/vr/ - Retro Games

literally play in order. some faggots might suggest you to skip 2 but I don't think you should. just play them in release order and stop at rondo of blood.

Play them in order and skip 2

Play the gba and ds games in release order, fuck everything else

Play em in order. They're free.

>>8456773
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Castlevania_media#Video_games

There are about four remakes of the NES game, but none's superior, just different. Not that people here would all a remake superior regardless.

>>8456830
To be fair, none of them is officially free, and some are harder than others to play without paying.

>>8456773 >>8456998
Actually, does Akumajō Dracula for FDS have better music than the NES game? Or does that just apply to Densetsu/III?

>>8456998
you are using the term "remake" very loosely here, they are completely different games with different level desgin, mechanics and content
japs just got lazy and gave multiple games the same name

>>8457002
no, same music

>>8456773
SOTN is the ultimate Castlevania no need to play any other

>>8457179
if you have low IQ and testosterone, sure.

I never played a CV until this year. skipped all the nes ones because they are old and look like shit
only played rondo of blood, apparently its the only game worth playing.

>>8456773

Got to start it off right. Start with SOTN and use a infinite gold cheat of some sort to make it easier on you.

>>8456826
I agree with this... but start with Symphony of the Night. It will be the best experience when going back to early games.

the effort put into bait has dropped significantly this month

>>8456773
play anyone you want in whatever order
it literally does not matter

1, 3, rondo of blood, stop. Maybe bloodstained curse of the moon

>>8456812
>and stop at rondo of blood.
fpbp

>>8457179 >>8457182 >>8457326 >>8457343 >>8457354
Typical ignorant Westerners, not realizing SOTN is just a cheap rehash of the original masterpiece.

>>8457538
>SOTN is just a cheap rehash of the original masterpiece
huh?

>>8457547
Rondo of Blood. I hear it was never localized. Probably because it was too complex.

>>8456773
Doesn't really matter but play direct sequels in order

>>8457573
It's the same as all the other Castlevanias up to SotN. and was released on the PSP and PS, weeb.

>>8456773
>is there a superior remake?

There have been SEVERAL remakes. Yes? Which makes it rather remarkable because not that many games have been remade more than once. So: yeah start at the start. Keep it simple, unless you're actually seeking complexity before the game.

>>8457538
did you even read the other posts

>>8457573
It has been localised multiple times and you will never be Japanese. Rondo has such a simple plot and you will never be Japanese. The corpus of the English language is easily the richest and most complex in the world and you will never be Japanese.

>>8456773
The one you posted is the best in the series. Just play that.

start with 1 and end with SOTN. the ones after aren't worth it.

>>8456812
>Some faggots might suggest you to skip 2
2 is a fine game, but play it with a guide. If you don't it's going to be one of the most frustrating, tedious games you've ever played.

>>8456773
>>8456830
>>8456828
>>8457002
Dear zoomers. While you are entitled to your retarded opinions, Number three is undoubtedly is the best.

Literally no reason to play Castlevania when Jet Set Willy exists.

>>8458582
thanks for the bump lmao

>>8456773
I would recommend choosing the one that interests you most. I started with the first one in a sit-down arcade cabinet, and had to get it on the NES and continued on from there.

There is a remake on the X68000 and Playstation, which I forgot in this pic. Super Castlevania 4 is a remake of the original NES game too. I would not call any of those superior, but amazing as well to play.

>>8456773
1, 3, 4, Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood are all great. I don't think I would recommend starting with 3 due to its sheer difficulty or 4 because of how different that game plays compared to the rest. 1 is easier than 3 but still fairly tough. Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood are both excellent starting points. For the Metroidvania ones both Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow are great.

>>8456773
Start with Symphony of the Night, then Aria of Sorrow, then Rondo, Super Castlevania 4, and the NES ones

If you’re thinking about getting the PC collections as pic rel implies do Aria, Super IV, Bloodlines, 3, 1

>>8456812
>>8456826
>>8458658

>SIMON'S QUEST IS BAD BECAUSE LE ANGRY NERD MAN SAID SO!

>>8459138
>ANGRY NERD MAN SAID IT, SO THAT MEANS I HAVE TO DISAGREE WITH HIM
It's not awful with a guide, but I'm not gonna recommend it to people for not being awful
Plus it's more fun to beat games without guides, unless the game's secrets are too cryptic, which CV2's are

>>8457002
Fucker went through the time to copy paste the accented o for his Japanese title instead of just writing cv3
Bro you will never be Japanese

>>8456828
BASED AS FUCK

>>8456812
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/1032/
Perhaps the greatest and most necessary romhack of all time means there is officially no reason to skip Simon’s Quest.
Captcha: V2ASS

>>8458275
JP version so you can cheese with infinite throwing daggers as Grant kek
>>8459171
Read one of the reviews, says opening and closing the map respawns enemies, which sounds kinda annoying. Still might give it a try though.

