ec2-3-144-187-103.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com | ToothyWiki | RecentChanges | Login | Webcomic Plot summary (for all of them): Fight your way through Dracula's castle before finally defeating Dracula himself.
In general, pretty (even for the basic sprites), stylish and (at least in Kazuhiko's opinion) some of the best platform games around.
The vast majority of them are 2-D sidescroller but some of the later ones are now in full 3-D. There is much debate about whether this is actually an improvement. Many of the plot and game elements are pretty much shared between them all so it can get a little repetitive in places.
Some of the Castlevania games are listed below. If you've played any of the others, feel free to add and discuss...
Hint for people looking for walkthroughs on any of the Castlevania games. Go read [GameFaqs]...
We also have [exclusive news] about the soon-to-be-released next episode in the series!
The first Castlevania game I played and probably, IMHO, the best (although I guess these two things may well be connected).
The graphics, regrettably, suffer from being designed before the final spec for the GBA was released and can be very dark in places. It should look good on the GBA SP though. The sprites are also pretty small, but that didn't bother me too much since it means you get to see more of the area around you.
I think they got the difficulty balance about right (could be linked to this being the first one I played again). The card magic is definitely nice and the different player modes once you finish the game actually work quite well (I think I finished about 4 of them).
Earlier than Circle of the Moon but benefits from being played on a tv rather than a tiny screen.
This is the Castlevania that taught my the first rule of VampireHunting: If you reach the end of the game and you haven't killed Dracula, go back and try again.
I reached a 'well done for finishing the game' screen in 8 hours game play and wondered what on earth was going on (the ending was not exactly satisfactory)... Playing the other small areas remaining meant that things went a little differently...
Oh, incidentally, the second rule of VampireHunting: Map completed 100%? Hah, you have a long way to go yet...
On the plus side, you get to be a vampire in this one :) Alucard is pretty cool and the use of shapeshifting works well.
On the downside, I found this one rather easy. One combo of rings/swords will kill almost anything in one hit and kill the final boss almost before he has a chance to attack (it's not quite as bad as it sounds though, I don't think you can get this combo on your first playthrough and even then you have to know what you are looking for).
The second GBA version and they have obviously tried to learn from the first, with mixed results.
The graphics are nicer and a lot easier to see on the GBA, being using both larger sprites and a more colourful palette. I think the pallete in Circle of the Moon was more appropriate but I will admit that it is easier to see what is going on in [non-perfect light conditions].
My main problem with this one is the endless wandering that you seem to need to do. At the start of the game you can travel a really long way without hitting a save point which can be extremely frustrating if you die. Later you realise you have no idea where you are supposed to go. Doors can be locked or blocked in a few different ways, none of which are marked on the map (other than as areas you haven't been yet). If you've just acquired an item you think _might_ get you through something, you have to travel the length and bredth of the castle to try to find something it might open. Later on you find quicker ways of travelling through the castle but by that point you're powerful enough that you can almost walk through the enemies if you so desire.
The bosses are pretty cool. Certainly imaginative. Unfortunately, with only a couple of exceptions they are really quite easy.
My main problem with this one though was the ending(s). I would challenge anyone to find the 'good' ending on this game without referring to somewhere like GameFAQs?. 'Obscure' is the best word I can come up with to describe it. Maybe that's just me though. Any comments from someone else who has played this?
The third GameboyAdvance title and, thus far, my favourite of the Castlevania series. Having said that, I've only played for three or four hours so I may find it tails off or gets too easy.
You play a [typical high school student] *cough* *cough* from the year 2035. Dracula was sealed into a solar eclipse in the year 1999 and now, on the first solar eclipse of the new millenium, his castle has returned.
The graphics are very nice. Far brighter than 'Circle of the Moon' while still looking appropriate to Dracula's castle. The character designs are wonderful.
The game's 'magic' consists of capturing 'souls'. Every enemy type (and there are well over a hundred of them) has an effect which is released randomly (connected to your 'luck' and your relative level I guess) when you kill one of them. This grants either an attack (usually the same as the enemies main attack), an ability you can activate (shield-like barrier, slow falling) or an equippable ability (stat increase, etc). With the use of a link cable you are supposed to be able to trade souls...
Difficulty wise, I think I am progressing quite quickly but I have hit a game over screen a few times, and I have just decided to give up on the boss I just met and try to find something else to do first.
They have finally managed to work out the save system properly though (full save in save rooms, temporary save anywhere which is only restorable once), which is a large advantage over the previous games.
I just found another reason to buy a PS2... How did I not hear about this until now?
That said, it will be interesting to see how this measures up against the other Castlevanias I have played. It certainly sounds like it has the same air of style to the character designs although I have yet more than one picture of the hero myself (and it would take a lot to come even close to Aria of Sorrows). One review mentions it as placing greater emphasis on combat over exploration which sounds vaguely worrying: "... choosing to focus more closely on action with this game, leaving out the experience points and expansive inventories of ... earlier games."
The [Gamers review] seems the most comprehensive review/screenshots to date for anyone interested.
Having played this (quite a long time ago now) my basic feeling is that it is a very good Castlevania game with VERY nice graphics and characters but it is very VERY short. Something like 13 hours from start to finish and none of the 200% map discovered that most Castlevania's do. --K
Waah! They bought out a Castlevania game for the DS... I really don't want to buy a DS *sniff* Ah well. Info [here].
Uh... I bought a DS. I played it. It was good (except the ending). That will have to do until I get around to writing more. --K
Dawn is a direct sequel to Aria and stars the same main character, Soma Cruz. As such you've got the same soul system described above. Also noteworthy is the Seal system - which requires the player to use the DS stylus to draw geometric symbols on the touch screen the moment a boss is defeated in order to remove a seal which otherwise renders the boss invulnerable. If you botch the seal, you start the boss fight over from the halfway point; some of them are quite difficult since it requires you to switch gears from buttons to stylus quite quickly.
Overall quite a fun game, and the addition of a new game+ feature is quite welcome. Graphics are top notch for a handheld - looks very nice in comparison to the GBA castlevania games. The second screen is well used, allowing you to see either enemy stats or the in-game map; other castlevania games make you pause the game and flip back and forth between the game world and the map which is time consuming and breaks immersion. --hart
At E3 2005 looked rather uninspired but it might have been an earlyish version. Another 3D rather than platform version of the game. --K
hart thinks this one is much better than Lament - but mainly because he couldn't get through Lament due to a combination of cludgy movement controls and frequent jumping puzzles.
In Curse of Darkness the combat controls are much improved, and a unique weapon creation and 'innocent devil' (think familiar) system are introduced to give you a large variety of ways to beat up the typical Castlevania denizens. Clocking in at around 20 hours of playtime, it's a bit short - but there are unlockable alternate modes at the end of the game which should be no surprise to a Castlevania addict. I expect you could get 60 hours out of this if you pushed it - perhaps more as the 'hard' mode is really quite hard - but for those of us who aren't hooked on Castlevania games it could easily be a rent rather than a buy.
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Castlevania