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Castlevania III; Alucard joins the party andhardware differences between NES and Famicom. Plus the first game you ever beat?

VGEsoterica

VGEsoterica

Member
You wouldn't have thought it or known it back in the day but the NES and the Famicom, while being the "same system" actually had a bunch of hardware differences between the two that made some fundamental differences in the player experience.

You'd also MAYBE think Alucard got his start in the Castlevania universe with Symphony of the Night on PS1...but if you are old or played the games you'd realize Alucard actually kicked it off in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

It is weird to me to think that there was a moment in Castlevania history where Alucard DIDNT exist. He seems as iconic as Simon Belmont and Dracula but he just didn't bother to show up until the third game in the series.

But the extra sound hardware in Akumajo Dracula makes the difference. Sadly it never made its was West for the US audience. Extra audio channels and effects really take the experience from 10/10 to 11/10

Its also the FIRST Castlevania game I ever beat as a kid so it has a special place in my heart. Which got me curious GAF...whats the first game you ever actually beat as a kid?

 
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Punished Miku

Punished Miku

Human Rights Subscription Service
I think the first game I ever beat was probably Super Mario World, or Zelda 1. Something where you can save.

Most games were hard as hell. My brother beat Guardian Legend and we couldn't believe it for like 10 years.
 
NeoIkaruGAF

NeoIkaruGAF

Gold Member
The NES soundtrack almost sounds like a parody compared to the glorious Famicom version. Thankfully the rest of the game is basically the same, but it almost seems on purpose how the best Japanese tunes are the worst in the western version.

First game I beat? I can't really remember. NES was the first gaming system I owned, but apart from that, I'm not sure.
 
AngelMuffin

AngelMuffin

Member
Love, love, love Akumajo Dracula. Not just because of the awesome soundtrack but because it’s a bit more forgiving than its US counterpart in certain areas of the game.

First game I ever beat was SMB.
 
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93xfan

93xfan

Banned
Probably super Mario brothers 2 or contra. Maybe even the legend of Zelda. It’s tough to remember which one I beat first way back then
 
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T

tygertrip

Member
VGEsoterica said:
You wouldn't have thought it or known it back in the day but the NES and the Famicom, while being the "same system" actually had a bunch of hardware differences between the two that made some fundamental differences in the player experience.

You'd also MAYBE think Alucard got his start in the Castlevania universe with Symphony of the Night on PS1...but if you are old or played the games you'd realize Alucard actually kicked it off in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

It is weird to me to think that there was a moment in Castlevania history where Alucard DIDNT exist. He seems as iconic as Simon Belmont and Dracula but he just didn't bother to show up until the third game in the series.

But the extra sound hardware in Akumajo Dracula makes the difference. Sadly it never made its was West for the US audience. Extra audio channels and effects really take the experience from 10/10 to 11/10

Its also the FIRST Castlevania game I ever beat as a kid so it has a special place in my heart. Which got me curious GAF...whats the first game you ever actually beat as a kid?

Click to expand...

The Castlevania Collection lets you select between the Famicom and NES version. Anyway, the first game I ever beat was either 2600 E.T. or Raiders of the Lost Ark. Most games back then couldn’t be “beat”, per se. But those two could.
 
T

tygertrip

Member
Diseased Yak said:
*high-five* Pretty sure same for me, unless it was the first Pitfall. Could you beat E.T.? If so, I prob beat that too, but I'd imagine Pitfall came out long before it did.
Click to expand...
I beat E.T. a hundred times back in those days. It is Nowhere near as unplayable as its reputation says it is. What a lot of the young’ns don’t understand is many games, in those days, were designed with the expectation that you would read the instruction manual.
 
Raven117

Raven117

Member
VGEsoterica said:
You wouldn't have thought it or known it back in the day but the NES and the Famicom, while being the "same system" actually had a bunch of hardware differences between the two that made some fundamental differences in the player experience.

You'd also MAYBE think Alucard got his start in the Castlevania universe with Symphony of the Night on PS1...but if you are old or played the games you'd realize Alucard actually kicked it off in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

It is weird to me to think that there was a moment in Castlevania history where Alucard DIDNT exist. He seems as iconic as Simon Belmont and Dracula but he just didn't bother to show up until the third game in the series.

But the extra sound hardware in Akumajo Dracula makes the difference. Sadly it never made its was West for the US audience. Extra audio channels and effects really take the experience from 10/10 to 11/10

Its also the FIRST Castlevania game I ever beat as a kid so it has a special place in my heart. Which got me curious GAF...whats the first game you ever actually beat as a kid?

Click to expand...

I absolutely hate that dudes voice.
 
JCK75

JCK75

Member
Diseased Yak said:
*high-five* Pretty sure same for me, unless it was the first Pitfall. Could you beat E.T.? If so, I prob beat that too, but I'd imagine Pitfall came out long before it did.
Click to expand...

