GameTrailers' Castlevania Retrospective

maximumzero

Part I

Part II

Part III

So what's your history with Castlevania? I owned Castlevania III in the NES days, but the only games I have that were made in the last 15 years are Dawn of Sorrow and Circle of the Moon, neither of which I've managed to finished.

I really feel like I've missed out on something by skipping out on Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia though, and it's one of those few things in videogames that bugs me occasionally.

Fig-D

You missed out on nothing by skipping Harmony of Dissonance. The others? Yeah. Aria is probably my favorite of the portable games, and I thought Portrait was much better than most others say.

Mister_Penguin

I hear a bit of hate for CotM every once and a while, which feels weird to me - I have really fond memories of that game. I thought it was terrifically fun, and it was my first non-Metroidvania, and my first Castlevania game. [I was never hardcore enough for the originals back in the day. I'm remedying that!]

DeMoN

Mister_Penguin wrote: »

I hear a bit of hate for CotM every once and a while, which feels weird to me - I have really fond memories of that game. I thought it was terrifically fun, and it was my first non-Metroidvania, and my first Castlevania game. [I was never hardcore enough for the originals back in the day. I'm remedying that!]

I thought CotM was a metroidvania?

Mister_Penguin

DeMoN wrote: »

Mister_Penguin wrote: »

I hear a bit of hate for CotM every once and a while, which feels weird to me - I have really fond memories of that game. I thought it was terrifically fun, and it was my first non-Metroidvania, and my first Castlevania game. [I was never hardcore enough for the originals back in the day. I'm remedying that!]

I thought CotM was a metroidvania?

Damn! Yeah. That's what I meant to type.

Mister_Penguin

DeMoN wrote: »

Mister_Penguin wrote: »

I hear a bit of hate for CotM every once and a while, which feels weird to me - I have really fond memories of that game. I thought it was terrifically fun, and it was my first non-Metroidvania, and my first Castlevania game. [I was never hardcore enough for the originals back in the day. I'm remedying that!]

I thought CotM was a metroidvania?

Damn! Yeah. That's what I meant to type.

Also, I just realized I accidentally necroe'd this thread. I am not a good reader of timestamps.

Xenogears of Bore

CotM is better then SotN. Fact.

They fucked up when listening to the complaints of CotM though and made HoD too bright and too easy.

JJ

Well, there was good reason for that because playing CotM was fucking impossible on a first gen GBA unless you were directly under a lamp.

Xenogears of Bore

JJ wrote: »

Well, there was good reason for that because playing CotM was fucking impossible on a first gen GBA unless you were directly under a lamp.

People exaggerate greatly about the light needed for the original GBA and the lighting on that game. A well lit room is all you need. You don't need a stand lamp or anything like that.

The original GBA is also the best system ever for a sunny day.

jclast

I played Lament of Innocence on the PS2 and thought it was pretty okay. It had some great music, if nothing else. I didn't play SotN until I picked it up on XBLA, and it is just as good now as everybody says. Only other ones I've played are Dawn of Sorrow (which I loved), Aria of Sorrow (which I couldn't finish, and I'm not sure why), Portrait or Ruin (which I find too difficult and I'm pretty sure I traded away), and the new coop one which I regret picked up because I never end up picking it when I decide what to play.

AbsoluteZero

Xenogears of Bore wrote: »

CotM is better then SotN. Fact.

They fucked up when listening to the complaints of CotM though and made HoD too bright and too easy.

My favorite so far is Aria of Sorrow, quite fond of Circle of the Moon as well. Only thing that bugs me about CotM is that you move too damn slow.

Brainiac 8

Medusa Heads; MEDUSA HEADS! OH GOD THEY KEEP COMING!

maximumzero

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

Undead Scottsman

Slightly off the castlevania path, but I must say I love the hell out of these retrospectives. The Resident Evil one is my favorite, and the metroid one is good too. Even the Final Fantasy one is interested to watch, and I have absolutely no interest in Final Fantasy.

Brainiac 8

I keep wishing they would do a Mario Retrospective.

The Zelda one is quite fun to watch.

VeritasVR

maximumzero wrote: »

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

I pull up CVIII on my NES all the time.

Grant is the only real way to play. Fucking jump physics.

maximumzero

VeritasVR wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

I pull up CVIII on my NES all the time.

Grant is the only real way to play. Fucking jump physics.

Grant? I thought the guy's name was Trevor.

VeritasVR

maximumzero wrote: »

VeritasVR wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

I pull up CVIII on my NES all the time.

Grant is the only real way to play. Fucking jump physics.

Grant? I thought the guy's name was Trevor.

Yeah. It is.

Grant is the other character you get by going through the clock tower in level 2. He's my favorite sidekick in that game. I usually go through most of the game with him and the axe.

maximumzero

VeritasVR wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

VeritasVR wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

I pull up CVIII on my NES all the time.

Grant is the only real way to play. Fucking jump physics.

Grant? I thought the guy's name was Trevor.

Yeah. It is.

Grant is the other character you get by going through the clock tower in level 2. He's my favorite sidekick in that game. I usually go through most of the game with him and the axe.

Oh, I always forget that there's even other characters in the game. I've never gotten that far myself.

MalReynolds

I have played and successfully cleared every CV game except Judgement and Order of Ecclesia.

OoE is just so fucking hard. Also, I beat Simon's Quest as a child, and I have tried to repeat this more contemporarily but have utterly failed at every attempt. It's not that I was so much better at games as a kid, it's that I was stupidly persistent.

