Castlevania Appreciation Thread

[ExedExes]

Aria of Sorrow is Wikipedia's article of the day today.

I saw that, and it got me wanting to get them on the GBA again. Too bad the prices for all three are all over the place.

What would be the best one to start with, seeing as how I'm unfamiliar with the Metroidvania direction the series took after Super Castlevania IV?

[Xeogred]

I'd go with Symphony of the Night, which you can get via XBLA/PSN or other ports if you wanted. I don't think the originals go for a whole lot either though.

It's the biggest of the Metroidvania's, best OST too for obvious reasons, but it can be very easy if you know what you're doing and stuff. The handheld ones were tougher to me with Order of Ecclesia being the hardest for sure. I recall Dawn and Portrait using some DS stylus gimmicks, but don't think they bothered with that stuff much in Ecclesia.

[KalessinDB]

Yeah if you're looking to get into Metroidvania, start where Metroidvania started, with Symphony.

Next best would probably be Aria of Sorrow I think, then maybe Harmony of Dissonance. Circle of the Moon was a great game but was crippled by some poor design choices. I personally find it all but unplayable on the GBA itself, but if you have a Gameboy Player or some other way to play it on the big screen it becomes pretty decent. I'm less familiar with the DS games -- I've played them, but not invested as much time into them.

[KalessinDB]

Sooooooo what's the N64 Castlevania like?

I never beat it, just couldn't get into it. I don't think they did a proper 3d Castlevania until Lament of Innocence on the PS2. To me it was a standard N64 game (a system I don't have any real nostalgia for), with its standard camera angle nonsense and such. It wasn't TERRIBLE by any means, but just... forgettable.

PS: there's 2 on the N64, one just called Castlevania (technically no 64, though most people would add it) and one called Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.

[foxhound1022]

Has anyone else played Harmony of Despair?

I didn't even know this existed until recently.

[Retrogamer0001]

Playing Simon's Quest on NES now, it's great so far.

[Ziggy]

Sooooooo what's the N64 Castlevania like?

There's probably like 2 or 3 pages of this thread talking about CV64.

I had fun playing through it, but that was 10-15 years ago. I don't know if I'd still enjoy it today. One thing I can say though, if you do play it, don't play it on easy. You'll get halfway through a level in the middle of the game and the screen will go black and you'll get a message "play on a harder difficulty" or something to that effect.

edit: I never beat Legacy of Darkness. The one thing about it though that sticks in my head is the version of "The Sinking Old Sanctuary" that's in it.



It's an awesome track originally from Bloodlines. I had no idea it was also in Circle of the Moon until I just looked up that YouTube video. Anyway, the version in Legacy of Darkness is really cool. I was playing that level thinking, "What IS this song, I know I've heard it before!" It took me a little while before realizing it was from Bloodlines.

[casterofdreams]

I've played exactly seven Castlevania games in my life: Symphony of the Night, the three GBA titles, and the three Nintendo DS titles. Love 'em all.

I did a thing a few years ago where I would play and finish all seven in consecutive order in a two to three week span. Good stuff!

[Ziggy]

You've heard all the metal covers and other typicals, now listen to this:

[MrPopo]

Has anyone else played Harmony of Despair?

I didn't even know this existed until recently.

It's unfortunately pretty meh. You have to grind pretty hardcore to be able to progress, unless you're really good at being able to dodge all attacks that come your way (so those Shanoa Death Ring users will be fine). The individual levels are pretty boring to play through, so the it comes down to the bosses. They tried to make them more interesting by allowing them to interact outside the boss room (and in at least once instance you have to chase the boss around the level after starting the encounter) but it doesn't really make up for everything else that's meh.