All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'castlevania' on The Great Games Experiment All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'castlevania' on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg All-Time Highest Rated Games Tagged 'castlevania' on The Great Games Experiment en-us Castlevania: Symphony of the Night The classic Castlevania series returns in top form on your PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Richter Belmont banished Count Dracula five years ago, but has now mysteriously vanished, and Castlevania once again looms on the horizon. Alucard, the son of Dracula, has been awakened from what was meant to be his eternal slumber by the appearance of Castlevania, and now must find out why Castlevania has returned and set things right.

Quite possibly the best 2D action side scroller ever.
]]> 27 Nov 2006 04:01:32 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin With this iteration of the long standing Castlevania series, Gamestop/EB Games included an "Anniversary Pack" bonus for pre-orders, which covered the history of the series. The game was critically well received.
]]> 08 Feb 2007 06:22:29 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow is a platform game with RPG stat-building elements. The player guides Soma Cruz through a large sprawling castle, where he or she has almost free reign to go wherever he or she wishes. However, similar to the Metroid series, certain areas are inaccessible until the player defeats key enemies and obtains critical items. Along the way, the player must defeat a horde of monsters that roam the various rooms of the castle with the weapons he or she finds along the way. The more enemies the player defeats, and the stronger the enemy, the more experience points they get, which enables them to level up and improve their abilities. Several items, including weapons, armor, and accessories, can be found around the castle, dropped by defeated foes, or purchased at Hammer's shop, and can be used to increase the player's statistics.

The game features the "Tactical Soul" system from Aria of Sorrow, where Soma can absorb the soul of an enemy he defeats and can use their power. Dawn of Sorrow improves on the previous system by allowing the player to upgrade most soul abilities by acquiring multiple copies of the same soul. Souls can also be used in weapon synthesis to create rare and powerful weapons.

A new feature, the "Magic Seal" system, makes use of the system's touch screen. Using the DS stylus, the player must draw an intricate pattern known as a magic seal on the touch screen in order to trap defeated boss enemies. If the seal is not drawn correctly, the boss will regenerate some energy and continue to fight. The touch screen can also be used to break certain blocks, navigate menus, select a warp point, and control certain familiars.

The game also has a multiplayer vs. mode, where one player creates a section of the castle, complete with enemies, and both players race to defeat the enemies and reach the end of the level; players are also able to trade souls they've found in the game.

Taken from wiki
]]> 10 Feb 2007 01:47:37 Castlevania Enter At Your Own Risk!
]]> 01 Dec 2006 01:34:44 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon In 1830, Morris Baldwin and his two apprentice vampire hunters enter Castlevania to stop the resurrection of Count Dracula. They arrive too late, and Dracula kidnaps the master Baldwin to use as a sacrifice to regain full power, and casts the two young pupils - Hugh Baldwin and Nathan Graves - into a bottomless abyss. Hugh, upset that he was not choosen as his father's successor, runs off on his own. It is now up to Nathan Graves to find Hugh and recover his master.

Nathan's control and abilities differ from protaganists in the later GBA games. He naturually walks at the speed of an eight bit Belmont, and double tapping the d-pad allows him to run. Holding the whip button causes him to rapidly spin his whip, which can be used as a shield against weak enemies and projectiles.

Also unique to this game is the DSS system, which allows you to collect special cards which magically affect the whip. There are two different types of cards - attribute cards - which must be paired together to produce some result. For example, the Mercury Action card causes attribute cards to effect your whip, so pairing the Mercury action card with the Salamander (fire) attribute card causes Nathan to use a flame whip. There are twelve cards of each type in the game.
]]> 22 Feb 2007 04:53:22 The Underside the underside is an exploration based action platformer in the vein (it's a pun~) of games like castlevania, metroid, and cave story. however, unlike most other games in this genre, the gameplay is driven more by plot than by free-roaming exploration (though the world is fully explorable).

the game's graphics and engine are (believe it or not) completely original. the game's engine is written in clickteam's multimedia fusion 2, while the graphics are done in humanbalance's graphicsgale.

