Castlevania NES trilogy...

...are three unholy and unforgivably tough games.

That being said, I absolutely love the eerie vibe and macabre-like feel that accompanies these gems.

Share your thoughts on these games. Have you played the original NES ones? Can you recommend to me any of the later titles in the series?

Edit: I should also add that I quite enjoy Castlevania I and III and that the aims of this thread are not to debunk the first three due to difficulty and recommend others.

Castlevania 1 and 3 are tough, but great. II is just.. cryptic! I dont know what the hell to do! XD

if you like those you could try super castlevania iv, castlevania bloodlines, and castlevania dracula x. if you're open to new things i would also recommend symphony of the night as it is a good castlevania game but it incorporates rpg elements and is alot less linear.

I actually enjoyed Castlevania II: Simon's Quest better than the other 2 Castlevania games on NES. I know most fans hate that entry into the series because it is more RPG than it is action, but that's exactly why I like it better. I love RPGs, especially real-time action RPGs, and only this game, Battle of Olympus, Zelda 1 & 2, and Crystalis did that genre right on the NES. All of which are all-time favorites for me.

-Nate-

It's not that I don't like the RPG aspects about II, in fact, I too love RPG's. It's just some of the other crap about II I don't like. Such as the boss battles.

Tried out Super Castlevania IV last night. My my my, what a great game.

I think AVGN has covered the pros and cons of the NES Castlevania games pretty well. They're all great but also examples of a bygone era of unforgiving difficulty and a few ridiculous parts that you'd never figure out on your own (Simon's Quest I'm loooking at you).

My favorite games in the series are #4 on the SNES and Symphony of the Night on the PSX, but honestly if you buy anything with Castlevania in the title that isn't on the N64 you can expect to be thoroughly entertained. The GBA would be my platform of choice for Castlevania since everything from Circle of the Moon to Portrait of Ruin were great.

When I was growing up I never really cared for Castlevania.
A few years ago I picked up the first one again in it's orignal package and gave it a shot again and boy was I inlove.
I picked up the 2nd , 2 day's later after I beat the first...I didn't really care for that one.
I've been looking for the 3rd (which I hear is the best) for a long time on a NES cartridge..I have yet to play this one, I'm almost tempted to buy it on my Wii just to play it

I think AVGN has covered the pros and cons of the NES Castlevania games pretty well. spinoff

Yeah I watched these today. I used to watch the AVGN all the time, hadn't seen any of his newer stuff. He seems to share pretty much my opinions on the ones I've played.

I have yet to beat any of them, I think I'm going to go all out tonight and see what I can do with the first one.

[QUOTE="spinoff"]

I think AVGN has covered the pros and cons of the NES Castlevania games pretty well. VVatson

Yeah I watched these today. I used to watch the AVGN all the time, hadn't seen any of his newer stuff. He seems to share pretty much my opinions on the ones I've played.

I have yet to beat any of them, I think I'm going to go all out tonight and see what I can do with the first one.

Symphony of the Night! or pick up The Dracula X Chronicles on PSP (whick has SotN) or Castlevania Dawn of Sarrow for the DS

They're tough as nails, but still great games.

They're tough as nails, but still great games.

BuryMe

Much like the AVGN my favorite of the series is Castlevania IV for the snes. As for the topic of this thread I owned Castlevania I & II for the nes. The first one got a good bit of play however even to this day I havent beaten it. Castlevania II I barley played at all and made little progress in that odd game. I didnt play III till much later. Seem like it is a good game I just havent immersed my self in it.

I actually enjoyed Castlevania II: Simon's Quest better than the other 2 Castlevania games on NES. I know most fans hate that entry into the series because it is more RPG than it is action, but that's exactly why I like it better. I love RPGs, especially real-time action RPGs, and only this game, Battle of Olympus, Zelda 1 & 2, and Crystalis did that genre right on the NES. All of which are all-time favorites for me.

-Nate-

Emerald_Warrior

Well I donot know if the rpg elements in Simons Quest were really the reason why many hate that game, I think its more of execution as opposed to what the game was. To be honest the concept of Simons Quest is simply amazing, a sequel to a side scrolling game, that emphasizes on exploring and added RPG mechanics. Unfortunatley the execution was just poorly done. Unneccesarily cryptic game design was its numbe one killer, sure the controls and even some of the level design was solid to an extent(Some of the level design in the castles where you get the body parts was rehashes of the other castles and just repetitive) but it was the ridicilous "take the orb to some random spot, kneel down and wait for tornado to get you" with no clue. Thats just horrible game design, sorry to say....The game was also even more cryptic thanks to the horrendous job done on the translation, that turned the Japanese text to engrish not english. If you enjoy the game thats fine, I respect that, but for me I hated the game due to its very very poor execution. I will disagree that this game did the Action rpg genre right in any degree, if anything else it did it wrong. Thats just my opinion though, I respect you like the game. Fortunatley later entry in the games got this formula right.

