Bad Castlevania Games: A matter of perspective?

Alec

(Digging up some old bones)

There have been a couple CV's that are almost universally reviled by everyone. Then there are those that are reviled by most. And then, there are the games that individuals consider the worst.

And yet, for some reason, often we keep playing them.

Why is this?

For instance, I think Castlevania 64 is about as terrible a game as can be imagined. And yet I still play it like a maniac, which results in poor Reinhardt falling to his death thousands of times because of missed jumps.

Why do I do this?

Personally, I love playing badly designed games.

Castlevania 64 is VERY poorly planned, and too often I die from missed jumps. But I enjoy the challenge this poor design presents.

Now, as for Super Castlevania IV, it's almost perfectly designed, and an awesome game to be sure (though I enjoy Castlevania: Dracula X to a FAR greater degree). The whip swings were an excellent addition, and perfectly designed in their placement. The game is almost perfect.

But I hate it. I never play it.

Why? Because I miss my timing for the swings so often, plummeting down a bottomless pit to poor Simon's death.

In this case, my bad performance is not due to faulty design, which presents an inherent challenge to the game, but due instead to my own faulty timing in my swing. This takes a lot of fun out of the game for me, because it's still a challenge, but the WRONG KIND of challenge. I don't enjoy wrestling with myself when playing a game, especially Castlevania. I prefer the challenge to be a poorly designed stage rather than a poorly designed ME.

So, I prefer games like Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Dracula X to games like Super Castlevania IV.

Bad=good (in it's own wacky way).

So, even though a Castlevania may be bad, I still play it despite the fact.
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Dimitri Chenov · Awesome Contributer Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 32

What you say here is actually true for bad videogames in general.

Lady Corrington · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:42 am Post subject:

Legends can be fun gameplay wise, and the story is just too campy. I always get a good laugh out of it. Oh, and HINDU-NINJA DEATH!!

It's a lot of fun.
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Lovely Mai · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 6:47 am Post subject:

Warrior of the Dark Moon · Posted: Sun Jun 01, 2008 10:26 pm Post subject: