Castlevania

Originally Posted by Rash

Well, for one, you should keep the "classic" Castlevanias and the "Metroidvania" Castlevanias separate. Give them both their rightful chances.

For the "classic" games, start with Super Castlevania IV for the SNES. It re-tells the story of the original Castlevania and does so with improved controls and a more manageable difficulty level for newcomers.

If you're more open-minded about the level of challenge and are interested in the series' evolution, you could play the original NES Castlevania, and even if you can't beat it, you can then move on to Castlevania III, which follows a similar level-based formula but is a longer, more balanced, and better game overall. I'm not sure where to fit CVII, since it's very controversial, but I can say that if you like CVIII you should then find a way to play Rondo of Blood.

For the "Metroidvania" games, you could really start with any of them. I'd recommend Symphony of the Night (PS1) or Aria of Sorrow (GBA). They give you the best gist of exploration-based action/platforming when it comes to Drac's castle, and provide the basic model of what you'd expect, gameplay-wise, from all the other Metroidvanias.

Free-roaming Castlevanias are actually better in my opinion. While yeah, the original side-scrolling Castlevanias were good, they were too repetitive in the fact that they don't let you go back and do much of anything in previous levels just for the heck of it.

There were some fun things to be had in the Metroidvania games, such as going back to kill older enemies to find rarer items. And in OoE's case, rarer glyphs that would normally be harder to obtain by regular methods. Fun stuff.

BTW, my list of Castlevania games in case anyone's interested:
-Symphony of the Night (PSN)
-Circle of the Moon (GBA)
-Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)
-Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
-Curse of Darkness (PS2)
-Portrait of Ruin (DS)
-Order of Ecclesia (DS)

I had Lament of Innocence and Dawn of Sorrow, but I sold them in the end. Needed the cash, plus, they didn't play out too good. Can't wait for The Adventure: Rebirth and Lords of Shadow, for sure.

Originally Posted by Blaine

I had Lament of Innocence and Dawn of Sorrow, but I sold them in the end. Needed the cash, plus, they didn't play out too good. Can't wait for The Adventure: Rebirth and Lords of Shadow, for sure.

Don't know of many people who think Curse of Darkness is a better game than Lament of Innocence

Originally Posted by Blaine

they were too repetitive in the fact that they don't let you go back and do much of anything in previous levels just for the heck of it.

Well Rondo of Blood allowed you to pick previous levels you've beaten and play through them again.

Lament of Innocence was a great game. I think its the best 3D title in the series.

Originally Posted by Florina Belmont

Lament of Innocence was a great game. I think its the best 3D title in the series.

Indeed; problem is, so far, having the honor of being the "Best 3D Castlevania" doesn't amount to much, compared to other successful action/adventure franchises.

Here's hoping Lords of Shadow really pushes the envelope.

Yar. Agreed. I have hopes that LoS can really dish out some awesome 3D Castlevania action. I dont think the main protagonist is a Belmont...or is he?
EDIT: Yeah! He is a Belmont! Yay!

Originally Posted by Florina Belmont

Yar. Agreed. I have hopes that LoS can really dish out some awesome 3D Castlevania action. I dont think the main protagonist is a Belmont...or is he?
EDIT: Yeah! He is a Belmont! Yay!

If he is a Belmont, does that mean they are replacing the Vampire Killer whip with the silly named "Combat Cross"?

Originally Posted by Z-MAN7

If he is a Belmont, does that mean they are replacing the Vampire Killer whip with the silly named "Combat Cross"?

The "Vampire Killer" is a pretty silly name as well, though.

It has been speculated that Lords of Shadow MIGHT, and I mean that heavily, be another remake of the original Castlevania. Because they've edited Simon Belmont too many times to give him an actual defined look, they might have just redid his entire look and named him Gabriel.

Let's just hope I'm wrong, as I don't want it to be a 4th remake of the original, because that's no fun.

Originally Posted by Andross

The "Vampire Killer" is a pretty silly name as well, though.

Certainly explains its main purpose, though. It's a rather simple name.

Originally Posted by Blaine

It has been speculated that Lords of Shadow MIGHT, and I mean that heavily, be another remake of the original Castlevania. Because they've edited Simon Belmont too many times to give him an actual defined look, they might have just redid his entire look and named him Gabriel.

Let's just hope I'm wrong, as I don't want it to be a 4th remake of the original, because that's no fun.

Ehh i dont think so. I think its probably a totally different story from the supposed timeline.

Only Castlevania game I've played so far is Order of Ecclesia, but I love it. Haven't quite completed it yet (still need to defeat Dracula) but it's easily my favourite DS game. Symphony of the Night is the next game I want to play as I've heard so many good things about it.

I'm in mixed minds about Castlevania. I hate the classic Castlevanias. I mean, seriously. I have never understood why people like them. You can't control your jumps, in most of them you can't control your whip direction, stairs are just ridiculous, there's no exploration, it's really just a very poor bash'em up platformer.

The Metroidvania Castlevanias, however, I love to bits. I played SotN quite recently now, and it is absolutely amazing, and I liked Order of Ecclesia. Admittedly, the anime duet were lacking, but aside from that, the other five Metroidvania titles were excellent.

To be fair, though, Super Castlevania looks to have none of the debilitating problems of the older games. I haven't played it so I can't say for sure, but it looks like the best of the classic ones.

Super Castlevania was nice enough. The stairs were still a nightmare, but I liked how it was almost "3D", seeing as you could switch between up to 3 different planes.

Super Castlevania IV controls the best of all the classic games, and has the most fluid gameplay of them because of it. You have control over your jumps. You can whip in eight directions. Stairs aren't as bad since you can jump on them. And, on top of that, secondary weapons are relegated to the R button.

That said, if you can call Castlevania 3 nothing more than a "bash 'em up platformer" then what about all other NES sidescrollers?

The game may have its flaws, but for what it is, it still comes as a package that's both fun and challenging, while providing a memorable soundtrack and good replay value.

Yeah, Super Castevania 4 is just amazing.

In terms of the old Castlevanias, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood were probably the best out of all of them.

Super Castlevania IV: Fixed the control schematics of the original ones.

Castlevania III Dracula's Curse: Allowed you to play as 4 different characters, something not seen again until Dawn of Sorrow for the DS.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood: Somewhat, but not completely, introduced the concept of Metroidvania, though it didn't really come out until SotN, Rondo of Blood's sequel.

The problem I have with Rondo of Blood is that it was never released in the states until not so long ago on the PSP. We got stuck with Dracula X, which was just okay.

Originally Posted by Dread

The problem I have with Rondo of Blood is that it was never released in the states until not so long ago on the PSP. We got stuck with Dracula X, which was just okay.

Not unless you imported the original Rondo of Blood.

At one point, I had pretty every single Castlevania game up to Aria of Sorrow, but my house got robbed, and I lost everything that came out before Symphony of the Night. ;_; Ah well, I've gotten most of it back, but not the old original NES and GB games. ;_;

BTW, all the bosses have been revealed for Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth:

Phantom Bat
Max Slimer (at least I think that's what it looks like)
Bone Dragon King
Spectral Sword
The Creature
Death
Dracula

Ought to be a fun game.