Let's talk about SOTN...

[Godmachine]

SOTN is my favorite Castlevania. I remember working at Ebgames and not even knowing it was coming out and seeing it show up from shipping and being totally excited and hyped. I remember asking my boss for the rest of the day off. Of course I made up a lousy lie but he owed me for taking over so many extra shifts.

I grabbed one of the 3 copies (!!!) and since I was an employee I could "borrow" the game for a few weeks to become a more informed "employee". The next day I came back to work and dropped $50 on it without a single regret. Incredible game , landmark really for Playstation.

I believe I still have it as well. I really loved playing it. I recently re-bought it for the PS Vita (PS1 version) and I still love venturing through. One of my top 3 favorite games of the PS1.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

This and Rondo of Blood are the best. (followed by the GBA and DS games IMO) I would love a modern 2D Castlevania.

 

[Kinsaras]

This and Rondo of Blood are the best. (followed by the GBA and DS games IMO) I would love a modern 2D Castlevania.

There are some pretty good Metroidvania games out there I suggest giving a try.

Shadow Complex (Sadly XBL exclusive)
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Guacamelee

 

[Deleted member 83233]

There are some pretty good Metroidvania games out there I suggest giving a try.

Shadow Complex (Sadly XBL exclusive)
Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet
Guacamelee

I am a HUGE fan of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet!! That is an EXCELLENT game. I don't hear people talking about it very often. It's even better now that they pulled it off of GFWL. I also have nearly finished Shovel Knight (which is really more of a Castle-Megaman game) but another good one.

I haven't tried the others.

 

[Kinsaras]

I am a HUGE fan of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet!! That is an EXCELLENT game. I don't hear people talking about it very often. It's even better now that they pulled it off of GFWL. I also have nearly finished Shovel Knight (which is really more of a Castle-Megaman game) but another good one.

I haven't tried the others.

If you got a 360 nab Shadow Complex. It's great. A bit too easy but loved it still. Probalby more Metroid than vania really but there is a RPG system in place.

Guacamelee has a huge Mexican Day of the Dead flavor. Warning the end levels will test your platforming skills but still worth a buy IMO. I see it pop up often on Steam/GMG sales.

I'll add Cave Story + as well. Cave Story is free on PC. Plus updates the graphics and adds some things. You can find CS+ on Nintendo DS as well I believe.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

My son's got an XBOne, but no 360 products in our house. I will however, check out Guacamelee. For some reason I though I had played a couple of other good games along these lines lately, but they're completely escaping me right now. If I think of them, I'll post here.

 

[Armenius]

After you beat the game you can try "Luck Mode". Put your name as X-X!V"Q and you'll get 99 luck with Lapis Lazuli item. But your strength and HP will be reduced.

All your other stats are going to be 1 and 2 in that mode with 25 HP and 5 hearts... IF you beat Dracula really fast in the opening scene . Luckily D) you can take advantage of a mechanic to skip the first cutscene with Death and keep all your Alucard gear (character goes flying across the screen when taking more than half your total HP in damage in one hit).

A fun metagame to play as a completionist in Luck mode is to collect at least one of every item in the game .

Another Castlevania Metroidvania? that I really enjoyed was Circle of the Moon on GBA. I enjoyed it a lot more than Aria of Sorrow .

 

[GioG]

~ "M"

The game is great, but the upside-down castle starts off too hard, then quickly becomes too easy. The developers realized that the difficulty spike was too high so they added special items for defeating the upside-down castle bosses that boost your stats to ridiculous levels. After getting one or two, the game becomes a cake walk. My favorite of the series is still Super Castlevania IV.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

The game is great, but the upside-down castle starts off too hard, then quickly becomes too easy. The developers realized that the difficulty spike was too high so they added special items for defeating the upside-down castle bosses that boost your stats to ridiculous levels. After getting one or two, the game becomes a cake walk. My favorite of the series is still Super Castlevania IV.

That would be my third favorite, but I LOVE that game. Especially the later levels.

