#the level of precision leaves it janky with how sonic controls

[sonic-adventure-3]

4-E is insane omg. sonic explodes and dies. also the spindash in levels clearly designed for it goes so hard. the level has a shit ton of paths and rails and shit to spindash off for insane height over the entire fucking thing. it’s so good if i were better at this game and were it not 4am i know i would spend so much time optimizing that. all the cyberspace levels i’ve tried have an indescribable sense of freedom i don’t think i’ve seen in a sonic game. not that i’ve really played enough not-spinoff sonic games to know, but like, it’s a totally different beast compared to the base game cyberspace.

WAIT I KNOW. IT REMINDS ME OF MARBLE BLAST!!!! genuinely while it’s still definitely sonic and you can play it sonic-y, some of these levels almost feel like something out of marble blast. it’s not 1:1 of course, but it’s the best comparison i can think of

unforgivable that it doesn’t restart the timer when you wipe out despite there being no checkpoints though. the difficulty is something i can acclimate to but the lack of a quick restart or restart upon death feature sucks

[spinningbuster98]

Castlevania (NES) Part 2: Old school sclerosis

Is Classic Castlevania gameplay outdated?

I think that many newcomers might immediately say yes. How can it not be outdated? It controls super stiff and it’s bullshit hard!

Not to play the part of an old school elitist telling others to git gud, but those stiff controls? They’re not the product of their time, they’re intentionally made that way, they are largely the point of this gameplay

First off: this game was made in 1986, the first Super Mario Bros came out a year earlier and allowed you to control your jumps in mid air. Mega Man would come out just a year after and it also has mid air jump controls, so this can’t be a case of “old NES era limitations”. Even if it were then how would you explain the games keeping these controls well after Super Castlevania 4?

The reason the Belmonts can’t change the direction of their jumps mid air and can’t whip in more than a single direction is the same reason why Mega Man can’t aim in multiple directions or why Sonic can’t stop on a dime in the Genesis games: these are intentional limitations that work in-tandem with the level design and enemy placement in order to provide the player with a specific challenge. You can’t aim in multiple directions in Mega Man so you have to aim very carefully and make use of your other weapons. You can’t stop on a dime in Sonic because the focus is learning how to make the physics-based gameplay work to your advantage.

The reason why the jump is so stiff in these games is because the games want the players to be really precise and meticulous with their jumps, while also being very precise in regards to how you deal with enemies: you’ll notice that your whip attacks aren’t instantaneous, there’s a brief wind up before it hits which not only makes each hit have more punch imo but it also serves to test the player’s timing in a subtle way: if you just spam the attack button you’ll get inconsistent hit rates, you have to time your button presses precisely in order to execute attacks at a fast rate, following a sort of rythm. Keep in mind: this idea of purposefully delaying the player’s attack in order to force them to find a rythm of sorts is still used in games today, like Dark Souls

The Classic Castlevania gameplay is not outdated, it’s about tough as nails platforming and combat that requires precision, quick reflexes and for the player to find ways to circumvent the limited movement. Make no mistake: everything can be avoided and defeated with this control scheme. That’s not to say that if you don’t like it you’re a disgrace to the series’ name or “not a real gamer” or anything like that, I’m just saying that not every design decision of old retro games was due to an “outdated mentality”

... that said however the original Castlevania is indeed pretty janky at times by virtue of still being a mid 80s game

Sometimes the enemy placement is just straight up unfair, especially whenever stairs are involved: these are another intentional design element, with the fact that you can’t jump or off of them thus having to carefully maneouver on them while dealing with enemies...but when you’re dealing with enemies that have pretty much random patterns like those bone throwing skeletons and with the fact that sub weapons will often refuse to activate while you’re climbing some stairs since the command to activate your sub weapon requires you to hold up on the D Pad and that’s also what you do to climb them

Then there’s the bosses

I must give credit where it’s due: these guys have lots of personality for the time. NES bosses back then were usually not very special: Mario just had you throw Bowser in lava about 8 times. Zelda just had you fight random monsters before you finally reach Ganon. Castlevania actually features completely unique and memorable bosses for each stage a whole year before Mega Man and the fact that they’re all iconic horror monsters definitely helps out

But the actual quality of the fights leaves a lot to be desired: the giant Bat is a joke but ok it’s the first boss. Medusa won’t even know what hit her since she’s the only boss vulnerable to the Stop Watch

The Mummies of Stage 3 are where shit starts hitting the fan: these guys have no real pattern that I know of, they just lumber back and forth randomly and throw bandages at you making the process of dodging them almost impossible. Frankenstein’s monster is even worse: the Creature itself will just go back and forth like a moron but its little helper will start hopping all over the place at complete random and its invincible! This is where the tried and true Classicvania strategy starts shining through: when in doubt douse it with Holy Water

Holy Water, in these games especially, can be disgustingly OP, thus making it the best weapon against the bosses. However using it against them will often require you to do a no-death run of the stage since you usually only find it at the start of the stage (and for the love of God don’t accidentaly pick up another weapon in the process, ESPECIALLY the knife), which can...certainly be an experience though to be fair here: the stages of Castlevania 1 are pretty short and there’s only 6 of them in total

Also Wicked Child is my favorite track in the game, more than even Vampire Killer, come at me!