Topic: How do you still feel about your first Castlevania?

[Moonstruck Bohemian]

Go back. Replay the very first Castlevania game you ever played.

How do you still feel?

For me, it had to be a triple shot of Curse of Darkness, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow as I bought them all around the same time and I honestly forgot which one I played first, so I covered bases and did all three.

Harmony of Dissonance:
The only Metroidvania by Konami to star a Belmont in the main campaign, Harmony continues to be the odd duck of the series in other ways. I find it's still enjoyable, with the dash buttons lending a "frantic but doable" pace to the combat. Spell books are completely overpowered though, and the music, while inventive, continues to take a LOOOONG time to get used to again. And the art direction clearly spoke of Iga showing Ayami Kojima's character art of Maxim and Juste to the designers and saying 'MAKE THE CASTLE LOOK LIKE THIS, GUYS.'

In short: loved it then, still love it now.

Aria of Sorrow

PLAY AS DRACULA! the game almost said. Emphasis on "almost". While gorgeous and musically among the franchise bests, the actual dialog as translated came out wooden and unfeeling, the castle feels bleached in terms of color (not to Mirror of Fate levels, but still), and holy shit the grinding is TERRIBLE, especially as you MUST grind if you want the actual ending.

It's still fun to play, and I still enjoy it, but I don't love it as much as I did in the past.

Curse of Darkness

This one is probably my original favorite among all three, as this was the game my girlfriend at the time really loved and persuaded me to try, so there'd been some anticipation before I'd bought it.

Going back, I'm more aware of the numerous flaws than I had been when I first got it, but I was surprised how much I still love this game. The scriptwriting outdoes most Castlevanias. Shakespearean English phrases were added [awkwardly] to help try and sell the timeframe-- and I still think it's a neat touch few scripts, never mind just games, attempt, even if the end result seems a little off somehow. It's still grindy as hell, and the transition from Isaac's second boss fight to Death, without a break between save a cutscene, still challenges the hell out of me. I at least resolved to use cheat codes to pre-grind all the stuff this time, so there was at least that.

Visually, this game holds up better than most of my PS2 collection (BloodRayne 2 and Devil May Cry 3, also gothic action adventure games, are the other graphical gems of that collection). It's clear that Iga wanted this to be his next Symphony of the Night because this game pulls out all the stoppers. Ayami Kojima treats us to some of her most interesting designs (save Saint Germain), Michiru Yamane cranks out one of THE finest soundtracks the series has yet seen (matched only by Symphony of the Night and Lament of Innocence), and the environments, flat and unspired be thy maps, still find ways to pop; Abandoned Castle, Garibaldi Cathedral, and Mortivia Aqueduct are some of the most lovingly rendered environments the series would see until MercurySteam took over, featuring bold colors, unmatched for the time lighting effects, and detailed gothic designs on EVERYTHING. It screams "Castlevania at its finest" and it's almost enough to make you forget all the trudging.

And there's the ever-persistent downside. It bothers me now more than it ever did then. The trudging doesn't ever stop. You just... trudge on. The combat is a step down from Lament of Innocence, which got combat almost perfectly. 'interrupt your smashing of one button with this other button when you want to do something cool" is a horrible basis for a fighting system, and as a result, the game falls flat mechanically.

But hey, you can collect chairs, so that's cool.

Honestly though, I've got to say: I still REALLY LOVE this game. This is Iga's Castlevania 64: tonally, it gets everything right, but the game itself is awkward and not very sure of what it's doing. I don't blame it for that-- I blame Konami for doing what Konami does. There's enough marvelousness here to appreciate no matter how many times you play, and it's easy to see that if Igarashi and Co. weren't so crushed by top-down pressure from Konami, the end result would have likely been the first ever PERFECT 3D Castlevania. Instead, we got a game that's not good, not bad. It's decent, but it sets a great tone, and takes me back.

And the voice acting is so AMAZINGLY OVERDONE (looking at you, Isaac, Hector and Zead!), even the lamest lines become quotable.

Fuck, I love this game so much.

Write below with your own re-impressions of your first Castlevania.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

I think that these are actually MY impressions and this Moonstruck person is totally pretending to be me.

Because they are me.

Because shenanigans.

But seriously, post on, other people.

