/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1960946

Japanese version had saves.

Back in the day the kids were tougher because there weren't games that babied you. Gaming was just hard, and that was all there was to it. You didn't blame the game when you lost, it was expected that it'd take practice before you could beat it. Nowadays "hardcore gamers" blame the games for all their shortcomings and sadly the developers dump the games down so much there isn't slightest challenge in game anymore and anyone can beat them on their first try.

tl:dr; we weren't whiny bitches and actually played the games instead of whining about them on internets.

>>1960952
>You didn't blame the game when you lost
Speak only for yourself.

If you spent as much time on CV back when it came out as a modern gamer spent on, say, Bioshock Infinite, taking 30 minutes to reach the part you have issue with, then spending 5 minutes per life (in reality you'll spend WAY less)...

...then you should tick in with around 162 deaths, or just above 50 continues.


But of course, that would mean actually spending time on the game, and not just playing it for an hour before deciding it's impossible.

I got gud at 5 years old.

>>1960952
>we weren't whiny bitches and actually played the games instead of whining about them on internets.
Sure, sure.
The parent phrase "why do you play it if you hate it so much?" existed back then for a reason, namely kids straight-up crying with frustration at games.

>anon posts something about a difficult part of the game

>response type a: that's easy, you're a pussy

>response type b: real men such as myself enjoy a challenge, you're soft, you must be one of those new gaymers

>repeat ad nauseum

hey look, it's this thread again

>>1960946
I could beat the GBA version from start to finish while waiting for the bus back in college every morning. It became rote memorization at a point. The first Castlevania is an extremely simple (mindless), short, and easy game once you know what to do, which was perfect for passing the time and occasionally impressing people.

Here's a hint. Holy water. There's no debate. You didn't think it was the knife, did you? I had a fondness for the cross for the longest time, but after experimenting, it becomes obvious that in Castlevania 1, you want holy water. So long as you don't die and don't let yourself run out of hearts, it's smooth sailing. Everyone except for the bat and Dracula become completely paralyzed and die. The bat is stupidly easy, and you should know how to fight Dracula. Once you whack his ridiculous looking 8-bit head off and send it flying, you can just throw holy water again and you're done.

>>1960978
If you greatly exaggerate the difficulty of a certain part, then you deserve those kind of answers.

>>1960984
It's obvious bait. You just couldn't resist, though, could you?

>>1960979
OP here: HOLY SHIT I just stun locked the shit out of Death with the holy water. Thanks anon!

>>1960986
Bait or not, there are people who think like that.

>>1960952
Back in the day, kids didn't have the internet. Instead, they talked face to face and exchanged tips and strategies, or put their heads together to figure shit out. They also consulted magazines, guides, and even hotlines if they were desperate. They absolutely complained about difficulty.

>>1960991
>I have to eat bait! I have to show them!

>>1960998
Trying a bit too hard there, chief.

By learning that by hitting candles with your weapons would eventually give you a II and a III. If you get the holy water with III the game becomes extremely easy. At least until the last level.

By becoming proficient. Most of it is just figuring out which item to use and holding onto it. If you just whip everything without using sub weapons CV can be hell.

>>1960946
Simple answer. Don't get hit.

>>1960964
This. I played first Castlevania and Ninja Gaiden on Wii and system timer counted 12-15 hours for each game, I spent roughly the same time on modern action games like DMC or Bayonetta and I'm pretty bad at this genre. Feels strange to hear than people say something like "Man, I finally beat it after YEARS trying" or "How the FUCK did anyone beat this game back in the day without save states?"

When you start don't giving up after lost 3 or 4 lifes, you'll find out.

>>1960946
by not being casuals

>>1960946
i remember i was shaking like crazy of excitement whenever i was able to reach dracula

that was an awesome experience

>>1960946
When we were kids we didn't have that much money to use so we would play the same games and use more time to get good at them. The level you posted is super easy though.

>>1960946

I feel your pain OP, I am completely stuck on the boss right after those mummy assholes.

My annoyance at this is compounded by the fact that I beat them on my first try back in the Spring when I played it stoned out of my goddamn mind.

Though I dunno how save states would help, the levels are relatively short and the game doesn't send you back to level 1 when you run out of lives.

>ITT: everybody had the same childhood, liked the same things, and goddammit didn't complain when the going got tough!