>>8456773
Hey OP. I'm too lazy to read whole thread, so, somebody most likely already explained it, but.

There are 2 (3) types of castlevania games.

Classic-vania - which is action sidescrollers, like the the original game on nes. You move from left to right, you punch ghouls, you kill a boss, and warp to the next level.
From those, you should play bloodlines.
Someone will provably say SNES games are better - but you should igbore them, because they're atupid, and objectivly wrong. SNES games are reeeeally slow and uninteresting.
If you can tolerate NES visuals, absolutely try castlevania 3, but - be sure to play japanese version. English version was made a billion times harder, and more frustrating. So burgers had to rent it multiple times. While japanese version is absolute kino.
And, play Rondo of Blood, if you can.
Probably the best classicvania.
But, you have to play pc98 version, ehich is superrior. Or psp remake, which is not as good, but still good. Stay away from SNES version, which is utter bullshit.

IGA-vania / Metroidvania.
In those games you have giant castle to explore, tons of loot, tons of secrets, rpg element's, etc. Those are by far - most popular. Here you want to play aria of sorrow, and then its sequel - dawn of sorrow. Then - portrait of ruin. Symphony of the night, while really really good, not as refined (because its the first game in this subgenre) as others, therefore - you dont want to start with it.
And when you do, consider using a guide.
Lots of missable (not permanently, just really cryptic and hard to find) stuff.

3D-vania.
Its when series tried ita best to become 3D.
It failed miserably, for the most part.
Ignore N64 games. They are ugly, slow, boring, and clunky. Ignore lords of shadows games, those arent even in the same canon. Tipical amerburger gritty reboot with billion qte's, and single dumb weapon. Play curse of darkness, since its has awesome pet / crafting autism. And maybe lament, for your mediocre dmc clone.

>>8459238
LoS is kino sir

>>8459246
It is not.

>>8459238
i thought Legacy of Darkness was okay

>>8457617 >>8457637
I'm concerned by the seeming earnestness of these replies. Is it possible that you *weren't* baiting/funposting before, and you actually *do* consider SOTN to be the first/only Castlevania anyone, even someone specifically interested in the series as a whole, should play? And that it's so hard that it's only reasonable to play with cheats? If so, please justify.

>>8457635
What about them?

>>8458275
>calls others zoomers
>has zoomer-tier reading comprehension

>>8459149
>omg he COPIED???? and PASTED???‽‽‽
You will never get 8-channel music out of a cv3 cartridge.

>>8460183
The FDS version's music sounds like the reverb in half life 1

>>8456773
you don't need to play more than one castlevania game per console. 3, 4, bloodlines, rondo.

>>8460174
Wat

>>8460183
Also yes it does take time because you need to go and search up your FUCKFACE Wikipedia page that has all the different characters or whatever other faggot git resource you use to pretend to be a gook. How low must you be

>>8459171
>implying replacing the game with a hack isn't skipping it
>translation changes iconic lines
>tries to contort obvious deliberate nonsense into meaning something
>"Quality-of-life improvements" to make the game easier
Just use a guide, and an emulator with a fast-forward feature.

>>8459238
Where is there punching in a Castlevania game? And where can I find a PC98 version of Rondo?

>>8457617
Never heard of Rondo on PS. Did you mean PS Vita or PS4?

>>8460202
Sure, only a gook would take the ten seconds to type a name into Google to get the right spelling instead of just calling it by the name of the different version they were specifically distinguishing it from.

>>8460202
Faggōt

>>8456812
This, but also some of this:
>>8457179
Play in order, stop at SOTN. Rondo seems like the culmination of the best pieces of the games that came before it. If you've played them, you can appreciate the nods within the game (e.g., the burning village is the same as the starting village in CV2). SOTN is an extension of that idea and again, to get the full appreciation of what that game does and does well, it helps to have the history that led up to it.
You can skip the remakes of CV1, but even though they tell the same story, they experiment and evolve in other areas. Vampire Killer for MSX has some strong ties to the gameplay shift we saw in CV2 (from what I've seen, that's because the MSX version was more popular in Japan so they used that as their starting point for the sequel)
>Oh, and you are going to die. A lot.

>>8460219
>translation changes iconic lines
I wish they would have treated the "What a terrible night to have a curse" line the same way retranslations treat the "spoony bard" line. It may not be accurate, but it's now part of the game's identity.
>tries to contort obvious deliberate nonsense into meaning something
Does it do this? I felt it was trying to do a better job at suggesting when villagers were deliberately lying (vs. in the OG translation where it was unclear if it was a lie or unintentionally obtuse due to the system limitations).
>Just use a guide
There is something refreshingly nostalgic to using an old (physical) guidebook on these games.

