4. Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
Given the amazing critical response to Aria of Sorrow on the GBA, it made sense for Konami to create a sequel for Nintendo's new handheld, the DS. Dawn of Sorrow feels very much like Aria but on steroids; the visuals are massively improved and are much closer to those seen in Symphony of the Night, while Masahiko Kimura (Castlevania 64)'s soundtrack is also much more refined (even if it's not quite up there with the best of the franchise).
The 'Soul' system from Aria makes a return and the game is impressively proportioned, but the technical gimmicks – such as having to draw seals on the touch screen to kill bosses and the WiFi system (which is now unavailable as Nintendo has taken the DS' wireless portal offline) – don't add much to the experience. It's also a shame that Ayami Kojima wasn't invited back to do the character artwork; instead, we get a very basic 'anime' cast of characters that lack charm. Despite its shortcomings – and the feeling that the whole 'Metroidvania' template is growing stale by this point – Dawn of Sorrow is still an excellent game.
3. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (TG-16)
The first Castlevania game to leverage the storage power of CD-ROM, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood sort of picks up where Castlevania III left off. The branching pathways are back, as is the ability to play as someone other than a Belmont. However, what makes Dracula X so appealing is the way it uses the power of the CD to offer a staggering level of presentation. Animated cutscenes abound, and each stage feels fresh and different.
The soundtrack, too, benefits immensely from the fact that it's no longer constrained by the limitations of cartridge media. While the bright, anime-style character designs aren't quite as moody and atmospheric as they should be, Dracula X's position as one of the greatest games in the series is secure thanks to its impeccably-designed levels, fantastic visuals and gorgeous music. The game was later remastered for PSP in the form of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, but the 2.5D visuals have aged much worse than the 2D ones of the original game. Thankfully, The Dracula X Chronicles includes both the PC Engine version of the game and Symphony of the Night as unlockables.
2. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
Following Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance – both of which fell short of hitting the same highs of Symphony of the Night – Koji Igarashi and his team returned to the Game Boy Advance with Aria of Sorrow, a game which many fans consider to be the second best 'Metroidvania' in the franchise. The action takes place in 2035, but the setting is still resolutely gothic, with little in the way of modern or futuristic elements. Aria of Sorrow's 'Soul System' offers an incredible amount of replayability, and the sheer number of items, weapons and pieces of gear to collect is staggering – even more so when you consider this is a portable release.
While it never quite beats Symphony of the Night in terms of scale, it's a match in many other ways and is a must-play for all fans of the series, and Metroidvania genre. Aria of Sorrow is included on the Castlevania Advance Collection, which is good, because the Game Boy Advance original is prohibitively expensive these days.
1. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Castlevania was at something of a crossroads in 1997. The advent of 32-bit consoles like the PlayStation and Saturn had introduced a new era of 3D visuals, and many of gaming's biggest franchises were shedding their 2D origins and embracing the world of three dimensions. When Konami revealed that its first 32-bit Castlevania title would still be 2D in nature, there was some degree of apathy in certain parts of the gaming world – but Symphony of the Night proved such doubters wrong. It's unquestionably one of the best video games of all time, skillfully mixing traditional Castlevania gameplay with the exploration and gear-gating of Super Metroid (hence the term 'Metroidvania') whilst adding in hundreds of items to collect and an RPG-style levelling system.
The scope of Symphony of the Night is truly staggering, even by modern standards; fully uncovering every inch of Dracula's castle is an undertaking that will consume weeks of your life. The presentation is arguably Konami's 2D zenith; superbly-animated sprites and beautiful backdrops abound, while the music also represents some of the finest audio in the Castlevania canon. While programmer Koji Igarashi – who would later become series producer – iterated on the 'Metroidvania' concept with his GBA and DS outings, none of them really overtake Symphony of the Night in terms of brilliance. That's why we consider it to be the best Castlevania game of all time.
