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Unported Playlist - Metamoqester! Big Kaiju Battle Action - 12/26

Tyree_Cooper

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Oh my. I'm not good at arcade games - I actually suck, but Haunted Castle isn't particularly unfair or difficult if you play it for a while and memorise enemies and terrains. Granted, if you have a board with the "M" ROM, good luck, since enemies do way too much damage and items drop way too little. But if you have anything else than "M" and manage to further reduce the difficulty via the dipswitches, it's a fun game. Very trippy look and good music. My only problem with bugs is the chained golem boss, where hitboxes sometimes make no sense and you end up dying without deserving it.

You can feel it wasn't originally going to be a Castlevania game. Development was rushed and not enough debugging went into it. Google "Masaaki Kukino Haunted Castle" to learn more.

There's no need to jump to make it through the wall bricks. Foot, chest and head level bricks can be hit while crouching. Just move a bit back, crouch, and hit when the brick is at whip's reach. The whole point of the crumbling statues is to be patient enough to wait for the animation to be done. And right after the wall bricks, you can avoid stopping if you just run and jump from pillar to pillar, which you have to do anyway to avoid the flames on the ground. Medusa's bats are easily avoided by crouching in a specific spot which isn't very hard to figure out. And yeah, well, you need to time your jumps and learn by heart what's going on, sort of like, all other arcade games of the time? And you need to press diagonal up or down to use stairs, sort of like, all other Castlevania games until the mid 90s?

I think you weren't going to enjoy it anyway, since this is one those games everybody says it sucks without having ever played. It has this reputation like, say, Castlevania 64 being terrible or Dracula X on the PCE being a super rare game.

I managed to 1-life this game back in 2008 or 2009 at a friend's place. I took a photo of the high score. Sadly, I can't remember which ROM version it was, and I have no proof I actually beat it without dying, so you'll just have to believe me. :)

hcastle-2(luxkiller).jpg
 
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ReindeerNomad

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Oct 25, 2020
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so bad its just straight horror!

Wow this is not good. Haunted Castle sounds like the bootleg version of Castlevania and this looks the part. Some neat graphics, but a cash grab PCB for your JAMMA cabinet. :(

Did Konami have the B-Squad on this one? :D
 

Awbacon

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Oh my. I'm not good at arcade games - I actually suck, but Haunted Castle isn't particularly unfair or difficult if you play it for a while and memorise enemies and terrains. Granted, if you have a board with the "M" ROM, good luck, since enemies do way too much damage and items drop way too little. But if you have anything else than "M" and manage to further reduce the difficulty via the dipswitches, it's a fun game. Very trippy look and good music. My only problem with bugs is the chained golem boss, where hitboxes sometimes make no sense and you end up dying without deserving it.

You can feel it wasn't originally going to be a Castlevania game. Development was rushed and not enough debugging went into it. Google "Masaaki Kukino Haunted Castle" to learn more.

There's no need to jump to make it through the wall bricks. Foot, chest and head level bricks can be hit while crouching. Just move a bit back, crouch, and hit when the brick is at whip's reach. The whole point of the crumbling statues is to be patient enough to wait for the animation to be done. And right after the wall bricks, you can avoid stopping if you just run and jump from pillar to pillar, which you have to do anyway to avoid the flames on the ground. Medusa's bats are easily avoided by crouching in a specific spot which isn't very hard to figure out. And yeah, well, you need to time your jumps and learn by heart what's going on, sort of like, all other arcade games of the time? And you need to press diagonal up or down to use stairs, sort of like, all other Castlevania games until the mid 90s?

I think you weren't going to enjoy it anyway, since this is one those games everybody says it sucks without having ever played. It has this reputation like, say, Castlevania 64 being terrible or Dracula X on the PCE being a super rare game.

I managed to 1-life this game back in 2008 or 2009 at a friend's place. I took a photo of the high score. Sadly, I can't remember which ROM version it was, and I have no proof I actually beat it without dying, so you'll just have to believe me. :)

hcastle-2(luxkiller).jpg
I believe you :)
 

dark

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Jun 19, 2019
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In your journeys dealing with obscure arcade hardware and software, have you ever heard much about Eolith's (the Korean company that did King of Fighters 2001) early games? I was looking into them recently to get a sense of what else they did, and their games Screaming Hunter and Ksana look extremely obscure and potentially very interesting. Here's the screenshots I saw for those titles: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/korea/part2/company-eolith.htm
 

Awbacon

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Taito bringing the horror heat
 

Awbacon

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Yes I know its on Switch :) but A) I don't love the port and b) I do break my own rules now and again lol
 

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