Your favorite Castlevania game in the series?

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

So guys. Halloween is about a week away. And Castlevania comes to my mind as one of the most played games for me during that time of the year. Which one in the series is your favorite? For me it comes to a very tough choice between Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse and Super Castlevania 4. I have to go with the third version. It is my second favorite NES game of all time behind The Legend of Zelda. Graphically it was very impressive and for the later period of the 8 bit era, the music is simply stunning and has one of the best soundtracks to come for the system; well the whole series is known for some of the most memorable soundtracks. You can have Grant, Sypha, and Alucard help you out on your quest to hunt down Dracula. A first in the series is choosing your path to get to Dracula's Castle instead of a default selected path. And lastly the controls are executed perfectly and put a big spike in improvement from the first game and gives you a great challenge. It was a tossup for 3 and 4 as they are both A+ games along with Symphony of the Night. I am biased as the NES is my favorite system of all time. It is Dracula's Curse for me.

[mikey.shake]

I haven't played them all, but recently took on the first three NES games and SCIV. I love the "open-exploration" aspects of the so-called "Metroidvania" entries, but if I'm being honest with myself, I like a straightforward action-platformer even more. So it's down to the first and third games for me. Castlevania is so perfect (ok, ok... to ME), and I remember when I was a kid and my friends and I got a copy it was just a mind-blower. Simon's Quest was cool and still is cool, but I didn't love it like the first one. And Dracula's Curse did just about everything I liked in the first one, but amped it all up to its maximum amount, with all the different characters and the branching paths and the gorgeous artwork and music and style. I'm voting for Castlevania, but I'd also admit that Dracula's Curse is the superior game. But when I'm in a "let's just play some Castlevania" mood, I'll throw in the first game most often. Call me old-fashioned.

 

(And BTW, I really like the phrasing of this poll -- "favorite" is usually more fun than "best", because it's subjective and seems to incite fewer arguments! )

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I haven't played them all, but recently took on the first three NES games and SCIV. I love the "open-exploration" aspects of the so-called "Metroidvania" entries, but if I'm being honest with myself, I like a straightforward action-platformer even more. So it's down to the first and third games for me. Castlevania is so perfect (ok, ok... to ME), and I remember when I was a kid and my friends and I got a copy it was just a mind-blower. Simon's Quest was cool and still is cool, but I didn't love it like the first one. And Dracula's Curse did just about everything I liked in the first one, but amped it all up to its maximum amount, with all the different characters and the branching paths and the gorgeous artwork and music and style. I'm voting for Castlevania, but I'd also admit that Dracula's Curse is the superior game. But when I'm in a "let's just play some Castlevania" mood, I'll throw in the first game most often. Call me old-fashioned.

 

(And BTW, I really like the phrasing of this poll -- "favorite" is usually more fun than "best", because it's subjective and seems to incite fewer arguments! )

Exactly. I never do it as a "best" in the series. I don't want any flame wars, trolling, name calling, and nasty arguments involved. I like to hear other people's favorites and their opinions and it keeps the discussion and topic more civil. I really enjoy the first game and always pop that in. The controls were not as fine tuned as the others. Simon's Quest was the odd man out and black sheep of the series as it provided an RPG style of play. The fourth I really like is that you can whip in eight directions and dangle it to defeat smaller enemies like bats and frogs. Dracula X was a huge disappointment. Bloodlines is very good. I have never played Rondo of Blood though. Symphony of the Night ranks as one of my top favorite original Playstation games.

[BassGuitari]

Simon's Quest. Not even joking. I actually played through it four or five times in the last week.

[BurritoBeans]

It's Rondo of Blood for me, but I love pretty much every game in the series...

 

Castlevania is pretty classic (Bonus points to the X68000 version, the game sounds awesome with system sound or either MIDI option. I sometimes just turn on the X68000 with Akumajo Dracula in it and throw it in sound mode to listen to the music.)

Simon's Quest may have a few flaws like NPCs being cryptic and the whole tornado thing but I like how it plays apart from said few flaws

Dracula's Curse feels like a nice addition to the first, and it was pretty fun to play. Also, branching paths and the secondary player option is pretty cool

Super Castlevania feels like another improvement/addition to the first, and stuff like the whip spin and some of the stages were really cool to see

Dracula X wasn't too great to me, but it still was fun.

