Super Castlevania IV: Slowdown?

[whiskeyvengeance]

Just scored SCVIV off eBay, and I've noticed the game suffers from some pretty noticeable slowdown, especially during boss battles (the stage 3 dragon battle is nearly unplayable). Is there something wrong with my cart or hardware or is it usually like this?

[ShinobiMan]

Nope, you're just experiencing the crippling slow down that plagued early SNES titles... another Konami game, Gradius 3, comes to mind.

If you can get past the slow down, it's one of the greatest Castlevania games.

[Ed Oscuro]

Game really crawls during the Koranot fight and when those whip-split mud men come along. Also the rotating corridor with skeletons flying out of pods - that's a cool scene though.

A SUPER scene, even.

You know, Super R-Type is also infamous for its slowdown.

This all makes me wonder if somebody might not be able to go back and reprogram some of these games to fix 'em. I know the SNES could do better (Super CV IV didn't even have much in the way of transparency effects, but just compare it with Demon's Crest / Blazon).

[kainemaxwell]

Early SNES and it was a launch title: slowdown was expected.

[kupomogli]

Why complain about the slowdown. It's honestly not that much. You'll only notice it on a few boss battles, the mud men that break apart, the part with the multiple ghost coffins, and the rotating part on stage four.

The game will take atleast an hour to one life it and there is probably slowdown in all of one minute of it.

[The 1 2 P]

I noticed slow down too when I beat the game earlier this year. I still hate it though. I mean, it's not a bad game but definitely not one of the best Castlevania's IMO.

[Ed Oscuro]

Why complain about the slowdown. It's honestly not that much. You'll only notice it on a few boss battles, the mud men that break apart, the part with the multiple ghost coffins, and the rotating part on stage four.

The game will take atleast an hour to one life it and there is probably slowdown in all of one minute of it.
I'm inclined to agree with this. The slowdown doesn't cripple the action; there's still a lot of enemies onscreen, and it's still very good-looking.

[skaar]

We were a lot more tolerant of slowdown back then - or at least, accustomed to it.

I like how some of the emus will even emulate the slowdown properly :D

[Sanriostar]

That slowdown is a key part of my brother's strategy
for Tetris Attack. He was disappointed that Pokemon Puzzle League
ran at 100% the entire time.

[chrisbid]

it isnt just early snes games that had slowdown problems

[scooterb23]

Just call it an early experiment in Bullet Time.

Super Castlevania IV is one of my favorite games on the SNES. Very nice choice!

[staxx]

Nope, you're just experiencing the crippling slow down that plagued early SNES titles... another Konami game, Gradius 3, comes to mind.

If you can get past the slow down, it's one of the greatest Castlevania games.

I dunno if the Gradius 3 slowdown was intentional. If it wanted to mimic the arcade then the slowdown was spot on. Gradius 3 arcade had tons of slowdown.

[pseudonym]

The only time I notice the slowdown is in the tunnel room in stage 4. I've accidently died because of the lag once or twice, particularly when the skeletons break through the ceiling and drop down.

[Ed Oscuro]

I dunno if the Gradius 3 slowdown was intentional. If it wanted to mimic the arcade then the slowdown was spot on. Gradius 3 arcade had tons of slowdown.
Yeah, but Gradius 3 SNES seems quite different from arcade, from the videos I've seen.

[kupomogli]

Yeah, but Gradius 3 SNES seems quite different from arcade, from the videos I've seen.

I actually prefer the SNES version over the arcade version and they're almost entirely different btw.

[tomaitheous]

Shelve the copy you bought, find a patched ...ehem.. binary for "fastrom" layout, then transfer it to your tototek cart. And play with less slowdown?

[kainemaxwell]

Consider the slowdown a slight breather.

[kaedesdisciple]

Psh, you think that's bad? You should play Metal Slug 2 on the Neo lol.

[Jorpho]

I know there have been reasonably-successful experiments in overclocking a Genesis and NES in the past; were there ever attempts at overclocking the SNES?