>>1960979
>The first Castlevania is an extremely simple (mindless)
I think you're underestimating the game's design choices.

>>1960946
It's not hard.

I don't really know how to put it more bluntly than that. I beat CV the first time when I was 21 or 22. I died maybe 40-50 times before I beat Death. Another 20-30 to complete the game. It took me about 3 days.

Are you saying beating a game in 3 days is too much?

>>1961002
>>1961015
All of this.

Newbs these days play the rom on an emu and just walk forward, whip a few times, and die. 15 minutes later they're done with the game.

"back in the day" people didn't get bored so easily, and sat down and figured shit out.

>>1960946
Practice, son.

I actually started with Zelda II and Caslevania II, around 1989. They weren't so hard for me because I was used to older stuff like Jet Set Willy on 8-bit home computers. :-)

Actually I think Ninja Gaiden was a bit more trouble. And the hardest game i ever finished was Milon's Secret Castle. I never did finish Deadly Towers though.

You just go to get a feel for how the enemies move.

Don't use jumps as a defensivily tool. Simon only jumps 1 block high and most enemies are 2 blocks tall. Jumping is used as an offensive tool to reach flying enemies.

When dealing with projectile enmies time your whip hits to both damage the enemy and kill their projectile. It may be nessary to attack at a slower rate to pull this off.

Feel the medusa heads pattern and jump over them rather than whipping if you can.
Subweapons gain 'experience points' when they kill an enemy or candle. Every 16 kills it will drop an upgrade stone. Multi kills generate bonus points. Ration your hearts between milking candles for experience, using them for fighting enemies, and bursting down bosses.

Castlevania isn't really a hard a game except for the fight against death (assuming you arn't blitzing him with a rank 3 holy water or cross). Given how slow paced it is the game can be cleared by anyone with a bit of learning. Its certainly not the height of difficulty at all (that would be arcade games).

>Subweapons gain 'experience points' when they kill an enemy or candle. Every 16 kills it will drop an upgrade stone

This changes everything

>>1961221
When do you even need an upgrade that you can't just whip out of a brick?
I always thought you were just supposed to hit all walls and lone bricks to find hidden II and III powerups.
It's not like you're ever short on time anyway in the first game, you get like 10 minutes per stage.

>>1961184
>Subweapons gain 'experience points' when they kill an enemy or candle. Every 16 kills it will drop an upgrade stone.

Holy jesus I have played this game for two decades and never knew this.

>>1960946

>Autosaves

Filth

As long as you don't turn it off you get infinite tries, which is how I beat it.

>>1960946
You know, games back then where designed so you had to try again and again. You can beat Castlevania in like 20 minutes (without save states) if you're really good. They had to stretch the experience a bit. We just had more patience and didn't trash a game just because we died more than 2 times in a row.

Incidentally, I was never able to beat it (always failed on the last form of Dracula) until a few years ago on an emulator. Without save states, of course.

>>1961652

This

How the fuck did I not know this? I've beaten the game multiple times.

>>1960989

the hard part is getting to death w/o dying

>>1961009
>>1961071

/thread

>>1961675
Hot tip for hist last form:

When he jumps, if you walk up to him and kneel without attacking, he will always do a high jump right after so you can walk under him.

By not quitting
That's how I beat most "hard games" I've ever played
Brute force my way though

>>1961221
I did not know that

>>1961708
Have you ever given up on any game?
I know I did on GnG on NES, second loop (and a certain shmup that wouldn't let me face the final boss if I died on hardest).
Just would like to hear if there are games that even champions give up on.

>>1960952
Your nostalgia has made you wrong.

The problem is that today's platformers don't advocate patient playthroughs, which old platformers did quite often. The only old platformers that I can think of that don't directly do this are the Super Mario Bros. games.

>>1961708
Also not being afraid to lame it out, nowadays people go out of their away to avoid laming it out when they discover one such strategy.

>>1961737
Super Meat Boy encouraged a lot of patience and pixel-perfect control, even a bit of thinking outside the box (Braid guy warping past walls of death), even if it's not much it's still harder platforming that most games.

Hell, both Portal games are basically 3D platformers where you have to think to beat most of the challenge times (unless you read up on the internet how to do them of course).

