CastleVania Dungeon - Castlevania Rankings

#1: Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse
Released for the NES in 1990, Dracula's Curse was an amazing way to cap off the NES CastleVania trilogy. It's graphics were top-notch, gameplay; perfect, and the soundtrack is by far the best the NES has ever seen. It succeeded where most early action game failed, providing a good challenge without becoming ridiculous or unfair (see Ghosts 'n' Ghouls). Throw in 4 playable characters, each with their own unique abilites. SEVENTEEN stages, yet to be surpassed by any another old-school CV, and even multiple paths. But above all, the reason this game is the pinnacle of the Castlevania series, is that it is the pinnacle of the straightforward, action genre, a genre that ruled the NES/SNES days and rules our GBAs now.

#2: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Enough can't be said about this Playstation classic. Most consider it to be the high-point of the series, and with good reason. While CastleVania traditionally had pretty stiff controls, moving Alucard throughtout the massive castle was a breeze, the controls were done so elegantly in this game. Hundreds of items, weapons, shields, and armor were at your disposal, many having their own special attack. There's never been a game that gave you more ways of disposing of your foes. But what probably stands out above all was the soundtrack. A mix of traditional CV gothic, some jazz, and even some rock. Although variety is great, the songs' actual composition is what really stands out. Yamane is a god, her composition makes Symphony's soundtrack the absolute best in gaming history, period. Symphony of the Night is a masterpiece that should sit near the top of every Best Games of All-Time list. If it doesn't, there's something wrong, it's just that good.

#3: Super Castlevania 4
One of the most exciting things in the early SNES days was to see all of our favorite franchises get that 16-bit facelift. One of the first was in the form of Super Castlevania IV, it also turned out to be one of the best. Finally, we can whip in 8 directions! Finally, we can flail the whip wherever we wanted. Finally, we can control out jumps, walk while ducking, and throw crosses without holding the freakin up button! But the highlight of this game, has to be the last 1/5 of the game, where we are treated to the Clock Tower and Castle Keep. Going along with those stages, was some of the best music seen on the SNES. Vampire Killer, Beginning, and Blooody Tears have never sounded better. Strangely, few of the ideas I mentioned were re-used. Good part of that? CV4 stands in a league all it's own.

#4: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Circle of the Moon is undoubtedly still the best game for the GBA. This game succeeded where the other two GBA CVs fail. It didn't try to be SotN. KCEK took the basic formula, but did their own thing. Result? You wont be backdashing, or turing into a bat, or stealing enemies' soul. Take Simon, stick him in a SotN style castle, and you have a perfect mix of old school CV, and new school Castle-roid. Something hardcore fans can really appreciate. Something else we can appreciate? How about seeing some old CastleVania tunes finally make a triumphant return. Circle of the Moon dared to be different, and became one of the best CastleVanias ever.

#5: Castlevania
Although it didn't REALLY start with this game, I think we can all agree this is the first time CastleVania shined. It also stills shines as one of the best games in the series. Every aspect of the game was done very well for its time. The difficuly was bitch-hard, like we know we all like it. When we finally got to Dracula, and died, and died, and died again, all we could do is keep trying, and trying, and trying some more...... Castlevania is still one of those games you can pop in your NES and still have alot of fun with. The first classic in the series, which would spawn many, many more.

#6/7: Castlevania 64/Legacy of Darkness
Yes, you read that correctly. I never got why people hate these games so much. Creppy environments; nice, ambient soundtrack; massive levels, what's the problem? Sluggish controls? Castlevania has always been sluggish! Stupid combat? What's did you forget about the whip after SotN. Oh man! You could die by missing a jump? This game suffered from SotN-syndrome. Everyone was looking for SotN in 3D. Konami gave us CV3 in 3D. And guess what? They did an amazing job. These games are not-at-all-awful, i never understood the bashing. Tell you what, this was the only time Castlevania ever pulled off the element of fear in the series (remember the hedge maze?). I mean, you're in a castle, full of monsters, shouldn't there be a little fear? Don't worry KCEK! You did an incredible job, just don't listen to them!

#8: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood PC Engine
One of the most sought after titles in the world of gaming, Rondo really stands out int he field of old school Castlevania. The soundtrack was awesome. The anime look gave it its own distnct feel. Many reasons to like this game. But it did have its glaring flaw. Despite the 4 multiple stages, the game didn't last that long, and the difficulty wasn't hard enough to lengthen it all that much. But it did introduce to us items crashes and the backfilp/evasion manuever, two current staples in the series. If you can find it, it's definitely worth getting, it'll go for around $100, but its worth the price to play a great game that never made it over to the U.S.

