My rankings of the Castleroids.

[Shimra]

In honor of Order of Ecclesia coming out, I'm ranking all the Castleroids with write-ups. The Castleroids are my favorite series of games so I figured it'd be fun to rank them. Here we go.

These write-ups contain slight spoilers for the games.

7. Order of Ecclesia
I really really really wanted to love this game, but it sucks. It is legitimately a bad game and I don't know how anyone doesn't realize this. Atrocious level design, combat system that is supposed to be new and exciting (but is far from it), lackluster bosses, ugh this game is actually bad.

Good level design is essential in a Castleroid-- this game lacks any semblance of effort. You have repeating rooms nonstop, not in the sense of PoR where the repeating rooms are spread out oh no, these rooms are seriously right next to each other. Are they even trying anymore? I understand wanting to make a game big, but really? And oh God the castle! What the hell is this? It has the most illogical design of anything I have ever seen in a Metroidvania. The layout does not make sense whatsoever, 50% of the castle consists of winding corridors which look exactly the same (albeit with different enemies) the rest of the castle consists of roughly 5 'big' rooms which are repeated nonstop. For example the clock tower contains a 4x4 room repeated 5 times, then 2 more times in another area. The exact same room, exact same layout, exact same background, seriously what the hell. Also, yes I know the game is supposed to be 'linear' but it really isn't considering a lot of the areas have multiple branching points and the castle is flat out nonlinear-- but what the **** the classicvanias are linear and they manage to make ever room unique. Lazy lazy lazy game developers.

The combat system is supposed to be knew and innovative what with the glyph system and all... but it isn't. It's the exact same combat system in DoS/AoS, just change the word glyph with soul. The difference is you can alternate attacks one after another rapidly... so essentially you can attack faster. That's it. Really, I mean that's it. Some attacks have fusions or whatever, but we've seen that before. Furthermore the number of glyphs is wayyyyyy less than the number of souls from DoS/AoS and even less than the number of spells and subweapons from PoR.

Now the bosses. Some people love the bosses and claim they are the best in the series. What game did they play, honestly. Most of the bosses aren't unique at all, and the few that are unique have incredibly easy attack patterns to memorize. One boss you can literally sit right next to it and attack without getting hit. Another boss takes about 10 minutes to get to where you can actually physically harm it (the whole process is extremely easy since it is a set pattern of attacks) then if you are hit once you are thrown off it and have to repeat the 10 minute process again. What a fun time. But seriously, other than those two bosses you've seen everything before, there is nothing unique (other than the beefed up health bar and beefed up damage they give).

I only recommend it to hardcore fans of the series or people who have not played any of the other Metroidvanias. I should have bought Apollo Justice.

6. Harmony of Dissonance (GBA)
This one is probably pretty obvious. HoD is not a bad game by any means, in fact it is pretty good. But it really doesn't compare to the others in the series. For me, the most important aspect of a Castleroid is the level design. HoD pretty much lacks any semblance of this. The layout of the castle itself is alright, but the environments themselves make little to no sense. For example, the courtyard type area is a bunch of floating pieces of ground and bricks in midair that is all jumbled together in no coherent manner. It's almost as if they designed the game room by room with no thought of how the rooms would transition into one another. The individual rooms themselves are fine, but the transitions between rooms is pretty bad.
The music in the game is great, but terrible quality. It's as if they muffled the and rerecorded over a cassette of what they wanted.
The game is pretty easy, especially with all the spells which make subweapons pretty much obsolete. The bosses are fairly cool, and there are tons of them. However, they are extremely easy and sometimes uninspired.
Furthermore, the game has the two castles gimmick. Personally, I think it is implemented fairly well. Unlike in SotN, you transition between the two castles constantly. Assuming the actually castle had a better design I would have actually enjoyed this gimmick a bit more.
Bottom line- Bad level design, bad music quality, uninspired bosses, pointless subweapons, two castles is interesting but due to the level design it doesn't live up to it's fully potential.

