Bugs & Issues with Castlevania Anniversary Collection

[Odjn Ryu]

I personally have the game on Switch but I have been hearing about some issues that plague the games across all SKUs that is probably worth mentioning in the hopes Konami addresses / has M2 patch this stuff.

If you buy any version of the game, please report issues and bugs here. Would be great to point out a thread like this to Konami / M2.

Crashes

Castlevania
On Switch, I personally experienced a glitch / hang-up right after defeating Dracula but before the second part of the fight begins. The game freezes with the last note played in the music remaining sustained. Menu still worked so the game had to be reset / a save state had to be loaded to resolve the issue.

Users are stating that the ROM used for Castlevania NES is PRG0, which is a launch-era version of the NES ROM with a crash bug that causes a lock-up when too many sprites are on-screen, such as in the Death fight (particularly when using Holy Cross + III) and during the Dracula / Final Boss.

Videos of the freeze happening:
Pre-Death Hallway https://twitter.com/CaffeinatedBolt/status/1129537956832657408
End of Dracula Battle: https://twitter.com/PatrickKul/status/1129400102437642240

Main Menu - PC
1. During gameplay in fullscreen, open the options. (Left trigger on Xbox One Controller)
2. Enter Windowed Mode. (Alt+Enter)
3. Enter Fullscreen Mode again.
4. Exit the options screen.
5. Open the options again.
6. The game beeps and then the program closes.

The "beep and close" never happens when the game is just paused or active, only when in the option screen.

Controls

In the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions, controls cannot be customized in-game. Fun fact: May 16, 2019 is also World Accessibility Day.

The control layout for the NES / Game Boy Castlevania games is as follows:

PC:

Z, X, A and S are the keys used, but what they do differs from game to game. To access in-game menu on the keyboard you must press 1. These cannot be bound to other keys

PS4:

Triangle = Whip
X = Whip
Square = Jump
Circle = Jump

Switch:

X = Whip
B = Whip
Y = Jump
A = Jump

Xbox One:

Y = Whip
A = Whip
X = Jump
B = Jump

Ideally, controls in retro collections like this should be fully customizable so that Xbox One controllers, for example, can re-map Whip to X and Jump to A; PS4 controllers could re-map Whip to Square and Jump to X; Switch controllers could re-map Whip to Y and Jump to B. Unfortunately that's not currently the case.

Audio

Some audio beeping / crackling issues have been reported on multiple SKUs for Castlevania Anniversary Collection, most notably a beeping sound in Castlevania Stage 2 & Stage 11 (which play the same tune).

UPDATE: Additional information regarding the beeping issue has been shared. The issue seems to point to the Triangle sound channel of the game not handling "Pitch 0" correctly. Twitter link: https://twitter.com/RetroGameAudio/status/1130312837170106368

Castlevania (Xbox One) beeping: https://youtu.be/CLxmsrC1HZM

Castlevania (Nintendo Switch) beeping: https://twitter.com/SuperDarkMimeIV/status/1129071834651955205

The final boss theme (second part of fight after Dracula) has noticeably crackling sound.

Super Castlevania IV Distorted Sound (PC): In the event you have distorted sound, one user has reported fixing this by changing Windows 10 default sound settings from 24 bit 48000 to 16 bit 48000 to eliminate distortion.

Nintendo Switch Game Selection screen static / garbled audio: Sometimes when exiting back to the main menu / game selection screen after playing a game for a while, the music audio will be garbled / have lots of static. Restarting the entire game resolves the issue, but it can happen again after exiting one of the games.

Display

Switch: 10:7 Display Bug
On Nintendo Switch, in TV mode only:

The "pixel perfect" display setting for Castlevania, Castlevania II, Castlevania III, and Super Castlevania IV uses a 10:7 aspect ratio. This is an incorrect value for NES and SNES games.

As 10:7 is the correct "pixel perfect" ratio for Genesis/MD, it is likely that the Bloodlines value is being incorrectly used for NES and SNES games.This bug does NOT occur in handheld mode, where Castlevania I-IV use the accurate 8:7 aspect ratio.

