Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

[sullen quartz]

Discussion of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood!

Translation Patch: https://www.romhacking.net/translations/846/

[wanton sorrel]

Worth playing this on the PSP or is it the same as emulating the original?

[sullen quartz]

The PSP version has "enhanced" 3D-style graphics, which, I mean, to each's own, but I personally find them very ugly. You can, however unlock the original game/graphics in the PSP version.

[wanton sorrel]

Aight, I think I'll play the original on my MacBook instead 😁

But I'll download the PSP version... Just in case. I just got a new battery and want to give that thing more love haha.

[sterile kiln]

Anyone wanna talk a newb through how to apply the translation patch

[shadow linden]

Just look for a pre patched u know what

[floral tundra]

otherwise Romhacking.net has an online patcher

and then patch has a readme

NEVER MIND NO IT DOESNT!

[magic barn]

The game runs slower on psp too. Just feels chunky

[slow pewter]

Is there a way to get the original unlock without playing the new one? Ah never mind looks like the original pc engine CD is the better option

[fervent shell]

Everyone take a moment to mourn the loss of Mid Dracula. Ok now that that's over let's enjoy getting to play a fun game instead

[mighty forge]

You can play as Maria if you|| use the key found in the second level of the game. It's in a candle in the stretch of castle where the massive bull chases you (don't take the alternate path). The locked door for this key is in the sewers just ahead in the level. Don't pick up any other items while you carry the key! Use the key on the door to unlock Maria. You can select her in your save file.||

[uncut spoke]

Only bad thing about the translation patch is retroachievements doesn’t support it. I’ll try to ping the dev to get the hash of the translation patch added, but it could take a while.

[unkempt socket]

Yeah if anyone is struggling I recommend unlocking Maria, she's basically easy mode

[reef mist]

I've started playing it and I do have retroachievements. I've patched it years ago and never played it until today. It's also converted to CHD. And I reverted the intro to the German version.

Beetle PCE Fast core

[uncut spoke]

There are a few games where converting it chd breaks the retroachievements. Maybe this is one of them too… I’ll have to try again. But, just getting the new hash added wouldn’t hurt either.

I’m probably in the minority, but I like this so much better than symphony of the night.

[reef mist]

I didn't finish SotN. I don't have an opinion on this one yet, as I have just played the first level. That serpent boss gave me enough trouble so I'm not too confident for the rest of the game.

[slow pewter]

I'm playing a chd translation and it's definitely doing achievements

Mine would have come from the archives of the internet

[uncut spoke]

I’ll have to try again.

I was having issues with it last night. I couldn’t get my CHD file for vagrant story to work either, but if I converted it back to cue/bin it worked fine.

[reef mist]

Most of the achievements have very low unlock rates. The first few minutes of play give you several almost free and then they get really hard.

[opal zinc]

Good to know that the translated version might have achievements. I was told that just the cutscenes aren't translated but the menus are... then first signpost I try to read in-game: completely in japanese

[magic barn]

anyone using android and getting weird video distortion? video is all diagonal and half off the screen

[slow pewter]

Not happening for me on Odin. Do you happen to have a default shader set that isn't compatible? I think that kind of thing happened when I used a snes ntsc filter on genesis

[unkempt socket]

there are not very many signposts in the game you are not missing out on much. pretty sure the first one is just the name of the town

[slow pewter]

I got to a RAM test that was untranslated somehow

[magic barn]

no shaders. works fine if i open retroarch directly. launching from daijisho screws up video

[slow pewter]

I'm launching from Daijisho

Definitely using the same core?

[atomic violet]

I see the trend of hot dracula continues

[opal zinc]

Good to know. Thought I was about to need to play this with Translate constantly open on my phone cam. Thx

[honest hare]

It wouldn’t be ~~ JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure~~ Castlevania without pretty vampire men.

[magic barn]

very good question. fixed my issue. thanks!

[raven onyx]

dracula x chronicles is just rondo of blood?

or you have to unlock it inside it?

[unkempt socket]

its a remake of rondo but you can unlock the original rondo inside it too

[raven onyx]

nah I just wanna bang it and get started on vagrant story

[unkempt socket]

people generally prefer the original cuz it doesnt look like a low budget psp game

[raven onyx]

I like low budget psp games but aight 😔

anywho, thanks :)

[atomic violet]

I just like how everything on PCE needs to look like an anime intro

[magic barn]

my problem with the psp version is it runs at half the speed and makes me feel even worse at castlevania

[unkempt socket]

use your own judgement i guess lol

and yeah framerate too

[honest hare]

The remake graphics were maybe cool at the time but pixel art holds up much better.

And more colorful

[unkempt socket]

yeah the remake is pretty grey

[slow pewter]

Wow the remake looks shite

Did the first level on the original, definitely not a genre I'm super familiar with. I always struggle with 2D boss fights

[raven onyx]

damn the psp verison does suck ass

[elder valley]

Yeah, PCE all the way.

[supple radish]

ill just have to figure out how to set up tgcd stuff lol

[elder valley]

I love the PSP and a lot of the games... but this isn't it!

[supple radish]

i think this might end up being one of the only games i have for that system

of course ill need to order a legal copy first

[unkempt socket]

don't sleep on pce/tg16 there's a lot of good stuff! Especially if you like shmups

[cursive bronze]

Pce is goated

If you havent played PC engine games youre missing out

[fervent shell]

So does Dracula X Chronicles count for this game? Wiki calls it a "remake"

[unkempt socket]

Yes

[fervent shell]

Never mind. It should. I see PSP is listed as a system for it

[magic barn]

Devils crush and Alien Crush

[slow pewter]

Just use beetle pce fast retroarch core it should be good on most devices

[uncut spoke]

There’s also BIOS files. Don’t forget those.

I don’t know how you guys are getting chd translations to work. It breaks on me every time. Non-chd versions work fine. Doesn’t make any sense.

[elder valley]

@uncut spoke Check your DMs

[uncut spoke]

Hmm. Appears to be only a problem on my phone. I’ll try a handheld now, but my computer works with it. So weird.

[elder valley]

Maybe you don't have the BIOS files loaded on your phone?

[uncut spoke]

Yeah, works fine on my RP3 too. Must be a bug in retroarch for iOS.

[elder valley]

Well that stinks... although I couldn't see myself playing this on a phone with virtual controls.

[analog island]

PSP is going to be for my second Maria playthrough

This boss with the giant lance is the first hard boss for me. He's cheap AF

anime cutscenes are ridiculous and I love it

https://tenor.com/view/castle-vania-rondo-of-bloof-dracula-society-gif-16560668

this ||boss rush|| in stage 6 is rough. Luckily ||Jesus ||showed up and absolutely murdered ||Frankenstein|| with the select button special attack

[uncut spoke]

No, I do. The non-chd files work fine. Yeah, I don’t plan on playing on my phone, just was handy to test it on my phone. Until I realized it’s the only device with this problem.

[analog island]

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/05/b7/66/05b7662a4a376c163adff641c5b08b83.gif

oh, shit

these bosses get significantly harder and unfair

[atomic violet]

Me when anime

[olive aspen]

sooooo

does anyone know the difference between rondo of blood em the dracula x chronicles?

couldnt find the rondo of blood for psp, just the dracula x thing

[analog island]

damnit

I thought I was slick and beat Dracula

but he's got a second phase with much more complicated timing

mother F

[honest hare]

I didn’t know James from Pokémon was in this game!

[atomic violet]

Maybe the real James from Pokémon was inside us all along?

You got this Zu kick his ass

I'm just gonna backseat game today because I'm out of the house

[honest hare]

I’m at work and I just want to go home and play some of these games.

[rancid siren]

It's a remake. The bulk of it is the same levels, but new graphics. There's a bit of extra content too.

You can unlock both the original Rondo of Blood as well as Symphony of the Night if you find them in game.

[olive aspen]

thx mate, gonna play the psp version then...

[atomic violet]

Same

[rancid siren]

Can we talk about how this game has what may be the coolest fight against Death in the whole franchise?

[analog island]

hahahahahaha get fucked Count Shitfuck

you thought you had me on my 4th attempt, but I didn't lose that much health in phase one and got lucky as shit with my crotch duck timing

yes that's a real thing

[sterile kiln]

I can already tell I'm gonna be bad at this lol

[atomic violet]

Same

[analog island]

Of all the self-serving clap trap!

best line ever

[atomic violet]

Me

Oh hell yeah I get to draw anime dracula this month

[unkempt socket]

idk does ||the death and dracula double bossfight|| from portrait of ruin count

[atomic violet]

https://tenor.com/view/lord-kid-dracula-gif-22438027

[mighty forge]

PSP version looks worse and plays slower fyi

[atomic violet]

Wait wrong game

[rancid siren]

Ok, that one is pretty cool. But I think this one edges it out.

[unkempt socket]

idk there's so many cool death fights its hard to choose a favourite lol hes usually the best boss in the game.

but rondo is up tehre

[magic barn]

dracula x chronicles was great when there was no other easy-ish way to play rondo. Not sure it has the same appeal now

[rancid siren]

A respectable take. I can appreciate that.

[analog island]

okay, dracula second phase is pretty hard. The lance guy was pretty hard

there was a mage thing in the penultimate stage that gave me fits until I learned the patterns

basically early bosses are easy as hell compared to the last few, but there are always patterns to exploit

[atomic violet]

Oof those bosses are gonna kick my ass

[rancid siren]

Are you playing Maria or Richter?

[supple radish]

can't figure out how to get the english patch to work ://

keeps throwing up an md5 error

[olive aspen]

just figured that out, too dammmmmmmm slowwwwwwwww, cant play

[analog island]

first run on TG16 was blind with Richter

I missed Maria but I saved my main squeeze Annette

[unkempt socket]

im probably gonna go for 100% its been a while since ive done that. and some of the sidepath levels are really cool

[uncut spoke]

The patch is kind of weird. Your rom must be in a cue/iso/wav format before you apply it (which isn't a common format). It's probably easier to find your legal copy of the prepatched rom, tbh.

[supple radish]

got it

boy i sure am glad these 100% legal copies of video games are so cheap

straight from the publisher too

[analog island]

wasn't Rondo the one where some company actually made a physical release of the translation?

[rancid siren]

Absolutely go back for Maria. Her improved mobility and reach make the game a different experience. Bosses get easier too.

[unkempt socket]

Yeah. It's also legally on the turbografx mini

[analog island]

OH DANG

[atomic violet]

Can we get the ending with Maria or is it one of those games where we can only get it with the dude?

[mighty forge]

you get a slightly different ending with maria

[atomic violet]

Fun!

[mighty forge]

have you guys all seen the super long castlevania retrospective on youtube?

[atomic violet]

I just love that she's fighting in a full dress

[reef mist]

Damn, didn't unlock Maria.

[mighty forge]

https://youtu.be/peVgerhXJlU?t=5362

Rondo stuff starts at 1:30 but its a worthwhile background video

[reef mist]

Stage 3 boss is getting real hard. Yeah, I know... skill issue.

