Top 25 best CV tracks ?

There is no way I can answer this in good conscience... too many great tracks to think of.

However, anything off the Dracula Best 2 album is more than enough to please my ears for life

Which would you say is the best handheld Castlevania?

I'm going to go against popular opinion and mention Castlevania II : Belmont's Revenge on the ol' Game Boy. Seems many forget that there has been non-Metroidvania games on handhelds. Oh well. Despite the fairly slow pace of this game, the stages, the music (duh) and the bosses made it one to remember and enjoy.

Ha ha, I didn't forget, although I'd like to! Belmont's Revenge does have an awesome soundtrack though.

i'm playing through Ecclesia right now for the first time. it feels like a mishmash between simons quest and symphony of the night, but with good and challenging boss fights. there is a town whose villagers you have to find and save. they'll give you quests throughout the game for better equipment and features. i like this concept very much.

i'm indifferent to the glyph system. i'd rather have an arsenal of weapons i could sell instead of scrolling through outdated glyphs. this has been a problem with most of IGAs games. also i hate the running animation of all sprites used in his games, they all look awkward. nothing comes close to sotn. music is very good and my fav. piece is the ecclesia main room piece you'll sometimes hear in events. but the biggest disappointment is playing action games on the DS. i can't play more than 1,5 hours or my fingers start to feel cramped. the other problem is alternating attacks for combos, you'll most certainly miss a few attacks hitting both buttons in between on accident. they're too small and there's not enough space between them.

other than that, it's a great game. 30% to go and i'm finished. best castlevania in years!

Here's my thought process playing the later half of Rondo of Blood yesterday:

"Oh okay...Vampire Bat...kill with the axe, easy...MEDUSA!!!??? WTF!!!???" Dead
"Ah, so boss rush...kill Bat, kill Medusa, barely any life left...MUMMY!!!???" Dead 3 more times, until I learned I could just duck and wail on the mummy
"Okay, I got this...Even CV3 doesn't throw more than 3 bosses at me in one shot...WTF!!!??? I gotta fight Frankenstein too!!!???" Dead like 10 more times until I got a clean run through all 4.
"End of the round...it's gotta be...please say it's the end...Oh no...The Magician too!!!???" Dead
At that point, I nearly gave up, but thankfully the next fight was only the magician and I crushed him.

I really love the Ghost Ship and Den/Clocktower stages of the game. Good thing, since I've gotten quite a bit of practice on them. I'm stuck on the reincarnation of the magician right now. I can avoid the bird okay and the thing that comes out of the ground okay, but the invisible bats keep draining my life too much. Awesome game.

You're playing the original Rondo of Blood, and not the Dracula X Chronicles version?  I thought the biggest travesty with Chronicles was how they didn't use "Poison Mind" for this battle.  It completely robbed the musical point of this most awesome Castlevania 1 throwback.

And Chronicles DOES feature an amazing arrangement of Poison Mind.  It's just a shame they only use it for the absurdly short final ascension to Dracula's tower.

Yeah...I had to babysit the dog the other day and had all day to play with the Wii, so I played the original on the VC. Seeing the giant bat and hearing that tune (not on the original OST, oddly enough) was like a family reunion. Almost as much as that first part of the "Den" stage...that got annoying until I discovered how good the axe was to keep the bats offa me!

I feel like I got my money's worth out of the VC version. Is the remake worth the 10-15 bucks it runs if/when I get the PSP? I know I'm rather indifferent to the remixed music overall.

finished Ecclesia with 99,7%. heh, guess i missed a room but i'm satisfied. my opinion stands.

still need to play Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, but i don't think they'll get much better.

As with all of Rondo's PC Engine-composed tracks (such as the death theme, the stage clear theme, etc), Poison Mind was absent from the first 1993 Akumajo Dracula X soundtrack release.  Those tracks were later reinstated in The Dracula X Chronicles Original Soundtrack.

That's the dark priest Shaft! He's a bad mother.

The OST omitted all the non-CDDA tunes. Guess they didn't want to bother making recordings they didn't already have.

