Topic: Castlevania ReBirth for newbies

[Bengr Hausve]

Let's talk about CV ReBirth: 1) when and on what do you see it being re-released, if ever, 2) If ReBirth remains the latest and the last classic style contemporary Castlevania, how would you rank it in comparison to ALL classic style CVs and 3) How do you like the music in ReBirth? Cheers!

[KaZudra]

Rebirth was amazing, Offering Both appeal to the hardcore and the casual audience with it's jumping mechanics' options.
Graphics are very nice and colorful, and the challenge is also on-point.
Only negative mark on this game is the lack of saving or passwords, but Emulation save-states are a good fix.
The music, something about the Chip-tune really makes it sound very arcade or a Genesis on steroids and it sounds phenomenal.

I would Rank it at no.3 best.

I find it tragic that Konami hasn't released the Rebirth trilogy on anything else yet, and the only option now to obtain it is by lesser means. I think it didn't help that it was E-Shop exclusive because... well, the E-Shop didn't have the best reputation in it's day. Much like Hard Crops Uprising, I can see how this one was overlooked so easily.

[BLOOD MONKEY]

I find it tragic that Konami hasn't released the Rebirth trilogy on anything else yet, and the only option now to obtain it is by lesser means. I think it didn't help that it was E-Shop exclusive because... well, the E-Shop didn't have the best reputation in it's day. Much like Hard Crops Uprising, I can see how this one was overlooked so easily.

holy shit i forgot how much i absolutely loved hard corps uprising

yeah and rebirth is really good too
except for the 4:3 aspect ratio lmao

[Succubus]

If it's re-released on anything, I would guess the Switch. If Konami made any kind of exclusivity deal with Nintendo, that may still be in effect.

It's a good game, and the music is nice too. But I'd say it's mid-tier. It definitely doesn't beat out the best of the classic games, like 1, 3, 4, Rondo, X68k, and Bloodlines. But it's certainly way better than the likes of Haunted Castle and Legends.

[RichterB]

I adored The Adventure ReBirth when it first came out (partially because it was a return to the Classic style). Still enjoy it, though I'm not as into it as I was before. So, for your questions...

1.) I think it should be released in another collection that includes stuff like the SNES Dracula X for Switch.

2.) Overall, ReBirth is a mid-tier entry in the series as a whole. Of the 26 Castlevania games I've played through, I usually put it around #14 (it certainly is not any higher than #10). In terms of Classicvanias specifically, I rank it better than Legends, Chronicles/X68000, and the DXC remake, but that might be about it.

The Good: ReBirth does a decent job blending the original Game Boy titles with more NES and SNES sensibilities. Its use of multiple modes to result in multiple level layouts or gameplay styles (including a very functional motion-control mode) are commendable and add replay value. The density of each level having a strategic setup with alternate key-based paths is an inspired development. Knowing the best path through a level becomes crucial on harder mode settings. I like how more unique bosses were chosen on the whole, and the water wheel segment of Level 2 might be the coolest set piece in the game, which I'd like to see revisited in a future entry. Also, the return of a map screen was fun.

The Bad: The game does feel like it was made with a fairly limited budget, remixing assets, and it doesn’t utilize its namesake Game Boy entry to the fullest by any means. As a result, despite being enjoyable, it ends up feeling rather indistinct as a whole. The original The Adventure (and also Belmont's Revenge) have more iconic personality/charm overall. And for that matter, I know they wanted to put stairs back in, but ropes should have still been in it, considering it's supposed to be pulling from "The Adventure."

3.) The music is amazing. There are some really inspired choices for remixes. Unfortunately, it leaves way too many good Game Boy tunes off for a game that's supposed to be a Game Boy reimagining.

So, overall, I would have preferred if this was a combination of The Adventure and Belmont's Revenge, utilizing all the Game Boy ideas and bringing them up to Super Castlevania IV modernity, rather than picking and choosing a few token Game Boy elements and trying to make a new hodgepodge game out of them. The end result was fine for what it was, but it could have been a lot better.

[X]

There was also the story intro with the lake and a flat-looking angled castle in the middle. That was really cheap 

[LuxKiller65]

I just got a Wii and was wondering if there's any "official" way I can get to play Rebirth?

[Eric Roman]

I thought it was interesting how Konami decided to remaster their Game Boy launch titles for WiiWare (I thoroughly enjoyed Nemesis/Gradius ReBirth), but using the soundtable from Arcade Super C to render misplaced covers of known CV songs was just...ugh by my late 2000s expectations; probably an indication this wasn't exactly for me as I'd come to expect better/fresher compositionally--perhaps I missed the point.

Maybe this was aimed at the set for whom the Wii was their earliest gaming experience, as Adventure was for me on Game Boy. 

Also, I didn't get to owning a Wii (since the authenticity of the Virtual Console turned out to be dealbreaking falsehood) so I didn't get a chance to play ReBirth enough to learn to love it.  As I recall it did pull off some interesting things with the source material, however.