Castlevania Adventure: ReBirth

[isfet]

so apparently the ReBirth series is something Konami is planning to stick with for a while.  thus far we've had the actually pretty great Gradius ReBirth and the actually pretty horrible Contra ReBirth.

what made the former better than the latter was that it appears the developer understood what to take from the old formula and what could be left behind.

so now enter a new Castlevania game.  basically, it looks and plays like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6nBtMiPRVM 






and what does "this" mean to me?  well, basically i think this looks like the first Castlevania game i've been excited about in a decent number of years.  it doesn't seem like it does everything perfectly (can't jump on stairs, for one), but it does appear to be pretty competent in its design.  which is a nice change of pace, really.  it's good to see that there is apparently some desire to make Castlevania a challenging platformer again.  whether or not anyone will buy into it, though, i guess is another thing.

my assumption, generally, is that people who got really into the Igavanias generally disliked the earlier stuff.

anyway, on to a "big picture" type of thing, what do you think is more desirable in these nostalgia games?  remakes of classics or entirely new games that simply recall a type of nostalgia?

i think i'm more on the side that ReBirth and Mega Man 9 has gone.  having new games that play like old games is probably less of a waste of time than playing a fancy new version of something i've already spent hours on.

Super Mario Allstars doesn't really count, though.

[FortNinety]

My attitude towards the new Castlevania more or less mirrors the Contra one; I really wanted Hard Corps instead, and in this instance, it sucks that we're not getting Bloodlines. Plus, I always heard the original GB game was kinda "meh" so this is a curious revamp to say the least.

But the clip makes it seem semi-enjoyable. Eh, I'm getting it regardless, if only to be a completionist.

[isfet]

if you're curious at all, Castlevania Adventure 1 is actually pretty horrid.  the 2nd game though, is a lot of fun and pretty great considering what it is.  plus, the soundtracks (for both) are great.

like the previous ReBirth games, this doesn't seem to be a remake really, so much as a spiritual successor.  so the "Adventure" aspect of it is purely aesthetic, with a few things thrown in here and there (like the rolling eyeballs).  but it mainly just looks like new oldschool CV.

but yea, no Bloodlines on the Wii makes very little sense.

[FortNinety]

The only GB Castlevania game I ever got was Legends... the one starring the girl... who was supposed to be the very first Belmont till IGA wrote her out of the time-line. It pretty much blew, and the music was rather lame if I'm not mistaken.

[isfet]

yea, Legends was....meh.  it wasn't horrible, but Adventure 2 is better because it just tries to do its own thing rather than mimic the CV games on more advanced platforms.  it was also made in a weird period of time for CV, which was basically the year or so after Symphony came out.  a few different teams tried their hands at making CV, but ultimately, since Symphony did the best, it was handed over to Igarashi.

it's kind of a shame it's never been back in the hands of any of the original people.  or from that Rondo ---> Bloodlines era where the platforming really peaked.

i think this game, at best, is going to be a decent imitator of that era.  it looks more PC-Engine than it does X68000 or NES or Genesis.  either way, i'm interested in it.

i just wish that M2 would finally be able to nail down their sprite drawing.  everything always looks almost right.  that, and the fade in screens for these games.  the transitions are too smooth.  i can't recall what the effect on the NES is called, but i think we know what i mean.

[dmauro]

It looks more like a SNES game, in a bad way. It's not very PCEngine-y. Too much shading and soft edges. And what's up with the sound effects? Did someone dub over this because I'm pretty sure Konami makes awesome sfx instead of using saturday morning cartoon stock sounds.

[FortNinety]

Thanks Joe for reminding that Rondo is yet another game that should be on the VC but isn't, and might never be, ever!

[isfet]

Dave:  by looks, i meant that the gameplay appeared to look more like a PC-E game like Rondo than it did Super Castlevania.  but...i guess the best idea would probably be to say something in between like Dracula X on SNES.

also, yea, i feel you on the sound effects:  why on earth would they use that for the skeleton tossing bones?  maybe because it's so noticeable and they thought the traditional sound made people get hit too much?  i dunno...that's annoying to think about.

[dmauro]

There's another stock sound later on when there are some eye balls rolling on the floor, I'm not sure what is causing the sound, but it's a classic stock sound and it just doesn't make sense. The appeal of Castlevania games is about 75% graphics and music/sfx, so I'm not terribly excited about this one even though it looks like they're getting back on track with the way the game plays.

[isfet]

this game is out now!

actually it came out a few days ago.  good thing the Wii is dumb and doesn't announce this in any fashion.

so far i've made it up to stage 5.  the game is actually a lot of fun and plays pretty similarly to old school Castlevania.  i'd say it feels closest to Rondo, in terms of how the player actually handles.  at first, i was dissapointed because you could control yourself in mid air during a jump, but you unlock an option after playing a few stages that lets you turn on "classic" mode.  meaning, that it's like the classic CV jumping mechanic (once you jump in a direction, you keep going in that direction).

overall, it's not an incredible game, but it definitely feels like the best of the Rebirth series so far and it actually has competent level design. 

[dmauro]

Are the sound effects so jarring as to make you want to stop playing, or only bad enough that you can't possibly entirely enjoy the experience? Or did they actually put decent ones in?

[isfet]

hey, how about everyone here stop being LOSERS and buy this fucking game already

old school Castlevania = fun times

[FortNinety]

I put some decent time into it late last night and am pretty impressed. The level design is interesting and kinda something unexpected. Or at least something that's completely foreign to me about after years of Castlevanias.

Joe, you tell me: is the game anything like the original? Cuz if that's the case, the Game Boy title was certainly ahead of its time!

I especially love the soundtrack; was going to note how its nice and Genesis-like, but my pal who runs Tiny Cartridge noted that it's closer to the X68000 than anything else. Shows what I know!

But I have to somewhat agree with Dave; some of the sound effects are totally retarded, and direct from a novelty CD that one can get at Ricky's for $5.

[dmauro]

hey, how about everyone here stop being LOSERS and buy this fucking game already

old school Castlevania = fun times

So they didn't fix the sound effects. Thanks for the heads up.

[isfet]

hehe yea, sorry Dave.  most of the sound effects are all right, but there are a few which are pretty obviously stock sounds.  which really makes no sense, but, meh.

Matt:  as far as the soundtrack goes, i'd agree it's closer to X68000, but if anything, it's probably closer to Konami's arcade sound board.  but really, all of these (including the Genesis) are essentially slight variations on a particular synthesizer, so you're not totally off by thinking it sounds like a Genesis.

as far as whether this game is close to the originals, well...i'm going to have to say not really.  i mean, the first GB CV game is pretty terrible in terms of speed and everything else.  the second game is actually a ton better.  they play like Castlevania, but on a Gameboy.  but stuff like the rolling eyeballs and whatnot are straight out of the GB games.  but on the GB games, you could climb rope and ladders and whatnot.  also, there was a stage select, sort of like Mega Man, in the second GB game.

Revival plays a lot closer to its 16-bit brethren than it does the classic green and white GB games.