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GAF: Your favorite Castlevania game

1) Rondo of Blood (PC Engine/PSP)
2) Dracula's Curse/Akumajyou Densetsu (Famicom/NES) - particularly the Japanese version
3) Aria of Sorrow
4) Dawn of Sorrow
5) Order of Ecclesia

Spots 3 and 4 depend on my mood, because they have advantages and disadvantages over the other. With just a wee bit more exploration and a little less brokenness with the special combo attacks, OoE would be higher.

Honorable mentions: Symphony of the Night, Super CV4, Castlevania Chronicles, Castlevania 1
 
cartman414 said:
1) Rondo of Blood (PC Engine/PSP)
2) Dracula's Curse/Akumajyou Densetsu (Famicom/NES) - particularly the Japanese version
3) Aria of Sorrow
4) Dawn of Sorrow
5) Order of Ecclesia

Spots 3 and 4 depend on my mood, because they have advantages and disadvantages over the other. With just a wee bit more exploration and a little less brokenness with the special combo attacks, OoE would be higher.

Honorable mentions: Symphony of the Night, Super CV4, Castlevania Chronicles, Castlevania 1
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I have a question about rondo of blood. Is it the original pc engine version on the psp or only a remake?
 
Ganondorfo said:
I have a question about rondo of blood. Is it the original pc engine version on the psp or only a remake?
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The original is on there but it's poorly emulated (blurry and has the soundtrack cues wrong). The best way to play Rondo these days in the Japanese Virtual Console release, it's glorious in component colour. Of course you can end up like me and be stuck in the Japanese Shop channel permanently after an update stopped region swapping, but it was worth it!
 
D.Lo said:
The original is on there but it's poorly emulated (blurry and has the soundtrack cues wrong). The best way to play Rondo these days in the Japanese Virtual Console release, it's glorious in component colour. Of course you can end up like me and be stuck in the Japanese Shop channel permanently after an update stopped region swapping, but it was worth it!
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For someone without a Wii, the PSP version is passable right? Because I do have a PSP and would love to finally play the game.
 
Probably dawn of sorrow.

But I just downloaded III and am playing it for the first time. HOLY SHIT. Having never played it, for me its basically the awesome super sequel to Castlevania 1that everyone on gaf wants. Its like a mega man 9 castlevania for me.
 
riskVSreward said:
For someone without a Wii, the PSP version is passable right? Because I do have a PSP and would love to finally play the game.
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Passable yes, and it's by far the cheapest option. I original bought a PC Engine Duo and the game for like AU$500 years ago (although I did of course use the system for other great games too!)

But even on PSP, custom firmware, the TG16 emulator and a legit rip of the game gives better results then the DXC version. The PSN version of SoTN played on PSP also looks better then the DXC version, though not as dramatically.
 
Aria of Sorrow. The castle played so much more fluidly than any of the other Metroidvanias.

2nd Place is SotN, 3rd is Super Castlevania IV.

I've found all the "traditional" Castlevanias aside from IV are ridiculously dated as far as the way your character moves, your speed is a crawl and you jump like a rock. I'd love to see level-based progression come back to the series, but I hope they meld it with the fluidity of movement from the more recent games.
 
Space A Cobra said:
1.Castlevania: SotN
2.Super Castlevania IV
3.Dracula X (Turbo)
4.Castlevania (NES)
5.Castlevania III


Aspects of SotN may have been bested by future releases but overall SotN is the one I keep going back to. IV is still the ultimate classic Castlevania experience followed very closely by X. Even though most people think III is better I still much prefer the original NES game.
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You and me...we're the same. To the letter.
 
1) III (Famicom version because of the generally better sound quality)
From here it changes according to mood:
2) X Rondo of Blood
3) I
4) Bloodlines
5) IV
6) SotN
7) II
 
My ranking:
1. Akumajou Densetsu (CVIII, soundtrack)
2. Dracula X
3. Castlevania: SotN

my top three, without a doubt.

still don't understand the love for chronicles or castlevania iv. (though chronicles is admittedly much better than CVIV.)
 
not gonna go with the cool kids and say SOTN or one of the NES ones just to sound hip. I've played most of the castlevania games and dawn of sorrow is honestly my favorite. the DS ones are all excellent, and DOS is the best of them.
 