the music is written by both me (arthur lee), and my close friend, j. michael brown. done in fruityloops using the 3xosc plugin as well as tweakbench's toad and peach vsts, the game's soundtrack has a real retro feel to it.
the game's plot revolves around a character named 'ip' who must escape from the underside, and maybe prevent the world from being destroyed while he's at it. the game's world, characters, plot strands, and dialogue are heavily inspired by earthbound, and are quirky, whimsical, and sometimes a little strange.

the gameplay is very fast based -- a lot more akin to games like megaman or metal slug rather than metroid or cave story in terms of pacing.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 04:25:52 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow The game takes place in the future (2035), but still feels like the Castlevania that we all know and love. The game stars Soma Cruz, a Japanese high school student, who goes to the Hakuba Shrine with his friend, Mina Hakuba. People are gathering together for the first solar-eclipse of the twenty-first century. Both Soma and Mina are black out, and wake up in Castlevania. The goal of the game is to escape Dracula's castle, but much is discovered about Soma's abilities and the reasons for him to be there.

The game plays much like the newer Castlevania games, even though it was on the GBA. The music, fluidity, difficulty, and other small, nagging issues were improved for this installment.
]]> 22 Feb 2007 02:59:35 Super Castlevania IV Castlevania 4 was the first of the two SNES Castlevania titles. When the SNES debuted, many expected their favorite games to re-appear with a graphical overhaul. Castlevania IV was that and more of the original title, expanding the game well beyond the NES version as well as updating the graphics and sound.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 01:53:51 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse Castlevania 3 took a step away from the RPG elements of Castlevania 2, returning to the original game's style. Set about 100 years after Castlevania 2, Trevor Belmont is the protagonist in this adventure. Trevor sets off to combat evil once again. The other main addition in this game were the three "Spirit Companions," each having its own abilities.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 01:46:51 CastlevaniaRL: Serenade Of Chaos
]]> 14 Aug 2007 11:52:53 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest Simon returns in his second adventure. While retaining the classic side scrolling Castlevania gameplay, Simon's Quest integrated many new RPG-esque elements. Rather than the straight forward approach of the original, you have to find items, solve puzzles, and actually figure out where you need to go.
]]> 11 Feb 2007 01:38:27 Castlevania 64 "Castlevania is a video game developed and published by Konami for the Nintendo 64. It is the first 3D game in the Castlevania series, and was released in North America on January 26, 1999. Fans and media alike have nicknamed the game "Castlevania 64" to differentiate it from other games in the series that bear the same title.


"Transylvania, in the mid 19th century. The Province of Wallachia. In this time of peace and plenty, no-one foresees the return of ancient horrors... But the old legends live, and soon the land will again be plunged into darkness. The people have returned to the path of wickedness, and the bonds that seal their evil ruler's spirit are weakening. Deep in his castle, he stirs from a century of enforced sleep... Count Dracula awakes.

Reinhardt Schneider... Heir of the ancient Belmont clan of vampire hunters, his blood dooms him to oppose the might of Count Dracula. Wielding the holy whip of his ancestors, the young vampire killer begins his quest!!

Carrie Fernandez... A young girl gifted with great magical powers. Sensing Dracula's return, she sets off alone to the dark castle. Now she must wield her inherited power in the fight against evil..."
- Castlevania's prologue"

(Taken from Wikipedia)
]]> 05 May 2007 10:36:16 Dracula's Shadow This is a Castlevania fan game based off of Castlevania 2 : Simon's Quest. While the gameplay and structure is very similar to that game, the levels, world layout and objectives are almost entirely different. The game improves on the original formula by allowing you to control three different characters, mix potions, perform item crashes and more. In addition to Bloody Tears and the other songs from Castlevania 2, there is wealth of new music created for the game. Much of it is remixed songs from previous Castlevania games, although there are also entirely new tracks that would not be out of place in an official Castlevania adventure.

Please note that the Castlevania series, which this game is based, belongs to Konami. The author has such a disclaimer available on his webpage as well.
]]> 19 Feb 2007 01:19:38