What would be a good first Castlevania game to play?

[noiseredux]

Also if my memory is serving me right, the DOS version of Castlevania was fairly well awesome and I think it had a cool sound track if you didn't run it through the PC Speaker. KOnami sucks for not exploiting all their badass NES/arcade ports of the late 1980s/1990 from the PC on GOG.COM. I think a lot of people wouldn't balk at popping like $5 for their titles as they had a nice selection. I know I'd snap up a few.

samesies.

[TEKTORO]

I personally prefer the original platformers first followed by the Metrovania then the 3-Ds.

Know what's been missing from Castlevania for about twenty years?

"Scary"

But I agree, original platformers are also my favorite, by a mile.

Yea not scary, that's why I used the term Halloween type games lol. Also for a platformer Castlevania does a great job at giving you a sense of adventure drawing you into the whole atmosphere. The difficulty although pretty tough is really rewarding, plus all the hidden things always made it stand out from games of its time.

[nightrnr]

I 1st played Castlevania on NES, more years past than I care to admit. I did not beat it (but didn't own it either, played it on a friend's system). I think I only got to the third level, but was so full of awesome: the music, the atmosphere, using a chain whip, loved it all.

Some years (and Castlevania games) later, I bought it on discount for GBA. The save system is a perfect compromise between the original difficulty and abusing save states. It was still an ordeal, but I beat it (I may have looked up how to cheat Death, since he's nearly impossible for me if faced normally).
Despite the squished graphics, it's my preferred version (although, I use a GBA Movie Player SD to play the game lately, which doesn't even allow a save or save states, but at least has a sleep function in the emulator I'm using).

Castlevania IV is a good 1st choice as well. The difficulty is much more forgiving while retaining the same style (and it's more or less a re-telling of the 1st game). Don't let anyone make you believe otherwise, it's a good starting point.

After an original style game is tried, you may as well get SotN out of the way (and enjoy every second of it) Just know that there is a reference to Castlevania III.

Castlevania does a great job at giving you a sense of adventure drawing you into the whole atmosphere.

Yes, that right there sums up why I like the series.

[TechXRenAgadeX]

Loving all these answers. I have yet to find a NES yet for a good price but hopefully i'll be able to find one pretty soon and get Castlevania 1,3.... Those and Monster Party (been dying to play it)

Alright how about this...If you had to chose one for the SNES, Castlevania 4 or Super Metroid whats a better Halloween type game? (Notice how i didn't ask what was better)

[Tanooki]

Don't skip Castlevania II as it's amazingly fun even if the translation is blown in a few places fairly badly. It's easier than the other two just to warn you, but it does have a few cheap spots like invisible pits in the floors in mansions and a few others spots. The boss is a cakewalk if you have the right weapon you can nearly just stand there.

[strangenova]

Symphony of the night is one the best games of all time in my opinion, but you should definitely play the first four games to get a feel where the series roots are.
Also if you like sotn, I recommend dawn of sorrow on the ds

[TEKTORO]

Loving all these answers. I have yet to find a NES yet for a good price but hopefully i'll be able to find one pretty soon and get Castlevania 1,3.... Those and Monster Party (been dying to play it)

Alright how about this...If you had to chose one for the SNES, Castlevania 4 or Super Metroid whats a better Halloween type game? (Notice how i didn't ask what was better)

Castlevania fo sho, unless you actually already encountered a spacecraft.

Monster Party is also on my line up, so I second that opinion too

[Stark]

whatever. It's an awesome collection.

+100

[KalessinDB]

Why does everyone talk like the fake floors in Simon's Quest are difficult?

Do you guys NOT just constantly throw holy water while you walk? I mean everywhere. Every. Where. It's amazingly useful, plus you see the fake floors and you reveal secrets.

[Ziggy]

Start with ANY Castlevania game, it doesn't matter. Roll some dice, flip a coin, pick it out of a hat, but eventually play them all!

My list:
Castlevania (1)
Castlevania III
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania Bloodlines
Castlevania Rondo of Blood

-OR-

Symphony of the Night

On this list...

CV1 is probably the hardest. CV3 is easier than 1, and 4 is probably the easiest on the list. Bloodlines and Rondo aren't as hard as 1, but definitely harder than 4 and possibly harder than 3.

If you're gonna play 3, do yourself a favor and play the Famicom version if possible. It's so much better than the NES version.

CV4 has amazing graphics and music, some awesome use of mode 7 and a soundtrack that you wont forget anytime soon. The controls are MUCH friendlier than the NES games. You can whip in 8 directions instead of just one. The sub weapon has a dedicated button instead of having to press up+whip. All this ends up making it the easiest game on my list. It's also looooong, so you really get your moneys worth out of it. FYI, the story is just a retelling of the first game (not that it matters).

Rondo has some amazing graphics as well as a CD quality soundtrack. Each level has two exits, there's lots of secrets to find and things to unlock. A lot of people regard Rondo as the best of the original style. And FYI, Symphony of the Night is a direct story sequel to Rondo, even though Rondo is the traditional style CV game and SotN is Metroidvania.

There's a full fan-translation patch for Rondo, or it can be purchased on the Wii Virtual Console. It was also released with the Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP, which includes a 2.5D remake of Rondo, the original version of Rondo (the only time the game has been officially translated and released outside Japan) as well as Symphony of the Night (with a re-translation and voice acting that matches the new version of Rondo). So, if you're into gaming on the PSP, the Dracula X Chronicles is a great way to play two of the best games in the series.

So, I say, pick ANY game on that list. It doesn't really matter which is your first, they're all great. If you wanna start with something easy, go with 4. If challenging NES games don't scare you then start with 1 or 3.