Guess I'll repost this from the previous forum here:
Hi all! I decided it was time to start documenting this idea to organize my thoughts and get some feedback and advise.
Concept
A stage expansion for the original 8-bit Casltevania that extends the game and adds some new content.
Intended Changes
- Split Block 4 (Stages 10 thru 12) into separate levels and pad them with some new stages.
- Split Block 6 (Stages 16 thru 18) into separate levels and pad them with some new stages.
- Add 2 extra bosses for the new blocks.
It would end up looking something like this:
- Block 1 (Stages 1/2/3) Phantom Bat, "Vampire Killer"
- Block 2 (Stages 4/5/6) Queen Medusa, "Stalker"
- Block 3 (Stages 7/8/9) The Mummies, "Wicked Child"
- Block 4 (Stages 10/A/B) Gillman, "Walking on the Edge"
- Block 5 (Stages C/11/12) The Wolfman, (if I can get permission) "Howling Hybrid"
- Block 6 (Stages 13/14/15) The Creature & Hunchback, "Heart of Fire"
- Block 7 (Stages 16/17/D) Death, "Out of Time"
- Block 8 (Stages E/F/18) Dracula, "Nothing to Lose"
So stages A thru F would be brand new ones.
As far as game play, I would like to consider making some alterations based on some of the early design documents found in the "History of Castlevania" digital book that came with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection.
I think this would mostly consist of adding new power-ups and sub-weapons and switching around how some of them work.
If I wanted to get really crazy, I'd want to try adding in the diagonal whip attacks, but just expanding the stages and adding 2 bosses seems like a huge endeavor.
Bogaa gave me some good input already that I'm going to look into info to start things off.
But if anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to post!
EDIT:
From GoldenArc:
Never answered this directly, but the first thing that stood out was that early planning seems to have included both a diagonally-upward whip lash and a diagonally-downward whip lash. These were possible because the original controller layout was rather different. There was no jump button,but like Vampire Killer, you would have pressed up to jump. And it seems like attacking involved pressing 'A' + a direction for the whip and 'B' + a direction for sub-weapons. Some of this remains in Vampire Killer in the way that the Holy Water and Time Freeze are used.
A lot of the power-ups were different or entirely unused.
The wall meat was originally a speed up item dropped by monsters (similar to the Boots in Vampire Killer).
The "Cross (small)" is basically the rosary, but as a sub-weapon and it specifically doesn't work on bosses.
The classic POW item from many previous Konami games was an enemy drop that restored health (similar to the Red Crystal Ball in Vampire Killer, may have been mixed up by the wall meat item above).
Garlic was a "Limited Item" (instantly used upon pick up) that "Keeps enemies away" (similar to the Silver Cross in Vampire Killer).
Pistol with Silver Bullets was a sub-weapon specifically for werewolves (which didn't even end up being in the game).
The stake (which ended up being used in CV2) was a sub-weapon required to defeat Dracula.
The Transformation item allowed you to turn into a werewolf for a few seconds.
Guardian Spirit (bird) pretty much worked like the falcon in 8 Eyes but with limited uses.
The "Pocket Watch" was an enemy drop that "Adds time to the game timer (or stops it for a period of time)".
The "Bible" sub-weapon would make the player "invincible" as opposed to making you invisible like the "Limited Item", "Invisibility Potion".
And lastly, "Excalibur" is the same as the "Cross (small), but it is effective against bosses, too.
From Bogaa:
