@Khuutra

Hummm, you're right about it introducing a more Castlevania-esque formula than the other handheld games. One thing I liked about it is combining runes to make different kinds of weapons and attack mechanics.

Plus it was much harder indeed, especially the bosses. Castlevania handhelds had too many easy bosses, especially the GBA iterations and Dawn of Sorrow.

Right.

I can definitely understand holding Aria of Sorrow as the best - its introduction of the soul system, dark art style, and somewhat well-crafted storyline made for a very, very satisfying experience. It did things that I would not have expected out of the GBA.

My wife really enjoyed Order of Ecclesia, too: she ended up cosplaying as Shanoa after playing it, in point of fact.

You have a wife that cosplays.... I think i'm going to go to the corner of the thread and cry. I have been trying to get my GF to cosplay, and you have a wife that does it out of free will xD Oh life, how unfair are thee.

OT - Yeah, AoS really blew me away when I first played it, especially for it's story and the soul system. Plus it had some major twists that left me in a "holy shit" kind of state too.

One of my favorite game series ever.

There's alot of quality to be had in the Castlevania series, you have 20+ years of catching up to do. Here are the must play highlights: Castlevania III,IV, Castlevania: Bloodlines, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the night, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow.

Replace Dawn of Sorrow with the original Castlevania and I'd agree with you.

As much as Dawn of Sorrow is an okay game, its not really a 'must play' of the series.  Heck, in many ways, I consider it a downgrade from its predecessor (Aria of Sorrow).  And, though I always get flak for this, all of the GBA/DS titles being downgrades of Symphony of the Night (except Circle of the Moon which was trying to do something different).

The 'core' titles are pretty much what you listed, just making the modifications I mentioned.

Symphony of the night is my favourite game of all time. I can play it any time, anywhere and I won't be bored.

Ever since the 2D castlevania games you can't go wrong with and 3D ones have been quite bad.

BTW, the PSP version that is locked inside the castlevania chronicles X has redone voice acting and writing which is actually good. It doesn't have the charm of the PS1 classic tho... "What is a man...but a miserable pile of secrets..." LOL

ok i think the next one will be symphony of the night, everyone loves it!, then I think Either dawn of sorrow or aria, aria being harder to find :)

You MUST play Symphony of the Night. Best one ever.

When playing SOTN remember this... if you unlock the games greatest secret, you will DOUBLE its length. That secret is easy to miss so I suggest play through it once...and if the game ends with an ending that doesn't seem very setisfactory...look up a guide on how to unlock this secret.

You can always load your last save and do whats needed to unlock this.

The game is truly amazing though. I've beated the game about 8 times...and am still finding out shit. So many secrets and weapons to play around with...