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SNES vs Genesis: who got the better Castlevania & Contra?
- Thread starter DonkeyPunchJr
- Start date
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Damn I didn’t even realize there was a difference. US version was hard as balls, that explains why.
Serge85
Member
Contra Hard Corps is way way better than Contra III.
On the other hand, Super Castlevania 4 is better than bloodlines!
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Both of those Contras were fantastic. I have a special fondness for Hard Corps since I owned that one. I played 3 at a cousin's house a lot. I can't decide!
Ev1L AuRoN
Member
Bloodlines and Alien Wars for me. To be fair, I didn't play Hard Corps
cireza
Member
Konami had a tendency to make games more difficult in the West for whatever reason. Hard Corps is one of them sadly.
Griffon
Member
Dracula X on SNES is not Rondo of Blood. It is a completely different game that uses some of the same assets, and is worse in every way.
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NeverYouMind
Member
Off topic, but NES's Super C and Castlevania III were infinitely better than these sequels.
Jack Package
Member
Both consoles got incredible entries in each series, but SNES edges it because of gameplay variety. The Mode 7 tricks and music of both Super and Contra III beats out Mega Drive's duo.
When I hear CVIV's version of Simon's Theme or Vampire Killer, I know something is about to kick off. The 8-way whip and grappling sets the gameplay apart from Bloodlines.
As for Contra/Probotector, the overhead levels and spectacle of the bosses, and the visual style, are just better than Mega Drive's limited colour palette. Though i do think MD's Yamaha chip makes more suitable music for Contra, the sheer scale of Contra III with the accompanying music edges it.
When I hear CVIV's version of Simon's Theme or Vampire Killer, I know something is about to kick off. The 8-way whip and grappling sets the gameplay apart from Bloodlines.
As for Contra/Probotector, the overhead levels and spectacle of the bosses, and the visual style, are just better than Mega Drive's limited colour palette. Though i do think MD's Yamaha chip makes more suitable music for Contra, the sheer scale of Contra III with the accompanying music edges it.
Fat Frog
I advertised for Google Stadia
NeverYouMind
Member
Mode 7 scaling looked horrid even back in the day. Some racing titles on the NES had better scaling transitions. Also, while it did not always work, when the soundtrack of a game had the synth direction it would always sound better on Genesis. But in that generation Sega CD sound quality was unrivaled.
tkscz
Member
This is a tough one when it comes to the Contras. Alien Wars has the better use of the classic weapons plus additional new weapons, Hard Corp's weapons aren't bad, just not as good. Hard Corp's level progression is better with it allowing the player to chose paths with different bosses and endings, while Alien Wars is more straight forward. Alien Wars has the better level design with more variety in the levels themselves though. If I had to choose one, Alien Wars is the better but not by much, both are excellent Contra games.
Castlevania IV however just out right beats Bloodlines. Just better level design all around with a more fun use of the vampire killer.
Castlevania IV however just out right beats Bloodlines. Just better level design all around with a more fun use of the vampire killer.
Jack Package
Member
We aren't talking about Sega CD, though.
And Mode 7 was spectacular *for it's time*.
In the case of THESE TWO GAMES, and most cartridge-based titles, Super Nintendo music was better. There are exceptions, like the Sonic games and Thunder Force IV.
RetroAV
Member
Love all 4 games, but Contra Hard Corps > Alien Wars easily in about every category except sound effects (music is equally awesome taking advantage of each platform's strengths).
The Castlevania's are a little closer, but Bloodlines > Super Castlevania IV and this video does an excellent job explaining why:
The Castlevania's are a little closer, but Bloodlines > Super Castlevania IV and this video does an excellent job explaining why:
cireza
Member
Meh. This is largely debatable and certainly not some kind of absolute truth. SNES and MD music sounded very different, so personal preferences quickly come into place.
Castlevania IV had an excellent, atmospheric soundtrack. Stating that it was better than Bloodlines is a personal preference, as Bloodlines has en excellent soundtrack as well, in a different style though.
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Team Andromeda
Member
SNES for both
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
I agree. Though Genesis games could sound great too (Streets of Rage and Shinobi sounded great too), SNES audio was just overall better. It had better voice (Genesis often scratchy) and the audio chip seemed to do orchestra/brass kinds of music which was incredible for that era of gaming whether it was console or PC.
