Circle of the Moon. It was my first GBA game when I bought the handheld at launch and the first Castlevania game that I beat. And at the time I was 12 and really into the lore of the series so I have a lot of fond memories with the game.
Absolutely loved Aria of Sorrow. Cleared it many times as a kid and I still remember the joy of discovering more of the game upon finding out that the game had two alternate endings once Internet guides became a thing.
I felt the same joy after discovering that there was actually another castle to explore in Symphony of the Night. I first played SotN a year after release and discovered the inverted castle after reading about it two years later in a gaming magazine strategy guide my friend owned. To this day, it is still on my Top 10 of best gaming secrets and one of many reasons why that game holds such a special place in my heart.
@@NickG8420 the songs are good in my opinion, and on the gba screen the graphics are beautiful... maybe the graphics don't look very good stretched out on an emulator. The only good experience I had with this game in an emulator was using it on a real crt tv in 240p mode, it was very beautiful with the scan lines.
Saying Harmony of Dissonance is better than Portrait of Ruin is a bold move, saying Circle Of The Moon is better than both is wild…but then saying Castlevania 3 is better than ALL of these is insane.
Curse of Darkness is my personal favorite. The Innocent Devil system and the weapons and combat were awesome. The music and atmosphere was catchy as hell, and the levels were varied enough and full of secrets, especially towards the end. Fantastic game imo
imo order of ecclesia was the best of the ds trilogy. The art, music, enemies, twist, and amount of content was everything I wanted in a castlevania aside from playing as Alucard again. the first half of the game was in segments, then Dracula’s castle opens up and is interconnected. Wish you would’ve mentioned that
The official Dominus Collection changed it so that you have to press a sequence of button prompts instead. No more messing up the drawing purely because your DS failed to register it correctly!
I'll rank higher Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Bloodlines, NES Castlevania 1, 2, 3 & GB Castlevania 2: Belmonts Revenge. I see this ranking favors more towards metroidvanias which are very good, being Castlevania SOTN the best. My top 3 games are Castlevania SOTN, Super Castlevania 4 & Rondo of Blood.
Those are my top three currently after having played all the classics and SOTN. Currently on Circle of the Moon and interested to see if this ends up changing.
considering the direction they took with the series is very likely that SotN will remain unmatched as the absolute Castlevania masterpiece. Too bad they are still to release a version which includes all the extra content from the Saturn version.
First of all, Castlevania 4 is criminally underrated here. It’s runner up, if not the best, cv game. Music and atmosphere were perfect in that game. Also, got to mention the mobile titles and others that weren’t in the video. Order of shadows was just kinda okay-ish and can be emulated on pc. Moonlight Rhapsody (later changed to Moon night Fanstasy oddly) was an awesome mobile cv in Metroidvania form that was axed just before release. I got to play the beta and it was a great experience as you could go through and beat dracula and get the ending even in beta. shame it never released. And Grimoure of Souls was excellent. Played the beta, the soft launch, and finally the final ressurected release. The beta had a multiplayer tony hawk tag style arena where you had to destroy enemies in the rooms to color them your team’s color. You could actually attack opposing players. The soft launch had a single map area where 4 players competed for points by killing as many enemies as they can and then competed for who got the i-frame on one shotting the boss to usually win a round they had no business winning. But it was a blast. Then the final release finally allowed you to finish the story and defeat dracula and is available on Apple Arcade. There were 3 pachinko releases I believe. Who cares. And a couple years ago a demo for the legendary canceled Saturn game, Castlevania: resurrection, was unsurfaced, and is available to download on pc. It’s worth checking out for any lifelong Castlevania fan. There are other ports and what nots out there as well but won’t get into all that here
I actually have Super Castlevania as one of the least favorites I’ve played. Although I haven’t played the 3D games or portable Metroidvanias, I just prefer the more action oriented games over it. I found Super Castlevania quite frustrating and I prefer the movement of the previous games. I also prefer the music and atmosphere of Symphony to Super Castlevania.
By far, my favourite Castlevania is Order of Ecclesia. It combines the old-style platforming Castlevania in the first half of the game with the Metroidvania style in the second half of the game. Excellent music, nice portraits, fantastic high difficulty, the smooth animations, the glyph system, the story, the sidequests, the hidden characters, etc. After enjoying Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow in the DS, Order of Ecclesia was the one that made me love the franchise.
I'll echo what others have said: *Super Castlevania IV* not even making the top 10 is pretty mind-boggling. It's my all-time favorite Vania, even over SotN. The 8-directional whip action was a revelation. The ability to swing from ledges with the whip is a great mechanic and actually FEELS good to do (unlike in Bloodlines). The gameplay in general is buttery smooth. The atmosphere and OST have never been topped by any other Vania. The difficulty is (in my opinion) perfectly balanced, and the 16-bit pixel artwork is excellent. In terms of the "ClassicVanias," Rondo of Blood may get all the hype these days, but that game didn’t do anything for me, despite it having the advantage of superior hardware. And I like Bloodlines for the Genesis - it's a good game - but it doesn’t have the stellar atmosphere of SCV4, nor does it feel as good to play. My two cents. Grace and peace!
Hard to argue too much, but Order of Ecclesia will always be my favorite. The best combination of of level-based and Metroidvania-style gameplay, satisfyingly difficult, and an excellent art style.
Ecclesia is probably the most consistently good Castlevania in the series and with the most polished gameplay. It's a shame that its popularity still is somewhat affected by the Castlevania fatigue of the time.
Ecclesia is an ode to the fans. The first half of the game kinda resembles the claissic formula, where you enter the stage from one side, and finishes it in the other. The second half is a Metroidvania by the books. Personally, it clashes with Aria of Sorrow as the second best in the series.
Definitely the first time I’ve seen someone rank vampire killer above CV1. Interesting list! My only gripe is that CV1 for NES still holds up really well and should be in the top ten
Harmony of Despair is a gem of a game. Play it more like Diablo where you are hunting drops, spells, weapons, upgrades and do it with friends and it is an absolute treat.