1. Portrait of Ruin Richter/Maria
2. Dawn of Sorrow Julius/Alucard (and Yoko, but Yoko sucks)
3. Order of Ecclesia main
4. Order of Ecclesia Albus
5. Circle of the Moon
6t. Dawn of Sorrow main
6t. Portrait of Ruin main
8. Symphony of the Night
9. Rondo of Blood
10. Dracula's Curse

The only other ones I played that aren't on this list are Super Castlevania IV and that butchered SNES rendition of Dracula X.

Basically I like the fluidity of Metroidvania movement too much to fully appreciate the old-school action Castlevania games, but I do greatly prefer the much swifter movement of the bonus modes in the DS games to the "main" games' if-you-want-to-be-moving-fast-you-better-be-backdashing-constantly movement mentality. Soundtracks are a huge plus to me and I'd give Portrait of Ruin the absolute spotlight in that regard.
 
riskVSreward said:
I separated them with a forward slash, that's enough to differentiate the two.
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I'd say that given that they are different games, they definitely should be listed separately. At least you do give separate links, but still...

You also merge Kid Dracula (GB) and Kid Dracula (Famicom), which are completely different games that just happen to star the same character... they should not be combined.

D.Lo said:
Please don't lump Castlevania 64 with Legacy of Darkness. CV64 is the better game overall IMO (largely because of better music and pacing), and they are in no way the same game, it is not a 'special edition' as it was originally going to be, it is a sequel.
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No way, Legacy of Darkness is definitely better. Vastly improved graphics, more areas, a new, awesome main character in Cornell, etc... the main menu theme isn't quite as good, but other than that it was an improvement in pretty much every way.

As for my overall favorite though, Super Castlevania IV is my first thought, followed by Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. Both are just amazing games, but Super Castlevania IV just gets everything right, from the fantastic music and graphics to the great level designs to the best-in-the-series whip controls to, well, everything else. :) After that though, I'm not sure... Legacy of Darkness, Castlevania III, and Symphony of the Night all deserve being high on the list as well, for sure. Oh, and Castlevania Adventure II is the best of the traditional handheld ones, though it's not as good as the games I just listed. As far as the SotN-like handheld ones, I don't know, as I've only played Portrait of Ruin. It was good for sure, though.

firex said:
I doubt the actual cartridges are too expensive. seems like they were always around in any gamestop I went to, or blockbuster, or any place that might have videogames, in the pile with other bargain games. even though they get lots of hate I feel like CV64 is a very, very good adaptation of old 2d platformer CV in 3d.
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The original one's pretty easy to find and is fairly cheap, but Legacy of Darkness is slightly rarer, and will cost a little bit more... not expensive or anything, but definitely a bit harder to find than the original, unfortunately, considering that it is better.
 
Super Castlevania IV

I've played and beaten just about every Castlevania game. None of them have lived up to the incredible awesome that is IV. The atmosphere in that game is unmatched by any other in the series. And the 8 way firing goes a long way to making it a unique experience amongst the series too.
 
Jiggy said:
1. Portrait of Ruin Richter/Maria
2. Dawn of Sorrow Julius/Alucard (and Yoko, but Yoko sucks)
3. Order of Ecclesia main
4. Order of Ecclesia Albus
5. Circle of the Moon
6t. Dawn of Sorrow main
6t. Portrait of Ruin main
8. Symphony of the Night
Click to expand...

2gwuted.png


This sums up why I'm so disenfranchised with the Castlevania games now. They've turned into an anime.
 
Aria of Sorrow, hands down.

Though I may just be biased since it was the first Metroidvania I played, so it was pretty much the last time a Metroidvania actually seemed new and unique.
 
Shig said:
Aria of Sorrow. The castle played so much more fluidly than any of the other Metroidvanias.

2nd Place is SotN, 3rd is Super Castlevania IV.

I've found all the "traditional" Castlevanias aside from IV are ridiculously dated as far as the way your character moves, your speed is a crawl and you jump like a rock. I'd love to see level-based progression come back to the series, but I hope they meld it with the fluidity of movement from the more recent games.
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Uh, Simon moves just as slow in SCV4 as any other old-school Castlevania lead. The presence of the 8-way whip and that it makes most enemies non-threats really makes it feel slow.

