Castlevania Collection

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, I'm well aware of the fact that Konami is the devil and should never receive money from gamers for nuking their game development department, but I couldn't pass up the chance to play several classic Castlevania titles all at once. It's helped that I wish more companies would release collections instead of just remaking titles or nickel and diming the fans like Neo Geo did with all of their arcade titles that are sold separately and worth $8 a pop. $20 dollars for eight classic games as well as the ability to play their original Japanese versions is actually a nice price.

Anyone else venture into picking this up, or are we all still playing Bloodstained?

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I’ve considered it, but I think I just like the Metroidvania style of Castlevania over the classic style. Eventually the mood will strike and I’ll pick it up I’m sure. I’ve always been interested in trying out Bloodlines.

[WarZidane]

They were enjoyable at the time but I wouldn't revisit the older Castlevania games anymore now. I'd definitely get a collection that included the GBA and DS games though.

[Wolf Kanno]

I will say, the one neat thing about the game is that it has a Quick Save function. So if you want to save scum your way to victory, then the game completely allows you to do so.

I'm finally playing Simon's Quest at this point after beating the original Castlevania. My TV the NES is hooked up to finally died while I was playing this entry, so it will be nice to actually beat it for once. I'm looking forward to Castlevania III, IV, and Bloodlines the most since they were all out of my grasp back in the day they were new.

[FFNut]

I was recently thinking of going through Castevania too. Maybe watching the show on Netflix made me have old feelings again. May need to check this out.

[niketsurve]

Thanks for the information.
big data hadoop course in Ahmedabad

[Wolf Kanno]

In playing Simon's Quest and really thinking back on the franchise as a whole, it is really interesting to note the eerie similarities between Castlevania and The Legend of Zelda series.

• Both games have a linear timeline, but the titles are released in anachronistic order.
• Both titles involve a forever war between parties who are magically linked to fight forever (or until their franchises stop making money in Castlevania's case)
• Both of the second entries in the series drop the original gameplay format for a heavy RPG flavor to the ire of the fans.
• Said sequels were both marred with atrocious translations that make the games practically unplayable without a guide.
• Both franchises have Key titles and side game titles, with one following the main series formula, while the side titles tend to be more experimental and break series traditions.
• Both franchises play heavy lip service to the third installments of their series in both lore and design.
• Both franchises had a stupidely popular entry released in the fifth console generation (Symphony of the Night and Ocarina of Time)
• Both of these entries ended up expanding the franchises lore in ways that every entry after now follows religiously.
• Both franchises ended up being taken over by a new producer in the fifth generation who steered the franchises in the new lore direction.
• Both franchises involve a legacy weapon (Vampire Killer/Master Sword) that was introduced in later installments.
• Both of these legacy weapons are also said to be sentient, and possess the life force of a woman.
• Both franchises have an entry that serves as an origin story for the series in which both games showcase the origin of said legacy weapon, but also the beginning of the feud between the parties (Lament of Innocence and Skyward Sword)

I know this all sounds conspiracy theory like, but honestly, I feel like Konami's Castlevania team almost deliberately lifted the design from Zelda II for Simon's Quest. The games are eerily similar. The biggest difference is that Simon's Quest is significantly easier barring the steep requirements for the Golden Ending. The RPG elements are bit different as well with Castlevania's elements working surprisingly better with it. SQ is also pretty easy to follow once the translation issues are cleared up, whereas Zelda II has more "how the smurf was I suppose to figure that out?!" nonsense. Not that SQ doesn't have those as well, but they're usually reserved for finding sub-weapons as opposed to important game progress stuff.

[Ayen]

What all comes in the collection?

[Wolf Kanno]

What all comes in the collection?

The collection includes:

Castlevania (NES)
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)
Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
Castlevania Adventure (Game Boy)
Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (Game Boy)
Castlevania: Bloodlines (Sega Genesis)
Kid Dracula (Famicom)

You can also switch over and play the Japanese versions of all of the games which have minor changes, usually censorship and difficulty levels.

[Ayen]

Hell, I'd buy that just for Super Castlevania IV.