>>8459238
>psp remake, which is not as good, but still good.
The thing that bothered me the most about the PSP remake of Rondo (which probably shouldn't have) was that the didn't include the little background foreshadowing (especially the glowing eye of the behemoth in the dark as you enter the castle in Stage 2). Those details in the PCE version show that it was a labor of love and for whatever reasons were dropped in the PSP remake.

>>8460241
>to get the honoraburu sperring right
cunt call it the fds version or even akumajou densetshitcunt, we are not (well, I can't speak for everybody) wogs

>>8456773
GBA games and SOTN. Everything else is meh.

>>8456812
>stop at Rondo
Extremely fucking based.

>>8459149
The seethe is strong in this one

>>8461060
Ackshually that wasn't the behemoth because it crashes into the castle from outside, meaning the red eyes are some spoopy motherfucker you'll never see again.

>>8461250
Right, but you see the red eye outside before you go into the castle. Even follows the same lumbering movement as the Behemoth. With all of the other meaningful background events, it seems odd that they'd put something there that you'd never see again.
>Wh-why do I care? What have you done to me 4chan!?!?!

>>8461057
>Does it do this? I felt it was trying to do a better job at suggesting when villagers were deliberately lying (vs. in the OG translation where it was unclear if it was a lie or unintentionally obtuse due to the system limitations).
I'm not sure the game is deep enough that you can assign motivations to NPCs. "Get a silk bag from the graveyard duck to live longer" and "Hit Deborah Cliff with your head to make a hole" are (by accounts) reasonably accurate translations of nonsense lines.

>>8461186
Or I could call it by title and get the added bonus of triggering bongs.

>>8456773
There was another thread like this a while back so I'll just repost what I said back then

>>8456773
Play Castlevania 3 for a classic action game or SotN for a sidescrolling action/rpg. The original is a better game, but 3 is easier to get into because it has more variety, different characters, etc. SotN is too easy for its own good, but it's great aesthetically. The other games in the series are for when you want more fo the same.

>>8461751
>I'm not sure the game is deep enough that you can assign motivations to NPCs
Agreed. It's flaw is being overambitious. I don't think the nonsense lines were the problem. I think it was when the legit clues needed to be parsed down due to space limits that they started to blur with the nonsense clues. The line "A crooked traders is offering bum deals in this town" should have been "The towns have hidden traders" hinting at the need to bomb the floors to find certain shops.

>>8456773
Just played the first one and loved it. Made a video about it yesterday. I’ll spoiler it if you wanna watch. Goes over everything in the game. Best final boss of any game I’ve ever played.

https://youtu.be/hlpvLrT3i60

>>8461238
>>8461757
ywnbj

Anyone tried "Castlevania II False Floor & Breakable Block Replacer"? Seems like it might reduce frustration marginally.
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5361/

Just finished Bloodlines last night. That was some good shit.
Eric Lecarde is a cool dude.

>>8456773
A proposed order that tries to balance narrative chronology with series evolution, from someone who's only played some of the games. Breaks for other games and activities recommended.

>Castlevania (1986)

>Optional: Vampire Killer (1986, MSX)
Same premise and assets as Castlevania, but different levels and mechanics. Play if that sounds interesting.

>Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1987, FDS/NES)
Skipping games in a numbered series is like skipping levels; it's cheating. Use a romhack if you have to, and certainly look up a guide, but play it if you want to play III or after.

>Optional: Haunted Castle (1988, arcade)
Reimagining of original Castlevania. Widely disliked. Videos show painful slowness and awkwardly postured sprites.

>Optional: Castlevania Legends (GB)
Make sure to find the hidden stage.

>Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (FC/NES)
The reward for slogging through Simon's Quest. FC version has better-quality music, but you probably can't read Japanese, and there doesn't seem to be a patch.

>Optional: Castlevania: The Adventure (GBC port of 1989 GB game)
Try and see if you like.

>Optional: Kid Dracula (FC, 1990)
Non-continuity spin-off. Try only if burningly curious.

>Optional: Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GBC port of 1991 GB game)
Play if you liked The Adventure.

>Optional: Castlevania (Amiga)
Play if you want to replay the original with new art, and don't mind worse controls.

>Optional: Super Castlevania IV (1991)
Reimagining of original Castlevania. Linear, and not as intense as the 8-bit games. Try and see if you like.

>Optional: Kid Dracula (GB, 1993)
Play if you liked the first Kid Dracula.

>Optional: Akumajō Dracula (1993, X68000)
Reimagining of original Castlevania. Try if you want another tough, well-scored linear platformer and don't care that it doesn't advance the story.

>Rondo of Blood (1993, Super CD-ROM2)
Essential by all accounts.

