Sorry for making another one of these topics... but when it comes to Castlevania games I'm always kind of lost on how Castlevania 64's perceived by the general gamer. I can't remember coming across much - if any - love for this game yet I've not come across opposite scenario. Is this just one of those games that is kind of there and no one really remembers it or is it just forgotten? I can see how it would be/get burred by Metroidvania when that took off but if anyone can tell me how they feel about the game it would kind of help me out.

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Also, since we're talking about 3D CV's... I'm have to admit I'm caught a little off guard by the somewhat negative opinions I see for Lament of Innocence. I can't pretend it's prefect but for a 3D Castlevania I thought it was good enough and it was far from a train wreck IMO. My only real gripe is the real-time window because the game should pause when you want to use a potion.

Castlevania 64 is a game that I missed during its actual time - I always planned on picking it up for Virtual Console back when I thought that the Wii's VC would be... more than it ended up being.  N64 games running better on that than on the original console made it appealing to give it a shot, but that opportunity never arrived. 

Lament of Innocence, on the other hand, I've played and always had mixed opinions of it.  I felt it laid good groundwork for future 3D installments - I loved the mechanics, especially the whip, but the level design was just plain boring.  Unfortunately they didn't really keep the things they needed to and fix the things that needed fixing for the follow-up.  Good soundtrack!

Exactly, I like Curse of Darkness (for some reason) but it is a rather uninspired piece of software... and like you said it doesn't really build off Lament's good qualities in any way, shape or fashion.

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Also, correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Konami have a lot of problems with Castlevania 64? I remember hearing of it having a very troubled development cycle...

Honestly the game -- the original one anyway -- is bad. There are some good ideas but especially the level with maze is just extremely badly done, and the center of the castle with the whole nitro thing is just extra tepid icing. It's not a complete train wreck (to use Ashley's term) but it just...wasn't well made.

I do enjoy the OST a lot though.

Completely agreed. LoI had a great battle system, but it's like they made the battle system and then forgot to make a game around it. There are no level designs to speak of. Every room is a either a square or a hallway and it has none of the platforming elements needed to make a CV game interesting.

I couldn't beat Castlevania 64, but I did beat its sequel, Legacy of Darkness. I got all the way to the end of CV64 and continuously got mauled and mutilated by the final Dracula form. But I found the final boss in LoD to be too easy.

I enjoyed playing through LoD more than the previous installment. The play control in both reminded me of Shadows of the Empire, with its slippy slidey walking and wild jumping.