Castlevania Miscellanies

[Blinge]

Wise, measured and cultured words as usual Birru

guess i'l stick with 68k cause it works right now and i had emulayshe issues when i tried ps1 last year.

It'll be sick if i can 1cc this one DOE. It's the only classicvane I haven't done yet

Man I've just been having a go at she-wolf. I know someone in here was arrogant enough to call her easy
To me she's a hobbesian nightmare.
I'd forgive it if you could accurately dodge all her projectiles and then fight her afterwards, but she'll just zip on top of me and deal contact damage it seems, no matter where i am. How the fuck do you avoid that, other than pre-emptive safe spot knowledge?

She just ripped the clock hand off then simply advanced on me until i had nowhere to go!

my favourite so far. she swings with the hand, i whip and hit her, she jumps up and hits me during her invincibility frames and before my lag from whipping has worn off.
come on man.

[BIL]

Throw them x3 Crosses up in her son, that's what I do, while spamming jump-cancellable whips (meaning launched early enough to connect/late enough to cancel on ground contact), it usually works out - I think I'm suffering from survivors guilt ala that bitch Hajime Isayama, because it usaually work 4 me, but maybe there is more going on than I know PS1 Original is said 2 be a bitch-ass muhfucka, just how it be

[Blinge]

Oh yeah. I mean.. hopefully I can get there with the cross but i'm practicing a recovery play save-state in which i just have an axe, and am already two hits away from death.

You may say i make my own problems..
also I really struggle to pick up the cross on that last climb in the stage

[BIL]

Ah jeeze, I went looking for my PS1 (O-riginal ^o^) She-Wolf strategy, and all I found was a big bunch of waffle. Now it's been nearly as long since that run, as it was when I did that run! FUCC

I seem to recall there being no actual safe spots in that fight, per se... but now I can't recall if I used the cross, or the axe. Either way, it's consistently doable (see saucykobold's 8-ALL, middle of post), but probably quite broken compared to the X68k version. If I remember right, copy-paster mentioned She-Wolf missing her subweapon dodge mechanic entirely, on PS1. I've lost a lot of affection for that version over the years - M2 PREZ, i will fork out teh cash 4 X68k remaster - though I still have a good time whenever I return to it.

[SuperDeadite]

She Wolf on X68000 is a perfect fight. Just hold your ground and react. Wait for her to pick something to throw at you, then dodge. Your diagonal down whips are far easier to hit her with. Don't panic and jump the gun, you have to let her attack first. Axe makes her really easy as if you launch an axe and do a jump diagonal whip at her she will always dodge one and get hit by the other. This fight is the definition of "git gud"

If you are having issues just dodge all the projectiles, when she runs out she will take the clock arm, then she's slow and easy. And yes, on ps1 she is sped up to 60htz from the real machine's 55htz it's crap.

Medusa gets really easy when you realize the she has to use an attack to hurt you. When her tail isn't in an attack animation you can walk/jump right through her. Again proper usage of jump and 5-way whip combos make this game a lot more fun. You can even jump forward, turn around multiple times in the air and use the optimal attack.

[Blinge]

Yeah... after a long time fighting her off my save state it felt rather enjoyable.

However I don't think you're remembering the clock hand phase correctly. Either that or youve always hit her enough times in the earlier phases.
She will sometimes walk and jump foward, or dash in with that weapon and there's nothing you can do about it, afaik. Assuming she starts from midscreen, which i think she always does?
she'll take all your space if she has enough health.

[SuperDeadite]

Yeah... after a long time fighting her off my save state it felt rather enjoyable.

However I don't think you're remembering the clock hand phase correctly. Either that or youve always hit her enough times in the earlier phases.
She will sometimes walk and jump foward, or dash in with that weapon and there's nothing you can do about it, afaik. Assuming she starts from midscreen, which i think she always does?
she'll take all your space if she has enough health.

Basically I never use straight forward whips on her. Jumping straight up and diagonal down whip actually has more range then a straight forward whip. When she comes at me I jump forward and diagonal whip down, if your timing is right you won't get hit. She is programmed to counter and punish you, but is weak to you countering her.

She will switch to the clock hand when her health is low or she has no more possible projectiles. I have played this so much that she is usually close to death when she goes for the hand.

[Blinge]

Let's say you're standing at 7 o'clock, and she decides she's gonna jump across the screen, grab 8 and smack you with it.
How TF do you react to that?
when she's throwing numbers i cower at the corner, at least i can dodge all those.