>>1961135
What are you on about? It is simple and mindless when you know what you're doing. I'm a fucking zombie in the morning and yet I could routinely get through the whole game without an iota of conscious thought or effort. I can't even do that with Super Mario Bros. Part of that is because I always forget the order in those fucking maze castles.

>>1961708
This.14 year old me could easily run circles around present me, simply because he had more time, a more limited selection of games and plenty of practice. That sucker completed Contra without knowing the Konami code, could finish Super Mario Bros. blindfolded and got trough two loops of Castlevania, no sweat.

Men were made of stronger steel, anon.

>>1960997

It's actually harder to play retro games for the first time now if you go by the honor rule. 10 times out of 10 if you gave a kid in the 80s access to gamefaqs they would willingly spoil themselves.

>>1960997
I honestly don't understand how people forget this.

I mean fuck, I had mountains of Nintendo Power, and they regularly gave useful tips in them, not to mention player's guides.

Sometimes I wonder if people who say things like the guy you quoted either

a) weren't alive during the time period to remember that gamers absolutely weren't alone when figuring games out
b) weren't alive in a country that had gaming publications

>>1961831
>That sucker completed Contra without knowing the Konami code
Anyone who puts at least 8 hours into it today will beat Contra without dying once.

IWBTG is harder than Contra. Every Metal Slug is harder than Contra. Fuck, EVERY Konami game on the NES is harder than Contra.

Fucking Bucky O'hare is harder than Contra.
Why has Contra become this pillar of achievement people strive to beat? Try beating Life Force without the code or something at least.

It's all practice bro

>>1960946
I kept my game turned on for days.

>>1960997
Not necessarily. I had no friends, sibling hated video games, and I never had an issue of Nintendo Power or any other magazines. We couldn't really afford it, the Nintendo was stolen and we rented games for free at the library because they had a large selection of NES games for some reason.

I didn't complain about the difficulty. Even in games that are kind of complete bullshit with awful hit detection and lack of checkpoints. I placed the blame on myself.

I just thought I sucked because I was a kid and didn't understand what I was doing wrong, and that I'd probably get better as I got older.

The funny thing is that I've gotten a bit worse, but not as much as some other people, because I never stopped playing NES and other older games at any point, so I never experienced the whole "whoa, I haven't played a game that doesn't hold your hand in like a decade" thing that I've seen people complain about. I've played some hand-holding games, but even then I'm usually playing multiple older games as well.

I've never gotten used to 3D games and I still hold modern controllers with four shoulder buttons awkwardly, so I'm still more accustomed to the Ghouls 'n' Ghosts school of "Here's a button or two, and a stick. Everything is easy to learn and hard to master" than the whole "control the camera, use tons of buttons, most of the difficulty lies in having a good build and memorizing dozens of abilities and weaknesses" that most seem to prefer these days.

>>1961841
not to mention that some games, such as Zelda 1, were purposely designed to encourage kids to share advice and tips.

The best way to play that game was as a team scavenger hunt.

>>1960952
MUH ARTIFICIAL DIFFICULTY

by playing it over and over again until you were good enough. that's why the games had to be brilliantly designed or else nobody would bother.

ask yourself if a modern game was this difficult with no save ability would you bother to get good? dont fuckin think so

>>1961881
IWBTG and Metal Slug weren't there when I was 14, and Life Force was one of the games I bet back then. Speaking of the code, I actually felt kind of silly when I actually heard of it a couple of years later, so much wasted time practising when there was already a better tool for that.

>>1962195
Which would you say was harder (NES):
Gradius
-or-
Contra
-or-
Life Force
?

>>1962246
life force
gradius

contra

>>1962095
then explain why people still play roguelikes and rogue-lites. Randomized nonsense layouts where you get no lives or saves and people still play them.

>>1962251
I can only disagree on you placing Life Force higher than Gradius.
Other than that, I respect your choice of hardest Konami games.

I'd be honored to spend an evening with you trying to 2P Life Force from start to finish with a fuckload of quarters.

And here I thought you were a Contra whore. Apologies all around.

>>1960946
Try it a couple of times instead of foaming at the mouth and see.

>>1960951
It did not.

>>1962260

Those games still rely on knowledge gained from playing the game over and over. Their levels are really repetitive and usually the same situations just different coat of paint. Those games aren't reflexive either.