Grrr, this is one of those instances where I hate the temptation of modern convenience...I can just as easily look and see how to beat his pattern on youtube, but I'd MUCH rather figure it out. Problem is, I'm tired of playing through the damn "Den" stage. ; _ ; He's at least on par with the Grim Reaper from CV1 and the Doppleganger from CV3, unless there's some uber-easy trick to clobbering him.

The fifth and final part is up.  A look at the real-life lore of Dracula, an intricate overview of the timeline and characters, and a brief montage that covers the musical significance of the series.  Good stuff.

Does anyone know where that version of "Wicked Child" that plays up at 16:18 comes from?

*checks*

Oh, that's from Castlevania: The Arcade. The CV: The Arcade music is all arrangements of previous Castlevania (and, uh, Tokimeki Memorial) music, and they're pretty good (more coherent than the Harmony of Despair stuff). Although they could still have been a bit more ambitious...

some of you may be interested in this small write-up of Aria of Sorrow done by a cool dude. The text is a bit heavy, but the screenshots point out some nice graphical details you might not have noticed. The fetus in Legion is one that particularly stands out to those who haven't spotted it before.

nice coincidence. i started replaying Aria of Sorrow (hard mode) yesterday in preparation of my first DoS playthrough. will read in more detail once i'm finished.

Thanks!  I didn't splurge for that Best Music Collections Box, so this is my first time hearing the score.  I really like these slow burn variations of Bloodlines and Poison Mind, and I'm especially digging this more-menacing-than-usual arrangement of Walking on the Edge.

When it comes to Castlevania, anything from the classic 8- and 16-bit eras is pure gold (both the games and the soundtracks). CV 1 - 4, Bloodlines, Chronicles, Dracula X, the early Game Boy games, all of them are great (OK, not Castlevania Adventure... ). Symphony represents a turning-point: while the game itself is insanely great, it also laid down a mold that had a petrifying effect on the series and led to it's stagnation. I liked Castlevania 64 despite all it's glaring faults, but it was nowhere near as good as the earlier games, and while I enjoyed most of the handheld Metrovanias, they all just blurred into one anonymous mess once I had finished them, and I've never had any desire to re-visit them in the same sense in which I like to re-visit Symphony and the earlier more action-oriented ones. The PS2 games I completed more out of "loyalty" to the series than anything else, they were cumbersome, repetitive, and boring (especially Curse of Darkness, don't worry, you missed nothing there, Angela). Order of Ecclesia will probably stand as the last CV-game I played, and while I enjoyed it a lot, it didn't leave me hungry for more. Looking at all the different spin-offs that have appeared over the last couple of years, I have to say that the series seems to have become something of a parody of itself, and while I can't join in the chorus that condemns Lords of Shadow (simply because I haven't tried it), I have to say that nothing I've seen/heard from it makes me want to try it out.

Eying through the block of text above, I see most of it is negative, but overall I still love Castlevania and consider myself a big fan. Its just that it is a finished chapter for me: the series up until and including Symphony is what I will always return to and cherish in my gamer's heart. As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with oldskool CV. If I have to pick an absolute favourite, it will be CV3 as the best game and CV4 as the best soundtrack.

There's so much in this thread that I could waste time commenting on, so I'll just stick to the points that struck me as most salient:

I have to come to old Richter's defense here, I'm afraid. Maria just plain sucks because she completely ruins the game, for two reasons: 1. being a cringe-worthy, embarrassment-inducing abortion of a character that has no place in a Castlevania atmosphere, and 2. she's such a ridiculously over-powered character that she makes the game way, way too easy. One of the charms of the older Castlevanias (mirroring older games in general, really) was their ball-busting oldskool difficulty , and if you're playing as Maria, you're definitely playing softball and missing part of the experience.

Also... She's just wrong. Classical Belmonts FTW!

Yeah. But its funny how even though the CV-games use a lot of rehashing of enemies and music, the Mega Man games still manage to be more repetitive. While the early CV games feel very distinct from each other and mix up the formula from game to game, Mega Man 1 - 6 is basically the same game. I agree though that post Symphony, the CV-series gets very repetitive in it's handheld incarnations.

I don't know, while both of these games are pretty flawed I was able to find them both pretty enjoyable. Not "full price/day of release" enjoyable but "used rack/want to killing some spare time" enjoyable.