[zangetsu468]

Cv1... She's not the same as I recall.. She feels different.. I still love her though

[Aceearly1993]

Aria of Sorrow

The matter is that when I was a teen I watched my brother playing it on a GBA-SP with all soul/chaos ring equipped and slashing some stuff with ol' Claimh Solais sword/ Red Minotaur soul. Then I had known the game "Castlevania" by coincidence. In a day on my neighbor's home I borrowed GBA-SP from my brother and played it for the first time of my own. and HOLY HOT DAMN! The game had lots of content inside it! I was interested in it almost immediately... Also I heard the legend of "Chaos ring" that can make you "invincible" but you must drag souls form every single enemy first. I almost did it but matters from school and family (my uncle got berserk, crushed everything in his way and often quarreled/fought with my grandma) interrupted the quest in electronic underworld. When I was about 17 I finished the "Chaos Ring" quest on VBA emulator and I almost shout out. In 2014 I turned back and get Chaos Ring once again in 3 continuous days during summer vacation, but I found farming souls/equipment as the most boring works in video gaming. Then I heard about "NO SOUL mode" and get involved in it, like a child. And NO SOUL mode became my worst nightmares in the month, but finally vanquished it. I feel a hard, time wasting, painful and random work being completed, but also cleaned the key that unlocked my video gaming door

Harmony of dissonance

For Harmony of Dissonance it's almost the same and I first played the "plus" version (later I known it was made by some unknown hacker teams) on flash cart (But I'm glad that I had console experience of the two when I played it for first time; Though not 100% perfect)
And the L/R dashing movement of main characters was ADDICTED for me (I'm not fond of the high-speed dashing power-ups in later titles are IMO because they are power-ups not functional as default moves), but other detailed things about HoD when I played it first time are not in my mind. In 200x-201x I picked some hacks of HoD (Idon't know why there are so many people interesting in hacking/modding the title), raised the rank of Castlevania: Revenge On The Findesiecle mod in my mind and almost forgot the matter about official (original) version.

Castlevania Chronicles (PS1)

I heard about it since childhood, and I'm once a believer of absolute ARPG-style in Castlevania titles because my brother said that Castlevania Chronicles is a game that "HAD NOTHING FUN AT ALL!" "IS A PIECE OF CRAP!" and crushed the only existing pirate disk at home. The pirate disk had graphic problems during block 1-1 (Or glitches? I'm not sure) then I remembered the game name(I don't remember if I actually played CV Chronicles at that point but it's an important event in my life. I only remember that I didn't beat it at that time). And the younger people known about Castlevania were always playing/mentioning SotN at that time so I had absolutely no idea about it. The turning point of my opinion about Castlevania Chronicles was during 2011-2012 and I actually played lots of Castlevania games and getting involved in the series genre.
I just played it, as what I did with other random CV titles, but I noticed the difference of CV Chronicles towards other titles. The game was simple, short length, technical and hardcore IMO, the music was great, there are no enemies that were tough as hell, the purpose is simple, just myself going to crush the damned demon castle. The most unforgettable part was the god damn 3-block hole in block 8-2, it took away 300+ menbers of my Belmont cousin and it cost me lots of time to deal with it. I finally chose to get a mechanical keyboard in order to not miss the big hole jump during a speedrun. After beating all available rounds/difficulties I felt a mysterious pushing power to make me master everything about the game. Then I got physical copies, guide book and other info about it. I loved it almost immediately (Yes, like a child. I love the "hardcore" or "traditional" video games, like classic style CV and Mega Man series) and I heard that there's more than 3 rounds to play! In fact I CAN play it for all eternity and I almost DID it. I can't stop playing it for about 3 years. Till now.

[TatteredSeraph]

Symphony of the Night is still a pure symphony of brilliance for me.  If anything, it's even better now than my original gaming experience of it, which was playing on an emulator copy on my laptop, which was without any of the music and weird, garbled noise during the cutscenes.  Nowadays I have a PSN copy, complete with the original 'Do you want some extra cheese and ham on your cheese?' dialogue.  I love it.  The graphics are still gorgeous, and I still haven't lost any of my original love of Ayami Kojima's artwork for it.  Heck, it was due to coming across a webpage with some of Kojia's artwork from the prologue artbook for the game that I discovered the series.  The rest is pretty much history, even if it did take me a few years to be able to get hold of even just the emulator copy of the game.

