Castlevania Dungeon Forums
The Castlevania Dungeon Forums => General Castlevania Discussion => Topic started by: DingusBelmondo on April 06, 2010, 01:09:34 AM
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I remember i was around 6 and had my mom drive me 25 minutes to the next town because we had a major lack of videogame stores. I had saved up my money, and arrived at Gamestop, which was then called Funcoland. I huddled up against the gameboy game cabinet and saw a small gray cartridge. A muscular hero swung stood at the edge of a cliff, swinging a whip at a armored beast. A lightning explosion of a title read : "Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge" I asked the man at the counter if I could try it out. At this point, i knew nothing of castlevania, and assumed Belmont was the name of the villain and that he was tryin ta getcha. I skipped the intro and missed the dracula bit, but was instantly enticed by cloud castle, the first level i played. I bought it, my third gameboy game. At this point I only had Super Mario Land and Revenge of the Gator Pinball. My older brother wouldn't let me play his pokemon red. Anyways, i spent hours and hours at home and on carrides trying to beat that game. I think the farthest I got as a kid was destroying cloud castle and rock castle. A few years later i managed to get to Dracula. Eleven years later, I still have it, and I can't beat it.
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I know some time when I was like 4 I played Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse at my uncles but I can't really remember that, but the big moment for me was when my Dad got me it for my birthday. I remember him handing it to me, it wasn't even wrapped, I think he just went and picked it up. It was the greatest. I played it all the time, but I couldn't get past the swamp and I thought that was close to the end of the game! Then a few years later he got me Super Castlevania IV also for my birthday. I blame my Dad for getting me addicted!
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Back in the summer of 1995 when I was about 7 years old my brothers borrowed a friends copy of Donkey Kong Country 2 Super Castlevania 4 and Castlevania Bloodlines. I beat Bloodlines first(rather my brother helped me) and beat DKC2 that following week, but for some reason I didn't finish SC4 untill Christmas. Such an epic weekend that was and as a matter of fact we never gave Super Castlevania back, it's sticking out of my SNES as I type.
I didn't play the NES versions untill 2000 during my retro gaming phase.
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KingShango, that is pretty hardcore beating Bloodlines at the age of 7!!!
I remember getting Castlevania around my 5th birthday. I was into some of the classic Universal Monsters and seeing the Dracula connection led me to this game. Never coming close to getting past more than the 2nd level back then. A few years later I beat it (with a game genie). I was still too young to appreciate the satisfaction of working hard to beat the difficult game and the feeling you get from finally beating it. I never really went back and replayed many of my older games til the Gamecube era, and I finally made it my mission to beat my old nemesis that I could never conquer. After roughly 20 years the score was settled, I finally ended Dracula's reign of terror. Such a satisfying feeling beating a game that kicked my ass for so many years!!! Ninja Gaiden is still on that list of old NES games I still have a score to settle with though!
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Back in 1988 or something, just before I got my very own NES, I used to play video games at my friends house. I remember him having four games - Kid Icarus, Ghost's n Goblins, Super Mario Bros 1 and Castlevania. I sucked at Castlevania so I always wanted him to get to level 3 so i could hear Wicked Child (didn't know the song had a name back then though). It was probably the first time I even thought about video game music at all. I borrowed Castlevania from him as soon as I got my NES and got pretty good at it. Never beat it until many years later though.
This reminds me of the first time I played Simon's Quest, which was released in Europe in early 1990 (I think?). I immediately started to whip the villagers! For a second I thought the game was broken, lol. Got hopelessly stuck in that game btw. I think most of us did.
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Around 1988, my neighbor brought home two new NES games, Contra and Castlevania. I was really drawn to Castlevania because of a cool screenshot on the back of the box of the hero fighting in this cool machine area (the clocktower). My friend and I were both horrible at CV; neither of us could get past those dang crushers on the second stage. But I was hooked.
I later played Simon's Quest and didn't care for it, because I couldn't find the friggin' castle. I didn't grasp that it was a totally different kind of game from the first one.
And then Super CV4 came out, and I was hooked all over again.
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Very very very shamefully, I was untouched by the grace of this series until as recently as 2007, at the age of 17. I knew about the series long prior to that, but only through fleeting mentions. My general video game interest has been much more long-lived, and it was during AIM discussions with other such gamers that I became convinced to try out Super Castlevania IV through Virtual Console. I was instantly impressed and inspired by the setting, the gameplay and notably the music (Theme of Simon has forever changed my life), and knew from the start that it was a perfect hit. I began doing research about the rest of the series and became very fascinated about the 1000-year storyline, and of course fell in love with more of the music. Sometime later, I got my first Castleroid experience with Dawn of Sorrow, borrowed from a friend, and it all escalated from there. My interest for the series, platformers, Castleroids and 3D-games alike (more or less for some games), and especially its music, has grown at a steady rate ever since, currently peaking at near-obsession.
While I may lack the childhood nostalgia that so many Castlevania fans have, I do not lack the love. I hope to be looked at with the same eyes as one would for anyone who's followed the series for the past 20-or-so years.
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It was Christmas 1993, and I got SNES and two games (one of which was SCV4). I've always loved stuff about monsters. So, I started playing it as soon as my dad hooked it up. I immediately loved the music, but I was intimidated by the levels (the enemies scared me, I was only 6 years old after all). It actually took me until the summer of 2004 to get past the third level and the rest of that summer to complete the game.
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I was so young I barely remember it but I used to send the night with my cousins alot and my oldest cousin had an NES. They were the kinda kids that always got whatever they wanted when they wanted so they always had everything new. I think it was 87 or 88 so I was 7 or 8. But I remember us playin the HELL outta mario 1 and duck hunt and then one time when I was there he had CV1 and he wouldnt let me play it but I watch him play it for hours
Then some time passed I forgot all about it and my bday rolled around and I got my own NES and my best friend would come over and spend the night at my house and bring various games he had over and wed play em. This time he brought CV2 and that was it for me. It was all over
I remembered everythin about the first game at my cousins and it all came back to me how awesome it was. I played CV2 that night and didnt stop til I bout passed out. I got him to let me borrow it and its been my fav game of all time ever since
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I remember i was around 6 and had my mom drive me 25 minutes to the next town because we had a major lack of videogame stores. I had saved up my money, and arrived at Gamestop, which was then called Funcoland.
