PixlBit

I've been playing a lot of Castlevania lately and considering I've now played all of the 2D games (the former is unavailable period and the latter frankly is too expensive for me to spend on an original Gameboy game), I thought I'd make a list ranking these games. I'm going to keep it limited to the 2D games and exclude the aformentioned games. Before I begin, I'll be leaving these games out:

The Adventure Rebirth- Not available anymore and was kind of over the Wii (especially Wiiware) when it came out so never tried it.

Any arcade games- There's not any arcades nearby

Legends/Kid Dracula- I'm not paying over $40 for a black and white Gameboy titles

Chronicles- There's only so many times I feel the need to try a remake of Castlevania 1

19. Castlevania: The Adventure

Castlevania games are slow by nature. This is a good thing in most games in the series, as it forces you to really learn enemy attack patterns and develop smart strategies in overcoming obstacles. Yet this game is painfully slow, where it feels more due to lag than by design. Add to it how levels are painfully boring (often consisting of a mere straight line to the end) and you have a game that just isn't fun.

18. Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate

I hate when a game has two subtitles in its name. It just reeks of the company milking the franchise for everything it's worth. Which unfortunately is what the game is. While I initially liked it upon release, the small issues just began to bug me more. There wasn't enough focus on exploration. Juggling three characters felt clunky and awkward. Combat in LoS proper felt like a 2nd rate God of War to me and changing it to 2D did not do the series any favors. That this was the 3DS' sole Castlevania leaves me sad. Oh how I wish we had a new Sorrow instead.

Also Alucard has a whip in this. Bleh.

17. Castlevania 2: Dracula's Curse

This is a very important game for the (eventual) future of the series, but it is just not fun to play. Too grindy with a structure that really doesn't support grinding, challenging in all the wrong ways, and far too cryptic for its own good.

16. Castlevania: Dracula X

While Adventure established the dark side of a Castlevania game being too slow, Dracula X shows the dark side of one being too challenging. Whoever was in charge of this seems to want you to fail, putting in unreasonably hard platforming challenges and enemy placement. And I know that the occasional cheap death is part of the series, but it's too rampant here. Skip it for Rondo of Blood, the real thing.

15. Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge

While this portable entry may lack the ambition, length, challenge, and scope of the console counterparts, this is actually a very well designed Castlevania game. The game never feels too difficult and the wonkiness of The Adventure is fixed for a game that has the series' slow pace feel perfect for a handheld. Give it a go if you can hunt it down.

14. Castlevania

The original may not be the best, but it holds up surprisingly well. There's some kinks to sort out and the game can feel very cheap, yet the levels seem very well designed around its limitations. They generally knew which items to give you and where to place enemies in ways which may not always be fair, but led to a strong sense of satisfaction in the end. It's a rough draft, but one that showed enough promise to create such a great series.

13. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair

A lot of people don't like this because it was too different. I like it for that reason. While it doesn't quite match up to the depth found in Symphony or the later handheld games, there's a simple charm to taking out a bunch of monsters and bosses with a group of friends. Not a perfect party game, but a fun time with a good group of people.

Just get the PS3 version so you can have some local co-op.

12. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

God these names are confusing. The second stab at putting a Castlevania game on the GBA ended up nailing the foundation of what a Castlevania game should look and play like on the handheld. Should be an instant classic right?

Well, no. Time has not been kind to this game. There's nothing to make it stand out over any of Iga's other Castlevania games, as later additions added deeper mechanics rather than gimmicks. Add to it that this is by far the easiest game on the list and the music is awful (a franchise sin) and I just don't enjoy returning to this game.

11. Circle of the Moon

Circle of the Moon feels like they were still trying to figure out how to get Castlevania to work on the GBA at the time. While you'd expect the game to be a rougher version of Harmony, that's actually not the case. While Harmony has more polished, CotM's steep challenge and fantastic soundtrack give it more reasons to return than Harmony.

10. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

If you want a game that will kick your butt, here you go. Castlevania 3 crosses over from that tough but fair line many times into downright cheap. It's like playing with that kid who would keep changing the rules to any game when he was losing, and you'd keep going because you know if you push on you can beat him even with this nonsense.

Which is why every level you beat is so satisfying. Castlevania 3 is still a blast to play. What worked in 1 is refined here, there's three other characters to play as besides Trevor Belmont, which combined with alternating paths gives the game a strong replay value. So if you want to get your ass kicked, give it a go. 

9. Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon

Oh come on, I have to put this on here. This is an 8 bit Castlevania minus everything you hate about 8 bit Castlevania games. While some may think it's too easy, it shows how strong the series formula is that even 30 years later a new take on the formula can still hold up and be a blast to play.

8. Aria of Sorrow

A lot of people's favorite, it ultimately just feels like a lighter version of its sequel without the annoying gimmicks. And while I hate those gimmicks, it doesn't change that there's fewer souls, a smaller, less interesting castle, and less polished controls. Still a blast to play, but play this before Dawn just so you can get the best game.

7. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

This is where these games hit the point of near perfection. What was once a flaw is now a nitpick and you're in for a guaranteed good time. Rondo is the popular fan favorite and let me just start by saying this is a fantastic game. Level design is top notch, bosses are a blast without being too difficult, and Castlevania music with CD quality audio is a 90's wonder to behold.

