It really is a great adaptation of Castlevania. Of course there are some interruptions due to the music on the CD32. Nevertheless, it's good that you can change tracks at any time. The only point of criticism is the score display at the end of the level. It doesn't have the quality of the game and that you can run out of the picture on the right in level 2. But otherwise you've done a damn good job.
The scoreboard on the regular A1200/A4000 version may be a little better now since it's now set to overlap the game rather than push the screen down, but it's a standard feature of the engine and you can see this happens on other games done with it. It's called a 'panel' in the engine's jargon, and as we speak, that's the only way allowed in the engine to write text or stats on the Amiga screen. But the engine is experimental and is evolving everyday, so you never know, maybe in the future it'll allow to overlay text directly on the play area without that panel or make the panel transition smoother.
The 'run out of picture on level2', now that's something more worrying that I can do something about. Can you tell if that happens before a player death or after, and at what exact point on the stage?
I think that was a mistake in the translation. I was able to run out of the picture with the character on the right. I'd have to look for that spot again.
First of all, congratulations on this development and this update. It's fantastic. If you allow me to report a bug, I was on the fight with the final boss, I lost all my lives, I tried to continue and the game crashed (Black screen, but the hud is still visible)
I'll verify that closely, because I've got reports of issues with the continue feature on the 4th boss as well, so, until that, I recommend to use save states (if you're on emulator) for those tougher bosses. :)
I've got multiple reports of crashes on the third level (world 3). It's a high priority issue, so I pinned it in the dev log here.
I don't think it's the TF330 card, but meanwhile, you could try this special version that I did (in this link), it only runs adequately with extra memory (like that on your TF card) but that also means that it's more stable than the normal CD32 version (which has some crazy stuff made to run on the lesser amount of memory of a stock CD32, and that crazy stuff might be causing crashes). Thanks!
Congratulations on finishing the game! 🙂 I tested again the final version, but unfortunately I was not able to complete it as planned, as there seems to be a bug in the 5th world (level 13) that even occurred in the latest version at the time of our livestream. I had to skip the world completely to avoid ending up in the workbench again. This happened with both the WHDLoad and the regular version. You can see the bug in our video below at 04:18:15. There are also some problems in the form of "hanging" inside objects like stairs. Our German-language review starts at 03:47:45. English subtitles are also available.
Edit: I noticed that you are not playing the latest version. Latest version (January 26) features that instruction text at the bottom of the options menu, like in the picture below. I'm still adding things and fixes (check last paragraph in this post).
I wasn't able to reproduce your issue, it simply doesn't happen with me (check this video, same situation as you, I tried to force the crash).
It may be low chipRAM. Even if your Workbench says "1,800,000" of chip, it isn't always true (as memory gets corrupted due to Wb apps loaded and other stuff). I would suggested to please test the vanilla CastlevaniaAGA_January2025.lha on a higher chipRAM situation: hold both mouse buttons on boot, boot with no startup, then Work: (or equivalent name of the partition) >> cd CastlevaniaAGA >> game-crunched.exe
AGA games launched from Workbench are always at risk, even with WHDLoad. Remember that back in the day, Super Stardust AGA had a boot-disk? That's the reason! A similar crash happened a while ago on AmigaBill's stream, and after that, he always used boot with no startup method (just to make sure). And since that, it always worked without problems.
It might be other incompatibility related to hardware. I would like to know what is your hardware (specially accelerator model and the KS ROM on the Amiga).
Regarding complete version, in technical terms, the game is BETA, which means that the game is feature complete, i.e., all features and content scheduled for release are in the game, including the full CD soundtrack on CD32. However, as a BETA the game is largely untested and thus has issues that need to be fixed (like what you experienced). This is why companies will do in-house betas, limited release/private betas, and public betas as their games become more solid on the way to full release. To be precise, the A1200/A4000 version is slightly behind beta because its .MOD soundtrack is still not fully complete. Hopefully, all will be finished in time for Amiga's 40th anniversary celebrations.
Thanks for playing, live streaming it and reporting! :)
I updated the original version from February 20th (at the time of preparation for the broadcast) to the latest version during the livestream after two failed attempts. Funnily enough, the version was updated during our stream, so that the version from the last attempt was only 45 minutes old, see position 04:32:53. Unfortunately, this didn't help and I couldn't use the CD32 version because the trainer didn't work (keys didn't work during the game). I will definitely take another look at the game later and adjust my rating accordingly. It is and remains a damn good and technically very high-quality game. And sometimes a livestream like ours can be very helpful for troubleshooting, as our example shows. It would not be the first time that another update follows shortly afterwards. 🙂
The game was tested with WinUAE 5.2.0 (not the most recent version, as this apparently contains changes and a few small errors in sound playback). This runs with a realistic, cycle-accurate A1200 standard configuration with HDD, Kickstart 3.1, 2 MB Chip- and 8 MB Fast-RAM without a turbo card in order to simulate the most realistic setting as possible. The color palette under the Workbench (OS 3.1) was set to 256 colors by default, which requires a bit more Chip RAM and there are actually games like "Bunnito's Feast" that need more to start. However, based on previous knowledge, it was not to be expected that the error would also occur during gameplay.
Edit: The bug also occurs in the (now) current version from 26.2., even with the color palette reduced to 2 colors under OS 3.1. To be on the safe side, it was tested again with the current WinUAE 5.3.1, and as expected, there were no differences. I would be happy to send you my WinUAE configuration that causes the problem so that you can troubleshoot it. If you are interested, just send me an email using our contact form: https://www.radio-paralax.de/kontakt/
Oh, it was emulation, that's a relief. My focus is on crashes on real hardware. Emulation will never be 100%, for example, you can configure UAE to have 8MB of chipRAM, which is physically impossible on real world (you'll need to redesign the Amiga chipset and add extra addresses).
So, it enables strange stuff like that, resulting in strange and unexpected results that we developers can't manage to foresee.
Bunnito's Feast programmer was clever, I should have done that memory check too.
As the error keeps happening, I would please ask you to test the following:
Download the 'Castlevania AGA HDF' version from this page. Follow this quick tutorial that I just recorded for you on how to load the HDF file on your emulator (it's very simple).
This is basically like the CD32 version, but running on a disk image rather than a CD ISO. Think of it as an ADF floppy image. Don't worry, it has all the level skip shortcuts that you need to quick test the place with problem.
If that HDF works for you, in the way shown in the video tutorial, I know what's happening. And again, as a disclaimer, we developers can't guarantee to fix everything for all possible configurations around (as they're almost infinite), so, our focus is first in real hardware, then direct emulator configurations (like CD32 or the HDF shown above, getting rid of the Workbench which just jeopardizes things). The best Amiga games from back in the day also removed the system out of the way to squeeze the best performance and to have less troubles! Thanks.
Edit: my WinUAE is version 3.4.0, installed in 2016, and the game works here from start to end without any issue. As they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". ;-)
I have just tested the game again as described with the HDF version and only one disk drive, unfortunately with the same result. I also noticed that the game does not run without additional memory of at least 64 KB (Z2 Fast). For the test I had set 1MB, a completely normal configuration for memory extensions at the time. I have attached the corresponding error message here as an image.
I would also like to add that I only played such games with 8 MB Fast RAM usually, just to avoid memory bottlenecks with WHDLoad and HDD games. Of course, the chip RAM was only preset to the usual 2 MB, see the Workbench memory status in our video. As far as compatibility goes, I rely on the statement of "Toni Wilen", the author of WinUAE. For years I have not found an OCS/ECS game or demo that does not run with it, which is why I now assume that it is 100% emulated. The AGA games and demos that I have tested over the last 4-5 years also ran perfectly with it, but of course I couldn't test all releases. However, there are sometimes configurations that do not correspond to the same setting of the computer on which they were programmed. That is why I am happy to offer to provide you with the configuration I use. 🙂
Excellent, thanks, the error message pinpoints exactly what happened.
So, I did a special version for you that should work (let's cross our fingers). In this link.
It's a very rare issue! You can check on YouTube now, many longplays and live streams that didn't had that problem, like this one, for example.
Also, the problem doesn't seems to happen on FS-UAE, it only happens on WinUAE.
So, what I did was to reduce the number of candles and objects on the level by about 10 to 20% (the error message is about that: max number of objects/limit).
