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Castlevania Community Thread | What is a man?!

also

Banned
QQ: Is there any incentive for beating Hard Mode for Castlevania for the NES other than bragging rights? Like is the ending at all different?

I don't remember anything being different.
III had a different ending for hard mode; you got to see the full credits.
 

Ambitious

Member
Just finished my second playthrough of Aria of Sorrow. Good lord, I love this kind of game so much. The gameplay, obviously, the enemy designs, the castle design in particular, the music, I love it all. What next? I think I might replay Dawn of Sorrow too, because why not. Just need to find a copy.
 

Marz

Member
Just finished my second playthrough of Aria of Sorrow. Good lord, I love this kind of game so much. The gameplay, obviously, the enemy designs, the castle design in particular, the music, I love it all. What next? I think I might replay Dawn of Sorrow too, because why not. Just need to find a copy.

Top floor is such a good song.
 

Marz

Member
It's nice, but I prefer Castle Corridor. I could listen to it for hours.

That tracks awesome too, I love the whole soundtrack.

Dawn of Sorrow was actually my first Castlevania game and I loved it outside of the stupid stylus gimmick. Julius mode is great but the stylus shit is so annoying whenever I replay the game.

So I actually think Aria is better nowadays.
 
I'm totally stumped and stuck in Symphony of the Night. Can anyone help and clarify where I'm supposed to go next?

This is what my map looks like so far:

VEuaVD6.jpg


There's a hallway on the top left that's covered in spikes. I'm assuming I need the ability to transform into a bat to cross it? How do I gain that? All I've got so far is the ability to transform into a wolf, not really sure what that's good for.

Also, there are areas that seem too high to reach. Is there a way to acquire triple jump? Thanks in advance.
 
I'm totally stumped and stuck in Symphony of the Night. Can anyone help and clarify where I'm supposed to go next?

This is what my map looks like so far:

There's a hallway on the top left that's covered in spikes. I'm assuming I need the ability to transform into a bat to cross it? How do I gain that? All I've got so far is the ability to transform into a wolf, not really sure what that's good for.

Also, there are areas that seem too high to reach. Is there a way to acquire triple jump? Thanks in advance.

No mist transformation yet? Should've gotten it after you cleared the minotaur boss in the coliseum area, which it seems like you've done based on the map. If you just forgot to pick up the item, head back to the coliseum boss chamber and exit to the right and double jump across the elevator shaft. If you forgot where the coliseum is, you get there through Olrox's area, which is beyond that clock room, though I think you should've unlocked a shortcut through the cathedral at this point. Mist lets you pass through some of those grates you've come across, so try that out. If you exhausted your grate-knowledge and want to know what grate you need next:
go back to the library and explore it thoroughly for your next upgrade.

No transformation will get you through that spike hallway. You may, or may not, figure that one out later.
 
No mist transformation yet? Should've gotten it after you cleared the minotaur boss in the coliseum area, which it seems like you've done based on the map. If you just forgot to pick up the item, head back to the coliseum boss chamber and exit to the right and double jump across the elevator shaft. If you forgot where the coliseum is, you get there through Olrox's area, which is beyond that clock room, though I think you should've unlocked a shortcut through the cathedral at this point. Mist lets you pass through some of those grates you've come across, so try that out. If you exhausted your grate-knowledge and want to know what grate you need next:
go back to the library and explore it thoroughly for your next upgrade.

No transformation will get you through that spike hallway. You may, or may not, figure that one out later.

Thanks a bunch. Don't have mist yet. Will check back when I get home.
 

Tizoc

Member
Can someone post about igarashi's attitude towards the old casltevania dev teams at the time of sotn's release?
 
Can someone post about igarashi's attitude towards the old casltevania dev teams at the time of sotn's release?

Oh man. During SOTN's release in particular? On a less chronologically specific basis, I know that he's more or less said that he reveres Castlevania III and Rondo of Blood, but that he's not a fan of bottomless pits in the Classicvanias. I don't think that he would have aimed for the Castlevania Chronicles remake of the Sharp X68000 game if he didn't like that one, too.
 

kogasu

Member
Hey guuuys 'member this OT??? Let's attempt to dust it off a little.

It seems Castlevania isn't quite gone (Phew!). How are we feelin' about the attention our favorite series is receiving recently?

I've certainly gotten hype over the Netflix show. Seeing some of my favorite characters actually fleshed out and having these intense action scenes. I mean how hype was
Trevor v Alucard??
That was the coolest! I honestly couldn't stop smiling. I can't wait to see the rest of that series. More I need MOAR!