[analog island]

really starts to ramp up

if you're not good with bullshit boss pattern stuff, maybe go back and get Maria

it has a stage select IIRC

[mighty forge]

That stage 6 boss is a bad mutha

[elder valley]

Do you sleep at all? lol

[analog island]

https://tenor.com/view/hahaha-no-robot-zap-gif-15966147

[copper socket]

I'm having trouble with the English patch as well. Some sort of division by zero error. Sad that I may not get this one to work. because the others are so long.

[mighty forge]

I was having an issue like that before i found the right BIOS @copper socket

[copper socket]

I have BIN/CUE files, so I'm stuck on a step that I guess combines the BIN files. I don't see any part of the process that has you specify a BIOS file.

I got help from @mighty forge - it was a missing BIOS file I didn't know I needed for RA. It opens a file I have that was in CHD format. Thanks!~

[wanton sorrel]

Found the translated ROM, converted from bin/cue to a single CHD, it works perfectly, RetroAchievements work too, even in hardcore mode!

[reef mist]

I couldn't unlock Maria as a playable character because I was in the wrong stage: 2' and not 2. It's done now. 👍

[wanton sorrel]

My first TurboGrafx game (god that console name is HORRIBLE, and no, PC Engine is not better )

[reef mist]

I didn't expect to like this game but it's good.

[wanton sorrel]

Graphics look amazing with the CRT_consumer shader

[wanton sorrel]

It really is innit man

[analog island]

my only problem with TG games is that the default RA core has the shoulder buttons mapped to weird shit, so if I want to load a save state, it switches controller mode and my guy starts doing hyper-speed squats

[wanton sorrel]

I got my ass kicked by the first boss, died twice, ||then fought another who was exactly the same and realised that wasn't even a boss||

[wanton sorrel]

Lol same, confused the shit out of me!

Shit, apparently PC Engine is the name we used in Europe. Fuck me sideways.

[sterile kiln]

I was so confused when this happened

[opal zinc]

same, turbo teabagging button

[unkempt socket]

yeah i dont think it got a very wide eu release tho? iirc it didnt really get off the ground there.

[wanton sorrel]

With that name, are we really surprised? ;P

[unkempt socket]

yeah even NA didn't get a lot of the good games. such as this one lmao

but it did quite well in japan

[ebon sage]

It tries to change the button layout to the 6 button controller. That's why that happens. Very few games are compatible with it. I've already changed that on RA so it won't happen

[uncut spoke]

I removed the “switch mode” button and saved as a core remap. There aren’t that many games that use the six button layout, and most that do are arcade games that I’d rather just play through fbneo anyway.

[wanton sorrel]

Low-key surprised, but it runs perfectly fine on the 280V!

[uncut spoke]

PCE isn't that difficult a system to emulate. Even the CD version is still an 8-bit console... Just with expanded storage and ram. Most handhelds should run it pretty easily. It's like running NES.

but it looks way better.

[atomic violet]

The 280v is the best, so much power in that tiny handheld

[ebon sage]

The tg-16 is such a weird console. A little bit better than 8-bit but not close to 16-bit. All of that with the additional CD quality of the tg-cd

[rancid siren]

Hey! "Officially That Guy" here. Ask me about how cool I am for wasting a bunch of money.

[wanton sorrel]

It looks so cool and it's dope how tiny it is, and the fact that I can play Tekken 3 in a pocketable device with minimum frameskip is something else.

But the size is also a downside, I don't really love playing on it because the screen is so dang small :/

[ebon sage]

I think that I have an outdated translation patch. Does yours also have things in Japanese mixed with the translation?

[atomic violet]

Yeah that was my thought too when I had it. Miss how pocketable it is though.

[atomic violet]

Hehe

[floral tundra]

Arms going off Frame at weird angles always make me think they are lanky monstrosities

[honest hare]

It would be fitting for the theme.

[atomic violet]

This old anime style is so charming to me

[reef mist]

That cut-scene is so awkward. I might need to play it un-translated to at least get rid of the dreadful voice "acting"

[atomic violet]

I still can't get this one to work, might try the unpatched version.

[ebon sage]

How many stages does rondo have?

[wanton sorrel]

What'd you trade it for?

[atomic violet]

An RG35XX

[wanton sorrel]

That's one of the devices I'm looking at. Either 35xx or 351p (I'm a huge GBA stan)

Would you mind sharing your thoughts on how 35xx and 280v compare?

[uncut spoke]

8. Kind of.

[slim spruce]

This game is such an A/V masterpiece. I understand why the PSP remake was done, but it sure loses the game’s character.

[atomic violet]

Sure! I'll post on the #1010802113686806578 thread so I don't clog it here.

[honest hare]

Not sure I’m quite getting this? TG16-CD cores in Retroarch and Daijisho are completely different.

[uncut spoke]

Mednafen is the name of the standalone emulator beetle core is based off in retroarch. It's the same thing. Confusing naming though.

[honest hare]

Thanks

[analog island]

[unkempt socket]

Richter? I 'ardly know 'er!

[atomic violet]

Man

[ebon sage]

The best tg-16 / pce / CD core is Beetle PCE. (the one below). The equivalent for Daijisho is Mednafen PCE. (32 or 64, depending on the RA version)

[opal zinc]

Yeesh stage 4 though ...

[honest hare]

I’m currently getting my ass kicked by a werewolf

[alpine coral]

I'm getting wrecked by literally everything. Giant Knight that throws auto returning axes? Wrecked. Crow that keeps swooping down at angles I can't hit with this shitty rope? Wrecked.

[uncut spoke]

Those knights with the boomerang axes are pretty easy. Your whip can take out the projectiles. And, you can duck after whip is at full extension, so you can hit them late. Just whip, duck at full length, repeat. They’re cake.

[slim spruce]

With stuff like the crows in Castlevania I find it helps to let them come at you before you attack.

Chasing those small enemies with these controls is just frustrating.

[unkempt socket]

subweapons (up + attack) help a lot with some of the small obnoxious enemies. depending on the subweapon u have

[magic barn]

Team axe

[unkempt socket]

im team cross in most castlevanias, i forget about rondo tho but probably

[uncut spoke]

Axe and cross are both solid. Situational though. I enjoy the holy book most, I think.

[rustic bane]

In my little castlevania experience I tend to forget about the other weapons and just use the rope .,exactly the opposite of what I’m doing right now in inspector gadget lol

[earnest quiver]

Do people really find this one more enjoyable than Circle? Might have to stick with Castlevania’s post SOTN from now on lol

[unkempt socket]

been a while since i played circle but probably? better boss fights than circle (tho circle had a few good ones), some good platforming, better feeling movement and controls than circle (having to mash the dpad twice to go faster than a snail), no tedious grinding if you want to actually use the game's cool unique mechanic.

circle had a really good castle design but a lot of serious flaws

classicvania probably just isnt for you yeah

[magic barn]

Circle is a middling metroidvania. Rondo is a great castlevania. Both good. Very different

[earnest quiver]

I actually find the controls on Rondo to be really frustrating

The movement sucks compared to Circle and SOTN imo

[unkempt socket]

i find circle nearly unplayable without the autorun patch lol i just hate how slow nathan walks if u dont constantly mash

but thats a pet peeve of mine i guess

[earnest quiver]

Richter feels equally as slow to me?

I know it’s closer to classic Castlevania, but the movement is so slow.

[unkempt socket]

the game actually feels design around it tho. circle you constantly have to run to dodge attacks or make jumps

just feels like theres no reason for him to have two movement speeds

because u never don't want to run

[earnest quiver]

I gotcha that makes sense. Maybe you’re right, maybe pre SOTN isn’t for me lol

[earnest quiver]

For some reason it just didn’t bother me as much

[unkempt socket]

ya i mean its a slower more deliberate pace. and i think the controls fit that. i think circles controls dont fit the gameplay style

the jump is also like, weirdly vertical lol. i do like circle, its got a good castle design and stuff, i just feel like its the one post-sotn castlevania where they didn't nail the controls. which makes sense cuz it was developed by a different team

[earnest quiver]

See and I don’t like the jumping in Rondo lol

[unkempt socket]

yeah i mean, its just circle. i think all the other gba and ds castlevanias feel good lol circle is the odd one out to me. the autorun patch helps a lot tho but it still feels stiff compared to the rest of them. and not stiff in that intentional classicvania way

[alpine coral]

I'm with you Addie. Richer moves like he's wading through mud. Or blood, I guess.

[earnest quiver]

I always feel so lame when I die because a random bat slowly bumps into me lol. Some of these enemies are so hard to hit

[magic barn]

Old school castlevania has always been very good at making me feel bad at games

[earnest quiver]

Thank goodness for rewind and save states lol

[boreal leaf]

Out of curiosity, and maybe this has been asked already
Would Dracula X for SNES count since its a remake and not a direct port?

[supple radish]

I think only the PSP remake counts - Dracula X is a whole different game with similar plot elements

[boreal leaf]

I see. Thanks

[mighty forge]

And its much worse

How many people braving the PSP remake? I find Richter maddeningly slow in that one

I'd take SOTN Richter in a heatbeat

[uncut spoke]

I actually prefer the castleroids. I hate the leveling rpgness of the later ones. The random drops in cotm sound miserable. I like the slower, methodical action platforming. I like leveling up personally as my own skill over a number in the game. I like not getting lost and trying to remember where I saw door x five hours ago that can be opened with my new ability y. There’s a greatness in the simplicity of the castleroids that I enjoy.

But I think I’m in the minority in not really liking SotN.

[rancid siren]

The classic style Castlevanias have a very stiff and deliberate feel to the controls. (Rondo is actually one of the better-feeling ones.) It's part of the reason they're considered so difficult. I'd recommend playing as Maria for anyone who's having a tough time stomaching those rigid controls. It helps. Especially thanks to her double jump.

She still has all the same levels and boss fights. I don't see why it wouldn't count toward your GotM completion points.

[analog island]

Those little green goblin things are probably my least favorite normal enemies

[floral tundra]

what the hell was that || cheap ass desperation attack from the Werewolf ||

[rancid siren]

Now you've gone and reminded me of this:

https://youtu.be/5o8Ea5VmjdA

[analog island]

A couple have ||post-death bullshit attacks||

[floral tundra]

I'll keep eye out! Thank you!

Man, Castlevania Music is always good, but something about hearing Bloody Tears always hypes me up so much. Great as always

[floral tundra]

Fuck, I just realised you're talking about Flea Men. 😢 when you've only got 1 direction vampire killer they are the worst.

[earnest quiver]

I missed Maria, so I'm hoping to just power through as Richter. I understand the controls feel they way they do b/c it's classic Castlevania vs. the Metroidvania of later ones--but that doesn't mean I have to like them or excuse them.