A better example would be a game with an AI that's unpredictable or forces you to use a different strategy each time but even then you can potentially memorize every strategy and frustrate a speedrunner or two.

>>1962260
Well difficulty is only part of the appeal of roguelike... The main thing for me is that no two games are alike, so you get almost infinite replay value (assuming the game's not so easy that it gets boring). And there's also the countless stuff you can discover by trying different things (Nethack is well-known for this), but of course you shouldn't read the spoilers if you want to get the most enjoyment that way... To some extent you can even select your difficulty curve by picking race/class combos. Lots and lots of replay value in these games!

Re: Nintendo Power and magazines. I think it's silly to compare the vast, nearly unlimited resources of the Internet to a publication that some kids had but others didn't (I never bought any, saved my money for games or novels). And even if maybe someone at my school had an issue with some tips for let's say Deadly Towers, it's not a given I would know that kid or even want to have anything to do with him at all, so I probably wouldn't hear about his magazines.

The resources available now are like several orders of magnitude more and easier to use than what was available back then. You can torrent the entire run of many old 80/90's magazines, you can access gamefaq's in seconds, there's google and youtube... You can research find out shit about games that almost nobody back then would have any clue about. And on top of that, you have configurable emulators with save states, rewind, and trivial ways to hack games or download hacked versions.

And no, I didn't have any GameGenie back then either. I wouldn't have wasted money on some cheating aid... There's a lot of stuff I never finished because it simply got too hard for me, or just wasn't something I found interesting enough to keep plugging away at in order to "git gud".

OP here.
Surprised this thread is still going. You guys are cool. Didn't know the trick for the sub weapon double and triple power-up, that's neat. I decided to try the clocktower and dracula without saves. It took about 4 hours, but I did it. What a fuckin grind.

Will also confirm that contra isn't that bad.

>>1962260
i was referring to a modern action game or fps. i wasn't clear on that, but this is a thread about castlevania after all.

>>1962341

The point isn't comparing publications to the internet. The point is that a lot of players still had the mindset of looking things up IF they could.

>>1960946
I've beaten this game without save states
It's entirely possible, and very fun

>>1962348
Now try Castlevania 3 and suffer.

>>1960946
Lrn 2 patterns, dweeb.

Everyone complains about how difficult something is when they're all worked up. They don't bother calming down and willingly lose a life or two to spot a pattern in every enemy move.

Such examples are:
>Castlevania 3's falling blocks
>Sonic 3's barrel platforms
>Mega Man's Yellow Devil

These can easily be overcome if you stop for just a few seconds and think rather than acting on impulse.

>>1962348
Subweapons are always the main reason why people who came from Easyvania games like IV or SotN fail at Classicvania. You will get your ass teared appart if you don't know how to use them effectively.

You manned the fuck up, buckled down and got good at the game without it being forcefed to you. You ate the shit yourself and got stronger because of it....and when you finally beat Dracula...you felt like you accomplished something.

>>1962409
>tfw I've never beaten yellow devil legit
>friend showed me how to abuse the elec beam and spamming start and I've been using it ever since

Just a thought since there are DOZENS upon dozens of retro games I need to actually beat; how do you bros do it? Seriously. I've only beaten the first Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania ONCE, but rarely have the time to git gud at each game...any tips? I've thought about watching let's plays and memorizing each step but it goes against my conscience since it wouldn't truly be my accomplishment.

>>1962612
Focus on one game and don't play anything else until you beat it.

>>1962612

Just... play games. I know it seems like you don't have time but like play for half an hour before bed. Most of these hard games just take practice and trial and error and you'll get it faster than you think.

A couple of friends of mine did a charity stream of them trying to beat battle toads. They expected to try for 24 hours and maybe not make it, but they did it in like three hours. We're smarter players than we were as kids, we just don't like to sit down and dedicate time to it. Just find time to play games and you'll get it.

>>1962612
The accomplishment is the final unassisted run. It doesn't matter how you trained to get there. Make full use of superplay videos and savestates. See http://forum.shmupemall.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=431#p9243 for explanation of winning technique.

>>1960946

I'm pretty bad at games and I beat those guys today in like less than 20 minutes. Keep trying.

>>1961728
>Have you ever given up on any game?
Yes, but never because they were too hard
More because the game wasn't fun enough

>>1962319
>It did not.