Woah! Wait, WHAT?! Gamestop is Funcoland!??
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and then one time when I was there he had CV1 and he wouldnt let me play it but I watch him play it for hours
LOL! That's actually really funny. We all had a friend (or two) who owned a game that they wouldn't let us play! What is up with that anyway? Another friend of mine wouldn't let me play Silent Service, he said that I didn't understand hw to play (and how would I ever understand if he never handed me the controller?). Not that I really wanted to play Silent Service because the game bored the hell out of me, but still - what's up with kids and their possessive nature?
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Woah! Wait, WHAT?! Gamestop is Funcoland!??
yes... yes it is
And I dunno whats up with those kids... I always let my friends play my games hell a lot of the time on my own game. Only time it ever pissed me off and I didnt let him play anymore was when I was stuck on koopa at the end of Super Mario World right after the release of the SNES. I just couldnt beat him for some reason my friend said "let me try" I did and he beat him in 1 try... man oh man
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First CV I ever played was CV3. It rocked. Then I played CV1 and it kicked my ass.
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I think I was around 5 or 6. I walked into the living room, my brother was playing Castlevania 3. I sat down and began to watch him as he was just beating the clock tower, humming the music. Then he got to the forest and I FELL IN LOVE with that theme. Seriously, it's how I found the series again years later: remembering that particular song. Anywho, I didn't get to play the game (my brother was very stingy with his system) but whenever he played, I'd sit, watch, and hum the music to the point of annoying him.
I actually didn't get to play the game until I was like 12, when I finally got my own game systems. Castlevania 3 was the first game in the series I played.
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the 1st time I put the game in and saw this opening, I knew I was in for something that would totally capture me, and I was right, haha.. I was probably 11 or so.
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Frds.yahoo.com%2F_ylt%3DA0WTb_7Sx7tLg1kAUwSjzbkF%2FSIG%3D12sqmhl0u%2FEXP%3D1270683986%2F%2A%2Ahttp%253a%2F%2Fwww.geek.com%2Fxyzimages%2Fstories%2Farticlepics%2Fside_scroll%2Fcastle.jpg&hash=7903726eb47ff09b2080f380f305e5c8ad6f1128)
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Christmas, 1988. I was 8 years old and under the tree were 3 games: Mike Tyson's Punch Out, Contra, and CV1. I was into monsters and all that as a kid and apparently my Mom thought the pic of Drac & the castle on the box art was cool so she bought it for me. Several months later, I got CV2 for my birthday, so at a young age I was totally occupied with the fist 2 games in the series. Needless to say I was hooked from that point on and still very much am. In fact, I was just recently playing my original copy of CV2...still plays flawlessly after all these years.
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I was a big monster fanatic at the time as well, but Castlevania sent me spiraling into a vampire obsession (not a twilight kind, a badass monster kind) and i picked up Bram Stoker's Dracula and read it from front to back.
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Castlevania IV. '91. Played it at a cousin's house. I was five.
Yup.
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my first castlevani game was dawn of sorrow, back then i was only 10
now i am 14 and have every castlevania game,
castlevania was the reason for me to read Bram Stokers Dracula
.... ;D
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Woah! Wait, WHAT?! Gamestop is Funcoland!??
Yup. Gamestop bought out Funcoland, Babbages, Software Etc, and Electronics Boutique, and combined them all into one big corporate pile of suckitude.
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I miss funcoland too... that place was a fuckin treasure trove of classic stuff on the cheap
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The first time I saw a castlevania was when I went to buy an SNES control and saw the salesman playing a game with a guy holding a whip cracking candles and passing through a bridge that fell! Was Super Castlevania 4! After never I found the game to sell up to that with my Playstation 1 bought Castlevania Symphony of the Night and like 99% of people I know who played this game when I defeated Richter Belmont thought it was over! Until a friend of mine said that was not was the very end and I kept the game to finish! After that I tried to learn more about Castlevania and play other games!
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1988 or 1989 I think in my case, I'd read up on Treasure of Usas and Vampire Killer in the Konami Software Club (KSC) newsletter but didn't have an MSX2. I dearly would have liked an MSX2 but they were too expensive, so the family got a NES one Christmas. Probably for the best.
Remember going into a Boots store some time later and wondering whether to buy Kid Icarus or Castlevania. Castlevania it was, and at that age I couldn't really wait to get it back home and into the cartridge slot. I still remember that first level for the first time, whipping away, smashing secret blocks, and going down into the mermen section. Majestic it was.
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When I was about 7, I was at a big family gathering. I was a reclusive child, and liked to sit inside with my games and books. (I haven't changed much.) My cousin had a bag of his gameboy games and I decided to take a look. Inside was Castlevania the Adventure, among others. I remember playing it and falling in love, especially with the music.
Now, Circle of the Moon was just coming out then. Nintendo Power released a special edition, Nintendo Power Advance, to celebrate the release of the GBA. I had that with me, too, and as always it was opened up to the DSS card chart, which I always looked at, in awe of the artwork and references to mythology. But as a prudish 7-year-old girl, a T-rated game was six years ahead of me, and I looked at the guide in total envy and with no small amount of wistfulness.
After this, I didn't pay much mind to Castlevania (egad!) until a trip to NYC in 2008, where we visited Nintendo World. It was there that I found Order of Ecclesia. I saw it, thought "ah, what the heck, it'll be something to take home," and got it. Although Christmas was close at hand, I was allowed to play the game instead of storing it away. My mind was completely and utterly blown. The ending stirred me to tears, partly because I was sad it was over. It was absolutely amazing. I wanted more!
I worked backwards, getting the other two DS games, CV64, the GBA installments, Judgment, LoI, and the Virtual Console titles. I have a pretty big Genesis collection, but I'm still looking for Bloodlines. My focus now is finding CoD. Put simply, I am obsessed.
