Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Classic Castlevania Threads => Topic started by: Crying Freeman on September 14, 2015, 06:38:59 AM
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Perosnally I'd say SCV4, with X68000 second (want to play it more, NOT with that horrid Kojima Simon redesign in Chronicles, need to load up an emulator (I'm aware Chronicles has the original as well, but I'd prefer to try it out with a keyboard again)). CV1 will ALWAYS be the classic though 8)
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Haunted Castle and Super Castlevania IV are completely different games. That they are shoved into the same category as CV1 has more to do with historical revisionism than anything else.
Also, since Vampire Killer was most likely developed alongside the Famicom Akumajo Dracula, it's debatable whether or not it's a version of CV1.
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GBA port.
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The original NES CV1.
I don't consider IV to be part of this.
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Looks like a lot of votes for Super Castlevania IV. However I don't see it as a remake, but a sequel to Castlevania II. Therefore I voted the original X68000 game as the definitive CV1 game (not the chronicles redesign as Simon is a man, not a pretty boy). AD X68000 has what the original NES title had, and then some giving a total of eight stages over the original six. It also includes some of the directional whipping introduced in SCV4, but only when it comes to whipping straight down or downward at an angle. Plus they have a cinematic scene explaining Dracula's revival
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I didn't take the GB or computer ports into account, but the GBA port of 1 is great with it's save system.
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X68000 hands down. It has better visuals, music, gameplay, and stays much more true to the original than any of the other "versions" mentioned.
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Bit of a side note, if we go by soundtrack, I think X68000 wins almost by default. It has some of the best tunes of the series (Chronicles remixes, like Simon's redesign, don't do the original justice at all). It definitely has the best version of vampire killer, arguably the best wicked child, and a VERY cool bloody tears mix, and that's not including the original music present. Plus, it probably has the most "heroic" mix of Simon's theme... Damn, I wanna play this game again... (while the difficulty is extreme for me at parts, its the good kind that makes me wanna keep playing like in Ninja Gaiden).
Graphically speaking, it's a really great looking game for the time and platform. The sprites are definitely better than SCV4, and the different levels pop out more than in 4, and moving to each stage feels as different as it did moving through stages in 1. Plus, the opening cutscene is IS old school horror flick, and the ending cutscene is much better than 4's, with MUCH more detail in the castle crumbling, the background, Simon, and we even see birds flying off in the distance. Nice touch. Gameplay is also super exciting because of the tight controls, and a more balanced multi directional whip.
I'm so nostalgic for 4, but I'm lately starting to notice it's simplicity. After paying it for so long, I even notice how it can start to drag at parts. Plus, like I said, the ending is super simple, the opening scene is super simple, even though they speak a thousand words. It still think it's a beautiful game and one of the best and more memorable of the 16 bit era, but something is happening to it for me. Still think it has the absolute best lead up to Dracula in the entire series. Starting to think if it wasn't my first, I might think very differently of it today.
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CV1 but yeah like said before Chronicles soundtrack is really good
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Vampire Killer and Chronicles are really the only two that recreate areas of the original game so they're more like remakes than the other two in terms of gameplay, as others have said.
But the original NES game will always be king.
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Chronicles.
Deal with it.
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Chronicles hands down. Contrary to popular consensus, I like the arrange version better, the artwork, the music, the prologue, everything.
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CV Chronicles
I'm aware that though the stage layout is more or less similar, the original X68000 game is more difficult in execution, because the enemies in higher loops have different behavior (something WTF really pissed me off ), and more aggressively AI-wise. The "Porting issues" in PS1 port caused the AI of minor enemies to be lazy like some of the IGA products. So I can understand why CV Chronicles was treated as a separate game from the Original X68000 counterpart, but I can accept the art style of Arrange Mode (Mainly because I love almost everything in PS1 CV Chronicles. ^o^)
Arrange Mode is more like SOTN IMO because there are little mercy frames Simon can jump even he already begins to fall from platforms, a function can be seen in SOTN. I have no direct evidence but I think it's a too-late rescue because the Simon hitbox have problems in Original mode of the PS1 port (Sometimes players just fall from forward+jump moveset at the fucking big hole in Block 8-2), and developers covered the problem in Arrange Mode by using altered moveset but dismissed Original Mode.
