Social House of the Belmont Clan: Simon and Richter Belmont Social Thread.

[Next Door Dog]

Just one question: what games I should try to play after SoTN? I'm quite in the dark when it comes to Post-SoTN Vanias, so it'd be nice to get some rundown on them.

Well for the GBA:
Circle of the Moon: Definitely the most "classic" feeling of the metroidvanias. Nathan moves at classic Belmont walk speed before getting the ability to dash, and it's probably the most difficult one.
Harmony of Dissonance: Most will tell you to skip this one, but I like it. It's very vibrant and gloomy looking, but as a result the sound department suffers (mostly in the quality of the instruments, sounding more like a NES/GB soundchip than GBA).
Aria of Sorrow: Generally the most popular of the GBA ones. Since you can use the souls of all the enemies you've got a massive amount of subweapons to choose from.

For DS:
Dawn of Sorrow: Sequel to AoS, it's more or less the same game tbh. The story isn't as good as AoS and it's the first to stop using Kojima's character art, but it's on better hardware so some of the souls/weapons are more fleshed out compared to its predecessor (along with a couple touch screen gimmicks).
Portrait of Ruin: This one is the most lighthearted (and easy) of the games, so don't expect it to be as dark. There's a lot of replay value in this one with the extra modes and level caps, and mixes whips with other weapons and spells.
Order of Ecclesia: I don't think there is a consensus on which DS game is the best, but this one is a strong contender. I don't think Kojima does the artwork, but they ditched the anime style and went back to a similar style to hers. This one is the most challenging of the metroidvanias after CotM, and does some interesting changes to attacking (using the MP bar for attacks, but it quickly regenerates), and brings hearts back for subweapons (kind of).

I'd play the Sorrow games and go back if you want more classic whip-swinging goodness, or forward if you want more weapons.

 

[MERPIS]

How heavy do people think these two will be?

 

[Deleted member]

Well for the GBA:
Harmony of Dissonance: Most will tell you to skip this one, but I like it. It's very vibrant and gloomy looking, but as a result the sound department suffers (mostly in the quality of the instruments, sounding more like a NES/GB soundchip than GBA).
.

Im sad that Harmony of Dissonance didn't get any love in the Castlevania collection of Smash Music. They could have easily snuck in Successor of Fate:

I know HoD gets a lot of flak in the soundtrack department, but having this song would have been kinda cool, alongside one song from Castlevania: The Adventure and Belmont's revenge. That way every single canon game in the Classic Castlevania timeline would have gotten a song.

 

[SvartWolf]

one question: what games I should try to play after SoTN? I'm quite in the dark when it comes to Post-SoTN Vanias, so it'd be nice to get some rundown on them.

Well, as many people have posted, Aria of Sorrow / Dawn of sorrow are Excellent games, specially Aria BUT, i don't know how invested you are in the whole story, i think that Aria story can be experienced best after playing at least Sotn (which you did) and Maybe portrait of ruin or Harmony of dissonance ... (although maybe just playting rondo and symphony should be enough)

Regarding Dawn of sorrow, is a direct sequel of Aria, and obviously have big spoilers. Gameplaywise is pretty good (except the forced sigil mechanich.. if you can play it on Nds may be recomendable), but expect the characters you knew in aria started to care for them to be butchered in a saturday cartoon fashion... There is a secret boss with a pretty cool story though...

A negative aspect of the Sorrow games is that they are a tad easy.... if you think Alucard is OP, expect to meet Soma Cruz...

Circle of the moon isn't bad by any means neither,
Pros: interesting difficulty curve is actually quite engaging, and the bosses are challenging.
-The dual card system is actaully very fun.
-The music, while doesn't have much original tracks, have all it's tracks remixed sweetly and in a very consistent tone that males a very cohesive OST. Plus the few original tracks are actually great.
-Very Self contained Story.

Cons: The castle decorations are a tad dull... and while the enemy elemental variety is fun, there are a lot of "recolors"
-Obtaining some cards can be very grindy
-Very Self contained Story.

