Now that some of the excitement has died down regarding Konami’s latest entry into the series, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, I thought it would be a good time to look back at our memories of this gothic classic that has been with us since the early days of the NES. Besides, as Eddy bravely revealed in his review of Lords of Shadow, he is a newcomer to this series and this might give him a primer on where to go next.
Which is why this guide listing Castlevania’s Greatest Hits from GamePro is so handy! Personally, I was surprised at their selection for the top spot: Rondo of Blood. Now, I had always heard good things about it, but Symphony of the Night is widely considered to be one of the best games of all time, so Rondo of Blood must be pretty good, right? No idea myself, but I did run to my Virtual Console and download it, so maybe I will let you know the verdict on that soon.
So, what is your favorite Castlevania game? Which one did you play first? Has Lords of Shadow made you want to check out the series? Go!
Source: GamePro
I bet most might be symphony of the night but I am going with SUPER Castlevania 4 just because it was the first I played and even though sotn might be better, I enjoyed 4 much much more.
It seems to me like Rondo of Blood is to Symphony of the Night what Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is to Metal Gear Solid. The latter game built off the blueprint of the former and perfected what made it great.
Maybe I’m wrong about that though?
[quote comment=”14256″]It seems to me like Rondo of Blood is to Symphony of the Night what Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is to Metal Gear Solid. The latter game built off the blueprint of the former and perfected what made it great.
Maybe I’m wrong about that though?[/quote]
I am really confused by your analogy. Rondo of Blood came out first, and SotN is a direct sequel to it, so are you saying that SotN perfected what Rondo did? Because if you are, than you are saying that MGS2 is better than MGS?
Anyway, I’d have to go with Super Castlevania 4 as my favorite game from the series, because it was the first one that I ever played, and I’ve only played the level based games from early in the series. I’ve always wanted to play the Metroidvania games in the series, just haven’t had any chances to do so.
@defteats
Nick’s not talking about MGS 2: Sons of Liberty; he’s referring to the sequel to the original Metal Gear. It was on the MSX system and never got released in the US. We got Snake’s Revenge, which I don’t think was originally a Metal Gear game, just something that got reskinned by Konami in order to sell it (could be wrong about that; I’m not a Metal Gear expert).
@Nick
I don’t know if I would agree with Rondo being a precursor to Symphony. Rondo of Blood is pretty much a straight up, linear Castlevania game. There are even distinct breaks between the levels. I can’t remember how much character development there is because I haven’t played it for a while. I think you get progressively more powerful attacks and more health, but you don’t have to manage items or anything like that and you don’t have distinct levels and stats.
I would say that Simon’s Quest is really the spiritual predecessor of Symphony of the Night. Although, now that I think about it, there are some similarities to SotN in terms of level design. Rondo’s levels are pretty big and multi-leveled affairs, much larger scale than the levels in Castlevanias 1 and 3, but still not as impressive or as large as SotN.
Having said that, Rondo of Blood is freaking awesome. Absolutely worth the $9 download price on virtual console.
Haters gonna hate, but I loved Aria of Sorrow because of the soul-collecting aspect. I loved getting new abilites from new monsters, and I wish there was more of it in other Castlevania games. It’s really a missed opportunity in the other games since it fosters exploration and choosing your souls opens up a lot of customization options.
[quote comment=”14262″]
@Nick
I don’t know if I would agree with Rondo being a precursor to Symphony. Rondo of Blood is pretty much a straight up, linear Castlevania game. There are even distinct breaks between the levels. I can’t remember how much character development there is because I haven’t played it for a while. I think you get progressively more powerful attacks and more health, but you don’t have to manage items or anything like that and you don’t have distinct levels and stats.
I would say that Simon’s Quest is really the spiritual predecessor of Symphony of the Night. Although, now that I think about it, there are some similarities to SotN in terms of level design. Rondo’s levels are pretty big and multi-leveled affairs, much larger scale than the levels in Castlevanias 1 and 3, but still not as impressive or as large as SotN.
Having said that, Rondo of Blood is freaking awesome. Absolutely worth the $9 download price on virtual console.[/quote]
Yeah, sorry I wasn’t really thinking. Simon’s Quest introduced the RPG elements which made SotN so great. I’ve never played RoB, only seen videos.