DeathGuise
Member
Shouldn't have clicked on the thread if you didn't want to hear the truth bahahaha
Variahunter
Member
As always, SNES is rolling over Genesis.
But Bloodlines was pretty good.
But Bloodlines was pretty good.
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Variahunter
Member
Try to do a flute sound on the Genesis…
Genesis is good for bombastic soundtracks, electronic sounds, and synth music, which is why it’s doing ok with Castlevania which uses lots of synth to build atmospheric tracks.
But you’ll never get the flute used in the ending of Super Castlevania 4, or the soundtrack from Actraiser 2. Don’t be delusional. As soon as a soundtrack brings classic instrument, the Genesis struggles a lot.
So yeah, SNES does have muffled sound, but the variety and possibilities are limitless compared to Genesis, let’s be real here.
For example, Gauntlet IV has a great OST (from Yuzo of course), but again, the nature of the sounds can become irritating after a while, and you don’t get the variety and beauty offered by samples.
To resume, SNES audio is much better.
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tkscz
Member
Good lord you have that backwards lol.
The SNES could produce better sounds because it was a sample machine. It could sample more realistic sounding instruments (or as close as one could get all considering) however it was an absolute pain to do it. You had to record every note onto the cart, and I mean EVERY note, not line of music, but each and every single little note one at a time. Then you actually had to program the music by ordering the notes and pitches using code. This way the sound files could be compressed by the SNES's sound memory and not take too much space up. Because of this, things like active pitch changing and fading weren't possible on the SNES, if you wanted the sound pitch to slowly go up or fade in/out, you had to record each note of that as separate notes and put them back together. Look up how David Wise did the music of the DKC games and all the things he had to create just to get it.
Whether or not you think the music on Genesis or SNES sounds better is up to you, but it was much easier to use a keyboard on the Genesis than it was to program sound samples on the SNES.
TonberrysKnife
Member
In those days, Western versions of video games back then were artificially harder to combat the home ownership market. Japanese developers didn't want their overseas audience to just beat the game in a weekend and never play it again. So, they intentionally made shit harder for us over here. Hence, why you got Hit Points in Contra: The Hard Corps in Japan, but One Hit kills in Contra: Hard Corps in the U.S. Same thing with Castlevania; the amount you health you lose gradually increases as you come closer to finishing the game in the Japanese versions; whereas you lost 4 points of health regardless of how you got hit in the Western versions.
In Japan, renting games were prohibited by law. But, not in the U.S.
A look at the early days of regional difficulty changes
www.destructoid.com
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Hemingwayoffbase
Member
Stealth recommend for the Castlevania collection Konami released a few years ago. It’s frequently $5 and it has all of the classics with a bunch of cool bonus features.
RetroAV
Member
Yeah, they both have their strengths. It doesn't make one better than the other unless you're talking about specifics. And no, Yuzo was not the composer for Gauntlet IV.
I thought it was obvious what I meant by "easier", but I guess not. When I say the SNES was "easier" than the Genesis I mean in terms of getting a specific sound.
March Climber
Member
I understand the ambitions of SC4, but I liked the arcadey feeling of Bloodlines. Going from Bloodlines to Rondo of Blood felt more natural.
Both Contra games are great. I guess the biggest edge Hard Corps has over 3 is the amount of multiple endings and replayability with branching paths.
Both Contra games are great. I guess the biggest edge Hard Corps has over 3 is the amount of multiple endings and replayability with branching paths.
This is what makes me think that 'console I grew up with' is taking a priority here for people moreso than the games themselves.
Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Dude I’m sayin. I feel like the people who voted for III must not have ever played Hard Corps. I only played it for the first time last year and it absolutely blew me away. Easily my favorite Contra now.
ZoukGalaxy
Member
Super Castlevania IV by FAR, and the soundtrack is a pure gem until this days.
Fat Frog
I advertised for Google Stadia
Seeing that ugly ass mode 7 crap, Konami staff almost committed suicide
,left the company to create Treasure and then saw the light of the blast processing console 
Crew511A
Member
I like challenging games, but c'mon. Some of these later bosses are ridiculous. There was one I think where you had to climb on the ceiling to avoid it and it had like 3 forms? This franchise has always been tough, but good grief. At least give us some useful cheats.
