The Castlevania Thread

[retrorussell]

I like the 2D Castlevania games. I'm not interested in the 3D efforts. I feel it should be a platform game. And definitely not a Street Fighting game!

[DickNixonArisen]

has anyone mentioned judgment? SHOULD anyone? oh CRAP, I just did.

[toptenmaterial]

has anyone mentioned judgment? SHOULD anyone? oh CRAP, I just did.

Man, they could have done so much with CV on the Wii.... at least we got Rebirth.

[toptenmaterial]

Sequel to Lords of Shadow coming soon: http://www.lazygamer.net/xbox-360/castlevania-developers-learned-from-their-mistakes-next-game-will-be-better/

 

I'm not too sure how I feel about this; I'd much rather see a 2D platformer on the 3DS or Wii.

[DemonoidTentacle]

Seems like I'm a bit late to the party on this thread.

 

1-3 on the NES are great, some amazing memories there. Memories mainly including throwing my controller across the room. Great thing was, the controls in the games were perfect, so you could never blame the game, only yourself. In some kind of order I'd have to say 3, 1, 2. Bear in mind that I don't think Simons Quest is a bad game, it's a great game, more of a prototype to the Metroidvania style games.

 

4 on the SNES is a damn masterpiece. I still remember finally fighting Dracula and then the bad ass theme kicks in. I swear, if the song hadn't started I wouldn't have been pumped enough to beat Dracula.

 

I was never into the Game Boy games, they just didn't do it for me. I see one has been remade for Wiiware, I have no intentions of getting it.

 

Rondo of Blood. Wow. Get a PSP with Chronicles and your set for one hell of a good time.

 

The 3d games on the N64 and PS2 were not very good, especially the 2 on the 64.

 

The Metroidvania games on the PS, GBA, and DS are excellent. SoTN and DoS are my favourite of these styles. The only problem I find with these games is that Castlevania had a legacy for being damn hard, and I was disappointed to find that these games are quite easy.

 

I want a Belmont for Smash Bros!

[Austin]

Sequel to Lords of Shadow coming soon: http://www.lazygamer.net/xbox-360/castlevania-developers-learned-from-their-mistakes-next-game-will-be-better/I'm not too sure how I feel about this; I'd much rather see a 2D platformer on the 3DS or Wii.

 

Not sure how I feel about that either. I still have very mixed feelings about LoS, and it's been out for nearly a year now.

 

I was never into the Game Boy games, they just didn't do it for me. I see one has been remade for Wiiware, I have no intentions of getting it.

 

The WiiWare "remake" is in name and a few likenesses only (fireball whip returns, exploding eyeballs from the GB games, etc). It's a pretty solid entry/throwback to the original style of the series. Check it out.

Edited September 4, 2011 by Austin

[NE146]

I'm actually playing through Simon's Quest now on the DS. I only played and finished this game once 23 years ago. So I forgot most of it.

 

But as I play it, little things are coming back to me. Save states are awesome since it allows you to do things (like try out the garlic) without having to waste it and go back to buy some more. The music in this game is still A+.

Edited September 4, 2011 by NE146

[toptenmaterial]

Time to revive this old beast.

 

I think that there are some possibilities for Castlevania on the 3DS. It would be nice to see some side scrollers with depth in the background. As long as Nintendo is rehashing 90s era games, why not SoTN, provided that they can secure the rights?

[Austin]

As long as Nintendo is rehashing 90s era games, why not SoTN, provided that they can secure the rights?

 

Why would Nintendo need to? Just let Konami port it and publish it on their own terms.

 

Whether that happens or not, I hope they do create something Castlevania for the 3DS, be it a revision of an old game, or a brand-new title in the vein of the DS titles.

[DickNixonArisen]

I agree that the difficult level is gone. Sure, if you count all the bonus challenges and bosh rush modes and whatnot, once you're already pretty much maxed, there can be a lot of challenge. But in general I find it hard to classify any game where you can simply level grind to pass a challenge as "hard". When Ecclesia came out, the press decided to label it as difficult.

[toptenmaterial]

^^ I don't know if balls to the wall difficulty exists in gaming anymore, Nixon. OoE was considerably harder than previous Castlevanias for sure, though not quite as hard as the NES titles, which I have never beaten.

[Tempest]

When Ecclesia came out, the press decided to label it as difficult.

I only had trouble with that one giant boss that's on the ship with the search lights (IIRC). Then again I was horribly underleveled at the time and too lazy to grind.

 

The only Castlevania game that gave me trouble was the original one. It took me many years to finally beat it. The rest were pretty simple, even the non-RPG ones.

[AlvinKarpis]

I wonder how anybody who is 30+ years old and owned an NES growing up could not choose CV 1, 2 or 3 as the top choice

 

For sure CV1 I have the most memories of, took me a long time to beat

 

CV2 I liked, I see all the hate this game gets and I think its all BS, sure the ducking down with the orb selected waiting for the tornado to come was killing me and all my friends until it was printed in Nintendo Power how to get past that stage, but after learning that I was ok with CV2

 

CV3 is for sure the best one of the first three, but I find myself going back and playing CV1 more often then the other two

 

Im going with CV1

[Reaperman]

I love the 2d games, and my favorites are easily Symphony of the Night and Castlevania III--it just bugs me that the Japanese seemed to keep the best versions of both of them to themselves. (I guess it could be argued that the us psx version was prettier/smoother, but I don't feel that it was better)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fn17URaCAk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amPDOIM8bXA

Edited October 25, 2011 by Reaperman

[Austin]

Even with leveling up I still found some of the boss fights in Ecclesia to be tough. They generally required a good bit of endurance and pattern memorization, something pretty much non-existent in SOTN (since most bosses drop like flies in that one).