>>8456773 >>8463527
At this point, make sure you've replayed Dracula's Curse enough to meet all three ally characters; and ideally get all four endings.

>Symphony of the Night (Playstation)
With those five essential games, you have a pretty good overview of the series. Good place to quit, or at least take an indefinite break. Everything after is varying degrees of optional.

>Bloodlines (1994, Genesis)

>Optional: Dracula X/Vampire's Kiss (1995, SNES)
Reimagining of Rondo of Blood. Play if that sounds interesting. Was originally hated for not being Rondo when Rondo wasn't easily accessible.

>Optional: Symphony of the Night (1998, Saturn)
Reportedly low-quality port, but has some exclusive content.

>Optional: Castlevania (1999, N64), Legacy of Darkness (1999, N64)
Widely disliked (see >>8459238), and reportedly only in story continuity with each other. Unsure whether better to play the prequel first to get the story in order, or the older game first to avoid suffering the downgrade to it.

>Optional: Castlevania: Resurrection prototype (2000, Dreamcast)
>Optional: Circle of the Moon (2001, GBA)

>Optional: Castlevania Chronicles (2001, PSX)
Port of Akumajō Dracula X68000, with some additions and some removals.

>Lament of Innocence (PS2)
Chronological beginning of "Iga timeline", which incorporates some prior games, but throws out others. Since the 2D gameplay model is "mature" at this point, games will be in timeline order.

>Curse of Darkness (PS2/Xbox)

>Optional: Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth (Wii)
Reimagining of GB/GBC game.

>Harmony of Dissonance (2002, GBA)
>Order of Ecclesia (DS)
>Portrait of Ruin (DS)
>Aria of Sorrow (2003, GBA)
>Dawn of Sorrow (2005, DS)
End of "Iga timeline". Everything after is, thankfully, still officially not retro.

>>8456773 >>8463538
On further reflection/reading, some additions.

>>Optional: Castlevania (1999, N64), Legacy of Darkness (1999, N64)
Apparently LoD actually supersedes Castlevania 64, by including a version of the original "quests" (altered and without voice acting). Both are still independently skippable, though.

>>Optional: Castlevania: The Adventure Rebirth (Wii)
Apparently not part of Iga's timeline; so falls under "not retro".

>Optional: Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP)
Play before Order of Ecclesia, if you want to play a remake of Rondo with 3D graphics and an official translation, and a new translation of Symphony. (Assuming you didn't play the PS4 versions of the games or the XBLA version of Symphony to begin with.)

Speaking of retranslations, you could insert >>8459171 either before Rondo or before HoD if you really want to replay Simon's Quest.

>Optional: Order of Shadows (J2ME, 2007)
Non-Iga, so goes at the end, if after everything you want more and don't mind playing a low-framerate mobile game.

Favorite OST of any Castlevania game guys?

>>8464903
Ooe

>>8457002
It doesn't even apply to III.
The Famicom version does some things better, and the NES version does some things better.
The only true way to experience the OST is to combine them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwIQ3nBZ4Dw

>>8456773
Worthwhile Castlevania games
>castlevania I
>castlevania II
>castlevania III
>super castlevania IV
>rondo of blood
>bloodlines
>symphony of the night
>circle of the moon
>harmony of dissonance
>aria of sorrow
>lament of innocence
>curse of darkness
>dawn of sorrow
>portrait of ruin
>order of ecclesia
>lord of shadows 1

great game with one of the best CV soundtracks. first GB CV has some style but is slow as molasses. third GB CV is just bad

1,3,4,sotn,circle,harmony,aria,dawn,portrait,eclessia.

>>8464903
Call me a normalfag but Symphony of the Night's soundtrack still kicks ass.

>>8467853
Favorite OST coming through

>>8467853
Favorite OST coming though
https://youtu.be/2M_4YpChzTo

Do you guys have any idea of where should I go next? I stopped playing around 4 or 5 months ago

>>8459138
>>8463527
>>8466659
I'm sorry but Castlevania II is a fundamentally broken game. It shouldn't have to be treated more than as a curiosity and OP can safely skip it and play everything else in order of release date. BTW the nerd was way too lenient with the game's flaws, calling it "heavily flawed" but still redeemable. Guess the nostalgia's just too strong to fight for Jimmie Rolfe, even behind his character.