Nice to see Dawn Of Sorrow rank so highly, it's my personal favourite. If it wasn't for the annoying touchscreen gimmicks at times, I think a lot of other people would rate it higher as well.
If you're not opposed to romhacks, there's one for Dawn called: "Dawn of Sorrow: Definitive Edition +" that fixes many of the common issues that the fanbase has reported over the years, like the Luck glitch, and it removes the Magic Seal touchscreen gimmick. Worth a try, especially if you really like the original Dawn!
I have a soft spot in my heart for The Castlevania Adventure on gameboy. I got it along with my gameboy for Christmas of ‘89, and played the hell out of it!
Your opinions are the only ones that should matter to you. It's great you had a good time regardless of what others think. I've only recently tried it, and I think it's fun.
Same. For a very early early Gameboy game it's impressive. Plus people forget it was made slower because screen blur was an issue at the time and nobody at that had figured out to get around it yet in 89.
Order of ecclesia is easily a top 3 Castlevania game. They managed to put classicvania style stages into a cohesive metroidvania style game and the then difficulty too? Chef's kiss It was perfect marriage of the two main types of Castlevania games. Shanoa is so dark and the artstyle going back to the food portraits vs the shitty anime style ones is just icing on this already delicious cake. Alright time to watch the video
It's interesting how the review for the 1993 GameBoy version of Kid Dracula mentions Death being his friend, and his giving Kid Dracula heirlooms to help him out. This seems to make it a direct connection to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where Death tries to talk Alucard out of his path of fighting his father, then taking away all of his family heirlooms to try to keep Alucard safe from his quest, whether he loses, or has to live with winning, showing Death is actually still Alucard's friend, if viewed through the lens of the Kid Dracula game.
They're making easily avoidable mistakes, like usual. Castlevania Chronicles on PS1 has an easier difficulty - Konami wasn't blind to complaints about the X68000 original, which wasn't called Chronicles. And I'm not sure why they're mentioning the loss of Super's 8 way attacks when talking about Rhondo's downgrade to Vampire's Kiss. Other than that, it's not bad.
Symphony of the Night is one of those special, rare games where you start it at 10:00 am on a Saturday morning... Play it for a 'couple' of hours... And then read the clock again... And it's already 10:00pm.
I love the simplicity of the old Castlevania games. My all time favorite is Aria of Sorrow.. as a kid, I enjoyed being able to access areas that I can't early games .
17:10 terrible take. The “Abilitease” is a great way to make players personally invested in progressing further into the game. You ever play Metroid Prime? Smh.
I appreciate that Castlevania is such a good series that in an 83 minute video it only took 15 minutes before the entries became elevated to adequate, with the later entries being awesome.
For me, I’d probably rank the Castlevania series that I played in the order of: Super Castlevania IV Castlevania (for the nostalgia of it) Symphony of the Night Castlevania III Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest I still enjoy the mechanics and interesting quirks they put into the SNES game (from the ability to swing using the whip, to levels where the floor disintegrates as you climb, to the various bosses). The original game just set everything up wonderfully. SotN was a big shift in play style, but looked and sounded great. III had the cool feature of being able to choose different characters with different abilities for the playthrough, which was a nice addition. Simon’s Quest gave a non-linear way to play the game, but frustratingly didn’t give much in the way of figuring out some obscure mechanics (invisible moving blocks, places you had to kneel for several seconds with a specific item in hand to trigger an event). I think I must have played one of the PS2 games, because I remember that playstyle, but not sure which it was. Edit: Dug through my games today and found it was Lament of Innocence. 👀 A great series of games that brought much frustration and entertainment to my childhood and young adulthood…
As someone who isn't British and has seen Bernard's Watch, I loved that reference at 41:23. For the video, Although i don't agree with the ranking of some games, I still enjoyed the video very much and had a blast, Very good video!
I had Symphony Of The Night since from day one. And I've bought many different versions of it. It will always be my favorite. My top 3 are SOTN, Aria Of Sorrow, and Dawn Of Sorrow.
If people would stop treating Dracula X as rondo they would realize it's a beautiful simple and fun game with a wonderful soundtrack. That's what we saw when we first played it.
7:45 FUCKING THANK YOU!!! yes they dont look like castlevania, but for a fighting game from japan, a country where their fighting games are very anime-ifed, they look awesome, the art of the game in very overhated, its a fighting game spin off, make shit look anime-like and cool
Romans first came up with the hamburger so far older than Curse of Darkness' date xD. Fries though, give you that one xD. How come you talked of hidden characters and alternate versions for Portrait of Ruin, Maria and even Maxim being playable but you missed the Sega Saturn Symphony of the Night aka Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight? In that version bonus areas were added, Richter was playable without completion of the main story and/ or using his name for a save... and was irl Maria's debut as a playable character to those without the Rondo of Blood? Nocturne also added the two familiars that appeared only on PS1 menu but were not actually playable- Nosedevil and Pixie the latter able to even sing for you when you rested in a chair and she could use any Use item where Fairy was limited- it is the only pity with an otherwise stellar video
Great video guys! The saddest part is that the last true castlevania was order of eclessia in 2008....and after the hype of the last summer's trailer of castlevania nocturne....nothing.only cameos here and there...
@@toadynamite8141Yes, "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate" is indeed a Castlevania game. But it isn't part of the original timeline. And so, in that way- isn't a "true" Castlevania title.
She’s actually playable from the get go she doesn’t need to be unlocked and she’s much better than the Maria we got in the symphony of the night port for psp and ps4
On Bloodlines: "it's so different it feels like a different series aping Castlevania" You could say the same for pretty much every Castlevania released after: I mean SOTN is considered the birth of "Metroidvania"
The "flaws" you say are in the NES Castlevania are just basic design choices. Then mentioning an easy mode, continues and saying it is best left to the past. That is a crap take.