I don't recall beating the first pitfall, I did beat ET several times.. don't know why.. lol
 
Nostalgic Nightmare

Nostalgic Nightmare

Member
Cv3 is loaded with forced cheap damage, never ending spawning of enemies etc - it reminds me of the BS Ninja Gaiden 3 NES US pulled. Not the worst game or anything, but just a bunch of cheap BS you can tell they added in late in development.
 
T

tygertrip

Member
Nostalgic Nightmare said:
Cv3 is loaded with forced cheap damage, never ending spawning of enemies etc - it reminds me of the BS Ninja Gaiden 3 NES US pulled. Not the worst game or anything, but just a bunch of cheap BS you can tell they added in late in development.
Click to expand...
The Famicom version is much better, it has less of that bullshit. I think playing with Save states (but using restraint) makes the game much better. I can’t imagine any adult having enough time to master CV3 without save states… goddamn Jesus Christ
 
bender

bender

What time is it?
Rox598 said:
Holy shit Alucard backwards is Dracula

How did I not realise this!?
Click to expand...

giphy.gif
 
wondermega

wondermega

Member
My first "console" was Atari 400, most of the games I had for that (Pac-man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Popeye) didn't really have "endings" they just kept going. I supposed Pitfall did but I never got there. Finally I got an NES and cleared Super Mario Bros, it must have been that. It was pretty exciting, I picked that game up before the NES hype had swept my school (good to be first, bad to have no-one to share the excitement with! Well there was one other kid). Even then, when you beat the game it restarted with a harder mode, I don't recall if I had the patience to go all the way through again..

Castlevania 3 is a wonderful game, although I never did get too far into it personally. The localized music isn't as good as the original, but still way wayyyy better than 90% of the rest of Nintendo music so I can't give it any grief at all. It's a shame of mine that I never beat the 1st one either (never even got to Dracula! I think I made it to the Grim Reaper once). I did beat Simon's Quest but only after the struggle. You know what I am talking about - that game isn't hard even a little, but there are 1 or 2 areas where it becomes so puzzling to proceed..
 
ResurrectedContrarian

ResurrectedContrarian

Suffers with mild autism
This is one of my favorite childhood games, easily top 3. Enormous sense of accomplishment to beat it, plus huge replayability due to branching paths, different characters to use, secrets, etc. I remember fondly my stack of notecards with the save codes.

Even though I later heard the Famicom soundtrack and it’s very impressive, the original soundtrack still stands atop the entire NES library. I used to go to the sound test mode and enjoy it. My sister even learned Clockwork faithfully by ear on the piano, a pretty great rendition.
 
kunonabi

kunonabi

Member
CV3 is my second favorite CV game. I think I actually owned it before the first CV. To me it's still the pinnacle of the classic 2D plaformers. Rondo and SCV IV especially always felt like steps back to me.

As for the first game I ever beat its hard to say. mega man 2 is the earliest I can remember.
 
C

cartman414

Member
Nostalgic Nightmare said:
Cv3 is loaded with forced cheap damage, never ending spawning of enemies etc - it reminds me of the BS Ninja Gaiden 3 NES US pulled. Not the worst game or anything, but just a bunch of cheap BS you can tell they added in late in development.
Click to expand...
The US version is only that hard because they wanted to counter the "beat over the weekend" rental market. It was given a more brutal enemy damage structure that scaled by level. The Japanese/Europe versions were much fairer.
 
wondermega

wondermega

Member
VGEsoterica said:
There’s an old game
Click to expand...
No kidding. Such an early platformer as well. I kinda wanna replay it. I know there's not much to it, but for its pedigree they did a pretty neat job with it. I remember going to my one friend's house and first playing the 2600 and thinking it was the absolutely coolest thing - then some time later going to this other kid's house and seeing Smurfs, Donkey Kong, Zaxxon, and Turbo (with an actual steering wheel and gas pedal) running on the wayyyy more advanced Colecovision. I was like 6 or 7 years old? Man, what a time...
 
D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
Easily the best of the NES games IMO. This and Super IV are amazing games that still hold up today
 
wondermega

wondermega

Member
radewagon said:
First game beat. Neat question. Hadn't really thought of that before. Probably Altered Beast on the Sega Master System.
Click to expand...
I should put that one through its paces! Played through the Genesis version tons of times, just because that was what you did with a launch game in those days. Game was a massive pushover of course. But the PC Engine version? Woof. I think it took me an hour just to pass the first level..
 
manzo

manzo

Member
What always baffled me about US/PAL CV3 is why Konami used the MMC5 mapper chip. VRC6 was nothing to write to home about even with the additional 3 channels. MMC5 was absolutely overkill for this game. The palette density couldn’t have been the reason. I always thought that MMC3 should’ve been enough to handle the western version.

Still, top 5 favourite games ever. Still play the original Famicom version about twice per year, if not even more. Done that since 1992.

Edit: VRC6 actually had 3 channels. Remembered it only had 2 additional saws but hell, even my MMC5 reason is covered here:

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse/Regional Differences - The Cutting Room Floor

tcrf.net tcrf.net

For similiar bank switching only? Jeesus, Nintendo’s most expensive mapper used only for that. MMC5 was a fucking beast, supported split screen and other insane shit.
 
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