I feel like this game doesn't get enough credit these days. It's like everyone is in such a rush to tell you about how the 8-way directional whipping is actually... le bad! that they miss how insanely high quality everything is. The level design, bosses, graphics and music are unreal for a 1991 game. Truly a next gen experience at the time and fuck it for all time because Super Castlevania IV is awesome.
I feel we're already past that time, there's still some people that keep parroting the Egoraptor narrative but for the most part IV is still the acclaimed classic it always was. You just have the clickbait youtuber shit like "bloodlines is the REAL castlevania 4!" or stuff but that's just clickbait. Bloodlines is good and you don't need to dislike IV to like it.Actual Classicvania fans love IV and always have, the "it's too easy" opinion is one that got deformed over time, the original consensus was "it's easier than the NES games, but still challenging", that got deformed into an hyperbole of "easier castlevania evar!" when Rondo or Bloodlines are about the same in overall difficulty. But again, a lot of it is clickbait engagement.
>>12720573>Bloodlines is good and you don't need to dislike IV to like it.The problem is Bloodlines, Rondo, and X68000 are all so much better that the SNES games (and NES games for that matter) feel underwhelming and disappointing by comparison.
>>12720563>they miss how insanely high quality everything is. The level design, bossesNo, and the multi-directional whipping is part of the reason why. The encounters don't work a lot of the time because they weren't designed with the whip in mind.>graphics and music are unreal for a 1991 game. Truly a next gen experience at the timeSure, I'll give you that, if you go out of your way to ignore everything else. If a game managed to distract you from its issues then that's not a point in favor of the game, that's a point against you and your critical thinking skills.
>>12720563>level design fails to leverage common enemies>insanely high quality>challenge in the back end is dependent on awkward touch of death sprites>insanely high quality
>>12720665>example: one of the first stages of the gameElite youtube knowledge.>>12720662X68000 is the most overrated game in the entire series. It feels like a genuine bootleg.
>>12720563people don't really hate CV4. they hate the larger trend its reception represents. that all of game design can be reduced to a measure of approachable fluidity and anything that chooses a different path is primitive or dated. it would be a dead topic if it were only judged as a castlevania game.
>>12720669>>example: one of the first stages of the gameLol there's a big part in the later clock tower stage where you climb upward. Each platform has an encounter but they're all rendered moot because nothing stops you from just safely whipping them from below. The entire game is like this, going "th-that's an early stage!" is delusional.
>>12720669>the most polished and detailed game in the series feels like a 'genuine bootleg'You're a genuine dumbass
>>12720696The most polished and detailed is SCIV, not that bootleg game nobody played.
>>12720662>The problem is Bloodlines, Rondo, and X68000 are all so much better that the SNES gamesThat's highly subjective, debatable, and realistically IV would probably be preferred over Bloodlines and X68K.IMO they are all great, but obviously not "perfect" - if such thing exists.>>12720665The argument of that webm gets neutered when you have into account games like Rondo and Bloodlines let you jump while climbing stairs, removing most of the challenge of being on a stair.
>>12720698>falseflagging to get people to shit on IV
Its a snes tech demo
>>12720665Counterpoint: places that allow you to "abuse" directional whipping are a sign that the game was indeed designed with it in mind, because they give you an opportunity to take advantage of one of your abilities to have the edge over an enemy. Now if upward whipping allowed you to trivialize every single fight in the game, that would be another thing.
It needed to be shorter. A lot of the later levels are just a pointless slog. By the time I get to the treasury I'm pretty much over it.
It's possible that this could be one of the few games that require speed running to be fun. If I could play this through in 45 minutes with speed running it might be tolerable.
>>12720787>places that allow you to "abuse" directional whipping are a sign that the game was indeed designed with it in mind, because they give you an opportunity to take advantage of one of your abilities to have the edge over an enemy.That's not how that works, retard. That's not an "edge", there are no drawbacks, no interplay, no risk vs reward. If an enemy is 100% free off rip then it might as well not exist at all. Better "game design" would been to actually remove those enemies entirely.Other Castlevania games actually do allow you to get an "edge" with the way you route your subweapons. Often the most useful subweapon for a specific encounter spawns a long ways before it, so the games reward you for planning ahead.That's thoughtful game design right there. SCIV's free enemies stem from a lack of design, not because of it. They're nothing more than an oversight.