 

[zero2dash]

Booted this up a few years ago to play around with the Shield Rod+Alucard Shield.

Shame the extras of the Saturn version didn't get ported to anything else. Even though it couldn't do the transparency (due to the Saturn's limitations), I thought the Saturn version was the best. Had a lot less/faster loading times than the PSX one, that's for sure.

 

[GioG]

That would be my third favorite, but I LOVE that game. Especially the later levels.

I love the spinning Mode 7 room; it comes out of absolutely nowhere - Simon just falls into the room after walking to the left from the previous area - but it looks awesome.

 

[Armenius]

Booted this up a few years ago to play around with the Shield Rod+Alucard Shield.

Shame the extras of the Saturn version didn't get ported to anything else. Even though it couldn't do the transparency (due to the Saturn's limitations), I thought the Saturn version was the best. Had a lot less/faster loading times than the PSX one, that's for sure.

I think the framerate issues of the Saturn version ruined it. If you came from the Playstation version running at a constant 60 FPS, the change will be quite shocking.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

I love the spinning Mode 7 room; it comes out of absolutely nowhere - Simon just falls into the room after walking to the left from the previous area - but it looks awesome.

That's one of the parts I was thinking about! Plus the treasure room with the ghosts was pretty cool, among other things.

The cool thing about Chi no Rondo was the multiple paths. There were full levels and bosses that I never saw until playing through it a few times at least. The pirate ship level was one of them if I remember correctly. Gorgeous level too. Hmmm... Starting to want to go on another Castlevania kick. I just finished up a huge project that's been sucking all my spare time out too. Might have to play these.

Super Castlevania IV, Chi no Rondo, and Symphony of the Night must be played now, and I'll fill in the void after that by playing the DS and GBA ones.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

That would be my third favorite, but I LOVE that game. Especially the later levels.

Definitely my first favorite. All you gotta do is jump and whip.

Been too busy to continue with SOTN as of late, but will try to knock out a bit more of the reverse castle this weekend. What little time I did have I've spent on my Pure 3D/PMMX 233 system playing Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Descent. I tried firing up Unreal, but that's a game that makes me want to do a Celeron 533/Voodoo 2 12M SLI build. I forgot how much of a machine wrecker that game is, even though what I'm using to play it was more pumped than what I had back in '97 originally.

Anyways, I'm getting off topic, and could totally derail this thread and go on for days about retro builds

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Definitely my first favorite. All you gotta do is jump and whip.

Been too busy to continue with SOTN as of late, but will try to knock out a bit more of the reverse castle this weekend. What little time I did have I've spent on my Pure 3D/PMMX 233 system playing Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Descent.

You should play Chi no Rondo. It's still the classic jump/whip, but with multiple paths through the game, more auxiliary weapons, a bit more story to it, etc. It doesn't go as in-depth into the leveling/weapons/items that SoTN does, but is a bit more complex than SC-IV. Exquisite game.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

You should play Chi no Rondo. It's still the classic jump/whip, but with multiple paths through the game, more auxiliary weapons, a bit more story to it, etc. It doesn't go as in-depth into the leveling/weapons/items that SoTN does, but is a bit more complex than SC-IV. Exquisite game.

So I have heard. It kind of blows my mind why we haven't seen a proper port of it in the west (Castlevania: Dracula X is a shortened, arranged verson from what I know). I've seen a couple YouTube videos with gameplay snippets in the past. It's for PC-Engine CD, correct?

 

[zamardii12]

I personally disagree. I hated that where the fuck do I go feeling... I bought Super Castlevania 4 on the Wii U and that is definitely my favorite Castlevania.

It's one of those things like Resident Evil 4... I personally did not like Resident Evil 4. Got too far away from the RE formula I liked. My personal favorite in that series was Code Veronica.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

After a short amount of time, you get a feel for the castle. Once things are unlocked sufficiently, it's not hard to remember where things are, or figure out where to go. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it's not bad at all. Just have to use the ol' noggin a little bit. Also, exploring the levels is fun. It gets better the further you get.