A Japan-exclusive Saturn port was released in 1998 which added in new levels and the ability to play as Maria, but it is also saddled with longer loading times and weaker visuals overall. Castlevania Requiem on the PS4 bundles the game with Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, and Symphony of the Night was also included on the earlier PSP collection, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Finally, it's worth noting that we nearly got a port for Tiger's ill-fated Game.com handheld, which was cancelled before launch and recently rediscovered.
Comments 26
Good list. Though personally I liked Lords of Shadow (sacrilege I know) and would have it above Castlevania NES and GB entries. I know which i've enjoyed replaying more recently.
@themightyant Same here. I really liked the three Lords of Shadow games, but the first one I think it is pretty underrated in the series.
TBH, back in the day, I LOVED Lament of Innocence. It was one of the few PS2 games which I bought day one.
I played it recently (via the PS3 port) and it has hold up really well, IMO. It has great music too! It was exciting to see a 3D Castlevania on the PS2.
@HarmanSmith Yeah it was a bit long... 2 slow swamp levels! and could have done with a bit of cutting but it was a stunning game, with a great story and excellent combat. Obviously a huge departure from the 2D Metroidvania style but for me a huge improvement over most of the 3D efforts.
Mirror of Fate was a solid entry on the 3DS, Lords of Shadow 2 was pretty disappointing though. Didn't get close to the first game, and all the stories of mismanagement, devs angry and leaving really showed in the final product. The first felt like a labour of love the last the opposite sadly. Still enjoyed bits of it.
Can't argue with this! I don't think anything will ever top Symphony of the Night, and Konami certainly doesn't seem keen to even try.
Damn Damien!! This must have taken some time to put together! Great top 10, by the way. Good work!!
NINJA APPROVED
Wow, such a great series! Honestly, if you play any of the games in the top 15, I think you're guaranteed to have a good time.
I still think the 1st Lords of Shadow and the 3ds entry are 2 of the most underrated games out there.
@BloodNinja Thanks, it did take a while... and picking the ranking was hard!
@Damo I will always maintain that the N64 games are somewhat underrated these days, for the time they were very good 3D action titles with pretty great performance compared to many others back then.
Still my top 3 will revolve around Super Castlevania IV, Rondo of Blood and Symphony of The Night and it's a shame Rebirth is locked to the Wii as an official release
Interesting overview of a great series, played all of the GBA and DS games as well as the original NES game back in the day, but can't even remember how many times I've played and beat Symphony of the Night, most recently on my PS5
I do love Castlevania, the good ones at least. Though, for me, one of the "good" ones just doesn't do anything for me, and that's Castlevania 4. Some say, it's because I didn't play it in its time. I also didn't play Bloodlines or Rondo in their time, and I love those. In fact, I've started to see those who love CV4 put Bloodlines ahead of it. I ended up playing Rondo, Bloodlines, and CV4 at around the same time. I didn't like the level design in relation to the multi-way whipping. In fact, the most enjoyment I could get from the game involved not using that feature except when absolutely necessary. I also did not like about half of the soundtrack. The attempts to be cinematic just didn't work in my opinion in various stages and some music just felt inappropriate to me for a Castlevania game, though that's with the benefit of hindsight. It's weird how much of an outlier CV4 is for me and I really did want to like it(more classic CV is a good thing).
Aside from that, I like the other popular games in the franchise. Rondo, Bloodlines, and CV3 are fantastic games in the classic style. Aria of Sorrow, and all three DS games are great. Symphony is a masterpiece. And a couple of years back, I finally got around to trying Chronicles, and I liked that one a lot too. I was worried it would be too much like CV4, but it was more classic feeling and I really love the music in it, especially the FM.
I just bought SotN on series s. Whenever there's a lull, I'll get around to it. Or even during Halloween.
Super Castlevania, on Snes will always be my favourite. Absolute classic in every way to me.
What's the bets the article puts Bloodlines above IV.
I just have a feeling with the way the narrative around these two consoles is being more and more distorted in recent times.