Funny thing is, my younger sister is a Twilight fanatic. We exchange some pretty nasty words when I bring up the topic: would Edward get past a Belmont? (Helpful hint: no.) Funny how my sister loves vampires, and I kill them.
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Back to the year 2000, when I was 6. At a game store, I found a cartidge with the name "Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness". Sure, it was 13+, but in Britain, it's not legally enforceable. Sure, there is a LAW, but, as far as I know, it's just discouraging to sell, not forbbiding. Well, i got that game. Got in love with it, and with the series. And here I am, owning alll of the games.
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I miss funcoland too... that place was a fuckin treasure trove of classic stuff on the cheap
I worked at a local Funcoland for over a year. Needless to say my game collection grew massively during that time 8)
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Very very very first Castlevania Experience? Well techincally I didn't experience castlevania the game until after a family reunion of mine (My dad side of the family is about the same size as the Belmonts) and I was probably about 7 at the time cause i believe it was 1994 and Bloodlines had just released a few months prior. (I also was a genesis fan) Anyway he came up to me with a bull whip his granddad gave him and said "Hey we are gonna play Castlevania" and I was like "okay cool" even though as a kid I didn't know what the hell he was talkin about. I managed to (well he sort of made it I just kinda watched lol) make a spear out of the wooden handle of a shovel and a really big piece of slate rock and duck tape (which didn't work well if I recall) and play as Eric Lecarde. Soon afterwards I got the game and played the hell out of it and since then I have loved Castlevania.
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When I was about 7, I was at a big family gathering. I was a reclusive child, and liked to sit inside with my games and books. (I haven't changed much.) My cousin had a bag of his gameboy games and I decided to take a look. Inside was Castlevania the Adventure, among others. I remember playing it and falling in love, especially with the music.
Now, Circle of the Moon was just coming out then. Nintendo Power released a special edition, Nintendo Power Advance, to celebrate the release of the GBA. I had that with me, too, and as always it was opened up to the DSS card chart, which I always looked at, in awe of the artwork and references to mythology. But as a prudish 7-year-old girl, a T-rated game was six years ahead of me, and I looked at the guide in total envy and with no small amount of wistfulness.
After this, I didn't pay much mind to Castlevania (egad!) until a trip to NYC in 2008, where we visited Nintendo World. It was there that I found Order of Ecclesia. I saw it, thought "ah, what the heck, it'll be something to take home," and got it. Although Christmas was close at hand, I was allowed to play the game instead of storing it away. My mind was completely and utterly blown. The ending stirred me to tears, partly because I was sad it was over. It was absolutely amazing. I wanted more!
I worked backwards, getting the other two DS games, CV64, the GBA installments, Judgment, LoI, and the Virtual Console titles. I have a pretty big Genesis collection, but I'm still looking for Bloodlines. My focus now is finding CoD. Put simply, I am obsessed.
Funny thing is, my younger sister is a Twilight fanatic. We exchange some pretty nasty words when I bring up the topic: would Edward get past a Belmont? (Helpful hint: no.) Funny how my sister loves vampires, and I kill them.
Also to note, your posts are wonderfully well written.
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my very first would have to have been Castlevania 64.
but the Castlevania that got me into the series and inspired me to go and play older CV titles is Castlevania Symphony of the Night ;)
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I don't remember the exact year, but not long after the SNES came out I remember playing SCIV with my best friend :D
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mine was not so memorable. It was a freakin Tiger handheld version of Castlevania II: Simons Quest. It was a typical tiger handheld... wait were any of them any different at all in gameplay? Meh, not really. So it was boring and repetitive. Eventualy I got to play the original at a friends house, and later CVII as a xmas present. Overall it was worthwhile to come across the series...I just wish Tiger handhelds never come cross my path again.
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Also to note, your posts are wonderfully well written.
*bows* Thank you.
Your experience was pretty interesting as well. DIY Castlevania sounds like a lot of fun...if not a little dangerous!
Yup, I am still looking for Bloodlines...I have a few rare games (Herzog Zwei loose, Streets of Rage 2 boxed) thanks to crawling flea markets. But strangely, no Bloodlines...I am hoping the day will come soon.
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My first experience was in 2nd grade. My brothers bought me a copy of SCVIV for christmas and I instantly fell in love with it. Interestingly, it was about '01 and they were still selling CVIV and Jurassic Park for snes at Toys 'R Us... and I remember seeing it sold still as late as '02 or '03.
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The first time I was "bitten" by Castlevania was the original NES cartridge given to me in 1988 with the system by my parents at the Age of 3. I played the hell out of that game everyday and the highest level I achieved was to Stage 5 or Death...however, my most memorable experience was by far Castlevania II: Simon's Quest! Now, at the time Blockbuster Video had just opened up in 1988 and I rented that game like crazy! Maybe in my area at that time when I lived there in 1988 I held a record for most checkouts (through my father of course) and love that game and still do. Now, I know Simon's Quest was too many not the best CV and I respect that, but to this day that game is one of my all time favs of the series! The soundtrack was epic to me, leveling up (as tedious as it may seem) puzzles..everything clicked for me. I ended up eventually playing Drac's Curse at my friends house in elementary school and he then garage sold that copy..ugh looking back for how cheap he did and perfect it was I should have bought the damn thing lol!
