When you hear "Castlevania...

[Evildeadmanwalking77]

The original Nes version. Without a doubt. I loved all 3 on the Nes actually. As for anything after that, I liked IV & Dracula X on SNES, Blood Lines on Genesis, SON & Chronicles on PS1. That's it for me. The original GB Castlevanias were hard as hell & the GBA ones didn't really do it for me or any of the 3D games.

[Hatta]

Amazing how such a simple question leads to a 7 page thread in under 24 hours. I love it.

The only Castlevania game I ever played was the first on the NES. So I'd have to associate it with the classic NES title. It was too hardcore for me back in the day, and kind of put me off the series. I did give it another go when we did it for TR, and found it more doable but not really rewarding enough to be worth the investment of effort to beat. Just IMO.

I do need to give the more recent ones a try. Maybe if we do SotN for October's TR next year...

[Breetai]

Are you crazy?! IV's phenomenal!

IV is very overrated and people were creaming their jeans because of all the mode 7 going on. Level one and two are great, and it starts getting gimmicky and repetitive after that (with a few highlights). It's not the best designed CV game at all, IMO.

[Betamax001]

Actually when I hear Castlevania I think of Devo

[Ack]

I guess I think of the Metroidvanias, but in truth I don't think of any game, I think of Vampire Killer, or variations on it, followed by gameplay from the various Castlevanias I've played over the years. I should admit that I really haven't beaten that many in the series. In fact, I've only beaten 5 of them. Super Castlevania IV is the only one from the original style that I've gotten through, while Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon were the only Metroidvanias. Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness round out the list for the 3D style.

While I'm not really surprised nobody has mentioned any of the 3D games, I want to say they're not all bad. Curse of Darkness is forgettable, and though I want to get into it, the controls in Castlevania 64 have pretty much guaranteed that I will never make it into the castle, as I can't stand the platforming section to lower that bloody bridge. But Lament of Innocence was actually pretty enjoyable, and playing through it again as one of the bosses was really cool.

[GSZX1337]

Well I was just at the castlevania wiki, where I caught up on a bunch of characters and games, as well as read the entire timeline for the series. I also completely spoiled the plot of Lords of Shadow for myself.

I really want to explore the entire series now. What have I done to myself?

At least you didn't get yourself into the Mega Man series like I did.

[brunoafh]

IV is very overrated and people were creaming their jeans because of all the mode 7 going on. Level one and two are great, and it starts getting gimmicky and repetitive after that (with a few highlights). It's not the best designed CV game at all, IMO.

You and final fight cd are possibly the only people that I've talked to that agree with me on this. IV is meh.

[Breetai]

IV is very overrated and people were creaming their jeans because of all the mode 7 going on. Level one and two are great, and it starts getting gimmicky and repetitive after that (with a few highlights). It's not the best designed CV game at all, IMO.

You and final fight cd are possibly the only people that I've talked to that agree with me on this. IV is meh.

Everyone else agrees, they are just blinded by nostalgia.

I do LIKE IV, but... yeah, I've already given my general reason for thinking it's just an average Castlevania title.

While I'm at it, the soundtrack isn't even that wonderful! Stage 1 and 2, especially stage 2, have wonderful music. Stage 2's is one of the best soundtracks in retro gaming. Unfortunately, I find the rest of the music hit or miss.

[Ziggy]

The original Nes version. Without a doubt. I loved all 3 on the Nes actually. As for anything after that, I liked IV & Dracula X on SNES, Blood Lines on Genesis, SON & Chronicles on PS1. That's it for me. The original GB Castlevanias were hard as hell & the GBA ones didn't really do it for me or any of the 3D games.

You never played Rondo of Blood though? As far as the original format goes, a lot of people call it the best in the series. And for good reason. It may be in my personal top 3, definitely the top 5.

http://castlevaniadungeon.net/Games/rondo.html

If you don't have a TG CD, it's also on Wii Virtual Console. There's a translated version (the only official translation of this game ever released stateside) in the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP. Or just emulate it. But if you haven't played this game before, I highly suggest checking it out.

Amazing how such a simple question leads to a 7 page thread in under 24 hours. I love it.

The only Castlevania game I ever played was the first on the NES. So I'd have to associate it with the classic NES title. It was too hardcore for me back in the day, and kind of put me off the series. I did give it another go when we did it for TR, and found it more doable but not really rewarding enough to be worth the investment of effort to beat. Just IMO.

I do need to give the more recent ones a try. Maybe if we do SotN for October's TR next year...

5 posts were made just as I typed out the first part of this post! LOL

CV4 was the first game I played in the series. I liked it a lot, so I went out and got the NES trilogy. I was blown away how hard the first game was. I remember struggling to get up to the Frankenstein boss, I thought that's as far as I'd ever get and that'd be the end of it. Long story short, after exploring just about every other game in the series I went back to it. At this point, I don't know how many times I've beaten that game. It some how became my favorite of the series. That's just my own personal experience with the game, at least.

IV is very overrated and people were creaming their jeans because of all the mode 7 going on. Level one and two are great, and it starts getting gimmicky and repetitive after that (with a few highlights). It's not the best designed CV game at all, IMO.

You and final fight cd are possibly the only people that I've talked to that agree with me on this. IV is meh.

Everyone else agrees, they are just blinded by nostalgia.

I do LIKE IV, but... yeah, I've already given my general reason for thinking it's just an average Castlevania title.

While I'm at it, the soundtrack isn't even that wonderful! Stage 1 and 2, especially stage 2, have wonderful music. Stage 2's is one of the best soundtracks in retro gaming. Unfortunately, I find the rest of the music hit or miss.

Like I said above, IV was the first game I played of the series. It was always one of my favorites. But after exploring the entire series, and playing some of the games a LOT, IV kinda lost some of its magic. I played through it maybe a year ago, and I was kinda bored with it. First time that's happen. So yeah, I can agree that it's an average game in the series. I still really like it though. Not sure if nostalgia plays a role in that. It might be in my top 5.

I don't agree with you about the music though. I love the sound track to that game.

While I'm not really surprised nobody has mentioned any of the 3D games, I want to say they're not all bad. Curse of Darkness is forgettable, and though I want to get into it, the controls in Castlevania 64 have pretty much guaranteed that I will never make it into the castle, as I can't stand the platforming section to lower that bloody bridge. But Lament of Innocence was actually pretty enjoyable, and playing through it again as one of the bosses was really cool.

The 3D games weren't too bad. I beat CV64 way back, don't know if I'll ever feel like playing it again. I tried the second N64 game (Legacy of Darkness?) and got maybe 1/4 way through it but then got bored. There's one song in there from Bloodlines that was pretty nice to hear, but other than that, I don't remember much about it.

I played through Lament of Innocence and enjoyed it. It was kinda bland, but not too bad. I remember thinking, "OK, this is sorta like a 3D Symphony of the Night." I have Curse of Darkness, but never played more than 5 minutes of it. Maybe one day.

I'll probably pick up the new one on PS3 some day when it's dirt cheap. I've heard OK things about it. Personally, Castlevania games aren't 3D for me. There's just nothing there that feels anything like the old school games. That's probably why know one picked the 3D games for the poll.

[dunpeal2064]

I was actually surprised to see classic vania ahead of metroidvania (which I voted for)

Makes me want to go back and give some love to the original series. I have only played SotN and Dawn of Souls. Loved the crap out of em though