>>8463527
>there doesn't seem to be a patch
Here's the translation I generally go for:
https://www.romhacking.net/translations/730/

>>8456773
Essential:

Castlevania 3 (Japanese version)
Rondo of Blood
Symphony of the Night
Aria of Sorrow
Dawn of Sorrow

Highly Recommended:

Castlevania
Bloodlines
Circle of the Moon
Portrait of Ruin
Order of Ecclesia

Scratch the itch-tier:

Harmony of Dissonance
Lament of Innocence
Curse of Darkness
Belmont's Revenge

I'm playing Lament of Innocence as my first CV, and aside from the wonky platforming I'm loving it.
Not sure why it doesn't get discussed more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEibQCsf998

>>8456773
Some might disagree, but if you want the classic gameplay experience play Castlevania Chronicles and play the Arranged version. It's easier (less bullshit) in that you can take more hits, save points are more forgiving, and I believe you get an extra life. After you've beat arranged a few times, then you can go try the regular version (which is a port of the X6800 version) on the disc.

Play in order. Some games are linked storywise so you can’t particularly dive straight in. Some games have callbacks to other ones that won’t make any sense unless you played a certain game (Portrait is a semi sequel to Bloodlines which came out like ten years prior for example, the overarching plot of Rondo > Symphony > Aria > Dawn)

>>8470758
Chronicles seems like such a nice package. They should include it as a bonus game if they release the DS games in a collection. Either this or Adventure Rebirth would be awesome. Maybe even both.

>>8469728
Thanks. Not sure why I couldn't find it.

>>8470789
It’s nice but flawed. You’re better off emulating the original X68000 version because the Chronicles port has a lot of weird bugs and issues. One of the later levels is literally impossible to complete without dying because the PSX version runs at a faster frame rate meaning the timer counts down faster. You have to die once to score a checkpoint and continue from there. AI is also weirdly bugged and doesn’t work as intended. The remixed version seems to work fine though and it’s definitely a much more digestible experience

>>8458624
Question. Why Castlevania chronicles not on PSOne mini?

>>8464402
Based C64 player

>>8470789
>>8472519
See>>8472639

Don't listen to any other retard in this thread. First things first, there is only ONE remake of the first Castlevania, and that's X68000/Chronicles. Super Castlevania IV is a retelling, NOT a remake. The MSX game was developed in tandem with the NES game and is a different game with similar graphics. Haunted Castle has nothing in common with the first game at all. The NES Castlevania is not in need of a remake in any case, so just start with that game and play them in order. Don't skip any of them. Just try them and if you aren't having fun with one, drop it and move on to the next game. Don't listen to any retard who tells you to skip a game or stop at Rondo or whatever. Just fucking play them and continue or drop games at your behest.

>>8468291

>>8464903
The VRC6 version of Castlevania 3's mogs every other OST, it's not even a contest. The Adventure's comes close in second.

>Castlevania 1

The OG. Short, simple and tons of fun. Required playing. Pretty damn hard and with some stiff controls but it’s nothing too egregious. It’s called a classic for a reason

>Vampire Killer

MSX port/retelling/different game. Levels are no longer linear and require exploring to get through. Controls are very rough with up being jump, but you should be able to cope through it. One of the main inspirations for Symphony and the other Metroidvania games

>Haunted Castle

Arcade game that retells the plot of 1. Has some pretty great graphics and solid music but it’s so punishingly hard and weirdly designed that you’ll probably hate it. For some reason, you have a set number of continues meaning you can’t pump quarters in and win, which is a bizarre business model but whatever.

>Simon’s Quest

Open world lite-RPG where you have to go to towns to talk to villagers, locate dungeons and find upgrades. Notoriously divisive. Some people love it; others detest it. Most agree though that it has some annoying elements and is incredibly cryptic at times. Most of the villages just flat out lie to your face too. Tough but the bosses are a total joke. Has some kicking music too. Go in with an open mind and you’ll have fun, probably

>The Adventure

GB launch title. Agonisingly slow and short, you can watch the entire Godfather trilogy in the time it takes you to walk from one end of the screen to the other. Skip it, but play if you want to experience all the games

>Dracula’s Curse

Last of the NES games and the best. Four playable characters with different move sets and branching pathways make this very replayable. Absolutely brutally difficult though the Japanese version tones it down a notch. Has some of the best music you’ll hear in an NES game, with the Japanese version being debatably even better thanks to an extra sound chip that beefs up the drums and bass. Required playing

>Belmont’s Revenge

Sequel to the Adventure. Fixes nearly every problem with the first game. Has a level select, subweapons and much more content (it’s much faster too). It’s a night and day difference. Soundtrack is composed of chip tune renditions of classical pieces too with the occasional original thrown in for good measure.

>Super Castlevania 4

A remake of the first game but in 16 bits, son. Much more fluid and manageable controls, you can whip in 8 directions now and the game is layered in ambience and a creepy atmosphere. People on this board will tell you it’s overrated, which it kind of is, but it’s still a superb action game

>Rondo of Blood

For the PC Engine CD. If someone tells you to play a classic Castlevania game, it’s either going to be 3 or this. Arguably the peak of the classic style. Some of the best music composed for a video game, high quality animu cutscenes, tight as hell controls and gameplay, as well as a secondary playable character: a back flipping 10 year old girl who throws pigeons and breaks the game in half. Branching pathways in levels that lead to entirely different routes and stages, encouraging replay value. The highest of quality. Required playing.