[unkempt socket]

i cant decide if i wanna fight ||death|| or ||carmilla|| on this playthrough lol. probably gonna go back and do the other routes later i guess

right actually i should do ||death|| cuz there's a stage on the other route u only get if you have beaten dracula so ill save that one

[reef mist]

I thought it was getting hard yesterday. I hadn't seen anything yet. Stage 6 is some serious BS. The boss fight is endless. Each time I thought I'd got it, there was another enemy coming up.

I've had to abuse Rewind badly!

[atomic violet]

Huge same

[cursive bronze]

Why do you call them castleroids they have nothing to do with metroid..

Just call them classicvania..

I also prefer classic castlevania games but i really like sotn and aria of sorrow

[rancid siren]

You're absolutely right. I was just saying Maria makes the controls feel a little better.

[unkempt socket]

i beat it but its kind of not as good as i remember it being lol.... like its fun and looks gorgeous but its kinda too combat heavy, it doesn't have the fun level gimmicks of the other 16-bit ones.

feels like its setting the stage for the metroidvanias in that sense i guess... and also cuz they reused sprites from this lmao

[rustic bane]

What are those level gimmicks ?

[unkempt socket]

like, rotating levels, levels that flood, levels that sway back and forth, etc.

super and especially bloodlines had lots of those and more like, cinematic stuff. rondo feels a bit barebones in comparison

[uncut spoke]

There is a stage select. You can go back and get her. It’s not terribly difficult.

[uncut spoke]

I don’t know. That’s just what I’ve heard them called. I didn’t make the term, just copied it.

I thought it was the older ones name, but I guess now that you point it out, I didn’t realize it was the same thing as metroidvania, just the opposite portmanteau of it.

[cursive bronze]

Yeah i just think castleroid is another way to refer to metroidvanias

[fervent shell]

Why do you guys call them castleroids when Metroidvanias is the better term?

[cursive bronze]

This tbh

[rancid siren]

I'm guessing because it sounds like hemorrhoids.

[atomic violet]

Thanks for the heads up about Maria btw guys I don't think I'd have found her on my own

[slow pewter]

Yeah no way I was looking at the candles at that point

[uncut spoke]

It’s the only key I’ve found so far, not looking at a guide. I don’t think I’ve seen a locked door since then either. I think I’m on stage 4. Beat the ||minotaur|| last night.

[slow pewter]

So how do I play as Maria? Just go back to the menu? Is there actually a way to do that other than just hitting reset in retroarch?

[uncut spoke]

Yeah, when you start the game, after selecting your save file, there is a character select option. You can also select stages and stuff, so you don't have to start over.

[mighty forge]

I have a hard time enjoying anything called "Deliberate" it just feels like a cop out for not being able to make the game faster or better controlled
Go play Dead Cells and tell me it wouldn't be a better feel for Rondo

[uncut spoke]

I think it's more about the jump mechanics than the movement. Jumps need to be carefully planned rather than just moving around in mid-air. The character has a set distance/height and such. It's weird if you play plafromers without this, but I do enjoy it.

You can't change directions or slow your forward momentum while in midair IRL, so I think it's just a different approach. I admit it's polarizing though.

[mighty forge]

Once I've had a level of control I'm loathe to go back, Dead Cells in 2d, Elden Ring in 3d

[uncut spoke]

I don't think of it as limiting, it's just different. And I appreciate it for that difference.

a lot of the difficulty of old castlevanias kind of disappears if they had that level of control, and that isn't an improvement, imo.

[mighty forge]

oh see, after playing the SOTN levels in Dead Cells all I want to do is go back with all that

[analog island]

Richter doesn't have a hidden jetpack. 0/10

[uncut spoke]

Legendary Axe is another one on TG16 that I hope pops up in GotW or something. It plays similar to old castlevanias, but you have an axe instead of a whip, so shorter combat range, but you also have some pretty good knockback.

[cursive bronze]

Legendary Axe is pretty good yeah

[earnest quiver]

You’re not alone, tho sounds like we’re in the minority.

[uncut spoke]

You do have a little more control in legendary axe, because you can alter the jump height slightly, but it's pretty minimal. I like it.

[uncut spoke]

Nah, I think you're in the majority. I'm just loud.

[cursive bronze]

Ehh i kind of agree

But i also dont care mucj for how dead cells feels

I enjoy the feel of classic cv especially thw 16 bit ones

[mighty forge]

the downside @uncut spoke , and im guessing you don't suffer from this, is that new games can "ruin" other ones for me, BotW ruined Horizon for me as an example

[uncut spoke]

To an extent, but usually just if a sequel is just such a massive improvement to the first game that I don't recommend the first one at all. I can't think of many of those. Ridge Racer 2 on PSP is one, but that's more the content than the gameplay mechanics. Lufia II is one I'd say that about.

But I never do this between different game series.

Like, I'd never say Gran Turisom ruined Ridge Racer for me.

[earnest quiver]

Idk if it makes much of a difference, but I didn’t grow up with classic Castlevania either.
I played CV 64 a bit

So I’m likewise coming at it from Hollow Knight, Dead Cells, and newer Castlevania like SOTN

[uncut spoke]

CV 64 definitely doesn't count! I love it, but it's bad.

I'm older and used to games like this. Played a lot of the first 2 NES castlevanias a lot and really like them. I was very disappointed with SotN. I think playing it in a single month and just believing all the hype that it's one of the greatest games ever didn't let me really have an objective look at it, but it definitely has issues.

It's the only modern one I've played though.

maybe CotM and aria and such are better, I don't know.

but I really didn't like the leveling. The equipment management was kind of a nightmare. And I think metroid does the big map with with unlockable areas from powerups better. At least, I felt traversing and getting around to the different areas of the map was much easier and less of a hassle in Metroid: Zero Mission than it was in SotN.

[mighty forge]

I also lean more Metroid than Castlevania and I didn't grow up with the old ones, I played all the post SOTN ones then went back

and it might get me ex-communicated but I feel like the SNES replaced the NES in every way, no need to go back to anything that got a super nintendo sequel

[uncut spoke]

The Ninja Gaiden series alone plays so much better on the NES than the SNES releases, imo. I'm sure there are others.

[earnest quiver]

I never owned a NES. My family had a SNES, but my dad and uncle played it.
I didn’t start playing games until N64 and GBA.

[mighty forge]

ok you got me there, what an awful port of ninja gaiden

[uncut spoke]

I grew up on Intellivison and NES. I got a super nintendo after Playstation had been released and a Playstation after Dreamcast released. I had a lot of time to spend with the NES. Still such a good system.

Snes didn't get as much love... I didn't really have it that long before going to Playstation. I owned Pilot Wings, Mario Kart, Zelda, and Total Carnage.

but I emulated the crap out of it later on.

This was my first SNES. Lot of people didn't even know they made this one.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/SNES-Model-2-Set.jpg

[earnest quiver]

Interesting! TIL!

[analog island]

My buddy got one of the NESes they made like this after his original one shit the bed

then he subsequently moved onto Sega and Sony

BUT

[uncut spoke]

I've never seen an NES one. I know they exist... And I think we went through like 4 NES units during the time we had it.

[analog island]

He came over to play SNES and I got to enjoy Sega and PSX stuff

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e0/NES-101-Console-Set.jpg/1920px-NES-101-Console-Set.jpg

[uncut spoke]

These are so cool. and rare.

https://youtu.be/rwAIFOHEFfA
he mentions it was bundled with SMW2, but mine was not bundled with anything, I don't think.

I definitely never had SMW2 now.

[unkempt socket]

i mean dead cells certain weapons are very deliberate and that's a playstyle some people like? i mean yeah the movement is never very deliberate but dead cells is really light on actual platforming anyway

just means you have to play slower and can't spam jump/attack, you have to time it right. dead cells survival builds can definitely have more of an old school castlevania feel

[mighty forge]

ok but would you take Smash Brothers Richter over Rondo Richter?

[unkempt socket]

i havent touched smash since it came out cuz the online is unplayable

[uncut spoke]

I mean, it's more for the game. I clearly don't want rondo richter in smash brothers, but I also don't want smash richter in rondo.

[unkempt socket]

but the controls of the character are designed for the game they are in

[mighty forge]

See I would love that

[unkempt socket]

people complain about how samey AAA games feel these days and i feel like a lot of that is just homogenized controls. characters all feel the same

[mighty forge]

is that just Unreal Engine being ubiquitous?

[unkempt socket]

nah its more of a game design i think. i dont see why you wouldnt be able to give more "weight" to movement in unreal

but yeah i like how with retro games the feel of movement alone can change so much and really changes the feel of the game and type of challenges offered

[mighty forge]

you'll laugh but Fortnite is actually a really great example of different weapons providing different feelings

[unkempt socket]

like mario controls nothing like simon belmont who controls nothing like megaman and thats cool!

[mighty forge]

obviously elden ring as well

[mighty forge]

@dapper dagger deserves double points for suffering through the PSP Rondo

[dapper dagger]

lol, ty... I just realized there's a ||"better" ending||, is that required?

[mighty forge]

all four ||girls|| saved? no that's not required

[dapper dagger]

Yay... I can stop playing the psp version ;p

It wasn't awful... but definitely a different vibe than the PCE version

[quiet plank]

I’m really enjoying this one. The controls take some getting used to, but I think it feels well balanced once you get used to it. Levels that were really difficult at first are very doable with a little practice.

https://tenor.com/view/ted-lasso-tedlassogifs-tough-but-fair-tough-love-dani-rojas-gif-21203912

[rustic bane]

Just rolled the intro . Could not be a better way to start Macabre May.

[opal zinc]

what are you even supposed to do in this situation

[analog island]

https://tenor.com/view/git-gitgoodscrub-scrub-noob-getgood-gif-21752358

or just bunny hop to kill them one at a time

they're in whip range

[opal zinc]

got it!

savescum finger itchin

having an ax during that part makes it a piece of cake we're all good

[earnest quiver]

Maria is a godsend

4-5 tried later, she just wipes out the Minotaur like it’s nothing

[uncut spoke]

I actually just jump up there, run up close, and crouch while whipping. Works surprisingly well.

https://tenor.com/view/crack-that-whip-devo-whip-it-gif-11756047

[unkempt socket]

toss out a cross for good measure too

[opal zinc]

very impressive, it's such a tiny sliver of time where it's safe to hop up there lol

[opal zinc]

in Brasil, we used to have this tv program called Video Show and the theme sounds super similar to the stage 4 music

https://youtu.be/ZbObVMYy3yg?t=11

https://youtu.be/lvDr26HwNqk?t=31

took me way back lmao

[uncut spoke]

take that, dullahan.

oh man.. I just discovered the backflip. I had no idea that was a thing.

[quiet plank]

have you discovered a use for it? I saw it in a speedrun once, so I knew it was there, but I have yet to ever use it effectively

[unkempt socket]

its good for dodging some attacks

[quiet plank]

I assume it must be good for something, but every time I try it it seems to just put me in harms way

[rancid siren]

Oh, buddy... wait til you backflip onto a flight of stairs. It hardly feels like a Castlevania anymore.