Um, yes the FDS version of Akumajou Dracula had saves.

>>1960946
>How the FUCK did anyone beat this game back in the day without save states?

They didn't.

Me and the kids I used to hang out with in my neighborhood and at school never managed to beat any Castlevania or Ninja Gaiden.

Once, after 2 weeks playing the entire afternoon and early evening we managed to get to 6-2 or 6-3 in Ninja Gaiden, but not actually beat it. By that time we were already frustrated and discouraged and decided we had better things to do with our lives and gave up. Same thing happened with CV3 I think.

>>1960946
The stop-watch doesn't work against the mummies. There's a boomerang not too far from that final hallway before the boss room, but it's before the checkpoint doorway, so try not to die after getting it. Holy Water is also a good choice against this boss, but I can't recall where that can be found.

You can also try the old "Get to a corner, then just duck and hit until they die" trick. Your timing on exactly when you crack your whip could make or break your attempt, because you have to deal with that projectile attack those mummies throw at you.

And if you thought the mummies were hard, wait until you get to Frankenstein's monster and friend.

Castlevania is easy compared to Castlevania III Dracula's Curse.

>>1963854
Have you ever considered that you were just a bunch of no good quitters? Hell, both of those have unlimited continues so have no excuse.

>>1960997
Those things you just described are not "complaining". The complaining that happens today consists of just dropping the game altogether and talking shit about it every time someone mentions it.

>>1963854
>we managed to get to 6-2 or 6-3 in Ninja Gaiden, but not actually beat it.
>>1963890
>wait until you get to Frankenstein's monster and friend.

This is where I get stuck in these games as an adult.

>>1960946
It's not THAT hard.
If you have holy water for bosses, of course.

>>1960946
>>1963854

In reality, people would simply replay the level/whole game again and again and again and again until they could do perfect runs without ever getting hit (except situations where it's literally unavoidable).

Not everyone NEEDS to be able to save at all, and many people are capable of failing at a segment ONCE, saying "oh, I get it!" then getting it the next time 'round. And it's not actually that hard.

On a somewhat related note (and not a slam against either of you): I find it hilarious when morons say "PC MUSTARD RAEC HURRRRR!!!" when 99% of PC games are casual shit like Bejewled, and thanks to emulation with save states and shitty "hardcore" games with checkpoints every 10 feet and enemies that barely fight back, the so called master race has turned an entire generation of gamers into powder puffs who can't even beat a half hour long NES game without save states...

>>1960946
fuck the grim reaper. That's all i gotta say.

>>1963960
Take your idiotic rants someplace else.

>>1960946
Infinite continues and practice. The only thing that consistently gives me problems is Dracula. Last playthrough I spent almost way over an hour trying to beat him.

>>1963960
Nice rant, gramps

>>1961221
beaten the game never knew this, just thought it was random

>>1963989
>>1964874
samefag

>>1963989
>>1964874
He's right, though. I beat Daikatana purely by using save gems. They're more than generous enough with them as long as you don't save before entering every room, and it can be annoying when you enter the next episode, lose your gems, and have to have to play the first ten minutes of the new episode to save your game, but aside from that, it just makes it so you have to learn instead of cheese your way through shit. But PC gamers have been soft for so long that they complained even then.

Given, the game was an even bigger mess before they patched it, enough that the save gems only compounded it's issues, but the patched game is perfectly fair and totally doable even with the gems. But the patch allows you to enable saving at any time, and people always go on about how it's completely impossible if you don't turn off save gems.

John just wanted gamers to actually try for once because he was clearly sick of seeing people F6ing before every room and F9ing after taking any damage, but the majority of PC gamers are so anti-checkpoint and accustomed to "I just want to relax and save at my convenience" that they can't wrap their minds around a game benefiting from checkpoints, and seem to see it as an archaic feature that exists only because of console limitations.

I stopped caring about new consoles after PS2/GC/Xbox and had always played a healthy amount of consoles and PC. People on both sides have some strange issues.

>>1960946
By not running recklessly through, and rather by thinking about each press of a button.

>>1960946
c'mon anon, I beat it without save states a month ago. You can do it ^_^

>>1962612
I have fun beating games using save-states every 5 seconds and not seeing the game over screen and not even taking damage at all.

But that's just me.

>>1966296
Does that even feel like playing a game?