I ended up oddly enough skipping SCIV and Dracula X on SNES (On Drac X thank god I did until I played the PC-Engine version and then went back and played my cart for SNES lol) moved onto Bloodlines for Genesis, and the Game Boy CV Adventures. Then, Castlevania and I connected in 1997...Symphony of the Night! I played that game until honestly and recently it could not run anymore, which it cannot! Played the N64 ones, however the Legacy of Darkness slightly saved those versions and I use those terms lightly. GBA ones minus Circle of the Moon were stellar as well as DS and PS2 ones. Hell, even played Judgment on the Wii. 22 years later I am looking forward to Lords of Shadow..pre-ordered mine the first day it was able to be and as a lifelong Castlevania fan I think a reboot was much needed for the series as the "timeline" was becoming too tangled! As much as I hate to admit it, if the movie sucks I will still see it even though the animated one sounds ten times better! That is an experience of almost a life time lol
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Hmm, i was 10 or was it 11? Can't recall but it was when i was in middle school. I saw this game for GBA and it featured a guy holding a whip with gray hair and a evil background. At the time my mom didn't care about T rating as long as it wasn't GTA lol. Anyways i bought it for like 20 bucks at some CD store called strawberry's since my mom was buying a CD. I opened the game in the car and started to play in on my see through purple GBA. The opening freaked me out as well as my mom. I entered my name blah blah blah. Saw 3 dudes One old, 2 young. At the time i knew that one of the young dudes would be rivals or something. Then came some pink-red woman and a coffin appeared with bats. I've seen Bram Stoker's Dracula so it gave me the idea it was him. Hugh and Nathan fell down the hole and so began the beef with Hugh and Nathan. My first impression of the game was the music was awsm the DDS system was awsm ( kept killing the earth demon mercury card? and the bone pillar for salamander.) At the time i didn't know about the cards and where they drop from i actually got lucky after killing a few bone pillars. At the time that game was my very first favorite Castlevania game for GBA until i payed AOS which was my second.
My ONLY problem with Castlevania was COTM concerning it's retarded battery life. I was near done with the game (I was at the part where the devil was in this long corridor and he'd use his long range attacks and i had to run fo rmy life lol), and when i saved my data was lost. I panicked and almost cried. It was one of the first games to have erase on me including pokemon yellow. Sadly as i got older i got another game the same thing happend to me and so i got a action replay to finish it off.
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My first experience was in 2nd grade. My brothers bought me a copy of SCVIV for christmas and I instantly fell in love with it. Interestingly, it was about '01 and they were still selling CVIV and Jurassic Park for snes at Toys 'R Us... and I remember seeing it sold still as late as '02 or '03.
Yeah, this was how my dad found Castlevania Bloodlines. Good times.
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Simon's Quest. Thank the lord for Nintendo Power. I would have never beat that game without it. Hell, I still don't remember what to do in that game. But I have to admit, it is still one of my favorites, mainly because it was so different at the time. That, and whatever you found was yours to keep permanently. After that, Castlevania III and Castlevania IV kept me hooked. Then Symphony of the Night solidified my fandom.
I have to give kudos to people who admit loving the game after its original conception. Fearnavigatr's post in particular really made me smile. I read all too often about people swearing they have always loved a series. It takes a pure sense of honesty to admit you like a game or series after it has a strong following. I was that way with the original Mega Man games and with Viewtiful Joe. Here's to great games!
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mine was not so memorable. It was a freakin Tiger handheld version of Castlevania II: Simons Quest. It was a typical tiger handheld... wait were any of them any different at all in gameplay? Meh, not really. So it was boring and repetitive. Eventualy I got to play the original at a friends house, and later CVII as a xmas present. Overall it was worthwhile to come across the series...I just wish Tiger handhelds never come cross my path again.
HA! Same as mine. I continued to get Tiger games no matter how badly they sucked.
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I was about five years old when I first played Castlevania. It was Simon's Quest though, I didn't make it very far till I got older.
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Simon's Quest is the only other Castlevania game besides IV that I played when I was really little. It wasn't until Castlevania for the N64 that I got really crazy into the series. Dunno why, since I'd played Symphony of the Night like a million times since it came out, and I certainly love(d) that game a lot more than CV64. Yet, CV64 is the game that made me decide to play beyond SOTN and CV4.
About Simon's Quest... I barely played it, and I was maybe around five or six at the time. Maybe I was even younger and had actually played it before CV4, I'm not sure. A friend of my brother's had brought it over and I got to watch. Tried playing a bit, but they had gotten rather far in the game, so it was a lot tougher than the beginning and I kept dying at those parts. It was loads of fun, though, just experiencing it, despite all the dying.
Eventually they made it to Dracula, and I thought it was epic beyond all get-out watching Simon walk through those huge gray hallways with that great music playing, and then how freaky and massive Dracula looked (and, again, the great music). Totally blew my mind. BLEW MY MIND!
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I was but a young lad of 14 back in the day when the first game appeared on my NES. So that makes me pretty old :(. Anywho I can remember my brother introducing the game to me but I was concerned with finishing Super Mario Bros. (which I did) and low and behold I was the one who first beat Castlevania in cool fashion might I add. However I defeated Simon's Quest first and sadly I admit with too much help :(.
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It's funny to think that since cirlce of the moon came out, i've had an obsession of finding out about new castlevania games before they are released. I took a long and lonesome cross country plane flight when i was around 12 and the pictures of aria of sorrow in a game magazine i had bought at the airport kiosk was the only thing to keep me company through the sleepless night.
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i went over to my friend down the apartment hallway's place and played the first Castlevania game (don't think the second one was out yet). don't think i ever got past the second stage back then. but i remember being intrigued enough about it to draw pictures of the different enemies when i couldn't play.
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I'm reviving an old topic since i'm gonna post the same thing and i don't want to create another post with the same topic.
My first experience with the franchise was when i was 1 or 2 years old and my dad was playing the first castlevania on the famicom at night. I was so scared and i didn't play castlevania until symphony, then i was hooked. Oh man, my parents were laughing cause they didn't expect me to love the franchise when i was so scared way back then.
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VERY first experience of any kind? I saw Aria of Sorrow at Best Buy back in the day. Art left an impression on me.
Years later, (bout maybe 1 or 2 years ago, maybe 3 now) I played Aria on an Emulator. So Aria was my first CV game. Followeeeeeed I THINK, by maybe Lament. Can't quite remember.
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I played Castlevania 1 waaaaaaaaaay back in the day. I grew up owning and loving it. I didn't beat it until I was 15, though. That's when I started to seriously become a fanatic, and seriously get into various vampire things.
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My first Castlevania was Castlevania II Simon's Quest. I was probably 11 or 12. This game made me look for the others is the series and the obsession began!!!