Regarding Harmony of dissonance, i concur that is a little underapreciated. but i personally like it a lot.

Pros: The castle is BEAUTIFUL! very sharp and rich in details, plus big and actually very mazelike.
-It have a inverted castle mechanic that is actually leagues better than in symphony of the night.
-The music audio quality is jarring, BUT the actual compositions use this to an advantage creating very non conventional yet melodic tunes that makes the game name honor.
-Juste is like Sonic with magic spells and a whip.

Cons: Juste sprite is jarring... like... really jarring.
-The dificulty curve is weird, on one hand is actually easy to get lost and be in a pinch searching for a save room...
-on the other hand, bosses are EASY. bosses are like smash ganondorf... Juste is like Sonic with a whip and projectiles... do the math.
-The story is hit or miss.
-some people are offput by the audio quality.

Regarding Order of Ecclesia:
Pros: Shanoa is balanced... the enemies of shanoa are balanced around Shanoa, which means that you aren't a super agile fighter versus outdated enemies that were created to fight a very non agile Belmont. meaning that the difficulty curve of this game is SWEET.
-Ost yadda yadda...
-The bosses are very fun and engaging
-The world is also very beautiful.
-The story is not Metal Gear... But I Enjoyed it a LOT.
-Shanoa is lit
-Actually the game lenght is very satisfying
-Secret levels with tons of platforming made by the guys of Circle of the Moon.
-Along Lament of innocence, Best hard mode hands down... is challenging but is not bull****, like other "Lvl" 1 "hard" modes.

Cons: While the world and the stages are very beautiful, and some interesting layouts, there is a degree of copypasting rooms.
-Shanoa inventory isn't as wide as the other Castlevanias.
-There is one particular broken weapon...
-and i think that is...frankly i love that game.

 

[Freecs]

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Simon Belmont is only referred to by his first name in the trailer? I always thought the character was more recognizable when he’s called by his full name instead of just “Simon”.

 

[Deleted member]

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Simon Belmont is only referred to by his first name in the trailer? I always thought the character was more recognizable when he’s called by his full name instead of just “Simon”.

Yeah. I always referred him by his full name, Simon Belmont. It's a shame because this likely means Xander Mobus will say just "SIMON" instead of the epic "SIMON BELMONT!"

 

[tskidless]

I was thinking about something for awhile now and I think that the attack that Simon while Pikachu was stunned is his jab. If that's true then that probably means that you have to hold down the attack button in order to spin it.

 

[AustarusIV]

Does anyone know if Simon is voiced by Keith Silverstein in the English version of SSBU? According to the TVTropes page for SSBU, he still is, but I haven't seen any source on that nor has he mentioned it on his Twitter page (last I checked). I also haven't seen anything else regarding Kenichi Suzumura (his Japanese VA) either.

Just asking because I wanted to make sure the information regarding Simon in Ultimate on TVTropes is accurate.

 

[Deleted member]

Does anyone know if Simon is voiced by Keith Silverstein in the English version of SSBU? According to the TVTropes page for SSBU, he still is, but I haven't seen any source on that nor has he mentioned it on his Twitter page (last I checked). I also haven't seen anything else regarding Kenichi Suzumura (his Japanese VA) either.

Just asking because I wanted to make sure the information regarding Simon in Ultimate on TVTropes is accurate.

He has a Twitter account.

If anyone has a Twitter account, you can ask him.

 

[coolmancool]

https://boards.fireden.net/v/thread/422689663/
So this leak predicted Richter of all people one month ago. Do you think its still credible or its a false one?

 

[Diem]

This is the best description of Simon you will ever see.

There was a problem fetching the tweet

 

[SSBCandidates]

Im sad that Harmony of Dissonance didn't get any love in the Castlevania collection of Smash Music. They could have easily snuck in Successor of Fate:

I know HoD gets a lot of flak in the soundtrack department, but having this song would have been kinda cool, alongside one song from Castlevania: The Adventure and Belmont's revenge. That way every single canon game in the Classic Castlevania timeline would have gotten a song.