On top of that. I think I'll do another round of Rondo just for funsies haha.
 

Teknoman

Member
Hey guuuys 'member this OT??? Let's attempt to dust it off a little.

It seems Castlevania isn't quite gone (Phew!). How are we feelin' about the attention our favorite series is receiving recently?

I've certainly gotten hype over the Netflix show. Seeing some of my favorite characters actually fleshed out and having these intense action scenes. I mean how hype was
Trevor v Alucard??
That was the coolest! I honestly couldn't stop smiling. I can't wait to see the rest of that series. More I need MOAR!

On top of that. I think I'll do another round of Rondo just for funsies haha.

I need to go through SotN since that was next on my series playthrough list. I havent hit the portables again yet...but that netflix series has me wanting to jump back in before October. And yeah, that Episode 4 fight was pretty boss fight'ish.

On a side note, why is it so hard to find high res Castlevania cover art (no matter the region)? I know theres got to be artbook scans out there for poster material.
 

Frost_Ace

Member
Replaying Castlevania III on the 3DS and already savescumming in stage II. I'm so bad at classicvanias :(

I heard the japanese version is easier?
 

kogasu

Member
I need to go through SotN since that was next on my series playthrough list. I havent hit the portables again yet...but that netflix series has me wanting to jump back in before October. And yeah, that Episode 4 fight was pretty boss fight'ish.

On a side note, why is it so hard to find high res Castlevania cover art (no matter the region)? I know theres got to be artbook scans out there for poster material.

I still have yet to play any of the DS ones. I was really hoping for a VC release. I dunno if it's possible on Switch but Wii U was prime picking for that!! I was already in the middle of my own replaythrough of SotN myself. That game is long and I always forget where everything is lol!

For high res stuff, I too am also at a loss for high res stuff.... I can only think Castlevania Dungeon has SOME high res scans and stuff here and there but that's it really.



Replaying Castlevania III on the 3DS and already savescumming in stage II. I'm so bad at classicvanias :(

I heard the japanese version is easier?

Castlevania 3 is one of the toughest classicvanias. I don't blame you. I didn't know about the JP version being easier. Looking it up, it appears a lot of the enemies were modified for international release and have either newer abilities or take more hits to kill. That's crazy!! I'm so used to Japan easing it up on everyone else ala Mega Man 2.
 
Castlevania 3 is one of the toughest classicvanias. I don't blame you. I didn't know about the JP version being easier. Looking it up, it appears a lot of the enemies were modified for international release and have either newer abilities or take more hits to kill. That's crazy!! I'm so used to Japan easing it up on everyone else ala Mega Man 2.

Akumajou Densetsu is in general a more enjoyable experience than Castlevania III, I think.

I know that Konami in particular went big on making North American versions of their games more difficult right around the 1989/1990 mark. Japanese law forbids video game rental, so I suppose that it sunk in eventually that American players might be renting their game, engaging in a sort of video game experience tourism, beating it in a weekend (especially once the Game Genie was available), and never actually going out to purchase a copy.

The knee-jerk reaction must have been to tweak the North American versions to be hard enough that 2-3 days with a game couldn't possibly show the player enough of it to sate them while hopefully giving them a taste for the gameplay. I recall other companies doing this too (Ninja Gaiden III and Working Designs releases come to mind), but pretty well across the board until the PS1 era, Konami would usually at minimum remove unlimited continues from their games. The pitfall is that it always seemed like the difficulty in the games was tuned right for the Japanese releases, but that scaling the difficulty up for the West seemed like it was usually done a bit more haphazardly and could lead to a lot of frustrating moments for a few years there.

But then Castlevania 4 was comparatively on the easy side in every territory, so who's counting?
 
That ain't gonna stop the game from beating you down, I still have nightmares about stage 9, that gauntlet was unreal.

I wish the VC here had the japanese version, I already cut my teeth on the western release, i've earned a slightly easier ride for a replay!
With better tune quality to boot.
 

PNut d kidnaper

Neo Member
I'm at 200.3% in SOTN and can't find the 2 other rooms I need for the Xbox 360 achievement before facing Shaft. Can someone help please, the internet is letting me down, I've searched every online map and I still can't find the last 2 rooms I need.
 

Retro

Member
I'm at 200.3% in SOTN and can't find the 2 other rooms I need for the Xbox 360 achievement before facing Shaft. Can someone help please, the internet is letting me down, I've searched every online map and I still can't find the last 2 rooms I need.

