Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby VideoGameCritic » October 30th, 2018, 11:16 pm

I listened to this tonight and really enjoyed it. I think these guys are growing on me. I got a kick out of the fact that they were drinking moonshine (!) during the podcast. Their commentary definitely made me want to play the game. I recommend playing along while listening.

I need to go back and listen to their Super Ghouls and Ghosts podcast next.

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JustLikeHeaven
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby JustLikeHeaven » November 12th, 2018, 2:56 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:I listened to this tonight and really enjoyed it. I think these guys are growing on me. I got a kick out of the fact that they were drinking moonshine (!) during the podcast. Their commentary definitely made me want to play the game. I recommend playing along while listening.

I need to go back and listen to their Super Ghouls and Ghosts podcast next.


Thanks again for listening Dave. Totally appreciate it! Thanks to anyone else who also decided to give it a listen as well.

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DrLitch
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby DrLitch » November 29th, 2018, 7:26 pm

I have fond memories of Super Castlevania IV and really dig the songs and atmosphere. For a Castlevania title, it is pretty easy and not at all frustrating (a good Castlevania game should make you want to throw your controller across a room). I definitely prefer the 1st and 3rd NES titles and Rondo of Blood. I did not like Bloodlines as much as I wanted to but the graphics were for sure better than Super Castlevania (the Genesis game had better mode 7/rotation effects, animations, and a nicer color pallet).

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Stalvern
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby Stalvern » November 30th, 2018, 2:07 am

DrLitch wrote:(the Genesis game had better mode 7/rotation effects, animations, and a nicer color pallet).

Mode 7 is a display mode of the SNES's graphics chip, so Bloodlines doesn't actually put it to much use.

(Also, palette. A pallet is what a forklift picks up.)

Sut
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby Sut » November 30th, 2018, 8:07 am

Stalvern wrote:Mode 7 is a display mode of the SNES's graphics chip, so Bloodlines doesn't actually put it to much use


It’s a testament to Nintendo’s marketing that any scaling and rotation effects are related to as Mode 7.

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scotland
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby scotland » November 30th, 2018, 8:52 am

Sut wrote:
Stalvern wrote:Mode 7 is a display mode of the SNES's graphics chip, so Bloodlines doesn't actually put it to much use


It’s a testament to Nintendo’s marketing that any scaling and rotation effects are related to as Mode 7.


Its a better testament to Sega's that anything could be called "Blast Processing!"

Hagane
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby Hagane » November 30th, 2018, 10:38 am

Genesis can't do Mode 7 actually, rotation and scaling on the console is done frame by frame, or with the software help.

On SNES Mode 7 is real, it's inherent on the hardware, it can rotate 360º and zoom in and out background, it can do a wide range of ratation/sacling effects on screen like that Demon's Crest tridimensional map, the overhead stages in Contra 3, the Zelda map and F-Zero.

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scotland
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby scotland » November 30th, 2018, 1:18 pm

Hagane wrote:Genesis can't do Mode 7 actually, rotation and scaling on the console is done frame by frame, or with the software help.

On SNES Mode 7 is real, it's inherent on the hardware, it can rotate 360º and zoom in and out background, it can do a wide range of ratation/sacling effects on screen like that Demon's Crest tridimensional map, the overhead stages in Contra 3, the Zelda map and F-Zero.


I wasn't inferring the Genesis could do Mode 7. Sega's marketing savvy was *competing* with Mode 7 with the term "Blast Processing" - which meant nothing concrete. It was originally something about the graphics processing, but really it just sounded cool and fast and gotta have it.

Its more about managing perceptions, and less about actual specs and capabilities

Sut
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby Sut » November 30th, 2018, 1:46 pm

scotland wrote:Its a better testament to Sega's that anything could be called "Blast Processing!"


Blast processing is the greatest marketing in the history of video games.

Sega HQ
“This new Nintendo console is coming out soon, it has more colours, a sample based soundchip and custom graphics chips - what do we do ?”
“Any weak links ? Give me anything”
“Well they’ve inexplicably decided to put a slow processor in there, ours is much faster”
“Faster processor hey, ..... I’ve got it ! Blast processing let’s set the 68000 on fire !”*

*Fictional - May not have happened.

On another related tangent.

I remember this school ground argument during the ST / Amiga wars.

Amiga Owner: “ST sucks the Amiga has a blitter chip”
ST Owner “What’s a blitter chip ? And what does it do ?”
Amiga “Erm it blits the graphics”
ST Owner “oh right - you don’t know do you ?”
Amiga Owner “ST sucks”

Actual conversation. Karl and Bachir if you ever read this hope it brings back memories.

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Stalvern
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Re: Super Castlevania IV Retrospective

Postby Stalvern » November 30th, 2018, 4:05 pm

Sut wrote:I remember this school ground argument during the ST / Amiga wars.

Amiga Owner: “ST sucks the Amiga has a blitter chip”
ST Owner “What’s a blitter chip ? And what does it do ?”
Amiga “Erm it blits the graphics”
ST Owner “oh right - you don’t know do you ?”
Amiga Owner “ST sucks”

Actual conversation. Karl and Bachir if you ever read this hope it brings back memories.

The blitter is a real thing, though; it moves 2D graphics around. This is why Amiga games are buttery smooth while the ST can barely scroll a background without coughing and sputtering. Wings of Death is one of the ST's greatest masterpieces of programming just for managing to keep a frame rate that the crappiest teenage homebrew on the Amiga takes for granted. The ST does suck as gaming hardware because the CPU has to do all the work any time anything happens. (For comparison, even the 2600 has hardware-accelerated sprites.)

The ST's one graphical advantage over the Amiga is slightly superior 3D performance – both systems handle 3D graphics with the CPU, and the ST's is a bit faster (same model, different clock speed).


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