Dracula X on Sega Saturn - The Flawed Masterpiece
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ค. 2018
- In 1998, Konami dropped a port of Castlevania Symphony of the Night in Japan. There it was called Dracula X Nocturne in the Moonlight, and to everyone's disappointment, it was not the quality it should have been. Does that mean the game is without any merit at all? I go over my feelings on the matter, and share whether or not you should have it in your collection.
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There have been a number of viewers inquiring about why I didn't mention Maria specifically in this video. I was never a fan of Maria's gameplay in the Saturn version here, so it wasn't a factor in how I felt. I always thought her(and Richter for that matter) were over powered additions that added little to the experience. The game was easy enough with Alucard, with them it was nearly pedestrian. After seeing a number of the comments, I see many felt quite differently, and in hindsight I definitely should have mentioned her and showed at least a few seconds of her gameplay. I'll definitely try and consider these things in future episodes and be more thorough. Thanks for watching!
Sega Lord X how the fuck you dont have more subs is shocking to me.
Your content is great.
I had an idea. I know it's prolly been done before but what about a personalized version of a GameCube vs ps2 with specs and with your own fav games and why that was possible on x console and not y console. Doesn't have to be those two consoles...
I know you don't mind getting technical and neither does your audience... it the best part of your breakdowns so far for me.
I think it might have more wider appeal and get peeps to your channel rather than just the rather (excellent btw) niche content.
Just an idea. Keep em coming either way. Good luck.
Sega Lord X you don't like her in this version she's at least good in the psp version. It's redemption !
@@LouiesVarietyHour she suck on psp nerfed weaker less moves less animations and slower
Sega Lord X - I haven’t read any comment other then yours, right here and I say you are 100% DEAD RIGHT!! I’m crazy for All the Castlevania 2D games and part of the reason I love them are because they are typically hard as shit!! Games today hold your hand far too much so I guess maybe the younger generation where “everyone gets a trophy” probably would love the easy characters. But you can watch someone play on twitch if you don’t want a challenge!! If you want to PLAY a game, then PLAY it damnit!! 😁
I got SOTN in 1998 for the original PS and loved it. I played it every day. Got 200% and then heard about the glitches to get out of the castle, skip Death at the beginning, the unfinished level under the gate, the Heart Refresh glitches and all that extra stuff. I still play it on my Xbox One to this day. My kidd are amazed that I remember where all the items, hidden rooms and glitches are.
Sadly this was handled by Konami's "C" team. Still playable but it just didn't take advantage of the Saturn at all.
Their team at Nagoya(who developed this port) also developed Castlevania Legends for the GameBoy. Huh...
Yeah... the infamous "C"onami
The game couldn't have been much better on the Saturn, you can't ask them to make the Saturn do what the PS1 can do but the Saturn can't, like sprite transparencies... the Saturn version is great anyway, just technically a bit inferior, not such a big deal... everybody talks like the Saturn version is a turd, no, it's not, it's just a slighlty inferior version of a masterpiece, but it's still a masterpiece.
@@Debiruman1666 The Saturn was supposed to be a 2d power house. Look at street fighter alpha on Saturn vs ps1 no comparison.
@@Debiruman1666 but it could’ve been better than the ps1 version. Specially the animations and frame rate.
i like how the first area has a different theme depending on the character.
I only watched this video to finally see some high quality video footage of Maria as a playable character and Richters updated sprites and neither were shown or even mentioned.
I just want to let you know that I appreciate and enjoy your channel 🤗, even though I'm more a PSX fan- I can see ur enthusiasm w/Sega and in turn u make me enjoy watching ur video (sometimes watching the same video more than once)😉
Imagine if they made the port/update for Dreamcast instead of Saturn.
@iVirtualPlays agreed the japanese controller is one of the best 2D controller ever made
Even street fighter Alpha 3 looked better in Saturn than on dreamcast
Nah, they just needed to fine tune it more for the Saturn. It came out in 1998, and the last Saturn game in Japan actually came out after the last Dreamcast game IIRC. Saturn still had a couple years life in it. Japanese gamers didn't flock to the Dreamcast; they were waiting for the PlayStation 2. Saturn had a large install base on the Saturn in Japan, so Konami should have just perfected Castlevania: SOTN and released it in 1999.
@@drunkensailor112 Street Fighter *Zero.
@@geniedumal2974 *Dracula X NITM.
Congrats on reaching 1k! I always wanted to play this version of SOTN, but I usually just play the PSP or XBLA version.
Thank you. :) Yeah, they are far cheaper options, so I don't blame you at all.
So do i.
You’re back! I hope this means that you’ve been doing well. Glad to see content back on your channel, and I have resubscribed! Just take your time and don’t try to do too much too soon. Your content is worth the wait. Glad to see you back man... i’ve done quite a bit of Sega collecting since you’ve been away!