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Dacvak
No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
That’s fair. It took me like two weeks before I got through the game. But I don’t think it’s that much harder than something like Mega Man. (Plus I have a lot of experience with Gunstar Heroes, which the game seemed to really imitate.)
But either way, just play with infinite continues with a game genie or emulator or something. It’s a pretty fair game overall, just asshole-difficult sometimes
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Jack Package
Member
Seeing that ugly ass mode 7 crap, Konami staff almost committed suicide
What year is this?
cireza
Member
Except that it is from Sakimoto.
No, as you stated yourself, it is muffled. It runs at a lower bitrate and suffers heavy compression. You get a wider variety of sounds, but nobody can state that one is better than the other as some kind of absolute truth. It is purely a matter of state.
I largely prefer the sound quality of the MegaDrive, and the fact that it is FM based means that it will never sound "old or low quality" because it is, actually, super high quality. If you are obsessed with classical instruments, sure, SNES is for you. You still get some very good attempts on the MegaDrive (on top of my head).
Flute here (several occurrences in the track) :
Harpsicord :
Organ (after a while, great track, a must listen):
Guitar :
And in any case, you get much more profound sounds, bass, drums and clear melodies on MegaDrive on a regular basis. Everything is super clean.
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Variahunter
Member
Oh damn I mistook Yuzo for Sakimoto… I don’t know why I made that link. Probably because most of the good soundtracks are from Yuzo on Genesis.
Variahunter
Member
Yeah I know for Sakimoto… bad association.
Your flute sound in the SFII ost ? I’m trying to hear it but can’t. Hence what I said. Same about the Guitar, or what you call a guitar in this music…
The only convincing one is the Organ. Because that type of instrument is well reproduced on synth.
You can try as hard as you want to defend your childhood. Doesn’t change that fact that aside of a slightly muffled sound (which nobody ever heard when playing back in the day), the SNES audio is superior in every way.
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cireza
Member
I never felt the need to state something as stupid as SNES is better at music than MD as some kind of absolute truth. Who is defending his childhood already ? The guy with a SNES avatar maybe ?
You mistook Koshiro and Sakimoto and state things like this ? Clearly you don't have as much knowledge about the MD as you would like us to believe
Koshiro only did a handful of OSTs on MD. This is insulting towards all other awesome composers that worked on the console. I remember a guy I met in real life. Was the greatest SNES fan if you listened to his words. Stated that MegaDrive music was shit except for Sonic, Streets of Rage and Golden Axe. He was incapable of citing other games anyway. What's even more funny is that I actually had much more knowledge than him about the SNES, while not being a fan of this console.
So wind instruments, like organ and flute, are well reproduced on synth. Gotcha.
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NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
Rondo is the definitive Classicvania. It’s just too good. Two characters, branching paths, phenomenal bosses, kickass music, VA, animated cutscenes…
Anyway, CV4 ranks very low on my favorite CV list. It’s slow, unexciting, extremely cheap at times (the goddamn bats trope is in full gear here), the bosses are mostly uninteresting… It’s a great SNES tech showcase and the OST is very unique, but I never enjoyed playing it much. CV3 is vastly superior, and much much harder. I’d also rate Game Boy CV2 above CV4, not to mention Bloodlines and Adventure Rebirth. Just more actiony, engaging games, and way more challenging too.
Hudo
Member
Oh yeah, the NES Castlevanias are better than the 16 bit ones, except for Rondo of Blood, which is just the best "classic" Castlevania before Symphony of the Night.
Dev1lXYZ
Member
Back in the day I had all of these games. The Genesis games were a bit disappointing to me back then, but were so far away from the SNES games- were appreciated.
Konami messed up Hard Corps US difficulty. It required a mastery that few of us had time for especially because Saturn and PS1 were all over our minds.
I think all of them have aged well, especially if you play the JPN Hard Corps.
Konami messed up Hard Corps US difficulty. It required a mastery that few of us had time for especially because Saturn and PS1 were all over our minds.
I think all of them have aged well, especially if you play the JPN Hard Corps.
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