[Wolf Kanno]

Haven't gotten to that entry yet. I finished Simon's Quest tonight, took me ten days so I only got the normal ending where Simon dies from his injuries. I did obtain all items and reached level 5 (out of 6) for him. The game was surprisingly pleasant despite all the fanboys whining about this one. I am chuckling a bit because I was re-watching the Sequelitis episode about this game, and I remember the big complaint he had for it was that the game had grinding to artificially extent the game because allegedly people whined that Castlevania 1 was too short. Yet, in order to get the best ending, you have to beat the game in under forty two minutes, not counting time spent in the mansions which themselves are actually short if you know the right paths. So yeah, much like my experience with Zelda II, I feel the fan whining for this entry is overblown. Of anything, I feel this game has some serious potential for a remake. Take the story/RPG focus a bit farther, add some more bosses, crank up the difficulty and maybe change out some sub-weapons and this game could be pretty popular.

Started Dracula's Curse and it's already living up to its name as the hardest Castlevania game. I've never played this entry before so this will all be new for me. I will tip my hat off to whoever picked out what would be a trophy/achievement for this game. Despite Simon's Quest also having multiple endings, only Dracula's Curse gets multiple trophies for beating it with each of the characters. Where my nod goes to is that the trophy for the solo Belmont and Belmont/Grant endings are listed as Ultra Rare whereas Syphia and Alucard are only Very Rare. Now the solo Trevor ending is a legitimate challenge worthy of the rarity, but Grant is not only the first character you can recruit and the easiest to obtain, but he's debatably the best of the three since his ability to climb walls and ceilings is apparently super useful. So I imagine he was chosen because most people ditch him for either Syphia or Alucard. So sticking to him for the rest of the game is an accomplishment. Especially since Konami has a serious knack for leaving him out of everything. Grant's been only mentioned in three other titles after this game (SotN, Portrait of Ruin, and Judgement of all thing), and was left out of the Netflix series despite it being an adaption of this title. So at least someone at Konami is feeling for him.

I also checked out Castlevania Adventure and um... well I guess I can already say that I feel this entry should be the winner of "Worst Castlevania game" because holy hell is it both basic but extremely cheap. If you always felt Simon or Trevor controlled like they were running around with their pants around their legs then Christoper makes them look like athletes. The game is incredibly slow and the most annoying thing is that Christopher doesn't get any sub-weapons in this game. Instead he gets a third whip upgrade that grants a projectile much like Link's swords. The issue is that the enemy types are fairly the same as the original Castlevania meaning that you get attacked from above or below your strike range often. Yet without the Axe or Holy Water weapons, Christopher just has to take it like an idiot. The second level starts you in a narrow room with three bat enemies that zigzag around the room and can move through the terrain whereas Christopher is limited and often can't hit them because their flight path move them directly out of his strike range. So yeah, this game is pretty frustrating so far...

[chionos]

I'm tempted, but any time I've played a Castlevania title in the last 10 years, I've just been disappointed that it's not Symphony of the Night.

[Ayen]

My Castlevania collection consists of the first one on my 3DS, SOTN on my PS3, and Castlevania 64. And dammit I still think Castlevania 64 is good, it just has several flaws that should have been fixed to make it better asdf!

[Wolf Kanno]

I'm tempted, but any time I've played a Castlevania title in the last 10 years, I've just been disappointed that it's not Symphony of the Night.

Yeah, SotN really kind of ruined the series in some ways because while the other Metroidvania titles are still pretty solid entries, they aren't quite up to par with everything you can do in SotN. The game set the bar really high.

Thankfully for me, I started way back with the 8-bit entries and Classicvania titles, so revisiting those styles of games has been really interesting. Of course, if this Castlevania collection was going to be the definitive version of the Classicvania titles, we're missing Haunted Castle, the Game Boy version of Kid Dracula, Castlevania Chronicles, and last but not least, Rondo of Blood which was likely skipped over for the port of Dracula X Chronicles recently released on PS4 as well.

My Castlevania collection consists of the first one on my 3DS, SOTN on my PS3, and Castlevania 64. And dammit I still think Castlevania 64 is good, it just has several flaws that should have been fixed to make it better asdf!

You know, while most people would argue that Castlevania never worked terribly well in 3D, the stigma was never as harsh as it was for Mega Man and Sonic in my observations. I've heard nothing but good things about the two entries for the N64 as long as you take it for it was and not try to imagine it being perfect. Same deal with Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness for the PS2.

Hell even the God of War style reboot for the PS3/360 wasn't too bad.

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I enjoyed what I played of whichever from the N64 and PS2 I played.

I have played and beat the first Castlevania. I also know I would enjoy Castlevania 3, 4, and Bloodlines if I ever got around to them. I just always find the Metroidvanias more relaxing to play I guess? It’s just really satisfying filling up the map and getting items. I played Portrait of Ruin not too long ago and even enjoyed that one despite some of its oddities. Nothing beats Symphony yet though.