One of the few Judgement fans here: I will agree that the character designs were butchered horribly and the story is a bit silly, but in terms of everything else, I think it's actually pretty underrated. You can do some pretty cool combos, especially off of subweapons like the Holy Water, and pretty much every character is strong and fun to play. I get why most people hated it (especially back when it came out), but I think there's definitely something there for people who like combo labbing and/or more "unforgiving" fighting games. Also since the video got it wrong, you CAN play it with a normal controller.
I actually quite like it as well. It's obviously not a 'top tier' Castlevania game like Symphony Of The Night, but there's fun to be had, and I liked that a lot of the series' main characters (including Shanoa, who was new at the time) were all featured together in one game. Some attacks are definitely waaaay overpowerer though.
God damn I love these lists. I also appreciate your unique takes. Ecclesia is usually No. 1 and Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance are typically ranked much lower.
I dont agree with Dawn of Sorrow being above Aria. It was a good game but it was let down by the need to draw those stupid seal patterns whenever you beat a boss.
This was a lot of fun to watch! Have not played most of these, but I very fondly remember Super Castlevania when it first came out on SNES. The graphics in the game, some of the great mechanics like the spinning room, and that incredible music were really top notch. None of us were really ready for how big a step up that was, from the originals!
@@zionfortuna I'll concede the mix could be much better. Better samples (especially the drums), less noise, less jumble would all be good. But I like how HoD committed to a theme of dissonance and never let up. It's so unique and I just can't fault the composition. Dissonant, jazzy, groovy, so good.
@@leandronc I see what you mean but bear in mind that the game is called "Concerto of the Midnight Sun" in Japan, Soishiro Hokkai simply did not know the title "Harmony of Dissonance" (given by the english localization team to justify the music) when he was composing: the dissonance of the music is mostly a reflection of his personal style (that uses a lot of parallel 2nds, clusters, and downright nonsensical harmony and melody at times) and not due to some grander theme of "dissonance" of the game. That said, I can see what you'd like the jazzy aspect of it, sure, it is an acquired taste for most, (especially with the 8 bit samples) but it still remains the most unique Castlevania soundtrack to date, alongside CV4.
@@NostalgicPixelThe PlayStation port may be more refined. But to me, the Sega Saturn's additional content more than make up for it. And in that way, makes it the definitive port.
My personal favorite has to be order of ecclesia, all the ds games have their own unique spin to the gameplay but OoE has the best combat of all of these games imo
Lords of Shadow got pretty unfairly accused of ripping off games like God of War. How many games are truly 100% original? Even the OG God of War trilogy just polished the arcadey hack n slash genre to a diamond-like shine, it didn't reinvent the wheel. And if you're going to emulate a game style when rebooting the direction of your game, why not use one of the best (and popular franchises!) to ever do it as your inspiration? It's a solid 3D entry into the franchise and deserves better. They went all in on production values and voice cast.
I think Castlevania Judgment would have been better received if they had used classic character designs instead of injecting concentrated anime directly into the game's heart. It should be noted that the NPCs being obtuse in Castlevania 2 was not a translation error. The people are cursed too and are intentionally unhelpful. In the original Japanese version, there was a line that explained this, but due to an actual translation error, this explanation was lost in the English version.
In hindsight the SNES version of Dracula x not being a direct port of rondo and being it own thing leave us the better, that means that instead of getting a rondo with lesser sound (I mean this was Konami, the right words would be different) music, we get an old school send off to the classic formula before the series went balls deep on metroidvanias. I think that was for the better
IMO COULD HAVE had to do with the fact that Konami was already starting to get out of the video game business by the time the sequels started to roll around.. and the tensions between Konami and Kojima were probably a thing too (even if Kojima didn't leave the company until a few years later.. you better know that they probably weren't getting along still, and Kojima helped produce the Lords of Shadows games), probably made the development of the sequels pretty choppy and hard. Like, there's a reason why the 1st one was so good I think and it's partially to do with Kojima studios involvement for one. As the games went on... it's pretty much said that his studio had less and less to do with the projects and... yeah.. it shows
It would be interesting to see a list like this, but for fan-games, from any series. I feel like fan-games are underrated overall in most communities. The only game series I can think of where its fan-games are regularly praised is... FNAF, haha
After Super Mario 3, Simon's Quest was my 2nd favourite NES game. Yes I'm that old. Such an in depth game tho, had me calling the Nintendo Hotline multiple times
Even though the first Castlevania has elements like the knock-back, I feel like they are deliberately implemented in the game. TThis one of the few games I know that uses cumbersome controls as a gameplay. The game is fully designed around these limitations, to make you feel like a simple human, powerless against the cavalcade of monsters. It's a game where every move you make and every attack you let out has to be carefully planned out and it makes it all the more satisfying when you beat a level. However, I do understand that these limitations feel out of place in the modern gaming world, hence why some would rank it lower. I personally think it's one of the best Castlevania games ever.
Yup. I think they actually talked about the "clunky" controls in the bonus E-book that comes with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You really have to commit to every action you make.
Thank you for helping me find my childhood game. Circle of the moon is what defined this genre of games for me and inspired me to play other games of the genre in the first place. The old days had so much creativity. without micro transactions all the time to me its the golden era of gaming. Games with substance. Where ever you are if you read this. You're Wonderful.
Great list, though I wish SC4 was ranked higher, but mainly because - imo - there was no other Castlevania that felt like such a gigantic evolutionary jump from the previous entry. The NES games felt like games. In 1991, SC4 felt like cinema - the epic opening cut scene, the lush orchestral soundtrack, the detailed visuals - SC4 nailed atmosphere in a way that I think has never been replicated, and though I may just be nostalgia-blind, it’s still my favorite to this day.
What's your favourite Dracula-slaying Castlevania game? 👹🎮
Your guys’ #1 pick.
