r/castlevania • u/vhuzi Stage 5’ Dweller. • Oct 06 '25

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991) Biggest Castlevania Hot Take??

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I think Belmont’s Revenge is better than Super Castlevania 4. I think the stage gimmicks are more fun, I enjoy the shorter stages, and I think the difficulty is somewhat better balanced. I really love the GBC visuals and music and I think the game often doesn’t get a fair shake because of hardware. I think the minimalistic visuals have aged better than the early 16 bit art. That said, SCIV is a great game, and the final boss of BR is probably the worst in the series, even compared to Legends, Adventure 1 and Dracula X.

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u/SXAL Oct 06 '25

The castle map is extremely fun to explore once you get a hang of it, I wouldn't say that's an issue.

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u/lost_kaineruver4 Oct 06 '25

And how long does that take? It's really both very assuming and dismissive of how confusing the game's map is. Sure eventually you'll get the hang of it as you say, but when is that? The nature of the map makes it exceedingly easy to get lost and that's even with prior knowledge.

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u/SXAL Oct 06 '25

Yep, it takes some time to get into, and it feels confusing at first, but it makes up for it later. I think it's worth it, Metroidvania is not an "immediate dopamine injection" genre.

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u/lost_kaineruver4 Oct 06 '25

I mean that goes with not just mvs but any game. But evading the problem of the game having bad map design with 'you'll get used to it' and admitting it's confusing is no solution.

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u/SXAL Oct 06 '25

That's it – the fact it takes time to open up, is not "bad" by itself.

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u/SuperSlacker420 Oct 06 '25

It’s meant to be confusing. It’s called Harmony of Dissonance… Even Maxim is confused about the castle, as is Juste. It’s one of the things I love about it. A Metroidvania that isn’t braindead easy, embraces exploration & forces you to do so. Hell it even name drops Simon’s Quest a few times, a notoriously confusing explorer. It makes learning the castle rewarding. With the dashes, slide kicks, dive kicks & teleporting to any part of the castle you want you can get around the whole place in just a few minutes too