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My brother's wife bought Castlevania 1 for him back in 89'. I remember being 4 & my brother explaining the game to me as I watched him play. I was leaning on the edge of my bed, ready to pop like a tightly wound coil as I hung on his every word. As soon as he was done, I yelled for my mother to bring me my favorite red silk covered plastic head band (I had Shirley Temple hair in the day, bangs were always in my eyes), my Muppet Babies necklace (for luck) & some blue raspberry Kool-Aid because shit was about to get real as I marched into Castlevania. I died like 10 million times of course, but I was hooked.
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Simon's Quest is the only other Castlevania game besides IV that I played when I was really little. It wasn't until Castlevania for the N64 that I got really crazy into the series. Dunno why, since I'd played Symphony of the Night like a million times since it came out, and I certainly love(d) that game a lot more than CV64. Yet, CV64 is the game that made me decide to play beyond SOTN and CV4.
I really should expand upon this. There IS a reason why CV64 got me obsessed with the series as a whole.
It all comes down to money.
Prior to 1998 or so, I was at the mercy of my mom to get me video games, mostly only one or two for Christmas. (Though in a sense I got more a year because my brother got just as many, and even sometimes we'd get one or two "shared ownership" games in addition to that.)
'98, I was 12 and started working for my dad for $7 an hour, roughly 20 hours a week. I wanted my first purchases to be rad so I saved up for a few weeks. I saw Castlevania 64 being played on a GXTV at a Best Buy. I knew I had to have them.
So with all my dough saved up, I bought an N64 (Episode I Racer bundle, woo!), a GXTV, and CV64. Plugged all that sheet up in my room and I got to immerse myself into gaming in a whole new way: privately, in my room, just me and the screen, and CV64 had a profound effect on me with its heavy atmosphere.
After playing that game a lot, I wanted more Castlevania beyond 64, IV, and SOTN, so I bought the NES games (along with the Contras) and a little later saw a Genesis 3 and Bloodlines for cheap and got those. Been kind of a fanatic since, although sadly the best games had already come out by that point (IMO).
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the First Castlevania, Wicked child was stuck in my head for the longest time.
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CV3. Couldn't put it down. And hungered after 1 & 2 as soon as tasted 3.
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I recall my brother play CV64 and my first though was "Who would use a whip to fight vampires?" However, I didn't get into CV until I watched the same brother play LoI and fight Walter and The Forgotten One. It just spiraled from there. Now I'm like "Only way to kill a vampire is with a whip!"
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My first experience was with the NES. Ghosts N goblins was the first NES game I ever played and I enjoyed it A lot. But was wayyyy to hard for me. I soon saw Castlevania at Funcoland. (Which is now EB games/Gamestop) I played A demo of it and it reminded me A great deal of Ghosts N Goblins. Castlevania was easier..but still kicked my ass haha. Castlevania had way more level design in my opinion. But those two games will always remind me of one another. But to this day I prefer Castlevania.
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My very first CV experience was when I was probably about 5 years old, way back in 1988. My neighbor who was the same age as me, had an older brother who bought himself a Reggie's Entertainment System (here in South Africa we never got the NES - in fact Nintendo was never officially distributed here until the first Wii came out - instead we ended up with "Famiclones" and pirated cartridges from China, and this was probably the most popular of the lot, branded by our only national toy store at the time, Reggie's). With it, he'd also gotten two games: B-Wings and the first Castlevania. We'd already arranged a sleepover at the neighbor's house that same evening but of of course the older brother wouldn't let me play the game so I sat the entire night and watched him play Castlevania. I have been a huge fan of horror and monsters for as long as I can remember and naturally I thought this was the coolest thing ever!! I loved the horror theme, particularly the haunted castle/creepy dungeon backdrops and the music was (and still is) totally amazing!!
My parents wouldn't buy me a console until Xmas a year or three later but I can tell you that during that time I obsessed about Castlevania day and night, nonstop. I even tried to make myself Castlevania-themed board games to play. By the time I finally got my own console, there were no Castlevania cartridges to be found, anywhere. I think I finally got the game when I was about 9 or 10 years old when a kid from school agreed to trade his copy for my Double Dragon cart. Good times!!!
I recently went through a huge period of nostalgia and have rediscovered all of my favourite games from childhood, got myself a PS3 just to play Lords Of Shadow, finished the PSOne, N64, Gameboy, Genesis and SNES Castlevanias and also finally got to play and finish Simon's Quest and Dracula's Curse on the NES but still to this day, NOTHING compares to that mighty first game in the series.
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My first CV experience...it all started many moons ago when bright neon colors were cool and I think a couple of young kids were trying to convince a nation of kids that wearing your clothes backward was cool.
Up to this point I didn't really have any video games to play (other than what my dad had for his Apple II GS or DOS machines, sh*t was cash!) so I used to hang out at my neighbor's house. Their boys were older than me by a few years, but they were really nice and let a little dorky kid hang out with them (I introduced them to DBZ via my JP connections) and one day they wanted to show me this really funny scene in a game. So they booted up their NES and lo' and behold it's some CV1!
Well, I sat next to them and watched them run through the game, the music was pretty rocking and they made it seem super easy, killing all these monsters with this whip thing. Then they got to the infamous scene...down the trap to Frankie's lair! They started busting up laughing at the implausibility of falling from that height unscathed, especially since pitfalls kill you. I chuckled, not really understanding, but knew that I just witnessed a pretty sweet game.
I actually didn't get to play a CV game until my parents got themselves a SNES (no, seriously, it was originally for them) and I borrowed CVIV from my previously mentioned neighbors (they let me borrow a ton of games for keeping their DBZ crack flowing) and man was I in for a treat! I never beat it, but I just loved playing it, listening to the music and soaking in the atmosphere. Truly a masterpiece in gaming.