I'm good and hanging in there. Thanks for the support. :)
"Shit port on a budget price" 😂
When it comes to the game play smoothness the PSX version is clearly the best of the two versions, but even with its flaws the Saturn version is in my opinion far superior when it comes to all the extras. This is my favorite version of the game even tho it's laggy at times, that effects were cheapened down , because all the extra stuff withing the games are more than enough to compensate for this flawed masterpiece.
Also this isn't just a simple port of the game.... actually the team had to reprogram a bunch of stuff in order to make it run on the Saturn because of it's unique ways to run games which is also why they never bothered porting the Saturn version to other consoles. Technically this isn't a port... too many things were changed it this game to be called a port. Without being a brand new game this is definitely a new enhanced version of a port, which makes it unique.
Like I said, the effects and the gameplay smoothness is way way way better on the PSX version as well as the effects, however the Saturn version is definitely the best version of both considering every bonus it got, like the two new castle areas, the new items, the new enemies, the Maria gameplay, the alternate Richter costume and the extra music is has to offer compared to the PSX version.
Final words....
Castlevania Symphony of the Night is my favorite game of all time and a undeniable masterpiece.
Yes
This is awesome! Great choice for a video. If you decided to do more of these, I would definitely enjoy them.
I remember back in the day, when this port arrived at the local import shop where I used to go. My friend was really interested since he had a Saturn so he immediately asked to look at it. When we both saw the KCEN Nagoya logo we immediately said "oh" in disappointment. Too bad it wasn't handled by the Tokyo group which was their top development at the time. He still picked it up because it was Dracula X port.
Great video as always my brother and I both love your channel. This is the first of your videos we have seen in a couple of months though since in it's infinite wisdom Moronic TH-cam unsubscribed us both! We are both back though and glad to see you still hard at work.
Thanks, Brian. Actually, I had closed the channel down for awhile. I only recently returned.
Man I am soooo glad I found your channel again. For some reason TH-cam deleted me from your channel.
I left for awhile. Some personal health stuff I needed to sort. Glad you found your way back. :)
Sega Lord X well I hope everything is ok with you and glad you came back as well
Saw the video a couple times on my recommended list. Just now I actually noticed, that it was you and you're back! Fantastic! Subbed again, I'm glad you are back and got your problem solved.
Thank you. Welcome back. :)
Love this game and never had the chance to play it on a Saturn. Never owned one :( I need to get one! Always wondered how this version was. Great upload and you deserve more subscribers dude. Love you're videos and subbed yesterday!
Thanks Raymond. If you want a Saturn, loose systems on Ebay aren't too expensive. Start with some cheap, import friendly Japanese games.
Sega Lord X Thanks for the info. I have a shop near me but they are charging quite a bit for them. Definitely gonna start as you said. How do they run o HD tv
There are a few ways to get it looking decent on an HDTV. There are component cables available, or you could get a SCART to HDMI upscaler for cheap. The latter introduces some lag, but it's tolerable with most games.
This game is so expensive I'd have to say just emulate. Imo it has the best/funnest version of Maria. Later on you get godspeed boots for Alucard (lets you run really fast like in the intro). You could also get the Alucard spear (Eric Lacarde uses this in Bloodlines), and the rainbow cloak (changes colors periodically). There's a few seconds of loading between every single room though. Oh and Richter has an alternate costume... And you have a third hand for potions (weird I know but convenient).
This game on PS is probably my favorite game of all time, the soundtrack and ambience is just so epic! I didnt even realize this made it to Saturn, and I had both systems for years...
Great video. I'm getting a Saturn again soon because I dont think we're gonna get mini releases of Saturn, and your channel has helped me fall in love with the console again.
Did you buy one?
@@sillkthashocker Not the Saturn version, not yet. My buddy has a copy I'm trying to get him to sell me... I'm playing my PS copy for the time being.
@@LukeDodge916 👍
Glad to see you back, was wondering what happened. Also very sad that you are not wearing the sega cap!
I still have it! I'll get back around to it. ;)
That's a great piece of history you documented there, thanks!
Finally got around to picking up this version earlier in the year and I was not disappointed. Sure, it may not be perfect, but I love the extra items and areas, the enhanced Wing Smash, and the third hand for equipping items. It's also cool that the Duplicator is available as soon as you find the Librarian, although the price for it is still ridiculous. Playing through as Maria right now which is a lot of fun.
it is the best version of the game
Welcome back to TH-cam, you're looking healthy man.
Trying to keep it that way. Thanks. :)
The long loading times were more of an issue than the slowdown was. One additional feature everyone seems to forget the Saturn version has is the internal clock.
