I can beat CV1 without losing a life. This game is stomping a mudhole in me.

[Spooniest]

Wow, this is hard! It's definitely in the same vein as the Retraux Sequels to Mega Man, 9 and 10.

... I guess some devs realize that we NES Gamers grew up eventually.

Anyone got any tips? I'm getting hammered over here.

[Oguzhan]

Well first off, 9,10 and this game are not hard at all especially compared to the NES games like Castlevania which has bunch of annoying enemies on top of a weird damage system.

Well I can give tips:

1: IF you are having problems with the bosses a really OP combo is to :
-Activate Zangetsu's curse seal subweapon
-Freeze the boss
-Axe
-Freeze
-Axe
-Freeze
-Axe

This will obliterate every boss in the game with the exception of the final boss. Hell the library guy can't even make a move if you just freeze and axe him.

2: For bloodless (vampire chick), there are MANY strats but the easiest one to do is to use Gebel.......or freeze her and Axe her.

3: Speaking of Gebel, he is by far the best character in the stages. His bat and basic attacks are super useful.

4: Sub weapons are super useful, use them. IntiCreates is a master of making really powerful and useful weapons that are not just damage dealers but also have secondary uses. This was the same in Megaman 9, 10, Zero 3 and 4 and it's no different here. I have already mentioned about the ice , axe and the seal but stuff like the seal bomb (holy water basically), triple blade (it is literally the triple blade from 10) and fire shield are also superb. The fire shield can be used to avoid getting hit by that fast mooving things the final boss (first form) summons too.

That being said don't use the lighting attack that Alfred has. It is a decent for casual players and some people consider it to be OP but it is neither really all that great nor efficient.

Also, be creative. Inti games are more kinetic and have room for creativity. For example, in the second stage you can use Miriam's slide to shorten the water part with the frogs. Test things out. I still find new ways to handle certain stages in megaman 9,10 and this game.

5: Miriam is good but Zangetsu is faster. Some people just avoid using Zangetsu right after obtaining Miriam as she has a longer hit box with her whip and can jump higher. However, they fail to understand that Zangetsu is slightly faster with his weapon. So depending on the situation he can be better for killing enemies.

6: Weapon candles drop weapon energy if you already have that weapon with the character who breaks them. Gebel is really handy here as he only has one weapon, meaning everytime you destroy a weapon candle (the blue ones), you get a big weapon energy.

7: This goes for every single game and basically every single thing in life but, be confident. Never go "Oh this is too hard" as that will put a limiter on your head. This is no kaizo with those invisible kaizo blocks, or weird hit boxes from megaman 3 (and a lot of other NES games), or enemies that suddenly appear without any warning. No. This game always gives you time to react. Just look at the giant scissor guys. They appear out of nowhere but they also stop and do their weird animation before attacking.

I hope this helps. If you'd like specific tips for certain parts of the game feel free to ask.

[Icedfate]

castlevania 3 was way more difficult. . .

where i am having toruble is solo zangetsu runs. i thought the game was pretty easy in normal mode with all 4 characters, but trying to go it alone with zangetsu.
it's not so much that it's hard as it is easy to die.
what really gets to me is the checkpoint starvation.
you die in a section and it sends you back 3-4 sections earlier. it took me 2 hours to get through the last part of the stage with the blood countess at the end. because every time i died, it sent me back to the room with 3 big bats and then i have to kill those and sometimes one hits me and knocks me into the pit, then i have to go down stairs, then have to get past 4 tricky jumps with infinite spawning rats and if I get hit, i fall in the pit and die
and if I somehow get past that, there are 2 more easy screens but then ther eis that long hallway with the hammer knights and the dullahan heads (pretty much copied from C1 the hallway right before the reaper)
and they give you plenty of health powerups, that's not the problem, i could get to the boss with full health, but it takes like, 10 minutes to get there and every time i fail, it's 10 minutes again and then i get a game over and have to start the entire stage ALL over, so it's another 20 minutes to get back where i was.


so, the only really frustrating thing is how far back it sends you. this game does not respect the player's time.
I get it, dying is supposed to be "punishing" and it's supposed to hurt, but they could have added more checkpoints. castlevania had checkpoints pretty close to the bosses. . .I think.