If it still crashes, I'll reduce even more! Don't give up! ;-)
Fantastic work! It's definitely "getting there"! Here are a few minor bugs and annoyances I noticed in the January 2025 build:
When jump and attack buttons are pressed simultaneously, the jump command is ignored. This makes the controls feel a bit unresponsive.
When landing with extended whip, the animation doesn't immediately switch to ground attack, leaving Simon "floating" for a few frames.
Stair access hotspots are too small and aren't always placed in natural locations, often requiring finagling.
Couldn't reliably use sub-weapon when running on FS-UAE emulator with CD32 pad selected. Would it be possible to add an option for UP+Attack sub-weapon use if UP-to-jump is disabled?
Title screen goes into attract mode very quickly even if directional inputs have been made, and attract mode goes straight into the game if a button is pressed.
To answers your questions, it depends on what conditions are you playing. Is real hardware? If so, what spec? Is it on the FS-UAE build? That has notorious issues with two buttons pressed at same time, specially if you use keyboard Z and X.
The stair access hotspots are limited to a 16x16 tile, always the 1st tile and last tile of the ladder. They are like this in most Castlevanias, I never liked stairs handling in most title of the series (no wonder they dropped this on SotN, it's just a slope skinned as stairs there), so I added the ability to just jump on top of it and move ahead.
But it's a valid point, and I can make tests with portals. "Portals" is a feature that I started to use on CD32 and they are spots that are not limited to a 16x16 tile. It's a ton of work to swap all spots for portals and that will likely add further, unexpected issues. So, I have to ponder a lot about it!
Sub-weapons on FS-UAE/CD32 pad: why you couldn't reliably use sub-weapon, what happens? Is it a USB controller plugged on PC? You can edit all button bindings in the file Default.fs-uae located at Game dir\FS-UAE\Configurations
And you can always press and hold (like a charge in MegaMan). It's better than up + fire because you can fire while crouching. ;-) But the ideal and recommended way is to use 3 buttons (attack, jump, and sub-weapon).
Simon taking a few frames to switch back to stand after landing goes down here as low priority, like anything that's just aesthetics. Everything written above was higher on order of priority. Attract mode goes straight into game by design, no frills. Could be readjusted, but again, low priority on the list and likely for 1.1, not 1.0.
Playing on FS-UAE v3.1.68, using a DS4 controller set as a CD32 pad in the emulator. Don't remember having any controller issues with other Amiga or CD32 games, but I might be mistaken.
Maybe its more about stair hotspot positioning? Not sure how it is set now, but I feel like it should protrude more "in front" of the step.
Edit: regarding your request (up + fire for subweapon), I did an experimental version that does that. Tested only with knife at beginning, but in theory it should work with all weapons. It's activated by default if up_for_jump isn't enabled. Download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BFGB7o4H1CjYthFyHLb4otyP5rXjij0/view?usp=shari...
Stairs tips and hints: what most people I see playing do (me inclusive) is to just keep pressing right and up at same time a couple of meters before stairs: Simon keeps walking towards the stairs and as soon as you're on the spot, he'll snap on the ladder and go upstairs. To get down, you don't do anything, it just goes downhill like if it's a 45-degree slope down. You can move right and left on a ladder, not just up and down (same as SNES Super CV).
Check picture below, I hope it shows the spot clearly: there's a hard limit regarding spot position (the grid is fixed, it is not flexible, grid size is fixed by the Amiga's blitter at 16x16 pixels in size and you have them at position 0, 16, 32 and so on). I'm afraid I can't do much more in that regard, I did my best.
But I'll check the DS4 controller issue on FS-UAE 3.1.68, and I at some point I may implement the up+fire for subs because it's been requested often. Thanks again!
I may check how actual Simon Belmont sounds. I used your Alucard's SD_ALK_00004.wav file in the game build above. Thanks for the heads up and many thanks for playing! :)
I tried to find Simon Voice Samples, but had no luck .
(or found the NES sfx ... ;),
but thanks to this new build simons voice is at least male.
( it bugged me since the early builds ).
Maybe the sfx in the MainTitleScreen are also a bit "ruff".... ;) hehe
Ohh, and about the Simon Sprite. Please dont get me wrong Dante,
i really like the redesign, it´s very accurate to the original NES Coverartwork .. .. but i guess... its the teeth. XD when i look at his Facei get serious "super double dragon" (SNES) flashbacks XD
Maybe a option, like in Turrican 2 AGA with an option to change the sprite would be nice; but thats just a idea. As you know, its easy to come up with an idea, but to make it a reality is another thing ;)
More Ideas: make the Subweapon work like in the Original. Fire+Up.
Pleeease :)
Also, the stage with frankenstein seems... so .... short.... as something was missing...
+ the game is too easy ;)
Well, enough of my silly ideas to improve Castlevania for the AMIGA even more.
This is already great .....I never had thought that a good version of Castlevania would come to the Amiga. (even if it plays quit different)
Cool! I agree that the game is too easy at the moment, specially the bosses. If you check my release of Amiga's Green Beret, I've added difficulty levels, it's probably what I'll do on Castlevania. Think that it's on easy mode now.
The Frank level is designed on top of the original, so it is what it is. It's a continuation of the underground part with the raft, so it is not short nor easy on the whole.
About Simon, I rather not touch that since it's made by a Castlevania specialist and seasoned pixel artist, not by me. So I respect the work of talented people who helped me because he liked the project. And on top of this, the Simon design was overwhelmingly well received by the Castlevania community so far.
The up + fire to simulated the original NES is a valid request, and you are not the first to ask. It was not added at first because up was originally for jump (yeah we have Amiga purists who want that) so it kinds of getting messy if we add too much workarounds on controls. Consoles tend to control better than the typical Amiga games because they have standardized controls and avoid not tinkering with too much methods to meet the preferences of different people. Having said that, I should have made it mandatory for at least 2 buttons controller, that would have made everything so tidier, control-wise. The best way to play it will be always a CD32 controller or equivalent, where the right shoulder button (or yellow) will be for weapon.
Thanks for playing and for your suggestions and all! :)
You mean, the one shown below? If so, we had some fun at Discord, asking what was the most "low priority" critic or feedback you guys received about your games. Panel push the game screen down, then up. Nothing serious, it's an engine quirk. But seems that it somehow bothers some people. So I will quote an excellent and flattering answer by Mikael there: "When a game is so polished that it rivals official releases, it is bound to happen that people start viewing it as such, thus comparing it to games of very high standard, and commenting about some features that seem to them a little less polished. Believe me; in it's own way, commenting the screen dropping down is definitely a compliment. They compare your game to the best examples and how things were done in those."
I've got this issue on CD32: I don't think sky should behave like that. After getting to the monster (a sort of Franklenstein) I got killed and the game just froze. Using UAE embedded in Amiga Forever. Thank you.
This happens in WinUAE if you use certain settings, specially "fastest possible" and cycle-exact off. But we're not sure of the exact settings that cause this. At the moment I'd recommend using FS-UAE instead, with FS-UAE Launcher, it's the only one so far that got CD32 100% right, as shown in Amiga Bill's livestream from Sunday (the area you're showing starts at 03:12:35 on the livestream link) . But it'd need to convert the MP3 music in the ISO to WAV and edit the .cue file to match the converted file names.
Amazing! Thank you very much for the video on real hardware. If possible, please inform Neil at IRN to use your latest footage (could be your video of the standard 1200 version) because he's using footage with the older/temporary character which was not the titular Simon Belmont yet. :) Thanks again for your work covering all the new releases!
The CD audio indeed doesn't loops. You can check Earok's Super Star Wars Holiday CD32, it has the same limitation (and it's a port by the creator of the engine himself). I'd say that it's a hard limit. But, I remember that I did the following "hack": I edited some songs, doing a copy and paste of its whole length at the ending, so it simulated at least one loop. The drawback is that the ISO gets bigger, and our hosting space here is limited. So, this is mostly used on very long stages (such as stage 5). But, I may do the extreme looping like 3 or 4 repeats with total disregard to the ISO sizes and Itch.io hosting space. At the moment it's the only shot we got.
