Is Castlevania: Bloodlines Possible on SNES?

[Kirk_Johnston]

 

Continuing with my idea for a series of articles looking at both old and new Sega Genesis games and analysing whether they could run on SNES or not–I’m here to prove they can by providing examples of similar feats being achieved in actual SNES games, both old and new titles, plus any modern demos and the like where necessary--the next game I want to look at is Castlevania: Bloodlines.

 

So, here we go, starting with footage of the game running on Genesis:

 

Well, first off, I just want to post this, which you should probably watch all the way through and compare the quality scene for scene and effect for effect and the like:

 

And, you can also check out the to-SNES-spec Castlevania: Symphony of the Night mockup that I made in GameMaker 8.1 in a matter of a few hours the other day (it was that quick and easy because almost nothing had to be changed to get this stuff ready for a SNES version):

 

Now, 8:04 of the Bloodlines video is probably the first interesting bit, just because it's a cool multi-jointed boss.

 

I think I've already covered multi-jointed enemies/bosses enough in my own previous post on Multi-jointed Enemies in SNES Games, so feel free to check that out to see what the SNES is capable of in this area.

 

The next interesting moment is probably this cool water reflection at 9:11

 

I can't immediately find the exact same effect in a SNES game, but I think these water effects on SNES look far better and less "obvious code-ish trick" anyway:

 

 

And Bloodlines water effect 2 at 950

 

Be it a simple palette swapping trick like above or some other more advanced method, semi-transparent water was pretty standard on SNES too, and appears in more games than I can count, so I'll just post a couple of examples:

 

 

And here's SNES doing it with a slightly different method using its 512 higher-resolution mode:

 

I guess the floating logs/platforms on the water at the same time at 12:49 are kinda interesting.

 

And here's something similar on SNES:

 

Here's a nice little moment at 14:43 in Bloodlines where the head gets knocked of the statue and fall down, tilting slightly as it does.

 

I can't think of a similar moment in a SNES game to post off the top of my head, but I know how the effect is done, and it's nothing the SNES can't do in Modes 2, 4 or 6, and with finer granularity in the column scrolling to boot.

 

Edit: Actually, this falling tree in Prehistoric Man is done is basically the exact same way (with more stuff going on visually at the same time to boot):

 

The tiling tower effect in Bloodlines at 22:50 is very impressive visually.

 

But it's just using the same trick as the falling tree on SNES I showed above. It's a combination of line scrolling and column scrolling, which SNES can do via Modes 2, 4 or 6:

 

It's this:

 

Plus this:

 

Which can give you something like this:

 

 

Or it can just do the same thing with its built-in Mode 7:

 

And that same effect is used again to tilt the tower as 22:51 in Bloodlines.

 

You don't see it using the column scrolling plus line scrolling method as much on SNES because developers tended to just use Mode 7 instead:

 

There's a lot of floating platforms at 23:21 in Bloodlines.

 

I honestly can't really think of an example of something like this on SNES just now, but, with up to four fully-overlapping background layers plus a max of 128 sprites on-screen vs the Genesis 2 background layers and a max of 80 sprites on-screen, I think the SNES should be just fine doing something along the same lines.

 

Another cool showy effect at 24:22 in Bloodlines with the effect of the screen rotating around the tower and the clouds scrolling past in the opposite direction.

 

Again, although the effect is actually really simple technically, I don't have a particularly similar scene I can think of on SNES, but I guess this has a few layers of clouds and one with proper semi-transparency:

 

And clouds plus real semi-transparency again:

 

The tower rotating effect is just done similar to this, with some sprite in different positions and various frames they switch between as they rotate around the tower:

 

At 28:47 we have the obligatory animated clock tower cog level in Bloodlines.

 

And the same thing in Dracula X on SNES:

 

Here's a very nice light beam effect at 36:52 in Bloodlines. It's done using the shadow/highlight mode on Genesis, but SNES just uses the extra third layer and some colour math for similar results (and it can do so with coloured transparency too):

 

Then there's this bizarre room at 45:57 in Bloodlines, which I've always thought just look like a graphical error.

 

I haven't seen anything like this on SNES, and, to be honest, I think that's a good thing. It just looks silly rather cool or graphically impressive imo. But, let's be honest, you could probably do it by simply jumbling up your background draw order code or something along those lines. I mean, I get this is sort of a similarly thing in principle for a few frames, and it similarly just looks weird:

 

And, crazily, this is actually a built-in feature of Mode 4, and I think mode 2 and possibly Mode 6 also.