Kidding, but there is another hidden move that makes Richter's whip extend by a few more pixels. It's not nearly as useful, but it's in there.

[unkempt socket]

yeah jumping onto stairs is so nice

[uncut spoke]

I used it to clip through the ceiling and make a jump that I couldn't do otherwise just a bit ago...

which let me get the treasure hunt 5 achievement.

[atomic violet]

For some reason my 35xx HATES to see translated Rondo and not a single one worked here. I am playing the original and it works great though

I suck at this game though I'm fighting for my LIFE

It's so cool though I love the style

[quiet plank]

the purple cloak guy in the boss rush stage is no joke.

[atomic violet]

YEEEES

[cursive bronze]

tiny

[alpine coral]

Out of curiosity, is anyone running this game on the V90?

[rustic bane]

I guess there is no way to remap up+b to just one button ?

[atomic violet]

I honestly prefer the original Japanese voice acting

[unkempt socket]

Nah but I am pretty sure it should run fine. Tg16 emulation is easier than snes by a fair margin, more in line with genesis if not faster at this point

I played on miyoo mini and it was flawless

[alpine coral]

Just trying to decide if I want to punish myself that much.

[mighty forge]

He's a complicated man

[alpine coral]

This game is such forking bullshirt.

[copper socket]

Wow, just started and I'm already having trouble. I don't get the controls at all. I have a whip, and although I pick up other weapons, I can't use them?

[mighty forge]

up and whip

also make sure you've got "Select" bound to something, thats your super attack when you have enough hearts

[atomic violet]

... I definitely knew this.

[mighty forge]

oh man, nothing like a good Axe-gasm

Or the golden shower

[atomic violet]

I have Maria and a Dragon

[mighty forge]

baby thats all you need

[atomic violet]

nods amen

[copper socket]

Maybe I lost my weapon (had an axe) because that does nothing. This is my first TurboGrafx-CD game so maybe I don't understand how to map the controls right in RA. Doesn't seem to give me the same options as, say, SNES cores. Seems to be set to a default I can't really adjust.

[opal zinc]

Quick menu -> Controls should have options you can change

[mighty forge]

I had to hit the left trigger on my system to switch from 6-button to 2-button mode to keep Richter from flipping out

Your whip doesn't have any upgrades or changes, there are 6? sub weapons and each one has it's own special move

If you find the game veyr difficult theres an easy mode hidden in stage 2

[copper socket]

I can't change them. I am not a fan of RetroArch though -- always confused by the menus.

[opal zinc]

pressing A/B on those or left/right doesn't change anything?

[copper socket]

Maybe I haven't set up RA all the way on this RP3+. I copied the configuration that worked on my RP3. I can only cycle through some preset controls. Now that I think of it, I played R4 via Duckstation so maybe I haven't actually used it much on this device.

[opal zinc]

very odd that it's not letting you change it

idk what version you're on, but I would try updating it to the latest stable or nightly, maybe that'll help http://buildbot.libretro.com/

[copper socket]

It was the nightly as of a few weeks ago. Maybe I need to nuke my settings and redo everything. My hotkeys still work from my old install.

[opal zinc]

yeah I think doing it from scratch could be good, just remember to back up your saves, states, bios in the system folder, etc

[copper socket]

Can't wait! But thanks.

[opal zinc]

anytime!

[lusty totem]

anyone willing to help out a newbie? I've been trying to get this game to run for the past hour and it simply won't start D: i've now tried multiple files on both my devices and it simply won't start

[hallow sierra]

Hunch back little dudes are still my least favorite enemy in the series

[unkempt socket]

do you have the pce cd bios?

[hallow sierra]

Jumping butt humpers is what I called them in my totally mature youth.

[lusty totem]

https://tenor.com/view/you-gotta-be-kidding-me-seriously-youre-an-idiot-annoyed-ryan-reynolds-gif-14444927

I didn't even think about that lmao let me give that a shot

[unkempt socket]

yeah thats probably it lol

[hallow sierra]

Is ok, you are learning

[lusty totem]

very true, thanks for the help 🙂 i'm going to give it a shot

[copper socket]

The more I read up on it, the more I'm surprised I can't map specific device controls. It's like it assumes I'm still using the original hardware. And either way, even if I'm hitting "a" for "I", it should be doing all the commands right. I might restart again tomorrow and see if I can use the weapon without remapping or nuking my install. Setting everything up again is not sounding like a fun use of my time. And I can see control mapping is something that others have had trouble with on this core/platform.

[atomic violet]

Bios or not I couldn't get the translated versions to start, so if you're still having issues after getting your bios, I'd check if the original Japanese version works

[lusty totem]

yeah i think i'm on the same boat. let me give that a shot

[atomic violet]

Hope it works out for ya

I'm just playing in Japanese then checking out the cutscenes later on YouTube

[lusty totem]

what's also weird is that despite downloading the beetle core only mednafen_pce shows. I'm struggling lmao

I should note i'm using the Daijisho front end so i'm trying to choose from the drop down menu

[fervent shell]

Got the bad ending. Felt really unfair with how few hitpoints you have. And at a few times I even savestated trying to figure out how to avoid damage and failed multiple times

[uncut spoke]

They are the same thing. Mednafen is the name of the standalone emulator the beetle core is from. Daijisho just used that name instead of the beetle one.

[lusty totem]

Oh good to know i've been so confused because of the name change

https://tenor.com/view/happy-tears-gif-25605273

[uncut spoke]

How many bosses are in this boss rush?!?!

[floral tundra]

5 bb

[ebon sage]

I always forget that I have this.

[reef mist]

Made it to the end with Maria. That was a hard game. I only managed it thanks to the amazing gift to average gamer that is REWIND. I was out of heart very quickly on the last fight. So that took a while.

I'm not done with the game though. First I need to play stage 6 again, I didn't have WiFi and I want the achievements. Then there is all the alternate levels...

[atomic violet]

Maria is so fun to play with

[alpine coral]

Do you have to beat the game once in order to play as Maria?

[uncut spoke]

No. You just have to find her and save her in stage 2.

[analog island]

https://tenor.com/view/captain-america-kid-child-gif-20643937

[atomic violet]

That means she's expendable 😈

[analog island]

did anyone else do this at the end?

https://tenor.com/view/thats-it-yes-thats-it-that-right-there-omg-that-thats-what-i-mean-gif-17579879

[uncut spoke]

I’m still working on stage 6. ||Frankenstein is kicking my butt pretty good before the next guy. Haven’t quite figured him out yet. ||

[analog island]

I used a full power Jesus special attack on him

took out most of his health

[uncut spoke]

I’ve been grabbing the hidden holy book instead. Very nice for taking out the mummies attack projectiles without using the super attack.

[analog island]

.....do the weapons have effective damage in this?

it'd be cool if the cross did extra damage to resurrected enemies (zombies, skeletons, reanimated corpses, etc...)

[uncut spoke]

No idea, but I kind of doubt it.

[analog island]

me too

https://tenor.com/view/cooler-if-you-did-gif-11144712

[quiet plank]

This was me yesterday. ||I had the hardest time dodging the lightning attack. Hindsight, maybe I should have tried the backflip. I used the holy book to protect against the falling rocks||

[uncut spoke]

Ah, I didn't even think about using it there. I only made it to him a few times. I was also trying to save 20 hearts or so to use the super attack later, but maybe that just isn't the way to go for this one. And yes, the backflip does work pretty well for that. It also works pretty well for flying stuff that likes to follow you, fireballs, bats, skulls, that kind of thing.

[quiet plank]

I got pretty good at the first three fights, passable at the fourth fight, and barely beat the last baddie of that boss rush last night. I didn't use any specials on boss 1, used one special on boss 2, 2 on boss 3, 2 on boss four, then one or two on boss 5, I don't remember for sure. Basically I tended to use them when they had attacks that came from multiple directions

[old tartan]

just started, this is Ryu from Street Fighter and that's it

[uncut spoke]

I think we have similar strategies here. I do the same for item usage, except still sussing out fourth

So glad I found that holy book. 😃

[rustic bane]

Hearts don’t give me life (it gives ammos wtf!) and money bags don’t seem to give me any money since my board still says I have $0.000.000

[cursive bronze]

Hearts giving ammo is just a cv thing

The money thing im unsure but money is usually points? Which result in 1ups

To heal you have to find wall chicken, if you see suspicious looking walls give it a whip

As in like in a weird position, like a little nook with nothing else in it

[uncut spoke]

Some walls also produce some green block particles and a sound. Whack those things multiple times and you’ll get something good.

[raven onyx]

psp version was alright tbh

(with a fps patch)

tiem to start the good game now 😎

[rustic bane]

Thanks guys for the advices! My only other castlevania was super castlevania 4. I didn’t remember for the hearts lol it’s so strange! But I surely did remember for the chickens and the walls . And it paid off !

I don’t want to spoil myself nor others but could anyone be so kind as to tell me if it is at all possible that I just skipped world 4 and went straight to world 5?

[uncut spoke]

not possible, but there are alternate levels for many. It's possible you just went to the alternate stage 4 rather than the standard one.

[rustic bane]

WoW there are so many dimensions! I can already see that rondo of blood is a masterpiece.
When I think about it it makes sense that I am at level 5. But since I just beat an alternate boss i might be in the alternate level 5.

[analog island]

Hey, I think this game is ripping off Vampire Survivors pretty bad

Dunno if anyone else noticed that

[uncut spoke]

what do you know, I like Holy Book / King's Bible in both. Who'd a thunk.

[quiet plank]

axe is better in castlevania

[uncut spoke]

Death Spiral is better though.

[quiet plank]

I don't think I've ever gotten the death spiral

[floral tundra]

Immediately

[strong sparrow]

Maria is so much more fun to play, can't believe they gated that entire gameplay behind a missable event

[unkempt socket]

i mean theres a stage select so its not like its permanently missable

[strong sparrow]

True, but you might not know it's there

I had no idea, just stumbled into it

[uncut spoke]

It is still in the era of games are short and meant to be replayed a ton area. The door to get Maria is super obvious. It's not hard to make the logical conclusion that there's a secret something in this level.

[quiet plank]

The key drop also feels really obvious. Like, oh, my special weapon was replaced by a key that does nothing when I try to use it.

[uncut spoke]

The other keys have been very hidden though. I'm on stage 6 and haven't found anything. I think I saw one more door, but yeah.

[strong sparrow]

Okay, true. Still wish it was default though, I just think it's more fun

[quiet plank]

I've found one other key. It wasn't quite as obvious

[uncut spoke]

I thought I'd found a really cool alternate route on stage 5, only to discover it was just a way to get a secret extra life. It popped me back on the regular route pretty quickly.

it was worth 2 points though...

