Topic: Super Castlevania IV Reborn

[Dark Nemesis]

While surfing youtube, i stumble across this interesting project:
Découverte - Demo Super Castlevania IV Reborn

Info and updates, about the project here:https://el-gr.facebook.com/SuperCastlevaniaIvReborn

[X]

I can understand that this game is still in an early stage of development, however from what I've seen I"m not really blown away by it. The spookiness in the cemetery scene doesn't translate as well as it did on the SNES. The music just didn't quite capture that campy Halloween feel. The rock & role variation of Simon's theme also takes away from that SCV4 feel and just doesn't seem to fit well either. And last but not least, the flaming village intro stage. Unnecessary. It's trying to emulate the action of Dracula X and put it into SCV4 which is not needed either. SCV4 wasn't about action as Rondo or Dracula X was, it was about capturing that spooky, campy, hammer horror Halloween feel. When playing SCV4 I could literally feel that bleed out of the game and into the room. I'm not feeling that here at all. I think it would be better if the makers of this game were to call it SCV5. A sequel is better then trying to go down the ReBirth road. After all look what happened with Adventure rebirth. It was a fun game but did not live up to it's original forebearer.

[darkmanx_429]

I agree with X, I no offense but this looks boring. And the over use of foreground elements for parallax is distracting more than anything it doesn't really add to environments. This looks like a mesh of SV4 and a bad one at that.

Now, I believe this could have potential if they push it further and try to incorporate some new elements in the game, as well as really taking the time and using the spritework in the game to really create some new and interesting stages. The "engine" also seems to flow pretty smoothly. I don't know what framerate it's pushing...

[Inccubus]

I have to agree. I think that the developer is kind of missing the point of the original game.
I'm cool with remaking the game and expanding upon it some, but much of this is superfluous.
For example: the tree foreground would have worked a lot better if they start solid and gradually fade all the way out as you first enter the woods.
Also, in the first stage he already used tiles from 2 whole stages which could lead to too much repetition from stage to stage.
The music is also not a great choice. Either use the original spc music or simple midi or mod remasters rather than full on arrangements.

[Belmontoya]

The music is also not a great choice. Either use the original spc music or simple midi or mod remasters rather than full on arrangements.

Are you serious? The music was the best part about it. Putting effort into new arrangements is what real work is.

[X]

The music was the best part about it. Putting effort into new arrangements is what real work is.

And that's very true. I do agree with that statement, however if the music does not fit the game then the effort is a wasted one. I strongly feel that a rock variation of SCV4's music just doesn't work with trying to recreate SCV4. The music needs to fit the theme and the theme of SCV4 is horror and fear. It would work for a CV game that's more action oriented like Rondo, but not for this title. If these guys plan to go all out with this recreation then they really need to do their homework first. They need to understand what made this game so prominent when it was first released. They need to get inside the minds of those whom developed it and see what was done to make it the hit that it was. You can't just remake something in your own image and expect it to work, You need to honor the original masterpiece and learn to work with it, to try and improve/update that which made it good and then make it better. This is why LoS never cut it for me.

[Belmontoya]

Right on. I totally agree with you on that X. The rock guitar is a turn off here and almost always is in cv games in my opinion.

When I was saying that the music is the best thing about this, I wasn't saying much. The production quality is low, the programming is just meh, and even the guitar playing is sloppy.. Some of the arrangements are decent but it doesn't even come close to doing cv4 justice.

Still though, the music is the best thing about it.

[X]

When I was saying that the music is the best thing about this, I wasn't saying much. The production quality is low, the programming is just meh, and even the guitar playing is sloppy.. Some of the arrangements are decent but it doesn't even come close to doing cv4 justice.

Still though, the music is the best thing about it.

Ah, I gotcha.

[Inccubus]

I agree with X completely. I wasn't speaking to the quality of the music, just the choice to pair it with this project.
If they were going to remake the game in the style of SotN then it would work better, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
They can do whatever they want, though and more power to them. It just won't appeal to some which is a fundamental aspect of creating anything really and that's ok.

[Corpsecrank]

I can understand that this game is still in an early stage of development, however from what I've seen I"m not really blown away by it. The spookiness in the cemetery scene doesn't translate as well as it did on the SNES. The music just didn't quite capture that campy Halloween feel. The rock & role variation of Simon's theme also takes away from that SCV4 feel and just doesn't seem to fit well either. And last but not least, the flaming village intro stage. Unnecessary. It's trying to emulate the action of Dracula X and put it into SCV4 which is not needed either. SCV4 wasn't about action as Rondo or Dracula X was, it was about capturing that spooky, campy, hammer horror Halloween feel. When playing SCV4 I could literally feel that bleed out of the game and into the room. I'm not feeling that here at all. I think it would be better if the makers of this game were to call it SCV5. A sequel is better then trying to go down the ReBirth road. After all look what happened with Adventure rebirth. It was a fun game but did not live up to it's original forebearer.

I don't think there are any better words to describe the game then what this says right here. I felt the same thing when I played the game those are the very reasons I found SCV4 fun I never cared about the action and the special effects where a great way for the devs to show off what they knew about the snes hardware so we could see what it was really capable of. These are great qualities but they don't mix well with other things they only fit together and they only make sense together. One of those kinds of things. That is also the reason it felt so different from X or rondo. Because it was but also because there was no way for one game to use anything from the other without messing up the whole experience.

I like SCV4 exactly the way it is the only thing I would rather see if anyone did do this is HD graphics and better audio since the snes wasn't as capable of those things. Everything else was awesome and the game played fine.