Best and worst Castlevania games

[bjj hero]

This thread was a good read as I recently started SOTN again. Im getting close to completion but I still love it. This will likely be the 9th time I beat it. I still think its one of the best games ever made.

Ive played a lot of the DS games, I liked Somas power set collecting souls bu fount the others forgetable. I definately preder the open world games to the linear ones.

I played the 3D reboot but lost interest half way through. I didnt hate it though.

I was most disappointed with the multiplayer boss rush xbla game. It felt off and was just a case of repeat the same 6 levels over and over hoping for better loot.

 

[dscross]

Both the overworld and mansions have middling to poor level designs, especially the mansions, which tend to be overly reliant on finicky jumps, frustrating enemy placement and conveluted level design. CV is no stranger to tight platforming and annoying enemies, but it shoots past challenging to straight frustration due to how sloppy it is. All the mansions look the same with a slight change in color, and the overworld, which has slightly more variety to it funnily enough, is still pretty similar all around, making the game visually boring too.

Illusionary platforms you have to throw Holy Water at to see it's real or not is an massive annoyance that adds nothing. Same with the day night cycle, which pauses the game every single time it happens for 5 seconds. The game not telling you what to do in any way or form makes it a complete trial and error whether you are able to progress or not. The NPCs are mostly unhelpful, making a game that has poor direction even poorer. Good luck completing the game on your first playthrough without a guide.

I didn't find it any more challenging than 1 or 3. I agree that the illusionary platforms were unnecessary though. I found the NPCs quite funny, but yeah, it is tricky without a guide.

 

[MrBoBo]

Master Of Darkness.

 

[Souplex]

The DS ones are the best. Of those Dawn of Sorrow was the weak link.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

Best: Castlevania IV, Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night, both Sorrow titles, and Order of Ecclessia.

Worst: Both N64 titles and both Lords of Shadow titles.

Basically most 2D titles are stone cold classics while the 3D titles have gone from decent (Lament of Innocence/Curse of Darkness) to godawful (N64/Lords of Shadow).

 

[ScrabbitRabbit]

The only Metroidvania I've played is Symphony and I haven't played all of the Classicvanias either but my list looks a bit like this.

I imagine it's gonna look weird.

1. Chronicles (X68000) - also the first one I played
2. Bloodlines
3. Super
4. Symphony
5. Original
6. III

I enjoy all of them, so I still think III is fantastic.

I really want to play Rondo, it looks like my sorta thing. I should also try the other Metroidvanias some time. The Wii Rebirth game looks fun, too.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Aria of Sorrow for me. Definitely. In case it wasn't already obvious. XP The only problem with it is that it's SO bloody expensive for even just the stupid cartridge.

Dawn of Sorrow I don't know about that one but the artstyle changed and not for the better.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

At first I thought I was going to have trouble deciding which of the two N64 Castleavania games I'd vote as being my personal least-favorite (if not objectively worst, especially since one of them has a game-breaking glitch in it) but then I remembered the reboot trilogy that happened late last-generation! Lords of Shadow 1, 2 and, Mirror of Fate were so bad they haven't been shat onto the PS4/Xbone yet that I'm aware of. I haven't played Lords of Shadow 2 but I played enough of Lords 1 to know that it was a game that isn't technically broken or even bad (this game isn't on the same level as Colonial Marines for example) but it was not Castlevania. It wants to be God of War but it wants to be Shadow of the Colossus but it wants to wear Castlevania's skin. It culminates in a really weird sort of game that I just saw as being boring and repetitive and not worth playing...Dante's Inferno was a much better Castlevania than the Lords of Shadow games and that was a pretty solid C+ game. Mirror of Fate is one that I played too but it was more disappointing than bad...it felt more like a real Castlevania but it felt slow, not for the sake of being methodical but slow because it was a 3DS game that didn't want to be a 3DS game.

My favorite Castlevania game though is a lot harder to identify...I loved the Soma games (Aria and Dawn of Sorrow), I loved Symphony of the Night too and I have a very soft spot in my flinty heart for Curse of Darkness of all Castlevania titles. I liked the 3 NES classics but I wouldn't call any of them a favorite. If I was forced to pick a single favorite I think I would go with Aria of Sorrow because I really liked the soul mechanic there but I didn't like the touch-screen gimmick used in Dawn of Sorrow.

