"It's good, for an NES game."
I see stuff like this a bunch, and to be honest it kinda sucks. I know as someone whose first system was the NES it may be hard to take my opinion seriously on such matters, as often this horrible thing called "nostalgia" clouds our vision of the true quality of games from our childhood. There's however a massive problem with this potential accusation towards me and Castlevania. I didn't grow up with it. My dad never owned it, and none of my friends had it for their consoles. Hell, I don't think I even knew what a "Castlevania" was until I read an issue of GamePRO with Castlevania 64 news in it.
There is no demented ghost voice or evil rabbit on my shoulder to go "oooOOOOOooo, tell them the game is good tho!" to everyone like with Crash Bandicoot 1 or something, even when they list valid and fair criticism as opposed to some hack using completely fake dribble like "Crash's cry of "WOAH" upon death disrupts my Netflix viewing experience" or some shit. That just simply doesn't exist for me here, because I didn't play this until I got emulation going on my PSP. As a matter of fact, may I perhaps offer a hot take? It's a take so hot that if you have central air in your home it'll probably kick on as soon you read it.
Belmont movement fucking rules.
Loose movement is neat, but the feel of me playing as someone who seems to be made of concrete and falls like they're under the effect of ten times normal Earth gravity does nothing but satisfy me as I land from a jump like a ton of bricks. Methodical platforming is my crack, to hell with that fast bullshit, I want to slowly strut my stuff and have to deal with the consequences of my actions if I don't think five seconds ahead.
From beginning to end, from Simon walking up to the front gates in that little intro cutscene and fighting the giant bat that reminds me of Golbat, to the very end when I send Dracula's head straight to Saturn and get rewarded with the shitpost credits brightening my day with "James Banana" and "Green Stranger" it never fails to entertain and I never tire of it. To say I could replay this X amount of times and never have second thoughts on doing so is as rare as the Jackalope for me, there are plenty of games in the same high end of my "enjoyment" spectrum that I can't say that about.
"Spyro on PS1? Sorry my friend, perhaps another time."
"Pokemon randomizer nuzlocke? Not feeling it."
"Shitty fighting games? Maybe next weekend."
"...Castlevania? Sure, I got thirty minutes to kill."
It's actually slightly difficult to resist the temptation of another playthrough upon viewing my list of completely-legal-and-dumped-myself NES games on my everdrive. Is a game that is infinitely replayable and only more enjoyable as you master it not the perfect game? Maybe if it came with cup holders and a winning lottery ticket it could be "perfect", but as it stands Castlevania to me gets as close as it gets. As some people say "good things come in small packages" or something, I guess they still say that.
Legendary.
Sorry for my random ramble, it was just something I was thinking on as I was replaying this for the 700th time as I was doing my laundry. NES games rule.
I see stuff like this a bunch, and to be honest it kinda sucks. I know as someone whose first system was the NES it may be hard to take my opinion seriously on such matters, as often this horrible thing called "nostalgia" clouds our vision of the true quality of games from our childhood. There's however a massive problem with this potential accusation towards me and Castlevania. I didn't grow up with it. My dad never owned it, and none of my friends had it for their consoles. Hell, I don't think I even knew what a "Castlevania" was until I read an issue of GamePRO with Castlevania 64 news in it.
There is no demented ghost voice or evil rabbit on my shoulder to go "oooOOOOOooo, tell them the game is good tho!" to everyone like with Crash Bandicoot 1 or something, even when they list valid and fair criticism as opposed to some hack using completely fake dribble like "Crash's cry of "WOAH" upon death disrupts my Netflix viewing experience" or some shit. That just simply doesn't exist for me here, because I didn't play this until I got emulation going on my PSP. As a matter of fact, may I perhaps offer a hot take? It's a take so hot that if you have central air in your home it'll probably kick on as soon you read it.
Belmont movement fucking rules.
Loose movement is neat, but the feel of me playing as someone who seems to be made of concrete and falls like they're under the effect of ten times normal Earth gravity does nothing but satisfy me as I land from a jump like a ton of bricks. Methodical platforming is my crack, to hell with that fast bullshit, I want to slowly strut my stuff and have to deal with the consequences of my actions if I don't think five seconds ahead.
From beginning to end, from Simon walking up to the front gates in that little intro cutscene and fighting the giant bat that reminds me of Golbat, to the very end when I send Dracula's head straight to Saturn and get rewarded with the shitpost credits brightening my day with "James Banana" and "Green Stranger" it never fails to entertain and I never tire of it. To say I could replay this X amount of times and never have second thoughts on doing so is as rare as the Jackalope for me, there are plenty of games in the same high end of my "enjoyment" spectrum that I can't say that about.
"Spyro on PS1? Sorry my friend, perhaps another time."
"Pokemon randomizer nuzlocke? Not feeling it."
"Shitty fighting games? Maybe next weekend."
"...Castlevania? Sure, I got thirty minutes to kill."
It's actually slightly difficult to resist the temptation of another playthrough upon viewing my list of completely-legal-and-dumped-myself NES games on my everdrive. Is a game that is infinitely replayable and only more enjoyable as you master it not the perfect game? Maybe if it came with cup holders and a winning lottery ticket it could be "perfect", but as it stands Castlevania to me gets as close as it gets. As some people say "good things come in small packages" or something, I guess they still say that.
Legendary.
Sorry for my random ramble, it was just something I was thinking on as I was replaying this for the 700th time as I was doing my laundry. NES games rule.
Reviewed on Oct 18, 2022
29 Comments
I feel for the newer generation of gamers (especially Nintendrones) who grew up with easy, polished games and now can't go back to old titles without feeling the ""age"". Stuff like the really stiff jump arc and high gravity are what give Castlevania its character, but it takes adjustment to go back to these games and not judge them with nearly 40 years of hindsight.
"NES games rule."
It had to be said :clap:
It had to be said :clap:
WOAH!
There's nothing quite like a game you can go back to eternally. For my wife, it's Sonic 2. For me, it's the NES version of Final Fantasy 1 Randomizer (I can't go back to vanilla with all the QoL improvements the randomizer has) or Final Fantasy 4 (vanilla, but Free Enterprise Randomizer is really fun).
Also, WOAH! (I admittedly have never played Crash Bandicoot beyond the first five minutes or so, but I like the idea of a "WOAH" interrupting somebody's Netflix experience and wanted to share in this feeling)
There's nothing quite like a game you can go back to eternally. For my wife, it's Sonic 2. For me, it's the NES version of Final Fantasy 1 Randomizer (I can't go back to vanilla with all the QoL improvements the randomizer has) or Final Fantasy 4 (vanilla, but Free Enterprise Randomizer is really fun).
Also, WOAH! (I admittedly have never played Crash Bandicoot beyond the first five minutes or so, but I like the idea of a "WOAH" interrupting somebody's Netflix experience and wanted to share in this feeling)
I don't like having to adjust to a new way of moving in a game, so Castlevania is a bad game. "hAS caSTLevAniA AGed well???????!?!??!?" "No, because it's different from new games" "yeah but it's interesting and challenging and unique, isn't that cool?" "no, because if a game is not like other games than it is bad"
I'm sorry, I still haven't finished my very well thought out argument as to why old games are bad. Next up on the chopping block, tank controls!!! "has rascal for PlayStation aged well???" "Is Rascal Still Good???????"
I'm sorry, I still haven't finished my very well thought out argument as to why old games are bad. Next up on the chopping block, tank controls!!! "has rascal for PlayStation aged well???" "Is Rascal Still Good???????"
Nothing feels better to me than the Belmont Strut.
well shit, a lot of comments here.
@josh: it's the top one sidescrolling movement for me, I'm a softy for "clunk" and I was one of the weirdos complaining about Metroid Dread feeling too loose. Love being restricted.
@raccoons: it's all Mario's fault, I blame him. Always his fault.
@C_F: thumbs up
@NegFactor: lol, Crash Bandicoot was the first thing I thought of for "game I have toxic nostalgia for, but know it's terribly flawed". I need to try out the buggy randomizer for CV now that I stumbled upon it.