Diagonal down whip is not hitting her at all.

Edit: well, whip only save states get frustrating after a while.
Restarted, got my ass kicked trying to do the whole stage, arrived with standard axe and 4 pips of health, beat her.

Ediit: Keep Cross for Tower of Dolls or switch to axe?

[Blinge]

The Tower of Dolls is one of the most iconic parts of the game for me.
Absolute sadism

[BIL]

Omae wa dare? :3

Which subweapon did you go with? I'm happiest with Axe there, because vertical climb, but Cross can do some amusing things (nailing screen-width lines of enemies).

[Blinge]

I got massacred when holding onto the cross so have used axe, having no other choice.
In a real good run? dunnoooo
Probably follow your example

Yamete!

Edit: Does the ps1 ver also repopulate enemies if you scroll the screen off them? like a stoned ninja gaiden lol

[BIL]

I very vaguely recall getting fresh screenfulls of enemies while dropping down for the tower's 1UP, though this game exists in a bit of a fug for me, currently.

[Blinge]

Do ya mean the Tower's meat?

If there's a 1-up me no no where it is

[BIL]

Oh yeah, sorry. Does X68k even have a 1UP item ala Rondo/VK? Can't recall now. I know you can get a reliable score extend by nailing all the Fleamen trapped in the Clock Tower's cage (the one you open by standing on its counterweight) with one shot, typically Cross for me.

[Blinge]

yup. is there a way to kill them without them escaping first?
There's a 1-up right there, actually. you break the left wall after you've dropped down, then crouch in the gap until it appears.

[BIL]

Sheeit, yeah, I remember now There's one in the last stage with a particularly cinematic locale I won't spoil. (dunno if you know already, but I somehow missed it for ~15 years, got a bit of that Rondo pathfinding buzz)

For the Clock Tower Fleamen, it's tricky, but I tend to follow in a Cross. Definitely possible. I guess the Axe would work too - not the Dagger, for obvious reasons.

Been dabbling in Rondo again lately, speaking of that, and 1UPs. Godlike handling and collision. Kinda sucks that its footsie became the sum total of SOTN's combat (doesn't work nearly as well in flatland), but in its native context it's impossible to complain.

Spoiler

Went back partially to compare after Sumez's recent patchup of XX. Million little things done better here, though XX's boned walk speed is definitely its single biggest issue.

[Blinge]

nah bro i've finished the game casually before, just continues for days.

I'm working on gittin' gud now. Pureez tell me

[BIL]

There's a minor path split, towards the end of the final stage's opening great hall. You gotta take the rightmost path for a shot at the secret, though you can glimpse it (not access it) from the other side of the stage. Invaluable saucy demonstrates

[Blinge]

Sumez' Patchup of XX?

Oh man. omae wa dare? becomes scarier and scarier.
I know yamete, eyaa, but what's the other thing they say on spawn?

Also today we learned not to enter the doppelganger fight with axe equipped.
Repeat: do not enter doppelganger fight with axe equipped.

[BIL]

"Okaerinasai" ("Welcome home"), with a curtsy. ^w^ Very deferential, much like the ninja zombie maids later on.

Some of the series' best zako ever. I'd not thought about it, but I guess SOTN's Marionettes are kinda similar, with their lazy yet insidious tracking, and idly creepy voices. Although, as with nearly all enemies SOTN imported from the traditional series, they don't have the player handling model or stage design to back them up.

Sumez' Patchup of XX?

Yep! Ala the walk speedup hacks for GB Densetsu I & II, it's amazing how much more likeable the game becomes. I still wonder if Richter's not accidentally stuck in mud-walking mode, tbh. Even Nintendo cocked up a flag with SMB Collection (SFC, SMB1+2 brick breaking is screwed).

[Blinge]

oh.. oh wow! Maybe i'll give that a go someday.

the hell is a BENGAY?

Man I just had such a great run of 68K. Didn't drop a life until after She-wolf, whom I mercilessly bullied to death with triple cross and not much skill

Then I screwed the pooch on the falling bridge? like 3-4 times in a row, can yer believe it?
Tower of dolls only claimed one life from me. Those dolls? I wouldn't even call them zako lol. they're evil. The respawning, that absolute bait of a wall-meat that you must jump right and fall down to collect, simply dropping means you won't get to it in time and dolls will gleefully respawn all around you. Welcome home bitch.