>Bloodlines

Sega Genesis game which breaks away from the Belmont family and features the son of Quincy Morris from the Dracula novel and a femboy with a spear as they trek across Europe to murder Dracula and his niece. Another very high quality action game with a wide variety of locations, power ups and some quality Genesis stank music. Violent as hell for the time too.

>Dracula X

A sort of reimagining of Rondo of Blood for the SNES. Removes a lot of features present in Rondo to make the game work on weaker hardware, so now Maria, very limited branching pathways and scaled back bosses. Downright unfair difficulty at times with cheap enemy placement and extremely awkward jumps. Despite its changes, it’s still a good game and worth the look regardless.

>Symphony of the Night

The big one, the one everyone knows and loves. Has you playing as Alucard, son of Dracula as you explore his huge maze like castle and collect various weapons and items. Solidified the Metroidvania genre and is widely beloved and influential. Outstanding soundtrack and graphics, tight and addictive gameplay and a huge amount of content to experience. Direct sequel to Rondo. Required playing

>64/Legacy of Darkness

Castlevania in SIXTY FOUR BITS. Breaks away from the standard plot even further and brings it into the third dimension. Legacy of Darkness is an upgraded and more refined version of 64, with new playable characters and added areas, so play that one over the original. Has some questionable platforming and a very stiff, awkward camera but it was an early 3D game so what can you do? Contrary to popular belief, these are actually decent games though they’ve aged about as well as you’d expect. atmosphere and soundtracks are very high quality. Questionable canonicity. Give it a try

>Legends

Weird ass Gameboy game set at the very beginning of the timeline. It’s basically Belmont’s Revenge but less good, though it’s still a solid action game. Is now non canon because of timeline shit.

>Circle of the Moon

Second game in the series to fully explore the Metroidvania style. First in the acclaimed GBA trilogy. Slightly stiff controls and a high amount of grinding make this not the most enjoyable game in the world, though still a great time with a lot of fun to be had here. Dubious canonicity

>Harmony of Dissonance

Second in the GBA trilogy. Attempts to fix some of the issues brought forward in Circle though adds some in the process. Features some pretty garish graphics, a lot of backtracking and an extremely divisive soundtrack. Though, the scope of the game is huge and the combat is as tight as ever.

>Aria of Sorrow

Last in the GBA trilogy and the most acclaimed and beloved. Basically Symphony of the Night on super steroids with a huge castle, great new gameplay additions in the soul system, amazing visuals and music and a boatload of new game plus content. Is in contention with Symphony as being the best of the Metroidvania games, maybe even the best Castlevania game period. Sequel to Symphony. Required playing

>Lament of Innocence

Castlevania meets Devil May Cry. Third person 3D hack and slash game with a ridiculous plot and hilariously cheesy dialogue. Is canonically the first game in the series and sets up a lot of events later down in the line. Gets very repetitive though with extremely bland and similar looking corridors and mash attack to win gameplay. Still a decent time and with a great soundtrack to boot.

>Curse of Darkness

The series’ second stab at refining the hack n slash gameplay to decidedly mixed results. Features a unique monster breeding system with a surprising amount of depth, though this does mean you’ll be grinding a lot more now, with some of the weapons in the crafting system being ridiculously difficult to get. Shares a lot of the same problems with Lament in terms of repetitiveness and samey locations but it’s still a decent time all things considered. Sequel to Dracula’s Curse, also has debatably the gayest villain in any game ever.

>Dawn of Sorrow

First game on the DS and a direct sequel to Aria. Keeps most of what made that game amazing In tact, though the art style change, slower pace and forced touch screen elements can be off putting. If you’re emulating, there’s rom hacks that fix those issues but still. Music and visuals are as top tier as ever. Has a massive new game plus which is as big as the main game itself.

>Portrait of Ruin

Second in the DS trilogy. Sort of sequel to Bloodlines and unique in that you control two characters at once and can swap between them on the fly. Much more linear than the rest of Metroidvania games but that’s not really a bad thing. Gameplay is as tight as ever along with the usual high quality music and graphics. A bit of an underrated gem

>Order of Ecclesia

Last in the DS trilogy. Very streamlined and linear, taking more cues off Simon’s Quest than anything. Features the Glyph system which is love or hate, but it’s certainly unique. Has some of the best graphics in the handheld games; as well as incredible music and art. Unfortunately, due to some odd design choices, the grinding is back and in full force here and the brutal difficulty means you’ll be either spending 15+ minutes on bosses or grinding for hours at a time. Remarkably well written plot. Hit and miss though still worth checking out

>Lords of Shadow

Spanish developed reboot taking heavy God of War influences. Kojima had a hand in it. Excessively dark and miserable though actually a pretty fun and enjoyable game with plenty of hidden goods and satisfying combat. Features actual, professional actors doing the voice work including Jason Isaacs, Robert Carlyle and fucking Patrick Stewart. Can be repetitive but still actually a pretty great game.