Here's a bunch of cards spinning around and then flying across the screen and flickering in Bloodlines at 49:04

 

Honestly, do I really need to find an example of a bunch of flickering sprites flying around the screen on SNES?

 

Well, here's just and example of 128 sprites bouncing around the screen at 60fps:

 

And, look, some random balls and things spinning around and flying out of the screen in Contra III:

 

Well, there's a way background on the boss at 58:57 in Bloodlines.

 

And on SNES (after a similar boss run too no less):

 

Now, some of the multi-joined bosses were cool in Bloodlines, and there were a few interesting effects in the backgrounds, but there was nothing too extreme beyond that. So, not only could this game run on SNES, but it could do so with far more colours throughout, more impressive transparency, more parallax layers in the background, more advanced audio, and additional controls [if necessary] to boot.

 

I think the thing that stands out the most in Bloodlines, just like The Cursed Knight that I looked a previously, is simply the fact the developer has consciously tried to use some kind of neat graphical/visual trick in almost every level and on almost every boss.

 

So, just imagine what could be achieved on SNES if some modern-day indie/homebrew developer tried to create a new graphical showcase game for it in current times and approached it similarly. . . .

Edited February 9, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston

[jeffythedragonslayer]

I brainstormed non-square mosaics in that game with some peeps here: https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=280369&hilit=mosaics

[Kirk_Johnston]

20 minutes ago, jeffythedragonslayer said:

I brainstormed non-square mosaics in that game with some peeps here: https://forums.nesdev.org/viewtopic.php?p=280369&hilit=mosaics

And did you find out if the SNES could do that too, and to what end were you looking into this then (maybe creating a wee demo program of it running on SNES or something similar)?

Edited February 9, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston

[Kirk_Johnston]

By the way, if anyone has any better examples of SNES doing those various effects seen on Genesis than the ones I've provided above, feel free to add those in here too.

 

I won't be able to update the post above with them after a certain time, but I can always update the equivalent page on my blog so they're there for anyone checking out the article in the future: https://inceptionalnews.wordpress.com/2023/02/09/is-castlevania-bloodlines-possible-on-snes/

Edited February 9, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston

[jeffythedragonslayer]

10 minutes ago, Kirk_Johnston said:

And did you find out if the SNES could do that too, and to what end where you looking into this then (maybe creating a wee demo program of it running on SNES or something similar)?

I'm convinced the SNES can do it, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to turn the psuedocode I posted into real code (plus I got pulled into an NES project right now.)

[Kirk_Johnston]

1 minute ago, jeffythedragonslayer said:

I'm convinced the SNES can do it, but I'm not sure how hard it would be to turn the psuedocode I posted into real code (plus I got pulled into an NES project right now.)

Well, hopefully one day it will pop up in some SNES demo or indie game as a cool little visual flourish.

[Tanooki]

Your water reflection was done as well if not better with transparency on the reflection below in Battletoads in Battlemaniacs on SNES.  There is this repeated bonus stage I think it is with this waxed and overly polished large checkerboard floor and you can see everything as a sprite doubled and shifted as I said in reverse.  The busted statue perceived to be a background layer could be done on SNES using a large sprite or series of sprites and have it just be part of the screen as it enters and cracks off when you hit it, or if necessary the FX chip has the ability to pull mode7 style antics with sprites as we know in Yoshi.

 

Here's the battletoads reflection on sprites for example.  It wouldn't be an issue to do this on a moving (up down) lower space like the tides there in bloodlines, and this is better as both it is reflection and transparent.

 

Edited February 10, 2023 by Tanooki

[+Gemintronic]

If you have enough money and talent game X can always be ported to system Y.

 

The trouble is: no indie has the money or manpower.  The IP for most suggested games is owned by companies that sue first.  As a homebrewer I'm more geeked about making my own IP using my own ideas.

 

What feature in particular would prevent Bloodlines from being a thing?

 

P.S.  Don't mean to poop on your party.  Just discussing the realities from my perspective as a gamer, developer and publisher

[Punisher5.0]

1 hour ago, Gemintronic said:

What feature in particular would prevent Bloodlines from being a thing?  The Genesis can produce SNES-like effects with its higher speed.  The SNES can produce Genesis-like effects with special chips.

