VideoGame_Discussion

@BleedingViolet I don't think it even took 45 mins per Mission. The first one took me longer to get the hang of things, but it felt like I breezed through as the 2 guys with a little more comfort vs. my first run. I did skip the 1 cut scene by accident, but they're equally campy and hilarious - and also only like 6-10 seconds long.

BleedingViolet wrote:

If you want one badge for each mission, I'll make them.

Not for Missions 4-6, though, because (a) they're just harder versions of the first three, and (b) I suck too much to play through them.

Lol only whatever you feel like doing, I figure for a game like this it’s nice to have more
since more people will be inclined to play through if they can find a way to play it.

I still gotta work on Super Ghouls and Ghosts some more. I haven’t touched it this month.

If you make the 3 badges, then I will 100% HAVE to make sure I beat Mission 3 since I fell just short.

Well maybe not... I tried 2 more times just now and was going good for the first few areas, taking little damage but 2 sections (the sea-life boss being 1) ate up my health and I failed to even reach the final boss on the first run. Then I tried as the black guy and did a little better and made it to the final boss but with zero continues and barely got anywhere in the fight. It's crummy that the first 2 Missions are apparently a LOT easier or they give you more credits? Or did I somehow earn more credits in the regular playthrough of M1/2? I dunno, but I was enjoying the game until failing now 3 times on M3...

Mission 1 has infinite credits. Mission 2 has ~7. Mission 3 has ~3. I think there is a difficulty ramp as well, independent of credit count. I did fairly well against the Kraken in Mission 1 once I figured out how to deal damage, but the same strategy turned me turned me into ground beef in Mission 3.

Mission 4, 5, and 6 spikes the difficulty again, and I believe you only have a single credit for each of them. No thanks.

Ah that makes sense. I know I got a little better as I learned, but the credit limit in Mission 3 stunk. I for sure push to attack most of the time and that can be foolish, might try M3 again and see if I can use some save states to limit effective damage taken. As well as seek to be a bit more cautious.

I GIVE UP... tried yet again on M3. Took zero damage through the first couple of fights and was doing pretty good overall until the stupid chef. I knew about the apples and tried to get them only to take more damage from his grenades vs. the little health they provided. Then the lifeboat fight against the 2 sword F*k's ate another continue. Giant squid also sucked, then I foolishly forgot to strive to stay away from the next to last fight guy after knocking him down and went into the final boss with near full health but none of my 4 credits left. Not shockingly his BS cheap spinning teleport-to-shoot your butt attack was employed a good 4 times to end my run.
I 'get' the ramp up in difficulty, but it sort of ruins an otherwise largely enjoyable game... oh well.

Badges are created, and OP is updated.

Hey, everyone.

I'm vacationing right now and don't have access to my usual monthly post templates, but this is right around the time that I'd be soliciting game nominations for October.

Since I don't have the appetite for managing a spreadsheet from my phone and since October is usually our spooky games month, I'm slamming down the executive hammer and saying October's Game of the Month is any game from the Castlevania franchise.

We haven't played a Castlevania game as a thread since 2020, and I'm sure we can all find one or two we want to pick up. Each game will have its own badge. Play one, play many... or play none at all. I'm a nerd, not a cop.

In the meantime, seven more days to finish Dynamite Cop while it's still cool.

Yeah I think I just beat Dynamite Cop with Jean on mission 1.

It was fun. I’ll prolly play some more before the end of the month.
I wanna try out the other two characters.

Does:

Wallachia: Reign of Dracula count?

Renaissance2K wrote:

First!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails...

Edit: I'm also gonna try to beat the original Dracula X (if I can figure out PCE CD emulation) and the SNES version (also in CV Collection.)

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Is this too new to count?

Kommie wrote:

Ooh good one. I need to get back to it. And 2.

2 sucks. 1 was great though.

OK. Well I don't see anyone else nominating anything else!

He did say any game from the franchise would count. And the game is already 12 years old.

Ohhh. We're just playing something from Castlevania. Not nominating. Maybe I'll be a rebel and play Lords of Shadow anyway.

I've been meaning to replay LoS as it was great and I finally got the DLC like gosh 2 years ago now and tried it but it had been SO long since I played the game I felt like replaying. Plus I have 2 and figured I could follow on with it, even though I know 2 is mediocre. So I might do LoS as well, either that or one of the GBA ones I haven't made time for yet, or Rondo or X, heh I wanted to play a number of them in '20 after getting back into the franchise, so I'm not short on options.

Foxhack wrote:

My interpretation of the meme was "Yes," the game is too new, "but actually no," go ahead and play it. I think the retro cutoff is when consoles got digital output (2005) but I'd rather have people playing games that are past that threshold than skipping a month.