I remember after months of play this game, I kept questioning myself what's the unexplorable side after defeating Richter. took me probably 2 months after playing it over and over and exploring how to get to the catacombs. After getting into the catacombs, passing the spikes really had me going and then I finally figured it out. I even got the armor to get past the spikes on the chapel to meet maria. after months of playing I still can't get past richter unexplored map so I gave up I even had a countless dream about it... I thought richter was the ending. After that, I decided to loot some items... I was doing some experiments then for some reason, I had the two rings worn at the same time at the clock tower and then I entered the clock room and it began rotating like crazy and I was like having a goosebumps and made me excited in this game again... I met maria, wore the glass, went to richter and defeated the dark priest and the teleported to the inverted castle. The revelation and a year of wondering of the unexplored of draculas room has finally discovered. This game really had me wondering and excited with those hidden rooms and alternative ending. It was the best game I've ever played back in the day.
As fan and previous Saturn owner, I enjoyed this port a lot!
Even though the language barrier was there and suffered the technical issues you mentioned,the added stuff outweighs the bad.
Plus,that special Richter sprite was tops! No other version has it( including Dracula X Chronicles)
Nice vid,man.
Where there's transparencies, it's being rendered on VDP2. Where there's dithering, it's being rendered on VDP1.
Wow, has been a while since i was suscribed to the old channel. Welcome back sir :)
Thank you. Appreciate the message. :)
@@SegaLordX I’m curious why you dissapeared for awhile if you don’t mind me asking?
I grow up being a true Sega fan boy so I never really played this series. So I believe I will start with the one on the Snes classic and then go to Sega Genesis Bloodlines.
Both awesome games. Good place to start.
Love this channel and your enthusiasm for video games.
I have the game but never played it. It’s been sitting in storage for around 12 months along with the rest of the collection as we’re building a new home. Just watching your gameplay, I’ve gotta say that it looks awesome and I can’t wait to play it.
I played this game solely for the added content and the option to play as maria , which are good enough to convince me to buy the game again on the Saturn.
I never cared much for Maria, myself. After you learn her magic, she is even more OP than Richter. Kinda took the fun away. The magic was cool, though.
Originally, she has a power to summon animals. However, in the beginning of this game, she uses her power to help Richter, which caused her to lose her powers. although she's quite OP in the Saturn version but got balance in the PSP version. SotN took place four years after the events of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
I really enjoy your “sega” intro😎👍🏻
Very nice video. It comes when I'm replaying all Castlevania games, starting from Vampire Killer in the MSX2, a game I could never finish when I was a kid 30 years ago, and not I'm at Castlevania III on the NES.
I have played SOTN on the PSX when it came out, on the 360 when it came out on xbox live, and last year on the PS Vita. It's still an amazing game.
But I never got to play it on the Saturn (and I have one of those).
Nice video! Title kinda made me think this was a Rondo of Blood port I never heard of (since it's also part of the Dracula X arc as the first part of the Japanese name states and the SNES US release uses that as the name).
For the Sega Dreamcast, Konami didn't make a single game for it, except one Castlevania game that was cancelled-Castlevania Resurrection. It was meant to recreate the first game with the core of it being met with many more enemies and new, longer stages. It was a huge game that made anyone who love the franchise want to play so darn bad, but it wasn't turned out swell because Konami didn't trust the system while the PS2 was instantly launched in 1999. That was absurd since the Dreamcast was released in 1998, a year my brother was born and before the western debut of the Pokemon anime. I love the franchise ever since I played the portable games on my mobile phone and they were Action RPGs or to Platformers while I read the manga TokyoPop licensed in English after the PS2 games, such as Curse of Darkness. I even was thinking about playing those PS2 games on PCSX2, but I suddenly realized my laptop may not handle games with a lot of slowdown and transparency issues, especially on the 3D games. So, I must wait for my new gaming laptop so that I can work, research, and play without any snot stooping me down.
Great video segalord! I've always been curious about this port. What do you think the best way to play Dracula X today? On the Ps1 or perhaps the xbox 360?
Easiest is one of the handhelds like PSP or Vita. The best way is the Xbox 360/XB1 version.
It's clear that konami wanted this to be the definitive version. They added more areas, more equipable gear, more powers and a 3rd playable character as well as more music. The Saturn port should have looked as good as the PlayStation version if not better. Adding higher resolution and putting it on a system that just does 2D games better than the PlayStation. Everything points to the reality is that this should have been amazing.
Might have to pick this one up on my PSP or Vita. Looks like a unique experience all around!
The Plastation is a polygon based console where as the Saturn is a sprite based console. If a game has been coded in a particular way, such as transparencies for example, those things can be affected simply by how the hardware deals with these tasks. GameHut has some excellent videos on how this makes the consoles so incredibly different and how things that look simple might have been more of a challenge in the port to the Saturn console.
Actually in the hands of the right developer the Saturn can push ALOT more polygons than playstation. I think its like 500,000 playstation vs 800,000 saturn per second.
