Top 8 & 7: Starfox 2 and Super Castlevania IV

Posted by Swifto on 15 November, 2012 at 02:47AM

Tags: Top 10, SNES, Super Nintendo, opinions, romhacks, nostalgia

Top 8 & 7: Starfox 2 and Super Castlevania IV

I missed a day, so, DOUBLE FEATURE

Should this count? It was never released and all that jazz.

You know what? Sure it does. It's playable now.

And I love it. Sure, the first Starfox was fun, but I just really like this one. Moreso, actually! While the first game is more polished, since it was an actually released commercial product, there's just... Something to this one that makes me like it more.

'Course, the first Starfox is a very well known game. There's branching paths to add replayability, and the game has a very nice length to it. But it's all still a bit... Linear. IN THE SEQUEL!!! You get to fly around, similar to the All-Range mode in Starfox 64. You can even transform into a little walker car and scoot around all willy-nilly.

Now, the game lacks polish. They coulda spent a bit more time making the controls a bit tighter and responsive, and improving the framerate a tad. Mechanically, the first Starfox plays better.

BUT! There's somethin' about this one. The strategic overworld map rather than a selectable path, needing to prioritize what to do against a constantly-ticking clock, it's all way more to my liking.

And Idunno; I feel like the moments are better made. Or something. It's really hard to nail down; the closest I can compare to is in the first game, when you dive into the cores of battleships in the Space Armada stage. Dodge the little walls, open the doors, make it to the core and BAM great times. Whereas in 2, the battleship is its own mini-stage of sorts, you fly towards it as it looms larger and larger, dodging lasers and enemies, zipping inside, and a small gauntlet awaits you.

I feel like there's more to it, but I can't really place it. It's something I'd have to sit down, devote a few weeks to, play them both back and forth, taking notes of my thoughts the entire time, and making a cohesive article about it later.

But I got other stuff to do. SUCH AS...!!

 


Number 7 on our list; Super Castlevania IV

There's nothing to this I can add that Egoraptor hasn't already said.

It's kinda funny, though; this game marks a small bit of pride for me.

See, my brother plays video games to. Growing up, I'd try playing with him, and of course he'd be leagues better than me. I dealt with it, and just moved on. I had long accepted being inferior since I was a small child.

But then I was playing Super Castlevania IV in my grandma's basement, and a couple of my older cousins were watching. They were chatting amongst themselves, of course, I was mostly background, but then I started getting to the more difficult later levels, and they started focusing on me a bit more. After a bit, they were kinda quiet, and they were watching me go through the really tricky stages.

"Wow, you're really good at this game." The older of the two cousins said.

Dunno why, but that moment stuck in my head to this day. It's the first compliment I recall ever getting regarding me playing video games.

So I don't know how much of my liking to Castlevania IV is due to it being a really damn good game and how much my liking of it pertains to it being, well, drowning in nostalgia filter.

Considering that the internet seems to really like this game too, well, I guess it's a case of both.