In any case, I'm back from vacation, so time to properly highlight the Bruce Willis' (Willi?) in training that finished Dynamite Cop so far:

Renaissance2K {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt} Slickriven {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/tBHTydW.gif 100 75{imgt}

You can earn a badge at any time, but earning it during the first month gets you a special GameTZ NFT badge. You can't see it or add it to a wallet, but trust me, it's as real as all the other NFTs out there...

As I announced in the last post, start thinking about what Castlevania games you want to play in October. If you need some inspiration, check out this Wikipedia page or this YouTube video to check out some options.

Castlevania month will start on October 1.

I already beat CV1... and I was bored last night so I did a full CV3 run, Trevor only. I suck. XD

Lords of Shadow is back on the menu boys!

Unironically not even that bad. I need to give the follow-up a better shot at some point, but most of the jazzy exclamation points are done in the first game.

I already beat Dynamite Cop once, on the first mission.

I just haven’t played it since that night yet.

Also we can literally play through ANY Castlevania game so hopefully
there will be multiple icons or whatever. I’m happy either way,
but does this mean we aren’t allowed to nominate anymore Castlevania
games after this? It’s literally one of my favorite series.

BleedingViolet wrote:

There will be one badge per game, but nothing too crazy; probably just cover art based, like Tony Hawk and NBA Jam were.

I don't have any plans to restrict Castlevania nominations moving forward. Feel free to nominate specific games, and the game will get a specific animated badge.

Heck, I don't care if you repeat nominate any game, for that matter. If enough people are willing to play it and vote for it multiple times, who am I to stop them?

Beat it on the Caribbean Pirates mode with a pal. Game is awesome fun.
image

Dynamite Cop sailed off into the horizon on the back of a kraken. Here are all the badges we earned this month:

BleedingViolet {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt} Renaissance2K {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/tBHTydW.gif 100 75{imgt} Slickriven {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/tBHTydW.gif 100 75{imgt} Snappy {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/b7RJ6LF.gif 100 75{imgt}

Many thanks to everyone who experienced this beautiful monstrosity. If you happen to finish later on, feel free to ping me in this thread, and we'll add the appropriate badge to your total.

As announced last week, to get psyched for Halloween, we're playing games in the Castlevania franchise.

Castlevania got its start in 1986 with an action platformer for the Famicom Disk System and has been spanning generations ever since. The formulas changed a lot over the years - starting out as a series of tough-as-nails platformer, but morphing into one of the namesakes of the Metroidvania genre - but most games can promise a good challenge, some awesome weaponry, and a whole mess of gothic monsters to take down along the way.

Beat any game in the Castlevania franchise to earn a new badge based on the game's cover art. {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/iKZyry3.png 79 75{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/WPvL9Rq.png 79 75{imgt} Beat Castlevania: Bloodlines to earn either the John Morris badge and/or the Eric Lecarde badge - both of which first debuted in June 2019. {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/Xr6ckht.png 91 43{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/zU6EeKH.png 56 72{imgt} Beat Castlevania: Rondo of Blood to earn the Grand Cross badge, debuting this month for the first time. {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/niqVzCH.gif 128 75{imgt}

Don't keep Dracula waiting. Once you whip it good, feel free to post a #BeatIt screenshot.

I will be playing Lords of Shadow and you can't stop me!

So... do backlogged games played last week count? XD

I ended up beating CV1, CV3 and the craptacular 1st Castlevania Game Boy game. I wish Konami would acknowledge CV Legends...

Foxhack wrote:

I suppose.

{imgt}https://i.imgur.com/TP1ixYP.png 79 75{imgt} {imgt}https://i.imgur.com/W6rldfv.png 79 75{imgt}

I didn't realize this, but October is also Castlevania month in the MiSTer Discord, if you feel like doubling up on Internet points.
https://twitter.com/MiSTerFPGABot/status/157608634...

I was going to start off the month with Symphony of the Night on Saturn because (a) it's probably time that I check Symphony of the Night out, and (b) I'm a weirdo that likes playing games on odd platforms, but in a turn of events that could only happen to somebody with too many modded consoles, I sold my Pseudo Saturn cartridge and my Satiator, and I flat-out can't find my Saturn's MODE, so I have no way to play the game. I'm going to start with the 8-bit titles instead.

Edit: Found it.

I just started the second GB game and it is SUCH an improvement over the first one. GB CV1 plays like it were the jankiest, pixel hunting platformer released for the ZX Spectrum. The player's collision boxes are godawful, you have to step like half a body off a platform to be able to make a ton of those impossible jumps. You need some serious TAS skills to beat this game legitimately. Konami allowing a game in such poor shape to ship in that condition is bonkers.