>Harmony of Despair

Weird multiplayer, online thing which has multiple characters from multiple games travelling through various iconic locations from the series. Heavily emphasises picking up loot and screwing over your friends. Servers have been shut down for the game but there’s a fan made unity version that has new content for you to try

>Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate

An odd game thats a mix between the Lords of Shadow combat style and the Metroidvania style though very scaled back and linear. Short, easy and kind of a mess with a fragmented story, bad pacing and a general sense of sloppiness. Was made by the team that would go onto make Samus Returns and Metroid Dread, so it plays fairly similar to that. Actually very important plot wise in the LOS timeline so you can’t afford to skip it

>Lords of Shadow 2

Latest game as of this writing. Hated by a good chunk of fans though it’s still surprisingly quite enjoyable, if very flawed. Has added stealth segments which are just not good, but fixes the camera and features an improved and more enjoyable combat system. Plot is completely insane but that adds to the charm. Be cautious but still give it a go.

>>8456773
Hey /vr/, first time here, I got a question for you. After a very long time I finally got around to play SOTN, but the mobile port. And I was fucking around in the inverted castle, killed 3 golden ape skeletons wielding a blue bone club, a yellow ring dropped from the last one. It's a very nice ring, boosted all my stats like crazy, enabled me to breeze through beelzebub and the 3 fake humans just a few hours ago.

Point is, I went to the castlevania wiki and it said this particular ring can only drop from said golden ape skeleton enemies after finishing the game at least once, but this is my first playthrough. Is it a bug, is the mobile port wrong, or did I do something I'm unaware of?

Others

>Akumajou Dracula

Remake of the first game for the Sharp X68000 computer. Japan only. Features new levels, updated versions of classic ones and additional bosses to spice up the gameplay as well as a massive art boost. Absolutely punishingly batshit insane difficulty, easily the hardest game in the series. Is available as part of Chronicles though this port has issues, so I recommend you just play it as is instead. Has THREE soundtracks, all high quality, available depending on your sound card for the computer.

>Chronicles

An updated version of the X68000 game. Features an arranged mode which changes Simon’s sprite, lowers the brutal difficulty and completely remixes the soundtrack to become this ridiculous but amazingly good set of dance tunes. Has the X68000 version too, but it has some odd glitches and bugs that make it even harder and downright broken at times so dodge that version if you can.

>The Dracula X Chronicles

Remake of Rondo of Blood for the PSP but with 3D models and English voice acting. A solid way to play a classic game, though the original is still the best choice. Features the original game and Symphony of the Night in their original forms as bonus unlockables with added content, fully translated text/a full retranslation and dub for Symphony and more

>Kid Dracula

Weird ass spin off games where you play as… guess. Decent and inoffensive platformers. Game Boy version was released in the west but it took the NES version a good 30 years to see a release stateside.

That should be everything of note. Apologies for the walls of text, I’m quite passionate about this series. Hope this helps give you an oversight to each game and their pros and cons, OP

Is this torrent missing any soundtracks besides the Lords of Shadow games? This series has some glorious music.

https://pirate-proxy.me/description.php?id=6786796

1, 3, 4, X68k, rondo of blood, bloodlines
by playing those you have all the iconic classicvania that's essential. CV II is an odd adventure-action game that you can try and see if you like, but it's different from the classics.
Then play SOTN and if you like, keep playing the GBA and DS games.
But classicvanias are better.

>>8474957
I really like classicvanias if I just want a pure platforming experience. The metroidvania games are great for my RPG fix. I don't think either or is better, they just have a different experience from one another

>>8473176
> Apologies for the walls of text
Fukkin saved the whole thread. Not OP, only played 1 and SotN a little bit, want to dive in, played Metroids a lot.

>>8475713
Glad I could help somewhat

>>8464903
Famicom Castlevania III

Spectral Interlude is objectively the best Castlevania game ever made. Konami btfo once again by based speccy developers who do a better job with the company's IPs than the original creators.

>>8469576
>It shouldn't have to be treated more than as a curiosity
Then they shouldn't have made such a great sequel/prequel, and built so many great tracks on the musical themes.

>>8470758
>the regular version (which is a port of the X6800 version)
Isn't it easier, and cropped due to resolution difference or something?

>>8470770
Aren't some prequels that fit into an existing storyline? I tried to strike a fair balance with >>8463527.