I think IV really is the better the game overall, where it just feels more like a great and cinematic experience vs an also great but very obviously gamey experience, if that makes sense. It's all about the way it looks and sounds, with the difference akin to watching a film at the cinema (IV) vs watching a movie on your home TV (Bloodlines) imo, and I guess to some degree how it plays too. Or, maybe it's a bit like playing an old-school arcade game (Bloodlines) vs playing a slightly more modern console game (IV), with IV being more like a taste of the future of gaming rather than the past, despite it coming out around three years before Bloodlines. It's hard to explain, but anyone who gets what I'm talking about will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Note: And I did try playing them both again recently, just to make sure I was seeing them with fresh eyes, and indeed hearing them with fresh ears and playing them with fresh hands.
Now, let's see if I'm right or wrong about which one appears higher on the list. . . .
Edit: Well, I was wrong about that assumption.
The article actually got it correct.
@sdelfin Hmmm, what is it I'm sniffing here. . . .
The NES Castlevanias are underrated as they always are, I see. Just once I’d like to see the original beat Castlevania 4… and Simon’s Quest crack the top 10 (and Castlevania 3 in its rightful place at #3, tied with Rondo, of course).
Love this list though. Oh the hours I’ve spent with the Belmont clan over the years!
@RetroGames While I obviously have a different preference, you nailed it when you said CV4 is more of a cinematic product while Bloodlines is more of a game. That's exactly why I prefer it. Ever since I played these games, I always pointed out that I don't think the level design quite works in CV4, unless I only whip forward, like I mentioned. I also used a hack to replace the tracks I didn't like with Rondo's music. Even then, I thought it was still a ways off from Bloodlines and Rondo. I recognize that CV4 has many fans, and plenty of them highly enthusiastic, so this is just a case where specific game design didn't work for me. I suspect that Konami likely got mixed feedback since they basically built directly upon CV3 for the other games that followed this.
@sdelfin I didn't say Bloodlines was more of "game"; I said it was more of a "gamey" experience.
There's nuince between how you've misinterpreted that and how I actually meant it.
Castlevania IV is absolutely still pure game too, and a brilliant one at that, but it's also that bit more cinematic and future-facing on top of the more traditional and sometimes a bit more dated game experiences that it built upon imo. It's like, once I stepped up to the next generation of technically more matured visuals and audio that was the Castlevania IV game experience, it was hard to step backwards slightly with Bloodlines, even if there was more overt graphical arcadey-style effects and tricks in the later game to try and distract me from the more dated looking, sounding and indeed playing nature of it for the most part, even as good a game as it was in its own right.
To be clear, whatever your own tastes, there's not a negative to be pulled out of the way I specifically was using the descriptors of IV up there.
@RetroGames I knew how you meant that originally. I just didn't like the term. Nothing more. I only decided to reply on this topic when you made the comparison between Bloodlines being more like an older arcade game because I think that's a fair way to put it. In this situation, it's what I prefer, as is clear from my earlier points and the games I prefer. It's one of the earliest examples of a game that was largely well received that I didn't like specifically because of what other people liked(the whipping, the soundtrack). So I wasn't trying to find a negative in your explanation. I just think this divide makes for interesting discussion.
Good reminder that I still need to beat Belmont's Revenge on my GB Pocket
@RetroGames Yeah I agree. I think people have really praised Bloodlines disproportionately in recent years. I love the Genesis but Bloodlines looks downright ugly at times and it's basically "more of the same". I like it but Super Castlevania IV is the superior game with much deeper game play. If I'm remembering the making of video from strafefox correctly, Bloodlines was rushed to market so it was incomplete in a lot of ways and it shows.
Pleasantly surprised by this ranking. Top 5 is ironclad.
Lords of Shadow 2 and Mirror of Fate is two of my favorite Castlevanias. Are they perfect? No especially the former has its issues, but it still have some of the best boss fights ever imo to counter that.
The Igavanias are not my cup of tea, but of the 2D action Castlevania I do like the two Gameboy titles; The Adventure and II Belmont's Revenge plus Bloodlines and Rondo of Blood.
@BloodNinja This list is based on average user scores after all so it can't have been THAT hard to put together, just saying.
My favorite Castlevania is Maid-san o Migi ni - Shooting Star.
Super Castlevania IV for me, one of my favourite games of all time.
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