Lets talk CastleVania

[Lord Chainsaw]

I'm in the middle of reading Dracula (perhaps more towards the end than middle actually) and I do believe it would be the perfect time for some Castlevania discussion.

Personally, this is one of my favorite, if not my absolute favorite game series of all time. Everything about Castlevania is great. The art style, the gameplay, and oh the MUSIC!

Hell, even the plot is wonderful. Nothing from the NES really gets deep in terms of plot, but Lament of Innocence had a great plot. Dracula had always been one of my favorite villains, but that game alone made him my favorite video game villain of all time. I really got to feel for him in Lament of Innocence, and researching him into Symphony of the Night I got a bit more backstory on him. He's also basically THE character that makes the Castlevania series what it is.

Not to mention how extremely badass he looks.

http://www.naimoka.com/image.php3?image=arts2/kojima/ca-sotn/dx05.jpg

Of course, the Belmonts are also kickass as well. My favorite Belmont is ol' Richter "HYDRO STORM!" Belmont. He's got the moves. The slide, the flying deal and of course the invaluable dash. He's also killed Dracula a good deal of times (if memory serves me right the only Belmont who has beaten Dracula more times than Richter is Simon)

As for the games themselves. I recently completed Castlevania Chronicles for the playstation. Let me tell you, I've beaten Castlevania 1 and I can say that Chronicles is actually harder than it. Any seasoned gamer will tell you that there's one particular spot in Castlevania 1 that can easily rank as one of the most frustrating parts in gamedom. Does anyone know of what part I speak of?

Chronicles is a lot like that. It's damn hard. It's also just an amalgamation of previous Castlevania levels too. Nothing really new in it. Dracula himself is just as he is in Castlevania 1 although his level is much harder.

As for the music. What can I say other than I love the music? My absolute favorite track from Castlevania is "The Theme of Simon Belmondo" with "Vampire Killer" a close second. "Wicked Child" "Heart of Fire" and "Bloody Tears" are also damn good.

So lets talk Castlevania now.

What Castlevanias have you played? Which is your favorite? Least favorite? Who is your favorite Belmont? Who is your favorite boss? What's your favorite Castlevania track?

[Del Murder]

I've played almost all of them. Symphony of the Night is by far the best one, but a lot of them are good, especially the recent GBA editions. My favorite Belmont is Trevor. For favorite boss I'd have to say Death from Symphony, I just liked him as a character really. Symphony has one of the best game sountracks ever, it's hard to pick a song from that game but I'll go with the the theme in the clock tower. Sure it has a name but I don't feel much like looking for it.

[Yamaneko]

I've played all of them except the last one.

SotN is the best. Beelzebub is a great boss. The game has great atmosphere. The music in SotN is also very well done. The ending music is extremely cheesy though. :D

Rondo of Blood is the best out of the linear Castelvania games. Super Casltevania IV is the first one of the series I played. Overall, one of my favorite game series.

[Chzn8r]

What Castlevanias have you played? Which is your favorite? Least favorite? Who is your favorite Belmont? Who is your favorite boss? What's your favorite Castlevania track?

-Castlevania 1, 2, 3, 4, Bloodlines, Circle of the Moon, and Harmony of Dissonance.
-Castlevania 3 is my favorite and has been since I was 8 or 9. The difficulty, the allies you can choose and then transform into, the multiple paths, etc...
-Least favorite is probably Bloodlines. That said, it wasn't a horribley un-fun game, just pretty average.
-Trevor Belmont. He stars in CV3, why should he be :cool:
-My favorite boss always has been The Grim Reaper from Castlevania 3. Not one of the easier bosses, and WAY harder if you don't have Sypha w/ her blue orbs.
-I don't know the names of a lot of the songs. It's not like they tell you in the games :p I'd say Castlevania 3 (best soundtrack on the NES, fools) has at least 6 tunes I completely adore. The opening level, the belltower, the forest, "Aquarius" (found in 2 levels), "Vampire Killer" (found in Dracula's Castle 2nd level), and the music in Dracula's Castle 3rd level. Honestly, I can't think of a more perfect soundtrack than the one in this game.

[Outsider]

Castlevania is one my favourite series, second only to Megaman. My first one was Super Castlevania IV, then I went and played the older ones. Great Stuff.

A couple of month ago I played Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow (GBA), and I loved it. It's better than the previous games (Harmony Of Dissonance and Circle Of The Moon), and has a total kickass soundtrack.

Favourite game is Castlevania III - Dracula's Curse.