Additionally, I like how these games are very similar yet very different from one another. For example, I like how one takes place in a castle while the other takes place in lands surrounding the castle, and how one has a whip-touting protagonist and the other has a various weapon Alucard thing going on.

Still, if I was going to pick one thing wrong with both games, I'd probably go with level design. LoI has the slight edge but that's not saying much. Both are pretty mundane but are able to eek out enough strength through other elements IMO. For example, many consider the characterization of certain characters in CoD to be "over-the-top" but I honestly loved that about the game for some reason.

Re: Castlevania ~ Rondo of Blood

Okay, I'm glad they released it on Wii VC, but why did they release the untranslated, Japanese language version?

Wasn't this game on the SNES in English?!

Sort of.

Castlevania: Dracula X (or Vampire's Kiss in EU) is based off Rondo of Blood. But to say that SNES game is Rondo of Blood would be a lie.

Finally doing a serious playthrough of Symphony of the Night. Completely digging it now. Soundtrack lights my ears on fire and I love the atmosphere and sound effects.

Really wish it hadn't done away with all the spooky set pieces previous games were known for, though. I miss exploring catacombs, graveyards, country-side forests and caves.

You won't get the outdoor settings unfortunately, but there are caves and catacombs to come!

I was thinking about this post at work today and their relation to Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness. I liked both games despite their shortcomings but it's their differences in these "set pieces" that makes one game the other's yang an vice versa.

Lament is pretty much indoors while Curse is a mix of the two. Unfortunately, Curse's bland level design never allows the outside levels to become anything special which is definately dissapointing. Then again, I can't say Lament really shines indoors.

Just beat Castlevania IV. Final boss was actually kind of disappointing, he changes his tactics throughout the fight, but does not actually change form, like previous Draculas.

I like Lament of Innocence better than Curse of Darkness, but both are missing the iconic clock tower. IMO, Lament has better atmosphere going for it, though I did like the Garibaldi Cathedral in Curse.

Just downloaded Rondo of Blood, after hearing much about it. I rather like it, it is challenging, but if you rescue Maria, she practically breaks the game. Ironic that little girl and her forest friends are stronger than muscly man with whip, yeah? Music in the game is all also very awesome, mostly remixes of themes from earlier games, but the ghost ship theme is an awesome new theme I like to listen to on repeat.

I think everyone can agree that both Nintendo 64 Castlevania games were virtually unplayable.

Doesn't Eneomaos Machine Tower kind of count as Curse of Darkness' Clock Tower? Even the music has a ticking clock motif in the beginning and there is a scene involving gears. I know it's not the same in spirit but I think doing a traditional clock tower would be insanely hard in 3D and 3D Castlevanias had enough problems.

I think you'd be surprised by this, but there are people who hold these titles in high regard. I'm not one of them (I actually like the "crapfest" known as SaGa Frontier) but these games do have their advocates.

Maybe not quite so ironic when you consider that the "forest friends" she summons are the Four Celestial Beasts of Chinese mythlology.

You say that as if it is somehow NOT a cause for joy and excitement.

Was just about to say that myself.

But yeah, Maria breaks the goddamn game all over the place.

You are right, they just do not call it a clocktower. Mechanical Tower is kind of an awkward phrase for it; could be any machinery they could be referring to, but the battle with St. Germain, you see the exterior of it, it clearly is a clocktower from the outside.

That is true, they are very subtle about it. I am very familiar with the Four Celestial Beasts of Chinese mythology; they were the 4 Fiends in the first Final Fantasy Legend Gameboy game, they were also referenced in Shadow Hearts as the votive pictures, and even the anime Love Hina, which, there are 4 characters who have pets that correspond with the 4 celestial beasts. Persona 3 (and 4?) also had them as Personas, as well as the Golden/Yellow Dragon, whom am I familiar with as being referred to as Kohryu (is Huang-Long supposed to be its real accurate name?)