[quiet plank]

Oh, one thing I noticed as well, if you fail a level and get a game over, it seems to remember that you found the key. So if I go in the locked room again, the cutscene doesn't play and there is just some extra money (this is the later key I found. Haven't gone back to check the Maria room)

[uncut spoke]

Yes, once you do open them ||and resuce a girl, they appear on a little stage thing on the right side after selecting your save file, indicating you've saved them||

[quiet plank]

ah, ok. I haven't gone back to the title screen since then

[quiet plank]

Pro tip for the backflip: It isn't simply a double tap. If you want a little bit longer before the second tap you will go higher

[alpine coral]

Omfg I hate these fckng games, I can't get past the first axe knight in stage 2.

[rustic bane]

Oh i didn’t see anything . And I played stage 2 twice .

[rustic bane]

So you’re playing hardcore ??? That’s no save states and no cheats right?

[opal zinc]

Your whip destroys axes and that guy either throws it high, throws it low, or charges at you. He always gives away what he's about to do, so just act accordingly based off that. High whip, low whip, or run back a bit

[rustic bane]

Yeah after a bit of practice those guys are not too bad . I get hit once in a while that’s all

[alpine coral]

I understand the mechanics here, I just can't execute them. Richer moves like ass.

[unkempt socket]

if you hold the whip button down you can moonwalk after you attack

[quiet plank]

I just finished, what a great game. I understand why some might not like it, but getting past a hard level or boss feels so rewarding jn this one for me. I used save states at the beginning of a couple bosses, but I think I’m gonna go back and try some other paths and with no save states.

[atomic violet]

Why do the frogs in stage 4 do so much damage

[analog island]

They have the Masamune

[atomic violet]

https://tenor.com/view/fighting-frog-bilu-gif-8694084

[uncut spoke]

Yes. No save states, no rewind, no cheats.

[analog island]

https://tenor.com/view/chrono-trigger-anime-frog-sword-katana-gif-18666565

https://tenor.com/view/frog-massamune-mountain-video-game-power-gif-17694951

[uncut spoke]

You also get double achievements points. So those 2 points earlier were actually 4.

[opal zinc]

They changed that actually

[uncut spoke]

Oh did they?

[opal zinc]

yeah softcore and hardcore are their own set of points now, worth the same amount

if you unlock something hardcore that you already a softcore achievement for, it'll overwrite it

I miss the old way tbh

[uncut spoke]

Ah. Okay. I mostly just don’t like not having gold borders, and still feel like save states and things are tools to learn rather than crutches to beat games.

[opal zinc]

true

I always first try any game in hardcore mode and do my best to stick with it

[uncut spoke]

Nobody be offended by my hardcore opinion. I don’t judge, that’s just my personal philosophy towards it. Play games whatever way makes you happy.

[atomic violet]

Did you guys fight ||that lady that hugs you and steals your hearts?|| she's behind a locked door.

[opal zinc]

if a game's gameover means you start allllll the way from the beginning, then I'll update a save state as I go just in case

[analog island]

@uncut spoke is entitled to his opinion

[opal zinc]

that's the cool thing about hardcore mode is that you can still make save states, just can't load them up

[analog island]

guys, I'm going to get Stubbs to declare him anathema and he won't be allowed back in here ever again

[uncut spoke]

I’ll use them for game of the week. Because most of those weren’t really meant to beat in a week anyway. Or games that have a password save system. I refuse to deal with that stuff.

[opal zinc]

yeah some password systems don't even work with some games on RA too

like if you use passwords, it'll lock you out of achievements

just some games tho

[uncut spoke]

I loathe achievements with “in a single session” at the end. Stupid breath of Fire.

[atomic violet]

I just used the select power for the first time and it's so fun

[uncut spoke]

They’re awesome. Life saver in a few boss fights.

[atomic violet]

Liquid can you give a tip on finding that 1 up in stage 5?

[quiet plank]

I think I did. || one woman waking on the ground kissing and stealing hearts while another hides behind a flying skull? ||

[atomic violet]

Yes that's it!

That was a fun fight

[uncut spoke]

|| there’s a room where you drop down and there’s like a metal rod under the floor. It has to do with that metal rod. ||

[atomic violet]

I'm gonna look for that

[uncut spoke]

Well, that will get you started at least.

It is a tip, nothing more. 😉

[atomic violet]

Is it ||the room with the people with shotguns?||

All right, I swear I'm gonna find that goddamn one up

[slim spruce]

Yes, ||was a weird boss battle, but easy I thought||

[slim spruce]

Another hint: ||I think you’ve gone past it at that point ||

[atomic violet]

I'll go back and look for it

Right now Dracula is saying... Something to this girl.

[slim spruce]

He’s saying ||how you doin lil mama? lemme whisper in your ear||

[uncut spoke]

https://tenor.com/view/wyd-johnny-bravo-what-you-doing-cartoon-network-breath-spray-gif-4372999

[atomic violet]

Man this game is awesome

I didn't think I'd like it this much

[quiet plank]

It’s the first classic Castlevania I’ve beaten. Really makes me want to go back and finish the other ones I’ve started in the past

[unkempt socket]

3, 4, and bloodlines are all really good tbh

and belmonts revenge if you didnt play it when it was gotw

[ebon sage]

People use to say all over the internet that rondo is arguably the best castlevania and I can see why

[alpine coral]

I can't.

[rustic bane]

I didn’t find the right emoji to say : you’re a very good player.

[rustic bane]

I didn’t find the right emoji to say : you’re godlike.

[rustic bane]

I just did .

[marble zephyr]

Hey yall

[marble zephyr]

Can we caveat that it's one of the best original style castlevanias? That really helps excludes sotn and those like it.

[unkempt socket]

beat every level but didnt save everyone so i guess i might do that too. 5' was tricky

[indigo heart]

The same happened to me, but I’m putting them on hold. I’ve had Vagrant Story for 23 years and I’ve never finished it. I figure I should do that. I have 9 days.

[uncut spoke]

I haven’t beaten it yet. 😅

Thanks for the tip. Got through this in a breeze now. I don’t know why I didn’t think of using the book that way. Also very helpful for the next guy too. Piece of cake.

Oops. Meant that for @quiet plank

Alright… stage 7 may beak me though. I thought the start of 5 was tough. 😆

Is this just supposed to scare me or is there something going on here I don’t understand in stage 7?

[floral tundra]

I couldn't work it out either, think it's just a spoop.

[quiet plank]

Yeah, stage 7 is hard, especially the beginning. That is one where I used a save state before the boss. Also that was where I finally made use of the backflip (also in the next stage)

And I couldn’t figure out anything with ||that mirror|| either.

[raven minnow]

I've never played this before. Everyone talks SOTN so much it gets lost. I'm a linear game fan, I think they're super tight experiences so I'm excited to try this

[uncut spoke]

I don’t think you’ll been disappointed. I’m having a blast. It’s a great game.

[rancid siren]

Weekend's nearly here. Trying to decide how I should play this one.

Do I want the Rondo trophies on the PS4 version, so I can 100% Castlevania Requiem, or do I want to try for the Retro Achievements thru RetroArch?

[alpine coral]

I hate this game.

[rancid siren]

https://tenor.com/view/your-opinion-gif-24573780

[indigo heart]

It’s linear, but there are alternate paths through most of the levels. It’s a straightforward game with a bunch of optional side content

[uncut spoke]

Lots of replay value.

[quiet plank]

As much as I am enjoying this one, this is a reasonable take.

[opal zinc]

these kind of games are like the equivalent of a cold shower

or drinking black coffee

the difficulty is bitter and uncomfortable and hard to get thru

but you get used to it the more you play and maybe even start enjoying it

or you end up hating and can't wait until your 30-day cold shower challenge is over

[atomic violet]

I think I'll be done soon but I'm going to have to replay because I missed saving people.

[opal zinc]

I don't think I'll be going back to save anyone, I'm sure they can figure it out

[atomic violet]

Well the 12 year old could

[quiet plank]

I think part of why it is hard to get in to is because it is just familiar enough to make you want to play a certain way (run fast, adjust jumps mid-air, etc) but it really punishes you for trying to do that in most cases

[opal zinc]

true

[quiet plank]

Most of the time it rewards you for going relatively slow and carefully avoiding damage

[uncut spoke]

I think it's a good challenge, but it doesn't ever really feel unfair. The difficulty ramps up at a good, steady pace. Just feels good, imo.

[atomic violet]

I'm finding the combat very satisfying

[quiet plank]

I agree, but I also remember the first time I played it and being turned off immediately

[uncut spoke]

At least you can jump on stairs now. 😝

[quiet plank]

the whip is another thing that is just different enough to be off putting at first, but really rewarding in the long term

[uncut spoke]

I've been playing the original NES one on my v90 when I have a few minutes. That's such a big, nice, welcome change.

[opal zinc]

in the beginning, I kept jumping too much out of habit, just to land right into an enemy's path because of not being able to readjust in mid-air

game forces you to change how you play

[uncut spoke]

It's a staple of all the classicvanias. This one is a bit more forgiving the previous ones even. The older one are more stiff with the jumping. Takes some getting used to, but I really enjoy it once I do.

[quiet plank]

but then you hit ||level 7 with the falling platforms and bats chasing you|| and you have to ||run as fast as you can and throw axes backward (at least thats what I did)||

[uncut spoke]

||I mostly used carefully timed standing jumps or crouches.||

still haven't beaten the boss though.

[alpine coral]

So I should just stop jumping then? It seems to put me in the way more often than getting me out of the way. I am soooo sick of Stage 2 right now.

[uncut spoke]

Yes. Jumps should be deliberate, calculated actions. Not just a panic reaction.

[atomic violet]

Rusty did you get Maria?

You'll have an easier time with her

[alpine coral]

Lol I've only ONCE been able to get to the point where the key drops, and died immediately after.

[atomic violet]

That's very fair I just used the hell out of my axe in that section since I wasn't gonna use Rich anymore

[unkempt socket]

I used the cross for like 90% of the game. Big lingering hitbox, shreds projectiles, easier to hit things with than the axe

There's a few spots axe is great in tho

And like 1 or 2 for holy water maybe

[uncut spoke]

Holy book, ftw.

[opal zinc]

Holy water was great for the ||headless swordsman boss just making them rain down on him from a platform||

I'm curious about the throwing knife

is it ever preferable to have that over anything else?

seems like the worst weapon

[unkempt socket]

yeah I think it is. Damage is okay and it's fine to hit with but having a longer lasting hitbox is better. The other weps are a lot better for crowd control

And/or can hit multiple times

[opal zinc]

true

better range but pretty weak in terms of total damage output

[unkempt socket]

yeah. Cross has reallh good damage output, especially if you space right so that the target is at the end of its path, easy path to hit with, big hitbox and long duration so I think it's just the best straight up. It's not always the best pick but it's always good

[opal zinc]

super satisfying to get a multiple-hit throw with the cross

[unkempt socket]

yeah

It's usually my go-to sub in any Castlevania game

[uncut spoke]

I feel the same way with holy book, but you can get 3-4 hits sometimes. and it surrounds you, so it doubles as a shield.

