Best Action Game on the Genesis

[Shin Johnpv]

I'm not basing it on selective nostalgic memories. IV had more colors, bigger sprites, and just looked better over all. Most areas of Bloodlines looked horrible. IV was also a first generation SNES title, bloodlines came out quite late in the genesis lifespan, and should have looked a lot better than it did. I've done comparisons with these two games before, every time a thread like this comes up, I don't need to do it for a 5th time.

[SpoDaddy]

Castlevania Bloodlines:



Castlevania IV:



I still don't see how Bloodlines looks worse; neither game looks especially great but Bloodlines had better art direction IMO (I always loved the reflections in the water).

[Yoshi]

At least Bloodlines has, well, blood. That seems to make sense in a vampire game.

[MechDeus]

I really think the Bloodlines hate stems from nostalgia over Castlevania 4's music and scaling effects. I'm guessing most people saw a couple screenshots and skipped the game entirely.

No, when I first played it (years after the fact, mind you) the only remarkable thing that struck me was seeing the origins of some of SOTN's sprite rips. I didn't much like the feel of the game, but I also thought IV was too slow for its own good (and I didn't play that one until years later as well).

I had a hard time getting into any Castlevania games pre-SOTN, I guess I'm just more of a Contra/Gunstar/Ninja Gaiden kind of guy.

[edit] Er, not any Castlevania game, I recall Rondo being fun and I liked X68000. Why those fared better for me compared to, say, Castlevania III I have no idea.

[gamevet]

Action is broad category that includes multiple genres (platformers, beat 'em ups, shooters, FPS). I know this thread is referring to a certain type of action game but technically it wasn't specified.

I'd consider Herzog Zwei an action RTS. If this game could be included on the list, I'd put it at the top.

[NeoZeedeater]

Bloodlines looks smoother and has better colors (stage 2's water in particular looks great), IV just looks like a mess. Obviously, there's going to be parts in one that look better than parts in the other, but overall, and especially when considering each system's capabilities, IV looks like shit. Try playing them side-by-side rather than basing your opinions off of selective, nostalgic memories.

Playing them again side-by-side didn't change my opinions much of the graphics but it made me realize I was too harsh on Bloodlines' gameplay. The control, speed, and feel are really well done. It's not often that I like a 16-bit game more than I did back in the day but I admit I underestimated Bloodlines.

[Frogacuda]

Castlevania Bloodlines:



Castlevania IV:



I still don't see how Bloodlines looks worse; neither game looks especially great but Bloodlines had better art direction IMO (I always loved the reflections in the water).

Bloodlines characters are tiny and its palette is awful. The character design is campy too. But also, it's important to remember that Bloodlines came out a good 3 or 4 years after CV4. CV4 is very rough looking too, but it was probably the first 16 bit game many of them had worked on. Bloodlines has no excuse.

Also that reflection effect is kind of terrible. It only reflects certain thing, and somehow doesn't reflect the sun. It just looks bizarre.

[sedition]

LAST BATTLE!

if you were one of the few who suffered through the countless hells and endless swarms of lame enemies to see the credits roll as you drove away on your horse with the multiple levels of parallax rolling by in the background, then you know what i'm talking about.

[Yoshi]

Also that reflection effect is kind of terrible. It only reflects certain thing, and somehow doesn't reflect the sun. It just looks bizarre.

The sun is reflected in that picture.

[Dyne]

The sun is reflected in that picture.

i didn't notice it at first but when you said it was, i looked REALLY hard......and sure enough it's smushed in with the mountain sprite.