It’s still one of the best and most influential gaming experiences I ever had!
Symphony of the Night followed by Rondo of Blood
Circle of the Moon. It was my first GBA game when I bought the handheld at launch and the first Castlevania game that I beat. And at the time I was 12 and really into the lore of the series so I have a lot of fond memories with the game.
Castlevania 3!
Super Castlevania IV. It’s is still the best game in the series imo. You’re the first people to put it so low in a list of the best Castlevania games.
Never forget that the first Angry Video Game Nerd started off with the simple phrase "This Game Sucks" and it was about Simon's Quest.
He was wrong. Let me remove his eggplant curse
Wait, who the hell said Order of Ecclesia has terrible voice acting? There's barely any to begin with and what's there is perfectly fine.
1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997) 1:21:00 PS1, Saturn
2. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005) 1:18:10 DS
3. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993) 1:15:50 PC engine
4. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003) 1:12:50 GBA
5. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989) 1:10:30 NES
6. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001) 1:08:00 GBA
7. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002) 1:05:25 GBA
8. Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006) 1:03:00 DS
9. Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2008) 1:00:40 DS
10. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010) 58:55 PC
11. Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1991) 56:40 GB,GBC
12. Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994) 54:48 Sega Genesis
13. Super Castlevania IV (1991) 53:07 SNES
14. Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003) 50:47 PS 2
15. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009) 49:05 Wiiware
16. Kid Dracula (1993) 47:15 GB
17. Vampire Killer (1986) 44:52 MSX2
18. Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2004) 42:25 PS2,Xbox
19. Castlevania (1986) 39:45 NES
20. Castlevania Chronicles (1993) 37:20 Sharp X68000, PS1
21. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate (2013) 34:55 PC, 3DS, PS3, Xbox360
22. Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (1999) 32:30 N64
23. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (2010) 30:25 PSN, Xbox live arcade
24. Kid Dracula (1990) 28:15 Famicom
25. Castlevania: Dracula X (1995) 25:47 SNES
26. Castlevania (1986) 23:30 Amiga
27. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987) 21:00 Famicom, NES
28. Castlevania 64 (1999) 18:15 N64
29. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014) 16:05 PC,PS3,Xbox360
30. Castlevania Legends (1997) 14:10 GB
31. Castlevania: The Arcade (2009) 12:35 Arcade
32. Castlevania (1986) 10:30 C64
33. Castlevania: The Adventure (1989) 8:42 GB
34. Castlevania Judgment (2008) 6:25 Wii
35. Haunted Castle (1988) 4:05 Arcade, PS2
36. Castlevania (1986) 2:25 PC
thank you so much for this !
@@kurioman You are most welcome! I've used hundreds of lists like these, so I decided to make few (for this and Zelda video) on my own =)
@@amaerus_ Well, one of the reasons I did this is because I never played much Castelvania, so when I decide to play - I know which one are the best :)
Thanks for the list
Thanks for saving me the watch. Wack ass ranking
Absolutely loved Aria of Sorrow. Cleared it many times as a kid and I still remember the joy of discovering more of the game upon finding out that the game had two alternate endings once Internet guides became a thing.
Same. Those two games were so addictive. IGA hit gold when he started using the soul system in these games.
Aria is great I just wish it had better graphics and music.
I felt the same joy after discovering that there was actually another castle to explore in Symphony of the Night. I first played SotN a year after release and discovered the inverted castle after reading about it two years later in a gaming magazine strategy guide my friend owned. To this day, it is still on my Top 10 of best gaming secrets and one of many reasons why that game holds such a special place in my heart.
@@NickG8420 the songs are good in my opinion, and on the gba screen the graphics are beautiful... maybe the graphics don't look very good stretched out on an emulator. The only good experience I had with this game in an emulator was using it on a real crt tv in 240p mode, it was very beautiful with the scan lines.
@@NickG8420Aria has amazing music.
Harmony over Eclessia and Portrait?
WHAT?
And Circle, no less.
@@Ryan-PetreHarmony over circle is very understandable. Played them back to back and wow harmony plays just so much nicer.
Saying Harmony of Dissonance is better than Portrait of Ruin is a bold move, saying Circle Of The Moon is better than both is wild…but then saying Castlevania 3 is better than ALL of these is insane.
I'm still amazed by how low Ecclesia is in this list.
At least Castle 3 is really better than all of these
3 is good but there is way too much obnoxious unfair nonsense in the game.
@@michag798 not in japanese version
I am actually referring to the japanese version. I don't bother with the US one because that one is literally unplayable at later levels.
Curse of Darkness is my personal favorite. The Innocent Devil system and the weapons and combat were awesome. The music and atmosphere was catchy as hell, and the levels were varied enough and full of secrets, especially towards the end. Fantastic game imo
imo order of ecclesia was the best of the ds trilogy. The art, music, enemies, twist, and amount of content was everything I wanted in a castlevania aside from playing as Alucard again.
the first half of the game was in segments, then Dracula’s castle opens up and is interconnected. Wish you would’ve mentioned that
It's still surprises me the consistent release of these Worst to Best videos. Never change TripleJump, please never change. I adore these videos.
Super Castlevania 4 not being in the top 5 is a crime.
It's so overrated, in my opinion.
Agreed❤❤❤
For Dawn of Sorrow, there is a fan patch that makes the seals auto-complete when you beat each boss.
There's also a fan-port that replaces those awful portraits with classic-looking ones.
There's also a fan port that replaces Alucard with Mega Man and it's fabulous. Don't bother looking for it because I haven't finished it yet.
There's also a patch that fixes the luck in getting souls on normal mode, making it less grindy
Cool
The official Dominus Collection changed it so that you have to press a sequence of button prompts instead. No more messing up the drawing purely because your DS failed to register it correctly!
This is the rank list I've been waiting for!!! Comes at the perfect time, I've been replaying the whole series 😁
I'll rank higher Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Bloodlines, NES Castlevania 1, 2, 3 & GB Castlevania 2: Belmonts Revenge.
