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[DonkeyPunchJr]

Konami’s output during the 80s/90s was freaking ridiculous. Not only did they support multiple platforms, they actually made totally different versions of their main flagship games for different systems, including developing FOUR Castlevania games simultaneously for SNES, Genesis, PC Engine CD-ROM, and X68000

But this thread is about the SNES vs Genesis follow-ups to probably their 2 biggest NES franchises. Which did you prefer?



Or






Or

 

[Werewolf Jones]

For Castlevania: Bloodlines has the better music but as a game IV is better.

Rondo stomps both though.

 

[TexMex]

IV and Alien Wars and it isn’t even close

 

[adamsapple]

Hard Corps is pretty damn dope.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

i only had Genesis until like late 93, plus I really love games where you can choose your character, so I went with the Genesis ones. But I feel like I was LTTP for the SNES versions so my judgment is pretty biased.

 

[Sojiro]

I prefer Bloodlines over SC IV a good bit, and Contra III over Hard Corps by just a bit, it's a lot closer on the Contra games imo. Bloodlines is a damn good Castlevania game, almost as good as my fave which is Castlevania III (of the "Classicvania" games). One of these days I will play Rondo and will probably be adjusting my favorite based on all the praise it gets lol.

 

[MiguelItUp]

Super Castlevania IV and Alien Wars for me hands down. Loved those games.

 

[drotahorror]

One of these days I will play Rondo and will probably be adjusting my favorite based on all the praise it gives lol.

Oh you will. I've never beaten bloodlines, so maybe I should play it some more. I just fired up Rondo again today.

 

[Crew511A]

I'm a Genesis man through and through but the SNES walks away with this one. Hard Corps COULD have been better if it wasn't designed to make people hate gaming.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

SNES for me

Contra 3 and Castlevania 4 are some of my favourites of all time, they have brilliant soundtracks too

 

[El Muerto]

Genesis all the way. No censorship and i found both games more fun on Genesis compared to SNES.

 

[Chiggs]

Contra Hard Corps shits all over Contra III.

GAF's taste is, once again, awful.

 

[DeathGuise]

The Castlevania games on SNES beat the shit out of anything on the Genesis.

Super Castlevania 4 and Rondo of Blood.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

Hard Corps is an amazing yet thoroughly obnoxious game. I probably need to git gud but I can't make it past the first two or so levels in the Collection release before I put on a different game. The elements are cool as fuck but it doesn't come together for me or some weird issue.

 

[AngelMuffin]

SCIV is a masterpiece from start to finish. I still play it at least once a year. I’d have to go with Contra Hardcore over Contra III, the JPN version though since it’s a little more forgiving than the brutal U.S. version.

 

[simpatico]

Contentious topic. I go back and forth. I think Bloodlines is underrated and better in a lot of ways, but IV is just the total package. I played both on cartridge within the last 2 months. The audio quality difference when you play them back to back is pretty stark. Bloodlines has great compositions, I chalk it up to the hardware difference. Simon's Theme is still to this day an absolute banger.

None of the Contra's beyond the first stuck with me.

 

[dave_d]

Pretty much the best Contra game on either system is Gunstar Heroes. (Sorry, somebody had to say it.)

 

[Ulysses 31]

The Castlevania games on SNES beat the shit out of anything on the Genesis.

Super Castlevania 4 and Rondo of Blood.

Dracula X is not Rondo of Blood though, it's a remake and generally considered an inferior version of the PC Engine one.

 

[SHA]

Better sound on ___, better gameplay on____, you get the point.

 

[YCoCg]

Genesis for both.

 

[NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt]

When it comes to Castlevania: Playstation 1

 

[Doomtrain]

I love all of these games, but I always felt like Bloodlines was super underrated. Awesome level design and a very fresh setting for CV at the time.

 

[Needlecrash]

Bloodlines was fucking amazing. And Hard Corps was damn good. I'm with the Bloodlines/Hard Corps on this. SC IV and Contra 3 are still awesome too.

You can't lose either way yall. All 4 are amazing titles.

