Topic: Interesting CVI Challenge (long)

[Eric Lacarde]

Hey all, long time CV fan, first post here. Happy to be among others that share my passion for Konami's best series. Read on for a wicked hard old-school gaming challenge.

I think we can all agree that Castlevania for the NES is truly a hallmark of old school gaming and a benchmark example of the difficulty, technique, timing, and control that some 8-bit games of the era demanded. Such a challenging and entertaining game begs to be revisited often and I sometimes find myself wondering what ultimate mastery of this game would look like, or what a perfect run-through might consist of. Most challenges involve goals or contests of time, score, or grace, and we have many examples of speed runs, no death runs, no damage runs, and even more the antiquated high score runs.

I propose a challenge that would combine all these elements to one overall composite score in an attempt to determine an objective best overall challenge. We could call it the Vampyre Slayer challenge, or something else that sounds cool.
The idea I have is to combine your base score (total points) with 50,000 point bonuses for each extra life at the completion of the game, then subtract 100 points for every second it took you to beat the game. I believe this rewards a player for earning points and not dying, while not penalizing them for taking damage. It also rewards a player for finishing as quickly as possible without allowing players to simply keep dying at the end of a stage and starting over to rack up extra points (extra time needed would likely negate the effort). However, creative players will find ways to exploit multiple sub weapon kill bonuses, enemy re-spawn, etc. to reach higher scores. Of course we would require the game be beaten without using any continues, and the bonuses for extra lives would mean that a no death run is the best way to earn a higher score because of the time subtraction and extra life bonus point factor.

There are at least 12 hidden prizes worth at least 13,000 points (crown, treasure chest, bag of money, etc.) before the player reaches Dracula for the first time. Good players that collect the majority of these prizes, kill most enemies, and are diligent in collecting points from candles can reach above 230,000 points by beating the game. The player will have earned 5 extra lives from point bonuses; and when combined with the hidden prize 1-up, the player could finish with 9 extra lives in a no death run. If we award 50,000 points per extra life, and add this bonus to the base score, strategic players that do not die will finish with a combined score of somewhere above 680,000. A 25 minute speed run, costing 100 points per second will cost the player 150,000 points, resulting in a composite score of 530,000. We could call a score of over 550,000 a “perfect game” and would be something like collecting all the hidden prizes and earning as many points as you can on the way, without dying, in under 21 minutes. Ranking scores could be doubled for stages 19 – 36, tripled for 37 – 54 and so on.

To sum up, here is the Vampyre Slayer Challenge:

-Beat the game without using any continues.
-Each extra life is worth 50,000 bonus points
-Each second needed to beat the game costs 100 points.
-Add extra life bonus points to base score, then subtract time points to get your composite score.
     
  Composite Score Rankings
-   300,000 + points            = Hunter   
-   400,000 + points            = Slayer
-   Half a million + points      = Hero
-   550,000 + points            = Legend

If it turns out that people like this idea, I don't see why we couldn't apply this formula to all the classic Castlevania's except Simon's quest, albeit with point value alterations and such. Thoughts? Comments?

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Welcome!

We have a few people here who like a good challenge.  I wonder how they will fare should they choose to take this on.

[Eric Lacarde]

Just finished a no death speed run in 27 minutes. End ed up with 10 extra lives after beating Dracula with a score of 286,310. That gives me a composite score of 625,310. I guess I should increase the "Legend" status to at least 600,000?
 

[Eric Lacarde]

By exploiting one section in particular, (I won't tell you where) I was able to rack up quite a few points with the multiple hit bonuses. I finished a no death run in 26 minutes and 4 seconds with a score of 405,600, giving me 12 extra lives and a composite score of 849,200. I guess we should increase the Legend status to at least 850,000? Thoughts?