Castlevania

So uh... Hi.


I've never played Castlevania before. My friend in real life is a fan of them and has always recommended them to me, but I've always been too stuck up Link and Samus' asses to give it a try (plus, I've never thought to buy them). However, lately, I've been itching for more 2D side-scroller games to play, so Castlevania seems like the perfect thing to dive into. I currently have Order of Ecclesia loaded on my DS and I've only played it for about 5 minutes now, but I'm enjoying it so far. I like how it plays, so I want to get into the series in the right manner.

What games would you guys recommend me starting with? I can only play NES, SNES, GB, GBC, GBA, NDS, N64, and any games on the Wii virtual console (I doubt I could run Playstation games, but I can try...), so... please limit choices to those. ;d

Also, if there are any JP exclusives, I can play those as well.

Dawn of Sorrow(DS) and Portrait of Ruin(DS) if you want to play the most similar game to Order of Ecclesia. Castlevania(NES) and Super Castlevania IV(SNES) if you want to enjoy where Order of Ecclesia originated from. I'd play all four of them if you can after you beat Ecclesia, they are fun in each of their own ways.

Too bad you can't play the PS one, i forgot the exact name, but it is one of the best castlevania (In my opinion) and its the one that changed castlevania to be more rpgish.

Edit: Looked the name, it was symphony of the night. Good game.

Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia were the only games for DS. They're all great, but to me Dawn of Sorrow will always be the best. It was the first for the handheld and employed such a cool system of useable "soul collecting," very similar to collecting familiars in MapleStory. Other little touches were great too, like the creepy originality of the game, and the Magic Seals upon defeating each boss, which required use of the stylus to complete.

I personally enjoyed Circle of the Moon (GBA).

Here are the games I recommend.

Castlevania (NES)
悪魔城伝説 (FDS) or Castlevania: Dracula's Curse (NES)
Kid Dracula (FC and Game Boy)
Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (Virtual Console)
and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)

If you can get the PS running, Symphony of the Night is the best Castlevania game of all times.

 Spoiler

OF ALL TIMES.

Also if you want another SNES title that is somewhat similar to Castlevanias style, try out Demon's Crest, it is surprisingly good.

Play Aria of Sorrow on the GBA before you play Dawn of Sorrow on the DS. Harmony of Dissonance is decent too if you can handle the hideous colour palette.

Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, and Order of Ecclesia were the only games for DS. They're all great, but to me Dawn of Sorrow will always be the best. It was the first for the handheld and employed such a cool system of useable "soul collecting," very similar to collecting familiars in MapleStory. Other little touches were great too, like the creepy originality of the game, and the Magic Seals upon defeating each boss, which required use of the stylus to complete.

I've only played the GBA game that DoS follows, but I wasn't a big fan of how you have to go into the menu to select the right soul for the situation. Constantly switching on every other screen got really tiresome. Did they improve that on the DS?

Also, the unique, hidden monsters not having guaranteed drops was a pain in the ass. Basically had to farm for the soul by resetting the map over and over again.

The NES and SNES ones all have a certain place in my heart. May just be me, but I particularly enjoyed Simon's Quest, though that's probably because it was one of the first games I ever played.

By the way, this popped into Winamp as I was reading through this, my favorite mixup of this series.

[video=youtube;cUCW-7h27u0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUCW-7h27u0[/video]

I've only played the GBA game that DoS follows, but I wasn't a big fan of how you have to go into the menu to select the right soul for the situation. Constantly switching on every other screen got really tiresome. Did they improve that on the DS?

Also, the unique, hidden monsters not having guaranteed drops was a pain in the ass. Basically had to farm for the soul by resetting the map over and over again.

No, both of those aspects were still key in Dawn of Sorrow, and not going to lie I liked them. Perhaps the puzzles in the GBA game were more stacked together, requiring a greater need of soul switching? Because while one does need to go into the menu to change souls in Dawn of Sorrow, it never feels so rapidly necessary that it becomes cumbersome.

Plus Castlevania's menus are so pared down that moving through them is much quicker than most games, so I'm actually surprised you got annoyed by this. Like jeez, how do you feel about games with slower menus?

And with regards to not having guaranteed soul drops, I liked that because it's the same for any rare drop in any game. I mean we're not talking certain MapleStory items like Primal Essences, but needing to spend a decent chunk of an hour to get a particular soul isn't unreasonable. It's the same with any collection game: don't get me wrong, I get pissed after 20 minutes of farming, to no avail, but it makes the effort rewarding in the end.

tl;dr: I think you're caught up on instant gratification elements of games that are, yes, an issue in many, but definitely not such a fluid game like Castlevania.

No, both of those aspects were still key in Dawn of Sorrow, and not going to lie I liked them. Perhaps the puzzles in the GBA game were more stacked together, requiring a greater need of soul switching? Because while one does need to go into the menu to change souls in Dawn of Sorrow, it never feels so rapidly necessary that it becomes cumbersome.