About the ladders and the animation, I always remember that Wayne's World movie scene with the guitar shop and the poster pinned in the way where it reads "NO starway to heaven". I mean, I gotta pin a poster here "no reports of ladder animation"! :) The whole ladder is actually a bit of a hack on top of engine's "slope" physics (ie a thing that wasn't meant to be used that way). It may improve for v1.0 (we're at v0.9), but you will ALWAYS be able to moonwalk or do other funky moves there! Bottom line: you can moonwalk on SNES Super Castlevania too, and I'm sure that it was not done by just one programmer like me on his spare time. ;)
Watched the clip from your stream, that's very interesting. It didn't freeze, technically speaking, the camera just lost focus on the player character and wandered all the way to the left (for no reason). This happened once on the same place and you can see a screenshot of the exact same place and issue taken by Jimmie.s80@gmail.com a few comments below, 7 days ago. I issued a hotfix for that and it never happened again. But I'll check that spot again, thank you very much for reporting! I was a bit overwhelmed by the massive issue of CD music that refuses completely to play, which was completely unexpected so I put a lot of effort attempting to solve it (which fortunately seems to play correctly for you as far as I saw in your clip) and so I didn't had time yet to check more closely that fateful spot on world2.
Thanks for your detailed report and have a great Sunday!
Thanks for the detailed response!! I finished the game and would play it again when you have another update. Yes someone mentioned later that you could moonwalk in Dracula X too.
As a workaround for the music, Left Shoulder (Rewind button on CD32 pad) can restart the audio track playback.
I was also able to get myself lost out of screen in the early stage where you come down from a ladder from the upper left. After coming down automatically, I went back up to the ladder and started jumping offscreen until I couldn't get back in the game. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2357525280 Perhaps spawn some invisible or off-screen blocks, to block players from getting stuck up there?
I guess its still quite early for a thorough testing, but I was mainly curious and it was fun trying it out :-) Will keep trying out each update and report my finds.
Thanks, that clip is very cool: by sheer insistence you managed to get on the floor from previous level :D (yeah, it's still there, everything is there, it's just the camera that crops down). That wasn't an issue before CD32, as I was just loading and unloading levels at will. I can't do that on CD32, because 1) it'll wear out your CD reader 2) CD loading times are slow 3) the CD music stops when a loading operation starts (hard limit, no workaround). So, the whole level or most part of it must be loaded on memory at once to avoid all of the above!
I need to give it some thought. I could just block the way out more consistently, as seems that my little text msg "no backtrack allowed" wasn't enough. ;)
The CD repeat workaround I mentioned seemed to work on AmigaBill's stream, he didn't "ran out of music" and he normally likes to take his time on a level. But making super lengthy versions of the tracks is not a very elegant way. The restart music button that I added on left shoulder button to force it was also meant for early troubles when the music refused completely to start (seems fixed now).
It's was already so much trouble with only the default A1200/A4000 version, why I added so much extra work with the CD32? LOL.
Just a suggestion, would it be possible to add an options setting that toggles gameplay tips on and off? Also, I think the thunders should be triggered a little slower. They happen too often
Still a ton of stuff to do ahead of this, bear in mind that I started this when I was 47, now I just turned 50, but at least we're seeing a possible 1.0 on the horizon. Which doesn't matter that the support will cease after 1.0, with Green Beret, I added many features such as difficulty level and more.
Have tested the new iso the music works know on the bosses.Buts its the same color issue in the windows and there is no music at that part with the color issues in the windows
The color issue: uploaded a new ISO today, changed that background window to black instead of dark blue, let's see if that helps. Also forced the CD music on that part.
Just wanted you to know Dante there is some bugs in the cd32 version on level 2 if you fall down and die. Then it restart on that level its just a background and the big gaurds are just walking forward and no simon is visible
Hello and thank you for this wonderful gift to the amiga community! I just tested it on Winuae with the latest ISO that you posted online. This bug is still present in exactly the same place.
Tested the new iso just wanted to tell you it works now the music. If i push the left shoulder button on my competition pro pad it says load in the game and right away if i do this the music starts and working great. Great work Dante it works now.
Ok, I've reverted back the changes. Will keep trying until this is fixed. QUESTION: did it play the music in all boss fights or just the first one? Is music test options menu working? Thanks.
I dont think it worked at all in the boss fights.Playing music in the meny is also weird if you play one song it do not play if you chose 3 songs after that it plays the first you chosed
I have some problems with Latest WHDLoad version (January 2005) About Graphics & musics sounds in the intro just after waiting on start menu. Tested on my real A1200 A1230 Turbo+II @40 Mhz... but same way on WINUAE.
But when I press fire to play it all seems to works correctly...
Please could You have a look ? previous version worked correctly...
did you fix the music on the new Iso i have opening music now but the music wont play in game the only music i get is at the boss fight. have tried 2 brands i got on cdr Corporate express And mediarange burning the slowest i get on imgburn and i,m burning the que file.
I'm working on it. I've asked Hoffman (who did Shinobi on Neo Geo CD) and he suggested Red Book audio specs, which was needed also for music to work on the Neo Geo CD. So, I just added a new version (last one on downloads list) which describes Red Book audio on its screen name. I still don't know if it will work, it's also suggested to record the CD at the slowest possible speed.
User Eric H on X/Twitter burned 2 CDs and both worked, sent me video of running on real console, he got the music issue (possibly 192kbps to 128kbps export like described on the other reply) but like I said, those issues are expected, since it's one of the first CD32 games released with a experimental engine (Scorpion). To be honest, I'm surprised and pleased that it worked at all. It's just the music issue to fully solve and we're off to a great start! Have a great 2025 and thanks for playing.
I've just put the opening music back again, it was deactivated for test purposes when I was troubleshooting the CD music issue with user Eric H on X (the music that was failing to play was just Vampire Killer, the first level track, others seemed fine). There must be a way for you guys to test an ISO on real console without having to waste a blank disk or wear the reader (and thank you very much for the help, the experimental nature of the project and engine calls for a lot of trial and error until things are fine).
nicely work Cd32 version.Having some trouble with the music sometimes that it wont play as it supossed to do.Burn with Img burn and used the que file so the cd track gets on the cd
Try downloading again, I've did "hotfix": some music was at 192kbps, that one seems to be tough for the CD32 player to deal, changed all to 128kbps. It's all trial and error, there is no manual for that. :)
dante quando eu executo o jogo a imagem fica cortada na parte de baixo, ja iniciei em ntsc ja iniciei em pal e nada faz com que a imagem normalize. Estou usando a1200 real
Isso é NTSC, no A1200 real em PAL fica como nessa foto abaixo. Só pra garantir, vc tá ligado de segurar os 2 botões durante o boot e selecionar o botão PAL né? Não só apertar a barra de espaço (que só muda temporariamente). E vale lembrar, o modo PAL que salva nas preferences do Workbench não afeta jogos.
Algumas TVs (mesmo modernas) não suportam e acho que jogam de volta pra NTSC, que é o que pode ter acontecido aí. Como último recurso, vc pode tentar programas que forçam PAL no sistema mais incisivamente (resistem soft reset), como o Degrader (https://aminet.net/package/util/misc/Degrader).
Hi, the config file is located at CastlevaniaAGA_Win64\FS-UAE\Configurations\Default.fs-uae ... open it with Notepad or similar, so you can edit. By default, the FS-UAE embedded emulator runs at 960x540.
So, I don't own a 4K monitor to test but I'd assume that you need to add these lines in that file:
Are you playing it in forced NTSC/60Hz? That may make it overspeed. Other than that, maybe some adjusts here and there but in general it's already being criticized for being too easy so as a general rule it'll keep the pace. Which is more or less aligned with more modern takes on CV like the recent Haunted Castle remake by Konami itself.
It's nearly done content-wise (except for the soundtrack), but I also plan to port it to latest 2024 version of the engine (it's currently on a late 2023 version). That may help with remaining issues, such as when attacking while moving upstairs/downstairs.
I am also working in original game(s), which I may plan to announce in the future. That's heavily requested. :)
Muito legal, até comentei lá no video quando saiu, valeu! :) De lá pra cá já resolvi aquele problema do boneco as vezes não cair da borda da tela embaixo quando cai na água, entre outras coisinhas. Grande abraço!
Interesting bit about more RAM. There was a similar post some comments below, and it succeeds by using the HDF image file, following a quick guide (pic) that I did.
Also I'd say that the WHDLoad one is the recommended version for easy of use.
