparency, all the graphics are scaled wider (ps1 is 240 wide and the saturn uses 320)
There's a lot of slowdown when many or large enemies are onscreen too.
Some screenshots I sent Kurt here as well as an overview of the game.
http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/games/nitm.html
Maria is kinda cheap - one of her spells makes you completely invincible and another can kill bosses in one hit...
Still, it's worth a playthrough

[Xeogred]

Guess I haven't updated in awhile but I went ahead and jumped into Harmony of Dissonance and I've been enjoying it a fair bit actually. It controls a lot better than I remembered.

The bad... the music. To be honest I'm not big on the GBA soundfont in general, but this is definitely one of the weakest Castlevania OST's by a long shot, I remember CoTM and Aria's soundtracks being much better and catchier than this.

This is probably the only track I really like overall:


The dual castle thing is also a bit odd, it kind of feels like filler and just extends the backtracking even more. Seems a bit lazy, but oh well.

The bosses have been weak too. I can't recall if the other handheld games were like this, but 90% of the bosses have been pretty similar and are always in a 1x2 sized room. The boss designs may look different but just about every single fight has been the same.

Guess that's a big list of negatives haha... but I'm definitely enjoying it and wouldn't say it's a bad game. Nearing the end probably, I assume 200% is *Complete* and I've got like 160% or something, wrapping up a few bosses and last couple of areas.

[dogman91]

http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=29892 Try grabbing this and see if it changes your mind on some of the Castlevania GBA music (makes the samples uber-awesome quality, as it take's the original game's soundfonts and haves them run the original MIDI files with them, bypassing the 8-bit GBA sound processing).

I have to say the compositions themselves are not very catchy though, even for that video you linked to.

edit: well... it IS called "Harmony of Dissonance"

[Ziggy]

Well all this talk about Bloodlines pushed me over the edge to finally play through it again. I forgot how good this game is. It definitely stands up to the other traditional Castlevania games.

Here's a neat trick that I never knew: Go to the options and set the BGM on 5 and the SE on 73 then start your game. Now when you get the max power up for the whip (when it glows) the music will change to Vampire Killer. Pretty neat.

I think I might play through the game again as Lecarde.

[Gunstar Green]

Vampire Killer:

Also some other classic tunes on the Genesis,

Beginning: (Love this rendition.)

Bloody Tears:

Simon's Theme:

[Xeogred]

I tried it out with Lecarde and actually thought it was hard mode for me... haha. The thing with him is that the hit detection is completely different with the spear and only the tip registers hits. I didn't really like that. Aside from that he just weirdly felt slower and yeah. Still it's really cool that's there though and changes things up. Damn good game.

Simon's Theme:

Probably one of my favorites overall in the series. In this case with this version though... it was way too brief (basically kicks in during the final short walk to Dracula). I wish they had kept it playing during the first part or so of his fight, then they could have kicked in the boss music.

Having that theme kick in during the last battle with Dracula in Super IV was mindblowing!

[Ziggy]

I tried it out with Lecarde and actually thought it was hard mode for me... haha. The thing with him is that the hit detection is completely different with the spear and only the tip registers hits. I didn't really like that. Aside from that he just weirdly felt slower and yeah. Still it's really cool that's there though and changes things up. Damn good game.

I see what you're saying, but I never had that problem with him. Only the tip of the spear will register a hit, whereas the entire length of the whip will hit. But the tip of the spear travels outward, so it's not all bad. You can still hit things in close proximity to you. And also, Lecarde as the twirl move thing (hold A and press left or right) that you can do infinitely.

But yeah, even if you don't like playing as Lecarde, it's awesome that they added him in there. He also gives you the ability to take a few different paths throughout the game.

Having that theme kick in during the last battle with Dracula in Super IV was mindblowing!

Yeah, definitely. Also, after you beat Death, the music from the intro that plays during your walk to Dracula, along with the candle that light as you pass them.

[Ziggy]

Well I just beat Bloodlines with Lecarde last night. I definitely feel like he makes the game a little easier.

This game is shorter than I remember. Once you've played through it a couple of times, you can easily play through the game in just an hour or two. I'm sure playing on hard mode would change that, but I'm not sure if I feel like doing that. Although, maybe I'll try playing through with Morris on hard just to see the best ending.

Hearing Simon's Theme makes me wanna replay CV4, it's been a while since I've played through that one.

[Xeogred]

4 is probably twice as long as Bloodlines haha.

I beat Harmony and got the true ending. The bosses in this one were total pushovers. Definitely not a bad game, but not the best. So weird how the ending credits song sounds entirely different and good. The weird awful sound quality of the OST must have been deliberate because of the title, but yeah. Not a good idea.

[Gunstar Green]

4 is probably twice as long as Bloodlines haha.

That's honestly a big portion of my beef with 4. A lot of it just seems like filler to me. I always felt like the design of the middle levels starts to get shaky. It brings me back at the end but not before I've started getting tired of it.