Switch Docked / Undocked Display Mode Bug
"Original" Display Mode and "Pixel Perfect" Display Mode work normally on Switch when the unit is undocked / portable. When the unit is docked, "Original" Display Mode's effect and "Pixel Perfect" Display Mode's effect are reversed, so selecting "Original" results in a Pixel Perfect display, whereas selecting "Pixel Perfect" results in an Original display.

PS4 Display Mode Bug
The game appears to display in "Pixel Perfect" Mode regardless of whether you select "Original" or "Pixel Perfect", and will not fill out the top and bottom of the screen. The only way to get a proper 4:3 image is with the scanlines option, which some users may not like.

PC Version Launches in Windowed Mode
Upon first launch, the PC version will launch in windowed mode. Pressing Alt + Enter to force full screen will fix the issue for subsequent launches.

Display - Details

Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Bloodlines, Kid Dracula

• Original = 4:3 stretched but doesn't cover top-of-screen to bottom-of-screen
  
• Pixel Perfect = 8:7
  
• Stretched Widescreen (not recommended) = 16:9

• 4:3 Scanlines = 4:3 stretched and enlarged with scanlines, covers top-of-screen to bottom-of-screen
  
• Pixel Perfect Scanlines = 8:7 with scanlines
  
• 16:9 Scanlines = 16:9 with scanlines (again, not recommended)

• There are no options to have any sort of linear filter, only scanlines or pixels.
  
• There is no option to lessen the blur of the scanlines and make them resemble more of a RGB Monitor than CRT.
  
• There is no option to have the "Original" display mode with Scanlines without covering top to bottom

Castlevania: The Adventure, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

• Original = Screen covers top-of-screen to bottom-of-screen
  
• Pixel Perfect = Smaller square
  NOTE: On Switch version in portable mode, Original & Pixel Perfect give the same result = Screen covers to bottom
  
• Dot Matrix = Green Game Boy Filter and Dot Matrix layout, covers top to bottom

• Color filter = Screen covers top to bottom with Super Game Boy red filter
  
• Color filter (Pixel Perfect) = Smaller square with Super Game Boy red filter
  NOTE: On Switch version in portable mode, Original & Pixel Perfect give the same result = Screen covers to bottom
  
• Scanlines = Screen covers top to bottom with Super Game Boy red filter & scanlines

• There are no options to have any sort of linear filter, only scanlines or pixels.
  
• There is no option to lessen the blur of the scanlines and make them resemble more of a RGB Monitor than CRT.
  
• There is no option to have the "Original" display mode with Scanlines

Save States

Only 1 save state slot is supported for each game. As a comparison, NES Classic (which comes with Castlevania), SNES Classic (which comes with Super Castlevania IV), and Nintendo Switch Online - NES app support up to 4 save state slots.

Misc

There is no way to exit the game from the PC version when in Full Screen other then pressing Alt + F4 or going into Windowed Mode with Alt + Enter and pressing 'X'.

[Allard]

Messaggio originale di Dlf:

When I'm on the selection menu (of the games) it just keeps going up (from the bottom of the list) and won't stop, if I manage to get into a game i just walk left with like no control. I don't think any keys (keyboard) are presses down (without me doing anything)

I think it's one of your gamepads acting up. Try unplugging them.

[Zeikar]

Controls can be remapped now
Japanese versions available, minus Castlevania 2.

From another thread:

Messaggio originale di Grooves:

Messaggio originale di Redblaze27:

Someone should check the Castlevania 1 ROM.

If fixed, that means 4:3 (no scanlines) & exiting the collection are our only remaining issues.

From playing the JP version on normal mode

-The beeping on stage 2 is gone.
-The colors are still a little different
-Not sure if it's still the Anti-Level 5 ver.

[GuyInDogSuit]

Playing CV1, fighting Death, just about to win, and it froze. Happened again on the second attempt. Game allowed me to progress after that. Then it froze again while fighting Dracula. Seems great.

Now, I just loaded up Simon's Quest, pulled LT, and the game crashed. WTF did you even DO, Konami?

[TheCoopX]

It's shame that the Japanese version of Simon's Quest isn't present, but given that it's on a different system, it's a bit understandable (probably needs an entirely different EMU). But seeing all of the other games there, and not hearing that blasted beep, was very nice.

