whoa this kinda good
this is a pretty excellent Classicvania right here, well at least the Arrange Mode is, Classic Mode can be a bit more difficult than it should be. I kinda made the mistake of making my first playthrough Classic Mode and then playing Arrange Mode after. suffice to say, my first playthrough was very rough, but thankfully my second playthrough was not only a more enjoyable time due to being more familiar with the level design, but also due to enemies dealing less damage to you as well as removing knockback when you get hit. that said it still has its annoying moments, like enemy placements that are almost guaranteed to get you hit, unexpected things popping out of nowhere to deal damage to you, and the entirety of Clock Tower and the Tower of Dolls, I hate dolls I do not trust those soft and dumb looking menaces to society
3/4 of this game's music styles are epic to listen to. yeah I said 3/4, going to be honest with you the default FM music for Original Mode is kinda STANKY for the most part. I don't know guys it doesn't sound right to me, and this is coming from a guy that loves his FM synthesizers. if it's your favorite version of the OST though, kudos to you, enjoy this game's music however you want to. if we're talking about the Roland GS music though, woo boy! such a huge improvement from the FM music, god every track from this version is great, it almost feels like CD quality at times, this is my go-to choice right here. I mostly quickly skimmed through the Roland LA music, but from what I've heard it seems like a balance between the FM and Roland GS music. it's alright. obviously Arrange Mode's music does not mess around either, the remixes are excellent. oddly enough, I feel like it isn't as consistent as the Roland GS music. while they were a few tracks that I truly loved, the rest of the remixes were just "neat" is all. I will say that Arranged Mode's Trashard in the Cave went SO much harder than it should have. man it doesn't even sound like it belongs in Castlevania, it sounds like a Street Fighter III track or something similar (this is good). now that I think about it, every version of Thrashard in the Cave is a banger, even the FM one. this game's OST is now apart of the top three along with Symphony of the Night and Akumajo Densetsu (in no particular order).
graphics are pretty nice to look at too. I was too focused on the game's music that I don't really have much to say about how the game looks sorry about that! I will say that I do prefer the original sprites for Simon more than the new ones he was given in Arrange Mode, as well as preferring his more classic styled design than the one Ayami Kojima. I love her art I think she's one of the best video game artists out there but I prefer my Simon Belmont to look like bootleg He-Man. her Simon's still pretty cool though, and the Dracula design she drew for him in this game is so epic, I might even like it more than the Symphony of the Night design. speaking of Dracula I like how both versions of his sprites look like you smash his jaw open when he gets to half health I think that's pretty funny and hardcore.
I had a really fun time with this one, I could see myself coming back to this game someday and polishing up my skills on Original Mode, I mean this is the first Castlevania I completed twice! it's tough to say whether I prefer this or Super Castlevania IV. there's more of a challenge in this one and the music is a lot more of what I prefer, but I really like how Simon played in SCIV and that game's Dracula fight was so much more memorable and climatic (the one in this game was kinda easy lol!), so I will say that SCIV has the slight edge, but this comes VERY close. I might be giving this game more credit than I should since I just got done with a mediocre Castlevania and a hot garbage one right before, but I don't care please give this game a shot it's pretty nice :^)
Dracula also hogs all the high scores in Time Attack are you really going to let him get away with that
this is a pretty excellent Classicvania right here, well at least the Arrange Mode is, Classic Mode can be a bit more difficult than it should be. I kinda made the mistake of making my first playthrough Classic Mode and then playing Arrange Mode after. suffice to say, my first playthrough was very rough, but thankfully my second playthrough was not only a more enjoyable time due to being more familiar with the level design, but also due to enemies dealing less damage to you as well as removing knockback when you get hit. that said it still has its annoying moments, like enemy placements that are almost guaranteed to get you hit, unexpected things popping out of nowhere to deal damage to you, and the entirety of Clock Tower and the Tower of Dolls, I hate dolls I do not trust those soft and dumb looking menaces to society
3/4 of this game's music styles are epic to listen to. yeah I said 3/4, going to be honest with you the default FM music for Original Mode is kinda STANKY for the most part. I don't know guys it doesn't sound right to me, and this is coming from a guy that loves his FM synthesizers. if it's your favorite version of the OST though, kudos to you, enjoy this game's music however you want to. if we're talking about the Roland GS music though, woo boy! such a huge improvement from the FM music, god every track from this version is great, it almost feels like CD quality at times, this is my go-to choice right here. I mostly quickly skimmed through the Roland LA music, but from what I've heard it seems like a balance between the FM and Roland GS music. it's alright. obviously Arrange Mode's music does not mess around either, the remixes are excellent. oddly enough, I feel like it isn't as consistent as the Roland GS music. while they were a few tracks that I truly loved, the rest of the remixes were just "neat" is all. I will say that Arranged Mode's Trashard in the Cave went SO much harder than it should have. man it doesn't even sound like it belongs in Castlevania, it sounds like a Street Fighter III track or something similar (this is good). now that I think about it, every version of Thrashard in the Cave is a banger, even the FM one. this game's OST is now apart of the top three along with Symphony of the Night and Akumajo Densetsu (in no particular order).
graphics are pretty nice to look at too. I was too focused on the game's music that I don't really have much to say about how the game looks sorry about that! I will say that I do prefer the original sprites for Simon more than the new ones he was given in Arrange Mode, as well as preferring his more classic styled design than the one Ayami Kojima. I love her art I think she's one of the best video game artists out there but I prefer my Simon Belmont to look like bootleg He-Man. her Simon's still pretty cool though, and the Dracula design she drew for him in this game is so epic, I might even like it more than the Symphony of the Night design. speaking of Dracula I like how both versions of his sprites look like you smash his jaw open when he gets to half health I think that's pretty funny and hardcore.
I had a really fun time with this one, I could see myself coming back to this game someday and polishing up my skills on Original Mode, I mean this is the first Castlevania I completed twice! it's tough to say whether I prefer this or Super Castlevania IV. there's more of a challenge in this one and the music is a lot more of what I prefer, but I really like how Simon played in SCIV and that game's Dracula fight was so much more memorable and climatic (the one in this game was kinda easy lol!), so I will say that SCIV has the slight edge, but this comes VERY close. I might be giving this game more credit than I should since I just got done with a mediocre Castlevania and a hot garbage one right before, but I don't care please give this game a shot it's pretty nice :^)
Dracula also hogs all the high scores in Time Attack are you really going to let him get away with that