 

[baddude1337]

I've been working my way through the Metroidvania ones. Out of the ones I have played and completed (Aria, Dawn, Portrait and Symphony) I would say Aria is the best. It could be because it's the first one I played, but the soul mechanic and weapon variety was solid. It's unlockable extra character mode is probably the most fun out of the lot too. My least favourite was Dawn, but even then it's not by much as I really like all of them. The forced touch-screen boss thing is what dragged it down for me. After beating it I found there was a hack that allowed you to basically skip these parts.

I got half way through Ecclesia before I got kind of burnt out, as I played them back to back. I intend to go back eventually as it is a great game. Probably the most difficult of the lot. I think the linear sections before the castle don't help too much.

I am currently going through Harmony of Dissonance on a rom with a few colour pallette and Juste sprite hacks (so the game isn't so bright and his animations aren't so jerky) and it's a lot of fun. Hopefully after beating it I will get back into Ecclesia, before Circle of the Moon. Then I can say I beat all the CV Metroidvania style games.

 

[dscross]

Aria of Sorrow for me. Definitely. In case it wasn't already obvious. XP The only problem with it is that it's SO bloody expensive for even just the stupid cartridge.

Dawn of Sorrow I don't know about that one but the artstyle changed and not for the better.

All this love for Aria over symphony is making me really want to get a GBA! What was it that was so good about it that you preferred it to Symphony?

 

[Arnoxthe1]

All this love for Aria over Symphony is making me really want to get a GBA! What was it that was so good about it that you preferred it to Symphony?

Well, I've actually never played SotN. From what I hear though, besides music and atmosphere and a couple other small things it does slightly better, AoS was superior to it in pretty much every way.

I know AoS is really popular in terms of emulated games too.

 

[dscross]

All this love for Aria over Symphony is making me really want to get a GBA! What was it that was so good about it that you preferred it to Symphony?

Well, I've actually never played SotN. From what I hear though, besides music and atmosphere and a couple other small things it does slightly better, AoS was superior to it in pretty much every way.

I know AoS is really popular in terms of emulated games too.

Well irrespective, I think you should play Symphony. It's just something every Castlevania fan should do. Plus you get to play it on a big screen rather than a handheld.

 

[dscross]

Personal favorite is Portrait of Ruin. The gimmick isn't frustrating and I think the difficulty is less of a hassle than in OoE. I guess SotN kind of stands above all of the DS and GBAvanias for me in general, but having played through it recently, I'd struggle to really explain why.

If I had to put what I think of the ones I've played in numerical order:

1. SotN
2. PoR
3. OoE
4. AoS
5. HoD
6. DoS
7. CotM

Comparing them isn't really very easy for me, though, since I'd gladly play through almost any post-SotN Castlevania multiple times. Except Circle of the Moon, maybe (I'd probably mark it as my least favorite even though it's still enjoyable). One day I'd like to muster the effort to get into the older games but I tend to get a little too annoyed playing them.

Actually while I have a portrait of ruin fan to hand, can you please tell me how to beat those damn Frankenstein monsters in the nest of evil without taking loads of damage? It's soooo difficult.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Actually while I have a portrait of ruin fan to hand, can you please tell me how to beat those damn Frankenstein monsters in the nest of evil without taking loads of damage? It's soooo difficult.

Can't much help you there. It's been a long time since I've played through it and I don't remember enjoying the Nest of Evil too much myself.

 

[hermes]

Best I have played are Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night.

Worst one I have played is the second Lords of Shadow. The first one was a decent character adventure game if you forget it was a Castlevania game (which they did, for 99.9% of the time), but you can't do the same with the second one.

 

[laggyteabag]

Wow, people really dont like the Lords of Shadow games, do they? I have a friend that loves both of those games to death.

What exactly are the issues with it, other than the obvious fact that it is a departure from the normal 2D perspective?

Also, for someone who does enjoy those kind of 3D hack-and-slashers, what games would you recommend? (it is his birthday soon).

 

[BrawlMan]

Wow, people really dont like the Lords of Shadow games, do they? I have a friend that loves both of those games to death.

What exactly are the issues with it, other than the obvious fact that it is a departure from the normal 2D perspective?

Also, for someone who does enjoy those kind of 3D hack-and-slashers, what games would you recommend? (it is his birthday soon).

Killer Is Dead
Bayonetta 2 (if he has a Wii U)
Transformers Devastation

 

[dscross]

Wow, people really dont like the Lords of Shadow games, do they? I have a friend that loves both of those games to death.