5- Symphony of the Night (PSX)
And now... everyone left the topic because my credibility is lost. Don't leave though!
Symphony of the Night is an awesome game; but, it has a slew of flaws which people either ignore or are oblivious to. Granted... some of these flaws are a matter of personal opinion.
Symphony of the Night has fantastic castle design. No two ways around it. Each room is decorated and feels unique irregardless of whether or not it has the same layout as another room. Furthermore the different areas of the castle are widely diverse. A big gripe of mine though, is that a lot of these areas are tiny. The Clock Tower which is always a personal favorite of mine consists of 6 main rooms (7 if you count the decent sized hidden room). That's small. Not to mention that one of those rooms is actually outside of the clocktower (big area though). Pretty much all the areas feel congested.
A huge gripe of mine about the game is the sequence of events. I have played through the game numerous times and just found out recently that I have been sequence breaking. How? I carefully time my jumps to get into the Clock Tower immediately after the outer wall. Go figure. This is a huge problem with the game, it feels very clustered. You can pretty much go wherever you want whenever even though you aren't supposed to. This would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that I found myself doing this crap my very first playthrough. I'd finish one hard area, then arrive in another area which is unbelievably easy. Or... I'd get an ability (bat), and then I can pretty much do whatever whenever and however I want. I often found myself completing an area then going 'huh, I bet that mist thing meant I wasn't supposed to be here right now, and the fact that I got an upgrade that is of lesser value than the one I have now seems to clarify this'.
Once you get all the special items and stuff you are treated to the infamous inverted castle. The only reason it is infamous is because it was unique, exciting, and surprising when the game first came out. The inverted castle is a great idea, but it's pretty much just mindless platforming with no sense of direction.
Oh... and a small note. The game tries to have an epic storyline but it falls pretty flat. You start out with the ending of Rhondo of Blood which is awesome but in the real game you run into Maria like 3 times during the entire adventure for a total of about 4 lines of dialogue. Then you find out some dude named Shaft was controlling Richter. Granted the story might have felt a bit more epic if I played Rhondo, but like most players I haven't and don't have access to it (actually I do have it now on Dracula X Chronicles).
Other than that, the game is pretty damn fun to play.
Bottom Line- Fantastic castle design, a blast to play. The sequencing in the game is lacking the form and functionality one might expect and the inverted castle, while a neat premise, is tedious platforming/roaming.

4- Portrait of Ruin (DS)
I love PoR. It is a breath of fresh air for the series. PoR is the most unique of the Castleroids to date in the sense that it contains completely linear levels much like the oldschool Castlevanias.
Portrait of Ruin isn't built on level design like the other Castlevanias in the series. It doesn't really try to emulate SotN like it's peers. It is a new breed with a facade.
PoR has your typical castle complete with the Clock Tower, Sewers, etc. While the castle may be somewhat non-linear, the portraits within the castle are linear. These portraits are essentially oldschool platforming levels. Very straightforward for the most part, no upgrades, and very very long. They are pretty damn fantastic and a great change of pace from the castle areas we are used to. Players are treated to a wide array of sceneries ranging from a city to a forest to a carnival to a pyramid. Each of these environments contains a unique set of enemies and obstacles to overcome.
The gameplay varies from the others in the sense that you have two characters to control and sub-missions you can do. The two characters concept enables dual attacks, support spells or attacks, unique abilities such as jumping on each other and waiting in an area, and new puzzle ideas. The downside is that you really don't need to use Charlotte at all. She's kind of useless, but she is fun to play as. And you can call out your partner and have them attack for you, but it is never really necessary (save the final battle). The missions are a great addition to the series and adds length to the game beyond your typical level grinding. Furthermore, the ability to level up every single one of your special skills to level 99 is awesome. Like Soma and to a lesser extent Alucard, Johnathon utilizes a plethora of different types of weapons (not to mention the best weapon in the entire series thus far, Maxim's sword which can instantly kill everything on screen).
The characters of PoR are overly enthusiastic for such a dark story. And Jonathon is emo and fairly annoying. Not until much much much much much later in the game, when Jon gets to fight Richter Belmont, does he become a likable guy. Charlotte on the other hand is funny and cute, but that's really out of place. Wind is awesome and cryptic. The main protagonist, Brauner, is interesting in the sense that he is not Dracula and his daughters are equally interesting and entertaining to run into. Throw a confused Death into the mix and you've got yourself a great cast of characters and a unique story.
PoR also has what would be a bigger surprise than the inverted castle assuming the internet wasn't widely accessible at the time of it's release-- 5 more paintings when the game appears completed. That's right, five paintings unlocked much in the same way as the inverted castle was unlocked in SotN. The difference here is that the paintings are new and unique. The areas are rehashes of the old ones but with new layouts. Sadly, you've seen pretty much all the rooms before, but now the environments are tweaked to a darker tone. Also, completely new music for each of the paintings and new bosses (which are actually throwbacks to the original Castlevania).
Bottome Line- PoR is fantastic fun. It pays a great deal of homage to the old Castlevanias and mixes the old with the new with the innovative. A great step forward in the series. The one main complaint about the game is that a lot of the areas are reused and in one instance this is blatantly obvious (two giant stairway rooms next to each other in the castle).