#9: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
This game is basically SotN, gone portable. You attack with a sword, backdash, douple jump kick thing...etc. The animation and graphics are the absolute best for the GBA. Yamane does it again with the soundtrack, the Clock Tower theme really stands out here. The Souls system is cool, but too many are useless. But the biggest gripe I have.......open the map. Do you notice that EVERY room is a perfect square or rectangle? When you notice this, you also notice that the level design is very bland and predictable. The bosses also could've been better, Death being the ony really hard one. Other than that, this is just another great game in the series. It also has a better story than you'd expect from CV.

#10: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
This game is a lot like Symphony, except with a whip, which is always cool. The graphics are a big step up, and you get a much bigger castle, plus an inverted one! The dash feature is actually well-done, and there were no problems with using just B to trigger all attack. Unfortunately, this game is pathetically easy and the music is horrendous for a Castlevania. Plus, there are no hidden rooms in walls! WTF? They do include a hard mode, which is the game's saving grace. If you can look past the music, you'll find alot of fun in this game. It's a testament to the consistancy of the series.

#11: Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
Instead of going back to the original formula, Konami switched it up for CV2. And for the most part, it worked. The soundtrack was great, as usual, and fortunately the action didn't take a step down in this much different game. Most of the areas are the same, so its gets repetitive, and the final fight is...well....just pitiful. Overall, Simon's Quest accomplished what it was supposed to, be CastleVania, be good, while providing a different experience than the first. Hey, they pulled it off alot better than Zelda 2.

#12: Castlevania Bloodlines
The only CV to ever appear exclusively on a Sega console was actually a very good game. You got two playable characters, each very unique, which is something that hadn't been seen since Dracula's Curse. And although there were only 6 stages, there were some of the longest the series has seen. Unfortunately, there was nothing really too extraordinary about it. Still a competent CV title.

#13: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
One of the biggest steps in the right direction for CastleVania, also produced what is probably the biggest dissapointment. The Good? Deep combat system and a huge set of attacks, over 60 in fact. The Bad? Unextraordinarily dull and repetitive level design. You simply move from room to room killing enemies. That's it. There's a few puzzle rooms here and there, and the boss battles are decent, but the game gets old, fast. Still, if this is a preview of things to come, CV fans should be very excited. With the level design, there's no where to go but up.

#14: Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge
The second of the GB CastleVanias was by far the best. In this one, you picked from 4 levels in any order, kinda like Megaman. The music was awesome ofr a GB title, and the levels and gameplay wre actaully pretty well thought out. One of the better games for the original GB, and a game most should check out.

#15: Castlevania Chronicles
Released for the Sharp X68000 and PSOne in the form of Chronicles in 2001, this is one of the more overlooked CastleVanias, and for good reason. The orginal released around the time of Rondo, a much better game. And Chronicles released around the time of Circle of the Moon, a much better game. This is just a souped up CV1 with a few nice features and good challenge, but nothing too much more.

#16: Vampire Killer
This is where it all started. This title is actually a lot more like SoTN, CotM, and the rest of the Castle-roids than the straight-forward action CVs that dominated the next 12 years. The gameplay isn't really there yet though. Pushing up to jump is just retarded, and looking around for keys isn't exactly what I call fun. But, it did start the greatest series in gaming history, so it needs some credit.

#17: Castlevania: Dracula X SNES
This is supposed to be our Rondo? Simply put, Drac X isn't even close to CastleVania standards, much less for being a re-done version of an incredible game. The level design is piss-poor. You are constantly swarmed with enemies that waste no time on killing you, because the invincibility time between hits is non-existant. And the game has 9 short, pathetic levels. This isn't even a competent action title, not even close to a competent CastleVania.

#18: Castlevania Adventure
After seeing what Nintendo did with the Mario Land games, there is really no excuse for this mess, despite it being one of the earliest GB titles. You walk insanely slow, you must get to the VERY edge of every platform to make a jump, and since you walk so slow, you can barely dodge attacks. Boo.

#19: Castlevania Legends
See CastleVania Adventure. Except make the whip shorter, the enemy placment even more retarded and unfair, and make the hero's sprite look worse. What? That's supposed to be a woman? I couldn't tell. And please someone explain Dracula's last from. What the hell is that supposed to be? I'd say a turtle. At least Alucard makes an appearance.