I'm interested to know when you first got it back in the day did it continually annoy you during your playrhrough or did you quickly forget its flaws while playing? Awesome vid as always.
I quickly got use to the slowdown. It was a non issue a few hours in. The lingering annoyance was the load times to get in and out of the map screen. It's ever present and really gets on your nerves.
Tip top review yet again. I have this for Saturn, but have not played it yet.
Thanks. Definitely give it a go. You'll encounter its short comings pretty fast, but the core game and additional content definitely make it worth playing.
No love for Maria? :(
Not once was she mentioned in this video.
It would seem the game was kinda tailor made for her.
The system is less laggy when you play as her.
Maria was heavily op'ed and not much fun to use if you were looking for any kind of challenge, she was basically the easy mode character, lol not saying she wasn't fun to play as but like in Rondo of Blood she got boring quickly because of her being so op'ed.
@@fluttershystayshigh4202 That's because she wasn't made for you. She was made for kids and newcomers to the series.
Genie du Mal fuck you
The system is less laggy when you play Maria because she has less special effects on her...
That slowdown and dithering hurts my soul.
Wouldn't it be nice if in another 3 years as a celebration for Castlevania's 35th year anniversary, we get "Collector's Edition" of older Castlevania games remade in HD, along with a translated version of the original Japanese game that included all of the game's original content that was removed in the USA's release?
That's the dream, brother. That's the dream. :)
...And then you remember what KONAMI is today, and you just realise it ain't gonna happen...
Personally I would disagree. How can you graphically enhance perfection?
If they had inticreates do some remakes using pixel art and just updating the games to widescreen and/or remaking 1 and 3 with updated pixel art I would love it, but a 2.5d remake would suck.
Jaymunnie in the form of pachinko machines or an android app?
what track is that music at the end of this video ? :)
love this review thanks man, please do Deep Fear next :D its soooo underrated and has the OST by the Ghost In the Shell composer :D
I'll definitely get to it. I liked Deep Fear quite a bit. I did cover it briefly in my horror games episode.
@@SegaLordX I'm going through your entire backlog of videos hahaha
I stumbled upon you channel not too long ago and every episode is a banger!
Wow! Great video man.Instantly subscribed.
Thank you. Appreciate the feedback. :)
There are only 2 Castlevania games on Sega consoles but Bloodlines is my personal favorite game in the franchise. Also, Master of Darkness for the SMS is a must own.
Bloodlines is my favorite Genesis game. I adored the design and gameplay.
Sega Lord X It’s a tough call with the Shinobi, Shining Force, and Phantasy Star franchises being on there. Plus stuff like Rocket Knight, Streets of Rage, etc. but I agree that Bloodlines bests them all. It also bests Super Castlevania IV which I am also a big fan of. SC IV is just too drab and samey compared to Bloodlines vibrance and variations.
Bloodlines is a great game, don't even pretend it added anything new to the table. It's like every other Castlevania game out there. At least in Super Castlevania you could whip in 8 directions and it has some of the best controls I have seen in a Castlevania game.
Shawn Macdonald I would argue that the ability to use the spear, rather than a whip, changed the feel of the game immensely. The spear is my preferred weapon as most of the time I play using Eric Lecarde so, to me, it’s a huge deal. It also allows for diagonal attacking. I also prefer Castlevania 1 and 3 over 4 so maybe “being just like every other Castlevania out there” is more of a compliment than a detriment..
Brandonsaurus64 I'm gonna disagree with you on that. Sc4 had the snes mode 7 involved. It was actually a perfect castlevenia other than symphony of the night. Last of the 2d side scrollers. Which symphony was not. That was an exploritory 2d game. Like metroid.
This is the only version I ever played using scart on a PVM monitor. The eye candy is insanity. I loved this game on saturn regardless and Maria is my favorite because I love girl characters period. I don't have extra time to play to perfection so her being easier is a plus for me.
Im running on a pvm too and looks amazing :3
great review and commentary. Symphony of the night is a masterpiece in any platform. they really put love into the making of it.
I agree, the core game is excellent.
great video and that batman music at the end was awesome.
I had absolutely no problems with the saturn graphics or slowdowns. What ruined the experience for me was the long waiting time to make the map appear in the menus.
Then what about the non skippable super long death scene... It's unbearable for such a long game where you're sure to die very often and where you need to look constantly at the map...
I gotta admit, it was truly irritating getting in and out of the map screen. I stopped using it in the end.
My TV didn't like it at all, I remember I had to sometimes switch it on and off because it didn't catch the change of resolution.
You are not supposed to die often in SOTN, as it is super easy compared to other games in series.
@@noop9k I'm not sure that you're not suppose to die often, but it is pretty hard to die
I recently got me a Saturn (finally!), and had the chance to pick up a copy of SotN, even though I’m not a Castlevania fan, but I really felt I had to have this game for the Saturn, even with the flaws is still a masterpiece 😊
I had pre-ordered it also, someday I'd like to own all the Castlevania games so I'm glad I don't have to pay however much this costs today! One of my pals started up a file on mine as he had the PS version and wanted to check out the new parts of the game.