@Bran: RASCAL IS GOOD!! (I think)
@josh: it's the top one sidescrolling movement for me, I'm a softy for "clunk" and I was one of the weirdos complaining about Metroid Dread feeling too loose. Love being restricted.
@raccoons: it's all Mario's fault, I blame him. Always his fault.
@C_F: thumbs up
@NegFactor: lol, Crash Bandicoot was the first thing I thought of for "game I have toxic nostalgia for, but know it's terribly flawed". I need to try out the buggy randomizer for CV now that I stumbled upon it.
@Bran: RASCAL IS GOOD!! (I think)
I've even seen people complain about tank controls for things like Tiny Tank.
You play as a tank in said game
Anyway, tank controls and belmont strut are godlike
You play as a tank in said game
Anyway, tank controls and belmont strut are godlike
tank controls are goat and I'm tired of hearing they're not
I've replayed Castlevania so many times over the years it's just become my go-to time filler. "Yeah I got 30 minutes, maybe I'll just give Castlevania another run." Probably one of the most satisfying games to master and never stops being fun.
I want to say it's one of my biggest comfort games, but honestly I feel like almost every classicvania game is that to me including Simon's Quest. CV1 in particular though is like a soft pillow in game form.
it might be good but it's just so outdated!
Glad to see someone else thinks Simon Belmont controls fantastically. I think it's also very well suited to speedrunning tech due to the specific arc of his jump and his gravity. Landing a Medusa skip or the bat skip in the first stage is orgasmic I swear. And it's so fun to get the secrets and rack up points, fuck what a good game.
@Dratnerd Video games don't age or go out of date.
@Dratnerd Video games don't age or go out of date.
@Vee thank you for helping me realize that Super IV is in fact a comfort game to me
actually i think re2 is outdated and has aged poorly especially with how kamiya is like and a remake exists
Just occurred to me, Vee -- if you're doing any emulation for Castlevania and you aren't already familiar with RetroAchievements, consider giving them a look and possibly signing up and scratching your mastery itch with some Castlevania achievements. Here's the link to the list of them for CV1.
https://retroachievements.org/game/1462
https://retroachievements.org/game/1462
@negfactor Unfortunately I do the bulk of my retro stuff on physical consoles, I do find the fact that achievements were made for all these classic games pretty intriguing though even if I was never much of a cheevo person.
You can blame Mortal Kombat (2011) for that with it's ultra-grindy garbage achievements for installing that indifference in me, lol.
@cheddar I'll probably end up replaying SCIV eventually and rating it higher after another playthrough.
You can blame Mortal Kombat (2011) for that with it's ultra-grindy garbage achievements for installing that indifference in me, lol.
@cheddar I'll probably end up replaying SCIV eventually and rating it higher after another playthrough.
Man, I either fuckin' rule or y'all got low standards. I'm gonna feel bad if I don't say this, so...
thank you.
thank you.
btw Vee great review! The third generation of video games I don't really play much of due to most games being very difficult or archaic to me, but Castlevania is one of the few exceptions. I love how Simon's controls are designed around the level and I'd say for the most part the game is hard but fair on the player, good work on this write up! Are you planning on writing about Castlevania 3 at all?
great review vee, I have not read any of it but I feel the same way. Looking forward to rondo of blood
noted i will use tone indicators next time for the young ones. i will leave you with soulless new old game
What
I'll replay the other Castlevanias when I'm done playing more shitty Atari Jaguar games.
BASED
the weight of belmont is something i wish was more replicated in action/plataforming games, like the castlevania post bloodlines
"The Weight of Belmont" is the coolest way you could possibly phrase not being able to control your jump.
Anyway, I'm a pretty big fan of control schemes that require the player to think differently to be able to use them to their fullest potential (or any potential at all if the game requires it, lol). Castlevania is far from the only series that does this, but it's one of the best and most misunderstood. Makes me sad when people just say "it's clunky."
Anyway, I'm a pretty big fan of control schemes that require the player to think differently to be able to use them to their fullest potential (or any potential at all if the game requires it, lol). Castlevania is far from the only series that does this, but it's one of the best and most misunderstood. Makes me sad when people just say "it's clunky."
Josh_The_Fourth
1 year ago