I see this ranking favors more towards metroidvanias which are very good, being Castlevania SOTN the best.
My top 3 games are Castlevania SOTN,
Super Castlevania 4 & Rondo of Blood.
Those are my top three currently after having played all the classics and SOTN. Currently on Circle of the Moon and interested to see if this ends up changing.
Symphony of the Night is a masterpiece and will forever be my favourite
Absolutely.
😄👍
considering the direction they took with the series is very likely that SotN will remain unmatched as the absolute Castlevania masterpiece. Too bad they are still to release a version which includes all the extra content from the Saturn version.
Yup, any of the Igarashi games could have been no 1 and I’d be happy.
Gameplay wise yes. Voice acting wise definitely yes.
My favorite game of all time.
First of all, Castlevania 4 is criminally underrated here. It’s runner up, if not the best, cv game. Music and atmosphere were perfect in that game.
Also, got to mention the mobile titles and others that weren’t in the video. Order of shadows was just kinda okay-ish and can be emulated on pc. Moonlight Rhapsody (later changed to Moon night Fanstasy oddly) was an awesome mobile cv in Metroidvania form that was axed just before release. I got to play the beta and it was a great experience as you could go through and beat dracula and get the ending even in beta. shame it never released. And Grimoure of Souls was excellent. Played the beta, the soft launch, and finally the final ressurected release. The beta had a multiplayer tony hawk tag style arena where you had to destroy enemies in the rooms to color them your team’s color. You could actually attack opposing players. The soft launch had a single map area where 4 players competed for points by killing as many enemies as they can and then competed for who got the i-frame on one shotting the boss to usually win a round they had no business winning. But it was a blast. Then the final release finally allowed you to finish the story and defeat dracula and is available on Apple Arcade.
There were 3 pachinko releases I believe. Who cares.
And a couple years ago a demo for the legendary canceled Saturn game, Castlevania: resurrection, was unsurfaced, and is available to download on pc. It’s worth checking out for any lifelong Castlevania fan.
There are other ports and what nots out there as well but won’t get into all that here
Oh yeah, I shoulda put “imo” about Castlevania 4. I mean, you know what they say about opinions…
I actually have Super Castlevania as one of the least favorites I’ve played. Although I haven’t played the 3D games or portable Metroidvanias, I just prefer the more action oriented games over it. I found Super Castlevania quite frustrating and I prefer the movement of the previous games. I also prefer the music and atmosphere of Symphony to Super Castlevania.
Totally agreed. Far far too low on this chart. The graphics, music, last great TRUE Castlevania game
By far, my favourite Castlevania is Order of Ecclesia. It combines the old-style platforming Castlevania in the first half of the game with the Metroidvania style in the second half of the game. Excellent music, nice portraits, fantastic high difficulty, the smooth animations, the glyph system, the story, the sidequests, the hidden characters, etc. After enjoying Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow in the DS, Order of Ecclesia was the one that made me love the franchise.
1:12:51 number 4 untill 1 are the best _Castlevania_ games, I've been playing then all.
I'll echo what others have said: *Super Castlevania IV* not even making the top 10 is pretty mind-boggling. It's my all-time favorite Vania, even over SotN. The 8-directional whip action was a revelation. The ability to swing from ledges with the whip is a great mechanic and actually FEELS good to do (unlike in Bloodlines). The gameplay in general is buttery smooth. The atmosphere and OST have never been topped by any other Vania. The difficulty is (in my opinion) perfectly balanced, and the 16-bit pixel artwork is excellent. In terms of the "ClassicVanias," Rondo of Blood may get all the hype these days, but that game didn’t do anything for me, despite it having the advantage of superior hardware. And I like Bloodlines for the Genesis - it's a good game - but it doesn’t have the stellar atmosphere of SCV4, nor does it feel as good to play.
My two cents. Grace and peace!
Hard to argue too much, but Order of Ecclesia will always be my favorite. The best combination of of level-based and Metroidvania-style gameplay, satisfyingly difficult, and an excellent art style.
Ecclesia is probably the most consistently good Castlevania in the series and with the most polished gameplay. It's a shame that its popularity still is somewhat affected by the Castlevania fatigue of the time.
Ecclesia is an ode to the fans. The first half of the game kinda resembles the claissic formula, where you enter the stage from one side, and finishes it in the other. The second half is a Metroidvania by the books.
Personally, it clashes with Aria of Sorrow as the second best in the series.
Definitely the first time I’ve seen someone rank vampire killer above CV1. Interesting list! My only gripe is that CV1 for NES still holds up really well and should be in the top ten
The first one is so tight. Absolutely should be top 5
Wah
The first one is the only one
@@BeatlesFan1975I’m with you.
Harmony of Despair is a gem of a game. Play it more like Diablo where you are hunting drops, spells, weapons, upgrades and do it with friends and it is an absolute treat.
Full lobby's hit different when there was an online community
@@StonerWeeb There is an active discord of players that host games regularly, and Xbox having back compat really helps
@@SaintsXIV I had no idea, I'll have to check it out, thanks
Nice to see Dawn Of Sorrow rank so highly, it's my personal favourite. If it wasn't for the annoying touchscreen gimmicks at times, I think a lot of other people would rate it higher as well.
Same. I hope they can automate that part if Konami is ever smart enough to do a Castlevania DS Trilogy.
If you're not opposed to romhacks, there's one for Dawn called:
"Dawn of Sorrow: Definitive Edition +" that fixes many of the common issues that the fanbase has reported over the years, like the Luck glitch, and it removes the Magic Seal touchscreen gimmick.
Worth a try, especially if you really like the original Dawn!
AoS is still better IMO, even with the no-touch patches. DoS is definitely a close second, though
Dawn is great, I personally prefer Aria slightly over it but I do think dawn is a top 5 castlevania game.
no it sucked
Putting Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance over Order of Ecclesia and Portrait of Ruin is just wrong.
