Castlevania SOTN on 360 - is it the Saturn or PSX version? [Archive]

ShenmueFan

03-24-2007, 09:34 PM

I believe it has all the stuff in the Saturn version but was ported using the PSX version as a base (the Saturn didn't have good transparency effects and was a bit lower in terms of quality graphics wise).

heybtbm

03-24-2007, 09:55 PM

I believe it has all the stuff in the Saturn version but was ported using the PSX version as a base

No no no. This is how rumors get started.

The 360 version is nearly identical to the PS version. No question or debate.

Repeat: This is not the Saturn version.

MegaDrive20XX

03-24-2007, 09:55 PM

PS1 version, no doubt.

ShenmueFan

03-24-2007, 09:58 PM

Really? That sucks... :( I could've swore I read somewhere that it had the extra levels and bosses from the Saturn version, and you could play as Maria and the other dude...)

Arasoi

03-24-2007, 09:58 PM

diskoboy

03-24-2007, 10:03 PM

Has anyone downloaded/played this one yet? I've read it has more than a few sound effect errors in it, and odd things like the sword lords in the clocktower not turning into vandal swords after you destroy them. Odd.

I think it's safe to say, most everyone here with a 360 is playing it. I'm well into it, and I haven't had any glitches pop up, thus far.

MegaDrive20XX

03-24-2007, 10:06 PM

Has anyone downloaded/played this one yet? I've read it has more than a few sound effect errors in it, and odd things like the sword lords in the clocktower not turning into vandal swords after you destroy them. Odd.

yes, the sound effects for the small skulls in the clock tower are messed up as well. Even the warp sound effect (When using a library card) is distorted as well.

I can't remember if the sword lords/vandal swords glitch was there...I finished the game yesterday and I must say that was the easiest achievements I've had.

What really sucks, is there are no CG cutscenes and the D-pad to perform "Soul Steal" was a bitch.

ShenmueFan

03-24-2007, 10:53 PM

yes, the sound effects for the small skulls in the clock tower are messed up as well. Even the warp sound effect (When using a library card) is distorted as well.

I can't remember if the sword lords/vandal swords glitch was there...I finished the game yesterday and I must say that was the easiest achievements I've had.

What really sucks, is there are no CG cutscenes and the D-pad to perform "Soul Steal" was a bitch.

Sounds like a funky port...how much is it???

roushimsx

03-24-2007, 11:00 PM

What really sucks, is there are no CG cutscenes and the D-pad to perform "Soul Steal" was a bitch.

More like what rocks is that those absolutely atrocious, poorly rendered castle scenes have been finally removed. I hope to god when the PSP version rolls out that they're either completely redone or removed.

Sounds like a funky port...how much is it???

Well of course the audio is screwed up, Digital Eclipse did the port and they're lords and masters of creating wonky audio.

It's still a hell of a lot better than that hackjob Saturn port, that's for sure. IGA stated that he MIGHT include SOME of the stuff from the Saturn version in the PSP version of the game, but it's pretty darn unlikely because he is also of the mindset that the Saturn version sucked and that the additional content was worthless.

Also, the game is 800 points on Xbox Live.

TurboGenesis

03-24-2007, 11:01 PM

Sounds like a funky port...how much is it???

Its 800 MS points or the equivalent of $10 US. (I haven't played it much - been addicted to playing Time Pilot with my arcade stick)

edit: roushimsx beat me to the punch.

segagamer4life

03-25-2007, 01:15 AM

I think it's safe to say, most everyone here with a 360 is playing it. I'm well into it, and I haven't had any glitches pop up, thus far.

this game is great.. i am enjoying it ALOT!!

MegaDrive20XX

03-25-2007, 01:44 AM

More like what rocks is that those absolutely atrocious, poorly rendered castle scenes have been finally removed. I hope to god when the PSP version rolls out that they're either completely redone or removed.