[unkempt socket]

Except 1 where the Holy water was op and could stunlock bosses lol

[uncut spoke]

you do have to space things properly though.

[unkempt socket]

Yeah I find it harder to use than the cross. And iirc it costs more? Idk I didn't really use it on this playthrough

[uncut spoke]

I think it costs 3, yeah.

[atomic violet]

||Imagine you're waiting for your boyfriend to come rescue you and a 12 year old appears instead.||

[mighty forge]

I'm on team Axe for everything but a few select bosses, it covers an arc that's awkward otherwise

[atomic violet]

||Dracula: It is the greed of humanity which calls me back.

Maria: I'm 12 and what is this?||

[indigo heart]

Sounds like you need to switch to better coffee

[rancid siren]

Generally, yeah. But it's fast, moves in a straight line, has great reach, and only costs 1 heart per use. In theory, it's supposed to be your long-range alternative to the whip.
In practice? It's usually more practical to take the close-range risk with the whip and carry a different subweapon altogether.

[indigo heart]

I mostly ||ignored them||

[atomic violet]

I'm done for now but might go back later and see if I can beat this with Rich too. I really really enjoyed this game, it was super charming.

[rancid siren]

https://youtu.be/8qyEWI3RzgM

[unkempt socket]

yeah there's good replay value. Levels 1-4 have alternate paths that lead to alternate bosses and alternate next levels so if you do a second playthrough with Richter you can avoid repeating much

[atomic violet]

https://tenor.com/view/savage-cool-awesome-smooth-smile-gif-12069396

[atomic violet]

Yeah I need to go back and try to rescue the girls I missed

[uncut spoke]

I just saved Annette. That was fun. I ||tried hitting the thing that leads to the raven last night, but didn't notice it spinning at all, so I thought I was wasting my time.|| I wasn't able to have audio, so I missed out on the cutscene though. I'll have to youtube that later.

[mighty forge]

the room with the three different subweapon blocks, whats in there?

[uncut spoke]

Where? Not a lot of context here.

[mighty forge]

sorry, forget which stage its in but theres a room that only has three knights pointing at three walls with symbols from three different subweapons

i messed up the order and just moved on

[opal zinc]

I am trying to unlock Maria

I got to the door with a key but it's not working ? What am I doing wrong

[mighty forge]

Use it

up+whip

while touching the door

[opal zinc]

Fuck

[mighty forge]

right?

[opal zinc]

Yeah probably it's just that I left the area already thinking I was missing another key or something

Thanks

Thinking it was like Zelda where the door would just open by walking up to it

[copper socket]

Now that I have my controls sorted, I think I am just finding that I am not good at this game. Save scumming and still barely through the first level.

[indigo heart]

You also have to make sure you didn’t pick up another weapon along the way or you’d toss the key

[opal zinc]

I got her now

she controls so much better

[mighty forge]

get to Maria Sandwich, i promise it gets easier

[rustic bane]

Could not relate less to your analogies lol. I will never enjoy a cold shower nor a black coffee. But I enjoyed enjoy rondo of blood from the very beginning .

[rustic bane]

You guys are talking about saving everyone, I didn’t even realize there were people to save lol.

[rustic bane]

Castlevania’s stairs are like Mario Bros.´ springs. I will never figure them out .

[rustic bane]

Stage 2 was the least interesting for me I think. It gets better .

[median haven]

what core are you all using for the TGCD version? I've tried all the cores on both retroarch 64 and the store version and I'm getting nowhere

[atomic violet]

Me neither until I watched a video to see the translated cutscenes

[uncut spoke]

Beetle or beetle fast both work fine. Make sure you have the bios files.

If anyone is having trouble getting this to run, make sure you have the appropriate bios files.

[unkempt socket]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhjw_MYYrJ4 u get the real game if you boot it with the system 1 cd card instead of the proper one. dunno how to do this on an emulator lol

[uncut spoke]

See the second box in the doc image I just pinned.

[unkempt socket]

yeah I guess you have to tell the emulator to use the wrong bios?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH8VxaEltPo its been translated too

[median haven]

Ahh, thanks! I think that's it. I'm probably missing the CD one. Didn't occur to me as it just makes retroarch crash without a message..

[median haven]

This is like the bad old days of emulation

[uncut spoke]

It does have a message about it usually, but it's in the log, which you have to do some tinkering with to get to show and read and such.

[median haven]

Totally makes sense. Didn't even think of the android version having a log, but of course it would...

[atomic violet]

Graphic design is my passion

[median haven]

Comic sans is the only font you need...

[sterile kiln]

This is amazing

[median haven]

actually, they have serifs on the c and s. Heresy!

[quiet plank]

If I'm remembering right, this is the last room before the ||boss in stage 7. If you hit the blocks with the weapon that they have a picture of, they drop a new sub weapon (which is the next set of blocks). The last one drops the clock subweapon. I was hoping it would make that next boss fight easier, but it didn't seem to do anything||

[copper socket]

RA64 works for me on an RP3+ with:

Core: NEC - PC Engine / CD (Beetle PCE Fast)
Daijisho: 225 - tgcd - RetroArch 64 - mednafen_pce_fast
BIOS files: syscard1.pce syscard2.pce syscard3.pce

[median haven]

Well, today I learned there are multiple versions of the cd rom system card. And there went all my game time. 🙂

[uncut spoke]

It’s not a hard game to run. Even a v90 handles it like a champ.

[median haven]

Tonight I hope!

I do love the v90 though

[opal zinc]

just beat it

great game, makes me want to get into more classicvanias

I was surprised how ||easy Dracula was. I beat him very first try. With Maria, but still. Other bosses were much tougher||

[unkempt socket]

yeah hes definitely easier than ||the level 6 boss gauntlet||

[mighty forge]

@opal zinc Super Castlevania 4 on SNES is widely considered the best one, but before that I'd recommend Bloodlines on the Genesis, it's the closest one in feel to Rondo

[alpine coral]

Yeah I'm playing on my v90 because I hate myself.

[ebon sage]

You're really having a bad time with this game lol

[alpine coral]

Let's just say Thank God my Eternal month was last month.

[ebon sage]

There are other gsmes to play. Don't force yourself to play something you don't like

[alpine coral]

Yeah I've given all three a shake. Paradise Eve has the most potential for me I think.

[severe tiger]

Made a mistake... should be played with controller instead of a smaller handheld. I had cramp with my Miyoo and ended up abusing save state

[uncut spoke]

You may not tell from the recording, but I have a 3D printed D-pad that fixes the bad diagonals. It’s pretty playable, surprisingly. Not for long sessions, but it’s fine for a level.

[hallow sierra]

This boss rush can bite my shiny metal arse.

[indigo heart]

https://tenor.com/view/go-for-it-you-can-do-it-encourage-do-it-gif-14006408

[uncut spoke]

Get the hidden holy book. Makes a big difference.

[hallow sierra]

I did on my last run. I had like 17 or 19 hearts going into ‘ole Batty because I sucked at budgeting them on the prior level

Also, flinging the Cross/Boomerang at enemies to hear the armor sound, and have them ping off of them made me sad. That sub-weapon was my childhood obsession

[floral tundra]

Spear boys are a push over in the MetroidVanias but holy crap they out style you here, just straight up parrying that cross and your whip

[rancid siren]

Think I'm gonna play on the good old CRT for maximum throwback experience. Probably start tonight.

[slow pewter]

Blade man on stage 5 can F off

[slow pewter]

Awww shit boss rush right after

[cursive bronze]

the legendary holy hand grenade

[alpine coral]

Wow Maria is WAY better than Richter.

[unkempt socket]

yeah shes easy mode

[ebon sage]

I'm on stage 5 as well I think but I will create a new save and start again. I feel that I missed many things that would make my gaming session much easier

I Will try again this weekend

[copper socket]

I'm close to "easy mode." Got the key but need to survive after that to use it.

[unkempt socket]

i think you can use the stage select without beating dracula first? so you can just select stage 1 again on your existing file

[ebon sage]

That's even better. Thanks!

[indigo heart]

Yeah, this game is all about replayability. There are alternates paths leading to alternate bosses and alternate levels on most of the levels. Stage select will be your friend in this game

[uncut spoke]

At least try the in game saves before going to save states.

You'll see the options on the menu and stuff that way.

[rustic bane]

The problem with in-game saves in this game is the waiting time . Like when I die to a boss , and I die a lot since it’s how I learn, I want to retry right away . I don’t want to have to climb stairs and break candles every time !

That being said I also use in-game states so I knew about the menu right away

[ebon sage]

I just find hardware save states much more convenient

[uncut spoke]

Ideally, mix the two.

[opal zinc]

yesterday I checked out the "tactics" part of the menu

gives you a little guide video on how to approach fighting the bosses

pretty cool inclusion

[atomic violet]

I completely missed that somehow

[quiet plank]

I noticed that after I finished. I was missing several, and I wasn't sure if they show up after you beat them, or just after you get to them the first time

[uncut spoke]

After you get to them the first time, they are purchasable. Meant to be an aid if you're struggling with a boss.

They also show breakable blocks and secrets in the rooms right before the bosses sometimes.

I've only used it on Ghost Shaft so far, and he's still giving me the shaft.

[mighty forge]

You can quibble with the core gameplay, YMMV, but nobody can say Rondo wasn't put together with loving care

[unkempt socket]

Yeah. It's less flashy and more combat heavy than the other 16 bit ones tho, kinda foreshadows sotn a bit in that respect. There's more beefy enemies that kinda function like minibosses in rondo

[uncut spoke]

I also appreciate some of the throwback stuff. Like the copy of the room of the first boss fight from the first Castlevania. That was fun.

[analog island]

RIGHT?

There were a handful of those were I was like "ah ha! I see you Konami"

[analog island]

I need NES in-game font in my daily life

[opal zinc]

probably very obvious, but I was watching some sotn gameplay right after beating rondo and it was cool to recognize a bunch of castle areas that are in both games

I didn't even notice while playing at first

[quiet plank]

https://tenor.com/view/thats-it-yes-thats-it-that-right-there-omg-that-thats-what-i-mean-gif-17579879

definitely noticed the NES callback. I didn't notice any other direct ties to SotN except in the last level

[mighty forge]

Shaft's revenge is directly tied into SotN, not a lot of call forwards

[unkempt socket]

its so weird that there's only one ||stone rose|| in the whole game lol its such a well-animated enemy

i guess they got more milage out of it in sotn

[analog island]

https://tenor.com/view/ya-dig-understand-get-it-do-you-get-it-are-we-clear-gif-14308580

[sullen quartz]

Best ||Death|| fight in the entire franchise imo. He's so damn cool and a lot less frustrating than his NES counterparts.

[rustic bane]

Would anybody know why I’m at world 8 and I have $ 0000000 in bank?? I picked up so many money bags through the game

The only tactic that I can « buy » is death , cause it’s free

Well I’m just going to go kill Dracula then .

[copper socket]

Get rich or die trying.