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In the fall of 1987, my family had a garage sale just before we moved to a farmhouse outside of town, and my brother and I decided to sell what was left of the Commodore64 so we could buy the NES instead. The system came with SMB and Duck Hunt, of course, but we decided to rent a couple games from Crazy Jake's (a local video store) so we would have more selection for the weekend. The two we picked were The Legend of Zelda and the original Castlevania. We played the crap out of both, but CV must've stuck with me more, since I purchased every single release after that rental.
Neither one of us managed to beat Castlevania on the first rental. I think both of us got stuck on Stage 10 or so. Since then, I've managed to reach Dracula five or six times and have only beaten him once. That's a tough-as-nails game, but I still love playing it.
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My friend received a handed-down copy of "Castlevania: The Adventure" from his cousin and I played it for a while. (I think he stumbled upon it while cleaning a couple of days before I saw it in his room, but my memory gets hazy that far back.)
He never became a fan of Castlevania, or even the vampire genre.
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I feel bad for kids these days, not getting to experience the magic of the NES when it was new...
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I feel bad for kids these days, not getting to experience the magic of the NES when it was new...
You said it! Oh my the magic of 8-bit and that simple, yet perfect square of A controller.
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I really don't remember my first experience. Growing up, I know I saw a family member play Castlevania 1-4, and I remember dabbling with them all myself, especially 2-4. I thought they were interesting, but I sort of took them for granted as big titles. I don't remember the order of events of when I became a big fan, but I know that Dracula X SNES, Castlevania 64, The Adventure, and Legends played significant roles, IIRC. Dracula X SNES was a revelation, because it had the over-the-top item crashes and a very creative art style different than 4. Castlevania 64 was the series graduating and going toe-to-toe with its NES breathern, Mario 64 and Zelda: OoT, and while not perfect, it did a lot better than people give it credit for and made an impact on me. (In retrospect, it at LoD are the best 3D efforts by a large margin). The Adventure was a portable title with a different direction in its set of enemies and such that felt like it was expanding the lore. Legends was exciting at the time because it was a new Castlevania coming out after becoming more self-aware of the series. I went on to have a fun time with LoD; very memorable experiences with CoM, SotN, and LoI; a middling experience with HoD; an exciting experience with AoS, Belmont's Revenge, and Bloodlines...and after that, it was more or less middling (outside of The Adventure Rebirth, which was excellent for a small download title).
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The first one I played was Symphony of the Night. Then I went back and played most of the classic ones and then the GBA/DS ones.
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The first one I played was Symphony of the Night. Then I went back and played most of the classic ones and then the GBA/DS ones.
Apparently that is fairly common, Ive found out.
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To be fair, I'm hearing more people express their first Pokemon experience as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald these days.
We're getting old.
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To be fair, I'm hearing more people express their first Pokemon experience as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald these days.
We're getting old.
Man I still remember all the other kids having red and blue. I had yellow.
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i was 8 yrs old and Bloodlines was my first shot at CV. Once i got it that christmas, it never came out of my Sega even when said Sega broke and got thrown away :^(. i never beat the game but i had an issue because my only controller was stuck in the up/right position. Long story short, i never got past the third level... i hated it so much (until i got SCIV) because I always would swing it wrong. now that i think back though, im pretty awesome to get that far so young... it was fun for the most part, i would love to play it again and finish it :rollseyes:
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My first Castlevania was the original - Castlevania from NES. The only thing I liked about the game was the soundtrack. Everything else was kind of "normal", nothing special at all. Several days after I had a chance to play Simon's Quest - I fell in love with this game instantly. It had everything I was looking for in video games. Most importantly the game gave me the feeling of the world. Not a big one, but still.. It was fun to explore this little world while trying to figure out "what should I do with an "oak stake" or a "graveyard duck".. Later I decided to replay the 1st one. That time I had enough interest to actually beat it.
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Sometime after I got my NES (Saturday, November 3, 1990), my friend, Mike, let me borrow CV1, and I remember feeling a sense of accomplishment when I actually beat the bat at the end of stage 1 and actually got to stage 2.
When I got CV3, I remember thinking this is MY Castlevania, something that Mike doesn't have.
Of course, when he came over to my house, he ended up getting further than I could.
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I think one of my favorite things about being young and playing video games is that sense that you think you're farther than you actually are. I r,ember thinking the swamp level in Draculas Curse was far when I was 5 , or thinking I was at Dracula already but then it turned out just to be alucard...
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To be fair, I'm hearing more people express their first Pokemon experience as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald these days.
We're getting old.
We are old. I think the castlevania fans are old. We need more new blood!
But to be honest, a lot of the kids/ younger people I know these days have never heard of castlevania... /sob (/ _ ; )
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We are old. I think the castlevania fans are old. We need more new blood!
But to be honest, a lot of the kids/ younger people I know these days have never heard of castlevania... /sob (/ _ ; )
It could have something to do with kids these days would rather be smooching vampires than killing them. I mean, observe!
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F1.bp.blogspot.com%2F-wpC0ftiz7Dk%2FTxrKf5CfogI%2FAAAAAAAAALg%2FFtcfR_28IRQ%2Fs1600%2Flostboys.jpg&hash=e34b37efd8215fd6cf83744a20ae6bdd7d1a5243)
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flolebrity.net%2Fwordpress%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F05%2FThe-Vampire-Lestat.jpg&hash=2712059701c0f10f882ec82b518ff03d994f021a)
Versus...
(https://castlevaniadungeon.net/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimages4.fanpop.com%2Fimage%2Farticles%2F111000%2Ftwilight-series_111430_1.jpg%3Fcache%3D1307253775&hash=6e3079c2c2faf5cb12298ecb6376463b0baad024)
;D
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Hi to everyone! I'm new here and this is my first post, but I have been a usual reader for a few years now.
I started playing with Symphony of the Night, back in 1999 when I acquired my forst console, the PSX. I was 10 years at that time (now I'm 23). I was always a fan of horror and vampires, and that game literally blew my mind! Then I started searching the other games, and eventually I could play them all, almost. I enjoy a lot all the new games that came out after SOTN, and I also enjoy the old ones, being Simon's Quest and Rondo of Blood my favourites amongst the "old games". Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia are my all-time favourites, and Legacy of Darkness my 3D favourite.