What exactly are the issues with it, other than the obvious fact that it is a departure from the normal 2D perspective?

You'll probably like them more if you aren't a Castlevania fan. It's more to do with continuity for me which they really screw around with. There are actually 3 Lords of Shadow games, the middle one being Mirror of Fate for handhelds.

In all of them, they changed some of my favourite characters to be completely different, the timeline doesn't work and the Belmont lineage is different. I don't like it! If they did a softer reboot where they didn't change as many elements I'm sure people would have been less opposed to it. Don't mess with the Belmonts, man!

Gameplay wise, Mirror of Fate felt more like Castlevania than the others, but the 3D hack and slash element of the other two didn't really bother me as much. They've tried that before to a lesser extent.

 

[stroopwafel]

You'll probably like them more if you aren't a Castlevania fan. It's more to do with continuity for me which they really screw around with. There are actually 3 Lords of Shadow games, the middle one being Mirror of Fate for handhelds.

Lords of Shadow 1 was actually pretty good and no doubt the best 3D 'Castlevania' game. The gameplay was a solid derivative of God of War and the backgrounds in particular were detailed and diverse. It had some cool boss fights as well. It actually mixed various games; God of War being the most obvious one but it also had traces of Shadow of the Colossus and the mountain climbing of Uncharted. Lords of Shadow didn't really have that trademark Castlevania cheese of having every classic horror villain provide this eccentric undertone(very hard to replicate I imagine) but it was still a solid game in it's own right. The second game however dropped the ball in my opinion. The environments were drab and boring and the entire game felt like running in circles. Making it all take place in this one city was a big mistake. I guess they tried to make a 3D Symphony of the Night but failed miserably at that.

Anyways my favorite Castlevania game is Super Castlevania 4 followed closely by Symphony of the Night. I enjoyed the NES games as well back in the day but there is nothing really that Super didn't do better(similarly with Metroid). I also played the Gameboy versions but man..memory is getting fuzzy there. I remember the N64 Castlevania being garbage. Haven't played any of the handheld Castlevania 's from GBA and upward other than Mirror of Fate which I didn't really like that much.

A recent game that reminded me a lot of classic Castlevania is Momodora reverie under the moonlight. Surprised by how good it was. Really glad this kind of side-scrolling action found a new home at indie developers after such a long absence.

 

[BrawlMan]

You'll probably like them more if you aren't a Castlevania fan. It's more to do with continuity for me which they really screw around with. There are actually 3 Lords of Shadow games, the middle one being Mirror of Fate for handhelds.

Lords of Shadow 1 was actually pretty good and no doubt the best 3D 'Castlevania' game. The gameplay was a solid derivative of God of War and the backgrounds in particular were detailed and diverse. It had some cool boss fights as well. It actually mixed various games; God of War being the most obvious one but it also had traces of Shadow of the Colossus and the mountain climbing of Uncharted. Lords of Shadow didn't really have that trademark Castlevania cheese of having every classic horror villain provide this eccentric undertone(very hard to replicate I imagine) but it was still a solid game in it's own right. The second game however dropped the ball in my opinion. The environments were drab and boring and the entire game felt like running in circles. Making it all take place in this one city was a big mistake. I guess they tried to make a 3D Symphony of the Night but failed miserably at that.

Anyways my favorite Castlevania game is Super Castlevania 4 followed closely by Symphony of the Night. I enjoyed the NES games as well back in the day but there is nothing really that Super didn't do better(similarly with Metroid). I also played the Gameboy versions but man..memory is getting fuzzy there. I remember the N64 Castlevania being garbage. Haven't played any of the handheld Castlevania 's from GBA and upward other than Mirror of Fate which I didn't really like that much.

A recent game that reminded me a lot of classic Castlevania is Momodora reverie under the moonlight. Surprised by how good it was. Really glad this kind of side-scrolling action found a new home at indie developers after such a long absence.

The other problem with Lords of Shadow 2 was the genius who decided to put stealth section in a Castlevania game! WTf? As for having a 3D Symphony of the Night; unofficially, Devil May Cry 1 & 3 hold that department.

They both have trappings for a Casltevania title: The half-human/half-supernatural protagonist, white hair, an evil demon lord who might as well be Satan (first game), absurdly hard difficulty, and DMC1 even takes place in castle. DMC3 takes place mostly in a Gothic tower. Come to think of it, Hideki Kamiya, the lead director of the first game, is a huge fan of Castlevania I. So we know where the inspiration came from.