Topic: Super Castlevania IV's graphics overrated?

[Abnormal Freak]

I really don't think nostalgia plays into it. Great pixel art is great pixel art.

I just started playing Blood for the first time and it's a beautiful looking game. Great sprites, awesome environments, and even some voxels. If someone were to only play modern FPSs and then go back to that and balk at the graphics and gameplay and say that people only dig it out of nostalgia, that'd be pretty ridiculous.

The nostalgia angle just doesn't work, ever.

...Unless we're talking shitty American cartoons from the '80s. ;)

[Thomas Belmont]

...Unless we're talking shitty American cartoons from the '80s.

You're crazy. The 80's had the best cartoons of all time.

[Thomas Belmont]

You're crazy. The 80's had the best cartoons of all time.

-1? How the @#$% could anybody disagree with this!? The 80's had the best everything! Toys, cartoons, movies, video games, etc.

[X]

The 80's had the best everything! Toys, cartoons, movies, video games, etc.

I don't disagree. I grew up in the 80's and these cartoons gave me lots of fond memories 

I think the main reason is why SCV IV's graphics are the way the are is because with all the new hardware the SNES could sport, Konami wanted to see if the could finally create the right mood for the series that they could only dream about when they only had the NES to work with. SCV IV's graphics were essentially the epitome of what the other previous titles could not live up to. The NES had a limited palette to work with and this ultimately showed on the earlier CV games, though they did the best they could at that time. Even the gameboy titles were even more strapped due to using only gray scale. Until the SNES came along there was just no way that Konami could bring about the type of feel that SCV IV was able to convey.

[Abnormal Freak]

I wasn't going to reply since I didn't wanna change the subject, but since you've addressed it twice in a row...

I just don't dig those shows. Cartoons meant to sell a product with usually terrible writing. He-Man, G.I. Joe, The Real Ghostbusters... Cartoons that have always left a bad taste in my mouth and heinously drawn to boot. I was glad to grow up on Batman, Exosquad, Ren & Stimpy, etc. instead. Shows that had more substance and artistic merit.

Even my brother who grew up during the '80s was kind of envious of the stuff I had as a kid. :p Even Transformers and TMNT are bland, although I hold a special place for them regardless. That and it's impossible to deny the greatness of The Transformers: The Movie.

[Thomas Belmont]

I wasn't going to reply since I didn't wanna change the subject, but since you've addressed it twice in a row...

I just don't dig those shows. Cartoons meant to sell a product with usually terrible writing. He-Man, G.I. Joe, The Real Ghostbusters... Cartoons that have always left a bad taste in my mouth and heinously drawn to boot. I was glad to grow up on Batman, Exosquad, Ren & Stimpy, etc. instead. Shows that had more substance and artistic merit.

Even my brother who grew up during the '80s was kind of envious of the stuff I had as a kid. :p Even Transformers and TMNT are bland, although I hold a special place for them regardless. That and it's impossible to deny the greatness of The Transformers: The Movie.

I was fortunate enough to have been born in a time where I was able to grow up with both generations and all I can say is man, you and your brother have some shitty taste.

[thernz]

I agree with Abnormal Freak. Everyone hop on the shit train. I didn't even have cable, so I never saw any of those shows until now.

But yeah, even in the NES Castlevanias, you could see that they were increasingly going toward that darker feel that Super Castlevania IV established. Castlevania II is kinda really really darn obvious about it, but III uses a lot of rich black and shadowing too.

I don't mind the percieved darkness in Super Castlevania IV, it pulls out a strong color palette and even manages to inject some really saturated colors to contrast with everything else. There's a great deal of abstract-ness and patterning in the landscapes too. I loved that Super Castlevania IV retained some of that odd tiling found in the NES titles.



If there's anything I don't entirely love about it, it's the sprites. They're muddy, and lack the technical polish of titles like Rondo's sprites.

[Sinful]

I really don't think nostalgia plays into it. Great pixel art is great pixel art.

Hm, I don't know? I'd like to think so too, but I can't help think & feel that part of the things I enjoyed the most as a kid has some sort of phycological hold over me now to have the same preferences again even if I'm not fully aware of it... I mean, the best things in life were through the eyes of our youth. Our youth seemed to have more of an imagination and knew how to make everything much more interesting then we can now (why so many instead rely on dope and/or alcohol to try to achieve the same results, lol, and thank goodness I have good childhood memories to not have to rely on these other methods). So even now a days, things I can relate to my youth, I seem to enjoy a lot more. So same with others I assume, and why the word nostalgia always gets lumped with great things...

[uzo]

Sinful
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[JayDominus]

Meh, they are not bad. The mode 7 FX are the main treat and a sweet one at that, as for the rest of it... I didn't see anything that couldn't be done on Sega Genesis.

[Ratty]

Nope, Castlevania IV may not be my favorite ClassicVania but it's far from unpleasant to look at. Particularly when you consider it was an SNES launch title, while XX came out towards the end of the console's lifecycle. That's where you're comparing apples and oranges. Once developers get more experience with hardware they naturally get better at developing for it in all respects, this is (presumably) why CotM* had a too-dark color palette and why Adventure* had such crippling slowdown, and also why the follow-ups to these games fixed those respective problems. Considering the above it's even more impressive that Konami managed to hit it so far out of the park on their first try on the SNES.

Also while I really like the game (odd I know) I'd have to say the ClassicVania with the worst graphics would have to be Castlevania Legends, the devs obviously weren't able to spend as much time (or cart space) on graphics when Nintendo/Konami wanted those Super Gameboy "enhancements" shoehorned in as well.

*Two other first-on-the-system games in the series, with CotM being a launch title like SCVIV

[Flame]

all I can say is man, you and your brother have some shitty taste.

>implying Batman TAS is a shit taste

I will fight you, sir.

[C Belmont]

As I understand it Castlevania IV was well received when it was first released. There was nothing to be nostalgic about then so I think you've just discovered a game that the rest of the world seems to love but you don't. It happens, I personally found SOTN pretty ordinary. Just because others don't share the same opinion doesn't mean they're simply being deluded by nostalgia.

[Archangel]

Wow, we really need a new Castlevania... I mean, come on? This topic... argh.

Edit: Whoops!

@Topic: CV4 is a great game. I´ll never understand those people who are complaining or nitpicking about older game´s graphics. Take the game as it is, or leave it. Oh, there´s no HD remake of it? Bad luck, I guess.

[shelverton.]

I am actually more impressed by SCV4 graphics now than I was back in the early 90's. Looking back at the 16 bit era, SCV4 is one of the best looking games I can think of. Some of the backgrounds are strange, I admit that, and I'm not always 100% sure exactly what I'm looking at. But that only makes the graphics that much more interesting.

I'd say EVERYTHING in the world is more or less overrated if you nitpick too much. So in that regard - yes, the graphics are probably overrated. Some of the levels look less awesome than others. But c'mon! It's such a classy and timeless game. Don't hate on it!