I understand, I expected at least a melody from the N64 games.

 

[Crystanium]

I suspect Simon's/Richter's d-tilt will have two parts, just like Richter's slide attack did in SotN.

 

[Seanp12]

What's the best Castlevania game to try, keeping in mind that I only have a 3DS, Wii U, and Switch? Also keeping in mind that I like Metroid games Super Metroid and after, so I would prefer something like that, or at least Metroidvania.

 

[Megadoomer]

What's the best Castlevania game to try, keeping in mind that I only have a 3DS, Wii U, and Switch? Also keeping in mind that I like Metroid games Super Metroid and after, so I would prefer something like that, or at least Metroidvania.

While my experience with Castlevania is limited, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a Metroidvania-style game for the GBA that was released on the Wii U. That might be worth looking into.

 

[Deleted member]

What's the best Castlevania game to try, keeping in mind that I only have a 3DS, Wii U, and Switch? Also keeping in mind that I like Metroid games Super Metroid and after, so I would prefer something like that, or at least Metroidvania.

There's the 3 GBA games on the Wii U eShop (including Aria of Sorrow as Megadoomer mentioned, along with Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance), and the DS games (Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia) are backwards compatible with the 3DS. All those I just mentioned are Metroidvania-type Castlevania games.

 

[Ryu_Ken]

FINALLY BEAT CASTLEVANIA 1, THANK GOODNESS.
This place really piqued my interest after the Direct since there was apparently a lot of love for the series, and I can see why-
Wait a minute... Why am I back at-
"Stage 19."

Spoiler

How are people able to beat these kind of games in one sitting...

 

[tskidless]

If I had to recommend a Castlevania game I would say play Castlevania IV or maybe Chronicles on the Playstation. I would play either SOTN or one of the GBA or DS games if you want a metroidvania game.

There's also Bloodstained Curse of the Moon and whenever it's released Bloodstained Ritual of the Night if you want a classic / metroidvania game.

 

[Altais]

Was going to ask around about this, but it looks like I got mine answer.

 

[Jedisupersonic]

https://smashboards.com/threads/who-is-richter-belmont.457364/

Hopefully this article I did will help some people in terms of who Richter is.

 

[Morbi]

I just got Symphony of the Night for my birthday. Almost halfway, I guess. I want to beat the entire game as apparently you get to play as Richter. That would be a nice prelude. The opening of the game was just amazing. It gave me completely different vibes than the opening of Super Metroid, but in the same sort of way, if that makes any sense.

 

[G-Guy]

I‘ll rock Simon, while my best friend rocks Richter. It‘s going to be one of those fun rivalries

Anyway, both of them look amazing and have so much detail about them! Cannot wait for some excellent whip flicking

 

[Next Door Dog]

So what matchups are y'all looking forward to?

I can't wait to see the Belmonts fight Ridley. If you go from the metroidvania angle, he's basically the sister series equivalent of Death (frequently the penultimate boss). Regardless, he looks eerily like the combination of Slogra and Gaibon (who are, again, related to Death).

 

[Deleted member]

So what matchups are y'all looking forward to?

Simon whipping the ever living **** out of Bayo, obviously. That Witch dared to hunt his friend Pit, now she's gonna get Karma, and Karma BITES.

IT'S TIME FOR A WITCH HUNT!

 

[Ryu_Ken]

Simon whipping the ever living **** out of Bayo, obviously. That Witch dared to hunt his friend Pit, now she's gonna get Karma, and Karma BITES.

IT'S TIME FOR A WITCH HUNT!

Grand Finals. Simon versus Bayonetta. I would throw money at both players if it happened.

 

[tskidless]

I see Bayonetta being one of their better match ups due to her nerfs and their ability to zone with Crosses and Holy Water which along with Fair and Ftilt means that she'll probably have a hard time getting in.