I have a soft spot in my heart for The Castlevania Adventure on gameboy. I got it along with my gameboy for Christmas of ‘89, and played the hell out of it!
Same here. I didn’t even know it was largely considered a bad game until fairly recently.
Your opinions are the only ones that should matter to you. It's great you had a good time regardless of what others think. I've only recently tried it, and I think it's fun.
@@darthboxOriginal it took me over 20 years before I finally beat it!
Same. For a very early early Gameboy game it's impressive. Plus people forget it was made slower because screen blur was an issue at the time and nobody at that had figured out to get around it yet in 89.
It’s pretty clunky and rough but I still have a good time with it
Order of ecclesia is easily a top 3 Castlevania game. They managed to put classicvania style stages into a cohesive metroidvania style game and the then difficulty too? Chef's kiss It was perfect marriage of the two main types of Castlevania games. Shanoa is so dark and the artstyle going back to the food portraits vs the shitty anime style ones is just icing on this already delicious cake.
Alright time to watch the video
It's interesting how the review for the 1993 GameBoy version of Kid Dracula mentions Death being his friend, and his giving Kid Dracula heirlooms to help him out.
This seems to make it a direct connection to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, where Death tries to talk Alucard out of his path of fighting his father, then taking away all of his family heirlooms to try to keep Alucard safe from his quest, whether he loses, or has to live with winning, showing Death is actually still Alucard's friend, if viewed through the lens of the Kid Dracula game.
Not sure if this is the first script from Travis, but either way he knocked it out of the park!
They're making easily avoidable mistakes, like usual.
Castlevania Chronicles on PS1 has an easier difficulty - Konami wasn't blind to complaints about the X68000 original, which wasn't called Chronicles. And I'm not sure why they're mentioning the loss of Super's 8 way attacks when talking about Rhondo's downgrade to Vampire's Kiss.
Other than that, it's not bad.
The joke about the camera in Castlevania 64 got me.
Thou shall not piss all over my favourite Castlevania 64 ;(
Seasons change, people come and go from our lives but I find myself returning to Symphony of the Night again, and again, and again
None of the others even come close to the amount of content and attention to detail.
I always loved Harmony of Despair and felt it's underrated.
I would still play it if I could, in fact I kept the xbox hard drive just because of the work I put in lol
@@jdarrogerscloud save?
Full lobby's were so much fun when there was an online community
Thank you I always wanted y'all to do one on Castlevania
I just got home from work exhausted and see that I have this waiting for me. I love you lot. I really do.
Symphony of the Night is one of those special, rare games where you start it at 10:00 am on a Saturday morning... Play it for a 'couple' of hours... And then read the clock again... And it's already 10:00pm.
Yes! I freaking love castlevania, thanks for doing this guys!
Wait... Super Castlevania IV not in the top 10???!!! No, just... No, triple jump.
Agreed! This is in my top 3!!!
Many people consider that game too easy. I liked it a lot, but it's not my favourite, i dig the one on mega drive a lot more.
And with Lords of Shadow (meh) ahead.
@razumijinatreides4691 that's not a reason to have it so low on the list.
I mean. They've dropped the ball here with that one
I Cosplayed as JUSTE Belmondo last year so im glad Harmony of Dissonance is kinda high its my favourite Castlevania game
I love the simplicity of the old Castlevania games. My all time favorite is Aria of Sorrow.. as a kid, I enjoyed being able to access areas that I can't early games .
these are y'all's best kind of videos! love 'em!
17:10 terrible take. The “Abilitease” is a great way to make players personally invested in progressing further into the game. You ever play Metroid Prime? Smh.
Lament of Innocence has the most brutal and horrific secret boss in the series. Bonus points for that.
I know who you're talking about, he's also in SOTN.
I appreciate that Castlevania is such a good series that in an 83 minute video it only took 15 minutes before the entries became elevated to adequate, with the later entries being awesome.
Before watching:
My favourite is symphony of the night, and I expect it to be really high on the list.
24:00 Dracula in that Amiga port looks like a Sesame Street Muppet. But... not the Sesame Street Muppet that's a vampire.
Wow been waiting a list for castlevania. Nice one.
CV4 is and always will be the best Castlevania. Best music, best graphics, best gameplay, best atmosphere and most importantly, best boss enemies.
Oh yeah! Here we go! Ranked list time!
29:14 Outstanding work here sir. Terrific dad joke. I applaud you👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
24:00 is Peter colorblind? Those cloaks are red right? Am I misunderstanding what he's saying?
For me, I’d probably rank the Castlevania series that I played in the order of:
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania (for the nostalgia of it)
Symphony of the Night
Castlevania III
Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
I still enjoy the mechanics and interesting quirks they put into the SNES game (from the ability to swing using the whip, to levels where the floor disintegrates as you climb, to the various bosses).
The original game just set everything up wonderfully.
SotN was a big shift in play style, but looked and sounded great.
III had the cool feature of being able to choose different characters with different abilities for the playthrough, which was a nice addition.
Simon’s Quest gave a non-linear way to play the game, but frustratingly didn’t give much in the way of figuring out some obscure mechanics (invisible moving blocks, places you had to kneel for several seconds with a specific item in hand to trigger an event).
I think I must have played one of the PS2 games, because I remember that playstyle, but not sure which it was.
Edit: Dug through my games today and found it was Lament of Innocence. 👀
A great series of games that brought much frustration and entertainment to my childhood and young adulthood…
@joels5150 It shocked me that Super Castlevania IV didn't rank higher on their list
@@someoneelse1534agreed, very weird
As someone who isn't British and has seen Bernard's Watch, I loved that reference at 41:23.
For the video, Although i don't agree with the ranking of some games, I still enjoyed the video very much and had a blast, Very good video!
