I finally see what people see in Castlevania

[vidmouse]

Castlevania was one of those games I avoided playing for awhile
because the first few times I tried it, I sucked at it something awful.
But recently I picked up Aria of Sorrow for my GBA and have
enjoyed it (so far) immensely, I think I get the attraction now...
I love the fact that the gameworld seems just so immense, and there
are all these branching paths even though it's a platformer.

I know there are other arcade roots to it (Haunted Castle, etc)
but are there any ones that people would recommend that workwell
on MAME?

Also, kind of along the same lines, what stories do you have of
games you waited for awhile to try and found out you really liked
later on?

Cheers

[severdhed]

as far as i know, there are only a few castlevania games that run in mame:

Haunted Castle
Vs Castlevania
Castlevania PlayChoice


the play choice sucks, however vs castlevania is great...just like the original on the NES

[Jack Burton]

I wouldn't call Haunted Castle the roots of Castlevania.  More like "abomination that should be forgotten."

[Visitor Q]

Throw on some Nintendo emulators and you'll have a lot more.

[Jack Burton]

Yeah, Aria of Sorrow is pretty good, but there are a few I think are better.  My (inevitable) list:

1.  Super Castlevania 4
2.  Rondo of Blood
3.  Castlevania
4.  Symphony of the Night
5.  Castlevania 3

[isucamper]

Your not going to find anything like Aria of Sorrow on MAME.  That style of Castlevania (which originated in Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night) owes its entire existance to Super Metroid on the SNES.  All Castlevania games since then follow the Metroid formula pretty closely. 

[Ginsu Victim]

I just got back into playing Circle of the Moon. Great game. I hope the other GBA Castlevanias are this good (I have them, I just haven't played them)

[Malenko]

  That style of Castlevania (which originated in Castlevania:  Symphony of the Night) owes its entire existance to Super Metroid on the SNES. 

While I can see your point, I think its a bit of a stretch.  SOTN is the best castlevania (IMO) but circle of the moon, and the first 2 DS games are good as well. I havent had a chance to pick up the 3rd but Ive heard good things.

[massive88]

Your not going to find anything like Aria of Sorrow on MAME.  That style of Castlevania (which originated in Castlevania 2:  Simon's Quest) owes its entire existence to Metroid on the NES.  All Castlevania games since then follow the Metroid formula pretty closely. 

Fixed!

[isucamper]

While I can see your point, I think its a bit of a stretch.  SOTN is the best castlevania (IMO) but circle of the moon, and the first 2 DS games are good as well. I havent had a chance to pick up the 3rd but Ive heard good things.

What I mean is SOTN came first.  When it hit big, all of the Castlevania games that came after it (all the GBA games and DS games) followed the same formula (including CotM).

Your not going to find anything like Aria of Sorrow on MAME.  That style of Castlevania (which originated in Castlevania 2:  Simon's Quest) owes its entire existence to Metroid on the NES.  All Castlevania games since then follow the Metroid formula pretty closely. 

Fixed!

Please don't put words in my mouth like that.  None of that is true.

[massive88]

Please don't put edit quotes on the board like that.  Despite it all being true.

Fixed!

Sorry, that was just begging for me to do it again.

The non-linear action platformer layout of Super Metroid, was a direct copy of the original Metroid.  Castlevania 2 followed the same layout as Metroid.  In turn, SOTN was more similar to Castlevania 2 than any other Castlevania, making it "owe its existence" whatever that means, to Metroid.

So no, none of the SNES remakes were original, nor did they start anything new that hadnt been explored already in their NES predecessors. 

Saying that the style of a game is based on Super Metroid and not Metroid is like saying a puzzle game with falling bricks was based on Tetris 2 and not Tetris.

[RayB]

Hey, Castlevania for SNES had that wicked "flickable" chain weapon. 

[massive88]

Hey, Castlevania for SNES had that wicked "flickable" chain weapon. 

Point conceded, that was pretty awesome first time I fired that up.

[Ginsu Victim]

I never got arond to beating Super Castlevania. I need to do that. Too bad they never ported it to GBA (I get more playing on that done than anything).

[Necro]

Massive is dead on with the game design stuff.  Castlevania was linear.  Metroid came out and had the branding.  Castlevania 2 went that route and developed it a bit more.  As time went on the two merged and games of that vein are referred to as "Medtroidvania" or "Castleroid" designs.

http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/Metroidvania

I think this is a case of someone not being around for the NES maybe?

