Classicvania Challenge Thoughts. 2024
Castlevania 1cc, Rondo of Blood 1cc, Haunted Castle Revisited 1cc (No continues, but some deaths.)
Another October, another year I play Castlevania for dot_lvl's Classicvania Challenge. (Play a bunch of non-igavania Castlevania and optionally get good at them.) This year I got everything setup right too late and didn't give myself enough time to fumble my way to a deathless run. My plans fell through for getting a hand cam setup and a rig to record a real GBC/GBpocket while I play. Thanks again to dot_lvl for another fun event.
Castlevania
Originally wanted to beat this using the Touhou themed romhack, but some of the sprite changes were messing me up enough. It seems like all the controllers I could find had worn out buttons, especially the one for jump. I use real NES/SNES pads on MiSTer for this. If I find my spare NES pad I might have a better time next year. Again this year I've seen some people (outside of the challenge) complain about how outdated this game is but honestly, it's such an enjoyable package. Not too long, once you learn certain things it's about navigating specific encounters rather than fully reactive. Please, look up a guide and give it a chance.
Rondo of Blood
Maria is powerful. Played this on fightstick so that I could guardian knuckle more reliably. Still unreliable though. I had deathless pace on my 1cc run pretty far so I thought it'd be easy to pickup and finish one before the end of the month, but something would just happen. After getting the 1cc I suddenly am dying on the boat where it was a easy breezy level before. More weird deaths and I just decided to stop. Maybe next year. I think I want to get a used PCE controller and see how that original dpad fares.
Haunted Castle Revisited
From outta left field comes a new Castlevania game. It's a re-imagining of the weird arcade Castlevania, Haunted Castle, and I love it. I too think it's missing some important weird stuff from the original (like the sword, the iconic powerful stopwatch, etc.) but I still enjoy what we got. I do not see Haunted Castle as the worst game in the series, especially after these challenges. Wish I had time to fully tackle the original game for the challenge.
Other CV games I booted up but didn't have time for.
Bloodlines was pretty fun but the tower boss was too much for me. Slight motion sick.
Super CV4 just didn't feel like it after I played through it for a little.
Draculax feels awful.
Akumajou Densetsu I probably should just get through one day, but there are more precision jumps and my worn out controllers made it extra frustrating.
DXC I booted up played a level and went nah.
GameBoy games, I tried them. Also went nah. If I was going to do one this year it would've been Legends or Adventure. I would need to sit down and learn soleil to get belmont's revenge.
I didn't have a setup for chronicles this year.
Adventure rebirth I tried for a bit in Dolphin but it didn't feel right. Will try once I have real hardware setup again.
before bed addendum:
The thing I like the most about the Classicvania Challenge is it is a streamer encouraging people to try playing the game. I think I greatly prefer games community kinda built like book club format.