I had Symphony Of The Night since from day one. And I've bought many different versions of it. It will always be my favorite. My top 3 are SOTN, Aria Of Sorrow, and Dawn Of Sorrow.
If people would stop treating Dracula X as rondo they would realize it's a beautiful simple and fun game with a wonderful soundtrack.
That's what we saw when we first played it.
Agreed. It’s a perfectly good CV game when it’s judged on its own merits and not directly compared to Rondo
Even the story, for example the ending, has a darker tone than Rondo's.
It's pretty good. It's just the unfair difficulty that brings it down for me. Whoever thought designing Dracula room as such is a massive sadist.
@@RipVanWinkleXXKonami was and sometimes still is fairly sadistic
It just came off like a rushed port job. Is not nearly as good As Castlevania IV or Bllodlines.
Quality content! Thanks triplejump!!
7:45 FUCKING THANK YOU!!! yes they dont look like castlevania, but for a fighting game from japan, a country where their fighting games are very anime-ifed, they look awesome, the art of the game in very overhated, its a fighting game spin off, make shit look anime-like and cool
Romans first came up with the hamburger so far older than Curse of Darkness' date xD. Fries though, give you that one xD.
How come you talked of hidden characters and alternate versions for Portrait of Ruin, Maria and even Maxim being playable but you missed the Sega Saturn Symphony of the Night aka Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight? In that version bonus areas were added, Richter was playable without completion of the main story and/ or using his name for a save... and was irl Maria's debut as a playable character to those without the Rondo of Blood? Nocturne also added the two familiars that appeared only on PS1 menu but were not actually playable- Nosedevil and Pixie the latter able to even sing for you when you rested in a chair and she could use any Use item where Fairy was limited- it is the only pity with an otherwise stellar video
How come curse of darkness is below some many other mediocre titles at best is beyond me.
How the fuck do you have Super Castlevania ranked at 13? Like WTF. Top five easy.
As long as it stays behind Bloodlines.
Great video guys! The saddest part is that the last true castlevania was order of eclessia in 2008....and after the hype of the last summer's trailer of castlevania nocturne....nothing.only cameos here and there...
I'm pretty sure it was mirror of fate, that one seemed very classic and I rather enjoyed it
@@toadynamite8141Yes, "Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate" is indeed a Castlevania game. But it isn't part of the original timeline. And so, in that way- isn't a "true" Castlevania title.
Nah, Portrait of Ruin deserves to be higher. It is SUCH an underappreciated gem, and imo the BEST handheld Castlevania of them all.
I *KNOW* they did not just rank Belmont's Revenge over SCIV *AND* Bloodlines 😭
I came here to comment exactly this 😂
Belmont's Revenge is pretty good.
You forgot that in the Sega Saturn Version of Symphony of the Night; an Adult Maria from Rondo of Blood can be unlocked as a payable character.
@KMatt I know right?
She’s actually playable from the get go she doesn’t need to be unlocked and she’s much better than the Maria we got in the symphony of the night port for psp and ps4
On Bloodlines: "it's so different it feels like a different series aping Castlevania"
You could say the same for pretty much every Castlevania released after: I mean SOTN is considered the birth of "Metroidvania"
My top five: Castlevania, Symphony, Dawn of Sorrow, Castlevania 3, Castlevania 4.
The "flaws" you say are in the NES Castlevania are just basic design choices. Then mentioning an easy mode, continues and saying it is best left to the past. That is a crap take.
Sega Saturn version of Symphony has extra areas, but is also plagued with technical problems that aren’t present in the PS1 version
Come for the Castlevania, stay for the DEAD jokes 😂
Symphony of the Night will probably forever be the gold standard for Metroidvania games.
How can you put Lords of Shadows to which is a pretty dope God of War clone below the Abomination that is Castlevania 64?
Yeh, both LoS games should be higher, especially the 2nd one.
Belmonts revenge is my personal best game idk why but i love it
One of the few Judgement fans here:
I will agree that the character designs were butchered horribly and the story is a bit silly, but in terms of everything else, I think it's actually pretty underrated. You can do some pretty cool combos, especially off of subweapons like the Holy Water, and pretty much every character is strong and fun to play. I get why most people hated it (especially back when it came out), but I think there's definitely something there for people who like combo labbing and/or more "unforgiving" fighting games.
Also since the video got it wrong, you CAN play it with a normal controller.
I actually quite like it as well. It's obviously not a 'top tier' Castlevania game like Symphony Of The Night, but there's fun to be had, and I liked that a lot of the series' main characters (including Shanoa, who was new at the time) were all featured together in one game. Some attacks are definitely waaaay overpowerer though.
Talking about Belmont‘s Revenge and not mentioning the Gameboy‘s greatest soundtrack of all time… bold move 😉
Those sheets were red or am I crazy 23:52
God damn I love these lists. I also appreciate your unique takes. Ecclesia is usually No. 1 and Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance are typically ranked much lower.
I dont agree with Dawn of Sorrow being above Aria.
It was a good game but it was let down by the need to draw those stupid seal patterns whenever you beat a boss.
SOTN such nostalgia! One of the greatest game ever created, a masterpiece!
This was a lot of fun to watch! Have not played most of these, but I very fondly remember Super Castlevania when it first came out on SNES. The graphics in the game, some of the great mechanics like the spinning room, and that incredible music were really top notch. None of us were really ready for how big a step up that was, from the originals!
My favorite is curse of darkness. I have been following it since the beginning, love it
We need a HD remake of Curse of Darkness !
Harmony of Dissonance actually has one of my favorite Castlevania soundtracks
Right? There were definitely many who loved the soundtrack, I remember the reviews back then, saying it was universally considered bad is just crazy.
I'm curious, what is it that makes you like HoD's soundtrack over any other Castlevania soundtrack? Especially in its original sound.