 

[Frayed Ends of Sanity]

Alien Wars over Hard Corps is insane to me. I never enjoyed those top down levels and Hard Corps had multiple characters with branching paths. It's hard as hell but the Japanese version makes things more doable

In the case of Castlevania, it's Super IV all the way

 

[MayauMiao]

Not a fan of Castlevania.

Contra 3 on SNES is superior in graphics, sound, use of mode 7, music, presentation.

Its hard to enjoy Hard Cops with characters suffering from bad case of laryngitis.

 

[ReBurn]

Contra 3 was one of my favorite SNES games

 

[Svejk]

Contra HC was too fast for it's own good, and suffered being 4:3. That game would greatly benefit from a wide screen mod.
The SNES games, albeit gorgeous, worked better with the slower capabilities and made them more tolerable.

 

[Soltype]

It's a toss up for IV and bloodlines, but Hard Corps is way better than Alien Wars. I'd even say Hard Corps is the best game in the series. The weapons, the characters, the paths, the music, it fires on all cylinders.

 

[Ozzie666]

I have very fond memories of SCIV, the music is amazing, Konami at its peak on early SNES. As the years have passed, I find myself liking Bloodlines more and hard corps. It was such a big deal to see these franchises jump ship for the first time. I think Bloodlines is a technical master piece on Genesis, more so than SCIV on SNES as a slightly early title.

The only right answer thoough is PCE/TG16 and Rondo of blood.

 

[kunonabi]

Bloodlines is a 1000x better than Super. Contra is where it gets closer. I personally prefer Alien Wars but Hard Corp is easily one of the best action games of the era.

 

[existensmaximum]

The whip mechanics alone make Super Castlevania IV the better game but even without that it's easily the best Castlevania game ever made and one of the best games in the SNES or any console, ever.

I love the Genesis and I was (and still am today) a Sega kid, but I could never really get into Bloodlines. To me it doesn't "feel" like Castlevania.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I had all four games. SNES games hands down. They looked and sounded better and more true to the roots. Contra Hard Corps was a weird game. It could had been called something else and nobody would notice.

But the Genesis games looked great with really good effects not a lot of Genesis games did (Konami was awesome back then during the 8 and 16 bit days).

Contra III >>> Contra Hard Corps

C4 > Bloodlines

But one thing I remember was the Genesis games seemed way more challenging.

 

[IAmRei]

Hardcorp in sega megadrive is killer game, it is definition of hard game, long before soulsborne. Im more shooter than physical melee at the time. And more to contra rather than castlevania. One game is even harder than contra, is Bucky o Hare in NES. Never finished it. Brutal game, from Konami as well.

As for castevania, i forgot which one, but i like the music better in snes. Sega main weakness for me is sound.

 

[dcx4610]

Easily Contra III and Castlevania IV for me.

Both C3 and C4 both felt like "Super" versions of the NES games and lived up to the hype. I still remember being completely blown away by Castlevania's music. It truly felt next gen at the time. I couldn't believe a video game could sound that good. Later when Hard Corps and Bloodlines came out, I rented them but wasn't all that impressed. The Genesis was starting to show its age by that point. I hated the direction they went with Hard Corps. It just didn't feel like Contra. It's a solid game in its own right but it just didn't feel true to the series. Bloodlines did feel a proper Castlevania game but due to the aging hardware of the Genesis, it felt like a game that should have came out before Castlevania IV.

Playing Bloodlines now, I appreciate it much more and it's a solid entry in the series but it didn't feel groundbreaking like IV at the time.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Contra 3 was fantastic. Hard Corps man... I don't know... there's nothing lamer than putting a wolfman into Contra. GTFO with that.

I gave the Castlevania to the Genesis though... I haven't really played either one enough to really make an informed decision. I do have copies of both and a PVM just sitting there though... maybe one of these weekends.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Contra 3 was fantastic. Hard Corps man... I don't know... there's nothing lamer than putting a wolfman into Contra. GTFO with that.