Rondo of Blood was my overall favorite, and I really just like the way it feels, the music, and the branching paths and stuff.

I haven't played much Bloodlines but for the few stages I have played I loved the music and felt that the gameplay was good.

And finally, there's SotN which I love for the whole exploration thing.

 

 

Sorry for the long-winded crap, I just felt like putting it in.

TL;DR - I like all the games but Rondo of Blood is the top for me.

[Gabriel]

I could wax poetic about Super Castlevania IV or Castlevania Bloodlines or even the original Castlevania. All three are great games.

 

But my absolute favorite is Portrait of Ruin. That's the one I had the most unreserved fun with.

 

[Skippy B. Coyote]

I've gotta go with the original. As fondly as I remember the dozens upon dozens of hours I've logged in Symphony of the Night over the years, the original is still the one I go back and play through whenever I need a Castlevania fix. It's an iconic classic with great level design, excellent music, and just really solid and challenging (yet rarely frustrating, for me at least) gameplay. Best of all it's I game that I can sit down, play through, and beat in half an hour or less. I love shorter action/adventure platformer games in general, and the original Castlevania for the NES—and it's Classic NES Series port for the Game Boy Advance—stands alongside Super Mario Land and Kirby's Dream Land on the Game Boy as one of my all time favorites.

[Emehr]

This is a tough choice because I love almost all of the 2D Castlevanias. I can rule out the GBA games because I never played Circle of the Moon and I didn't care for Harmony of Dissonance at all. I guess it helps that they're not in the poll. I only tried Dracula X on an emulator but never got into it too deep. When it comes to wanting a quick fix, my choices narrow down to the original, Dracula's Curse, or Bloodlines. Of those, I'd narrow it down further to Dracula's Curse. It's got the classic control mechanics and graphic style with the added depth of multiple paths and characters to play.

[7800fan]

Has to be Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest.

[leods]

My favorite was one of the GBA ones that I don't remember the Name. I used to like SotN. To be sincere I don't find any of them to be amazing. Too much unbalanced gameplay on the metroidvania games and too much stiffness in the old ones. But after SotN there are a couple games that sorta hit somewhat of a good Balance.

 

These games could have been better with a bit more Balance. It's a pitty that the series went the open world RPG way. If they kept evolving from SCIV just balancing even more and making your movement better, put in a save System. Man, at this Point the series would be amazing. It was good for it's time.

 

But then GoW came, and the 3D, we all know the Story...

[Austin]

Super Castlevania IV.

[Andromeda Stardust]

I like the japanese version of Castlevania 3. Epic soundtrack!

[Nutsy Doodleheimer]

I wish the name entry tune from the Famicom Disk System version would have made it to the NES. Love this one.

 

[byonddrivn]

I had to go with SCIV. I've only played the first 4 tho & have beat the first and fourth, which are the only 2 I own.

[Zap!]

Super Castlevania IV. Not only is it by far my favorite Castlevania game, in its own right it is one of the most perfect games ever made. Perfect control, perfect story, perfect music, and truly epic characters. I never get tired of playing this game.

[deepthaw]

Castlevania 3 followed by Rondo of Blood.

 

SCIV is a good game, but I find the difficulty is just too low and it felt like a step backwards (no branching paths, only one character) after Castlevania 3.

[derFunkenstein]

Aren't Rondo of Blood and Dracula X the same game? Or are we drawing differences between the PCE and SNES versions? I picked Dracula X because I didn't notice Rondo of Blood, but my favorite version of the game is the PCE original. The SNES version is surprisingly good considering the lack of CDDA music.

Edited May 7, 2018 by derFunkenstein

[Tanooki]

Aren't Rondo of Blood and Dracula X the same game? Or are we drawing differences between the PCE and SNES versions? I picked Dracula X because I didn't notice Rondo of Blood, but my favorite version of the game is the PCE original. The SNES version is surprisingly good considering the lack of CDDA music.

