Games you like that everyone hates

[BullockDS]

First of all,

The "difficulty" of SNES Dracula X lies not in honest challenge, but in flawed game design. Rondo's difficulty was the product of enemies, which complemented an enviroment you had to traverse, while in Drac X the enemies were just strewn around the various stages without any creative thought. Also speaking of the levels themselves, they were unexciting. No Ghost Ship, no Graveyard, just the ordinary, cookie-cutter scenery you'd find in any other platformer with a similar theme.

And I suppose you'd rather not have an alternate character with a different playstyle? Or, do you think females should only exist in games as non-combatants? If they'd instead used Kid Dracula as an alternate character who played identically to Maria, would you still be defending Dracula X on this issue?

Now, save files, I can live without, but really Dracula X didn't have the depth to warrant a save feature, unlike Rondo. The music could have been better, the "limitations" of the SNES are irrelevant; Super Castlevania 4 had fantastic music. The fact that they included Picture of a Ghost Ship but left out the superior Cross a Fear is just sad. The cutscenes weren't really a huge deal, but I'd personally rather have them than not, given the choice.

Dracula X wasn't one tenth the game Rondo of Blood was.

I can agree with you on the level design and enemy placement, actually; it WAS a little maddening at times. The atmosphere tended to be a bit bland as well, but I don't think that it was truly awful. Though, I do believe that the challenge was a bit more unbalanced in DracX, so I'll give you that. At least it's better than Haunted Castle. When I was addressing the difficulty complaint, most of the complainers contrasted DracX and Super CV IV's more versatile Belmont, not contrasting DracX and Rondo's level designs/enemy placement, so sorry for any confusion.

I suppose I was a bit hasty and mad in my Maria rant, and for that, I apologize. My issue isn't gender at all, nor is having an alternate playstyle character on its own; Rondo definitely wins when it boils down to playstyle variety (especially since DracX took out the Bible Subweapon. BASTARDS). I'm just saying that they could've balanced out Maria a bit better in Rondo; even with her taking more damage and dealing less, she was still a very cheap player; her versatility didn't compliment Rondo's level design in my opinion.

Yes, the music could've been better. The same could be said of pretty much any videogame; but to a certain point, it's all about taste (for example, I preferred the DracX versions of Beginning and Vampire Killer over Super CV IV's; again, it's a matter of preference). I'm glad we agree about Cross a Fear, though. As for cutscenes, I don't think that DracX established enough of an emphasis on story to justify cutscenes, but if it did, I would think that the lack of such cutscenes would be a bit troubling.

That's kinda my point: contrary to popular belief, DracX wasn't supposed to be Rondo of Blood, but an alternate retelling of Richter's Rondo of Blood story (think Castlevania I [RONDO] vs. Vampire Killer [DRACX]). My wording in my previous post may suggest otherwise, but I don't think that Rondo of Blood is bad; it's most definitely the stronger of the two titles here. On the other side of the coin, though, I don't think that DracX is the appalling shitstorm that so many like to think it is.