Its to run on a CD32 disc, i have no issue running it with fastram using the non crunched version. But the crunched doesn’t want to load, just wondered if there was an issue with it? I got a late 2022 build running on a stock CD32, but seems ram requirements have gone up slightly over the last year and a half, no problems if not possible with the crunched version, just letting you know not working for me.
I wish I could play this. FS-UAE keeps crashing on me and I can't figure out what combination of options I need in WinUAE to get this to load. I tried with an A4000 + 8MB RAM but I still get an out of memory error, even after slamming every single RAM option to its maximum and trying dozens of chip and Kickstart combinations. I'm stumped.
WHDLoad version: WinUAE RAM tab should be 2MB chip and 1MB Z2 fast (or anything actually, up to 8MB there, as you wish). If that still won't go, try the Castlevania AGA HDF, which is a hard disk image with the game pre-installed. Following the guide below on how to use this type of hard disk image.
Soundtrack is incomplete at the moment, only Vampire Killer, Stalker and Wicked Child are final versions (pending possibly some optimization to reduce memory size).
Just a quick one, there are meant to be 2 whip upgrades, which is displayed in level 1 - but once you lose a life you only regain one upgrade. A little on the easy side, maybe some difficulty options could be put in for final release. Brilliant game though, very nice indeed. Love the sprite and the animations too.
Just played and finished. Did it on the Windows version (FS-UAE emulated) So, first, I did not really like the button mapping you chose, so I had to change it around, but I guess that is something debatable.
Here are some issues:
- Losing all health results in an empty bar, only after an extra hit does the player die. - There is some weird tile collision where it seems like the player should hit the tiles but doesn't. - There are some leftover tiles in certain places under the view port, which result in sometimes the player falling and just awkwardly standing there. - Enemies suffer from friendly fire, which makes the game easier. (Could be a purposeful choice). - Hearts carry over, which most probably was done on purpose, but it adds to the overall easy feeling the game has. - When climbing the stairs and stopping, the player still does his walk animation for a few milliseconds. - There seems to be some screen warping on certain lines. - Enemies that jump sometimes multiple jump and end up off screen. - Sometimes enemies just burst into flames by coming into contact with Simon, which, whilst badass, makes the game easier. - There is an overall jankyness to collisions and animations, hard to pinpoint besides everything else I already talked about. - Sometimes weapons trigger with a delay, which is also a problem with the original Amiga ECS version, so it may be the emulator at fault.
The graphics look very very nice, but could use a little more work to be more distinct from Chronicles. The new Simon sprite looks amazing.
The soundtrack is hit and miss. Most tracks are good, some sound a little off.
Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback. The ones that you marked as "purposeful choice", indeed, they are, to keep this brief.
The ones that are the hardest to fix (perhaps impossible given the current conditions):
- "There are some leftover tiles in certain places under the view port, which result in sometimes the player falling and just awkwardly standing there." << not tiles, there are no tiles under screen edge (map size ends at edge), it just doesn't want to go full offscreen in some places (in my tests, it's on certain key locations, so it was left low on priority since it's an issue that even benefits the player in some situations).
- "When climbing the stairs and stopping, the player still does his walk animation for a few milliseconds." << this one is very frustrating, wish I'd go with the SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT approach where it simply doesn't has an animation for stairs (would bring back so many days of my life).
- "...more work to be more distinct from Chronicles" << most of the tiles are actually from Rondo of Blood/TurboGrafx-16/highly reworked with even some SOTN here and there (such as mansion/world 1). Most enemies are from Chronicles, though (which may be the issue here).
- "There seems to be some screen warping on certain lines." << Emulator issue/FS-UAE, that doesn't seem to happen on real Amiga.
If you are moving downstairs and starts attacking with whip/chain, it may still keep going downstairs instead of stop and the resulting attack is unreliable/janky (hit detection on that nearest candle will probably miss). You're probably referring to this as an 'overall janky' bit. On FS-UAE, the button mapping isn't "native", it's a mapping on top of a mapping, so you may be losing a few milliseconds at each attack button press that probably won't happen on real Amiga ( I don't know much about FS-UAE and I just provided a solution for people wanting a simple way to play it, but I'm aware that it isn't the best solution regarding input response times).
As for the music, Vampire Killer, Stalker, boss fight and Wicked Child are done by a professional musician. The rest is a (desperate) attempt by me (no proper musician) to have at least a placeholder so the level will not be silent or "it has the wrong music" (as it happened before).
And lastly, bear in mind that I'm a "generalist", I do a bit of everything, on spare time, so there'll be always loose ends here and there if you can't afford a team of full time "specialists" in each area like Konami did in their glory Castlevania days.
Thank you for your answers. Well I did have fun playing it!
Yeah that "tile" issue is just a little awkward, but it doesn't detract from the game.
Don't worry about the stairs, the climbing animation is too good to sacrifice!
About sprites, you are right, I just personally would like to see more distinct ones.
As for music, any way to convince the original musician to do the rest of them? ^^'
Finally, FS-UAE was basically the best option I could find for someone who doesn't own an Amiga. If there is a better emulator, I'll hapilly switch over...
Thanks. Btw, I just updated it this morning, fixing a number of reported issues. The bottom edge of screen ("tiles") issue might be fixed now. About the music, there's also the musician that did the tunes for my version of Green Beret (Rush'n Attack) who is also very skilled. The problem is that skilled musicians are always busy with professional/paid projects. They are hard to allocate to fan games and hobby projects. But let's cross our fingers!
Wow this is amazing. I like the new Simon sprites.
There is a little problem throwing the knife (other weapons maybe also) . The animation is too slow. The knife already hits the enemy while Simon is still busy throwing it.
Edit: With PUA 2021 core with RetroArch it's better!
Great to hear it's better with PUA 2021 core! I've made it throw it instantly at button press (shoulder button on CD32 pad) instead of waiting the last frame of animation (for best possible responsiveness: gameplay first).
You'll thank me after you try a version that throws the knife only at the last frame, believe me, it gets in the way! :D I might do only one frame, though, that would work too. Thanks for playing!
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It really is a great adaptation of Castlevania. Of course there are some interruptions due to the music on the CD32. Nevertheless, it's good that you can change tracks at any time. The only point of criticism is the score display at the end of the level. It doesn't have the quality of the game and that you can run out of the picture on the right in level 2. But otherwise you've done a damn good job.
Thanks!
The scoreboard on the regular A1200/A4000 version may be a little better now since it's now set to overlap the game rather than push the screen down, but it's a standard feature of the engine and you can see this happens on other games done with it. It's called a 'panel' in the engine's jargon, and as we speak, that's the only way allowed in the engine to write text or stats on the Amiga screen. But the engine is experimental and is evolving everyday, so you never know, maybe in the future it'll allow to overlay text directly on the play area without that panel or make the panel transition smoother.
The 'run out of picture on level2', now that's something more worrying that I can do something about. Can you tell if that happens before a player death or after, and at what exact point on the stage?
I understand, it's still a good game.
I think that was a mistake in the translation. I was able to run out of the picture with the character on the right. I'd have to look for that spot again.
First of all, congratulations on this development and this update. It's fantastic. If you allow me to report a bug, I was on the fight with the final boss, I lost all my lives, I tried to continue and the game crashed (Black screen, but the hud is still visible)
Thanks!
I'll verify that closely, because I've got reports of issues with the continue feature on the 4th boss as well, so, until that, I recommend to use save states (if you're on emulator) for those tougher bosses. :)
the iso version doesn't go beyond the third level. it always crashes before the third boss.
i've cd32
could it be caused by the terrible fire330 card?
Hi,
I've got multiple reports of crashes on the third level (world 3). It's a high priority issue, so I pinned it in the dev log here.
I don't think it's the TF330 card, but meanwhile, you could try this special version that I did (in this link), it only runs adequately with extra memory (like that on your TF card) but that also means that it's more stable than the normal CD32 version (which has some crazy stuff made to run on the lesser amount of memory of a stock CD32, and that crazy stuff might be causing crashes). Thanks!
Congratulations on finishing the game! 🙂 I tested again the final version, but unfortunately I was not able to complete it as planned, as there seems to be a bug in the 5th world (level 13) that even occurred in the latest version at the time of our livestream. I had to skip the world completely to avoid ending up in the workbench again. This happened with both the WHDLoad and the regular version. You can see the bug in our video below at 04:18:15. There are also some problems in the form of "hanging" inside objects like stairs. Our German-language review starts at 03:47:45. English subtitles are also available.