You're kidding right? You got to be, you're telling me seeing the map of Translyvania before the game starts wasn't cool? Sure it hasn't aged well..but when the game was new, those cutscenes were pretty nice to see..

ShenmueFan

03-25-2007, 01:48 AM

$10 isn't much for the game...so I may check it out when I get a chance...but honestly I'm not to keen on the idea of taking out cutscenes/items/changing dialogue/etc. in re-releases. It's the equivalent of Star Wars remakes vs. the original films...

Arasoi

03-25-2007, 02:42 AM

It sounds like a pretty sweet deal if you don't have the original but have a 360, the game really sells itself.

Everyone should keep posting the little differences from the original found in here, it's pretty interesting (to me at least) =)

djsquarewave

03-25-2007, 05:08 AM

I can't remember if the sword lords/vandal swords glitch was there...
It is. I remember pointing this out to my friend while watching him play earlier. And yeah, the sound effects are kind of screwed up. As is the resolution, sadly (thank you Digital Eclipse) meaning everything is ever so slightly stretched. The stupid castle CGs are missing, as well, but that's no real loss. Otherwise it seems pretty spot-on.

None of the Saturn stuff is present...even my friend said he'd read on GameFAQs you could play as Maria, which is a load of crap. The new areas they added to the Saturn version are pretty lame, anyway, though playing as Maria was worth the price of admission alone...

LiquidPolicenaut

03-25-2007, 12:54 PM

I downloaded the demo and, while its not that bad, I wont be buying the whole version. I, too, missed the nice CG map in the beginning for some reason. Just to compare, I threw on the PSX SOTN on my PS3 and it looked just a tad bit sharper than the 360 version and, as stated before elsewhere, the audio is just that much more richer in the PSX version. Still, for people who either never got around to buying the original or sold it and just wanna play it again, $10 isnt bad at all.

Kid Ice

03-25-2007, 01:14 PM

It's the equivalent of Star Wars remakes vs. the original films...

I disagree. It isn't like they're saying "Here's the definitive SOTN". It's more like they're saying "Why not play around with a little SOTN while you're downloading other stuff". Or more likely "PS3 backward compatibility isn't all that, really." ;-)

diskoboy

03-25-2007, 01:38 PM

Honestly, the lack of cutscenes (to me) is a godsend. I've just never been a fan of cutscenes in general. Most games, I just skip them, if the option is avalible.

The one thing I love about the 360 version than either the PSX or Saturn versions...

You only see the "Now Loading" screen, only at the beginning of the game, and it only lasts for about 1 second.

heybtbm

03-25-2007, 02:59 PM

Honestly, the lack of cutscenes (to me) is a godsend. I've just never been a fan of cutscenes in general. Most games, I just skip them, if the option is avalible.

I agree with you on that.

BUT: Let's hold on a bit. I think this "cutscene removal" discussion is getting a bit exaggerated.

The only scenes removed are two short CG movies in the beginning and end of the game. That's it. Otherwise, this port is practically flawless. The sound issues are really petty nitpicks IMO. I know the people here at DP are prone to dissect re-releases (which is fine), but this version of SOTN is about as perfect as you can get. Let's keep things in perspective please.

Aussie2B

03-25-2007, 03:50 PM

I thought the CG scenes were quite nice for the time. But if removing the scenes means also removing the awesome music that went along with them, I vote no.

What's really bootleg is that if you get the Japanese version to avoid the awful English dubbing, you're out of luck because they released it with Japanese text and the English voicing. What the hell is up with that? It's stuff like that that explains why the 360 is doing poorly in Japan. :/

roushimsx

03-25-2007, 05:58 PM

You're kidding right? You got to be, you're telling me seeing the map of Translyvania before the game starts wasn't cool? Sure it hasn't aged well..but when the game was new, those cutscenes were pretty nice to see..