However, the popping/cracking in the music of the SNES game is still present. So that hasn't been fixed yet.

[GuyInDogSuit]

I was hoping they would allow us to adjust the sound levels; I want to mute or at least lower the volume of that damn interface.

[TheCoopX]

I found a new bug.

In the Japanese version of Castlevania III, there's a noticeable sound channel balance issue. Namely, the individual sound effect that plays when you pick up a small or large heart is considerably louder than it should be. Also, I believe the whip is a little quieter than it should be, but I'm not 100% sure (it's pretty quiet in Youtube videos of the Japanese version as well).

[KAZ MILLER]

I'm having an issue in that whenever i open the game all i see is a black screen but I can hear the game

[BONKERS]

The patch has fixed none of the major issues for me. Castlvenia IV audio is still borked.

The program is still only Windowed fullscreen, and performance drops below 60FPS if you disable Aero in Windows 7. (It works ok if the window is resized to like 1024x768 but that's ridiculous. But you get less input lag from not having to deal with the Windows compositor adding it's own lag. Exclusive Fullscreen would be nice.)


"Normal" scaling still causes shimmering. (How hard is it to implement horizontal interpolation so it can be scaled to the correct Pixel Aspect Ratio without shimmering?)

4k scaling is still broken. It scales the image to 1080p and just upscales the 1080p image to 4k instead of scaling properly to 4k. (Which should result in a bigger image that fill the screen more due to 240p being a 9x9 scale to 4k. Where as 1080p can only fit a 4x scale in the window)

Scaling in general seems ONLY set up for 1080p. Running the game at 720p, the scaling should fit almost full screen (height wise) but it still only fills the same amount of space as 1080. Which is odd, 720p is a 3x3 scale. So you are getting uneven scaling at this resolution.

[XZero]

No controller configuration for the games that already had an in-game option.
But that means you only get three buttons in the Genesis game. No shoulder buttons, unlike all the others.
(The actions in that game are jump, attack, and sub-weapon.)

The same issue is in the Contra collection's Genesis game.

Still have to use Steam controller configuration to change some things... Fortunately the menu confirm button is no longer messed up by changing jump/attack to the usual spots, but still... so close.
They can solve this by naming those games' actions as the buttons, instead of "Jump/Whip/Etc."

[Super Timsy]

I also have noticed that the "Original" display mode in at least the NES Castlevania games definitely doesn't cover the top and bottom of the screen while the "4:3 scanlines" mode does. Strange.

Also, how the hell do you exit the game from the main menu?

[GuyInDogSuit]

You can't. You have to Alt+F4 to exit.

[AustrAlien2010]

I found a bug.

In Castlevania 1, sometimes, the invincibility potion drops from the bone wall-mounted snake, at the end of stage 11. If you try and pass through the door while under it's influence, the game freezes, and you must reset through the options.

Help me squish that bug.

[AustrAlien2010]

Hello? So users must manually change their audio outputs to 16-bit quality for it to be fixed?


"Guys? Anyone intend on fixing the "too high trebled therefor squeaky" sound in Castlevania 4 yet? Its still there apparently. There is no reason to not fix it, if you sell it on Steam, because you can update it. Just tell me what it is you need, because its audio quality needs to be equalized."

"It sounds like playing an old gramophone record. The ones in which you hear those "squeaky "pops"" from time to time, because of the needle scratching the bumps on its surface, if you know what I mean."

"I am serious about sound. Especially because sound plays such a prominent role in most people their lives, and I rather not turn it off. I paid good money for it, unknowing this was an issue. So honour our hearing with care, if you please."

"Just do it. I want to write a positive review, because I always write positive reviews."

"Or else we must have someone else do it for you."

"So make us all proud. No excuses. Chop chop."


Is it perhaps because I'm running it on Windows 7 that I have this problem? Can anyone respond please? We are paying customers, remember?

[lava.drop]

I've a new Bug:
Any change to any menu option (like changing aspect ratio or scan lines) pops up a window with the word 不要?
It appears to translate as unnecesary.
However, after pressing the A button or it's keyboard equivalent, the window won't disappear, rendering the game unplayable and having to force quit.

[GuyInDogSuit]

Why has there not been any new updates to fix these issues?