I'll update this later. Bed for now.

[blcklblskt]

Cool, nice work .  I can't wait for Order of Ecclesia.

[two_scoop_steve]

very nice read so far, i can't wait till the 2nd half, keep up the good work. also this should be on the front page.

[Chainclaw]

Cool list, but the term "Castleroid" bothers me. "Metroidvania" is the much more common term used.

[Shimra]

Cool list, but the term "Castleroid" bothers me. "Metroidvania" is the much more common term used.

Metroidvania and Castleroid have always been interchangable. Typically I'd say Metroidvania if I was talking with say... the Super Metroid board on gamefaqs or any board that isn't oriented towards Castlevania or a topic that isn't about Castlevania. But since this topic is about Castlevania it makes more sense to put the Castle part out front.

I might get to updating this later tonight, but I just got back from a Chadminton game and have some homework to do. We'll see.

[Haoie]

What are the top 3? I'm curious now.

[Sirgin]

but I just got back from a Chadminton game

What is a Chadminton game? Is it different from regular Badminton?

[Shimra]

3- Aria of Sorrow (GBA)
It pains me to put Aria of Sorrow only at number three considering how superb it is. I suppose that's a testament to how fantastic the Castlevania series really is.
Aria of Sorrow is simply amazing. If you have to compare it to any of the installments which came before it, it would only be natural to say it plays like Symphony of the Night; however, that doesn't do the game justice at all. Even though it is nothing new, what propels this game leaps and bounds beyond the games mentioned before it is the insanely awesome castle design, fantastic musical score, and a truly epic story.
Before release, Aria of Sorrow's claim to fame was that it was that the game took place in the future. After the game's release, Aria of Sorrow's claim to fame was creating the infamous 1999 battle which completely destroyed Dracula and, as if that isn't badass enough, creating Soma Cruz who is dracula reincarnated. That's right, at the conclusion of the game under the right circumstances it is revealed that the character you have been controlling the entire game is actually Dracula reincarnated and the true successor to the throne.
Sadly, since the release of Dawn of Sorrow, none of Aria's story is actually a surprise anymore. It seems as though everyone knows Soma is dracula and it's a damn shame considering it was one of the most well conceived plot twists in the videogame world. It may have been a bit predictable but the way in which it was presented still sent shivers down people's spines in a mix of surprise and excitement.
Let's backtrack now. Aria of Sorrow begins with Soma and his friend Mina being brought into Dracula's castle which is sealed within an eclipse. There, he meets a shady fellow named Genya Arikado, Hammer,  Yoko, and Graham. Immediately Soma releases he has the power to steal souls and from there he begins his quest to the throne room in order to figure out what is going on. As players progress, the story begins to unfold and players begin to realize they must stop Graham from transforming into Dracula. Sounds simplistic, however the telling and huge cast of characters make the story seem more epic than any before it.
The castle itself is one of the most well designed castles the series has ever seen. The areas flow together seemlessly and each area consists of a plethora of rooms. Many of the recurring areas are back, and this time they are better than ever. The Clock Tower takes the best elements of the one from SotN and improves upon them by making the actual tower much bigger but maintaining a closterphobic gear infested environment. Another example would be the caverns below the castle. It's like SotN but much bigger. The rooms are more gigantic, there are more waterfalls, there is a massive hidden area, and there is even an enormous pirate ship. To top off the fantastic castle design players are treated with a new area simply called the Floating Gardens. Massive, and in some places literally floating, it is unlike anything seen before.
The soul system which was implemented in Aria of Sorrow and carried over to Dawn of Sorrow is the best subweapon/spell system the series has yet seen. Every single enemy has a soul in the game which can be obtained, and each soul provides a unique ability. The abilities range from familiars, to gameplay altering abilities such as walking on water, to projectiles. Collecting the souls also adds to the longevity of the game and since each soul is unique it only makes sense to want to see what each of them do.
The bosses are sadly nothing special. The Death fight is fantastic and difficult for a change, the Balore fight is one of the best in the entire series, the fight against Graham is pretty awesome, and the fight against Julius is epic; but, other than that the fights are actually pretty dull. For the first four or so bosses, they only have about one or two predictable attacks. Same goes for a few later which is a real disappointment. And the final boss, Chaos, really makes no sense. I have no idea what it is. Cool though.
Speaking of Chaos, the game kind of goes flat after beating Julius. You go to the Abyss which is a bunch of the black and white castle rooms except completely distorted, out of proportion and just weird in general. It's a rather fun area, but it feels lacking. And once you get to the final boss, the chaos which is trying to emerge... well, fighting something that is unrecognizable just isn't all that enticing.
Bottom Line- One of the best castle designs in the entire series, the best story in the entire series, the soul system is outstanding. The ending area and boss are somewhat lacking.