And, so far, I don't like the MS games.
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My first game was Portrait of Ruin. I saw it on the shelf of the EB games (what Gamestop is called in Canada) and bought it, wanting to play a new kind of genre to try. I immediately got stuck at Dullahan and didn't play it for a while until I learned that you had to knock his head around to keep him from doing that instant death attack (derp). I eventually beat the game after that.
The only other games I've played are the other two DS titles, and Order of Ecclesia is the one I haven't beaten. I also have Super Castlevania IV and Rondo of Blood on my Wii, but I haven't played much with them yet (with Rondo it's because Richter has the agility of an ice cream truck driving in a sea of molasses).
To be fair, I'm hearing more people express their first Pokemon experience as Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald these days.
We're getting old.
I've played Pokemon since Gen 1. Now that makes me feel old.
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I had my dad rent the first game when I was a kid and I died. A lot!! >:(
DAMMIT Castlevania!! *throws controller*
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I had my dad rent the first game when I was a kid and I died. A lot!! >:(
So... tell me more about the afterlife. :)
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My first experience was Castlevania on the NES when I was 6.
Before I played it, i watched my uncle playing it and learned from him how tho play.
He didn't let me play, so I played it when he wasn't there ;D.
The stage with and the Grim Reaper was the hardest, yes it took my many hours.
And Dracula, dammnit he was tough.
Super Mario Bros. (NES) wasn't that hard.
I'm proud that I beat Simon's quest without any help in the age of 9 where all my friends stuck (didn't know how to use the red crystal but found it out :)).
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Welcome to the forum and congratulations for doing that without help! :D
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Castlevania has always been a special part of my life. It didn't take off until I was five years old, my brother was 8. Growing up, we used to live poorly - and my parents wanted nothing more for us than to be happy. So, yeah we had an NES, many games... But it wasn't until the day my mom went out and bought a copy for me and my brother and it was the very first time my interest in the horror movie/novel genre started. It was my first taste of these classic monsters that we have all grown up on and fell in love with.
It is because of this game, that also began to spark my interest in the paranormal, or rather parapsychology, mythological creatures and demonology. It also allowed me to become a short-term writer for some stuff, that I may publish as full novels in the future (when I get around to it.) But it wasn't just this that it started - because of this and many other games, my parents had found out that I was a music prodigy - it was because of these awesome tunes, that at such a young age that I began to develop a natural sense of rhythm and almost perfect pitch singing. Later this sparked my interest in guitar, and haven't stopped playing it since. Now I'm a guitarist in a death metal band, waiting for his big break.
Thanks to my mother, I would of never fell in love with all things that go bump in the night. May she RIP.
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I was 10 years old . ;D I can say that i began with the beginning because it was CASTLEVANIA 1 on nes . It was at place of a friend of mine . We played until the stage 6 and there, his sister want us to stop because she wanted to see the "21 jump street" on TV ...
Then i bought the game very fastly after ....
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Castlevania 1 of course. THE game that started it all for many of us. Besides the great music, gameplay and fun factor. I would say that what made it special, was the mood factor. Being 5 years old and knowing only of mario, this game brought something that was scarcely done right in those days. And that is immersion. You WERE Simon. You WERE alone against the unholy. And holy cow did U ever feel alone against this unending army of darkness. I remember, being (not scared, not the right word) anxious of what awaited poor Belmont as you progressed through the game. That queasy feeling you would get hearing the music in the last staircase leading to dracula. The sweaty palms holding that rectangular controller. That's what I'm talking about. Long live Castlevania!
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glad you enjoyed it enough to make mention of "holy cows" +1 to you sir
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Dawn of Sorrow. I recall watching a video on Gamespot of Soma slicing up monsters in a snow-covered castle. At that moment, I was sold. From that point, I sought to claim SotN, the GBA trilogy, and LoI.
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On my 6th birthday my mom and dad took me to Toys R Us where I bought a Terminator 2 action figure and Castlevania III. After stopping by Pizza Hut, got home, popped the cartridge into my NES and was blown the hell away. Those were the good ole days. Even when your family splits there is always Castlevania.
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Think I became aware of Castlevania when I went to a then next-door-neighbour's house when I was 10. It was either CV1 or CV2 on the NES (he had both)- I was instantly taken in by the atmosphere and eerie presence of the game. And then I played it, of course, and died x1000. Couldn't at the time get into such a hardcore level of difficulty... and my parents at the time were fairly opposed to me having a games system of my own - so the next time I met CV was in the early days of emulation with NESticle. I still haven't managed to beat any of the classic titles, but certainly have more of an appreciation for the challenge. Also played the Genesis and SNES CV titles around 1995 (though not Dracula X till much later).
Then I met the Metroidvania's on GBA - and those were what cemented my view of Castlevania as one of the best videogame franchises. Again, the atmosphere, the music, level design and artwork all seemed to be exactly attuned to my view of gaming (of course, the Ghosts and Goblins and Gargoyle's Quest series were also some of my favourites).
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CV, NES. I think the year was 1990. Possibly 1991.
When we finally made to it to Dracula, the guy I was playing it with, said "they used to be friends" (meaning Simon and Drac). Of course, this was just a boy making up stories (he was the kind of kid who wanted to see good in people instead of thinking someone is actually really bad), but it's funny how the story eventually turned out :D
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CV, NES. I think the year was 1990. Possibly 1991.
When we finally made to it to Dracula, the guy I was playing it with, said "they used to be friends" (meaning Simon and Drac).
Was this guy named "David Cox" by chance?
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Nope, if it was Cox he would have said: "Look! That guy is wearing a mask!"
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Nope, if it was Cox he would have said: "Look! That guy is wearing a mask!"
I always thought he was wearing a mask...
I first played my brother's copy of Circle of the Moon. At the time I was really into the Diablo games, and I thought it felt a lot like a sidescroller Diablo. I really liked the DSS Card Combo system, the free-roaming through the castle, and especially the music. The atmosphere was awesome. From there I started collecting the old games, starting with the NES games. I got my ass kicked a lot, but I thought it was fun nonetheless. And there we have it.