Yep, time to subscribe. I saw this video on the side pain and literally said "Damn, I'd love to hear his take on this game" Yep, time to subscribe.
i love some of your color schemes on the Joseph's Cloak. ;)
for anyone wanting a solid copy of the game i recommend Reqium, its on ps4, XB1, and Switch, its also the best version of the game i've played with much better redone voice acting and includes most of the extra content not found in the original ps1 version.
That Astal "Sega" intro. Fucking Majestic
Great timing with the video. I literally just finished with my playthrough of SOTN last night. It was my first time with the Sega Saturn version and it's fantastic.
Slowdown does affect certain bits, but strangely never in places where it matters. The main area where I found it to be noticeable is the high tower that links to the library.... but that area doesn't really have much in the way of enemies, so it wasn't an issue.
For me, this is the best version of the game. Whilst the XBLA version runs perfectly, the additions to the SS version more than makes up for the occasional slowdown (slowdown that IMO never negatively affects the action). The extra areas, items, bosses, playable characters , etc make this feel like the most complete version of the game.
It is a shame that it was tainted from being a 'lazy' port, but it was understandable. SOTN is a huge game, and for a dying console it just makes sense that Konami wouldn't rebuild the game using 2D sprites just for the Saturn. As you all probably know, the PS version used 3D models with sprites mapped onto them to make it perform better.... which proved to be difficult for the Saturn to handle.
For me, it was definitely worth the 80/90 euros I paid for it. I spent a long time playing through the game and I know I will spend many more hours with the game in the future.
Yeah, this engine would have needed to be rebuilt for it to shine on Saturn. It just wasn't in the cards.
I totally agree with you and dont forget that SS vers. has a fourth button to use items, in the playstation you have to pause unquip shield, equip food, use food then again you have to go equip shield. Way better gameplay in saturn ^^
I like the Saturn version more honestly I can look past some slowdown for so much extra like weapons, areas, moves, colors, backgrounds, and sound.
I stay with the PS1 version all the day.
It’s really not that bad. The haters have been bawling over the past 20 years, but the game’s flaws such as the slowdown and loading times are manageable. Yes, the PSX version is the better one, so good for Sony fans. Saturn usually had the better version of 2D games, so this is a rare instance of the tables being turned. In the grand scheme of things, the differences are fairly minor.
As for the transparency effects, just use RF or Composite and you’ll be fine.Remember that was how the programmers intended these videogames to be seen. This is an issue with modern HD displays and modern gamers who are used to massively super-powered consoles. Heaven help them if they have to play Commodore 64 for a month.
Again, Castlevania fans have PSX, PSP and Xbox versions available if these issues prove too much to handle. But if you’re a Saturn fan or want to play the exclusive content, this Castlevania is great fun.
I'll be keeping an eye out for this. I am still trying to get into the Castlevania series. Being a Sega fanboy for ages I just never was exposed to the franchise.
Yeah, I think many Sega fans missed playing a number of Castlevania games, especially in Europe. This game here is easy to get into, so it's a good one to start with.
Castlevania bloodlines?
The only thing i miss here, is the mention of Maria Renard. The Original on PSX did let you play as Alucard, per Password Richter and as Axe Armor.
But ... the Sega Saturn version added to that. Firstly by having a *Real* Choice when you Start a New game between Alucard, Richter and Maria Renard.
Yes you can also play as Maria Renard on the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles for PSP Version, but ... she plays Different then in the Saturn Version.
Otherwise Great Video!
I owned this Game back in the day, and i still own the Soundtrack CD from Japan for it ;p Never going to let that one go ...
I still weep when I think of the cancelled Castlevania Resurrection.
Despite it's flaws - this game still looks amazing!
It's the price that puts me off however.
Might look into purchasing a repro disc of it for my Saturn.
Great review! 🖒
I want to buy it
Just to play as Maria
Didn't notice the slowdown as much as the missing graphics which are an eyesore in some areas. Glad the longer load times were not in my head, I thought that was me being used to new consoles. I lucked out and got it for around $20 a few years ago right before the price sky rocketed. Due to Maria and other added content I still believe it was worth the $20 I payed at my local retro store, even though I still prefer the PSX version better, which I unfortunately loss in a move, but unlocked in the PSP version of Dracula X.
Flawed is an understatement, the port is absolutely butchered with slowdowns, stretched sprites, weird aspect ratio and many other technical issues. play the game on PlayStation or Xbox instead.
It still looks great to me. Had the PSX version back in the day but didn't have it for the Saturn.. have to try this on an emulator.
Got it! Love this game! Did you check the art files?
Have you considered looking at the 4mb patch sometime?