Plus Castlevania's menus are so pared down that moving through them is much quicker than most games, so I'm actually surprised you got annoyed by this. Like jeez, how do you feel about games with slower menus?

And with regards to not having guaranteed soul drops, I liked that because it's the same for any rare drop in any game. I mean we're not talking certain MapleStory items like Primal Essences, but needing to spend a decent chunk of an hour to get a particular soul isn't unreasonable. It's the same with any collection game: don't get me wrong, I get pissed after 20 minutes of farming, to no avail, but it makes the effort rewarding in the end.

tl;dr: I think you're caught up on instant gratification elements of games that are, yes, an issue in many, but definitely not such a fluid game like Castlevania.

There were a couple maps on which you would have to repeatedly toggle between the soul that let you walk on water, the soul that let you turn into a bat and fly, and I believe something else.

I don't care about instant gratification, I just hate anything that is pointlessly repetitive. We're talking about a monster in some hidden alcove that literally dies in 2 hits when you walk in the room, that you have to kill over and over again to get a drop from.

I'm a fan of the metroidvanias , which basically includes the DS games, as well as the GBA game(s?) and Symphony of the night).

I tried a couple of the other kind on the wiis virtual console and really couldn't get in to them.

Castlevania has recently been drifting back towards the old style of game rather than metroid style exploration, which sucks given we haven't had a new 2d metroid game in 10 years (No, other m doesn't count)

My three favorite's have to be:

1: Symphony of the night.
2: Aria of Sorrow.
3: Super Castlevania 4

When you start the first level of Super Castlevania 4 you hear this music:
[video=youtube;9sX3fjpkFwk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sX3fjpkFwk[/video]
When I heard it as a kid I crapped my pants and shivers came down my spine.
It still does.

EDIT:
[MENTION=4341]CarrionCrow[/MENTION];

Listen to this guy.
Also, play demons crest. He's right about that aswell.

I'm here to say..:
CURSE OF DARKNESS!
That's all. Have a great day.

Ok... but yeah.
Circle of the moon it's awesome! Well there's no point on naming the others stated above.

The older the "Metroidvania" you go, the easier it gets. "Metroidvania" is the term a lot of people use to explain all the games after and including Symphony of the Night (at least that are 2D) because they went into the non-linear RPG adventure genre instead of action side-scroller like they were. I don't particularly like the term, however it fits and it also expresses the point that the games after SotN are not the same as the ones prior.

Symphony of the Night, while considered the best, is also beyond the easiest game of them. It's extremely easy. As they made more games they tended to make them harder as well. Portrait of Ruin is also hard in many situations. Dawn of Sorrow is more of an intermediate difficulty, definitely the easiest of the DS games.

The GBA games, Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow are all decent as well. Dawn of Sorrow is the sequel to Aria of Sorrow, so if you play those two Aria is probably the better choice to start out with. Honestly all of the GBA games are pretty easy as well, although they have their moments. Circle of the Moon is considered no longer canon, I believe it was deemed so by Konami/the creator themselves. It's not a bad game, although it's easily the worst of the "Metroidvania" games in my opinion.

The games prior to SOTN are alright, but honestly I was never a big fan of them. Simon's Quest is gawdawful though, I wouldn't even look at it if I were anyone looking for a good game to play.

Simon's Quest is gawdawful though, I wouldn't even look at it if I were anyone looking for a good game to play.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I've decided to start with Aria of Sorrow, then play Dawn of Sorrow (mostly because they're the easiest for me to play). I got to the crab boss in the prison on Order of Ecclesia and I just gave up there. xd I like that lightning glyph, though.

Those knight pimentos who throw axes remind me of blue Iron Knuckles from Zelda II, except less difficult.

My old, legitimate Playstation is completely lost. I have no clue what really happened to it and I can't figure out how to get emulators to work (they just crash upon startup with that "program has stopped working" nonsense). It doesn't look like I'll get to play Symphony of the Night, unless I go out and buy a new system or convince my sister to send the old PS2 from Tennessee.

I'm also having issues getting my Wii to connect to the internet. I'm not sure exactly what the issue is there, so apparently virtual console games are off limits until I can fix that.

I also got Super Castlevania 4, along with a bunch of other SNES games (Contra III made me its bitch). I noticed right away the differences between it and the more recent additions to the series.

The crab boss in OoE was a nightmare the first time I fought it. My M.O. was to just crouch in a corner and spam axe glyphs.

I got to the crab boss in the prison on Order of Ecclesia and I just gave up there. xd I like that lightning glyph, though.

The crab boss in OoE was a nightmare the first time I fought it. My M.O. was to just crouch in a corner and spam axe glyphs.

 Spoiler

The elevator, it is there for a reason