I'm not understanding how anyone found them good looking back then, either. They were roughly on par with CG efforts done in '94-'95 (and even that's pushing it), and considering how rapidly work in CG artwork progressed throughout the 90s, that 2 year span is a pretty big gap. The saving grace for them was that they didn't try to model human characters...good god would that have aged it even further.

What's really bootleg is that if you get the Japanese version to avoid the awful English dubbing, you're out of luck because they released it with Japanese text and the English voicing. What the hell is up with that?

Oh shit, Digital Eclipse'd (http://www.digitaleclipse.com/). MAMEdev really needs to go commercial and whore out their talents. It's a shame the market is dominated by DE, but at least their emulation of Final Fight was better than Capcom Production Studio 8's *shudder*.

MarioMania

03-25-2007, 06:11 PM

Why didn't Konami have the extra levels and bosses from the Saturn version, and you could play as Maria, and the CV3 Music

MegaDrive20XX

03-25-2007, 06:48 PM

I'm not understanding how anyone found them good looking back then, either. They were roughly on par with CG efforts done in '94-'95 (and even that's pushing it), and considering how rapidly work in CG artwork progressed throughout the 90s, that 2 year span is a pretty big gap. The saving grace for them was that they didn't try to model human characters...good god would that have aged it even further.

Which is why I said " Sure it hasn't aged well", meaning I agree with you to some extent. Plus the lost of the BGM that went with those CG scenes is another point that Aussie2B brought up, just reminded me of how much it kills the mood a bit of the game when just starting up

Richter Belmount

03-25-2007, 07:08 PM

Actually them cinemas kill the mood for me.

djsquarewave

03-26-2007, 04:08 AM

Oh shit, Digital Eclipse'd (http://www.digitaleclipse.com/). MAMEdev really needs to go commercial and whore out their talents. It's a shame the market is dominated by DE, but at least their emulation of Final Fight was better than Capcom Production Studio 8's *shudder*.
If it means anything, a lot of Japanese companies just steal MAME code for emulated rereleases anyway (see Hamster's PS2 arcade rereleases). I mean, it's not like they're going to go after Konami for stealing their code that lets people illegally play Konami games.

Though I'll second the hate for Digital Eclipse. There's just always something a little...off...about their productions.

kaedesdisciple

03-26-2007, 09:41 AM

I've beaten this game about 6 times on the PS1 and yes I'm noticing the glitches/changes. I noticed the Vandal Swords, I noticed all the sound changes, the jury's still out for me on the "enhanced" graphics and I love the fact that those crap cutscenes are gone.

To tell you the truth, I'm just happy we got this game at all. I thought it would be a cold day in hell before a Microsoft console got ahold of that piece of IP.

Plus, $10 for a well functioning port of a great game with some non-impossible achievements? I don't regret this purchase at all. Hell, I still paid less for this port and my PS1 copy combined than what the market value of the PS1 version is, so I'm not complaining.

PSP version? Let's see what the developers do with it...

heybtbm

03-26-2007, 11:02 AM

the jury's still out for me on the "enhanced" graphics

I turned off the "enhanced" graphics about 15 minutes into the game. They're more distracting than anything...not quite as ugly as the enhanced graphics on the XBLA version of Contra, but they're close.

If anyone is wondering what "enhanced graphics" means as far as XBLA games, it's just rounding off the hard edges of the pixels. It's a nice idea, but in execution ends up looking like an ugly watercolor painting.

Ed Oscuro

03-26-2007, 01:45 PM

Oh shit, Digital Eclipse'd (http://www.digitaleclipse.com/). MAMEdev really needs to go commercial and whore out their talents. It's a shame the market is dominated by DE, but at least their emulation of Final Fight was better than Capcom Production Studio 8's *shudder*.
The idea of R. Belmont playing Richter amuses me to no end...but right, I get what you're meaning.

On the Final Fight note - do you know if that's the blurry crap on GameTap? It kinda looks like MAME .36 with custom binds and horrible video settings.