A Black Falcon said:
As for my overall favorite though, Super Castlevania IV is my first thought, followed by Dracula X: Rondo of Blood. Both are just amazing games, but Super Castlevania IV just gets everything right, from the fantastic music and graphics to the great level designs to the best-in-the-series whip controls to, well, everything else. :)
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I didn't care for the sound design as much, or some of the tunes, which IMO lacked tension. And the whip controls were out of place, since they made Simon overpowered with respect to basically all the other enemies, especially given the zoomed-in playing field.
 
Thats easy: Symphony of the Night. Its so good that iam still playing it ever 1-2 years again :D Just started playing it again last week. Iam at 156% right now :lol
 
A Black Falcon said:
You also merge Kid Dracula (GB) and Kid Dracula (Famicom), which are completely different games that just happen to star the same character... they should not be combined.
Click to expand...
But they are pretty much the same game, they have the same levels (with a few small differences due to system limitations), same music, same sprites almost.

A Black Falcon said:
No way, Legacy of Darkness is definitely better. Vastly improved graphics, more areas, a new, awesome main character in Cornell, etc... the main menu theme isn't quite as good, but other than that it was an improvement in pretty much every way.
Click to expand...
I prefer CV64 by quite a margin. Cornel is cool, but his quest and story isn't as good (then again Reinhardt's story with Rosa and Malus is by far the best of any Castlevania game IMO). The music has been re-mixed for the worse in pretty much every area. And the cut-down re-mixes of Carrie and Reinhardts' quests are inferior to the original versions.

And the graphics? They're exactly the same, except with the option of playing in high res at 2fps. The new areas are nothing special either, and Herny's quest is more like a stretched out minigame.

Still, I do like both a lot and am glad to see them appreciated. Both are better then any of Igarashi's 3D efforts.
 
Having only played Aria of Sorrow, Dissonance and Ecclesia, my favorite of the three is Ecclesia.

- great music
- play as a woman (and a hot one at that!)
- intuitive and fun glyph system
- great art style
- good pacing and balanced difficulty
- refreshing mix of linear and traditional Castlevania level design
- some cool bosses
- I liked having a hub world
- I actually cared about the characters even though the story was basic and rather predictable

I do have a few problems about the game. First, its kind of disappointing how some of the coolest looking glyphs aren't obtainable until close to the end of the game and by then, they're not really that useful. Another issue is how the game is challenging mainly because its harder to get better equipment so you have to be extra careful when you face tougher enemies at least during the first half of the game.
 
I really liked Dawn of Sorrow for DS....great little game there. Basically missed all the Castlevanias before Circle of the Moon on GBA
 
"Wouldn't it be great if they combined Simon's Quest's RPG elements, Bloodlines' combat, Rondo Of Blood's structure, and then jumped, conceptually, from the DS games? That would be the best Castlevania game ever!"

And it was. Order Of Ecclesia is phenomenal. I like that they brought back the religious war aspect of the series, and the soundtrack, while not a classic, is Castlevania-solid.
 
Classic: Rondo of Blood
From the intro fight with Death to the final battle with Beast Dracula, this beautiful, challenging videogame is the culmination and epitome of the Classic Castlevania gameplay. The graphics, the music, the branching paths, the story, the two characters to play as, the boss design, the atmosphere, the cinematic moments (aforementioned intro fight, the Behemoth chase, Shaft, Dracula vs Richter, etc.)... I love this game.

Metroidvania: Aria of Sorrow
A story set after the destruction of Dracula, where you play as his reincarnation? Each enemy having a soul that you can use as a weapon yourself? Different endings and motherfucking Julius Mode? Yoko's tits? Oh hell yes. A very streamlined Castlevania, with a lovely new gameplay system and great graphic design (I love how it looks "bright", yet feels ominous). My first Castlevania and still my favourite.
 
Super Castlevania IV > Simon's Quest > Castlevania > Symphony of the Night > Rondo of Blood > Akumajo Dracula > Bloodlines > Dracula's Curse > Haunted Castle > Rehashed Metroidvania's
 
Didn't play them all, but Aria of Sorrow is one of my personal favourites. Great action and music for GBA game. Two big thumbs up.
 
Only played Castlevania I and II for the NES and I loved Simon's Quest back in the days.

Fuck the angry videogame nerd for destroying my fond memories. >:(
 
Easily Castlevani IV on super famicom.
But I haven't played all of them sadly and I never didn't felt very much for the metroidvanias of gba/ds
 
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