Edit: I noticed that you are not playing the latest version. Latest version (January 26) features that instruction text at the bottom of the options menu, like in the picture below. I'm still adding things and fixes (check last paragraph in this post).
I wasn't able to reproduce your issue, it simply doesn't happen with me (check this video, same situation as you, I tried to force the crash).
It may be low chipRAM. Even if your Workbench says "1,800,000" of chip, it isn't always true (as memory gets corrupted due to Wb apps loaded and other stuff). I would suggested to please test the vanilla CastlevaniaAGA_January2025.lha on a higher chipRAM situation: hold both mouse buttons on boot, boot with no startup, then Work: (or equivalent name of the partition) >> cd CastlevaniaAGA >> game-crunched.exe
AGA games launched from Workbench are always at risk, even with WHDLoad. Remember that back in the day, Super Stardust AGA had a boot-disk? That's the reason! A similar crash happened a while ago on AmigaBill's stream, and after that, he always used boot with no startup method (just to make sure). And since that, it always worked without problems.
It might be other incompatibility related to hardware. I would like to know what is your hardware (specially accelerator model and the KS ROM on the Amiga).
Regarding complete version, in technical terms, the game is BETA, which means that the game is feature complete, i.e., all features and content scheduled for release are in the game, including the full CD soundtrack on CD32. However, as a BETA the game is largely untested and thus has issues that need to be fixed (like what you experienced). This is why companies will do in-house betas, limited release/private betas, and public betas as their games become more solid on the way to full release. To be precise, the A1200/A4000 version is slightly behind beta because its .MOD soundtrack is still not fully complete. Hopefully, all will be finished in time for Amiga's 40th anniversary celebrations.
Thanks for playing, live streaming it and reporting! :)
I updated the original version from February 20th (at the time of preparation for the broadcast) to the latest version during the livestream after two failed attempts. Funnily enough, the version was updated during our stream, so that the version from the last attempt was only 45 minutes old, see position 04:32:53. Unfortunately, this didn't help and I couldn't use the CD32 version because the trainer didn't work (keys didn't work during the game). I will definitely take another look at the game later and adjust my rating accordingly. It is and remains a damn good and technically very high-quality game. And sometimes a livestream like ours can be very helpful for troubleshooting, as our example shows. It would not be the first time that another update follows shortly afterwards. 🙂
The game was tested with WinUAE 5.2.0 (not the most recent version, as this apparently contains changes and a few small errors in sound playback). This runs with a realistic, cycle-accurate A1200 standard configuration with HDD, Kickstart 3.1, 2 MB Chip- and 8 MB Fast-RAM without a turbo card in order to simulate the most realistic setting as possible. The color palette under the Workbench (OS 3.1) was set to 256 colors by default, which requires a bit more Chip RAM and there are actually games like "Bunnito's Feast" that need more to start. However, based on previous knowledge, it was not to be expected that the error would also occur during gameplay.
Edit: The bug also occurs in the (now) current version from 26.2., even with the color palette reduced to 2 colors under OS 3.1. To be on the safe side, it was tested again with the current WinUAE 5.3.1, and as expected, there were no differences. I would be happy to send you my WinUAE configuration that causes the problem so that you can troubleshoot it. If you are interested, just send me an email using our contact form: https://www.radio-paralax.de/kontakt/
Oh, it was emulation, that's a relief. My focus is on crashes on real hardware. Emulation will never be 100%, for example, you can configure UAE to have 8MB of chipRAM, which is physically impossible on real world (you'll need to redesign the Amiga chipset and add extra addresses).
So, it enables strange stuff like that, resulting in strange and unexpected results that we developers can't manage to foresee.
Bunnito's Feast programmer was clever, I should have done that memory check too.
As the error keeps happening, I would please ask you to test the following:
Download the 'Castlevania AGA HDF' version from this page. Follow this quick tutorial that I just recorded for you on how to load the HDF file on your emulator (it's very simple).
This is basically like the CD32 version, but running on a disk image rather than a CD ISO. Think of it as an ADF floppy image. Don't worry, it has all the level skip shortcuts that you need to quick test the place with problem.
If that HDF works for you, in the way shown in the video tutorial, I know what's happening. And again, as a disclaimer, we developers can't guarantee to fix everything for all possible configurations around (as they're almost infinite), so, our focus is first in real hardware, then direct emulator configurations (like CD32 or the HDF shown above, getting rid of the Workbench which just jeopardizes things). The best Amiga games from back in the day also removed the system out of the way to squeeze the best performance and to have less troubles! Thanks.
Edit: my WinUAE is version 3.4.0, installed in 2016, and the game works here from start to end without any issue. As they say, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". ;-)
I have just tested the game again as described with the HDF version and only one disk drive, unfortunately with the same result. I also noticed that the game does not run without additional memory of at least 64 KB (Z2 Fast). For the test I had set 1MB, a completely normal configuration for memory extensions at the time. I have attached the corresponding error message here as an image.
I would also like to add that I only played such games with 8 MB Fast RAM usually, just to avoid memory bottlenecks with WHDLoad and HDD games. Of course, the chip RAM was only preset to the usual 2 MB, see the Workbench memory status in our video. As far as compatibility goes, I rely on the statement of "Toni Wilen", the author of WinUAE. For years I have not found an OCS/ECS game or demo that does not run with it, which is why I now assume that it is 100% emulated. The AGA games and demos that I have tested over the last 4-5 years also ran perfectly with it, but of course I couldn't test all releases. However, there are sometimes configurations that do not correspond to the same setting of the computer on which they were programmed. That is why I am happy to offer to provide you with the configuration I use. 🙂
Excellent, thanks, the error message pinpoints exactly what happened.
So, I did a special version for you that should work (let's cross our fingers). In this link.
It's a very rare issue! You can check on YouTube now, many longplays and live streams that didn't had that problem, like this one, for example.
Also, the problem doesn't seems to happen on FS-UAE, it only happens on WinUAE.
So, what I did was to reduce the number of candles and objects on the level by about 10 to 20% (the error message is about that: max number of objects/limit).
If it still crashes, I'll reduce even more! Don't give up! ;-)
Fantastic work! It's definitely "getting there"!
Here are a few minor bugs and annoyances I noticed in the January 2025 build:
To answers your questions, it depends on what conditions are you playing. Is real hardware? If so, what spec? Is it on the FS-UAE build? That has notorious issues with two buttons pressed at same time, specially if you use keyboard Z and X.
The stair access hotspots are limited to a 16x16 tile, always the 1st tile and last tile of the ladder. They are like this in most Castlevanias, I never liked stairs handling in most title of the series (no wonder they dropped this on SotN, it's just a slope skinned as stairs there), so I added the ability to just jump on top of it and move ahead.
But it's a valid point, and I can make tests with portals. "Portals" is a feature that I started to use on CD32 and they are spots that are not limited to a 16x16 tile. It's a ton of work to swap all spots for portals and that will likely add further, unexpected issues. So, I have to ponder a lot about it!
Sub-weapons on FS-UAE/CD32 pad: why you couldn't reliably use sub-weapon, what happens? Is it a USB controller plugged on PC? You can edit all button bindings in the file Default.fs-uae located at Game dir\FS-UAE\Configurations
And you can always press and hold (like a charge in MegaMan). It's better than up + fire because you can fire while crouching. ;-) But the ideal and recommended way is to use 3 buttons (attack, jump, and sub-weapon).
Simon taking a few frames to switch back to stand after landing goes down here as low priority, like anything that's just aesthetics. Everything written above was higher on order of priority. Attract mode goes straight into game by design, no frills. Could be readjusted, but again, low priority on the list and likely for 1.1, not 1.0.
Thanks for the feedback and thanks for playing!
Playing on FS-UAE v3.1.68, using a DS4 controller set as a CD32 pad in the emulator. Don't remember having any controller issues with other Amiga or CD32 games, but I might be mistaken.
Maybe its more about stair hotspot positioning? Not sure how it is set now, but I feel like it should protrude more "in front" of the step.
Edit: regarding your request (up + fire for subweapon), I did an experimental version that does that. Tested only with knife at beginning, but in theory it should work with all weapons. It's activated by default if up_for_jump isn't enabled. Download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12BFGB7o4H1CjYthFyHLb4otyP5rXjij0/view?usp=shari...
Stairs tips and hints: what most people I see playing do (me inclusive) is to just keep pressing right and up at same time a couple of meters before stairs: Simon keeps walking towards the stairs and as soon as you're on the spot, he'll snap on the ladder and go upstairs. To get down, you don't do anything, it just goes downhill like if it's a 45-degree slope down. You can move right and left on a ladder, not just up and down (same as SNES Super CV).
Check picture below, I hope it shows the spot clearly: there's a hard limit regarding spot position (the grid is fixed, it is not flexible, grid size is fixed by the Amiga's blitter at 16x16 pixels in size and you have them at position 0, 16, 32 and so on). I'm afraid I can't do much more in that regard, I did my best.
But I'll check the DS4 controller issue on FS-UAE 3.1.68, and I at some point I may implement the up+fire for subs because it's been requested often. Thanks again!
Hi Date.
This is incredible !!!!! :) (no need for my voice tho) ;)
The womans voice feels so out of place, dont you think ? (mybe its just me)
:)
Anyway, i added Alucards SFX when he got hurt (there are 3 different ones)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/cmkzev05nhwkyel/Ouchi-SFX.7z/file
Feel free to chose the one you like the most.
(or is there a way to randomize those 3 SFX when simon gets hit)
Another thing that would make this even better...
Fire+Up for the Subweapons. pleeeease.
Maybe also the older Simon Sprite that you used before.
idk, maybe a option. I just like the older better
(i think the " old one "was ripped from chronicles)
Thank you so very much Dante for making this legendary Title for the Amiga.
Bless you dante. <(^_^)>
Awesome, here we go:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16KDA0Q_vKulN93qnhwX-s0y0S71pjgBi/view?usp=shari...
I may check how actual Simon Belmont sounds. I used your Alucard's SD_ALK_00004.wav file in the game build above. Thanks for the heads up and many thanks for playing! :)
Thank YOU dante !! this is much better :)
I tried to find Simon Voice Samples, but had no luck .
(or found the NES sfx ... ;),
but thanks to this new build simons voice is at least male.
( it bugged me since the early builds ).
Maybe the sfx in the MainTitleScreen are also a bit "ruff".... ;) hehe
Ohh, and about the Simon Sprite. Please dont get me wrong Dante,
i really like the redesign, it´s very accurate to the original NES Coverartwork .. .. but i guess... its the teeth. XD when i look at his Facei get serious "super double dragon" (SNES) flashbacks XD
Maybe a option, like in Turrican 2 AGA with an option to change the sprite would be nice; but thats just a idea. As you know, its easy to come up with an idea, but to make it a reality is another thing ;)
More Ideas: make the Subweapon work like in the Original. Fire+Up.
Pleeease :)
Also, the stage with frankenstein seems... so .... short.... as something was missing...
+ the game is too easy ;)
Well, enough of my silly ideas to improve Castlevania for the AMIGA even more.
This is already great .....I never had thought that a good version of Castlevania would come to the Amiga. (even if it plays quit different)
Thank you Dante,
Cool! I agree that the game is too easy at the moment, specially the bosses. If you check my release of Amiga's Green Beret, I've added difficulty levels, it's probably what I'll do on Castlevania. Think that it's on easy mode now.
The Frank level is designed on top of the original, so it is what it is. It's a continuation of the underground part with the raft, so it is not short nor easy on the whole.
About Simon, I rather not touch that since it's made by a Castlevania specialist and seasoned pixel artist, not by me. So I respect the work of talented people who helped me because he liked the project. And on top of this, the Simon design was overwhelmingly well received by the Castlevania community so far.
The up + fire to simulated the original NES is a valid request, and you are not the first to ask. It was not added at first because up was originally for jump (yeah we have Amiga purists who want that) so it kinds of getting messy if we add too much workarounds on controls. Consoles tend to control better than the typical Amiga games because they have standardized controls and avoid not tinkering with too much methods to meet the preferences of different people. Having said that, I should have made it mandatory for at least 2 buttons controller, that would have made everything so tidier, control-wise. The best way to play it will be always a CD32 controller or equivalent, where the right shoulder button (or yellow) will be for weapon.
Thanks for playing and for your suggestions and all! :)
Yes; all valid Points Date.
Maybe one more Question if you dont mind.
What is up with that " Scoreboard" at the end of a Level ? :)
greetings & many thanks
Torti
You mean, the one shown below? If so, we had some fun at Discord, asking what was the most "low priority" critic or feedback you guys received about your games. Panel push the game screen down, then up. Nothing serious, it's an engine quirk. But seems that it somehow bothers some people. So I will quote an excellent and flattering answer by Mikael there: "When a game is so polished that it rivals official releases, it is bound to happen that people start viewing it as such, thus comparing it to games of very high standard, and commenting about some features that seem to them a little less polished. Believe me; in it's own way, commenting the screen dropping down is definitely a compliment. They compare your game to the best examples and how things were done in those."
yes :)
btw, thanks for the new "Up+Fire=Subweapon"
Testbuild. I will try that immediately !
<(^_^)>
I've got this issue on CD32: I don't think sky should behave like that. After getting to the monster (a sort of Franklenstein) I got killed and the game just froze. Using UAE embedded in Amiga Forever. Thank you.
This happens in WinUAE if you use certain settings, specially "fastest possible" and cycle-exact off. But we're not sure of the exact settings that cause this. At the moment I'd recommend using FS-UAE instead, with FS-UAE Launcher, it's the only one so far that got CD32 100% right, as shown in Amiga Bill's livestream from Sunday (the area you're showing starts at 03:12:35 on the livestream link) . But it'd need to convert the MP3 music in the ISO to WAV and edit the .cue file to match the converted file names.
To everyone that had problem with WHDLoad version: download again, the icon was not pointing to the correct file, now it is. Thanks!
Awesome - CD32 version!
Amazing! Thank you very much for the video on real hardware. If possible, please inform Neil at IRN to use your latest footage (could be your video of the standard 1200 version) because he's using footage with the older/temporary character which was not the titular Simon Belmont yet. :) Thanks again for your work covering all the new releases!
Great game, thank you.
Thanks for the video and thanks for playing!
Awesome!
This is amazing !!! ; thank you so very much Dante Dev !!!
Hmm maybe its just me, but 2 things kinda confuse me. :)
Why has Simon the Voice of a Girl/Woman ?
Why the "effect" when beating a boss ? looks out of place; literally.
:) greetings and many thanks,
Torti
I could mod the voice of Simon with the one you want :)
Just send me the sample in WAV format and I'll put it in the game and send you a link of that version! Could be your voice if you wish! ;)
Great progress! Plays really fast! Keep up the good work!
I have some concerns which I wanted to share with you so you can keep improving it.
1. when I walk up down ladders using diagonals, he may somehow start to moonwalk even while getting off the ladders :)
2. The CD audio doesnt loop (noticed it on stage 1)
3. While I was jumping and shooting, during a screen transition, I was able to glitch freeze my character. Better to see in the following vid what I mean.
https://www.twitch.tv/amigalivegaming/clip/ArborealCrepuscularReindeerCoolCat-wa...
Again great work!
Hi, thanks for playing and for your message!
The CD audio indeed doesn't loops. You can check Earok's Super Star Wars Holiday CD32, it has the same limitation (and it's a port by the creator of the engine himself). I'd say that it's a hard limit. But, I remember that I did the following "hack": I edited some songs, doing a copy and paste of its whole length at the ending, so it simulated at least one loop. The drawback is that the ISO gets bigger, and our hosting space here is limited. So, this is mostly used on very long stages (such as stage 5). But, I may do the extreme looping like 3 or 4 repeats with total disregard to the ISO sizes and Itch.io hosting space. At the moment it's the only shot we got.