Not 100% working, but I was satisfied that there's a Castlevania game that I can play it, found different versions and told their difference, vanquished hundreds of loops, made "not to fall from the damn hole" pray words once step in Block 8-2, in the past 3 years.
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The NES version is the most memorable for me, but I honestly think the X68000 game is the best. The castle was brought to life much better in that one.
Also, I really liked the creepiness of the fetuses popping out of the jars, and the visual ways that the game would mess with you (the outdoor scene that was actually a peeling mural, the writhing bodies in one of the picture frames, etc.). And the werewolf using parts of the clock face to attack you...I could go on. Just really loved the X68000's version of the castle.
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The first CV for the NES was a game that my brother and his friend brought to the house. They got to Death and lost. I was frustrated as I wanted to play SMB and that they left and told me not to shut it off. I cant remember if I played up to and past or just through the 5th level but I beat the Reaper to their surprise. A few months later after renting the game again from the local VHS vid ya store (dagnabit) I defeated Dracula and his ghost jumping over the fireballs and whipping or booming his head with only one hit worth of health left on my end. I was soooooo happy. I went through the game a couple times after that to be sure I didnt win on a fluke. It wasn't. Suffice it to say that game as atmospheric as Chronicles and SCVIV's music is, it's the stiff move/jump mechanics and the fade out to boss music that really gets to me.
CVI.
Beating that game and Ninja Gaiden was a sign for me that I had a passion for gaming and I was pretty good at it. Now I am old and crusturd.
I hope this story will be told for a very long time.
Bob
---- 2029
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I voted for the original. Surprised to see X6800 edging out SCV4. It's an excellent game but SCV4 is much more popular.
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I voted for the original. Surprised to see X6800 edging out SCV4. It's an excellent game but SCV4 is much more popular.
I agree that SCIV seems to appear more popular. Though most people I know who like Castlevania either prefer Rondo or Chronicles, in terms of classic style CV.
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I voted for the original. Surprised to see X6800 edging out SCV4. It's an excellent game but SCV4 is much more popular.
Oh-ho, that it is, in my book. But since I don't see SCV4 as a remake of CVI I didn't vote for it. That's all ;)
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Oh-ho, that it is, in my book. But since I don't see SCV4 as a remake of CVI I didn't vote for it. That's all ;)
I was thinking about this a week or so ago. Both SCIV and Haunted Castle involve Simon facing off with Dracula, both obviously released after Simon's Quest. Haunted Castle's first stage is the graveyard which reminds me of the Vrad (Vlad) Graveyard in Simon's Quest. While SCIV's prologue/ intro screen before the first stage shows Dracula's tombstone exactly as depicted in Simon's Quest. Maybe I'm reading too far into this but I'm starting to believe they were originally planned as sequels to Simon's Quest, but Iga never considered them official.
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I was thinking about this a week or so ago. Both SCIV and Haunted Castle involve Simon facing off with Dracula, both obviously released after Simon's Quest. Haunted Castle's first stage is the graveyard which reminds me of the Vrad (Vlad) Graveyard in Simon's Quest. While SCIV's prologue/ intro screen before the first stage shows Dracula's tombstone exactly as depicted in Simon's Quest. Maybe I'm reading too far into this but I'm starting to believe they were originally planned as sequels to Simon's Quest, but Iga never considered them official.
My theory is that the gravestone was already made right after he died as Vlad Tepes and before he reborn as Dracula(before it was retconned that Mathias was Dracula), his gravestone which was destroyed in SCV4 was later rebuilt in Simon's Quest as well as moved in the different location(Dracula's gravestone in SCV4 was in cemetery while in Simon's Quest it was in the middle of the landscape).
Anyway my favorite CV1 was SCV4, second will be the Chronicles edition of X68000, yeah I like the Chronicles better than original X68000 for few reasons like the new design for Simon is quite effective when it's converted into playable sprite(just ignore the Ayami Kojima's art) and the sound effect when you hit the candle reminds me of CV1.
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@Shinobi You may be correct. I've always wondered who the figure on the gravestone was though. Whether it was supposed to be him, it sort of looks like a woman in Simon's Quest, so over time I just assumed it was an angel or maybe Lisa or Elisabetha.
Anywho I never saw it as a reboot, but may it is.