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Through the Years: Castlevania

Elrond

Crusher of Capitalism
Joined
24 Apr 2006
Messages
310
Castlevania is a series of games that has spanned many consoles, and three decades (now four since it's 2010). It has been remembered as a legendary series alongside other game series such as Super Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, and so on.

From Castlevania, released in September 1986, the whole way to the Adventure Rebirth (October 2009), there's been over 30 games in the series, some released as titles only in Japan (like the Japanese PC engine title, Rondo of Blood, which was redone and watered down as Dracula X in the US), and most released in some way or another worldwide.

As far as my personal favorite Castlevania games go, I'd have to say that Super Castlevania IV is honestly my favorite. It was a remake of Castlevania I for the Super Nintendo, and its storyline wasn't included in the official Castlevania saga as it was a remake, but for me it goes down as the greatest ever remake of anything in the history of The UNIVERSE! :naughty:

To me, that game is tied with Symphony of the Night (1997, Sony Playstation) as best Castlevania games ever! Super Castlevania IV is the best in its own way because it not only carries over the linear formula from the NES and Famicon titles of the late 80s early 90s, but it improved upon it as the controls aren't so clumsy (stairs are no longer your worst foe), you can whip in multiple directions and shield yourself from annoying medusa heads by holding your whip up in front of or behind you!

Symphony of the Night is great because it has that side-scrolling RPG style that had only been seen in games like those in the Metroid series (particularly Super Metroid for the SNES). You play as Alucard (not a Belmont) and wield the Alucard Sword (naturally) and weird the Alucard Helm and the Necklass of J. Death (seen in more Castlevania games than Dracula even is) takes all these items from you within the first few minutes of Alucard's quest, leaving you with a ****py knife to defend yourself. That's half the fun of it - getting better items that do many different things. You still get sub-weapons, but as Alucard, holy water just doesn't have the awesome effect that it does when Richter Belmont (descendant of Simon Belmont) is using it. You do start out the game with Richter Belmont, leaving off at the ending of Rondo of Blood.

Many people will remember Castlevania: Symphony of the Night as that game with all the funny voice acting, like this part between Richter and Dracula before their battle:

Richter: "Die monster! You do not belong in this world!!!"

Dracula: "It was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was brought here by..HUMANS...who wish to pay ME tribute!"

Richter: "TRIBUTE??? You steal mens' souls, and make them your slaves!!"

Dracula: "The same could be said of all religions..."

Richter: "Your words are as empty as your soul!! Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!"

Dracula: "What is a MAN?!" *Breaks wine glass.* "A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk!" *Whips his cape back in preparation for battle.* "Have at you!!!"

Those lines are about as half as memorable as the "All Your Base are Belong to Us" quote, which is saying quite a lot!

There are also some really serious quotes (well about as serious as one could get with a Castlevania game), like...

Alucard: "You claim to love the darkness! Go there and live for all of eternity!!!"

Shaft: "No..nooo..."

Alucard: "Death in the dream world will doom your soul to wander for an eternity, demon!"

Demon: "No..wait...arghhhhh!"

The addition of the voice-overs for the characters in the game really adds a lot to the game. Often humorous, when first playing the game you really get into the story of it when you see characters who actually talk to each other!


Later on, many more titles would come. The most recent CV game that I played was Order of Ecclesia (2008, DS). Its storyline is a bit more bitter than that of the Symphony of the Night game, and you really get the feeling of impending doom in some parts of the game. Being that you're not playing as Alucard (son of Dracula) or a Belmont, it really shows. At first, Shanoa, the game's protagonist, is pretty weak in power and strength. Even early in the game, you get the sense that the game is a heck of a lot more realistic than some previous titles (in that you could imagine yourself dying and dying over and over again if you were put in the same situation as Shanoa was in). As you gain levels and new weapons and armor, the later stages of the game really aren't as challenging as you've by then already gotten used to how the game works, plus even higher level enemies can't really do much to you if you play your cards right.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia is probably my third (or fourth) favorite game, perhaps fourth because Castlevania III was quite scary compared to all the others, and that really did something for me. I just want, no, NEED, a Castlevania game to be at least somewhat scary. In Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, most things didn't seem all that scary, but the game was still superb.


If you're really into Castlevania, as I am, Google vgmuseum and Castlevania and you'll find a whole site dedicated to all the Castlevania games and reviews on them (along with SOUNDTRACKS!!!!). If you love Castlevania, you probably more than likely like the music as well.

If you're not hard of hearing, most Castlevania games you will notice have great music and sound effects - these elements almost always indicate an awesome game, I've noticed. Most horrible games out there have horrible music or sound effects. And most of the awesome games have excellent soundtracks.

When it comes to movies or games, it usually goes this way for me...if it has a good soundtrack, chances are, I probably liked it a lot and would have given it a rating over 6 out of 10! And chances are, if the soundtrack was pitiful, then the rating was probably less than a 4.


So what do you all think of the Castlevania series? Like the music? Which ones are your favorite? Which ones were the most annoying in terms of medusa heads, stairs killing you, not being able to swim, and so on?
 

Majestic

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Seraphim Build Team
Joined
17 Apr 2006
Messages
18,274
Age
39
I remember some of the older games, for the SNES and such and played one or two of them but never got into them as I preferred Zelda.

But yeah you still gotta love the classics. :thumbsup:
 

Hellkite

Lord of Death
Staff member
Administrator
Seraphim Build Team
Star Fighter
Joined
23 Apr 2006
Messages
7,636
yes and the up and coming Castlevania : Lords of Shadow looks to be a master peace

Like most of the Castlevania games

and yes it is hard to beat the game music


"" side note Patrick Stewart is in Castlevania : Lords of Shadow I look forward to getting my claws on it :)""
 
T

thunderfoot

Deleted Due to Inactivity
Former MSFC Member
Vampire schtuff! I am badly frightened of blood drinking, undead creatures.
 

Hellkite

Lord of Death
Staff member
Administrator
Seraphim Build Team
Star Fighter
Joined
23 Apr 2006
Messages
7,636
Vampire schtuff! I am badly frightened of blood drinking, undead creatures.

So you afraid of the DOD bean counters " blood drinking, undead creatures." to
 
S

Starlight

Deleted Due to Inactivity
Former MSFC Member
AAAAHHHH! Accountants! Horrifying! :lol2:

* Gives props! * Good one!

I personally haven't played that many of the CV games, but still quite a few like Castlevania 3, Super Castlevania, Symphony of the Night, and Order of Ecclesia, and Elrond seems to have covered all those, and it seems that I made good choices in playing those games. I like what I've seen about Dawn of Sorrow, but still haven't gotten to play that. Elrond pretty much is hogging that game lately.
 
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