2- Circle of the Moon (GBA)
While HoD is often considered the black sheep of the series, this game is the true title holder. Circle of the Moon is not like the other Castleroids. In fact, it could be argued that it strays from the formula even more than Portrait of Ruin. This game is a classic style Castlevania game set in a Metroidvania environment.
Circle of the Moon was the first Castleroid since SotN. Needless to say fans of the series expected a SotN 2. What they got was completely different and this reason alone may detract many players from acknowledging the game for what it really is.
You play as Nathan Graves. He doesn't use swords and he isn't even a Belmont. He doesn't even have the Vampire Killer. He is the successor to the whip though. He's got a lot going against him, but in my eyes this only makes him even more badass and likable. Your mentor is to be sacrificed to Dracula when the moon is full and you set out to stop this from happening, meanwhile your jackass friend and mentor's son sets out to beat you to the prize. It's obvious what is going to happen but that doesn't make the whole experience any less fun. If anything it just makes you anxious to beat the living shit out of Hugh.
Circle of the Moon's castle is deceptively enormous. If you look at a map of the castle it may not seem like it contains that many rooms. Well, the rooms themselves are about 2 or 3x bigger than those seen in the other castleroids. Nathan is a very small sprite, and the rooms are exceptionally huge. So what we are left with is the feeling of being in the biggest castle the series has ever seen. Capitalizing upon the massive rooms, developers took their times filling them with numerous enemies, numerous traps, and countless secrets. Often you will realize that you can climb just a little higher and reach a hidden area, or press a little further and find a hidden item. Everything is just bigger and grander in scope.
Speaking of bigger, Circle of the Moon contains some of the most ridiculously awesome boss fights the series has ever seen. For example, Nathan finds himself pitting off against two dragons which he is barely as tall as their feet. In between the two dragons are platforms which must be carefully scaled and descended all the while trying to take on a dragon from your left and a dragon from your right. Another prime example of how much more massive everything seems would be the fight against Hugh. His sprite is the same size as yours, but when he swings his blade it is about 10x the size of you, no joke. Also, let's not forget Dracula. Easily the hardest incarnation of Dracula in any Castleroid, and the most massive as well.
Everything feels bigger and more epic. The castle design is honestly nothing to write home about. The areas flow together much as you would expect, but some of the rooms lack individuality which is kind of a shame. Seeing as how this was a GBA launch title this makes sense though. Even though some of the rooms feel redundant (not in the copy and paste sense), a lot of the areas are simply better. The Machine Tower is one of the coolest areas that has appeared in the series thus far. It may be because of it's unique inclusion of twirling bolts, spinning platforms all in a series of massive rooms, I really don't know; it just feels bigger and better than what we are used to.
Capitalizing on the enormous scope of the game, IGA made this game brutally difficult. The enemies deal tons of damage, there are a plethora of enemies per each room, and the bosses are incredibly designed each with a huge variety of attacks. The difficulty really makes the game feel bigger and badder than what people have seen/played before.
Nathan can't equip any weapons, but he has the DSS system which serves as his spells and unique weapons. There are 10 action cards and 10 attribute cards. Each action card can be combined with an attribute card creating either a spell, summon, projectile attack, familiar, whip enhancement, shield, or stat boost. That's an insane amount of spells to tinker around with. What is really fun is finding out what the different card combinations do for the first time. Sadly, the cards are all item drops so it is unlikely you would find them all on your first playthrough.
Speaking of first playthrough... there are 5 different modes, each of which alters the game set-up. For example, magician mode gives players every DSS card and boosts magic attack, but decreases every other stat. Fighter mode on the other hand boosts every stat but DSS cards are non-existent (plays almost exactly like an oldschool Castlevania in a 2d environment).
I have beaten this game more than any other game I have ever played besides Super Metroid. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this game other than the fact that it isn't Symphony of the Night. It may be too difficult for some people, and some people may not like the change in style, but once you look past that this is a stellar game.
Bottom Line- Insanely awesome game, ridiculously big rooms, everything just feels bigger and badder, plays a lot like the oldschool Castlevanias, DSS system is awesome. DSS system can be somewhat annoying trying to figure out which spells do what and obtain the cards and the fact that the game came out after Symphony of the Night and wasn't Symphony of the Night 2 upsets some people.

