Topic: Favorite Pre-SOTN Castlevania Game

As the title says, any game before Symphony Of The Night.

Mine's Super Castlevania IV. It took the classic Castlevania gameplay, and nearly perfected it. (Would've been perfect if it weren't for those whip swinging parts. Argh!) Plus the graphics and music was fantastic. (Rondo Of Blood has the best Castlevania music though.)

Rondo of blood either know it was way to easy

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Super Castlevania IV of course
I was floored by this game, and I loved it's fantastic soundtrack which reaked of atmosphere. Yet one of my favorite things about it 'the Twirling the whip' was never seen again...Anyhoo, I still haven't played Rondo of Blood or Bloodlines yet.....I'll be giving Rondo of Blood a go in a couple of days, can't wait! Then again, I think I'll put it on hold in favor of MM10's DLC. Bass and the Mega Man Killers anyone?

Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo

Definitely Bloodlines, the soundtrack and game play is top-notch.

Simon's Quest

Whip swinging was one of the few additions I liked in CV4... multi-directional whipping and flail-whip, not so much. I'd say CV3 wins just because it was such a great use of the hardware on which is was made. Get the japanese version to hear the music w/ the extra famicom channels...soo good. They're all great though--even CV2 is great (music goes a long way in that one).

We need Bloodlines on VC already. Hell we got a previously-Japan-only entry--might as well give us the one that already speaks our language! (Does the japanese VC shop have Bloodlines?)

Rondo of BLooooooooooooood!

All of them! To list a few of them.

Castlevania just flow really well
Simon's Quest is different and wonderful
Dracual's Curse added new characters and lots of paths
Super C IV has the awesome whip swing action that should've never disappeared
Rondo of Blood pushes the classic formula to the max

Not to take anything away from other Casltevania games, but I think Super Castlevania IV is a masterpiece of 16-bit gaming.

Rondo of Blood, the soundtrack is beyond that of the others (which is in itself a massive accomplishment). The level select, saving, and alternate paths were also great additions.

Probably have to go with Rondo of Blood.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

The original. Everytime you beat a stage for the first time, you had a great sense of accomplishment! I love Level 5's music too.

Definitly, because it was very challenging(like III:Dracula's Curse) and overall felt so rewarding, because you knew you definitly needed the skills to pay the bills in order to get to the next stage. Problem I had was the None-linear path's in C:III. Because i hated the fact that i missed out on certain levels, or they could of been better played with a certain character. That game was fantastic and tough as nails, the last few levels destroyed me, I can't count how many bloody times I died. And that fight with Dracula? One of the toughests Bosses known to man!

Having finally played Chi no Rondo I have to say it's pretty sweet. I actually got nostalgic playing it the first time because of all the stuff they reuse in SotN. It might just be my favorite nonmetroidvania Castlevania.

I have to sit down and put some work into the original Castlevania. I've been playing it alot recently and really enjoying it. Finally beat it without a continue for the first time last week. I think that one might take the top spot if I ever get good enough at it to be able to beat Frankenstein's creature and Death without abusing triple shot holy water. Love the triple shot holy water in that game but it's just a bit too cheap.

Got Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse on the VC awhile ago, but I'm not sure why I haven't spent much time on them. (Well, Dracula's Curse. The problems with Simon's Quest are pretty well documented. Maybe it'd be enjoyable with an FAQ.)

And I can't quite understand the love that some people have for Bloodlines. My brother-in-law's got his Genesis set up in the guestroom, and I've been playing it a fair amount lately whenever I go over there, and it's fun enough, I guess, but the gameplay isn't a patch on SCIV or Chi no Rondo. And the boomerangs and crystals purely piss me off. Why? What's wrong with crosses and hearts?

I definitely have a sweet spot for The Castlevania Adventure and it's sequel. Never got to play the third one. Might be all chalked up to nostalgia; my parent's never let me have a console, but they actually gave me a gameboy for my birthday when I was in seventh grade (I've never been so surprised in my life) and The Castlevania Adventure was my very first Castlevania and I love that game. I don't think it's as hard as everyone makes it out to be, mainly because of that sluggish gameplay everyone complains about—you get so much reaction time!

However, as much as I love all the game in the series to greater or lesser degrees, there can be only one—SCIV! Love that game. I still have all my old passwords for it, and I even use the password for level one because all my passwords are for the hard mode after you've beaten the game once. Love eight-way whipping. Love Indiana-Jonesing across gaps. It could use more secrets, and a big-blue-bat form for Dracula, but when you're standing right next to him, pounding his head with the diagonal up whipping it's just too satisfying. I think this week I'm gonna sit down and see if I can do a leather whip run.

@Donatello: Have you played Circle of the Moon? (I think that was the first GBA Metroidvania.) That had an interesting little whip twirl. Not as good as SCIV's, but it made an effective shield against certain things.

@Bakajin - yes, Circle of the Moon was the first Metroidvania for the Game Boy Advance. I never played it before. Also, outside NA it's just called Castlevania, as far as I looked up.

The majority of my Castlevania experiences happened after I played Symphony of the Night, but my favorite game that came out prior to that game was Rondo of Blood, my favorite game that I played before Symphony of the Night was Super IV.