One character match up I'm interested in is Villager since we don't know if we can throw another Cross if he pockets one. This could go either way depending on several things like if the cross destroys his Fair and Bair along with his side special or if it just ignores it all together. That being said I believe that Holy Water will be the most important projectile in this match up.

The characters I think the Belmonts will have trouble with personally are speedy characters like Sonic and Falcon.

 

[Next Door Dog]

I see Bayonetta being one of their better match ups due to her nerfs and their ability to zone with Crosses and Holy Water which along with Fair and Ftilt means that she'll probably have a hard time getting in.

One character match up I'm interested in is Villager since we don't know if we can throw another Cross if he pockets one. This could go either way depending on several things like if the cross destroys his Fair and Bair along with his side special or if it just ignores it all together. That being said I believe that Holy Water will be the most important projectile in this match up.

The characters I think the Belmonts will have trouble with personally are speedy characters like Sonic and Falcon.

I feel like you'd be able to throw another cross, as it's not an item like metal blade or gyro (and even then, I'm pretty sure you could throw another metal blade still, not sure about gyro). But there is the question of which of their own projectiles they can destroy with their whip. Holy water probably doesn't go away until it's said its piece, but it's tough to say where the axe and cross lie on the projectile durability spectrum.

I was thinking about Falcon earlier, too, I think he'll be a tough matchup. Holy water will be good for those that take the grounded approach (really curious how Little Mac will do against it). But as a Mega Man main in 4, I feel a similar weakness in the Belmonts, in that they have a blind spot directly above and in front of them (without throwing out something risky like and upB). So characters that like to bulldog their way in with SH aerials might be difficult to deal with unless you're prepared for it. But then again I'm thinking with a sm4sh mindset, and not one with Ultimate in mind.

 

[RonNewcomb]

Would a possessed Richter be a good alt?

We have Dark Link so sure why not. (Heck, 'Dark Soma' is also canon.)

Have we got any clues on possible differences between the two yet?

The official Nintendo blog says,

Richter from the Castlevania series joins the battle as Simon's Echo Fighter! His basic attacks are the same as Simon's, but with subtle variations. In addition to that, his holy water is a different colour.​

​

"Subtle variations" tells me there will be some slight numerical differences. I'm guessing one will be faster and the other will hit harder.

The poll on this thread needs the option 'whoever turns out to be the better character'.

If one is faster than the other, it'll be him. Speed is king in Smash. And if one is indeed faster, it sure won't be Conan there.

But if any differences between them are tied to 'whose move is it', where Conan gets faster whips while Shonin Boy gets a better dash attack and up-B, well, maaayyybe He-man Has The Power after all.

I'm joining the belmont hype train. Zoners have always been my type of character.

Also: nice to see a fellow Link vet here! I'm guessing the Belmonts will be a lot like adult Link, but... worse. Maybe more sturdy projectiles but without the ridiculous f-air and f-tilt. I really hope they have good get-off / get-out / return-to-neutral options when pressured. (Directional air dodge will help a lot.)

How do you think Simon and Richter will fare in competitive play. Im not saying which tier they would be (because i quite frankly don't care about that) but do you see them as a potential threat to the most common Smash menaces in the Competitive scene?

Not well, tbqh. Dedicated zoners don't tend to take the top spots, slow-but-strong don't tend to do well, and the Belmonts look to be both.

But hey, Ultimate has new mechanics, new power-shielding, so we'll see.

 

[BravadoMan_13]

It's been a week already since the big reveals and I wanted to drop by and offer my congratulations on Simon and Richter getting into Smash. This game is looking better and better and having Simon feels right since he was part of the NES days.

 

[G-Guy]

So, how big would you say Castlevania‘s inclusion measures on the *snicker*

„Richter-Scale“?!

I‘ll see myself out...

 

[Arcadenik]

Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Simon Belmont is only referred to by his first name in the trailer? I always thought the character was more recognizable when he’s called by his full name instead of just “Simon”.

It's the same thing with Snake, Sonic, and Cloud.