 

[Armenius]

I like the castle design of SotN. It doesn't play with you about going somewhere you're not supposed to, and it is rewarding when you find something and realize that that is what will allow you to progress further. Games nowadays NEED waypoints because the designers make the world in such a way that it has no definition. SotN and the later entries inspired by it have a purpose to its design, something I feel is rare in this era of mass consumption of video games.

 

[Deleted member 83233]

I like the castle design of SotN. It doesn't play with you about going somewhere you're not supposed to, and it is rewarding when you find something and realize that that is what will allow you to progress further. Games nowadays NEED waypoints because the designers make the world in such a way that it has no definition. SotN and the later entries inspired by it have a purpose to its design, something I feel is rare in this era of mass consumption of video games.

This is very true. A lot of the intricate level design from the past (that was necessary due to other limitations in some ways) seems lost today. I remember a lot of games that would have some section you couldn't get to. You'd wonder what you could possibly use to get there, knowing you didn't have it already. So you'd go out on a search for it.

Now it seems like everything is mission based, has a waypoint marker that leads you right to the big flashing neon object you need.

I'm not saying that games haven't progressed in other ways, or that they need to be thirty-five times more difficult. However, level design used to play a part in helping you find what you needed instead of being guided to it, told what it is, where it is, what it looks like, and flashing just in case you miss it. There's something to be said for open-world types of scenarios, but I think they sacrifice much of the things that made game levels interesting in the past.

 

[LeviathanZERO]

So I have heard. It kind of blows my mind why we haven't seen a proper port of it in the west (Castlevania: Dracula X is a shortened, arranged verson from what I know). I've seen a couple YouTube videos with gameplay snippets in the past. It's for PC-Engine CD, correct?

The SNES game is trash.

Yes, the original Chi no Rondo is PC Engine CD, but there is a proper port of the game in the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP. You get the PSP remake Dracula X, and the original Dracula X, AND SOTN(!?), all on one. Access to all soundtracks too.... It's an insane compilation. I highly recommend it if you have a PSP.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

The SNES game is trash.

Yes, the original Chi no Rondo is PC Engine CD, but there is a proper port of the game in the Dracula X Chronicles for PSP. You get the PSP remake Dracula X, and the original Dracula X, AND SOTN(!?), all on one. Access to all soundtracks too.... It's an insane compilation. I highly recommend it if you have a PSP.

That title alone makes me wish that I did have a PSP.

 

[LeviathanZERO]

That title alone makes me wish that I did have a PSP.

I didn't know they were this cheap, but around $60 is exactly what my guess was.
http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-P...52?ie=UTF8&qid=1411928465&sr=8-2&keywords=psp

The game is also available for like $11 or less. Around 70-75$ for both? Ah, yes, I guess you would also need one of those proprietary memory sticks... Looks like 16GB is around 10$

I'd say its a good buy, not just to play the best Castlevania compilation ever, but you can custom firmware the thing and have emulators from CPS-1 to SNES to GBA. Win win win!

 

[Deleted member 83233]

My son has a PSP sitting in a drawer. Never touches it. You're filling my head with ideas.

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

My son has a PSP sitting in a drawer. Never touches it. You're filling my head with ideas.

DOO EEET! For great justice.

 

[Shadohh]

Yep one of my fav games.

 

[Kinsaras]

FYI...SOTN is on sale on PSN. Not sure how long.

"Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" (PS3/PSP/Vita) on sale for $4.99 ($4.49 for PS+ members).

 

[Mr. Bluntman]

FYI...SOTN is on sale on PSN. Not sure how long.

"Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" (PS3/PSP/Vita) on sale for $4.99 ($4.49 for PS+ members).

Even at full price ($10) or a physical copy ($30-40) it's still worth it

 

[Deleted member 83233]

Indeed it is. I have my original physical copy for it still.

 

[LeviathanZERO]

From my collection