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I got my ass kicked a lot, but I thought it was fun nonetheless. And there we have it.
You are not alone in your troubles with this. Its good that you power through the pain.
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You WERE Simon. You WERE alone against the unholy. And holy cow did U ever feel alone against this unending army of darkness. I remember, being (not scared, not the right word) anxious of what awaited poor Belmont as you progressed through the game. That queasy feeling you would get hearing the music in the last staircase leading to dracula. The sweaty palms holding that rectangular controller. That's what I'm talking about. Long live Castlevania!
Brilliant post, sir! Much of the pure essence of Castlevania here, and emotions we all surely felt while playing. It really was one hell of a moody game experience!
Why I positively endorse Lords of Shadow in the is it/isn't it Castlevania question: it did the lone warrior against the hordes of darkness thing, same as the original. Sure, the plot was long-winded and took a strange twist at the end, but it tried to bring some of the original game's feelings/emotions and themes into play. Mood, atmosphere, lonliness, the fight of good and evil. It did it differently with some of the creatures and environments, but the intent was there. What did you think of Lords of Shadow incidentally?
On the 'scared' thing, know you weren't with the game, but I grew up watching some of those early Dracula Hammer horror films and I was terrified watching those (was around 9 or 10 years old, can't be sure though). I think Castlevania really did come in under that horror genre with its creatures and its palette of colours and rugged graphics. As a game it was just a brilliant experience, top game in terms of atmosphere.
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Well I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post anything here since it's been a while, but I want to answer The SilverLord and I think this a great topic, very accessible to everybody. So forgive me if I'm breaking any rules, it is not my intent.
To start off, I would say that those early Dracula movies you were speaking of, are probably still scary to this day. Never really watched them, but I did see some scenes here and there in documentaries and boy, is that bald Nosferatu something. I mean, I'm a grown man now, and I still find him scary. There is a quality to these black and white movies that I think is probably impossible to re-create in this day and age. And I might be wrong, but those were silent movies right? I think it adds even more mystery/horror to the experience. It lets you use your imagination and somehow , I find that having Drac just staring at the camera without saying a word is 10000 times scarier (than those Blade vampires for example) and prevents the character from ruining the vision you have of him.
As for the Lord of Shadows thing, well, I have to admit I'm not the biggest fan. I mean, I don't mind some changes and I have to give them credit for trying, but my opinion is they went overboard with that. That game didn't feel like Castlevania to me. From the soundtrack to the gameplay, I mean this game could have been called something else entirely. However, that was for LOS. I did find myself enjoying Mirror of fate quite a bit. Maybe because of the return to 2d. But there is something else. It's hard to explain, but the ««feel»» of the game, the general mood of it, for some reason, felt more castlevania-ish to my eyes. I just didn't like the whole (Spoiler ahead) Trevor is Alucard plot. Trevor is my favorite belmont and to make him a vampire is a travesty in my opinion lol! Asides from that, loved the little puzzles, loved the fact that you had to do some backtracking (symphony style, not to the same extent but still) and appreciated the soundtrack more. Although, OST speaking, I always thought the one-stage, one-music setting always fitted the franchise better. I mean, Castlevania has some of the best music in videogame history and I find that the quality went downhill in the last installments. Although, this a very personnal question of taste. I've always prefered catchy classical-rock pieces of music over generic scores. Generic soundtracks are not that appealing to me, but I understand that this is not the same type of castlevania and in this case, was well done. Keep in mind that I am a old conservative nostalgic fool, and games truly have to be special to move me. Don't even start me on Final fantasy 13 lol ;D At the end of the day, t's all a matter of opinion, and I respect all opinions. So that's it. Don't know if u will see this because it has been a while, but it's always a pleasure to exchange with fellow Castlevania fans!
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If it's a topic that's over a year old, Sabin, you should really make a new thread rather than reviving an ancient one. Still, you put a lot of thought into your post, so I'll let it slide this time. Just remember to make a new thread rather than necroposting, next time.
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My first exposure to CV was this SNES book that worked as a sort of strategy guide for a number of different titles. I saw SCV4 first, but the first page shows pictures of the previous three games and provided a brief description and history.
A couple years later, an obsessed gamer friend (more so than even me at the time) had the original NES game. Even though I was crappy at it and couldn't be the first boss, I thought it was awesome. I loved the atmosphere. I was already really big into Dracula beforehand, so this was just icing on the cake.
Dorky side note: I created a Castlevania Tag game back in elementary school.
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Castlevania Tag? You may need to indulge us... :-)
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Okay, it's kind of dumb. Bare with me. I loved to pretend, role play, whatever as a kid. If I didn't get weird looks from people I'd probably still be in my back yard being Batman, Luke Skywalker, James Bond, Egon Spengler, or Sonic the Hedgehog. But we don't get that luxury as adults. Anyway...
So our elementary school playground had a rather tall jungle gym that usually ended up being used as a castle, base, etc. for whatever kids were using it that recess. This jungle gym was Castle Dracula. You would have one "vampire" as the tagger and numerous other kids as the potential victims. The vampire would tag someone and add another vampire/tagger to their ranks. Then number of taggers would increase until there was only one person left who didn't get tagged. They were the winner. I remember a lot of kids in my class really liking it and playing it, even if it was kids I didn't associate with. But then some kid got the brilliant idea, "Hey, let's play Castlevania Tag on the ground!" Defeating the whole purpose and challenge behind the game. It became Grass Tag. Grasslevania Tag.
That kid... what a jackass.
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That's actually kinda cool! I'd probably play it (and other imagination games too) if not for the weird looks. Although, it's not uncommon for me to do something for the sole purpose of getting a weird look. So...the original game was on the jungle gym? Like entirely? (That's the only way I can understand how it would make sense why the one kid ruined it by playing on the ground.)
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Yeah, Castlevania revolves around Castle Dracula. So did the tag game. The challenge of it was the increasing lack of room to go to with each successive tag.