I gave the Castlevania to the Genesis though... I haven't really played either one enough to really make an informed decision. I do have copies of both and a PVM just sitting there though... maybe one of these weekends.

Contra Hard Corps was a Contra game in name only. I dont get why Konami made it half comedy. Just make another Rambo-ish Contra game like any NES/SNES game. Weird game setting and characters. A shame too since the technical effects were rock solid.

 

[Kokoloko85]

Snes for Contra easily.
Bloodlines great music

 

[Barakov]

Bloodlines and Hard Corps are fantastic but I have to give it to IV and Contra 3. The ones on the SNES had the wow factor that the Genesis ones didn't.

 

[Mattyp]

Megadrive you fucking animal.

 

[cireza]

Both MegaDrive games have my preference by a large margin. Contra III looks like poop compared to Hard Cops. Castlevania IV looks and sounds good, but it is super slow. Bloodlines simply feels much better to play while being super strong in the music and visual department. Games are also higher res on MegaDrive.

 

[CashPrizes]

It is a very hard question actually, all 4 games are so good and in pretty different ways.

I think the only definitive winner is Hard Corps over Alien Wars. Hard Corps has 4 characters all with totally different weapon sets. Branching paths, way more levels, more variety in gameplay and enemy types, no awful top down levels, a ton of great transforming mech bosses, 8 endings with 4 variations of each ending based on who you beat it with.
Alien Wars is graphically better but not by a ton. It does 100% win out in the music category tho, and the sound effects are better but there are less of them.

Bloodlines and IV are much closer. I used to definitely prefer Bloodlines but played IV on emulators a few times in the last 25 years and appreciate it more. Both have great soundtracks, I think they are on par with each other graphically.

I voted Genesis for both but could have very easily gone HardCorps + Super Castlevania IV.

 

[alienator]

While all 4 games are great, the snes games suffer from horrible slowdown (fixed with the SA-1 romhacks though which make them way better) and the top down level snes contra levels where horrible. Also the genesis games are much more challenging.

Best contra for me is still hard corps on 360/ps3 though, friggin loved that game. also honerable mention for contra rebirth on the wii. nice game.

 

[S0ULZB0URNE]

I don't want to choose all four are good.
But if I had to it would be the SNES games.

In the case of just Castlevania id choose Castlevania: Dracula X ROB on PC Engine if it was a option.

 

[DGrayson]

Ive never played Hard Corps so I cant fairly choose. Ive played Contra III hundreds of times.

For Castlevania I like the challenge of Bloodlines and the graphics are top notch for the Genesis but Castlevania IV is just so dope and that music... I understand some say the directional whip makes it too easy but besides the difficulty I prefer Castlevania IV

 

[Phobos Base]

I'd definitely choose Contra 3, Hard Corps is a fantastic game but the difficulty is utterly ridiculous and strips away a lot of the enjoyment.

 

[cireza]

I'd definitely choose Contra 3, Hard Corps is a fantastic game but the difficulty is utterly ridiculous and strips away a lot of the enjoyment.

Simply play the Japanese version or patch the Western version to restore the hit points.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Super Castlevania 4 - SNES
Contra Hard Corps - Genesis

Taking nothing away from Contra 3 which was a day one buy for me, and an excellent game.

 

[Facism]

to be fair, whichever way you go here, you're still winning. All good af.

 

[manzo]

Super Castlevania 4 - SNES
Contra Hard Corps - Genesis

Taking nothing away from Contra 3 which was a day one buy for me, and an excellent game.

This is the correct answer. CV4 is all around a better game than Bloodlines. Note that Bloodlines is an excellent game nonetheless.
Hard Corps is just better than Contra 3 in general.

Edit: As many others have stated, Rondo on PC Engine just shits over both Castlevanias.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

Genesis and Genesis.

For Castlevania it's closer, but I much prefer the classic, hectic action of Bloodlines to the slower CV4.

For Contra, I never loved Contra 3. It would benefit from cutting out the top-down stages, like they did with the GBA version. Anyway, Hard Corps is bloody spectacular, and if you play the Japanese version with three hit points it really has no flaws.