After some searching I could not find a completely dedicated, all-encompassing, Castlevania thread. So here it is! Please join in and talk about your favorite games, share your opinions, discuss upcoming releases, and have at you! Please keep everything light, don't offend people, and keep this thread alive.

I'm pretty sure there was a 'Castlevania Dungeon' or 'Everything Castlevania' Thread some light years ago that sprung up in the Retro forum, but chances of finding that would be like receiving a free 2 liter of Crystal pepsi in the Mega Mail box if you know what i mean. lol

Anyways! Modern God of WarVania doesn't interest me at all...Can't say I'm too thrilled for this westernized 2D Lord of Shadow inspired Mirror of Fate on the 3Ds. But what I am looking forward to and I've said this several times already is getting the chance to finally play Bloodlines for the Mega Drive!

I was thinking of getting the cart and actually saving it for Halloween along with Demon's Crest for the SNES, while getting Castlevania: The Adventure on the GameBoy in the time being. "Dracula X'(being the other Tradtional Castlevania game that i haven't played) these days goes for quite a penny on eBay so I'm in no absolute hurry to tackle that one....Especially, seeing as how. I've plowed my way through Rondo already, but i've heard several people say that Dracula X is still worth checking out regardless of it's an inferior or weaker version of the game. Seeing as how there's no new traditional Japanese ClassicVani's coming out anytime soon i'm in no rush to play the final 3 that i have left to play.

As far as rating the franchise goes....

SCIV >>>> III > Rondo > ReBirth > Castlevania > II

Then again, i'm growing more fond of ReBirth, it's the perfect pick up & play Castlevania and i love the Mega Drive inspired synthasized score.

@Waveboy
The only thing I could find was a "Best VC Castlevania" thread so I digress. But anyways this thread was made with your Everything Contra thread in mind (which I tried to keep alive )
But yeah, I was playing bloodlines the other day and I have to say, the game may not be as good as SCIV, but the graphics are a whole lot more appealing. The way the first level starts out as a homage to the original game is great to. How would you rate ReBirth difficulty wise compared to the rest of the series on 3 lives and classic jumping?

theres nothing wrong with dracula x besides people not wanting to pay what it demands. these people are the same ones who would snatch it up in a hurry for vc though.

I was thinking about making a thread about this last night....

Anyways I have never played a Castlevania game before, but I really want to get into the series. I am thinking about starting on the Wii with SCIV, Rondo, and Rebirth along with the new game on 3DS. I've seen reviews of the original 3 on NES and they look way too hard and oldschool for my taste. Any other suggestions? I really wanna try Symphony of the Night but I don't wanna hunt for a PSOne just to play it.

@YouAreNotWill
Ideally you should start with the original but if you really don't want to start with that, i'd say Super Castlevania IV or ReBirth.

Super Castlevania lV is basically a remake of the first so by all means start with that one if you don't want to start with the first. Speaking of the first game I bought it a while ago and haven't played it yet. I'm going have to start that soon. Man it's going to be so hard!

The original will always be my favorite. Both because it's awesome, as well as the insane nostalgia-factor due to the bazillion hours we spent playing it back in the day. Finally beating Dracula (and actually, finally beating the Grim Reaper) bordered on the greatest height of gamer-pleasure possible. I think i have a VHS recording of a full playthrough with beating Drac (for the first time) somewhere; i remember having to stop the tape and rewind it back to continue recording because it was running out of space after so many attempts.

Also, to a larger point, for me it's absolutely ClassicVania > MetroidVania, by far. I've really disliked the more recent entries for that reason. Just personal taste as far as what i want/look for out of a CV game.

Yeah I will start off with Rebirth. If I like it I'll go ahead and get Rondo and SCIV once I get a classic controller. What other games should I try?

@the_shpydar I totally agree on the Metroidvania thing. I prefer classic Castlevania too. It's more satisfying when you beat a level and most of the time faster paced.

When I think of the Metroidvania games, It just doesn't scream Castlevania to me. Sure the games are fine and dandy, but the classic series is where it's at.

I dont know but I have always enjoyed the Metroidvania style of games more than the older Castlevanias, although that might be because SotN was the first Castlevania game I really got into. I played the other on the NES and SNES when I was younger mostly Castlevania III and Super Castlevania but I really didnt get into them till SotN.

Right now though I am in a major Castlevania mood not sure why but I am. I just finished up Castlevania: Bloodlines on the Genesis now I am looking for the sequel Portrait of Ruin on DS.

I am looking forward to Castlevania on the 3DS but first I have to crack open LoS on the 360.

Funny you say that; i am too! I think probably because i just recently happened to watch the AVGN's Castlvania-series vids again not too long ago.
I recently did a full playthrough of Castlevania II (for the first time probably since the NES days), and currently have been playing through CV III and IV.

I'm going to get the adventure on 3ds vc, anybody with me?

You do realize that it has not been announced for a release in the US yet, right? And with the "8-bit Summer" games being released, i wouldn't necessarily expect it to be released until after that's all done.

At any rate, even though it's not too good (i wouldn't call it horrible, as some do), i'll probably still grab it just on principle.

I've suddenly taken an interest to Castlevania after reading the large Castlevania article in the last issue of Nintendo Power. The only game in the series I have played is Circle of the Moon, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to download SCIV. The original NES games don't really interest me.

What does everyone think of the N64 games? Nintendo Power said they were awful.

I've only recently gotten into Castlevania (last year about), and so far it's a pretty good series. I'm fond of both the classic and the new metroidvania style, thought playing too much of one style in a row can be very tedious. My favorite games in the series are probably Castlevania 1, Rondo, Portrait of Ruin, and maybe Harmony of Dissonance, though I haven't beaten it yet. Mirror of Fate looks to be a pretty good game and it's probably my most anticipated title of 2012. So that's really all I have to say about it as of now.

I see you're all going to make me play some Castlevania to keep this thread alive. What must be done, must be done.

@SamuraiShyGuy the N64 Castlevania games are pretty bad. Bad controls, camera, and hit detection. The characters aren't very interesting either. AVGN has a part of his Castlevania videos where he plays one of the N64 games.

I played the N64 Castlevania when N64 was still popular, it really is that bad.

I'd also like to point out that Lords of Shadow wasn't a mediocre game because it wasn't like the other games. It was a mediocre game because it's a mediocre game. The game might as well have been made solely by the marketing team, because it's nothing but taking ideas from other modern games and making them less interesting and fun. Other than that I haven't played an actual Castlevania game since Portrait of Ruin, an admittedly dissappointing title but still far more creative and fun than Lords of Plagiarism could ever hope to be. I've been unable to find the apparently excellent Order of Ecclessia, which is dissappointing. I also need to play some of the older post-NES Castlevanias, mainly IV and SOTN.