Topic: Your favorite Castlevania period?

[VladCT]

If you like the DS games, I recommend the GBA games. As any of us would. Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow especially.

I'd personally recommend starting off with AoS first, as HoD's castle(s?) can get pretty confusing.
Oh, and you can get both games in one cart (or ROM if you use an emulator like I do).
As for the best period, I think the Castlevania franchise shone at its brightest during the 16-bit era (SNES, Genesis, PCE), like crimsonmist said.

[The Silverlord]

My favourite period in gaming will always probably be back on the MSX in 1986/87, when games like Penguin Adventure, Maze of Galious, Nemesis 2 and Salamander really made a mark, and of which I have fond memories.

But let's skip for a year or so from then: I knew Vampire Killer was coming out on the MSX2 but the MSX2 was too expensive.  When our folks bought us a NES one Christmas, first thing to do was buy Castlevania (and Kid Icarus as happened)! Unforgettable, the mood and atmosphere, the smooth scrolling, what an experience!  Then came news of a sequel in Nintendo Power, Simon's Quest.  Great times!

Agree with crimsonmist too, that 16-bit era was special.  Castlevania IV, Ganbare Goemon, Parodius, Contra III, Cybernator, Axelay . . . they were all quality games, Konami on the top of their game I think.  I imported the JAP version of Castlevania IV for £60 (having to sell older NES games to fund the cash)—was well worth it though.

[Fofa]

I'd personally recommend starting off with AoS first, as HoD's castle(s?) can get pretty confusing.
Oh, and you can get both games in one cart (or ROM if you use an emulator like I do).
As for the best period, I think the Castlevania franchise shone at its brightest during the 16-bit era (SNES, Genesis, PCE), like crimsonmist said.

I know. I want the GBA games, but they're hard to find and I'd rather not use an emulator if I don't have to.

[TheouAegis]

Maria's period, when she became a woman and stopped being an annoying brat that played with a bunch of animals.

[Nagumo]

No smartass remarks in my topics.

 

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I know. I want the GBA games, but they're hard to find and I'd rather not use an emulator if I don't have to.

I understand COMPLETELY. Emulators just don't have the right feel for a Castlevania game. CV needs to stay far, far away from keyboards until the end of time.

As for my favorite period, I'd say the 2000's. The series had kind of hit it's stride, and was pretty damn popular. Despite a lot of the more vocal fans concerning games from Igarashi's "wonder era", games in the series around this time at least seemed to be pretty well received and sold decently. It was when the franchise became a bit more complex in terms of story, and Igarashi began really linking the different narratives together in earnest.

2006 was when I bought Curse of Darkness and the Castlevania Double Pack, my first Castlevania games. My life would never again be the same.

[VladCT]

I understand COMPLETELY. Emulators just don't have the right feel for a Castlevania game. CV needs to stay far, far away from keyboards until the end of time.

Sadly, it's nigh-impossible to get the full experience over here, so I just make do with a 360 pad.

[uzo]

I understand COMPLETELY. Emulators just don't have the right feel for a Castlevania game. CV needs to stay far, far away from keyboards until the end of time.

http://www.amazon.com/PS2-USB-Dual-Controller-Adapter-Converter/dp/B000F6BGXY

It's $5. Seriously.

[Reinhart77]

My favorite period may have been the stretch between Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow.  I replayed those games to death back then and had a lot of fun experimenting with new ways to play them using cheat codes.

[GypsyGrifter]

The NES games definitely for me. I mean, technically, I've only played up through the PS1 games, and seen an LP of Order of Ecclessia (spelled wrong?), but I still like the NES games best. Symphony sure was fun, but there was a lot of running around and back tracking. Simon's Quest did the same thing, but Simon's Quest is a lot shorter of a game, it's meant to be played in one sitting, so it's not asking too much for you to run back 10 minutes to reach the third dungeon (although, it is still annoying.... really annoying). Then again, unless I'm playing an RPG, I only like Linear game play, so my opinion is biased (that's a bit redundant, don't you think?), so the NES games, specifically 1 and 3, are the funnest to me. Also, Castlevania 1 is the only one I played when I was really young, so it has a Nostalgia factor for me.

[Sumac]

I don't have favorite period, since I learned that there are more games in Castlevania series than NES trilogy, only in 2003 (around the time, when LOI had some previews in gaming magazines).

In retrospective my most favorite period in Castlevania history was somewhere between SCV4 and SOTN. It was interesting time of experiments, when new ideas and visual styles were tossed around.

However, in general, my favorite games in the series comes from entirely different periods of Castlevania history.

[Ridureyu]

When I first played Symphony of the Night - I knew about it and how awesome it was, but never got to touch it (or any other Metroidvania) until college, when a friend had a PS1.  Since this was 2000, everything was new to me, and online guides were mostly tarable and written by goobers.

Oh, the joys of actually DYING in some sections!  Of hearing the world's worst voice acting and loving it! of discovering new secrets! Of not figuring out how to get to Olrox's quarters for a week!  Of killing Schmoos for hours just because I heard they dropped a cool weapon ( and accidentally levaing the room before I could snag that criss).  Of having no idea what to do with the shield rod when I got it! Of letting a fairy waste all my healing items before Galamoth!  Of finally facing down Shaft, and-what? he's dead already?

Also, the nudity.  Sweet, sweet nudity.

[Abnormal Freak]

Also, the nudity.  Sweet, sweet nudity.

Yes. Those dongs in the warp rooms sure are nice, aren't they?

[Ridureyu]

Oh, totally.

[FerryMANsAJEDI]

the NES period is my favorite nothing brings back memories then Playing any of the 3.  I still remember just how lost me and a friend would get after beating the 3rd mansion and wonder how the hell do you proceed. thank god for Nintendo Power.