You know what I loved even more than that? Finding out that Ground Zeroes is nothing more than an overpriced demo!

I have played many, MANY, castlevania games, but in all fairness, I loved S.O.T.N. the most.

I really liked Aria and Dawn of Sorrow... so I had to go with 2000-2009

Castlevania 4 is the best of all that i played. I always wanted to try out Rondo of Blood.

Rondo Of Blood is quite good. The new remake is the best update to that game imo. 

This is such a hard decision. I'll break it down by decade.

80s: One of the first NES games I ever played was Castlevania 3 (I'm including this one as part of the 80s since it was released in 1989 in Japan, but released in 1990 in North America....if I included this one in the 90s, the decision would be so much easier). It is, in my opinion, the best of the "original" style Castlevanias. Yes, better than CV4 and Bloodlines. Better than Rondo. But not by much. I loved the branching paths, the extra playable characters, and the music was killer. I then worked my way back in the series. Simon's Quest was not what I was expecting, but I loved it all the same. Despite what amounts to some horrible game design. I was able to finish it, without the internet or any Nintendo Power Magazines. The first game was good too, but since I played CV3 before CV1, it just seemed that CV3 did things better.

90s: I was so excited for Super Castlevania when the SNES was released. I didn't get the opportunity to play it until 1995 or so, though. I grew up in a small isolated town in Newfoundland, Canada. My options for buying games were limited. But anyways, I finally got to play it. It looked amazing, and I really loved the new whip mechanics. The control of Simon was much more fluid than in previous games. But, it felt like the level design hadn't evolved to account for the new controls. As a result, the game was considerably easier than previous ones. Bloodlines fixed some of that, but ultimately, CV4 looked better. Rondo and Dracula X were both good as well, but again, I felt CV3 was still the high point of the old style games. And then I played Symphony of the Night. Holy shit what an awesome game. It was nothing like any of the previous ones, save for maybe a little of Simon's Quest. I'm glad they changed up the formula, because CV3 didn't look like it was going to be beaten...ever. SotN is the only game that can actually stack up against CV3 in terms of quality.

00s: The 3D games were pretty decent, and I liked that they retained the exploration aspect of the Metroidvania style, but I still preferred the 2D games. They took the formula of SotN and ran with it. And we got some really great games. Circle of the Moon and Aria/Dawn of Sorrow were highlights for me. Though I really enjoyed Order of Ecclesia as well. Not sure why it gets so much hate. Harmony of Dissonance and Portrait of Ruin weren't quie as good, imo.

10s: I have Lords of Shadow on Steam, and I've only played a little bit of it, but I already know it's not going to feel like a Castlevania game to me. I plan on getting Mirror o Fate HD and Lords of Shadow 2 on Steam at some point too, but I'm in no hurry at the moment. I just hope someone will develop something for either the 3DS or Vita (or even a downloadable console/PC title) that returns to the series roots. I'm not holding my breath though.


You know what? I'm changing my mind. Castlevania 3 was released in 1990 in North America. That's where I'm putting it when making my decision. CV3 and SotN in one decade? Not to mention CV4 and Bloodlines? Yeah, I'm going with the 90s. If I kept CV3 in the 80s, I think I would have went with the 80s.

And what makes the remake even better is the inclusion of not only the original Rondo, but also Symphony of the Night. I have it physically on PSP, but I am very very tempted to buy it from the PSN so I can play it on my Vita.

lol..Same here. Back when I had a PS4, it was a day one. Then the news about it being a demo dropped and...insta limp.

Let's hope that Konami at least gets Phantom Pain right...