>>1966279
>^_^

Can you not?

>>1967256
Not him, but seeing as this is /vr/, we should allow it. I mean, we all did it back then...
┐(￣ー￣)┌

>>1966296
>there are people who actually play like this
>some of them probably post here

>>1962246
well certainly not Contra

>>1962246
Gradius > Life Force > Contra

Contra is piss easy with spread gun and Life Force has instant respawns.

>>1960952

Nigger please, games like Donkey Kong and Pacman were not hard. Gaming didn't become hard until jews intervened and made machines that swallowed your coins a thing

and you're part of the problem

Castlevania has infinite continues. You can literally die to Dracula a hundred times and lose zero progress.

there are a few videos in youtube of people beating clastevania in less than half an hour barely getting hit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq6HgDSGRS8

I can't do that, but the game is definitely beatable without save states.
It doesn't get super hard till Death and the hallway before that boss.

>>1960952
>BACK IN THE DAY SHIT WAS TOUGH I TELL YOU SONNIE

God you sound like an old person.

Been playing this bit by bit and boy I do not like the Water Dragons in block 7 and fuck me that stage is something. Like I can barely get through the stage to the dragons and then when I get there I get hit once and fall to my death.

>>1967591
Maybe he is an old man, son

Castlevania was a fucking cakewalk compared to Ninja Gaiden. Trying to kill axethrowers and fucking HAWKS with your dinky little ninja sword, and if you die to any of the final bosses, you get to replay the whole final chapter over again!

>>1967721
Ninja Gaiden is a lot more forgiving than Castlevania ignoring the 6-1 thing.

>>1960952
Wow, what a unique and insightful opinion. Please, share more of your wisdom with us!

>>1968545
Bullshit.

>>1960946

The real answer here is that most of us didn't beat shit.
It was only a handful of "chosen" ones who would play for hours, as if it was a job.
These people wouldn't look at games as "games" but as an obstacle to beat. Literally they would look for patterns in the design instead of "enjoying" the game.
It was the only way.

>>1968625
This is not true. The actual truth is that those games weren't that hard. It took only a couple of honest tries to learn the skills you needed to beat those games.

A modern gamer like OP would lose a 2-3 times and pronounce the game unbeatable, because he's apparently consistently losing. But if he spend, like 20 minutes on that stage, he would have learnt how easy it actually was. A whole game like Castlevania takes about 3-4 hours to learn from scratch, tops. Not that much of a challenge, it's just that modern gamers are not used to that kind of gameplay.

>>1968635

Son this is bullshit and you know it, it's the other way around.
Modern videogames are easy as shit, while older games basics might be easy, but basics will only last for so long.
You'd know if you were there kid

>>1968595

how did you have problems with the first 5 chapters of the game?

are you avgn?

As a kid, I beat CV 1-3 and megaman 1-6 without thinking they were especially difficult. I went back to MM3 as a 33 year old and got my ass kicked and gave up before beating a single stage.

>>1968625
you're the kinda guy that has trouble beating MM2, aren't you?

>>1968595
You grab the big shuriken powerup.
You throw one out.
You let it circle around you while you just run and jump and everything around you dies.

How is this hard?

>>1968625
I used to play for hours because videogames were fun. I'm sure most people did when they were kids and had no real concept of what a job or "patterns in the design" were.

It's complete nonsense to imply that people who were passionate about games somehow didn't have the same enlightened perspective as you and saw them only as obstacles.

>>1968625
>These people wouldn't look at games as "games" but as an obstacle to beat. Literally they would look for patterns in the design instead of "enjoying" the game.

Can you be any more jealous? Sorry you weren't able to beat any games like the cool kids.

>>1967589
>clastevania

>>1968625
Somebody get this guy some jelly for his peanut butter sandwich.

>>1968625
You sound like someone who doesn't has fun with his games.

>>1960964

I agree 100%. That's how I explain it to my friends that don't play many retro-games and say they're all "Nintendo hard".

I believe any hard game can be beaten if you spend enough time on it. If OP spends 40 hours on Castlevania 1 like any other modern gamer would spend 40 hours on a modern game, he would probably have the game mastered.

Wait until you play the second quest, that shit is hard.