>>12720818>They're nothing more than an oversight.Pure youtube armchair game design analysis. That enemy was in the game long before it was even close to completion, as evidenced by the Gigaleak build. Also once you scroll the screen up a little you find another one of the same enemy, only this one is above a platform you have to jump to and from. The first one safely shows you can beat them by whipping up, then another one in an unsafe example. That's classic game design that I thought you'd learn from youtubers, but I guess not.
>>12720818Wait until you learn about safe spots in shmups
>>12720563It is true that subweapons are not as useful, but the real question is whether or not you're making decisions that feel fun or engaging, and controlling the direction of the whip still satisfies enough because the level design is thoughtful and there's still variety to hazards. It's less of a ballbuster and more atmospheric, but that doesn't disqualify it. It's one of my favorites in part because its sui generis balance between mood and classic action.
>>12720798I like the length of it, but I also rarely play through the game in one sitting.
>>12720665>The encounters don't work a lot of the timeThis is a blatantly lie. The enemies that can be cheesed are few and far between. The platforming is still hard and CV3 had way more broken shit like Syphas homing balls, Alucards flying and Grant's wall climb and infinite daggers but nobody points this out because a youtuber didn't tell them to.
>>12720563>how the 8-way directional whipping is actually... le bad!It's amazing how other series that upgraded the character's moveset (MegaMan, Mario, Zelda, etc) didn't go through this scrutiny. All other series were supposed to evolve, but not Castlevania! not our precious little Castlevania!
>>12720665this webm broke the cv4 tards
>>12721051Is funny how you can do the exact same thing in CV3 and Bloodlines but you don't see anyone complain about it. Is almost as if retards parrot shit opinions from e-celebs without playing the games themselves.
>>12721056yet there is no webm of that...curious
>>12721061Yeah because they don't play the game to know about it
>No you see, Bloodlines is the best game in the series because is hard with Lucardes infinite spear iframe that grants me god mode in every boss fight. Unlike that super easy and casual Castlevania 4 for babies! I am a REAL CV fan so trust me. Did I mention you can skip half the stages by spear jumping platforms and ignoring most enemies? well you can. Classic Nes Hard stuff. You kids are not ready.
Castlevania III ruined an entire generation of players
>>12720563Game's not balanced for 8 way whipping or every subweapon costing 1 heart or having chicken coming out of candles.If even I was able to beat the game, in not that many tries, then it's easy.>>12720573The real 4th mainline game is Rondo.
>>12721089rondo was the first castlevania I could 1cc, I deem it the easiest
>>12720563It was praised endlessly in the 90s by snes people who never played any other castlevania.once emulation got big, everyone has played 1-4, Rondo, Dracula X snes, bloodlines, and chronicles.The result of everyone played them all, 90% of people agreed that 3, Rondo, chronicles, and bloodlines are 10/10. 1 is an 8/10, 4 is a 7/10, Dracula x snes is a 5/10, and 2 is a 0/10 (and no, the romhacks don't "fix" it).
>>12720573It literally is the easiest castlevania, and people point it out because we know that the people who claim it's the best only do so because of the fact that it's easy.>>12720665Someone should just make a CV4 hard hack that takes the multi whip away. Might have to slightly adjust certain levels but it should be easy.>>12721072He's easy mode. The game still includes a hard mode character, which cv4 lacks.>>12721089Rondo is 5. It could also use a hard mode hack the just removes item crashes
>>12721534>It literally is the easiest castlevania, and people point it out because we know that the people who claim it's the best only do so because of the fact that it's easyIt isn't, the narrative that it's the "easiest" is new and objectively incorrect.There's not a 100% certain method to measure "difficulty", so I guess we'd end up in subjectivities and agree-to-disagree, but I honestly don't see how IV is easier than Rondo (easiest for me) or Bloodlines (main reason most people find it difficult is the limited continues on the US version).The original Castlevania fan consensus on IV is: not as hard as the NES games, but still not an easy game.Also, if you ask me, I think CV1 is easier than IV unless you tell me I can't use holy water stunlock.