[rustic bane]

I definitely got the bad ending . Awesome though . What a beautiful game .

Now i have a few bucks . Looks like you have to finish the game to cash-in.

60 % complétion… I guess that’s passable lol.

[unkempt socket]

yeah im at 90% after clearing every level but not saving everyone

u dont have to do every exit to get 100% thankfully. but that is some content to see i guess if you want to play absolutely everything lol. cuz some of the alternate paths have some meat to them

[rustic bane]

Yeah I just did the stage 2 alternate path, and it was the hardest part of the game lol

[uncut spoke]

I think your money banks when you die.

[uncut spoke]

Finally. I used save states to practice ghost staff. Really not as hard as I worked out in my head. Just tough to do it in the moment without practice when just getting to him was a pretty good struggle on my part.

[copper socket]

This seems like a game that is designed to break me. I can't even get to the door with the key to unlock the easier experience. Flipping bats.

[alpine coral]

I don't understand how anyone is enjoying this game. It is literally designed to kill you an unimaginable amount of times.

[sterile kiln]

Sometimes dying is fun cause it makes it all the sweeter when you finally triumph

[median haven]

When I had unlimited time and brain space as a kid, it was exciting to finally make progress.

[sterile kiln]

The challenge and failure makes the payoff feel more earned

[median haven]

True... Though I'm old now and I bound the left paddle to save and the right to restore. I'll admit it.

A couple of the boss fights were brutal..

[uncut spoke]

I love these types of games, when they at least feel fair. I can always blame a death on mistakes I made, not some cheap trial and error thing. I love ninja gaiden too, and that one is even worse than this one, I think. Bats and eagles that are purposely placed to knock you off a cliff. It requires a bit of memorization to avoid these things. This one at least seems pretty fair about it most of the time.

[severe tiger]

Well playing it on my MM and a simple controller differs by much

Definitely harder on MM

[slow pewter]

How far from the end is stage 6?

[fervent shell]

8 stages total

[compact narwhal]

definitely, surely, starting this today to give myself a brain break

[uncut spoke]

8 total like terrible said, but stage 8 || is literally just a boss fight.||

[slow pewter]

Cheers. I swear chapter 5 was basically called "stage before the final boss"

[unkempt socket]

yeah 8 stages to beat it, and there are 12 stages total cuz 2-5 have alternates

but you can only do 5' after you beat dracula

[rustic bane]

I died quite a lot so I guess you mean when you game over .

[uncut spoke]

Yes, game over. Sorry.

[rustic bane]

If i ended up in alternate level 2, does that mean I missed Maria ?

[unkempt socket]

yeah but you can go back via the level select

[magic barn]

I’m very bad at this game. Think I’ll do a Maria run first. Maria is much easier to get in the original then in psp version. From my memories of trying to unlock it at least

[rustic bane]

I beat the game with richter without too much problem , but the hardest part is to find Maria ! If nobody told me about her I would never have find her . And now I know she’s in stage 2 and I still don’t find her lol. I’ll try again later

[atomic violet]

I'd not have found her without help from here either

[uncut spoke]

I don’t understand this. Her door isn’t hidden at all. You have to walk right past it. That’s a huge hint that you’ve missed something. Just explore a little better and she’s really not hard to unlock.

[unkempt socket]

only thing i can think of is that if you're actively looking for her and dont know when she is you might end up in 2' instead and miss her

[indigo heart]

I think it’s really easy to ||fall to the lower level|| and never make it to the door

[uncut spoke]

This makes the most sense. But if you just go through normally, pretty hard to miss her door.

[unkempt socket]

oh right yeah ||falling to the lower level|| too

[uncut spoke]

I’m not even sure what you’re talking about, so I haven’t found this. 😆

[slow pewter]

Probably not finding the key, it's not exactly in a place where you're looking for stuff

[indigo heart]

When ||you’re being chased if you fall down in the gaps you end up in the water part||

[atomic violet]

That happened to me ^

[copper socket]

I think I got past the water holes, but is it possible to get to the door without going down there? I found a walkthrough on YouTube and it looked like it was necessary after you have the key.

[uncut spoke]

I don’t think you can make the jump. Pretty sure you have to go down there once you reach that part.

[uncut spoke]

|| I just always assumed that was a death. I somehow never fell in there. ||

[copper socket]

Then I die almost immediately down there too. Maybe what I need to do is take a week break and start again fresh. It worked with R4 when I was stuck.

[rustic bane]

I don’t know for others but I didn’t actively searched for her yet . I found the key, then I ended up in alternate level 2 and that’s it . I’ll try it again soon

[ebon sage]

I think that most people (me included) are not used to Castlevania so we went through the map not looking for hidden stuff

[opal zinc]

During the ||chase, I was less concerned with breaking the candles and more concerned with running away from the giant monster|| lol

[median haven]

Same, I saw it but wasn't going to go back after I managed to not die for once

[indigo heart]

This was me with Adventure Island. The jumps on the last level need to be timed pretty exactly. Eventually I had to put it down for a week or so. Once I came back it only took a few tries

[rustic bane]

Oh so Maria is a child.

And she says she’s from another family of vampire killers. I thought the Belmont were the only one

[unkempt socket]

nah there's more! other games introduce some other families and also some cousins of the belmont line

its not the first or last castlevania to have multiple playable characters and some of the ones with only one protagonist dont star belmonts

[mighty forge]

Castlevania bloodlines on the Genesis has multiple playable characters, it's similar to Rondo

[unkempt socket]

yeah. castlevania 3 on NES has 4 playable characters, its the first to do multiple

but most games since have had multiple even if the alternate characters are locked in their own separate modes

[reef island]

Man, rondo was great

A few tedious boss battles but overall some best of Castlevania action

[sullen quartz]

Rondo > SCIV > Bloodlines > III > Chronicles > I > Dracula X > Legends > II: Belmont's Revenge > II: Simon's Quest > The Adventure for me.

Think that's all the Classicvanias. IV and Bloodlines are REALLY close for me.

[unkempt socket]

what about rebirth?

[indigo heart]

Isn’t it a remake of the adventure?

[unkempt socket]

very very loosely. Like even less than 4 is a remake of 1

The most notable change between the two is that rebirth ||doesn't suck||

[reef mist]

I'm stuck at 94% completion. I'm not quite sure what I'm missing. Looking at retroachievements, possibly some hidden treasure. I rarely obsess over completion, but this game has me hooked.

[rustic bane]

Oh that’s means that the two castlevanias I played are the best . Maybe I’ll move to the Metroidvanias then

[rustic bane]

Totally understandable !

[rustic bane]

It’s cool to have that alternate ending with Maria . Playing with Maria pretty much breaks the game though .

I’ll keep playing with her , maybe I change my mind

[sullen quartz]

Definitely give Bloodlines a go.

[sullen quartz]

@unkempt socket I'm not there yet. My next Castlevania game to play is Circle of the Moon.

[elder valley]

This game was tough as nails... but I persevered and finally got to the finish line. 😅

[elder valley]

Yeah I heard it's easier with Maria... Maybe I should I taken this path... because it was tough as nails with Belmont. No way I could have finished this game without save states.

[rustic bane]

Yeah it is easier since she double jumps and have a dash attack , and is much quicker I think .

But I hated to play with her . I’m back with Belmont

I mean Richter. Maria seems to be Belmont related also, according to Dracula at least

[elder valley]

It's crazy how beautiful the game looks for 1993. The cutscenes are lit too!

[ebon sage]

I only know about the one at the beginning of the game and the other when you finish it. Are there any others that I miss?

[reef mist]

The intro is great. Then there are anime style cut scenes for each of the girls freed but those are a bit awkward.

I wish there was a way to have Japanese voices with subtitles. The English voices are terrible.

[rustic bane]

The ending cutscene is also different with Maria . « No matter how complicated you put it, doing bad things is always bad »

[elder valley]

@ebon sage There’s also the one when you find the girl before fighting Dracula.

[rustic bane]

Oh is there a girl to free in the Dracula level ?

[elder valley]

Yes there is.

[ebon sage]

This game is a rabbit hole

[rustic bane]

Yeah honestly if I played by myself I could have thought that it’s just a linear game with no side quests at all. (Well not really since there is the percentage completion stats)

[ebon sage]

I need to finish it so I can go back an try all those things.

[elder valley]

@ebon sage I'm sorry... it's not in the final level actually. It's a bit before that. Here is the current timestamp when she is rescued (41 minutes 14 seconds): https://youtu.be/RBvOS9jdwHg?t=2474

It really is top tier anime (in terms of video fidelity and quality)... which surprised me considering how old the game is (1993).

Maybe not that surprising though since it came out on a CD, meaning they had a ton of room for video content.

[indigo heart]

Wow, the boss on 5’ really kicked my ass for a while. That’s my vote for hardest in the game

The whole level is pretty unforgiving too

[unkempt socket]

yeah its technically not even a boss lol its a miniboss. no music change or health bar. but yeah its brutal

[elder valley]

I thought I was good at video games... until I played Rondo of Blood. 🙀

Btw... I dig the music in this game. What a masterpiece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GXNDugXvqE

[indigo heart]

I think you’re confusing 5 and 5’ maybe. The boss at the end of 5’ has ||two healthbars||

Although there’s a fork. I went down the stairs. Maybe you went up.

[indigo heart]

Castlevania has such good music. Especially the 16-bit ones

[elder valley]

So many paths in this one. Although I beat the game, by reading the comments it feels like there is so much I missed on.

[unkempt socket]

yeah i guess? there was no boss on the upper route at all? i thought u meant the miniboss with ||the two knights||

[indigo heart]

No the ||snake with four heads||

[unkempt socket]

...are you playing the psp version?

[indigo heart]

I finished it with something like 42%. And I think some things can’t be unlocked until you beat Dracula

[indigo heart]

Ah, yeah. Maybe that’s it

I considered switching after I unlocked Rondo but it seemed silly at that point

[unkempt socket]

oh yeah 5' is very different in the psp version... weird lol. adds two bosses. the original doesnt have bosses

seems to be the only level thats very different between the versions

[fervent shell]

I thought stage 5 was Death. Was that a different one?

[rustic bane]

I think it’s all about the difference between 5 and 5’

[magic barn]

I’m stuck at stage 5 boss currently. Bad at games

[elder valley]

I was stuck for a while too... Couldn't possibly do it without save states. OMG

[alpine coral]

Almost time to bust out the invincibility cheat...

[mighty forge]

Maria?

[copper socket]

https://tenor.com/view/sound-of-music-asset-abbey-not-an-asset-gif-12270014

How do you solve a problem with Maria?

[elder valley]

Is there the equivalent of Maria for Rondo in Symphony of the Night?

[rustic bane]

Yeah as somebody mentioned Death might be the hardest boss of the game .
There is no easy way to beat it but my strategy was : first phase : standing far and throwing silver crosses in its general direction ; second phase : have at least half of the health left and attack aggressively with the whip , in the center so it does not throw you out of the boat

[uncut spoke]

Grinding. A few late game equipment combinations are game breaking.