This game is in my top 3 of all times. I have it physically on PS1 and digitally on xbox 360. I admit, I sure would love to play those extra stages on my Saturn!!
Awesome video as always SLX!
I would love a copy but damn that price! I will stick with a back up copy for now...
@Sega Lord X Have a question I’m kinda up in the air right now for Dracula x on the Saturn port or the PS1 port is the Saturn port more harder to play since it’s in Japanese titles in order for you to understand the game or PS1 since it has English titles and easier to understand or doesn’t matter and still playable on Saturn? 🪐
if you've never played the game before or aren't super familiar with it, you'll want the Playstation version. It is indeed more enjoyable if your fully understand the story and the items within it.
Sega Lord X awesome thanks a lot for the recommendation 👍
No getting around the lack of transparencies, but this game actually runs really well using the Mednafen core in Retroarch. There is no slowdown and it's locked at 60fps
The Saturn's hardware background layers have no problem with transparency effects. You can see this in that part of your video where you point out where some transparency effects work (the fog/cloud in the background) and the giant skull sprite is just a faked-up transparency mesh effect.
The Saturn's sprite layer cannot conform along with background transparencies, which is why the giant skull (and Alucard's mist form among others) are a mesh. This is also why the dialog boxes are mesh as well, because they're supposed to be set above the sprite layer as in the PS1 version. However, sprites cannot be rendered behind a transparency, so KCET went with the mesh workaround.
Also, the Saturn cannot natively render the 256 x 224 resolution SotN originally ran with on the PS1. So, KCET did the laziest thing possible, and simply (using a software method) STRETCHED the playfield to fit a horizontal resolution of 320, and it looks atrocious. This is far worse than the lost transparencies and the slowdown, if you ask me.
Finally, the Saturn's reputation as being a "2D monster" is largely undeserved. By the time the 32-bit platforms debuted, rendering planar sprite and tile-based graphics became a trivial matter for these systems. The Playstation 1 could easily keep up with the Saturn in the 2D department, except when it came to games required a RAM upgrade which the PS1 lacked the ability to do. The background/sprite hardware Sega added to the Saturn was added later in the system's development to augment the 3D hardware the system was originally built around (it freed up a lot of CPU to have a raster FX floor in, say, Virtua Fighter than it did rendering it with polys or straight off the CPU alone) and not the other way around, like how most Saturn fans believe. I mean, come on -- Sega was the one who started the 3D polygon revolution in arcades with Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racer and Wing War. Why on earth would they then decide to craft a "2D powerhouse" for their next-gen system? Ridiculous.
A few things. The Saturn could indeed overlay VDP2 transparencies over sprites, as seen in numerous Saturn 2D shooters, and the entire waterfall area in Keio Flying Squadron 2. I think you mean that VDP2 can't overlay a transparency on the VDP1's half-transparency feature. One overrides the other. VDP1's half-transparency will also crush anything else it's rendering behind it.
The problem with Dracula X here isn't VDP2, it's the fact that VDP1 is drawing most of the screen. In much of the game, VDP1 is drawing both sprites and backgrounds, essentially doing it the way the PS1 does it. This doesn't take advantage of the Saturn at all, as Saturn was meant to have dedicated sprite and background layers in a 2D game. VDP1 couldn't use it's half-transparency ability anywhere doing this, as it would have crushed most of the backgrounds in the game. For this game to have shined on the Saturn hardware, it would have needed to be redone from the ground up.
As for the Saturn was no more powerful than the PS1 statement: The PS1 was designed to move around about 4000 sprites when rendering 2D graphics. Saturn's VDP1 could render out 16K sprites with not a single hit to framerate. Dragon Force has armies of 100vs100 on screen, with transparencies and other special effects. It is true that the 32-bit machines chewed 2D graphics up and spat them out, but Saturn had advantages other than its memory.
Last thing: Saturn was designed to be both a 2D and 3D powerhouse. The problem was that the internals were virtually done in mid 1993. Saturn was designed to blow the Jaguar and 3DO out of the water, and Sega was confidant that it would do that. Then of course Sony smacked them across the face with the PS1 hardware, forcing them to drop VDP2 into the machine last minute. It didn't make up the difference between the machines 3D abilities, leaving just the 2D powerhouse part of the original intent. Saturn fans latched onto the mantra because there wasn't much else to have pride in other than the games themselves. Which unfortunately, most of the world didn't care about either.
The Saturn was _never_ intended to be a "2D Powerhouse". This is a canard contrived by its fans (me being one of them) to assuage the fact that their system ultimately failed in the market. The VDP1, as you state correctly here, was beside itself in the original design. The VDP1 is also the system's 3D video chipset. This should tell you that the Saturn was, from the very beginning, intended as a way to deliver their AM1/AM2 3D arcade games to a home console. The VDP2, which entirely raster-based, was (again as you state here) added late in its design. The reason for this is the VDP2 allowed Sega to cheaply and quickly augment raster and raycasting effects which they immediately put to good use in their Virtua Fighter series and the like. It was not implemented with Mega Man or Astal or anything like that in mind. That it worked out for 2D games was a bonus, and not the intent.