Yet I can't put it up above the next six for one of its most beloved features: The branching paths. I know I praised them in 3, but 3 also had three characters you could alternate between to fight with Trevor. There were a lot of reasons to replay it. Rondo it's just the good ending levels and bad ending levels, which rubs me the wrong way. I'd rather just have all the levels playable in one go.

And I know the game gives you Maria to play as with the argument to replay as her and I LOVE playing as Maria, but she's more like an easy mode to me. She can move while attacking, slide, double jump, has more powerful sub attacks, and a smaller hit box. She's better than Richter in every way. III's characters had a worse main attack than Trevor, but made up for it with better mobility or sub attacks. It felt like playing the game in a new way, as opposed to Maria who I feel should have been selectable from the beginning. Rondo's still a fantastic game, I just don't like having to replay half of it to experience all the levels.

6. Portrait of Ruin

Iga's middle child of the DS games unfortunately has a gimmick that falls short of the depth the other two provide. Switching between two characters feels like something that would have worked better on a platform made for co-op, as I found myself hardly ever calling the other player out. While this mechanic does lead to the best final boss in the series, I feel it could have been implemented better.

The castle likewise feels lacking. Everything is segmented into four portraits you jump into featuring new worlds. These portraits are a good portion, yet I would have preferred they were incorporated into the regular castle in a more streamlined manner. In addition, the game has a remix of them at the very end which makes the last portion feel tedious. That said, it by far has the best bonuses for beating, with two different sets of characters and a co-op boss rush mode.

5. Symphony of the Night

Symphony is as close to as perfect as a game can get. Which is amazing when you consider this is the franchise's first attempt at aping Metroid giving way to the term "Metroidvania". While the series dropped its trademark difficulty with this change, the sense of engagement had not been tampered with. The castle is so dense, offering all kinds of fun secrets which make you eager to test any new abilities. Combine this with how the game begun the tradition of making you seek the true ending yourself and Symphony has aged like wine.

However, while the next four aren't perfect, what's good is so good that it overcomes their flaws.

4. Super Castlevania IV

This is a launch title through and through. There's the obvious levels that make use of the SNES' weird mode 7 visuals, but even how its designed is strange. The eight directional whipping is an awesome idea that ends up being too overpowered, making items feel pointless. And being able to control your jump in mid air made the controls feel perfect, yet it was clearly designed for the old controls.

Here's the thing though: These two innovations are so good I don't care if their implementation is flawed. Controlling Simon feels so much smoother than the other games and with a huge selection of levels, I had a blast the whole time. Music is my favorite in the series with Simon's theme in particular being one of my favorite video game tracks ever. Graphics are a mixed bag, it's technically impressive for a SNES launch game, but the lack of color can make it feel bland. I know Castlevania's gothic, but it's possible to use color in a gothic way. See.....

3. Castlevania Bloodlines

Bloodlines is an oddest of these games by far. Sure, 2 changed the genre, but this game MAKES THE NOVEL DRACULA CANON. Richter trusted the whip to Quincy Morris who never once used it against Dracula, instead using a knife. They didn't even go with the obvious pick of Van Helsing who's the expert on vampires, they went with the random suitor from Texas, the least important main character to the plot!

You may think of this as a knock against the game, but no. I FUCKING LOVE THAT! This was Konami saying how they'll make a tried and true Castlevania, but they're not afraid to think outside the box. It takes risks, having your characters trek all over Europe, which gives great new areas, platforming tricks and enemies. Boss battles can appear at any time, even immediately following a boss. 

And that music, I know the SNES curb stomped the Genesis in the music department, but there's something magical about a game that understood how to program the Genesis' sound chip, like Sonic or Streets of Rage. And Castlevania's music style in general ended up being perfect for the platform. Visually, it's by far my favorite of the 16 bit games. As I mentioned with 4, a colorful gothic game can work, which is helped with how blood is dripping everywhere. That Konami hasn't rereleased this ever is a crime against gamers

2. Order of Ecclesia

By the time Order of Ecclesia came out, gamers were getting burnt out on the series (my how times have changed). Which is a shame because this shook up the Castlevania formula more than any other 2D entry since Symphony of the Night. The castle doesn't appear until the very end with most of the game consisting of smaller sub areas which offer their own fair share of difficulty and a much greater challenge. Rather than equip weapons, spells known as Glyphs were equipped. These could resemble swords and bows or be attacks more similar to past games' spells. 

While initially it felt like this was just a reskin of the series' typical systems, in practice there was a ton of customization here. Want to dual weild two different weapons for quick attacks? Go for it! Have a spell that chases after enemies while firing a magic bow at them? Go for it. As the game went on, glyphs were more creative, resulting in a game that does a fantastic job of making you feel like you've really grown at the end. And then Dracula curb stomps you (this game is brutally difficult). Really, if the side quests weren't such a chore, this might have overtaken....

1. Dawn of Sorrow

My first Castlevania is still my favorite. The DS was my platform of choice in high school for me and if Kirby: Canvas Curse and Meteos convinced me I probably made the right choice, Dawn of Sorrow sealed the deal (pun not intended). The game expands on Aria's soul mechanic, offering a lot more different powers, the option to fuse souls to weapons, and higher soul counts resulting in stronger attacks. And with this higher soul count means more foes than ever before, which gave great enemy variety.

It helps that the castle is the largest single location in the series, yet doesn't spread itself too thin. There's tons of secrets and fun ways to get to new areas. While the touch screen gimmicks have aged horribly, what this game does right is so fantastic, I have to give it my top spot in the series.