[quiet plank]

She is playable in the Saturn version of SotN. I don’t think she makes it much easier, but over never played it on Saturn.

[magic barn]

Shield rod all day

[uncut spoke]

yes, all day, for the last hour of the game. 😆

[unkempt socket]

Yeah there's also a different version of her playable on PSP and PS4

The PSP version is closer to rondo, the Saturn one is weird

[tall dock]

So Rondo in 93 has boss HP bars.
Then in Symphony in the opening scene as Richter you also have boss HP bar like in Rondo, but then there are no boss HP bars in the main game.
Like... Haw can you be at the stage of evolution when you invented boss HP bars and are like... No. I don't think I will use them

https://tenor.com/view/battle-droid-compute-think-star-wars-gif-17180363

[mighty forge]

Crissaegrim sword

[analog island]

Guys, Castlevania is awesome

[ebon sage]

Now that you've experienced Rondo, Castlevania will never be the same thing ever again

[atomic violet]

Rondo taught me what kind of Castlevania game I like, bless

[uncut spoke]

There are still like 3 classic Castlevania games that are worth playing.

[ebon sage]

Same

Turns out that classicvanias are my jam. Metroidvanias are more focused on exploration and back tracking and I don't care about that.

[atomic violet]

Classicvania gang

[atomic violet]

Huge same

I don't care about the leveling system either

I level by getting gud

I might go for the Mega Drive one next

[ebon sage]

https://tenor.com/view/git-gud-video-games-spongebob-gif-21263974

[uncut spoke]

The leveling up in SotN just didn’t feel good to me. It didn’t feel like I was getting stronger, just an arbitrary number that would increase and after reaching a certain number impossible enemies became pretty easy. One level made such a big difference to be able to fight, but didn’t feel like I got much stronger until the next gate was reached. It was weird.

[unkempt socket]

more imo. Bloodlines, 4, rebirth, 3, belmonts revenge, 1 and/or chronicles roughly in that order

Also 2 Bloodstained: Curse Of The Moon games which are probably better than the main metroidvania Bloodstained game was

[rancid siren]

The PSP and Saturn versions have playable Maria. Saturn version is unique, but PSP version plays pretty close to her Rondo iteration.

Like others have said, though, she's not Symphony's easy mode like in Rondo.

[unkempt socket]

yeah sotns easy mode is sotn

[rustic bane]

94 %. That’s good enough for me !

[fervent shell]

I love the CotM games! RotN disappointed me so much after playing them

[mighty forge]

Just steer well clear of Castlevania 2

[unkempt socket]

https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1032/ its not that bad with this hack and/or a guide (probably both)

probably both

[tall dock]

Where can I see the completion percentage?

[reef mist]

It is on the save selection screen and on the next screen where you select stage and player.
I'm also at 94%.

[ebon sage]

I really need to find some time to finish this game.

[rustic bane]

So What is your percentage ?

[tall dock]

Just played 3 levels and didn't get any of the stuff people talk about like didn't save anyone or get Maria so probably very low

[mighty forge]

If you go back to the title screen you now have stage select and completion %, you can also do stage 2 again, ||don't drop down into the lake area and make sure to grab the key while being chased by the large beast, maria is at the end of that hallway||

[uncut spoke]

Spoiler tags please.

[mighty forge]

@uncut spoke Since Maria is the hidden difficulty switch, do we put something in the pins? with spoiler tags?

[uncut spoke]

I mean, it’s fine to discuss her, but there may be people who still want to discover how to unlock her on her own.

It’s not hard to find, both in this chat and in guides, but we don’t want people to accidentally discover it without wanting to.

[mighty forge]

works for me, it just seems the most FA'd Q

[cursive bronze]

I think every classic castlevania other than 2 and adventure are worth it, 2 is fun for sheer curiousity

Ive beaten adventure and its just kinda bad lmao

Adventure REBIRTH on the other hand

Goes pretty hard

[compact narwhal]

alrightt waiting for comments from the supervisor, let's do thisss

[unkempt socket]

i dont really care for legends either. or the arcade one if that counts lol

[tall dock]

What's wrong with 2?

[cursive bronze]

2 isnt bad but its kinda just boring and really easy imo

[reef mist]

I've been trying to do Maria's alter-ego move over and over again and I have not managed it once!

[unkempt socket]

It tries to be open world but doesn't really pull it off. And in its original NES form the translation was really really bad so a guide was basically mandatory

[mighty forge]

same pitfalls zelda 2 ran into

[unkempt socket]

yeah it runs into them worse than zelda 2 does

[compact narwhal]

suffering and dying

[rustic bane]

Now that’s macabre !

[compact narwhal]

I'm truly enjoying this, I just suck at it lol

[alpine coral]

I'm hate-playing it at this point. On the final stage.

[rustic bane]

I tried to rank the bosses from the most to the least difficult (I didn’t include the boss rush, and I assume that you use only the weapons that are available from the boss checkpoint):
Shaft (stage 7)
Death (Stage 5)
Gan Ceann (stage 4)
Serpent (stage 1a)
Minotaur (stage 3)
Dogether (stage 3a)
Dracula (stage 8)
Carmilla (stage 4a)
Bone Golem (stage 2a)
Werewolfe (stage 2)
Wyvern (stage 1)

What do you think ?

[mighty forge]

I'd put Death above Shaft, but that might just be my playstyle

[compact narwhal]

I got stuck at the damn knights and gave up for the day

[unkempt socket]

serpent was soooo much harder than the wyvern lol

[alpine coral]

Well I finished it, surprised I didn't burn out my SD card with all the save state spamming. The anime cutscenes were great, I'll give it that.

[atomic violet]

I'm best friends with the shortcut in Garlic that saves and load states

Also good job Rusty

[rustic bane]

This one was a tough call! They’re both above all others for sure .

[rustic bane]

Level 4 boss?

[compact narwhal]

lol I wish, beginning of 3

[strong sparrow]

This game is fun, I'm absolutely terrible at it I think

Took me a bit but I finally beat Stage 4

[rustic bane]

Oh those knights !

[tall dock]

I might like Rondo more than SotN

Though I can't find a single thing you guys talk about, I smash at every wall and all I have discovered is some food and I think an optional boss on level 1? It's short enough that I might go again with some guide to find more stuff

[indigo heart]

There’s at least one path hidden behind a wall, but a lot of them are less obvious, like falling down somewhere that you would normally expect to kill you.

[floral tundra]

Holy rod or Crissaegrim anyone?

[hallow sierra]

Crissaegrim sqad!

Also, I have defeated Shaft and Balls

[alpine coral]

Lol I wonder if it translated that way in the original Japanese?

[hallow sierra]

I dunno. I’m working on the dodging pattern for ghost of Shaft next. Trying to wrap this up before work, and Zelda TotK weekend 🤣

[rustic bane]

Yeah do it! The dodging is key indeed. I think it’s the hardest boss, with Death very close

[hallow sierra]

Yay! I whipped Vampire Daddy!

[magic barn]

Finally past death. I am invincible!

[rustic bane]

… until shaft .

[magic barn]

If it wasn’t for save states and playing as Maria…

This is definitely a game I’ll come back to

Just want to play sotn now though…

[rustic bane]

I want to play it soon too . Have you played it before ?

[magic barn]

Yep. It’s a great one. I’ve only beaten it a few times but like gaming comfort food

[mighty forge]

Note: Symphony of the Night is one of the GOTY options and completion will get you points, however you must get the real ending.

[rustic bane]

Oh how can we do that ?

[mighty forge]

#gotx-announcements message

ANNOUNCEMENT THE SECOND In case you missed the NYE stream last night, Golden Sun is Retro Handheld's Game of the Year! But wait, there's more! We also did a small, community-picked awards show to recognize a bunch of different games. This means, if you want to get your yearly GotY point, you can play ANY of the winners! In short, you can play Golden Sun, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap, OR Snatcher to get your GotY point! You can only gain 1 point in this way no matter how many GotY contenders you finish. Additionally, anyone who completes Bomberman will get a half point, seeing as it's our Game of the Week of the Year!

[magic barn]

As much as i love sotn I’ve never done that. Challenge accepted?

[rustic bane]

Yeah I know what goty is but how can I make sure that I won’t end up with the bad ending ?

[rancid siren]

Minor spoiler:
If you finish with around 100%, you are ||only half way done. ||

||Okay... in terms of how long the game is, you're more like ⅔ finished. However, game completion is determined by map coverage, and maximum percentage without cheating or glitching is 200.6%. You're sure to get the best ending at that point. ||

[rustic bane]

Thanks Captain ! Any reason why you need the best ending in this game but not for others gotm?

[rancid siren]

You're welcome!

And it's because the worst ending is quite literally only half of the game. Finishing with the second to best ending may be acceptable too, since it's pretty close to full completion, but I'm not certain about that.

[indigo heart]

Where did Rapid say the bad ending doesn’t count? The announcement post doesn’t say anything about it

[slim spruce]

That was the rule when it was GOTM. I assume it carries over to GOTY.

[rustic bane]

Vapid’s word is not good enough ?

[indigo heart]

Then I must not have gotten the point for that one. I didn’t even know there were different endings until after I’d posted my screenshot

I see the GOTM announcement says to check the thread.

Discord threads are so bad

[rancid siren]

Generally speaking, if achieving a certain ending cuts out a good bit of content from the game, then that ending won't be enough for the completion point.

But I'm not the guy who makes the rules, so take that with a grain of salt.

[uncut spoke]

Depends somewhat on rapids familiarity with the game, but yes. Like 999 did not require a good ending, but probably should have.

[opal zinc]

I feel like 999's true ending should've been required

was way more impactful than SotN's true ending

and honestly none of 999's other endings feel conclusive at all except for the true one

lots of loose ends left unresolved

[unkempt socket]

yeah lol i cant imagine getting the sub ending and then stopping

[rustic bane]

And what about deadeus? Any ending was enough right ? Even the one that takes 5 minutes to reach ?

[atomic violet]

Yeah because that one was hard to control imo

There were 12 endings I think? So Rapid can't just say "oh get the good ending"

Which good ending

[rustic bane]

11 endings

[unkempt socket]

survival kids too lol most people skipped like 90% of the game

deadeus at least all the endings are pretty short

[uncut spoke]

Yeah, some are hard. I'd like to have said you have to complete R4 with each team for it to count, but there's no way to verify that.

[compact narwhal]

I would have had a BALL with that. I still keep going back to it. Such a good game.

[uncut spoke]

I'm always plugging away at it.

[rustic bane]

You’re right the ending often does not reflect the degree of completion of the game . Another example is I think , super Mario world in which most people just went to bowser skipping 90 % of the content of the game lol (I was not there at the time but I read it)

[uncut spoke]

I definitely did this when it was GotY, but I also have beaten it regularly many times... So I didn't feel bad either.