GB CV2 feels like a mix between Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse. It's very playable, but not unfair. I'd actually place it just under Dracula's Curse in playability.

Honestly, if the frame issues in the first one were addressed I'd like it a lot more, but yeah, overall CV2 is like going to the moon whereas CV1's like walking through Brooklyn. Both really good, both have really hard encounters but pacing, music, general stage design much much better in the second. Drac was tough in both games. Second game has what I think may be the first handheld jump scare spooky moment.

I might play through the first GB title again since I have it in a compilation digitally anyways.
It really is pretty awful though. Most Gameboy games are anymore.
I’ll prolly start with the first NES title though since I always love playing through that one.
If only there were an extra badge for playing through the second time on hard mode
or whatever it’s called 😉 (mostly kidding unless it’s an easy badge to make 😃)

The first Game Boy game is really short, so at least you're not suffering for long.

Renaissance2K wrote:

Oh I know plus I thought you could use save states on the digital Xbox version which helps
especially for some of those lame af platform jumps that had to be kinda perfect.

The compilation has savestates on all platforms, which is a blessing. That game fudging blows. Savescumming is the only way I could beat it.

If I get my Trimui with a week or more left in OCT I will probably beat one of the GBA ones. The Trimui is a small emulator with a screen almost as small as the micro.

Add me to the Wall of Shame.

image

Edit: It turns out Europe got a colorized version of the game in a Konami collection. It's still pretty janky, but hey, you can see everything better.

Oh wow, that's cool, I didn't know they released all four sets in Europe!

Renaissance2K wrote:

Because it's the best way to play the game. *glares annoyingly at the 18 thousand PS remakes with nary a Saturn one*

The Saturn version has better content but the PlayStation version has better tech, if I'm understanding correctly.

Of course, they could re-release the Saturn version on the PlayStation engine, but that would require, you know, effort.

They can't even be bothered to release Dracula X and SOTN on PCs. Konami won't spend a dime on these things.

I'd KILL for a third CV collection with those two games.

Foxhack wrote:

Dracula X is included on the Advance Collection, if that helps.

SupremeSarna wrote:

... I meant the REAL Dracula X, Chi no Rondo from the PCE CD, not the passable, but still mostly redone, SNES version. :P

Foxhack wrote:

The one that got an English Tranlsation for PC Engine CD, Rondo of Blood? I have that on my emulation portable, might be playing that. I have a huge list of games I want to beat for Spooktober.

Yep, that one. I have nothing against emulators or fan translations, what with me being involved with both for more than twenty years, I just want a legal release available to all instead of a mini console that didn't get a huge run.

Also I still don't quite understand how to emulate the system, haha XD

Foxhack wrote:

Yeah I had lots of trouble at first. I am using retroid pocket 2+ that uses retroarch. The big thing I was missing is I didn't put the PC Engine CD and Turbographx BIOS in the retroarch bios folder. Once I did that, and converted all of the .iso's and extra files into one .chd. My emulator detected them and ran them perfectly. It's pretty exciting because I've always wanted to play those turbo cd games like Valis, dragon slayer, rondo, ect. . Now I can.

I decided to start with Bloodlines as I knew it was shorter and I started on it via my mini not too long ago. Well I wasn't as far along as I first hoped and my trying to avoid (almost) all damage is stupid as it's causing very slow overall progress and abusing the reset and save-states of that console.
I need to stop trying for 'perfection' and just make progress. I'm now into stage 4, so here's hoping I can do that.

If you’re perfect do you get a special ending or something?

You do not. But with the ease of save states some find it hard to resist

Yeah I was in no way doing it b/c I thought it was going to get my a special ending or anything, it's the allure of those save states as I have at times saved with too low of health later on and then been effectively screwed against a boss or section where I die.
It's dumb and is all on my and my foolish approach. Seeing my health restored to full at the end of stage 3 was a reminder to me that it was dumb to try that...

Protip: USE YOUR SUBWEAPONS

YOU DON'T NEED TO HOLD ONTO ALL THOSE HEARTS

USE THEM

The only other thing I was thinking was maybe cutting a bunch of perfect video clips together
To make one of those YouTube no damage playthroughs.

I would totally watch one of those of Slay the Spire though.
I’m so obsessed with that game lol.