[Ginsu Victim]

I think this is a case of someone not being around for the NES maybe?

Nah, it's just a common reference people make, despite not being entirely accurate.

[isucamper]

[The non-linear action platformer layout of Super Metroid, was a direct copy of the original Metroid.  Castlevania 2 followed the same layout as Metroid.  In turn, SOTN was more similar to Castlevania 2 than any other Castlevania, making it "owe its existence" whatever that means, to Metroid.

So no, none of the SNES remakes were original, nor did they start anything new that hadnt been explored already in their NES predecessors. 

Saying that the style of a game is based on Super Metroid and not Metroid is like saying a puzzle game with falling bricks was based on Tetris 2 and not Tetris.

Gah.  How do I get into these arguements?

What SNES remakes are you talking about? 

(forgive this rant if I misunderstood what you were talking about)

There is exactly 1 Castlevania game on the SNES (not including the botched port of Dracula X) and it is Castlevania 4.  The gameplay format of Castlevania 4 is EXACTLY the same as the original Castlevania.  Completely linear.  Not a single branching path.

I disagree that Castlevania 2 followed the same format as Metroid.  Going from Castlevania 1 to Castlevania 2, the series took more inspiration from adventure games like Zelda than it did an action game like Metroid.  It had towns (safe zones), day/night light cycles, dungeons and dungeon bosses, currency and stores, and overworld hubs.
That it was the first non-linear Castlevania game doesn't change the fact that it was Super Metroid that shaped the Castlevania games of today.  After Castlevania 2, the Castlevania games actually got MORE linear. 

Maybe we're having a difference of semantics here, but when I say say SotN is a Super Metroid "clone", I mean that it's similiarities go above and beyond simple inspirations (as you might arguably compare Metroid and Castlevania).   Many things are straight up lifted from Super Metroid and used in SotN.  Just hit the select button on both games to bring up the map and you wouldn't be able to tell the two apart.  The pacing and exploration gameplay of the two games are EXACTLY the same. 

I quote wikipedia
"The nonlinearity of the game [SotN] proved to be one of its most acclaimed aspects. The gaming press often draws comparisons between the gameplay of Symphony of the Night (and its 2-D successors) with the popular Super Metroid,[9] which led to the coinage of the terms "Castleroid"and "Metroidvania" (portmanteaux of Castlevania and Metroid).[10]"

When I say that SotN "owes its existance" to Super Metroid, I mean it.  If Super Metroid hadn't been released, SotN would have been completely different.  It would have been more of a direct gameplay sequel to it's predecessor, Dracula X:Rondo of Blood.   

edit:
Since people are questioning whether I was around for the NES... I guess I'd like to add that I have beaten every Castlevania game released in the US except for the DS games.

[whoamonga]

Symphony of the Night was awesome.  Just stay away from any N64 Castlevanias! 

and Jack Burton, love your user name! 

[stephenp1983]

Castlevania is my favorite series, I even have a custom joystick with a castlevania theme.  I remember playing the original NES ones back in the day, but didn't really start enjoying the series until a couple of years ago when I played Sympathy of the night on xbox live.  If you haven't already and have a ds, you should definately check out the three that are on there.  Dawn of sorrow is the sequel to aria of sorrow and is great.  The newest one came out a couple of months ago and is great too, although more difficult to begin with.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Symphony of the Night is a must have for the PS1 emulator.

[vidmouse]

I also picked up Castlevania Order of Ecclesia for my DS and am looooving it even more than
Aria of Sorrow!  I can see why people say it's harder but really it's not that bad... or else
I haven't gotten to the "hard" levels yet!  (or I'm not paying attention to how much I'm dyin'...)

Love the music in it too...

 

[shardian]

I decided to start playing Portrait of Ruin a few weeks ago. I am totally addicted to it. I've become obsessed with mastering every single secondary weapon. What a waste of frikkin time...but I love it.

I wasn't a big fan of the original NES games. I had part 3, but it was too damn hard.

[Namco]

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance  Circle of the Moon is the best one on GBA in my opinion. Played it to 100% back in 2002 or 3. The only game I played to completion on that platform. It's the most like Symphony of the Night which was critically acclaimed on the PS1.