Probably a hidden room you missed, one in each castle. The most obscure one I can think of is the one containing the Beryl Circlet, so if you don't have that head item that's your room. You'll definitely need to look up how to open it online, like I said, it's pretty damn obscure.
 

PNut d kidnaper

Neo Member
Probably a hidden room you missed, one in each castle. The most obscure one I can think of is the one containing the Beryl Circlet, so if you don't have that head item that's your room. You'll definitely need to look up how to open it online, like I said, it's pretty damn obscure.

Yeah I opened up that room in both castles since it was known to be a pretty obscure random hidden room. That was an easy one. I'm thinking the achievement might be glitched or something. I've scoured the internet comparing maps and I've been in every room except the finale battle. Even did the weird wolf trick to unlock some hidden areas in the catacombs.
 

Retro

Member
Yeah I opened up that room in both castles since it was known to be a pretty obscure random hidden room. That was an easy one. I'm thinking the achievement might be glitched or something. I've scoured the internet comparing maps and I've been in every room except the finale battle. Even did the weird wolf trick to unlock some hidden areas in the catacombs.

Hmm... Does the achievement require you to use the Sword Brother trick to glitch outside the castle? That can put your total to 215% total I believe, so I doubt that's it. Might just be some small area you're missing in the waterway or a hidden room somewhere.

It could just be that last area with Shaft, but I'm not sure that counts as a whole 2%. Could always beat the game and see, then reload your save if not.

Able to post a clear screen cap of your maps?
 
Hmm... Does the achievement require you to use the Sword Brother trick to glitch outside the castle? That can put your total to 215% total I believe, so I doubt that's it. Might just be some small area you're missing in the waterway or a hidden room somewhere.

It could just be that last area with Shaft, but I'm not sure that counts as a whole 2%. Could always beat the game and see, then reload your save if not.

Able to post a clear screen cap of your maps?

The Sword Brothers glitch or other glitches shouldn't be necessary to reach 200.6% -- that should all be accessible through normal means. Remember that you can use the library card to warp out of boss battles!

Here's a 200.6% set of maps:
https://i.stack.imgur.com/D5PhY.gif
 

PNut d kidnaper

Neo Member
Able to post a clear screen cap of your maps?

This was the best I could get with my phone. If someone has a few minutes and doesn't mind kinda looking it over, maybe I'm missing something obvious. Thanks:)

Edit: I haven't been to the last room with Shaft yet so that's a .01%. So I'm missing two rooms not including the final room I think.

Regular castle http://imgur.com/usDFkvN

Inverted castle http://imgur.com/PlOFaPi


Thanks:) I've tried comparing complete maps with mine and I don't find any differences.:(
 

kogasu

Member
I kinda dropped off sorry lol!

Akumajou Densetsu is in general a more enjoyable experience than Castlevania III, I think...

Wow, so I should actually shoot for the JP versions of these games now. That's good to know considering how much of an awful time I've had with CV3. As in, I can barely make it through that game lol and it becomes tiresome to try after awhile.

Happy to help, have fun in Richter Mode, it's pretty fun. Remember he has access to a bunch of special attacks that let him get around the castle.

I kinda wish we got a CV that was actually designed around all the cool maneuvers Richter could do. Like it doesn't have to be Richter or the moves he has specifically but I think having a big ol' castle with just you, your arsenal of "cool guy flips" and your wits to get through it. Sorta like Classicvania but you have more options to get out of danger and such.

Not that I'd want the Igavanias to be phased out or anything either. I just thought it could be a fun idea.
 

Piccoro

Member
Hey guys. So, Haunted Castle finally came out in the European PlayStation Store, and it's great!

Having played almost all console Castlevanias, this one is very refreshing. It has that typical arcade difficulty, but inserting credits after a game over doesn't put Simon in the same spot he died. You have to restart the entire level again (some stages have mid-stage checkpoints), which makes this a challenging game. You have to memorize the enemies and the hazards if you want to get far.
Graphics are awesome for a 1988 arcade game, with sprites much larger than the NES counterparts.

I recommend to anyone with a PS4.
 

Teknoman

Member
Hey guys. So, Haunted Castle finally came out in the European PlayStation Store, and it's great!

Having played almost all console Castlevanias, this one is very refreshing. It has that typical arcade difficulty, but inserting credits after a game over doesn't put Simon in the same spot he died. You have to restart the entire level again (some stages have mid-stage checkpoints), which makes this a challenging game. You have to memorize the enemies and the hazards if you want to get far.
Graphics are awesome for a 1988 arcade game, with sprites much larger than the NES counterparts.

I recommend to anyone with a PS4.

Hows the soundtrack?
 
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