Finished Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge on Konami GB Collection, Volume 4. An incredible improvement over the original just in terms of how much smoother it is to control and to look at, but not all that different mechanically. There are a few tougher platforming segments that are tough in their own right, not because of the controls you're fighting.

image

I spent an hour this afternoon trying to get one of the patched versions of Symphony of the Night to work on my Saturn, even going as far as to take my Saturn apart (again) to move the disc images to different devices. The newest fan patch won't get past the first load screen, the full English translation freezes on the first relic pickup, and the Internet says the older patch isn't even worth trying. So, I've switched to the PlayStation version like the basic dog that I am.

And yeah, it rocks. I got my ass kicked by that big jumping demon dude in Marble Gallery more than I'd care to admit, but this plays like a juiced up 16-bit platformer, and I love it for that.

More badges added to the OP as a preview. Including Lords of Shadow.

Bloodlines has been on my to-play list for a while. I guess this month would be a good time to finally get around to playing it.

#BeatIt
None of you are brave enough to play Castlevania 64 (no offense).
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/4qlimdS.jpg[/imgt]
[imgt w=2048 h=1536]https://i.imgur.com/GydcjbB.jpg[/imgt]

I wanted to like this game. I hadn't played it before, but it was given to me with my N64 from a friend I haven't seen in years. I was hoping it'd be a hidden gem that everyone was too critical towards. Sadly, it's a clunky mess with uninspired music (composed by Kirby's Epic Yarn's Tomoya Tomita? How?!) and a lot of cheap deaths. You get one life, and then you can continue from your last save point or restart the stage entirely. The Stages 1 and 2 had potential, and Stage 6 is decent, but Stages 3-5 are aggravating. Stage 4 in particular is such a slog, it's basically a full third of the game all on its own! You've got a nasty mineshaft to traverse, a puzzle to decipher, rooms of enemies you must defeat any time you pass through them, bombs to detonate (twice, and one requires a lengthy detour where you can't take any damage), two bosses in close proximity to each other, and an elevator to repower! That's too darn much!

The characters were nice, though. I got a real kick out of Reinhardt's blantant Catholicism, especially during THAT scene with Rosa. Renon and Vincent were amusing to meet, and I liked the Grim Reaper. There are things to like here, but it's rough and annoying too much of the time.

Even when it was brand new, that game sucked. I can't imagine trying to play it now.

Didn't it get an updated version or something?

SupremeSarna wrote:

I'll totally try it if I run out of 8-bit Castlevanias.

In the meantime, welcome to the leaderboard.

{imgt}https://i.imgur.com/K1GPyNA.png 79 75{imgt}

Renaissance2K wrote:

I'll be playing it purely for nostalgia reasons. It's on my N64 to play list once I get my ayaneo I can finally start playing some N64 games.

I love the smell of hemoglobin in the morning...

image

Finished the Game Boy trilogy.

Put your hand up if you actually love Castlevania 2

I like a lot about it, but it definitely has some serious flaws too. I wish they'd take another stab at a Castlevania game like it.

I liked it until it came to being a question of "Would I complete it", the answer is no. I'd play through CV1/3 before I ever considered a playthrough of CV2. The other two games are hard but respect my time, you can't overcome skillgap in CV2, the game hold you back until it's time to move you forward. It reminds me a lot of the way AC went, actually, after Origins

I actually really liked Castlevania 64. I certainly have fonder memories of it than SOTN or Super Castlevania which
Y’all seem to swear are the best. I’d play it if I had a copy or could find a cheap copy.

Castlevania 2 was fine back in the day but I prolly haven’t played it in like 30 years. Maybe I wouldn’t like it anymore?

Admiral wrote:

Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer

Simon's Quest is the only Castlevania game I have some history with back in the actual NES days. I borrowed it from a friend and found it absolutely incomprehensible.

I'm going to play it next after I finish Symphony of the Night. It's going to be interesting, given all the terrible feedback I've heard about it and the little nuggets of nostalgia I vaguely remember.

I remember playing Simon's Quest as a kid with no clue what to do.

You should have been subscribed to Nintendo Power!

DarkFact wrote:
Or call the Nintendo Hotline, only $1.50 per minute!

SupremeSarna wrote:

Hence why the internet had to happen.
What a crapty way to rip off kids back in the day!
(The hotline not the magazine, the magazine was actually a pretty solid deal)

They gave me Zelda CE for Gamecube for subscribing one year! Remember when crap was cool?

DarkFact wrote:

Yep, only reason I subscribed to that magazine.

If you're going to play Simon's Quest today, just use a guide.

Lots of love for this unreleased Legend of Zelda NES box art.

https://twitter.com/martinlindell/status/157878954...

#BeatIt
I beat Castlevania Bloodlines with Eric. I'll do John Morris later.