If you're looking for some recommendations outside of the NES and SNES, try Bloodlines on the Genesis and Rondo of Blood (Dracula X) on the PSP. I would also highly recommend the new Castlevania Rebirth game that was released on the Wii this week. It's easily one of the best of the classic style Castlevania games.Rocky32189

I will agree with you that Castlevania rebirth is fantastic, I been playing it alot lately on my Wii, and it is really good. I would second this reccomendation as well. This game boasts superb levle design, and really is challenging I think.

Thanks everyone, I have a DS, PSP, and WII, so fortunately I will be able to check out most of these.

you can play most of these games on the go with either a NDS or a PSP.

As an update to my thread, I am still working on the NES ones, but if I have been looking into the others and they seem promising.

Can anyone make a rough guess as to what order all these Castlevania games should be played in after the NES/SNES ones? (DS, PSP too)

Thanks.

(No underline means Never played)

After NES/SNES series we have:

-Castlevania Bloodlines on Mega Drive

-Castlevania Symphony of the Night for PSOne (Good one)

-I think there is two Castlevania releases for N64, I played only the Legacy of Darkness (Not that cool)

-Castlevania Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness for PS2 (Good enough)

The portables ones are:

-Castlevania Legends, Circle of the Moon, Aria of Sorrow, Harmony of Dissonance (On Game Boy)

-Castlevania Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia and Dawn of Sorrow on DS

-Dracula X Chronicles for PSP

There is a chronology in Castlevania, it would be fun if you follow it. I searched for it:

Lords of Shadow
Lament of Innocence
Dracula's Curse
Curse of Darkness
Castlevania Adventure
Belmont's Revenge
Order of Shadows
Castlevania/Castlevania IV
Simon's Quest
Harmony of Dissonance
Rondo of Blood/Dracula X
Symphony of the Night
Nocturne of Recollection (Japan Only in March 2010)
Order of Ecclesia
Circle of the Moon
Legacy of Darkness
Castlevania 64
Bloodlines
Portrait of Ruin
Aria of Sorrow
Dawn of Sorrow

Hope it can help you!:D

Worlds of help my friend, I appreciate it!

they are very unfair.

Super Castlevania IV is a fair challenge though.

Thought I would bump my old thread here just because I am in love all over again with Castlevania I.

Such a beautiful feel and great music, probably my all time favorite NES game.

Would like to hear what other people I haven't heard from have to say.

I loved the series on NES. One and Three were more similar focusing more on action while 2 was where the RPG elements really began.

3 is my favorite on NES, just took everything good in 1 and ran with it.

Yeah I'm more of an RPG fan in general, but the 2nd is still probably my least favorite for some reason. I like it, just not as much as 1 and 3.

Wow I never realized there were so many Castlevania prequels! That's awesome though, I love game storyline history. I used to play the hell out of the original on the NES when I was a kid. I was terrible at it back then, I don't think I ever got past the 3rd stage in those days. Recently reattempted it, and I'm stuck on the grim reaper = \

i love the castlevania series, 2 was assuredly my least favorite. i think there was a password system that was questionable at best. i find newer games to be harder than the old nes/snes games ( i can still pretty much walk thru the ninja gaidens and castlevanias of yesteryear) 3 and SotN are tied for my 2 favorites. i liked the big world with multiple characters and optional paths in 3 and SotN... well, nuff said.

I have a DS and PSP so I'll look into some of the newer ones.

Meh, I'm not crazy about them. the first one is alright, I didn't like the second one, and I enjoy the third one when I use the "HELP ME" code...though the last two stages are still a *****.

Super Castlevania IV on the otherhand I absolutely adore. Unlike the NES titles the challenge was actually fair and the controls weren't stiff, and you just gotta love whipping in 8 directions. Super Castlevania IV is one of my favorite castlevania games, along with Symphony of the Night and Order of Ecclesia.

I prefer the MSX2 version of the original Akumajou Dracula over the Famicom version.

I've played the first one and its really hard but really good and definately one of my favourite NES games of all time but I need to buy it somewhere because I've only played it at a friends house but he doesn't have the game anymore.

Does anybody know of any good, legit sites that sell NES games for a good price? I don't like using ebay or amazon because often the games will have problems that they never tell you about.

I've heard http://www.consoleclassix.com/ is a good site for originals, I think you have to sign up though.

I still enjoy the original Castelvania, I think it's the music and it played well, for being an old side scrolling type game. I thought 2 was an interesting concept with the towns but that game is tough without the Nintendo Power Map. For my money, 3 was the best. I liked being able to change characters, and choose the character paths.