>>12721561"holywater" stun lock doesn't get you through the levels. These games are not a boss rush. You're grasping at straws and it's fucking pathetic. You really revealed how desperate you are to save face with your "there's no way to define difficulty" cope. And I mean a legit example of cope.You clearly have an emotional attachment to this game, because you owned a copy for snes.I've never owned any of them, i played them all digitally. I have no emotional baggage. 1, 3, Bloodlines, Rondo, and chronicles are all better than 4. 4 has boring levels, ugly graphics, and 1 note gameplay. Its mid. Another mid game hyped up to high fucking heaven by tendies because you owned a copy asca kid.
>>12721757>Another mid game hyped up to high fucking heaven by tendieSNES in a nutshell
>>127217573 is the king of boring levels, hyped up to hell online only because it's le difficult.
>>12721757>You clearly have an emotional attachment to this game, because you owned a copy for snes.What kind of weird backwards strawman is this?I never said anything about IV even being my favorite, in the first place.I always emulated because I'm from a poorfag country so if anything, my "emotional baggage" lies in the actual times before Youtubers and influencers shaped modern discourse about old games.Super Castlevania IV was always well liked, but it was criticized for something that nowadays nobody mentions: it went back to being linear instead of following the CV3 approach.Controls, multidirectional whip, difficulty, etc was always well regarded.Nowadays the youtuber-influenced discourse is "it's.... THE EASIEST!!!!" and it's weird because you see these kind of people playing the game and they always get a lot of game overs throughout their playthroughs
>>12721757>holywater" stun lock doesn't get you through the levelsHoly water trivializes the medusa head hallway before Death (you can stunlock the knights, and jump over them).Useful in other situations like this too. It's not just useful against bosses >muh tendie muh consul wurssGrow up retard
it's amazing, every castlevania thread is shit on this site. Always fighting like console-war retards over which game that has nothing to the with the other one is better than the other.
>>12720798This is definitely true for 6, but all the other ones sans A and B could probably stand to be cut down by about 25%. 8 should just be cut altogether.
>>12721525X68000/Chronicles is actual garbage. I have no idea why people like it. Every single gimmick it adds sucks massive ass and the game is just obnoxious to play. It's like a bad remake of the first game.
>everyone agrees these games are 10/10>everyone agrees these games are 0/10Not really how it works.If your idea of bashing castlevania 4 is citing what most people say, boy do I have bad news for you
>>12720662>Bloodlines, Rondo, and X68000 are all so much better that the SNES games (and NES games for that matter) feel underwhelming and disappointing by comparison.
>>12722513It's made to be ball-crushingly difficult and fucks you hard on purpose. Some people enjoy that.
>>12722513The level design holds my attention more than Bloodlines or Rondo. It's less distinctive, though, and arguably less essential. The rising water part is probably the one big moment of the game I dislike, but otherwise it's a fun time.
>>12721812it's better than 4 because it has lots of variety. 4 is a monotonous game.>>12722513yeah, you're just bad. Chronicles has smart level design, great graphics, great music. 4 has boring level design, ugly graohics, and the music just meets expectations for castlevania.
>sucks>boring>shit>bad>uglyWow great arguments and proof, retards.All these games are awesome, both 4 and X68K are good games.Good luck trying to convince intelligent people to hate either of those with your non-arguments.>but I didn't like itttttk
4 is dead because anyone playing it today is doing the series in order, and the drop in challenge from 3 to 4 is just too big.
>>12723821Maybe, but considering 99% of people playing video games today use save state/rewind, does it matter?The last levels in 4 are still pretty challenging, though.
>>12723831>>12723821It's not the difficulty, it's the stupidity.The game is 1 note. It gets mindless whipping everything effortlessly from any angle. Other games made you use the subweapons or get good at dodging.
