FInished Super Castlevania IV.
It's basically a much more refined version of the previous games, though technically is a remake of the first on newer hardware(the SNES). It feels like they took a lot of what they knew worked in earlier games and tightened it up a lot, though sadly the multiple path system from 3 is gone now. However, one thing that did survive from 3 that notably wasn't in the first game is that you start a ways from the castle and have to traverse multiple stages before you even set foot into the Entry Hall. In the original CV, you more or less started out at the front door, but CV3 made you work across half the game before reaching the castle and CV4 follows suit. However, once inside the castle the interior is notably different, which is a welcome change or else it might have felt like a pretty'd up version of 1 and 3. There's some new areas not seen before, notably a ballroom with dancing ghosts who will hurt you by bumping into you and a treasure room where you end up picking up a lot of point granting money bags, but hazards include the possibility of sinking into a scrooge mcduck-equse pile of loot on the floor. Said level also has a giant bat made out treasure that hurts you by hitting you with money, which means this all kinda feels like a joke to some extent, like the creators were enjoying the idea of making a money room where the money can kill you.
Mechanically the game feels smoother then the series has ever been, including the ability to attack in 8 directions and even block by holding the attack button. The game also includes rings on the walls that can be grabbed like a grappling hook to swing on to cross some gaps, so you have to judge swing speed and height to make successful jumps. In some ways this game a lot easier then the previous games, due to the ability to attack from multiple directions but some of the platforming is much more difficult it feels like.
One interesting feature I noticed is that while 3 introduced Boss rushes to the series(by having an evil flame ghost enter a series of coffins to summon the bosses into the arena, one by one, CV4 will have you fight a boss, then move to another room to fight the next boss in the sequence for it's boss rushes. Sometimes it will be nice enough to provide supplies between boss rooms, like health. Speaking of which, Health pickups are fond MUCH more often then the previous games. I think I found more health pickups in the first few levels of CV4 then the previous games in the series combined.
Edit: One small gripe I have with the game is the fact it showcases the capabilities of the SNES, but to such a small extent to feel like a gimmick. There are 3 particular bits that come to mind:
-Near the beginning there's a fence in the background and there are occasional gates that allow you to switch in front of and behind the fence. Mario World did much the same thing, but Mario World used it a number of times, whereas there's like 1 section that uses it in CV4 and it's never used again.
-Later one there's a room that Rotates around the player(and has spikes on the walls/ceilings/floors) and you have to hook onto one of the grapples until the room rotates enough to proceed. It's really cool. It showcases the Mode 7 tech of the Super Nintendo. It's used in 1 fucking room and never again.
-Right after that there's a room where it looks like you're on the inside of a cylinder that's rotating, again showcasing the then State of the Art(and at the time fucking hot shit) Mode 7 tech of the SNES. Again, used once and forgotten about.
I'm glad they tried stuff like that but it feels like they didn't really appreciate what they could do with those sections, so it just feels like a tech demo in those spots.
So yeah, a smoother, more refined version of CV1 with lessons learned from the previous games. I kind of appreciate how the clock tower went from "A bunch of gear looking platforms" in the first game, to having spinning gears and cogs in 3 to really feeling like part of a vast machine in 4.
A short break and then onto CV: Bloodlines.
It's basically a much more refined version of the previous games, though technically is a remake of the first on newer hardware(the SNES). It feels like they took a lot of what they knew worked in earlier games and tightened it up a lot, though sadly the multiple path system from 3 is gone now. However, one thing that did survive from 3 that notably wasn't in the first game is that you start a ways from the castle and have to traverse multiple stages before you even set foot into the Entry Hall. In the original CV, you more or less started out at the front door, but CV3 made you work across half the game before reaching the castle and CV4 follows suit. However, once inside the castle the interior is notably different, which is a welcome change or else it might have felt like a pretty'd up version of 1 and 3. There's some new areas not seen before, notably a ballroom with dancing ghosts who will hurt you by bumping into you and a treasure room where you end up picking up a lot of point granting money bags, but hazards include the possibility of sinking into a scrooge mcduck-equse pile of loot on the floor. Said level also has a giant bat made out treasure that hurts you by hitting you with money, which means this all kinda feels like a joke to some extent, like the creators were enjoying the idea of making a money room where the money can kill you.
Mechanically the game feels smoother then the series has ever been, including the ability to attack in 8 directions and even block by holding the attack button. The game also includes rings on the walls that can be grabbed like a grappling hook to swing on to cross some gaps, so you have to judge swing speed and height to make successful jumps. In some ways this game a lot easier then the previous games, due to the ability to attack from multiple directions but some of the platforming is much more difficult it feels like.
One interesting feature I noticed is that while 3 introduced Boss rushes to the series(by having an evil flame ghost enter a series of coffins to summon the bosses into the arena, one by one, CV4 will have you fight a boss, then move to another room to fight the next boss in the sequence for it's boss rushes. Sometimes it will be nice enough to provide supplies between boss rooms, like health. Speaking of which, Health pickups are fond MUCH more often then the previous games. I think I found more health pickups in the first few levels of CV4 then the previous games in the series combined.
Edit: One small gripe I have with the game is the fact it showcases the capabilities of the SNES, but to such a small extent to feel like a gimmick. There are 3 particular bits that come to mind:
-Near the beginning there's a fence in the background and there are occasional gates that allow you to switch in front of and behind the fence. Mario World did much the same thing, but Mario World used it a number of times, whereas there's like 1 section that uses it in CV4 and it's never used again.
-Later one there's a room that Rotates around the player(and has spikes on the walls/ceilings/floors) and you have to hook onto one of the grapples until the room rotates enough to proceed. It's really cool. It showcases the Mode 7 tech of the Super Nintendo. It's used in 1 fucking room and never again.
-Right after that there's a room where it looks like you're on the inside of a cylinder that's rotating, again showcasing the then State of the Art(and at the time fucking hot shit) Mode 7 tech of the SNES. Again, used once and forgotten about.
I'm glad they tried stuff like that but it feels like they didn't really appreciate what they could do with those sections, so it just feels like a tech demo in those spots.
So yeah, a smoother, more refined version of CV1 with lessons learned from the previous games. I kind of appreciate how the clock tower went from "A bunch of gear looking platforms" in the first game, to having spinning gears and cogs in 3 to really feeling like part of a vast machine in 4.
A short break and then onto CV: Bloodlines.
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