1- Dawn of Sorrow (DS)
If you've read some of my previous reviews this should have been a no-brainer. After just writing nearly a thousand words I'm going to be cheap and link to my review on this site. But, before that I'm going to say a few things that aren't necessarily in the review (and if they are, I'm repeating them because they are awesome).
The best boss fights in the series. Gergoth destroying the Condemned Tower as you fight is insane. The Puppet Master is one of the most original bosses the series has ever seen.
You don't start out in the castle, instead you start out in a snow covered town. You don't even go into the castle through the front gate, you go in through a hidden passage. That's awesome.
The Condemned Tower is my favorite area in any Castlevania game.
The story is awesome and is a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrows. The characters are all fantastic and from the get-go you know who the bad guys are and whatnot.
The soul system is better than ever. Being able to power up souls by obtaining a bunch of them. Creating weapons is pretty damn sweet too.
Weapons are unique and are wielded in different manners.
Two weapon set-ups and soul set-ups you can switch on the fly.
Best castle design in the series.
Julius mode.
Julius mode.
Playing as Julius Belmont, Yoko Belnades, and Alucard in a mode that has a completely different story and a different final boss entitled Julius mode.
For a more in-depth write-up, please refer to my review.
http://www.rfgeneration.c...nfo.pl?ID=U-087-S-00360-A
Bottom line- It's damn near perfect.

[Shimra]

Now some comments and replies...

That last post was actually 2036 words <_<. That might be more than the longest english paper I've ever writeen.

I didn't actually have the write-ups when I made this topic, just the order of the games. So I was making the write-ups which is why I just now concluded the rankings.

Chadminton is a mixture of field hockey, lacrosse, and pillow fighting. It's some really dumb/fun sport/not-sport club.

[Haoie]

Hmm, I can't really agree with those 6 in that order.

A better topic would've been top 6 Castlevania titles period, perhaps.

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

Ah no way man, you forced me to start replaying Circle of the Moon after I read this.

At any rate I agree wholeheartedly with your discussion and ranking of the game mechanics, solid writeup--thanks for it. Now I need to go get a hold of a DS.

[Sirgin]

Hmm, I can't really agree with those 6 in that order.

A better topic would've been top 6 Castlevania titles period, perhaps.

That's not nice to say.

Obviously you don't understand the difference between an opinion and a fact. This clearly is Shimra's opinion, as he clearly stated in the topic title "My rankings of the Castleroids." There is no "official" list for any game(series), simply because everyone can have an different opinion.

Shimra just did an awesome job of writing these overview/review things, which will undoubtly have taken serious time. I've written quite a few reviews myself so I know what I'm talking about. So next time don't go and do a 1-line comment like that saying "your list sucks & so does the title of your post" (that is basically what you said, using some euphemisms) but try to put some effort in writing down your thoughts, just like he did for his.


@Shimra: I don't own any of those games but would love to play some of them. Could you post the platforms these are on next to the titles?

[blcklblskt]

Wow. Try to do something pretty cool and get really lackluster to dumb comments that don't really discuss a single thing. I honestly am getting fed up with this place.

Don't leave Shimra, I like the work that you do.  You wrote a great ranking list, thanks for the time and dedication that you took to write it.  Castlevania is definately one of my favorite series in videogaming, so its always nice to see what others rank as their favorites.

@Sirgin:  To answer in Shimra's place:

Harmony of Dissonance - GBA
Symphony of the Night - PS
Portrait of Ruin - DS
Aria of Sorrow - GBA
Circle of the Moon - GBA
Dawn of Sorrow - DS

[Sirgin]

@Sirgin:  To answer in Shimra's place:

Harmony of Dissonance - GBA
Symphony of the Night - PS
Portrait of Ruin - DS
Aria of Sorrow - GBA
Circle of the Moon - GBA
Dawn of Sorrow - DS

Thanks, it's appreciated.

[Shimra]

Sorry about my previous post, my initial response wasn't well thought out or constructed.
 

Hmm, I can't really agree with those 6 in that order.

A better topic would've been top 6 Castlevania titles period, perhaps.

That's fine, I wouldn't expect you to agree with my order. It would be cool to see your list, or what makes a Castlevania game good in your opinion. And I don't think a better topic would have been the top six Castlevania titles. I ranked the Metroidvania's because OoE is a Metroidvania, I greatly prefer the Metroidvania's, and the gameplay is drastically different between classic style and SotN style. Also, I haven't played every single Castlevania game, but I have played and beaten every Metroidvania game multiple times.

Leon, I'd seriously recommend a DS to play PoR and DoS. Pretty sure your favorite game is SotN, and if that is the case I can't imagine you not liking the DS installments.

And no, I'd never leave this place. I may get annoyed every now and then but that happens with everything I like ^_^