Castlevania suggestions?

[Geno9999]

Okay, I've heard of the Castlevania series before, it having games before I was even born, but I have never played any one of them. But I want to get into the series, but I don't know where to start. The NES games? The recent DS entries? Even Castlevania Judgement?
For reference, I have a Wii and a DS.

P.S. Just thought of this, does it matter much how much I know of the Castlevanian lore to enjoy said entry game beyond the "Dracula's back, go kill him... Again." standard plot?

[Celesyne]

I jumped in with tha GBA and DS ones. I am soon to be picking up the PS1 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I have the 3d PS2 one, but it just doesn't seem to stand up, and really lacks in entertainment value. The poor camera controls make the platforming sections nearly impossible, and combat almost as difficult. I didn't get very far into it, but the combat seemed just as droll. However the GBA and DS ones were extremely entertaining, if you can get past the initial difficulty :smallbiggrin:

[MoelVermillion]

The plot isn't too much of a worry in Castlevania games the cannon is pretty loose and the story doesn't ussually matter between two games, the one exception to that I guess is Aria of Sorrow -> Dawn of Sorrow where playing Dawn would ruin the big plot twist in Aria but even then the plot isn't exactly what you play Castlevania for.

Anyway the recent games (basically Symphony of the Night onwards) are very different in gameplay to the old Nes titles. I'd recommend playing the DS titles because they'll be more generally enjoyable than the NES titles for most people though if you're curious and looking for some brutal old school platforming you can go back and pick up the NES titles too.

Anyway as far as reccomendations go for what you have avaliable to you I'd suggest them roughly in this order:

Aria of Sorrow for the GBA (you have a backwards compatible DS right?)/Dawn of Sorrow for the DS. Once again they're both good games but pick up Aria first if you're really going to agonize over plot spoilers.

Order of Ecclessia for the DS.

Portrait of Ruin for the DS.

Castlevania 1/3 for the NES.

Harmony of Dissonance for GBA, not a terrible game but the map gets confusing half way through and I didn't feel it held up aswell versus the others.

Don't get Judgment. The only redeeming feature in that thing is the soundtrack.

There are a few that are available to you that I haven't actually played properly but you probably can't go wrong with the DS games all of them are great.

[Fri]

Symphony of the night is still considered the best one by a lot of people I think, and not without reason. But yeah, all the ds games are good. The only one with linked story are the 'sorrow' games. Portrait of ruins is kiiiinda a sequel of castlevania bloodlines in sega genesis, but it's not a direct sequel.

[MoelVermillion]

Oh by the way seeing as the Castlevania series is often regarded as having great music and I figure some other fans of the music might drop by this thread to make suggestions...

Michiru Yamane the composer of most of the modern games music is now working on scoring the music on an upcoming indie fighting game (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0KoKdiUuOg&NR=1) Skullgirls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgtJy7wrAuQ&feature=related). You can hear a sample of her new work here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV8uYpvMYWQ&feature=related). Very slick and you can definitely feel a bit of influence from all of her Castlevania songs coming in.

[Saithis Bladewing]

Clearly you should start with Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest.

*hides*

[Airk]

Clearly you should start with Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest.

*hides*

Heeeey. I LIKED Simon's Quest.

[Comet]

Heeeey. I LIKED Simon's Quest.

Me too. It's still a horrible game, though.

And I'm going to go ahead and second Symphony of the Night. It's just great.
Aria of Sorrow is good, too, for a more modern version of the same explore-y gameplay. And if you want the older, linear platforming pick up Castlevania 1 or 3.

So, basically what has already been said above. Oh well.

[T.G. Oskar]

Definitely thirding Symphony of the Night, though it may be a bit hard to get (unless you have a PSX/PSP or X-Box 360) and Aria of Sorrow (GBA, but can play on non-DSi/3DS consoles). Most of the GBA games aren't so brutal and are soft on the lore.