About the ladders and the animation, I always remember that Wayne's World movie scene with the guitar shop and the poster pinned in the way where it reads "NO starway to heaven". I mean, I gotta pin a poster here "no reports of ladder animation"! :) The whole ladder is actually a bit of a hack on top of engine's "slope" physics (ie a thing that wasn't meant to be used that way). It may improve for v1.0 (we're at v0.9), but you will ALWAYS be able to moonwalk or do other funky moves there! Bottom line: you can moonwalk on SNES Super Castlevania too, and I'm sure that it was not done by just one programmer like me on his spare time. ;)
Watched the clip from your stream, that's very interesting. It didn't freeze, technically speaking, the camera just lost focus on the player character and wandered all the way to the left (for no reason). This happened once on the same place and you can see a screenshot of the exact same place and issue taken by Jimmie.s80@gmail.com a few comments below, 7 days ago. I issued a hotfix for that and it never happened again. But I'll check that spot again, thank you very much for reporting! I was a bit overwhelmed by the massive issue of CD music that refuses completely to play, which was completely unexpected so I put a lot of effort attempting to solve it (which fortunately seems to play correctly for you as far as I saw in your clip) and so I didn't had time yet to check more closely that fateful spot on world2.
Thanks for your detailed report and have a great Sunday!
Thanks for the detailed response!! I finished the game and would play it again when you have another update.
Yes someone mentioned later that you could moonwalk in Dracula X too.
As a workaround for the music, Left Shoulder (Rewind button on CD32 pad) can restart the audio track playback.
I was also able to get myself lost out of screen in the early stage where you come down from a ladder from the upper left.
After coming down automatically, I went back up to the ladder and started jumping offscreen until I couldn't get back in the game.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2357525280
Perhaps spawn some invisible or off-screen blocks, to block players from getting stuck up there?
I guess its still quite early for a thorough testing, but I was mainly curious and it was fun trying it out :-)
Will keep trying out each update and report my finds.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks, that clip is very cool: by sheer insistence you managed to get on the floor from previous level :D (yeah, it's still there, everything is there, it's just the camera that crops down). That wasn't an issue before CD32, as I was just loading and unloading levels at will. I can't do that on CD32, because 1) it'll wear out your CD reader 2) CD loading times are slow 3) the CD music stops when a loading operation starts (hard limit, no workaround). So, the whole level or most part of it must be loaded on memory at once to avoid all of the above!
I need to give it some thought. I could just block the way out more consistently, as seems that my little text msg "no backtrack allowed" wasn't enough. ;)
The CD repeat workaround I mentioned seemed to work on AmigaBill's stream, he didn't "ran out of music" and he normally likes to take his time on a level. But making super lengthy versions of the tracks is not a very elegant way. The restart music button that I added on left shoulder button to force it was also meant for early troubles when the music refused completely to start (seems fixed now).
It's was already so much trouble with only the default A1200/A4000 version, why I added so much extra work with the CD32? LOL.
Yes, I think that they were talking recently about this possibility either on EAB or Discord.
Just a suggestion, would it be possible to add an options setting that toggles gameplay tips on and off? Also, I think the thunders should be triggered a little slower. They happen too often
It's a valid suggestion but low on priority list.
Still a ton of stuff to do ahead of this, bear in mind that I started this when I was 47, now I just turned 50, but at least we're seeing a possible 1.0 on the horizon. Which doesn't matter that the support will cease after 1.0, with Green Beret, I added many features such as difficulty level and more.
No boss fight music only on stage 1
stage 2medusa stage 3 the mummy no music on boss fights
Ok, added music triggers for the other bosses, try latest ISO. May have fixed the the background colors issue too. Do you have a TF card on your CD32?
i have the TF328 8Mb fastram
Have tested the new iso the music works know on the bosses.Buts its the same color issue in the windows and there is no music at that part with the color issues in the windows
Good, thanks!
The color issue: uploaded a new ISO today, changed that background window to black instead of dark blue, let's see if that helps. Also forced the CD music on that part.
No intro music? No music at this part in the game? Tried left shoulder buton no response graphics glitches in the Windows background
Thanks for all the testing and reporting, I just uploaded a new ISO fixing this.
Tested the new iso just wanted to tell you it works now the music. If i push the left shoulder button on my competition pro pad it says load in the game and right away if i do this the music starts and working great. Great work Dante it works now.
Have tested the cd32 redbook iso version.Music do not work ingame only at boss fights
Just uploaded a new attempt, red book too, now using for in-game the same method used for boss fights that seems to work.
tested the new version you uploaded it wont play any music now not the ingame music it played before on the boss fights.
Ok, I've reverted back the changes. Will keep trying until this is fixed. QUESTION: did it play the music in all boss fights or just the first one? Is music test options menu working? Thanks.
I dont think it worked at all in the boss fights.Playing music in the meny is also weird if you play one song it do not play if you chose 3 songs after that it plays the first you chosed
Hi,
I have some problems with Latest WHDLoad version (January 2005) About Graphics & musics sounds in the intro just after waiting on start menu. Tested on my real A1200 A1230 Turbo+II @40 Mhz... but same way on WINUAE.
But when I press fire to play it all seems to works correctly...
Please could You have a look ? previous version worked correctly...
Many Thanks Pascal
I'm working on that. I will upload a fixed WHDLoad version in the next hour. Thanks for playing and reporting!
Hi,
Many thanks for this new version it works great now.
Congratulations for this nice game
did you fix the music on the new Iso i have opening music now but the music wont play in game the only music i get is at the boss fight. have tried 2 brands i got on cdr Corporate express And mediarange burning the slowest i get on imgburn and i,m burning the que file.
I'm working on it. I've asked Hoffman (who did Shinobi on Neo Geo CD) and he suggested Red Book audio specs, which was needed also for music to work on the Neo Geo CD. So, I just added a new version (last one on downloads list) which describes Red Book audio on its screen name. I still don't know if it will work, it's also suggested to record the CD at the slowest possible speed.
there is something wrong with the iso all my other games works perfect burned on cdr so nothing wrong with my cd32 laser
User Eric H on X/Twitter burned 2 CDs and both worked, sent me video of running on real console, he got the music issue (possibly 192kbps to 128kbps export like described on the other reply) but like I said, those issues are expected, since it's one of the first CD32 games released with a experimental engine (Scorpion). To be honest, I'm surprised and pleased that it worked at all. It's just the music issue to fully solve and we're off to a great start! Have a great 2025 and thanks for playing.
what burn program should i use what is the best to use to burn out the iso
Try this guide: https://www.retro32.com/gaming/amiga-cd32/0401202029-amiga-cd32-games-iso-downlo...
Also, check this image. Not sure if useful at this point but it's regarding CD tracks.
tried to burn a new cd same trouble with music it plays when it feels to play in game-No opening music in the menu
I've just put the opening music back again, it was deactivated for test purposes when I was troubleshooting the CD music issue with user Eric H on X (the music that was failing to play was just Vampire Killer, the first level track, others seemed fine). There must be a way for you guys to test an ISO on real console without having to waste a blank disk or wear the reader (and thank you very much for the help, the experimental nature of the project and engine calls for a lot of trial and error until things are fine).
nicely work Cd32 version.Having some trouble with the music sometimes that it wont play as it supossed to do.Burn with Img burn and used the que file so the cd track gets on the cd
Try downloading again, I've did "hotfix": some music was at 192kbps, that one seems to be tough for the CD32 player to deal, changed all to 128kbps. It's all trial and error, there is no manual for that. :)
very good
Does the Windows version support controllers? It seems not.
It does. You must start it with the controller already plugged in.
dante quando eu executo o jogo a imagem fica cortada na parte de baixo, ja iniciei em ntsc ja iniciei em pal e nada faz com que a imagem normalize. Estou usando a1200 real
Isso é NTSC, no A1200 real em PAL fica como nessa foto abaixo. Só pra garantir, vc tá ligado de segurar os 2 botões durante o boot e selecionar o botão PAL né? Não só apertar a barra de espaço (que só muda temporariamente). E vale lembrar, o modo PAL que salva nas preferences do Workbench não afeta jogos.
Algumas TVs (mesmo modernas) não suportam e acho que jogam de volta pra NTSC, que é o que pode ter acontecido aí. Como último recurso, vc pode tentar programas que forçam PAL no sistema mais incisivamente (resistem soft reset), como o Degrader (https://aminet.net/package/util/misc/Degrader).
Hi i downloaded the 2nd option with pre-embedded emulator, how do i go about getting this to integer scaling upto 4k on my monitor ?
Hi, the config file is located at CastlevaniaAGA_Win64\FS-UAE\Configurations\Default.fs-uae ... open it with Notepad or similar, so you can edit. By default, the FS-UAE embedded emulator runs at 960x540.