Edited October 25, 2011 by Austin

[DickNixonArisen]

Blew through Ecclesia. Good game though, no complaints. I thought the storyline stepped it up a little, at least kept a bit of freshness in there. Really enjoyed it. I have never beaten the original castlevania, or any of the regular GB ones. I have also not beaten any of the GBA titles, but that's mostly because I have not started them. I understand that circle of the moon can be tough, maybe just the last boss or something?

[toptenmaterial]

Blew through Ecclesia. Good game though, no complaints. I thought the storyline stepped it up a little, at least kept a bit of freshness in there. Really enjoyed it. I have never beaten the original castlevania, or any of the regular GB ones. I have also not beaten any of the GBA titles, but that's mostly because I have not started them. I understand that circle of the moon can be tough, maybe just the last boss or something?

 

DNA, I have also never beaten the original CV. I started a thread earlier in the year to track my progress, but never made it past Frankenstein. I think I'll try again soon! Circle of the Moon is hard for a couple of reasons: the save points are too few and far in between, and your life doesn't get recharged after boss fights. So you'll end up covering a huge amount of ground, survive an epic boss fight, then get killed by a bat on the way to a save point, and have to start all over again. Not a bad game, and the music is awesome, but that aspect of it is too much. You can't have old school CV difficult, combined with Metroidvania exporation, and only have a few save points.

 

I would strongly recommend the two games that came after CotM, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. Both of those are awesome, incredibly addicting Castlevania games.

Edited October 28, 2011 by toptenmaterial

[Austin]

Last Fall I played Circle of the Moon pretty religiously. During this time I found that you can play through the game again through "special" unlockable modes. This is where the game really got interesting for me. One mode for instance gives you every card in the game to start off with, and you have high MP and magic attack power. However, it strips you of your strength, so physical attacks are rendered mostly useless. Another mode does the opposite, stripping you of magic for the most part, but makes you extremely powerful when using physical attacks and secondary items. I think one mode even makes you especially vulnerable to attacks, so in certain sections of the game you will find yourself dodging everything! There are four or five of these modes you unlock as you complete them, and it's a lot of fun traversing through the game in each of them. It forces you to play differently with each style.

Edited October 28, 2011 by Austin

[Lord Thag]

Other than the 3D games, I've pretty much played and beat all of the Castlevania games (minus the last Gameboy one with the girl - missed that one). I'm currently working on the Japanese PC-Engine Rondo of Blood, which is freaking fantastic.

 

No other series has maintained my interest for so many years with so few (2D anyway) dropped balls.

 

All of the DS games were great, as were the GBA ones.

[DickNixonArisen]

Yea, basically titles from the CV and LoZ series are my only "must-buy" games. When one is released I am driven by a strange compulsion, a half-recalled song of enchanting timbre, and as if in a fever dream I stumble in bramble-torn nightclothes down the ill-lit path to the gamehole. In the morning I wake with no recall of the events of the night previous, but in my bloodied hands is a copy of the new title, and the mark of the whip and boomerang is seared into my palm.

[toptenmaterial]

So I have never played Judgement, but I ready a funny review that says that Maria is obsessed with other girls' boobs.

[NinjaWarrior]

I hope Castlevania goes back to 2D

[toptenmaterial]

I hope Castlevania goes back to 2D

 

I think it always has/will. Every now and then, a 3D game is released, but it's mostly side scrollers. The download-only content has been 2D (Adventure Rebirth, Harmony of Dispair). However I feel like there was this blitz of Castlevania titles a few years back (the 6 handheld Nintendo titles + Dracula X Chronicles) and things just aren't progressing at that pace. Part of that may have to do with a slowdown at Nintendo, as I see very few games being releases for any of their systems.

[StanJr]

Plus, that glut of GB titles really maxed out what they can do with the Symphony of the Night template. They need to take a minute to work up something really new and cool and then hit us with it. I am all for a good, challenging 2D side-scroller, maybe inspired by the game mechanics in Dracula's Curse, with lots of paths to the end.

[DickNixonArisen]

So I have never played Judgement, but I ready a funny review that says that Maria is obsessed with other girls' boobs.

 

Oh yeah, mostly jealous of their size, which is admittedly ridiculous. For a twelve-year old, or whatever she's supposed to be, she shouldn't be complaining because hers are silly too. The character models for the whole game are bizarre and awful. Very, very, very, very gay. I'm not saying that as a slur, someone somewhere WANTS gay castlevania, and if they do, they can go buy judgment. Oiled chests. Muscley men in strange positions. Bondage straps on everything. Short shorts. Ten straps on the short shorts. Pink eyepatch with heart, miniature tophat on oily-chested muscle man wrestling with other man in bondage shorts. Straight up harvey milk.