Also agree that Judgment isn't so hot except for the soundtrack. Though the soundtrack could have had a few different songs (though I can't debate on how awesome their version of Bloody Tears is). It's a fighting game, but it's kinda sloppy compared to the fast-paced fighters of nowadays, although the way they handle the shared story and the surprise final boss is quite interesting.

[GloatingSwine]

If you want to play classic Castlevania you can pick up Super Castlevania IV on Wii Virtual Console.

Castlevania IV is probably the best of the classicvania game style, the controls are great and as it's a remake of the original you don't need to worry about confusing timelines.

[Woot Spitum]

If you don't have the right system for Symphony of the Night, get Portrait of Ruin. It doesn't require any prior knowledge of the series to understand the storyline, and the difficulty is challenging without being mind-numbingly frustrating. If you are very confident in your 2D platforming skills, try out the original game on the virtual console, or Order of Ecclesia on the DS.

[Sholos]

Avoid the 3D ones, get a PS2 and Symphony of the Night, pick up the Sorrow games, and Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia are good, too.

[ObadiahtheSlim]

Symphony of the Night was an excellent game. I'd highly reccomend getting it if you have a backwards compatible PS system or a PS1. You can also get remakes off XBox Live Arcade or for the PSP.

Also as stated above, avoid any of the 3D installments like the plague.

[Comet]

Also as stated above, avoid any of the 3D installments like the plague.

To be fair, Lords of Shadow is a really fun, fast paced and great looking game.

I do agree that Geno can skip it for now, though.
It's really well made, but doesn't really have anything in common with the rest of the Castlevania games. The gameplay is basically God of War, which is not a bad thing but it's also definitely not reminiscent of any previous Castlevania, and the story and stylings are decidedly less over the top than what the series is known for.
It's a great action game but, yeah, stick to the 2D ones if you want the "Castlevania experience". Just felt like defending LoS since it's way more fun than the plague ever was.

edit: and now I remember that Geno didn't even have a platform to play LoS on. Still worth thinking about if you ever happen to get your hands on a PS3 or 360.

[GloatingSwine]

To be fair, Lords of Shadow is a really fun, fast paced and great looking game.

It is. Lords of Shadow is probably the best way to bring Castlevania into 3D. It's far more combat focused than the other games, but that's what works in a 3D action adventure, precison platforming and 3D simply do not go together well. Like a proper Castlevania game it's not afraid to kick your ass from time to time, but the challenge never really feels cheap or unfair. Combat is engaging because different enemies require different approaches and strategies, and all of your moves are useful for something.

If you're prepared to give it a shot without any preconceptions of what a Castlevania game should be you'll find that it's actually a very good 3D action game, and it's far more of a gothic horror tale than any of the recent Castlevania games.

[GilderRyleon]

My personal favorite is "Order of Eclessia", but any of the metroidvania style ones will do you well.

As for the classic side-scrolling ones, pick up "Rondo of Blood". It's on Virtual console for the Wii, or if you have a PSP you can pick up "Dracula X Chronicles" which will give you both "Rondo of Blood", and "Symphony of the Night".

[Geno9999]

edit: and now I remember that Geno didn't even have a platform to play LoS on. Still worth thinking about if you ever happen to get your hands on a PS3 or 360.
One of my older brothers does have a 360, so I might be able to get LoS and SoN.
So, to review, Titles I should play:
Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
Order of Ecclessia (DS)
Portrait of Ruin (DS)
Symphony of Night (What is a man? Various, debut PS1)
Castlevania 1/3 (NES)
Super Castlevania (SNES)
Rondo of Blood (VC, was a PC game)
Lords of Shadow (360)

Anything else?

[Lord Seth]

If you want to see classic Castlevania at its best, get Super Castlevania IV on the Virtual Console.

[BiblioRook]

Definitely recommend the Sorrow games, they are my favorite just due to the sheer variety you can do in the game.

If going the DS route, I also strongly recommend going with Portrait of Ruin before Order of Ecclessia.
Portrait is probably the easiest of the DS games and will help get your feet wet, while Order of E is notably more difficult.