NES games on the PCE

[spenoza]

Tom, I know you had a project or two moving a couple NES games to PCE. How are those coming along? I ask because I had a thought. If Castlevania II could be brought to the PCE it could be the beginning of something nice. Some nice tile edit tools, your new sound engine. Simon's Quest could be redone specifically for the PCE, enhanced and improved such as to kick more ass.

Anyone else think this sounds at all interesting?

[guyjin]

YES! Castlevania 2 is my favorite of the NES castlevanias, and one of my all time faves, regardless of what everyone else says. I'd LOVE to see a PCE version! 

[hoobs88]

That would be awesome! The Bubble Bobble franchise was incomplete with Rainbow Islands, Parasol Stars, and Don Doko Don...all it was missing was the first chapter and that is being worked on now. Castlevania II would be a nice addition to Dracula X.

[Tom]

spenoza: I took a break. They were pretty intense to build out. Lots of crazy hand optimizations for the emulation code and such. <wipes sweat>

 Castlevania was just a test to see how the code carries over. The way it works is, I wrote all the NES video, video, and mapper emulation as a core that can be copied into another NES project. Thereby reducing the amount of work to get a NES rom working on the PCE. Castlevania was up and running in just to short days. I was pretty surprised since I had to do some modifications to the Megaman emulation code to get it working.

 In theory, you can add additional hacks to the NES rom for more colors and what not - but it does require a veteran hacker. I was hoping to drum up some interest in the hacking community with making the hacks and source public. The problem is, it requires a firm knowledge of both PCE and NES hardware. That might scare off some people. Dunno. Anyway, I only know of one person who used the back end code successfully to get another NES rom working - Contra. I've not seen the game project personally though.

 If I do another NES patch, it would probably be Zelda 1/2 or Megaman 2. Not sure if I would do a Castlevania 2, but I would help out if someone were to start such a project

[peperocket]

hey rich, do we have any chance to see Castlevania and Megaman full emulated (With sound ?)

[spenoza]

Well, crap. I'm not a veteran hacker. I'm pretty novice. I would be dependent upon tools to get at and manipulate data. I would be happy to help with any such enterprise should a more experienced hacker step up. I'm good with dialogue.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I don't think CV or MM are totally finished.  As it is, Keranu & I still have work to do on both, but were focusing on CV first.  I haven't had much time for making music, plus, trying to work on our main FU projects has taken me away from CV.

[spenoza]

There's something truly wrong with calling a project FU, even if it IS the abbreviation of the full name.Yeah, project? Well, FU!

[Tatsujin]

YES! Castlevania 2 is my favorite of the NES castlevanias, and one of my all time faves, regardless of what everyone else says. I'd LOVE to see a PCE version! 

wasn't castle II that simon's quest in the west? i thought that's the most horrible of all of the castles ever released??

[guyjin]

wasn't castle II that simon's quest in the west?

That's the one!

i thought that's the most horrible of all of the castles ever released??

You thought wrong. NES Castlevanias in order: 2 > 3 > 1. 

[termis]

Yeah, I dunno why Castlevania II has a bad rep with some people.  I thought it was an excellent game, and much like say, NES Bionic Commando or Strider, the adventure-theme being added into the gameplay made the title quite fun.

[spenoza]

It's because CV2 is so damn confusing if you don't already know what's going on or have a walk-thru. All the characters lie to you and the clues are about as obtuse as they get.

I'd love to see this game cleaned up a little.

[ParanoiaDragon]

I'd love to see the game remade into a Castleroid, more like the Sorrow games, but, I suppose it'd be like Order of Ecclesia if they redid it.

[Arkhan]

i actually like Castlevania 2 the most of the nes castlevanias also.  a PCE port would be sweet.

[spenoza]

Well, with the improved graphics and audio capabilities of the PCE it would be possible to improve CV2 significantly, and it would allow a chance to update shitty dialogue as well.

Frankly, CV2 is quite a bit Metroidvania already, and enough so for me. I get sick of rocket jumps and crap like that.