So, this game was absolutely tough as nails in a lot of respects, but it honestly feels like it’s stood the test of time better than a lot of other NES games, with a wide range of enemies that each actually feel like different enemies in ways beyond simply aesthetic, each type requiring a slightly different approach to take down, keeping the game quite fresh and interesting throughout. The extremely rigid, honestly a bit clunky control of Simon Belmont is an aspect of the game that ends up being nowhere near as much of an issue as one would first think, with the majority of the levels and obstacles clearly being designed around this much slower, calculated sort of movement, with excellent positioning and timing required to tackle most of these, yet almost never requiring too much from the player in order to overcome these challenges.
This approach to difficulty of course, applies to the first 4 of the 6 areas, as after that, balance often feels like it’s thrown out the window in favour of just throwing as much garbage at the player as possible, exemplified best in the clock tower stage right before the fight with Dracula. The issue with this part is that there is enemy spam, but not just enough to be problematic and clear artificial difficulty, but enough to straight up floor you with how stupid it is, spamming small, bouncing enemies everywhere while also making the player jump across slim platforms with death pits surrounding you at all times. To make this even worse, because of the way wall collision works in this game, things become straight up absurd when you’re then subjected to these jumping bastards begin to clip through the floor below you, surrounding you from all sides, including the walls, leaving the only course of action to be simply praying that the RNG and AI will be nice enough to you to not just decide that you’ll die now.
One other issue with the game that I really have is the fact that the bosses feel absolutely cheap or unreasonable, and just not designed for the more slow-paced nature of the game. This is even something that I find noticeable in the first boss of the game, the giant bat, which while relatively easy, all things considered, flies in an erratic enough pattern that it can feel incredibly unreasonable to tackle it due to the disconnect in speed between the player and the enemy. Other instances in which I found there to be issues with the boss balance included the 4th area’s fight against Frankenstein’s monster, in which the small, fire spitting minion accompanying him can often make for situations that are impossible to avoid damage in, which makes frustrating quite a tame word that can be used to describe this section.
Honestly though, despite the fact that this game is flawed and brutal in a lot of respects, it still remains an extremely fun one as well in a lot of respects, making you feel like a real badass as you’re making your way through this gigantic castle full of horrific creatures. The game clearly had quite a bit of forethought put into at least the earlier areas in order to provide a punishing, yet reasonable level of challenge, with the game only really faltering in a major way during the last couple of areas. I can definitely see how this game is considered to be an NES classic, despite the fact that yeah, it’s extremely far from perfect.
Scattershot statements:
The music is absolutely excellent, one of the best soundtracks for the NES
Subweapons don’t play a big part for the most part, but are a cool system that can sometimes feel absolutely essential, which is cool for player agency, but also can make the game feel unfair if you don’t have the right one with you.
Whip upgrading is somewhat obnoxious, as it can leave the player in much more difficult circumstances upon respawning for a bit and doesn't really add much to the game.
I can’t think of a recent encounter in a game that’s frustrated me as much as Dracula, telefragging is really infuriating to say the least.
The strategizing of when the perfect moment to jump or attack is makes for a game that makes more or less every encounter a really engaging one up to a point, since it keeps you on your toes.
This approach to difficulty of course, applies to the first 4 of the 6 areas, as after that, balance often feels like it’s thrown out the window in favour of just throwing as much garbage at the player as possible, exemplified best in the clock tower stage right before the fight with Dracula. The issue with this part is that there is enemy spam, but not just enough to be problematic and clear artificial difficulty, but enough to straight up floor you with how stupid it is, spamming small, bouncing enemies everywhere while also making the player jump across slim platforms with death pits surrounding you at all times. To make this even worse, because of the way wall collision works in this game, things become straight up absurd when you’re then subjected to these jumping bastards begin to clip through the floor below you, surrounding you from all sides, including the walls, leaving the only course of action to be simply praying that the RNG and AI will be nice enough to you to not just decide that you’ll die now.
One other issue with the game that I really have is the fact that the bosses feel absolutely cheap or unreasonable, and just not designed for the more slow-paced nature of the game. This is even something that I find noticeable in the first boss of the game, the giant bat, which while relatively easy, all things considered, flies in an erratic enough pattern that it can feel incredibly unreasonable to tackle it due to the disconnect in speed between the player and the enemy. Other instances in which I found there to be issues with the boss balance included the 4th area’s fight against Frankenstein’s monster, in which the small, fire spitting minion accompanying him can often make for situations that are impossible to avoid damage in, which makes frustrating quite a tame word that can be used to describe this section.
Honestly though, despite the fact that this game is flawed and brutal in a lot of respects, it still remains an extremely fun one as well in a lot of respects, making you feel like a real badass as you’re making your way through this gigantic castle full of horrific creatures. The game clearly had quite a bit of forethought put into at least the earlier areas in order to provide a punishing, yet reasonable level of challenge, with the game only really faltering in a major way during the last couple of areas. I can definitely see how this game is considered to be an NES classic, despite the fact that yeah, it’s extremely far from perfect.
Scattershot statements:
The music is absolutely excellent, one of the best soundtracks for the NES
Subweapons don’t play a big part for the most part, but are a cool system that can sometimes feel absolutely essential, which is cool for player agency, but also can make the game feel unfair if you don’t have the right one with you.
Whip upgrading is somewhat obnoxious, as it can leave the player in much more difficult circumstances upon respawning for a bit and doesn't really add much to the game.
I can’t think of a recent encounter in a game that’s frustrated me as much as Dracula, telefragging is really infuriating to say the least.
The strategizing of when the perfect moment to jump or attack is makes for a game that makes more or less every encounter a really engaging one up to a point, since it keeps you on your toes.