>>1971036
>implying op or anyone like op will ever get close to dracula

I remember playing CV back on the NES

I remember Death being so damned hard, but I continued endlessly until that sweet sweet success

I also remember absolutely sticking to it and beating the game afterwards, positive that if I gave up now I would never be able to beat Death again

It was an exhilarating experience, to say the least

>>1970961
>I believe any hard game can be beaten if you spend enough time on it

I would love to see you beat Holy Diver

>>1968698
You can do better than that

>>1968657
5-1 and onwards is when it really starts getting hard, before that, it is mostly bosses since 3-1 which start being annoying. Not counting jumps like the one in 2-2 that are really annoying

>>1967589
>clastevania

I used save states on Death. I don't regret it, I wasn't going to go back and try to upgrade my weapon in that fucking hall.

I beat the entire Death stage without taking damage once, including Medusa/Axe Knight hallway. No save states of course, it was on an actual NES. Granted I had to use holy water on Death otherwise it would have been impossible.

>>1967267
>┐(￣ー￣)┌

/jp/ please

>>1960946

Practice.

>>1960946

The game gets a lot easier once you figure out the pattern for the medusa heads. If you stand in one spot and don't turn around any medusa heads that spawn after that will completely miss you. Knowing that makes the hall before Death much easier since you can take a breather and just whip the knight's axes out of the air for a bit.

>>1976287
I once did that, almost, but I got killed by Death.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV6noHEd6XE

Beat this when I was 9
Get gud

>>1961184
>Castlevania isn't really a hard a game except for the fight against death

No the faulty collision and fairly poor controls do make it a difficult game.

>(assuming you arn't blitzing him with a rank 3 holy water or cross)
Honestly death is the easy part of the shit once you get on his shit and start dropping holys, which is what most sane people would do anyway.

The levels with shit like the boss bats before Dracula is harder even and even Dracula himself is harder because you can't immediately substomp him, he teleports on right on top of you, and if you're not with the right range window to jump the shots he'll score hits on you. Dracula's second form is easy enough subdumping or no.

>>1968595
I've beaten the shit out of Ninja Gaiden when I was a kid fair and square. I still have yet to beat Castlevania legit. Ninja Gaiden is far easier a game.

>>1977585

>Poor controls

I'll fite u m8

>>1977608
Not him, but the fixed arc jumping can be a pain in the ass until you get used to it.

But the semi-fixed arc jumping in Ghouls n Ghosts is PURE UNADULTERATED DEVILRY

>>1977608
If you move anything like the game controls you're going to lose dat fite.

>>1977680
INTERNET FIGHT INTERNET FIGHT

EVERYONE

EVERYONE

1977680 IS FIGHTING 1977608

>>1977730
Everyone was kung fu fighting

You had to take your time with your actions

>>1977585
>holys

>>1977546
Was this your only game when you were 9?

>>1961991
I don't think you know what artificial difficulty is.

>>1960946
The MSX game was much harder.

>>1980980
No contest. And unlike the NES game, you might actually want a guide for the MSX version. Whereas the NES version was strictly linear, you have to search around levels and find keys and shit here.

>>1981334
Best Simon, best Simon game.

>>1963896
Straight up! Thank goodness for the password system.

My favorite memory of CIII is beating Dracula's final form and falling through the hole in the floor. It's not enough to win--you have to live to tell about it.

>>1977593
That simply is not true. Ninja Gaiden is more challenging. Castlevania is not very challenging. Your perception has been altered by something, perhaps increased preliminary familiarity with Ninja Gaiden.

>>1981053
Vampire Killer is the kind of game that you literally need a manual for to enjoy. I don't think I ever made it pass the second stage.

>>1977617
>until you get used to it.

Which means the player is bad, not the controls.

Seriously if it takes you more than 5 minutes to get the jumping and the stairs down in this game i don't know what to say. Play more games i guess because you're a bad player.

>>1960946

Git gud, git lucky

>>1981343
>Best Simon
Really? I thought it was universally accepted that that design was awful.

Awesome game, though.

>Castlevania has unlimited continues
>games like Mega Man were all about stage memorizing and knowing where hazards were and enemy patterns

>these games are apparently difficult

Also, I agree with most people in this thread, people fucking complained, a lot. I remember my friend just whining over Double Dragon and cratering his NES controller a few times.

I mean, wasn't that the big joke whenever you talk with your friends? What you did with those poor controllers.

