SNES Dracula X

[Bonknuts]

Ok. I'm in the process of ripping some graphics from the SNES version, and I watched a longplay of it to see what I wanted from the game. I noticed something that I missed before; outside the flashy "town" on fire, the SNES version is really lacking in multi-layered parallax for most of its of levels. And some areas, the PCE could do it with sprites (Konami already did that approach on the PCE Rondo version).

 What I hear often around the net, is that the SNES graphics are superior to the PCE version. That the PCE version looks closer to 8bit than 16bit. I'm talking about the levels, not the enemies or bosses. The consensus is that the PCE couldn't handle the SNES version graphics, which is why they look different. Do you think the SNES level graphics are superior? Do you think the PCE could handle them?

[Otaking]

SFC Dracula XX (SNES Dracula X) is shit. I think it's the single biggest missed opportunity in video games I can think of.

So when I first heard (circa 1994) about Dracula XX coming to the SFC I was soooooo hyped because

1. Akumajou Dracula/Castlevainia IV on SFC/SNES was incredible
2. the SFC was/is my favourite console of all time,
3. Konami made amazing games on the SFC/SNES
4. Dracula X PCE was/is my second favourite game of all time on any system, it's perfect in every way, it's a masterpiece.

Dracula XX should of been amazing, but what we got was so lame.

[esteban]

I don't care, I have fun with SNES Dracula X. It's *not* horrible. I don't care if it has parallax or not.

I wish we had *more* 2D action Castlevanias...

I happen to love the PCE Dracula X because there are so many little details...you can tell it was made with love.

I don't know...I have my pet peeves with some Castlevania games (I think the Mode 7 Castlevania effects are absolutely horrific. Ugly as sin. Abominable.) But... they are not deal-breakers...

PCE Dracula X aesthetics are quite nice. SNES Castlevanias have some nice aesthetic moments too. PCE WINS.

[Necromancer]

With its smaller color pallette, I'm not sure how well the PCE would do replicating the soft watercolor pastels while maintaining color count.  Besides that, it looks like much of the game could be done by modifiying the foregrounds and backgrounds to better suit animated background tiles, strip parallax, and overlapping foreground sprites; it wouldn't be anywhere near pixel perfect, no, but nor would it need to be perfectly flat and missing the parallax altogether.

A few other things I don't know about:

Fade In/Out Cut Scenes:  in the opening, it fades out the old scene while fading in a new one overtop the old, all the while with text in front of both.  I assume it's using sprites for text and fading in and out the two background layers separately, but how could you replicate that in PCE?  Keep the text as sprites and animate the background with lots of tiles?

Flames:  probably not doable without a second layer for 'em to ride in, but who cares?  They're ugly!  At first glance they look kinda neat, but then you realize it's a short animated loop, non-transparent, and doesn't scroll.  You'd lose that extra layer of depth, but methinks it'd look better with the background tiles themselves being animted to show the buildings aflame.

Rising Water Transparency: could it be done with palette tricks like the water drain in Lords of Thunder?  Hell, maybe that's what the SNES game is doing anyway, rather than real transparency.

[Bonknuts]

For the most part, the water colors transfer over.. in that they don't loose much or only tiny detail is lost:
http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/dx5.png
^- The PCE is on the left, BSNES emulator on the right.

http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/progress_map.png
^- Converted to PCE

[ccovell]

Your pic on the left has the green channel too strong overall... the orange/brown bricks now look too brown/green, and the purple->blue shadows on the wall now tend towards purple->cyan.

[Bonknuts]

It makes it softer. Do you have an aversion to green?

Less green:
http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/dx5_1b.png

Even less green:
http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/dx5_1c.png

 In both these pics, the image on the right is posterized to PCE colors - but it's contrast-y.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I personally like all of them, but like the even less green one most, just need more orange rather then red in the windows.

[Black Tiger]

For the most part, the water colors transfer over.. in that they don't loose much or only tiny detail is lost:
http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/dx5.png
^- The PCE is on the left, BSNES emulator on the right.

http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/progress_map.png
^- Converted to PCE

Your BSNES pic has already been converted to 9-bit.

[Bonknuts]

For the most part, the water colors transfer over.. in that they don't loose much or only tiny detail is lost:
http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/dx5.png
^- The PCE is on the left, BSNES emulator on the right.

http://www.pcedev.net/2016/ObjectMaps/progress_map.png
^- Converted to PCE

Your BSNES pic has already been converted to 9-bit.

Not in that pic it's not. That's a straight capture from the emulator - untouched. For dx5_1b.png and dx5_1c.png pics, the BSNES pic is converted to 9bit, but not the original one I posted (dx5.png).

[Black Tiger]

Dracula XX doesn't do anything special and the backgrounds are a random mix which don't feel like they're part of the same game. The un-Castlevania coloring style makes it easy to do on PCE and more so than regular ports, doesn't need to shoot for looking as close as possible to the SNES version, since people wouldn't notice the difference unless they compared them side by side. Original color schemes could look much better as well.

As ridiculous as translucent flames and explosions were during the 32-bit generation, that first stage of Drac XX is on a whole new level. The size of the flames proportionate to the foreground and background and the fact that it scrolls independently and way too fast is so hokey that it seemed like it was intended to be bad the first time I played the game.

Any port of Drac XX should fix most of the backgrounds and sprites and HUD and misc.

I don't have time to recolor anything for fun, but here's some stuff I did years ago for a potential color or sprite hack:

[Bonknuts]

Wow. That's a pretty good conversion. I can't tell the difference.

[cireza]

The problem here is converting graphics that were created with a huge color palette in mind (32000+) to a 512 color palette.

Obviously, you can't take the exact same graphic assets, and simply change the colors to ones of the smaller palette. If you do this, I believe that you will have some problems obtaining a satisfying result.

In fact, graphics should probably be modified taking into account the smaller palette (that does not allow such advanced color gradients), and make use of more dithering.

That's what I think 

I really like the color work in both SNES Castlevania games, but gameplay wise, I largely prefer Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines.

[Black Tiger]

The problem here is converting graphics that were created with a huge color palette in mind (32000+) to a 512 color palette.

Obviously, you can't take the exact same graphic assets, and simply change the colors to ones of the smaller palette. If you do this, I believe that you will have some problems obtaining a satisfying result.

In fact, graphics should probably be modified taking into account the smaller palette (that does not allow such advanced color gradients), and make use of more dithering.

That's what I think 

I really like the color work in both SNES Castlevania games, but gameplay wise, I largely prefer Rondo of Blood and Bloodlines.

Most SNES games aren't made with the full palette in mind, just as PCE games don't make great use of the hardware's color bandwidth.

The coloring and art style of Drac XX makes it friendly for both lower bit palettes and low color hardware. It would be great for an NES game.

[Necromancer]

Dang, bonknut's pictures ain't working for me. 

I voted for the PCE's style being better and more fitting within the series, not that I think the SNES game is particularly bad looking.  If it were ported to the PCE, though, I'd rather see the art style kept as close to the original as possible than a complete re-color.