If the Saturn never received the addition of the VDP2, it would have done just as fine handling ports of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and even Dracula X if done competently. Efficiently implementing a software-based background layer and sprite system is _trivial_ on a typical 90's 32-bit architecture. Hell, look at the 32x. It had the same two CPUs as the Saturn, albeit running at 80% of its speed, and it had 256k of video memory to work with. And that's it. Any 3D or 2D work had to be handled with software. Virtua Fighter for the 32x was rendered entirely by software. Same for Knuckles Chaotix.
The Saturn also doesn't receive the credit it deserves when it comes to its actual processing abilities, either, especially when it came to 3D. Here's a fine example:
th-cam.com/video/WDJgeuoaSvQ/w-d-xo.html
Environment-mapped textures on the Saturn handled in its software. It takes a hell of a lot more of out of an architecture to render something like this than it ever would to implement a few background planes and a bunch of quickly-blitted sprites. This is just another example of why the Saturn's 2D abilities are grossly overstated (and its 3D capabilities understated.)
I agree with everything you have said here aside from the 2D powerhouse thing again. Your assertion of VDP1 being the 3D renderer is of course true, but you need to consider what else it was designed for. The PS1's 2D sprite capability was directly limited by its fill rate. Sega designed this not to be the case with VDP1, which can draw sprites on top one another near infinitely with no performance hit. I again use Dragon Force 1 and 2 as examples, as there is nothing on the PS1 or N64 even remotely similar in scope or volume of sprite activity. Nor could there have been. That's the definition of 2D power for me.
Is it?
Let's assume that the PS1 maxes out its stock sprite capabilities (admittedly, I know less about the PS1's capabilities than I do the Saturn's. But please bear with me here.) What's to stop the developer from then shifting the remainder of this load over to the polygon-rendering side of the VDP? If you treated each polygon as a tiled sprite, you eliminate the z-axis calculation entirely freeing up more CPU time for even more sprites. In the purest technical sense, no, this polygon pretending to be a regular tiled sprite isn't a hardware sprite, but to the player, this isn't going to matter in the least. And how many textured polygons can the PS1 handle at once? It's thousands, isn't it?
This is a purely academic argument at this point because no game is ever going to come close the ridiculous number of sprites the Saturn and the PS1 can field at once. There's only one traditional 2D game that I know of which was released on both systems where the Saturn arguably had the edge and that was one of the Mega Man releases (8 I believe.) In one of the levels, one of the independent background layers on the Saturn had a sine wave shift effect (to simulate heat in the traditional fire-based boss robot stage) which the existence of the VDP2 hardware made trivial. I've managed to implement this very same effect in the PC-Engine demos I've created, it's rather simple given the nature of a hardware raster layer system, even on an 8-bit Famicom. The Playstation version lacked this effect, likely because the of the nature of its video chipset (using an offscreen buffer) made this impractical. And that's it.
This is a old video but I must say you have to be the biggest video game fan I’ve ever seen. You were ordering games from Japan in your teens??? That’s insane
The Saturn hardware doesn't support all of the blending modes that the PS1 does which is why many of the transparency effects are missing. Dithering seems to have been used for any effect that requires multiple transparent sprites to overlap each other.
maybe because i had the 4gb backup cartridge but i don't remember this much slowdown. still a classic game
This game did not use the 4MB RAM Cartridge originally. There is a fan made patch that uses it it, but that's to reduce load times and does not affect the amount of slowdown.
There were two cancelled Castlevania games for Sega consoles, Resurrection for the Dreamcast and Bloodletting for the 32X.
Now this is where ReviewTechUSA mentioned having this game in mint-perfect condition before he regretted selling a game off for another.
ur videos about the saturn are amazing ,,plz contine cheers
Thank you, I plan to. :)
"bought it from my regular importer." I love that so much. eBay wasn't much of a thing back then and I remember having to go to independent stores to purchase imports.
Back then you needed a regular place or guy to help you out. I lived in central VA and we didn't have anything close to an import shop. Everything was mail order then.
We were lucky to have a couple of independent game stores when I was younger. Unfortunately they all closed down in the early 00's. We even had a store in a mall called "Import Paradise." All of the games were imports and you could even place an order.
God, I would have killed for that. Best I had "local" was a import store 4 hours away, and their stock was quite weak and expensive. I damn near fainted when I saw import Saturn games at EB Games when they got them. But that didn't last very long.
I think the only import I ever saw at EB Games was Shenmue 2, the Japanese version. Great video by the way! The Saturn is a console I missed out on unfortunately since it wasn't popular among my family and friends. Glad to hear you're back!