So, I don't own a 4K monitor to test but I'd assume that you need to add these lines in that file:
fullscreen_width = 3840
fullscreen_height = 2160
4K displays are 3840 x 2160 resolution. Source and more video options to try: https://fs-uae.net/video-options
I noticed the game's enemies and the speed in general seems very fast, will you slow it down a little in the future?
Are you playing it in forced NTSC/60Hz? That may make it overspeed. Other than that, maybe some adjusts here and there but in general it's already being criticized for being too easy so as a general rule it'll keep the pace. Which is more or less aligned with more modern takes on CV like the recent Haunted Castle remake by Konami itself.
Hows the work coming along on this one Dante? :D
Thanks for the interest!
It's nearly done content-wise (except for the soundtrack), but I also plan to port it to latest 2024 version of the engine (it's currently on a late 2023 version). That may help with remaining issues, such as when attacking while moving upstairs/downstairs.
I am also working in original game(s), which I may plan to announce in the future. That's heavily requested. :)
Amazing port🤘🏻 looking forward to hear about your original game.Will it be for the Amiga?
Thanks for your words, JTB81. :)
Any new game will most likely have an Amiga version down the road.
Gameplay
Muito legal, até comentei lá no video quando saiu, valeu! :) De lá pra cá já resolvi aquele problema do boneco as vezes não cair da borda da tela embaixo quando cai na água, entre outras coisinhas. Grande abraço!
Vielen Dank für dieses großartige Spiel! :-)
Danke fürs Spielen! :-)
Some serious amount of work has happened since the last time I took a look at this project. Well done and look forward to seeing the end result.
Thank you very much!
Having no luck with the game-crunched.exe file does it require a new de-cruncher, or what existing one will work with it?
What file are you using?
stock version, with the crunched file. Also tried with more ram just to check and still wasn’t loading it.
Interesting bit about more RAM. There was a similar post some comments below, and it succeeds by using the HDF image file, following a quick guide (pic) that I did.
Also I'd say that the WHDLoad one is the recommended version for easy of use.
Its to run on a CD32 disc, i have no issue running it with fastram using the non crunched version. But the crunched doesn’t want to load, just wondered if there was an issue with it? I got a late 2022 build running on a stock CD32, but seems ram requirements have gone up slightly over the last year and a half, no problems if not possible with the crunched version, just letting you know not working for me.
I wish I could play this. FS-UAE keeps crashing on me and I can't figure out what combination of options I need in WinUAE to get this to load. I tried with an A4000 + 8MB RAM but I still get an out of memory error, even after slamming every single RAM option to its maximum and trying dozens of chip and Kickstart combinations. I'm stumped.
WHDLoad version: WinUAE RAM tab should be 2MB chip and 1MB Z2 fast (or anything actually, up to 8MB there, as you wish). If that still won't go, try the Castlevania AGA HDF, which is a hard disk image with the game pre-installed. Following the guide below on how to use this type of hard disk image.
Thanks so much! I finally got it to work with the guide!
Is it possible to have the soundtrack as a separate download?
Soundtrack is incomplete at the moment, only Vampire Killer, Stalker and Wicked Child are final versions (pending possibly some optimization to reduce memory size).
Just a quick one, there are meant to be 2 whip upgrades, which is displayed in level 1 - but once you lose a life you only regain one upgrade. A little on the easy side, maybe some difficulty options could be put in for final release. Brilliant game though, very nice indeed. Love the sprite and the animations too.
I will be doing a preview on my channel shortly.
Thanks, and yes, it's purposely on the easy side at this point so the people can see that it already has beginning, middle and end.
Thank you very much, loved it and left a commentary, a like and a subscribe there. :)
Just played and finished. Did it on the Windows version (FS-UAE emulated)
So, first, I did not really like the button mapping you chose, so I had to change it around, but I guess that is something debatable.
Here are some issues:
- Losing all health results in an empty bar, only after an extra hit does the player die.
- There is some weird tile collision where it seems like the player should hit the tiles but doesn't.
- There are some leftover tiles in certain places under the view port, which result in sometimes the player falling and just awkwardly standing there.
- Enemies suffer from friendly fire, which makes the game easier. (Could be a purposeful choice).
- Hearts carry over, which most probably was done on purpose, but it adds to the overall easy feeling the game has.
- When climbing the stairs and stopping, the player still does his walk animation for a few milliseconds.
- There seems to be some screen warping on certain lines.
- Enemies that jump sometimes multiple jump and end up off screen.
- Sometimes enemies just burst into flames by coming into contact with Simon, which, whilst badass, makes the game easier.
- There is an overall jankyness to collisions and animations, hard to pinpoint besides everything else I already talked about.
- Sometimes weapons trigger with a delay, which is also a problem with the original Amiga ECS version, so it may be the emulator at fault.
The graphics look very very nice, but could use a little more work to be more distinct from Chronicles. The new Simon sprite looks amazing.
The soundtrack is hit and miss. Most tracks are good, some sound a little off.
Thanks for playing and for the detailed feedback. The ones that you marked as "purposeful choice", indeed, they are, to keep this brief.
The ones that are the hardest to fix (perhaps impossible given the current conditions):
- "There are some leftover tiles in certain places under the view port, which result in sometimes the player falling and just awkwardly standing there." << not tiles, there are no tiles under screen edge (map size ends at edge), it just doesn't want to go full offscreen in some places (in my tests, it's on certain key locations, so it was left low on priority since it's an issue that even benefits the player in some situations).
- "When climbing the stairs and stopping, the player still does his walk animation for a few milliseconds." << this one is very frustrating, wish I'd go with the SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT approach where it simply doesn't has an animation for stairs (would bring back so many days of my life).
- "...more work to be more distinct from Chronicles" << most of the tiles are actually from Rondo of Blood/TurboGrafx-16/highly reworked with even some SOTN here and there (such as mansion/world 1). Most enemies are from Chronicles, though (which may be the issue here).
- "There seems to be some screen warping on certain lines." << Emulator issue/FS-UAE, that doesn't seem to happen on real Amiga.
If you are moving downstairs and starts attacking with whip/chain, it may still keep going downstairs instead of stop and the resulting attack is unreliable/janky (hit detection on that nearest candle will probably miss). You're probably referring to this as an 'overall janky' bit. On FS-UAE, the button mapping isn't "native", it's a mapping on top of a mapping, so you may be losing a few milliseconds at each attack button press that probably won't happen on real Amiga ( I don't know much about FS-UAE and I just provided a solution for people wanting a simple way to play it, but I'm aware that it isn't the best solution regarding input response times).
As for the music, Vampire Killer, Stalker, boss fight and Wicked Child are done by a professional musician. The rest is a (desperate) attempt by me (no proper musician) to have at least a placeholder so the level will not be silent or "it has the wrong music" (as it happened before).
And lastly, bear in mind that I'm a "generalist", I do a bit of everything, on spare time, so there'll be always loose ends here and there if you can't afford a team of full time "specialists" in each area like Konami did in their glory Castlevania days.
Have a great weekend.
Thank you for your answers. Well I did have fun playing it!
Yeah that "tile" issue is just a little awkward, but it doesn't detract from the game.
Don't worry about the stairs, the climbing animation is too good to sacrifice!
About sprites, you are right, I just personally would like to see more distinct ones.
As for music, any way to convince the original musician to do the rest of them? ^^'
Finally, FS-UAE was basically the best option I could find for someone who doesn't own an Amiga. If there is a better emulator, I'll hapilly switch over...
Overall, this is an amazing feat! Congratulations
Thanks. Btw, I just updated it this morning, fixing a number of reported issues. The bottom edge of screen ("tiles") issue might be fixed now. About the music, there's also the musician that did the tunes for my version of Green Beret (Rush'n Attack) who is also very skilled. The problem is that skilled musicians are always busy with professional/paid projects. They are hard to allocate to fan games and hobby projects. But let's cross our fingers!
Wow this is amazing. I like the new Simon sprites.
There is a little problem throwing the knife (other weapons maybe also) . The animation is too slow. The knife already hits the enemy while Simon is still busy throwing it.
Edit: With PUA 2021 core with RetroArch it's better!
Great to hear it's better with PUA 2021 core! I've made it throw it instantly at button press (shoulder button on CD32 pad) instead of waiting the last frame of animation (for best possible responsiveness: gameplay first).
You'll thank me after you try a version that throws the knife only at the last frame, believe me, it gets in the way! :D I might do only one frame, though, that would work too. Thanks for playing!