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As this year draws to a close, most gamers will remember 2011 as the 25th anniversary of the Legend of Zelda series, due in part to Nintendo's compassionate and year-long marketing celebration of all things Zelda.
However, unlike Nintendo, Konami has, (for whatever reason,) criminally neglected to celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of it's own influential video game series: the original Akumajō Dracula, (Devil's Castle Dracula,) or, better known to us outside Japan - Castlevania.
Released in September of 1986 in Japan, Castlevania not only introduced early Nintendo Entertainment System adopters to a more eerie setting of adventure game; it also brought to life many of Hollywood's A-List Horror movie monsters in a beautiful marriage of simple control and soul-crushing difficulty. The first game would go on to spawn three direct sequels, (as well as numerous remakes across different systems,) while the second game, Simon's Quest, would not only serve as the inspiration for a massive series reinvention in the 32-bit era, it would provide half of the foundation for the major game genre we compare games to today as 'Metroidvania'.

Seeing as how there has been very negligible mention all year of anything Castlevania, I wanted to start a thread here in the hopes of sharing news and stories related to the series, as well as any other discussions or questions anyone might have.. I'll be adding to this thread often, and I hope others contribute as well! (But please - no 'which Castlevania game is the best' questions.. If I wanted to start a 'poll' thread, I would have made that option available.)

But enough talk.. Have at you!

I'm really hoping to play the final DLC for Lords of Shadow soon, I loved that game. I cannot wait for a sequel!!! Especially with that ending.

I have a pretty sizeable collection of Castlevania, one day I hope to get pictures up in the collection thread! This year I bought Dracula X for the PCE-CD and it is a great one, I love the German intro.

We sort of have a thread for this already.
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30591&hilit=castlevania&start=240

May as well start this off with the first castlevania I beat.

That was Symphony of the Night.

yeah, I had tackled the nes and Snes versions in the past. But those games weren't mine.

When I finally got my first modern console PS1, This was one of the first games that I bought for it. Used of course.

The sounds, the magic, the enemies, and the adventure! It was a unique experience.

I knew enough of the inverted castle from other stories I've heard and read. so When I played the game I made it to the end and got the second ending.

Have any of you beat the game on the first time round and not made it to the second castle? Did you discover it on your second playthrough? Or did someone else explain it to you?

I also own one of those 'unofficial' strategy guides for it too. Helped me out on that third time I played it. And I played it some more.

Played it to get the item that gets the unilimited items attack.

Made the game slowdown some. But it was still fun.

Played SotN so much that I dreamt of it in my sleep.

good times.

Stark wrote:I'm really hoping to play the final DLC for Lords of Shadow soon, I loved that game. I cannot wait for a sequel!!! Especially with that ending.

I have a pretty sizeable collection of Castlevania, one day I hope to get pictures up in the collection thread! This year I bought Dracula X for the PCE-CD and it is a great one, I love the German intro.

Same here - As much of a Castlevaniac as I am, I keep putting off the DLC to LoS simply because of the price.. Also, a part of me is holding off on Konami announcing a physical copy/ultimate edition.. Of course, as it's been over a year since it's release - this seems very unlikely..

GSZX1337 wrote:We sort of have a thread for this already.
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=30591&hilit=castlevania&start=240

I saw that one, but as I said in my original post, I'm not going for a poll-thread or "what game is better" kind of deal.. I'm hoping this thread flows into a kind of one-stop for all things Castlevania here on RB..

flojocabron wrote:Have any of you beat the game on the first time round and not made it to the second castle?
........
Played SotN so much that I dreamt of it in my sleep.

good times.

Now this is what I'm going for with this thread!! Man, I love hearing that there were other kids who played a game so much they actually dreamed about it as well!! (I did the same thing with Simon's Quest, as well as Zelda: A Link to the Past...)

I remember the first weekend I played SotN. When I got to Possessed Richter, I was blown away at the thought of actually fighting a Belmont... so I naturally whooped his ass and got the bad ending.. I remember being so damn depressed at that shitty ending.. How could they make such an awesome game, but make the ending so brief and anti-climactic..? A few days later I went onto Castlevania Dungeon and found out that I actually screwed up and didn't really beat the game..

Once I went back and beat Richter the right way, man, it was like I unlocked the game's sequel instantly.. I was so freakin' happy there was more to play..

During Metal Gear Solid, Psycho Mantis read my memory card and proclaimed, "You like Castlevania, don't you?". Without missing a beat, I blurted out: "YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DO!". I then looked around, relieved I was alone...

This was in 1998 when I was 21.

I love Castlevania.

Hi. I'm glad you posted this thread because I have a Castlevania question that probably doesn't deserve a thread of its own!

From the sounds of things, I'm probably the only person here who has never played a Castlevania game.



I have found this incredibly rough copy of 'Harmony of Dissonance' for GBA. Its costs $7.50 shipped. Would this be a good place to start and should I buy it?

Castlevania 64... I appreciate you. No matter what anyone says.

Condolences to others, like me, who entered the Castlevania franchise via the most soul-crushingly difficult of them all: "The Castlevania Adventure" on original GameBoy. Hard as it was, I still enjoyed it.

god wrote:Hi. I'm glad you posted this thread because I have a Castlevania question that probably doesn't deserve a thread of its own!

From the sounds of things, I'm probably the only person here who has never played a Castlevania game.

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I have found this incredibly rough copy of 'Harmony of Dissonance' for GBA. Its costs $7.50 shipped. Would this be a good place to start and should I buy it?

Hey god, thanks for popping in the CV thread.

Anyway, Harmony of Dissonance is generally seen as a pretty lackluster CV title. It's not a bad game per se, but certainly a weak one. If you want to dip into the series with a GBA title, I would suggest Aria of Sorrow or Circle of the Moon instead. Hell, you can even get the original Castlevania on GBA. Personally though, I like Circle of the Moon the most out of the GBA games, and it should cost you about as much as Harmony of Dissonance will.