#20: Haunted Castle
This game basically puts you in a situation with loads of enemies you don't even have a a hope of beating. Arcade games were designed to be hard and unbeatable, and that's why many of them suck. Haunted Castle is no exception. Most players have little chance of making it past level 3. While many say this game has a good soundtrack, I tend to disagree. It sounds very uninspired.

	#2: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Enough can't be said about this Playstation classic. Most consider it to be the high-point of the series, and with good reason. While CastleVania traditionally had pretty stiff controls, moving Alucard throughtout the massive castle was a breeze, the controls were done so elegantly in this game. Hundreds of items, weapons, shields, and armor were at your disposal, many having their own special attack. There's never been a game that gave you more ways of disposing of your foes. But what probably stands out above all was the soundtrack. A mix of traditional CV gothic, some jazz, and even some rock. Although variety is great, the songs' actual composition is what really stands out. Yamane is a god, her composition makes Symphony's soundtrack the absolute best in gaming history, period. Symphony of the Night is a masterpiece that should sit near the top of every Best Games of All-Time list. If it doesn't, there's something wrong, it's just that good.
	#3: Super Castlevania 4 One of the most exciting things in the early SNES days was to see all of our favorite franchises get that 16-bit facelift. One of the first was in the form of Super Castlevania IV, it also turned out to be one of the best. Finally, we can whip in 8 directions! Finally, we can flail the whip wherever we wanted. Finally, we can control out jumps, walk while ducking, and throw crosses without holding the freakin up button! But the highlight of this game, has to be the last 1/5 of the game, where we are treated to the Clock Tower and Castle Keep. Going along with those stages, was some of the best music seen on the SNES. Vampire Killer, Beginning, and Blooody Tears have never sounded better. Strangely, few of the ideas I mentioned were re-used. Good part of that? CV4 stands in a league all it's own.
	#4: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Circle of the Moon is undoubtedly still the best game for the GBA. This game succeeded where the other two GBA CVs fail. It didn't try to be SotN. KCEK took the basic formula, but did their own thing. Result? You wont be backdashing, or turing into a bat, or stealing enemies' soul. Take Simon, stick him in a SotN style castle, and you have a perfect mix of old school CV, and new school Castle-roid. Something hardcore fans can really appreciate. Something else we can appreciate? How about seeing some old CastleVania tunes finally make a triumphant return. Circle of the Moon dared to be different, and became one of the best CastleVanias ever.
	#5: Castlevania Although it didn't REALLY start with this game, I think we can all agree this is the first time CastleVania shined. It also stills shines as one of the best games in the series. Every aspect of the game was done very well for its time. The difficuly was bitch-hard, like we know we all like it. When we finally got to Dracula, and died, and died, and died again, all we could do is keep trying, and trying, and trying some more...... Castlevania is still one of those games you can pop in your NES and still have alot of fun with. The first classic in the series, which would spawn many, many more.
	#6/7: Castlevania 64/Legacy of Darkness Yes, you read that correctly. I never got why people hate these games so much. Creppy environments; nice, ambient soundtrack; massive levels, what's the problem? Sluggish controls? Castlevania has always been sluggish! Stupid combat? What's did you forget about the whip after SotN. Oh man! You could die by missing a jump? This game suffered from SotN-syndrome. Everyone was looking for SotN in 3D. Konami gave us CV3 in 3D. And guess what? They did an amazing job. These games are not-at-all-awful, i never understood the bashing. Tell you what, this was the only time Castlevania ever pulled off the element of fear in the series (remember the hedge maze?). I mean, you're in a castle, full of monsters, shouldn't there be a little fear? Don't worry KCEK! You did an incredible job, just don't listen to them!
	#8: Dracula X: Rondo of Blood PC Engine One of the most sought after titles in the world of gaming, Rondo really stands out int he field of old school Castlevania. The soundtrack was awesome. The anime look gave it its own distnct feel. Many reasons to like this game. But it did have its glaring flaw. Despite the 4 multiple stages, the game didn't last that long, and the difficulty wasn't hard enough to lengthen it all that much. But it did introduce to us items crashes and the backfilp/evasion manuever, two current staples in the series. If you can find it, it's definitely worth getting, it'll go for around $100, but its worth the price to play a great game that never made it over to the U.S.