Nope. Derivative works. In Japan they're Dracula X (PCE) and Dracula XX (Double X)(SFC.) They have a similar story line and main characters, but the stages, intent, layout, designs are all unique. The SNES game is meant kind of like a gaiden (side story) release of sorts and not to be (but sadly is) confused as the same game but horribly scaled down. They stand individually on their own as solid games in Japan. It has just been a long run 20 year old fanboy tool prop for PCE owners to give crap to SNES fans arguing they got the best Castlevania game ever and we Nintendo owners got the left overs which isn't reality.

 

I've owned both, still own the SNES one as I never sold it retaining my original 1995 cartridge and manual. In some ways I prefer it, in others I do not, but I don't ever mistake them as the same title.

[derFunkenstein]

Nope. Derivative works. In Japan they're Dracula X (PCE) and Dracula XX (Double X)(SFC.) They have a similar story line and main characters, but the stages, intent, layout, designs are all unique. The SNES game is meant kind of like a gaiden (side story) release of sorts and not to be (but sadly is) confused as the same game but horribly scaled down. They stand individually on their own as solid games in Japan. It has just been a long run 20 year old fanboy tool prop for PCE owners to give crap to SNES fans arguing they got the best Castlevania game ever and we Nintendo owners got the left overs which isn't reality.

 

I've owned both, still own the SNES one as I never sold it retaining my original 1995 cartridge and manual. In some ways I prefer it, in others I do not, but I don't ever mistake them as the same title.

 

I know that there's no Maria, but I didn't realize (or didn't play far enough in the SNES version to see) that level designs had changed. I played through the first stage with the ROM and my Everdrive and turned it off since it felt like the exact same thing. I'm still pretty impressed by the music, though.

[high voltage]

Is it Halloween again??

 

Castlevania Legends, you play Sonia, how cool is that? I actually like the game with its (sort of) twisted ending.

[Zap!]

SCIV is a good game, but I find the difficulty is just too low and it felt like a step backwards (no branching paths, only one character) after Castlevania 3.

 

That's exactly why it's my favorite. I don't like the exceptionally high difficulty of the first game, I don't like having the ability to go to multiple paths like in Symphony Of the Night, and I most certainly don't want multiple characters like most of them have. To me, it's not Castlevania if I'm not controlling Simon.

[Austin]

That's exactly why it's my favorite. I don't like the exceptionally high difficulty of the first game, I don't like having the ability to go to multiple paths like in Symphony Of the Night, and I most certainly don't want multiple characters like most of them have. To me, it's not Castlevania if I'm not controlling Simon.

Way to limit yourself, then. You're missing out on some of the best games in the series.

[Silverfleet]

This is a tough one, as I'm a huge Castlevania fan. My problem is that I group Castlevania games into 3 categories: platform action, Metroidvania, and 3D (not counting the weird Castlevania Judgement fighting game).

 

Best overall? Uhh... Symphony of the Night, I think? It's definitely my favorite of all the Metroidvania-style games, and I've played through it a bunch of times without getting bored of it. I also have it on multiple platforms (the original PS1 game, PSP, and Xbox Live) and have played through it on all of them.

 

Out of the platformers, I'm going with Castlevania III. It had everything that made the original great, but with better graphics, sound, and gameplay. Plus, it had better replay value, with the branching paths and different allies. IV comes in real close, as does Rondo of Blood.

 

On the 3D games, I have a bunch of them, but haven't played enough of them to make a real decision. In my head, Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness are hard to tell apart. I know I didn't enjoy Legacy of Darkness on the N64, but not many people did.

[Zap!]

Way to limit yourself, then. You're missing out on some of the best games in the series.

 

I'm not limiting myself at all, I enjoyed the fist two very much, as well as SOTN. I just prefer Simon, one path, and what I forgot to mention before: the total control of the whip that the other games didn't have (can't remember if SOTN did, it's been years).

[Zap!]

With 65% of the vote reporting, Super Castlevania IV has jumped into the lead by 5 points (25.64% to 20.51%) over what many have counted out, Castlevania III. In a stunning rebuke of the establishment, the expected winner, Symphony of the Night is lagging in a disappointing third place with just 17.95% of the vote. However, many voters have not yet reported, giving it a glimmer of hope. If no Castlevania wins 50%, there will be a special runoff with the top two vote getters going head to head in July. So far, there have not been any concession statements, other than from Dracula X.