Favourite character is the Death... Tough Bastard, always a pain to kill... My favourite belmonts are Trevor (Castlevania III) and Julius (Aria Of Sorrow).

Favourite songs are "Bloody Tears", "Theme Of Simon", "Vampire Killer", "Clock Tower", and "Castle Corridor".

I've played very little of "Symphony Of The Night", though. I'll play it as oon as possiblee.

[BatChao]

I played a little bit of part 2, but not really. I recently got Circle of the Moon on my GBA and play that every once in a while. It's pretty fun. I think it's a lot like Metroid, actually.

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

I like that the story for each game is attached to a year date, so there's no confusion as to what goes where in the timeline, which is the source of many a Zelda fan's chagrin.
Any seasoned gamer will tell you that there's one particular spot in Castlevania 1 that can easily rank as one of the most frustrating parts in gamedom. Does anyone know of what part I speak of?The only parts that I know really throw people off are the hallway right before Death, the fight with Death, and the trip through the clock tower with the eagles and fleamen all over the place.

[black orb]

>>> I`ve played the Nes and the Play station one, also played and beat Dracula X, the best thing about these games is the soundtrack.
I think Castlevania are good Konami games but still overrated, I think Gradius is much better..

[Del Murder]

One of my least favorite parts in Castlevania I is when that small corridor you have to get through with Medusa heads and pits all over the place. Those things just keep coming!

[Chzn8r]

Medusa Heads == my worst Castlevania nightmare.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I like that the story for each game is attached to a year date, so there's no confusion as to what goes where in the timeline, which is the source of many a Zelda fan's chagrin.The only parts that I know really throw people off are the hallway right before Death, the fight with Death, and the trip through the clock tower with the eagles and fleamen all over the place.

Yeah, the part I was talking about as being one of the most frustrating parts ever is level 5 from Castlevania I. If you aren't using the cheap holy water trick, then the entire third section of that stage is easily the most difficult part of an already very difficult game.

I agree with the majority of the people here when they say Dracula's Curse and Symphony of the Night are the best ones.

Dracula's Curse is my favorite of the classic Castlevanias. I didn't much care for Castlevania II. I didn't like its lack of bosses, and most of the things in that game are impossible to find without a walkthrough. Townspeople don't help much, either. About the greatest tip you'll get from one of them is to not look at the Death Star. I did notice that some of the names of the mansions in Castlevania II are places from the novel Dracula. Berkeley Manor being one of them. And of course there is Braham Mansion.

Dracula's Curse was fantastic. So many different paths to take it is definitely a game you need to beat more than once. My favorite ally to take was Alucard. Sure, a lot of people say he sucks, but I like the fact that he isn't made of paper like Grant or Sypha, and he can turn into a bat.

Symphony of the Night is my absolute favorite game in the Castlevania series. Everything was done perfectly. I can't find a single thing I dislike about Symphony of the Night. I might find it a bit easy now, but it certaintly wasn't easy the first time through. The music is great, too. The Dance of Pales (Olrox's Quarters), Final Toccata (Inverted Marble Gallery), and Tragic Prince (Clocktower) were my favorites. Tragic Prince just kicked so much ass.

I have mixed feelings about the GBA ones. Circle of the Moon is my favorite, and I do not like Harmony of Dissonance. Dissonance was just weird. I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong with it.

If you want to hear all the Castlevania tracks, then go to:

http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/nes/index-af.html

They're there, you just have to scroll down a bit to find to find them. I don't quite recall whether or not Castlevania I or II used the Theme of Simon, but I know I heard it during the final level of Chronicles on the PSX.

I can't recall the Theme of Simon being in any Castlevania previous to the 1st level of Super Castlevania IV. Does anyone know what game it first appeared in? Possibly the old version of Chronicles?

[Kawaii Ryûkishi]

It first appeared in SFC version of Akumajô Dracula, a.k.a. Super Castlevania IV. Since then, it's been used in the Sharp X68000 version of AD (which was rereleased as Castlevania Chronicles) and Vampire Killer (Castlevania Bloodlines). It's strange, really, that one of the most iconic tracks in the series has appeared in so few installments, but that's probably because weight is being lent to its title such that it's only used when Simon's on the job, which doesn't happen too often anymore. I guess Konami decided enough was enough with four remakes of his first adventure--five if you count Chronicles, which was a remix of the last remake.

Yes, it's true that the theme is used in Vampire Killer even though Simon wasn't in that one, but I think that's just because, game-wise, VK was supposed to be the SEGA crowd's answer to the Simon-centric Akumajô Dracula.