@@zionfortuna I'll concede the mix could be much better. Better samples (especially the drums), less noise, less jumble would all be good. But I like how HoD committed to a theme of dissonance and never let up. It's so unique and I just can't fault the composition. Dissonant, jazzy, groovy, so good.
@@leandronc I see what you mean but bear in mind that the game is called "Concerto of the Midnight Sun" in Japan, Soishiro Hokkai simply did not know the title "Harmony of Dissonance" (given by the english localization team to justify the music) when he was composing: the dissonance of the music is mostly a reflection of his personal style (that uses a lot of parallel 2nds, clusters, and downright nonsensical harmony and melody at times) and not due to some grander theme of "dissonance" of the game.
That said, I can see what you'd like the jazzy aspect of it, sure, it is an acquired taste for most, (especially with the 8 bit samples) but it still remains the most unique Castlevania soundtrack to date, alongside CV4.
Dunno if it’s the greatest soundtrack I ever heard but I didn’t have an issue with it.. And it fit the game perfectly
Saw that coming… Symphony of the Night. Too bad there is no mention of the Saturn version’s ability to play as Maria, as well.
Or the extra zones still only on the Saturn version
@@NostalgicPixelThe PlayStation port may be more refined. But to me, the Sega Saturn's additional content more than make up for it. And in that way, makes it the definitive port.
My personal favorite has to be order of ecclesia, all the ds games have their own unique spin to the gameplay but OoE has the best combat of all of these games imo
Great video 🔥
Lords of Shadow got pretty unfairly accused of ripping off games like God of War. How many games are truly 100% original? Even the OG God of War trilogy just polished the arcadey hack n slash genre to a diamond-like shine, it didn't reinvent the wheel. And if you're going to emulate a game style when rebooting the direction of your game, why not use one of the best (and popular franchises!) to ever do it as your inspiration? It's a solid 3D entry into the franchise and deserves better. They went all in on production values and voice cast.
Harmony being that high is criminal
I think Castlevania Judgment would have been better received if they had used classic character designs instead of injecting concentrated anime directly into the game's heart.
It should be noted that the NPCs being obtuse in Castlevania 2 was not a translation error. The people are cursed too and are intentionally unhelpful. In the original Japanese version, there was a line that explained this, but due to an actual translation error, this explanation was lost in the English version.
In hindsight the SNES version of Dracula x not being a direct port of rondo and being it own thing leave us the better, that means that instead of getting a rondo with lesser sound (I mean this was Konami, the right words would be different) music, we get an old school send off to the classic formula before the series went balls deep on metroidvanias. I think that was for the better
Curse of Darkness is way better than Lament of Innocence. The weapon variety, the demon familiars, the interconnected map. It's not a contest.
Great video as usual and for me rondo is the best and has a lot of replay ability
Yup. Symphony of the Night is brilliant but more people need to try Rondo of Blood. SotN owes Rondo it’s success.
I appreciate this on a Friday night with a beer
Belmont's Revenge also has awesome music like New Messiah and Ripe Seeds. :3
I love Lords of Shadow, such cool game, too bad second didn't end up that well...
They really botched 2 didn't they? First one was superb
IMO COULD HAVE had to do with the fact that Konami was already starting to get out of the video game business by the time the sequels started to roll around.. and the tensions between Konami and Kojima were probably a thing too (even if Kojima didn't leave the company until a few years later.. you better know that they probably weren't getting along still, and Kojima helped produce the Lords of Shadows games), probably made the development of the sequels pretty choppy and hard. Like, there's a reason why the 1st one was so good I think and it's partially to do with Kojima studios involvement for one. As the games went on... it's pretty much said that his studio had less and less to do with the projects and... yeah.. it shows
SotN was also officially released on XBL Arcade back in the Xbox 360 days
Hey, just for fun...where would you guys rank Simon's Destiny?
I know it's not an official Castlevania game, but it's still pretty flippin' cool.
It would be interesting to see a list like this, but for fan-games, from any series. I feel like fan-games are underrated overall in most communities.
The only game series I can think of where its fan-games are regularly praised is... FNAF, haha
So, where would haunted castle rank now that it has a remake/remaster?
I can't stop with your lists! You are awesome people, triple jump!
After Super Mario 3, Simon's Quest was my 2nd favourite NES game. Yes I'm that old. Such an in depth game tho, had me calling the Nintendo Hotline multiple times
Even though the first Castlevania has elements like the knock-back, I feel like they are deliberately implemented in the game. TThis one of the few games I know that uses cumbersome controls as a gameplay. The game is fully designed around these limitations, to make you feel like a simple human, powerless against the cavalcade of monsters. It's a game where every move you make and every attack you let out has to be carefully planned out and it makes it all the more satisfying when you beat a level.
However, I do understand that these limitations feel out of place in the modern gaming world, hence why some would rank it lower. I personally think it's one of the best Castlevania games ever.
Also how come Vampire Killer is ranked so high?!
Yup. I think they actually talked about the "clunky" controls in the bonus E-book that comes with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You really have to commit to every action you make.
Thank you for helping me find my childhood game. Circle of the moon is what defined this genre of games for me and inspired me to play other games of the genre in the first place. The old days had so much creativity. without micro transactions all the time to me its the golden era of gaming. Games with substance. Where ever you are if you read this. You're Wonderful.
Didn't knew there was a PS2 version of Haunted Castle with infinite continues, i'm certainly going to play it
Wow I was expecting Super Castlevania IV to be at least top 5
Great list, though I wish SC4 was ranked higher, but mainly because - imo - there was no other Castlevania that felt like such a gigantic evolutionary jump from the previous entry. The NES games felt like games. In 1991, SC4 felt like cinema - the epic opening cut scene, the lush orchestral soundtrack, the detailed visuals - SC4 nailed atmosphere in a way that I think has never been replicated, and though I may just be nostalgia-blind, it’s still my favorite to this day.
Castlevania 4 is kinda meh, but the last level is 9/10.
Agreed, Castlevania 4 is just epic.