Doppelganger axed me questions i wasn't prepared to answer.

Haven't practiced beyond him at all, the red skeletons are just rude on that next stage huh?
I got down to my last life on The Creature and somehow managed to batter him, earn an extend.. and keep going!
Dropped one to death, got my revenge..

Reached Saucy's 1-up. died, reached it again, extend!

....only to lose it all at the fucking. bat. bridge.
quite pleased with myself. I think the only thing really standing in the way of a 1cc is the fucking ninja maids later on.

[BIL]

Spoiler

XX RICHTER needs HOLY BENGAY badly

[SuperDeadite]

I think the toughest enemies in X68 are the ninja maids, you get one shot to nail them. Screw it up and they will murder you. Feels so good once you've mastered the timing though.

[Blinge]

uh. how TF do i avoid being hit by the chandeliers? i can't juke or jump. standing still like Sauce man does gets me hit aswell

[SuperDeadite]

I don't think I've ever had an issue with falling chandeliers... The ones on the last stage with the fire? Just walk under them slightly then turn around and walk out before they fall.

[Blinge]

Love it. "oh that was never a problem for me." must be the most annoying start to any advice one can possibly give. i'm faackin fuuumin'
yeah, guess I was just a hair too forwards.
Flame boys are annoying, hard to tell what they do.

No wall meat on this last stage then?

[Blinge]

Ill-fated attempt to 1cc it live
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1022312169

man streaming is fucking hard! i couldn't play for shit. used a continue at stage 4, i think. made it to doppelganger and game overed again, quit.

Update of import:

I fucking did it boys. 30 mins after the stream I got myself a cuppa,
sat down quietly to play by myself and got my coveted clear!!!

Recorded too so that's comin' soon.

Finally. My goal i set back in 2016 or whatever. 1cc every classicvania. COMPRETU.
(not the gameboy ones fuck that)

[BIL]

Grats. Imma be a dick and ask if you 1CC Haunted Castle, before pointing out it wasn't supposed to be a Castlevania anyway, and is busted-ass besides, but if you do play it, for the love of god, go with JP ver. Actually not too tough a 1CC, barring some brute memo (and knowing the keep the Stopwatch at all times), though it's still not a very good game. Shallow mean-spirited shell of trad CV action.

VS Castlevania, OTOH, is excellent if you want a CV1 master course. Hard 2-ALL is one of the tougher trad CV challenges, along with CVIII's second loop. Technically, it's just a quickie damage buff to the usual NES/FC ver... and I consider it inferior to them, too. I like my oldschool CVs with a little wriggle room, to fight my way back from a bloody nose. VSC makes things like fighting Creature+Iggy sans cheese near-suicidal. However, playing with a near-zero bump budget can be interesting, too. Use every dirty trick in the book, and maybe think up a few new ones... or keep your dignity, and risk a vicious shutdown? Or maybe somewhere in the middle.

If you play a coinop trad CV, make sure it's this one, is what I mean.

GB Castlevania II with the walk speedup hack from Romhacking.net is pretty enjoyable, I think - lots of creative mechanics and concepts, and legit one of the entire Dracula canon's finest OSTs. Not very hard at all, either - gives tons of extends. The last boss is Total Memoriser Bullshit on default controls, but a lot less so with the hack (which should've been the default - bizarre, given Contra and Nemesis II were both tearing it up around then :/). GB CV1 isn't too interesting even sped up, though it does again have a killer OST from later Treasure luminary Norio Hanzawa.

[To Far Away Times]

GB Castlevania II is pretty decent. I played through it and had a good time, though I don't think I could see myself returning to it. I dropped GB Castlevania I after a few minutes. It just wasn't fun at all.

Gameboy Nemesis/Gradius I & II are cool. Very easy, but good considering their limitations.

The real star of the show for Konami's NES turned Gameboy franchises though is Operation C / GB Contra. Very good and well worth playing. Almost like a Megaman V for GB were the level of quality just doesn't make any sense considering the limitations of the hardware.

[SuperDeadite]

I still love Castlevania The Adventure. It's slow, but only 4 stages. The spike stage is incredible.

Adventure 2 is a better game, but it's stages aren't as interesting. It does have THE MUSIC though.

Haunted Castle is quite doable if you stick to the Japanese version and spend the time to learn it's unique quirks.