Most people know them as Solid Snake, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Cloud Strife.

 

[Megadoomer]

I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through Symphony of the Night (actually 3/4 this time; I was unaware that the percentage shown isn't exactly accurate). The second half of the game threw me for a loop, but I'm exploring to try and cover as much ground as possible before taking on the final boss (though I'm not sure whether he'd be in the room with the giant clock or at the very top of the map).

I'm finding that the combination of the shield rod and one particular shield (I think it's the iron shield? It's blue with a white outline) is REALLY effective against most enemies, so I'm sticking with that one.

 

[Jedisupersonic]

I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through Symphony of the Night (actually 3/4 this time; I was unaware that the percentage shown isn't exactly accurate). The second half of the game threw me for a loop, but I'm exploring to try and cover as much ground as possible before taking on the final boss (though I'm not sure whether he'd be in the room with the giant clock or at the very top of the map).

I'm finding that the combination of the shield rod and one particular shield (I think it's the iron shield? It's blue with a white outline) is REALLY effective against most enemies, so I'm sticking with that one.

The Shield Rod is insane, it's a good tool to stick with unless you get a Crissaegrim in the inverted castle.

I believe it drops from these guys a Schmoo

In the library.

 

[Fenriraga]

Can I just say I'm pretty dang happy with how the community as a whole has been acting about Richter in particular?

Less people actually KNEW who Richter was than I thought there would be, but overall I haven't really seen anyone complain about Castlevania getting two characters. The "Echo Fighter" branding has helped a lot more than I thought it would, because if Dark Pit is any indication, people would probably not be as savvy to him.

 

[Jedisupersonic]

Can I just say I'm pretty dang happy with how the community as a whole has been acting about Richter in particular?

Less people actually KNEW who Richter was than I thought there would be, but overall I haven't really seen anyone complain about Castlevania getting two characters. The "Echo Fighter" branding has helped a lot more than I thought it would, because if Dark Pit is any indication, people would probably not be as savvy to him.

Honestly yeah, and I'm glad I totally got to geek out on who he was, I got onto the writing team just in time.

 

[Megadoomer]

Can I just say I'm pretty dang happy with how the community as a whole has been acting about Richter in particular?

Less people actually KNEW who Richter was than I thought there would be, but overall I haven't really seen anyone complain about Castlevania getting two characters. The "Echo Fighter" branding has helped a lot more than I thought it would, because if Dark Pit is any indication, people would probably not be as savvy to him.

I feel like one thing that helps is that it improves the odds of a bunch of third party characters who'd previously be dismissed as unlikely based on what we've seen from previous Smash games, like Shadow or Ken. It also helps that he's more than just a Simon palette swap haha.

 

[ZelDan]

I'm definitely leaning more towards playing Simon than Richter. Super Castlevania IV is one of my favorite games in the series alongside Order of Ecclesia, and Castlevania Chronicles is my second favorite classicvania.

 

[ToxoT]

if anyone ever asks you what castlevania is, who richter or simon is, just show them this

 

[Megadoomer]

I just beat Symphony of the Night! There must have been something that I missed; I thought I explored the whole map, but I was about three percent off of getting the achievement for exploring everything.

Still, it was a fun game, and I can definitely see why people like the post-Symphony Castlevanias. (the appeal of the classic Castlevanias still eludes me - frustration does not equal fun in my eyes)

I unlocked Richter mode; he definitely seems smoother than Simon was in Super Castlevania IV. Oddly enough, that alone might make me try Richter rather than Simon - I've got better memories associated with him. Feel like, if I got too far into the game, he might be frustrating to play as, given that he doesn't seem to get upgrades like Alucard did (meaning that some areas could be completely out of reach, seeing as he can't fly - I figured out how to use his Uppercut, at least). Also, I'm not sure if his max health increases or not when I get those collectibles.

 

[tskidless]

I've been thinking about something, what do you guys think will be Richter's Final Smash? Personally I believe that it will either be Hydro Storm, Grand Cross, or something with Maria.