>>12723848Ok so now Castlevania IV is not easy, but "stupid".What's next? castlevania IV is anti semitic?If it's soooo mindless and easy to you, post your no damage run. Stream it so we all can see how you effortly mindlessly whip through the whole game without dying.
>>12723854NTA but Super Castlevania IV's difficulty for different challenges is inconsistent. It's pretty easy to clear casually, easy to 1cc, difficult to no-death, and extremely difficult to no-damage just due to how the game is designed. For a no-hit specifically, Slogra and Dracula are two big execution checks at the end of what could be an hour-long run depending on how slow and safe you're playing. It's brutal.I think a better response would be that while the game does incentivize you to play slow and cautious, you CAN take it upon yourself to play faster if you want. The game doesn't organically reward you for it, but it is an option and it makes it a lot more fun.
>>12724114>It's pretty easy to clear casuallyAgreed>easy to 1ccDisagree. At least in my personal experience, it took me more tries than, say, CV1 or Rondo.
>>12723854if it was antisemitic I'd like it more.cry about it
>>12724416Only because you're left wing and nothing else
>>12724418false.
Castlevania 1 is the hardest game I have ever played in my entire lifeI eat shit constantly when I get to level 5 and if I somehow manage to make it to Death with my whip and sub weapons + upgrades, I die and eat shit again to the point of just having to completely restart I have not tried the other games because I am determined to beat 1 before anything elseBut it is demoralizing and I have been at it for two days now
>>12720563I never liked the old castlevanias, the ones without before symphony of the night. the movement feels so stiff, except this one, i like this one. it's just designed better and its difficult is not a meme like the others
>>12720662Havent played bloodlines but i played the nes one, and its miles better. NES controls like if the character was made of porceline
>>12720563reminder that difficulty ≠ good game.
>>12725562I just beat it without losing a life all the way until the clock tower, but still managed the clear without continues Feels fucking amazing, 10/10 game
I've only beaten CV1 by cheesing Death with holy water.Did I beat the game?
>>12725562>I have been at it for two days nowKeep trying. Then, you'll prepared for III.
>>12720662You lost me bringing up the 68k games nigga
>>12725562>>12725848This is the Castlevania experience. It feels even better for C3 by the way.>>12725854Yes.
>>12725854In the guy that beat it in this threadI’d say yes I busted my balls trying to do it with any random weapon id drop because i kept dying and losing stuff The holy water is just built different
>>12720563It's fine. A pretty good attempt at moving the Castlevania formula forwards a bit that just wasn't quite as memorable as Rondo or Bloodlines. I don't replay it very often.
>>12726284>replayThis fucking board
>>12726331I am not sure what gay little board culture faux pas this is.Is this a wording issue or is there a problem with occasionally playing through games that you like?
>>12720563The OST along with the ending sequence is one of my favorite vidya endings of all time
>>12720665I swear they built this game with 2D in mind at the time. Because you go to one of the final stages with all the gold. You pick up a ton of hearts. Like if I started the place fresh, I would have had like 60 hearts by the end of the level. Anyways, the boss for the stage was a big bat. With 2d whipping you can't beat it, but with the axe and how many hearts you get, you should be able to defeat it.
>>12726365>if I use proper punctuation and an anime girl picture, I’ll seem nonchalant This fucking board
>>12727142>This fucking boardThis fucking board
>>12727187Should I play American CV3 or Japanese?
>>12727292If you want to hear good music, JapaneseIf you want to have fun playing Grant, JapaneseIf you want to beat the actual game and not a romhack, Japanese (applies to all japanese games)
>>12727292Yeah, play the Japanese version first. The American version is slightly harder, but it's worth it for repl-er uuuh future playthroughs.
>>12727292JP no contest.I didn't check but castlevania is big so I'm 100% certain people reverted the changes (or translated the OG, your pick) by now so you can just have best of both tho.
>>12720563It's mid and too easy.
>>12720573>>12720662.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPX3L_72x4g