AbsoluteZero

maximumzero wrote: »

I pull up CVIII on my Wii every now and again.

I swear I will never ever finish that damn clock tower.

I can beat it, but I can't escape it. Fuckin a.

Shadowfire

Brainiac 8 wrote: »

I keep wishing they would do a Mario Retrospective.

The Zelda one is quite fun to watch.

The FF one is quite good, too.

Also, long.

Wyborn

maximumzero wrote: »

I really feel like I've missed out on something by skipping out on Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia though, and it's one of those few things in videogames that bugs me occasionally.

Sir! I say, sir!

If you can only pick two of those, pick Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia. If you can only pick one, pick Ecclesia. Those games are the bee's knees.

Chen

Part IV is up.

Man I miss the Game Boy Castlevanias.

Arteen

I picked up Symphony of the Night on XBLA some time ago because I'm a fan of Metroidvania games. It liked the game, but I had a lot more trouble figuring out what I was supposed to do next, which was frustrating. On the other hand, I loved Order of Ecclesia. It was a bit more difficult than I was comfortable with, but aside from that it was great. That's it as far as Castlevania games I've played. Hopefully I can get my hands on some of the other Metroidvanias in the series.

Also, I these retrospectives.

Chen

Try Aria of Sorrow. It's the best Castlevania in my opinion. Not sure how rare it is. Goozex might have it.

maximumzero

Ugh, I hate buying games used, and in particular GBA games since the chances of getting a box and manual are slim to none.

Not to mention the high risk of bootlegs.

AbsoluteZero

Aria is awesome enough to take the risk.

Especially if you have a 'Cube + GBP laying around.

Xenogears of Bore

Get the double pack.

HoD for free is worth it even if HoD isn't that great.

Also it has a whip protagonist and the Belmont looks like David Bowie rather than Michael Jackson with a beard.

Chen

Did you just insult Julius Belmont? :x

Xenogears of Bore

Depends on whether or not you take the plain simple fact that he looks like MJ in Aria and not in Dawn as an insult or not.

Though of course in my first reply I did somehow manage to compliment Juste Belmont, who is a complete joke. I'd take either Belmont over that no whip using Soma Cruz bastard.

Chen

Soma can use a whip-like sword. I should do a whip-only Soma run someday. Julius mode is too hardcore for me.

Xenogears of Bore

When I took inventory of my favorite Castlevania games last year I realized that I generally preferred whip games over non whip games.

I like the first four, Rondo, CotM and OoE best, with OoE being the only non whip game I like.

I even prefer the whip characters in Judgement, which they still haven't gone over in the retrospective.

jclast

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

Aria is awesome enough to take the risk.

Especially if you have a 'Cube + GBP laying around.

The GBP and DK Jungle Beat are the only 2 reasons I kept my GameCube after getting a Wii. GBA Metroid on the TV is a wonderful thing.

LBD_Nytetrayn

jclast wrote: »

AbsoluteZero wrote: »

Aria is awesome enough to take the risk.

Especially if you have a 'Cube + GBP laying around.

The GBP and DK Jungle Beat are the only 2 reasons I kept my GameCube after getting a Wii. GBA Metroid on the TV is a wonderful thing.

...why Jungle Beat? I mean, I love the game to death, but why would you need a GameCube instead of just playing it on the Wii?

Anyway, for Castlevania, I'm loving the retrospective, though I kind of wish they'd followed the chronological release of the series, rather than lumping all the handhelds together. It's okay, though, I guess. Just felt odd at the time.

Castlevania II is the one I like to return to now and again. The first is largely nostalgia and sentiment, and as for the third? I really, really wish we'd gotten the Japanese version with the non-gimped Grant and better sound and graphics. Just give me that with the English words, and I'm good to go.

After Super Castlevania IV, it was a while before I picked up the series again. Never understood why they ditched nearly, if not all, of that game's innovations. Eight-directional whipping and swinging was awesome.

Didn't really return to the series until Portrait of Ruin, and I fell in love all over again.

stormbringer

Ok I have played all of them up to SOTN. Now the new 3D one. Where should I go next. I loved SOTN.

Wyborn

stormbringer wrote: »

Ok I have played all of them up to SOTN. Now the new 3D one. Where should I go next. I loved SOTN.

Aria of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia would be the biggest ones.

Bartholamue

People have said that Portrait Of Ruin is a bad one, but I really enjoyed it.

Norfair

Late, but...

My favorite handheld games in the series would probably be CotM and OoE these days, but I also really like Aria and Portrait. Dawn isn't too shabby, but isn't as good as Portrait or Aria, let alone OoE. Harmony is a fun diversion, but the weakest of the GBA series. The older Game Boy games aren't very good. You can also get a GBA port of the original NES game in the NES Classics series, if you really want to play it on the go via legal means.

Also, anyone who has a PSP and likes the series really needs to check out Dracula X Chronicles. The Rondo remake is fun (except for Stage 5', which is frustratingly hard in spots), and you also get original Rondo and SotN to boot. Loved it back when I still cared about the PSP. I've seen stores selling the Greatest Hits version new for $10 and I think it's also up on PSN so it shouldn't be too hard to get.

edit: also, that Retrospective is really enjoyable, one of the better ones. These are pretty much the only reason to go to GameTrailers anymore.

LCDXX

I posted it a few days ago, but I'll ask here anyway - in part V of the Castlevania retrospective, does anyone know what version of Vampire Killer is that playing at about 17:20?

Cherrn

It's from Dracula New Classic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idwTZeGEkO8