boss rush is just as annoying. you have to beat all 8 bosses on a single bar of life for each character. there are 2 hearts total, for the entire run.
you can afford to get hit only 2-3 times and that's it, or else you are ♥♥♥♥♥♥. you pretty much have to learn to beat the bosses flawlessly, just to have a chance to even do it and some of the bosses final desperation moves are insanely difficult to avoid, like the turtle boss and the blood countess and that storm eagle guy.

after watching a video, I see what i was doing wrong and will probably try again after sleeping on it.

again, the main annoying is that i get all the way to the endboss of the boss rush and if even one character dies, that's it, i need to start over, because it makes you start the battle over but the one that died is dead and the others are most likely crippled at 1 health, so you just wasted your time an have to start all over.

and i get it, that's what "nintendo hard" was all about, but yeah, I liek my retro games with more checkpoints (or save states, i try not to abuse the save states, by only using them where I think a checkpoint should have been, like before a boss)

[NeoJax]

you die on bloodstained but not castlevania 1??, pardon my rudeness but that's BS and you know it

[KiRA]

Originally posted by NeoJax:

you die on bloodstained but not castlevania 1??, pardon my rudeness but that's BS and you know it

Yup

[Icedfate]

Originally posted by NeoJax:

you die on bloodstained but not castlevania 1??, pardon my rudeness but that's BS and you know it

+1

[Spooniest]

Originally posted by NeoJax:

you die on bloodstained but not castlevania 1??, pardon my rudeness but that's BS and you know it

Wanna watch me? I most definitely can beat CV1 without dying.

[Icedfate]

CV1 can be beaten without dying. I have done it too, but I still contend that CV is much tougher than this game.
the normal mode, i walked through the whole game without losing a single boss fight. the bosses are very predictable and telegraph every move, unlike some CV1 bosses, like the frankenstein and igor or the grim reaper.

now, beating this game with only zangetsu and no companions, that is significantly harder. and on hard mode, the bosses get new moves and attacks ai added, so i died quite a bit, but i still managed to get all the cheevs in under 10 hours.


it is believable, that someone can be a master at CV1
it is a believable, that someone could be bad at this game.


but, how can someone simultaneously have mastered CV1 and be bad at this game? the twitch skillset you would have learned while mastering CV1 would most certainly prepare you for the challenges of this .

plus, given that a good portion of the difficulty of the original CV was poor play contro(as was the case in many old school games) l, like how when you jump, you commit fully and can't change directions in midair, and you can miss stairs and fall off edges and stuff.

the play control in this game is precise and spot on. when i miss a jump, I know it's my fault.
in addition, this game has fair play monster placement and no respawning enemies, so, none of that cheapshot bs where an enemy spawns on a platform right on the edge of it just as you jump and it knocks you off and you die and if you try to kill the enemy it just respawns again.

another thing they didn't put in this game, that is in just about every Castlevania, is a long vertical set of stairs that zigzags back and forth and hs bone pillars stacked on either side shooting at you as you try to climb the stairs and have no way of killing them. they don't have one of those in this game.

also, enemies kill you in 4 hits in CV1, (3 hits if you play the "second quest" after beating the game the first time)you can take quite a few more hits in this before you die.


TLDR

I know i ranted a lot, but i guess the biggest help I got was watching a youtube video of someone else playing.
I guess that counts a giving you a tip. the tip is that if you are still having trouble, try watching someone else play and that way you can learn the boss patterens and what to do.

I dunno, i guess some people might consider that "Cheating"?

[Icedfate]

I will agree on one point, Megaman 9 and 10 are way harder than the original 1-6. especially playing as protoman. . .

[Spooniest]

It's really quite simple; I have had many many many years to PRACTICE CV1.

[Spooniest]

Don't appreciate 3 people ganging up and calling BS at me, tbh. I'd rather not talk to anyone than be sworn at by rude jerks

You kiss your mothers with that mouth?

[Spooniest]

Can't stand ppl's terrible manners

[Icedfate]

hope i'm not one of those. I can see how it came off that way. I was just expressing my opinion that I don't think this game is anywhere near as tough as the nes castlevanias. and i went into detail on why i have that opinion.

I never used profanity except to +! that other guy's statement.
never meant to make the OP feel like i was putting them down.


I also suggested to try watching some youtube gameplay. That's how i got good at the parts i was having trouble with, although i probably didn;t "need" to do that, I just find myself having less patience as I get older and was trying to figure out how to do it without taking damage.


on a side note, you want to see a really fricking hard Castlevania? try Castlevania Chronicles on PS1 . . .