	#9: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow This game is basically SotN, gone portable. You attack with a sword, backdash, douple jump kick thing...etc. The animation and graphics are the absolute best for the GBA. Yamane does it again with the soundtrack, the Clock Tower theme really stands out here. The Souls system is cool, but too many are useless. But the biggest gripe I have.......open the map. Do you notice that EVERY room is a perfect square or rectangle? When you notice this, you also notice that the level design is very bland and predictable. The bosses also could've been better, Death being the ony really hard one. Other than that, this is just another great game in the series. It also has a better story than you'd expect from CV.
	#10: Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance This game is a lot like Symphony, except with a whip, which is always cool. The graphics are a big step up, and you get a much bigger castle, plus an inverted one! The dash feature is actually well-done, and there were no problems with using just B to trigger all attack. Unfortunately, this game is pathetically easy and the music is horrendous for a Castlevania. Plus, there are no hidden rooms in walls! WTF? They do include a hard mode, which is the game's saving grace. If you can look past the music, you'll find alot of fun in this game. It's a testament to the consistancy of the series.
	#11: Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest Instead of going back to the original formula, Konami switched it up for CV2. And for the most part, it worked. The soundtrack was great, as usual, and fortunately the action didn't take a step down in this much different game. Most of the areas are the same, so its gets repetitive, and the final fight is...well....just pitiful. Overall, Simon's Quest accomplished what it was supposed to, be CastleVania, be good, while providing a different experience than the first. Hey, they pulled it off alot better than Zelda 2.
	#12: Castlevania Bloodlines The only CV to ever appear exclusively on a Sega console was actually a very good game. You got two playable characters, each very unique, which is something that hadn't been seen since Dracula's Curse. And although there were only 6 stages, there were some of the longest the series has seen. Unfortunately, there was nothing really too extraordinary about it. Still a competent CV title.
	#13: Castlevania: Lament of Innocence One of the biggest steps in the right direction for CastleVania, also produced what is probably the biggest dissapointment. The Good? Deep combat system and a huge set of attacks, over 60 in fact. The Bad? Unextraordinarily dull and repetitive level design. You simply move from room to room killing enemies. That's it. There's a few puzzle rooms here and there, and the boss battles are decent, but the game gets old, fast. Still, if this is a preview of things to come, CV fans should be very excited. With the level design, there's no where to go but up.
	#14: Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge The second of the GB CastleVanias was by far the best. In this one, you picked from 4 levels in any order, kinda like Megaman. The music was awesome ofr a GB title, and the levels and gameplay wre actaully pretty well thought out. One of the better games for the original GB, and a game most should check out.
	#15: Castlevania Chronicles Released for the Sharp X68000 and PSOne in the form of Chronicles in 2001, this is one of the more overlooked CastleVanias, and for good reason. The orginal released around the time of Rondo, a much better game. And Chronicles released around the time of Circle of the Moon, a much better game. This is just a souped up CV1 with a few nice features and good challenge, but nothing too much more.
	#16: Vampire Killer This is where it all started. This title is actually a lot more like SoTN, CotM, and the rest of the Castle-roids than the straight-forward action CVs that dominated the next 12 years. The gameplay isn't really there yet though. Pushing up to jump is just retarded, and looking around for keys isn't exactly what I call fun. But, it did start the greatest series in gaming history, so it needs some credit.
	#17: Castlevania: Dracula X SNES This is supposed to be our Rondo? Simply put, Drac X isn't even close to CastleVania standards, much less for being a re-done version of an incredible game. The level design is piss-poor. You are constantly swarmed with enemies that waste no time on killing you, because the invincibility time between hits is non-existant. And the game has 9 short, pathetic levels. This isn't even a competent action title, not even close to a competent CastleVania.
	#18: Castlevania Adventure After seeing what Nintendo did with the Mario Land games, there is really no excuse for this mess, despite it being one of the earliest GB titles. You walk insanely slow, you must get to the VERY edge of every platform to make a jump, and since you walk so slow, you can barely dodge attacks. Boo.
	#19: Castlevania Legends See CastleVania Adventure. Except make the whip shorter, the enemy placment even more retarded and unfair, and make the hero's sprite look worse. What? That's supposed to be a woman? I couldn't tell. And please someone explain Dracula's last from. What the hell is that supposed to be? I'd say a turtle. At least Alucard makes an appearance.
	#20: Haunted Castle This game basically puts you in a situation with loads of enemies you don't even have a a hope of beating. Arcade games were designed to be hard and unbeatable, and that's why many of them suck. Haunted Castle is no exception. Most players have little chance of making it past level 3. While many say this game has a good soundtrack, I tend to disagree. It sounds very uninspired.