Only reasons I did not see it that way, is that the turtle is blue and yellow, not black, and the cat is substituted for the tiger. If you are familiar with the Chinese zodiac, the Tiger and the Cat are actually separate entities; the Cat is supposed to count as the lost 13th member of the Zodiac. The two red robins are not too much of a stretch for the Vermilion Bird/Red Phoenix, and the wyvern/dragon is black/blue and green, not too much of a stretch for the Azure/Blue Dragon. Does Maria ever get the ability to summon Kohryu/Huang-Long, the Golden/Yellow Dragon?

Always thought it was interesting how Sei-Ryu is supposed to be wood instead of water, seeing as how he's blue, and serpentine dragons are often equated with the ocean (think Leviathan from Final Fantasy, or from its proper mythology), not the forest, or how Byak-Ko represents metal; you think of tigers as being agile creatures, but metal is heavy. Logic, what can you do about it?

???

I always like the Clocktower levels, especially the one in Castlevania IV, if not least of which, for the awesome music. Also, Castlevania III, you get Grant to join you, and he climbs walls and ceilings, and moves faster than Simon!

I think I might download Castlevania Bloodlines next.

Well, you'll have your work cut out for you there; that game's a bear and a half. I can't get any further than the third level. Between that and Hard Corps, I have to assume Konami thought all Genesis users were gaming gods.

Never had a problem thrashing the living crap outta Bloodlines myself. The trick? Never choose the whip guy

That's the case with me and Bloodlines as well. Eric Lecarde just tears the game apart, especially with his full powered lance. John Morris can be fun to try out for completion's sake, but he is so much weaker with less variety in attacking that playing him is like a chore.

Maybe I'll get around to finishing the game with him one day, but I can't imagine that Dracula's 3 forms in Bloodlines are going to be easy playing as him...

Funny you bring up the third level, cause that's where I'm stuck.

Hard Corps is pretty tough....

Definately, I'd take Eric over John in a heartbeat.

I find it interesting how your character explodes in a bloody mess in later Castlevania games (e.g., Richter in Rondo of Blood, Alucard in Symphony of the Night, etc.) Very passionate, very poetic, but not very life-like and overdramatized.

I thought it was more realistic how they just fell over dead (Castlevania I-IV).

Couldn't that have something to do with Nintnedo's earlier "family friendly" policies? I'll totally I'll admit if you want a family friendly game Castlevania is probably not the best choice (anyone remember the uproar of Simon holding Dracula's head on the cover of Nintendo Power?) but after the formation of the ESRB (and Sega's Mortal Kombat outselling the SNES version one to three/four) Nintendo really backed off telling developers what they could and could not do to a certain extent. I can't say that kind of mentality held true in Nintendo's homeland of Japan considering cultural differences but it probably did to a certain degree.

That said, to anyone interested in video games video game "violence" is an interesting topic, especially when one compares what caused uproars in the past versus today. Still, companies are making more games geared towards adults now then they were back in the 80's because those kids are adults now.

Still, the biggest mystery (and greatest blessing) is how the Ninja Gaiden games got through unscathed as they did. Outside cleaning up some language you'd honestly think those would have been butchered back in the day. Ironically they weren't really messed with until the Trilogy on the SNES.

Castlevania, Symphony of the Night.

First time playing.

[Down in the Catacombs]

Don't know why everyone says this game is supposed to be part of the horror genre; involves occult themes, but it's not exactly jump-scare-y. It's an action game, I'll agree with that.

[Enters the chamber of Legion]

(Dry heave)

My God, it's the Castlevania equivalent of the human centipede. It's a floating sphere of human bodies that seem like they've been sewn or bounded together as material to create a beating, flashing, pulsating heart.

Not as vivid as Tetsuro shooting his flesh out in Akira, but it's still pretty damn disgusting. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget about it.

This, ladies and gentlemen, marks the first time I've been creeped out in awhile.

The thing I really remember about that fight is that the PlayStation has a hard time processing that many sprites. The slowdown is very noticable (I don't say that to attack it as the concept is amazing) but I have to say I'm curious how the Japanese Saturn version handles it consideing I've heard it's worse in that respect.

If you like that boss I'd recommend checking out a certain something in Curse of Darkness on the PS2/XBOX. Just don't expect what awaits you to be as cool. Actually, that pretty much sums up CoD despite the fact I liked it.