Topic: The Big Question: ClassicVania or MetroidVania

[Ratty]

What it says on the tin.

PS- D'Oh, meant the last option to say "Specify N64, IGA or Cox era."

[Neobelmont]

Classic all the way  I am kind of full right now so I can't say why right now to much food gotta jog soon and work it off 

[X]

While I will enjoy a good metroidvania whenever I get the craving, my mind will always go back to the Classicvanias.

[Koutei]

I Love Classic.

[uzo]

While I do love the classic games a lot, I have to admit the act of exploring is something I enjoy the most.

I do however feel that the RPG elements could be toned down, and end up ruining any sort of classic challenge the games could have.

[GuyStarwind]

Hard choices but I went with both.

[Lucius J. Belmont]

Depends on the mood, really. Plummeting to your pixellated doom is a different animal from grinding wargs for souls. Do I prefer chocolate meringue pie, or steak? YES.

[CrashDiary27]

I like them both as long as it keeps the castlevania mood and surroundings.

[Johnny Alucard]

Both. They're both great game genres.

[Chernabogue]

Both, and even 3D games (N64, IGA, LoS).

[Inccubus]

I like the branching paths style of classicvania best. I find it to be the most fun and with a few collectables thrown in like in DXC it hella fun.

[JR]

Classic, easily. The Metroidvania games are fun, and I always replay them, but they don't quite have the lasting appeal of the Classicvania games for me. Also, I like how the storylines  were more concise in the classic games.

[Profbeanburrito]

I love them both, but I have very little time to get invested in lengthy games lately, so right now I prefer the "pick-up-and-play" style of the classics

[Abnormal Freak]

SOTN belongs up there with the best, but beyond that...the Classicvanias win, hands-down.

[Sul_Yong]

I really do enjoy both of them equally... There's a reason I enjoying playing Castlevania... it's not because it's centered around hunting Dracula, the most powerful and pimp of all vampires, or that you're playing as a manly man in a leather skirt using a whip, or that it constantly references Tolkien and a lot of religious legends, though these do help... It's because it's so ridiculously fun.
The Classicvanias offer the one thing I want in a video game: a very fun challenge. I haven't beaten a single one yet except Dracula X Chronicles, yet I keep going back and playing them... when I play a classic action game, I want to die a lot, I wish to game over constantly, just so that beating the game actually feels like an accomplishment.
Metroidvanias aren't as challenging, no, but the same extremely fun gameplay is still there. Yet they do something else for me: they add variety to the gameplay... And when you get extremely powerful leveling up, they do something else for me: they make me feel powerful. I enjoy working my butt off to get the most powerful weapon just to use it and feel very accomplished while using it. It pays off. Yeah, you have to grind in Metroidvanias, but to me, destroying undead never gets old. And if I feel I need a challenge out of the game, I can just play as the hidden character or an alternate mode, which in every Metroidvania I played, is always awesome and badass when you're playing it, but you also almost always die in about 5-8 hits, which it then starts to test your very skill at the game, which I enjoy so much.
I've also played Curse of Darkness, which I enjoyed it about as much and for the same reason I enjoy the Metroidvanias, so I won't go on much there.
The other 3Dvania I played was Lords of Shadow, and I couldn't find much fun with the game because the combat system wasn't that good IMO... It just wasn't as fun; My whip's power never got stronger, so it was challeging... but when I'm practically spending a minute or two just to kill one minor enemy, and then they swarm you, the challenge doesn't feel fun... That was really my main problem with that game, and for right now that's all I'll say about it...
Lord of Shadow aside, for every Castlevania game I play, if I'm not haven't fun while playing it, then I must be doing something wrong.