Personally the only hard games I remembered back in the day were RPGs.
Mainly cause the concept of good party building and maybe gaining extra levels was a weird concept

>>1976287
I did that last night anon after reading your post. Triple holy water. I walked right through the hallway dropping holy fire on everything. Death flew over me once to the left bottom corner and I drowned him in blessed holy fire.

Contra 3, Gradius 3 & Castlevania 3.

The Konami Holy Trinity of Hard

>>1981871
Are you saying those are the hardest konami games?

>>1967591
>>1961991
>>1961732
>>>/v/

and stay out

>>1960946
i've been playing the game recently for the first time and it just seems to be all about patterns, though it takes a while to get used to

>use holy water
>game becomes easy mode

>>1981871
>Contra 3
not hard

>Gradius 3
Considered the worst of its series, the arcade version was only hard because of how shitty it was. SNES version is one of the easiest of the series.

>Castlevania 3
actually the hardest of its series, though it feels cheap at points.

>>1982428
pretty much, and also they give you holy water for dracula and you don't even need to go farm hearts to beat him he's easy enough with holy water.

pretty sure most hardcore castlevania enthusiasts beat him with just the whip though

>>1982436
>>Castlevania 3
>actually the hardest of its series, though it feels cheap at points.
nippon version is easy as hell, especially at the start with grants throwing knives

>>1982445
even the Japanese version you still have to contend with all the enemies with unpredictable movement that knock you into pits, and the fucking Tetris sequence.

>>1960952

>>1961841
>>1961857

This is correct.

It was only in the advent of the PlayStation era that people started talking about beating games "without the guide". In the days of Castlevania if you beat a game while looking directly at a walkthrough or "hint book" nobody batted an eye.

>>1961881
I've played at least 8 hours of Contra in my life and I sure can't no-miss completion. I'm not saying it's an easy game, but it's going to take a little more time than that to get absolute mastery of a game with one-hit deaths. 40 hours would seem more realistic to me.

>>1962341

>go to k-mart
>entire section of strategy guides for popular games
>look up difficult section
>???

I guess I grew up in different circumstances. Between my own magazine collection, my friends and relatives, and browsing stuff on the shelves at department stores I never felt like I had no hope on getting further in a game I was lost in. Granted, I played mostly mainstream.

>>1968698
And I beat Mega Man 3 as a kid and thought it was easy, and I thought CV3 was pretty hard as a 25 year old.

>>1960978
ad nauseam you stooge

Gaming Difficulty was all a plot devised by Miyamoto back in the hayday to dupe honest, hard working go- I mean, guys, into shelling out for his overpriced game guides. Truly, we are living in an age of enlightenment as the world's chosen gamers, freed from the shackles of oppressive artificial difficulty. Now let's all turn on our S5s and purchase the new Angry Birds DLC from the Android Market.

Something that is true is that in the 80s and 90s much of the replay value of games came from the difficulty, and it was disappointing if a game was easy and you could beat it in a game or two, it would make you think that it would have been better to rent it than buy it.

>>1982557
I meant "if you could beat it in a day or two".
Mega Man X and Super Mario World are nowadays considered masterpieces, but when I was a kid I was not that impressed because of how easy they were. I beat World in 2 days (one afternoon and one morning), the contrast in difficulty with Bros 3 was huge.

Anyone ever beat this game?

>>1981438
>Vampire Killer is the kind of game that you literally need a manual for to enjoy.

Yeah, the .pdf of the manual is online somewhere. Or the faq.


>I don't think I ever made it pass the second stage.

I beat it. It took around 26 hours total and it was VERY hard.

>>1982557
>and it was disappointing if a game was easy
I still think this way. If I can make it through the first 2-3 levels without dying at all I feel like the game isn't worth investing time into, since it's probably not going to be very exciting or rewarding to finish.

>>1982567
Yes

>>1960946
Well...

there is one other trick not discussed in the thread so far. And that is being choose-y about which version of a game you play.

Castlevania III too hard? Try playing the Japanese version, Akumajo Densetsu. It's noticeably easier (or rather it has the "real" difficulty and the US release is fucked about with).

There are lots of tough games with regional or version differences that swing in the players favor. It doesn't matter which version you play if you want to say you "beat" a particular game. Lots of arcade games in particular are easier on the Japanese ROMs.