gamrConnect Presents: Their 1077 Greatest Games - 2017 Edition

[The_Liquid_Laser]

mZuzek said:

RolStoppable said:

Castlevania 2 sucks. The only reason why it was even considered bearable during its time is because Nintendo Power featured a walkthrough of the game. I didn't like Castlevania 3 either. It seems to be all about being difficult and throwing stupid level design and unfair bosses at the player; depending on which of the side characters you pick up, you can screw yourself over completely because it gets so tough.

Castlevania is a series with many ups and downs, and it has really low lows. There's no shame in quitting or skipping the lackluster entries, because many of the games really aren't worth playing and merely try to live off the legacy.

It's weird, I heard so much about how extremely hard and brutally frustrating the first game is supposed to be, and to me it was always just fun. Yeah sure it was a pretty tough challenge, but it always felt fair (except the god damn water stage) and never overly punishing (you know, NES game overs and such). It was definitely a hard game, but never "one of the hardest games ever" as I've seen some say.

Because of those things I heard though, it made me think the franchise could only get easier from then on, and indeed up to where I played it (level 3) the third game was mostly pretty easy.

I personally have found the first Castlevania to be extremely hard.  I don't know if it is just me, because I have beaten plenty of "hard" NES games, but I think for some reason I just have an exceptionally hard time with the first Castlevania.  I had it on the NES and never got past the Grim Reaper as a kid.  Then about 20 years ago, I was at a friends house and we were just messing around and talking and I was playing his NES, not really paying attention to what I was doing.  Not only did I get past the Grim Reaper, but I beat Dracula only after a few tries!  Now I have the NES classic version.  I can get to Dracula, but I just can't beat him.  For some reason I can't beat Castlevania, when I am the one that owns the game, lol.

I've been playing through several games in the series in the past year.  SNES Castlevania IV is my favorite.  The controls are awesome.  I started playing Bloodlines on the Genesis a couple of months ago, and I am really digging it.  I also played Circle of the Moon on the GBA last year and I really loved it.  I didn't think I would like the Metroidvania style, but actually I was really impressed.  I played one of the DS Castlevanias about 10 years ago, and I really didn't like it (forgot which one it was), but now I realize that it's not the Metroidvania that bothers me.  Might have just been one of the worst ones made period.

I have yet to try SotN, so not sure if I will love it or hate it.  I really liked Circle of the Moon's Metroidvania style, but I also really want to have a whip.