/vr/ - Retro Games

>>3137839

I think the controls in Castlevania 1 were like that mostly because the game came out in 1986. Super Mario Bros. only came out in 1985, so platformers were a new thing and people were experimenting with different jump controls, how to combine platforming gameplay with various types of attacks, see what works with this new genre... That's why you had the weird jump controls in Ghosts 'N Goblins which also came out in 1985 in arcades, and while they were fine and made the series unique, I'm glad they added a double jump in SGnG. Just like I'm also glad they added the raccoon tail, the cape and permanent checkpoints in later Mario games even if it probably made the series easier.

SCIV wouldn't be as great as it was without all the new features they added, and the game was still reasonably difficult. I'm fine with both approaches which is why I also enjoyed the earlier games and some of the later games which didn't have as many directional attacks and as much jumping maneuverability.

You say SCIV "changed up and ruined the formula" despite the fact that every new game in the series on NES did that to an extent. Simon's Quest was a weird action-RPG hybrid with barely any platforming challenge, Castlevania 3 had multiple characters, including some with ranged attacks. It didn't ruin the formula either since the games that came out after never had this amount of fluidity; Bloodlines, and Dracula X/RoB went back to a more restrained control scheme. As much as Simon's Quest gets fair a reputation for being hard, I would say I would give it the title of most casual ClassicVania. Once you know what you're supposed to do, the execution is completely trivial, the enemies are all dumb and never carefully placed as they are in a straight-up platformer like CS 1 and 3, ,you don't really need god reflexes, and the bosses are a joke.