[TheouAegis]

Well my very first was Castlevania on c64. I was on my cousins computer and only played the first level. As far as the first Castlevania goes, I love the music more than I did back then and I can get farther in it then I could back then. I remember vaguely watching someone else play the Nintendo version, because I remember the Medusa fight. Some of the programming elements in it though I do not like, it feels rougher then cv3.
 
 The first one I played for more than a few minutes was Castlevania 2, which one I bought my first Castlevania game I was hoping it was going to be Castlevania 2. Unfortunately the game store didn't have it, but years later when I finally got to play it again I have gotten further in it but don't like it as much as the other games. I did enjoy the open exploration though.
 
 The game that I ended up buying without having played it before was Castlevania 3. As is fairly well known around here, I have been dissecting that game in my down time for the past few years when I get around to it. It still is my favorite Castlevania and the only one not on the DS that I have beaten.

[Zuljaras]

My first Castlevania was Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest on my Famicom. It was the BEST GAMING EXPERIENCE! There were no videos on youtube back then. I was amazed by the games setting in the medieval ages, the undead, the monsters ... ahhh it was memorable. The best part ... the EXPLORATION and the leveling (it was little but is was something!).

Unfortunately we will not see any professional 2d explorational Castlevanias anymore ;(

[BLOOD MONKEY]

I had Simon's Quest, SotN, and an import PCE-CD with RoB on it.

Needless to say, I loved all 3. I remember asking Dad if I could look on the internet for answers. He said no, and then handed me a box filled with Nintendo Power. Symphony of the Night was by far my favorite, having amazing music, fun weapons, pretty colors, a world to explore in that (at the time) never got boring. RoB was my least favorite, but that's mainly because of the difficulty. I also didn't enjoy the fact that it was seperated into levels, but I liked the graphics in it the most.

[Inccubus]

Castlevania 3: Still love this game as much as I did the first time I played it. The different paths, the multiple characters, the music. All still delicious.
I wish there was a version of CV1 & CV2 that used the CV3 formula. Would be awesome.

[Belmontoya]

My first CV was Castlevania 1 on NES. I was 5 years old and begged my mom to rent it for me from the video store.

The reason I wanted it was because I had recently watched the bela Lugosi Dracula with mom. Castlevania lured me to it with Dracula.

After making her rent it for me countless times she finally got me it for me for my 6th birthday. I got that and GI joe. Best birthday ever.

The game took me a decade to beat. The music influenced me forever.

I had just about the greatest most impact ice first experience with a game a kid can have. It was the first game I ever owned, and the first I ever loved!

I'm tearing up just thinking about it. ?

[X]

Castlevania II. It was also that exact same time we got our first NES console. The SNES didn't even exist and I don't think CV III was out yet. Sure it was difficult to play due to the ambiguous nature of the game itself. But I hacked away at that game because I was so enamored with it. The music, the atmosphere, etc. I knew of the original CV 1 game and of it's gameplay which I felt I was somewhat cheated out of with CV II. However I still recognize CV II as my first and fondest experience that set my path of exploration into the series.

[Jago]

i remember seeing someone playing cv adventure on their gameboy when i was in 4th grade and they let me play it a little

but first one i actually got to sit down and play was Dracula x on snes

I had saw a website about castlevania that had some art and was playing some music and liked it and decided to look around for cv games, and drac x on the snes was the first I tried out then cv4 and bloodlines after

I was pretty amazed by the music and richter's design and his abilities.  I remember it started getting hard around the 6th level but I kept playing it a lot until I beat it without any guides or anything.  I liked the art style and music it kind of gives this wild west feel in some parts

[Gunlord]

Super Castlevania IV still holds up well after all these years, IMO.

[Neobelmont]

I love the 64 games but it was not always that way, the gba version of cv1 is no less the same as the nes version and portrait is still fun to play.

[Reinhart77]

the first Castlevania game I played was the original NES game.  but i never owned it, i played it at a friends house.  never did get very far into it as a kid, mostly replayed the first two areas over and over again, but man, did that game ever set my imagination on fire.  i remember drawing pictures of the enemies in day care and humming the tunes while i couldn't play it.  feels weird to actually be able to "get" anywhere in the game now as an adult.