>>8472519
>the PSX version runs at a faster frame rate meaning the timer counts down faster
In PAL, or just NTSC?

>>8472654
>Just try them and if you aren't having fun with one, drop it and move on to the next game.
That's skipping. Should people even try the J2ME and non-retro ones? Is the 2009 arcade game even dumped?

>>8473142
>stiff controls
What does this mean?

>>8473148
>Removes a lot of features present in Rondo to make the game work on weaker hardware, so now Maria
... just waits to be rescued, I assume you mean.

>Has some questionable platforming and a very stiff, awkward camera but it was an early 3D game so what can you do?
Play the numerous better 3D games made in the preceding 20 years of 3D.

>>8473151
>Features some pretty garish graphics
For visibility on unlit screens, or even accounting for that?

>>8456773
Circle of the moon sucks.
Clunky controls that will give you carpal tunnel and shitty damage sponge enemies copy pasted in endless hallways.
The bosses suck too, just giant blobs that float around in a room and hit you for 1//4th of your hp.

>>8476618
Oi me danasty

>>8477054
I hear people praise it to the nines for being a fusion of the two styles, but it isn't that at all, it's just a really inconvenient and repetitive stab at SOTN. I just played it through on the Advance Collection and it was the only one I struggled to finish. The reliance on RNG in that game is unbearable, it sucks all the fun out of the game and it never goes away. You farm for items, you farm for equipment, you farm for the magic cards that make up the central mechanic of the whole goddamn game. None of them have a drop rate worth mentioning either, so the average player can finish the game with less than half the cards, I got all the way to Adrammelech with just Mercury, Salamander, and Golem when I played it on GBA.

>>8477079
Wait until you play Order of Ecclesia

>>8477081
I played that when it came out, it didn't frustrate me nearly as much. It's easy to shit on games for being formulaic, but Castlevania is a great example of how deviating the wrong way can fuck things up.

>>8477081
Order of Ecclesia is hard but not cheap.
Circle of the Moon's difficulty comes entirely from shitty controls plus enemies hitting like a truck.
I know CotM has shitty design because for much of the game it's better to just ignore and run past the vast majority of enemies than it is to fight them.

>>8477079
I can see why people say that, but the Metroidvania and RPG elements are superficial. You never really feel your character getting stronger.
It's like whoever directed it had no sense of progression at all.
Level ups feel meaningless in this game. I'm not even sure why they are there. I know my stats are theoretically going up but I never see it playing out on screen. The loot is really uninspiring and there is hardly any.

>>8456812
2 is dogshit, shut your tryhard contrarian mouth.

>>8477086
Ecclesia’s main issue, at least to me, is that it basically segments you into doing the side quests. For example, there’s bosses in Dracula’s Castle that will absolutely put you under. Either spend half an hour doing chip damage and avoiding their brutally heavy attacks or go buy some potions to make it easier. So you go to buy some potions but you need to fetch some stuff for the potion maker to make more effective stuff, so you have to go and grab a rare item that has a 2% chance of spawning so you grind forever how long (or you go out of your way to boost your luck strats and do other side quests which take even more time), until you get the item and then bring it back to find the potions you need cost $3000 each and gold is fairly limited in the game so you go and grind for gold and then come back until you have enough to buy maybe three potions just to go back to fight the same boss and discover that all that levelling Up still isn’t effective no matter what you try and you waste your potions fighting it again. It’s an endless loop of unsatisfying gameplay and grinding that makes the game a chore at times.

I appreciate the more linear level design because it gives it a bit of a classicvania feel and the presentation is extremely high quality but the actual gameplay itself is just annoying busywork

>most overrated
Aria of Sorrow

>most underrated
Portrait of Ruin

>>8478313
No one asked.

>>8478313
>most overrated: Aria of Sorrow

Wrong

>most underrated: Portrait of Ruin

Correct

>>8477012
Even accounting for that

>>8477212
Wrong.
Ecclesia's bosses just require you to actually learn how to play the game.
They intentionally have brutally heavy attacks to wreck shitters like you who think they can just out-DPS everything.

>>8478720
Enjoy doing chip damage for half an hour on one boss, retard

>>8478738
Sorry you can't just facetank everything and actually have to dodge. Must be a lot for your brain to process.

>>8478812
A boss taking forever has nothing to do with being able to dodge it. A boring boss is still an agonising boring boss. While we’re at it post video of you beating Blackmore without taking any damage and only using basic glyphs. I will wait

>>8478830
No boss takes 30 minutes. That's an enormous exaggeration. But it doesn't surprise me that you have to lie to make your facetious point.
And it's funny that you bring up Blackmore - the first time I played the game blind I got the medal for him first try.

>>8478849
lol fair enough then