Topic: Favorite portable 'Vania?

[Shiroi Koumori]

Dawn and Aria both played the gotta catch em all gimick that i always fall for. Haha. And Julius mode is really great. And maybe they are both easy in terms of the gameplay of the regular mode.

[piscesdreams]

Hands down Dracula X Chronicles is my favorite, but Order of Ecclesia is a very close 2nd place. That game felt the freshest the series ever did in a long time. At least the metroidvania style went out on a high note. :/

[Crying Freeman]

Am I the only one who prefers Dracula X Chronicles to Rondo of Blood?

Nope. For me, I'd go Kojima's art over the anime any day for CV (excluding her redesign for Simon), the attacks in Rondo felt weak and pathetic because the hit noise accompanying them were tiny little fly shits hitting the ground rather than a thud or whipping sound(something DXX improved on). Plus you have the different boss battles with Annette and Dracula, which is an awesome edition. And CV in 2.5D isn't too shabby.

[zangetsu468]

the attacks in Rondo felt weak and pathetic because the hit noise accompanying them were tiny little fly shits hitting the ground

Hahahaha I know wtf was with that. In DXX you got the whip snap-crackle-&popping on contact. I feel bad for RoB Richter, even though I have to admit that I believe DXX>RoB, RoB is the more polished and cohesive(all-in-all) game presentation-wise. I still give the DXX Artwork and certain tracks a better rating than RoB though.

[piscesdreams]

The whip in RoB always felt like it just rolled out and playfully slapped the enemy, and your only follow up action was to run away giggling gleefully.  That was also the first Castlevania game to not feature the "manly" presentation.  There was certainly no "weight" to the whipping animation and the SFX did NOT help.

[Lumi Kløvstad]

The whip in RoB always felt like it just rolled out and playfully slapped the enemy, and your only follow up action was to run away giggling gleefully.  That was also the first Castlevania game to not feature the "manly" presentation.  There was certainly no "weight" to the whipping animation and the SFX did NOT help.

That was, running on a complete tangent here, one of the things I liked about the first Lords of Shadow: hits felt like they had a weight to them they'd never had in the 3D entries, as opposed to seductively brushing enemies with your leather tendril like you're Christian Grey.

DXC properly nailed the feel of the whip, and Kojima's artwork and redesign of Richter created continuity with Symphony of the Night, which was something I was glad to see as well.

Maria's artwork still creeps me out though.

[Crying Freeman]

Hahahaha I know wtf was with that. In DXX you got the whip snap-crackle-&popping on contact. I feel bad for RoB Richter, even though I have to admit that I believe DXX>RoB, RoB is the more polished and cohesive(all-in-all) game presentation-wise. I still give the DXX Artwork and certain tracks a better rating than RoB though.

I also prefer DXX, and the polish is the main thing RoB wins out on. I'd say RoB feels the most complete and well made in terms of the polish and general "make" of the game. DXX, as mentioned before in discussions, has some weird sloppiness to it(Richter appearing in the next room, but nothing in that room to signify he walked in). I just wish the attacks felt more grand, which DXC fixed

[Crying Freeman]

The whip in RoB always felt like it just rolled out and playfully slapped the enemy, and your only follow up action was to run away giggling gleefully.  That was also the first Castlevania game to not feature the "manly" presentation.  There was certainly no "weight" to the whipping animation and the SFX did NOT help.

I understand they were going for something different with the art, but in an anime the artists and sound designers do their best to make every attack feel as hard hitting as possible, even in the more light-hearted ones RoB was aiming for. But that is a perfect description of it 

[Mike Belmont]

From the classic games, I choose Belmont's Revenge, cause the old school difficult and great music. As for the metroidvania style, Portrait of Ruin is very enjoyable to me, 'cause of the music and two-player gameplay.

[yamabigdog]

As a pure handheld experience, I have to go with CotM.  It was the first CastleVania, after SotN, to do the Metroidvania style.  It managed to feel almost as epic, and really nailed the score.  At that time, GBA was pretty impressive hardware.  The stereo sound capabilities helped it immensely.  Did I mention that soundtrack!?   The lack of a backlight sucked, but the dark GFX really assisted with immersion.  Especially playing it now on a 55" HDTV, no more sitting under a lamp!

My 2nd vote was a no brainer for me.  DXC for PSP.  I could fill a book with the adoration I have for the original PSP 1001 model.  I was very active in the PSP Hardware modding community.  It was actually the first time I got the original RoB to work thru an emulator, since I first experienced it back in '93.  I basically forced myself to figure it out(Japanese Menus didn't exactly help) over the course of several days, but the payoff was sublime. 

Needless to say when I learned of the remake, I was beyond thrilled.  The package consisting of 3 top tier games was pretty amazing.  The small differences in RoB were detracting, but the combined package is just too much gaming goodness crammed onto one UMD(disc).  The value to hour ratio has to be tops amongst handheld CastleVanias.

[Lelygax]

It is very hard to choose, but if I go by the definition of which one I've played more it will be Harmony of Dissonance and Portrait of Ruin. I've played a LOT of Rondo, but since I lack a PSP and a good emulator for it is a recent thing from some years ago, I've played Dracula X Chronicles less times than thesse two.

Since we're talking so much about Rondo and DXC, the one big complain that I have is that they changed Den for Moon Fight for no apparent reason and I love Den:



IMO it mixes all good about CV adding a bit of tension and a "final showdown is nearing" feel. I  like Moon Fight too BTW but its no Den.

[zangetsu468]

So according to the poll, DXC holds the RoB voters as well?

Seems a bit biased doesn't it.

[Crying Freeman]

It is very hard to choose, but if I go by the definition of which one I've played more it will be Harmony of Dissonance and Portrait of Ruin. I've played a LOT of Rondo, but since I lack a PSP and a good emulator for it is a recent thing from some years ago, I've played Dracula X Chronicles less times than thesse two.

Since we're talking so much about Rondo and DXC, the one big complain that I have is that they changed Den for Moon Fight for no apparent reason and I love Den:



IMO it mixes all good about CV adding a bit of tension and a "final showdown is nearing" feel. I  like Moon Fight too BTW but its no Den.

Its weird that they did that. I love the X68000 rendition of moon fight (definitely in my top 5 CV songs), but hearing it here after playing RoB, it jumped out lol. Den was an awesome track too, especially in DXX.

[zangetsu468]

Its weird that they did that. I love the X68000 rendition of moon fight (definitely in my top 5 CV songs), but hearing it here after playing RoB, it jumped out lol. Den was an awesome track too, especially in DXX.

The end is like an acid trip portrayed instrumentally.

[Lelygax]

So according to the poll, DXC holds the RoB voters as well?

Seems a bit biased doesn't it.

Not exactly the poll fault
But think about that, it is even worse, since it holds SotN too! Hahahahahahaha...! *disappears in shadows while laughing like Richter on Coliseum*