 

Oh god.....please dont poke the bear with false information. I don't think my phone can handle another 10 videos in this thread.

[+Gemintronic]

4 minutes ago, Punisher5.0 said:

 

Oh god.....please dont poke the bear with false information. I don't think my phone can handle another 10 videos in this thread.

 

Ah, sorry about that.  I was thinking about the mode 7 like rotation in some Gunstar Heros bosses.  Or, using both tile planes to use more colors on the Genesis.  Honestly couldn't think of an SNES example.

[Tanooki]

Which is why you defaulted to chips because the FX2 for Yoshi allows for large scaled and rotated sprites among other screwball tricks.  Names escape me so I can't hunt, but I think I've seen that asked before and weird Japanese stuff came out we didn't get.  I get what you're also saying about the Genesis, that version of Adventures of Batman & Robin it got had a stage within that brute force faked fairly well simulating the mode7 background trick, it's damn near an only if only example outside of Japan, and I'm not sure if they bothered either.

[Mittens0407]

Gotta love these Jaguar style "What if" threads. Don't you not realise that unlike the Jag, the SNES actually has games?

[Kirk_Johnston]

6 hours ago, Punisher5.0 said:

 

Oh god.....please dont poke the bear with false information. I don't think my phone can handle another 10 videos in this thread.

I'll let his comment go this time. Lol

[Kirk_Johnston]

3 hours ago, Mittens0407 said:

Gotta love these Jaguar style "What if" threads. Don't you not realise that unlike the Jag, the SNES actually has games?

The idea is, in my own small way, to maybe help encourage the creation of some brand new SNES games and development tools just a little bit if possible.

 

So, the first thing I'm doing is trying to do is demonstrate what I can to show that all these recent assertions, that the SNES can't do this or that thing but Genesis can (that's usually how it goes), are just plain false--even without the SNES using any enhancement chips in the carts. Because, from what I can tell, some people are actually using that as misguided reasoning not to work on new SNES stuff, which really isn't good. And then, if these fake reasons are eliminated one at a time, it hopefully removes just a little bit more of the unnecessary barriers to some new SNES games and development tools happening.

 

This is the reason why I'm posting some "Is this [Genesis] game possible on SNES" threads, and why I posted my recent concept examples showing how Symphony of the Night could look on SNES, why I showed examples of Mode 3 high colours images, posted about the SNES' backgrounds modes, wrote an article detailing some of its unique hardware features and capabilities that many people simply don't fully understand and/or just ignore, created my own multi-layer parallax Mode 0 shmup examples, etc. It's all just to show that the SNES is a lot more capable than I think the current narrative around the likes of YouTube, gaming forums, development blogs, fansites, etc, is leading a lot of people to believe, and that it's a system more than worth working on in modern times.

 

So, again, the main point is to both encourage more [ideally positive and well-informed] talk about SNES in general in places like this, which is always a good thing imo, and hopefully make a few more people interested in and excited about potentially making something now for it also, be that a new game, a new development tool, some cool new demo or whatever.

 

Do you understand that now?

Edited February 10, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston

[Kirk_Johnston]

8 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Your water reflection was done as well if not better with transparency on the reflection below in Battletoads in Battlemaniacs on SNES.  There is this repeated bonus stage I think it is with this waxed and overly polished large checkerboard floor and you can see everything as a sprite doubled and shifted as I said in reverse.  The busted statue perceived to be a background layer could be done on SNES using a large sprite or series of sprites and have it just be part of the screen as it enters and cracks off when you hit it, or if necessary the FX chip has the ability to pull mode7 style antics with sprites as we know in Yoshi.

 

Here's the battletoads reflection on sprites for example.  It wouldn't be an issue to do this on a moving (up down) lower space like the tides there in bloodlines, and this is better as both it is reflection and transparent.

 

Yeah, that's a very cool reflection effect in Battletoads there.

 

And, I think I mentioned above that the busted/falling head statue in Bloodlines uses one of the Genesis' two available background layers with some column and line scrolling applied to achieve that effect, which means it could actually be done in exactly the same way on SNES too, using either Modes 2 or 4, and with finer granularity on the columns scrolling at that (and obviously still with just many more colours and even some semi-transparency and stuff like that in the level too if desired).

 

So, yeah, many ways to do all of this kind of stuff on SNES.

Edited February 10, 2023 by Kirk_Johnston