This is completely unrelated but this video made me remember that Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen was supposed to come out on Sega Saturn before it was cancelled. I wonder how that game would of turned out on the Saturn...
The Wicked Garden and The Prison would be worth the buy. Including the playable Maria. but no one has shown the upside down castle version of each of these spaces.
Does anyone know if running the game from an SD-card (Rhea/Phoebe) helps the performance of the port in any way?
With some of the load times perhaps.
Not sure what Konami were thinking with this rush job. Also I love the fact you keep your Saturn collection so Japanese orientated you even have the Japan version of Doom. Ha, ha!
SOTN looks just fine on Yaba Sanshiro with anti-aliasing fixing the texture problems.
I recently picked up SotN on Google Play. It really is a fantastic port. The touch controls imo are awful, but the controller support makes up for it. Plus you get to play as Maria which is a huge bonus. I've beaten it of course lol. I'm now going back and forth between my Richter and Maria playthroughs at the moment.
on Google Play?????? It's for PC??????? wow i gotta find that
you're probably the only reviewer to not mention the main reason to get the saturn port of SOTN, that epically amazing maria mode! and you can even use it from the start!
I didn't really want this to come off as a review, but more of my personal experience with the game and whether I felt the it was worth owning. The Maria character never did anything for me, so it wasn't a factor in my opinion. I definitely could have at least mentioned it, though, I agree.
The problem with transparency is because the Saturn didn't support alpha channel (per pixel) transparency only simple (per sprite) transparency and they seemed to have just shrugged and replaced the alpha channel effects with dithering when porting the engine. Everything that used per polygon transparency on the PS1 version is using per sprite transparency in the Saturn version while everything that used alpha channel transparency on the PS1 uses dithering on the Saturn version. What it comes down to is that the engine was designed for the PS1 hardware and they didn't bother rewriting it for the Saturn hardware opting to just kludge around the things that couldn't be directly converted over. This dithering appears to not be a static part of the graphics asset but generated by the engine on the fly, for example notice the clouds flying by that are only dithered where they cross over the moon. They could certainly have done a better job if they had rewritten the engine for the Saturn but the alpha blending effects were never going to be as good on the Saturn owing to lack of hardware support for that (though certainly they could have done better than dithering)
Forgot to mention that Richter is playable from the get go, as well as the option to play as Maria.
There are some noteworthy items, but I'd say the selling points are the godspeed boots and playing as maria (my favorite version)
The load times when you open the map are a pain. Other than that i had alot of fun with it. I love using the saturn controller.
I didn't play this one til emulation a few years ago, i finally had a pc that could do saturn games decently so I tracked it down... obviously its rough around the edges in some spots, but i think at its core it plays just fine. the new addition of maria is kinda fun, if you can figure out her special moves it does make some of the game significantly easier.
Dope video and sick SLX shirt.
Link is in the description if you want one! ;)
I haven’t played the Saturn version yet but there was no explanation about what these technical flaws are? I hear it has slowdown but it looked great in the footage.
Slowdown is really bad, pay the fee hundred bucks and discover for yourself. Thankfully I scored it for $90 when I did. I'll likely never play it agian, PS is the real game, real version. Saturn is a bothced port.
This game is basically one of the two reasons I bought a Sega Saturn tbh
Being a huge Castlevania fan, specifically for SotN...this was the definitive version for me with the extra content it features.
I had read somewhere though that the Saturn's engine was just a port of the PS1's, which was made entirely with polygons because the PS1 can't do true 2D. Here's a document about porting SoTN on the PS1 to the Saturn, check it out: www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/cv-sotn/documents/nocturne-port.htm
I've seen it before and it makes a few good points. I really hope one of those on the original port team steps out to talk about it some day.
tbh!! konami has some explaining to do lmao
Great video as always!
I don't get why lots of people hate the dithering effects. I mean, is not real transparency but I don't mind it. Developers used that kind of effect on the Genesis and other consoles and nobody complained as far as I know.
I didn't mind so much of the issues of the game. Just happy at the time we got it to begin with. I also feel the gameplay still holds up and with Bloodstain coming soon and the retro curse of the moon, i am more than happy. Still playing SotN today, i am more than satisfied.
It was more of an issue in ports, where you had seen the effect elsewhere as a beautiful transparency, only to run across it looking way worse on Saturn. I think it bothered me more here because the game was primarily gorgeous, and the dithering looked very much out of place.
Wish there was a game that had all the extra content of the Saturn version, but played like sotn.
I couldn't bring myself to buy this. Why didn't they use the 4mb cart.....
Given the circumstances of the port, I doubt it woulda helped much with the slowdown, but it should have helped with the load times and map debacle.
All these older franchises. We need remasters. Some of these games are lost for ever on their respected platforms.