What the fuck is this: Castlevania SOTN is now going for like $70?!!

did anybody play any of the PS2 games? I'm wondering if Lament of Innocence is worth trying out or not.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/23/new-castlevania-coming-to-mobile-phones-in-september/

Castlevania: Order of Shadows

features a new storyline and original soundtrack

http://www.djork.net/castlevania/

Castlevania name-generator!

Castlevania: Bus Ride of Burnt Toast

Playing C:Order of Shadows. It's a lot like the NES versions, due to the limited controls. You still have stats & an inventory, tho.

Two new games on the way, another DS title and a 3d fighter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania:_Order_of_Ecclesia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castlevania_Judgment

Apparently, the Portrait of Ruin team is again working on this. Too bad I sold the DS a year, but we'll see.

I kinda burned out on these games when I picked up that GBA double pack with Harmony/Aria, though they were both fun. Both pretty good, though Aria was way better (damn you addictive soul collect-a-thon!) in general.

Not sure if I should still bother to get the two DS games, or just wait until Order comes out.... what say you?

Got an emulator for the original PC Engine "Rondo of Blood". Yeah, it's the best Castlevania game ever.

http://castlevaniadungeon.net/Images/Intros/rondoa.gif

I really like the anime feel on this one. The controls are perfect and the game music is amazing. Stage 2 is like being in the "Thriller" music video.

This game is a work of art, Roget Ebert can suck it.

I need to get these drum samples.

Playing "Castlevania: Bloodlines" for Genesis now. Amazing soundtrack as always, cool as hell bad guys, nice weapons, etc. Buying a Castlevania game is like buying a Beatles record.

Bloodlines was awesome, underlooked probably because it wasn't a main series title. Definitely preferred it to IV though, and a good stepping stone to the Rondo/Symphony series.

it's not a lot like buying a beatles record

I never had a Genesis so I never got a chance to play Bloodlines.

Do what I did, emulate it long after the fact

Just remember that at the end of game, it IS supposed to be like that ;)

Yeah im emulating a Genesis, playing games i never got to play. Also had a friend try out Splatterhouse 3 last night, which was also pretty damn cool.

I meant it's like buying a Beatles because i like the Beatles and i remember buying my first Beatles record and liking it and every record after that, I didn't know what new stuff would be added, or how orchestration or production had changed, but I always knew i would enjoy it from beginning to end.

Maybe i'm missing out on the crappy Castlevania entries. Never played 2 much.

lately i've been regretting giving my GBA SP away (years ago), mostly so i could play Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow again.

http://www.vizzed.com/vizzedboard/retro/user_screenshots/saves8/81983/Castlevania%20%20Bloodlines_Jun23%209_14_13.png
OK so i beat it last night, on Easy, but using Quick Saves to rather cheap effect a few times. Like any old game this is HARD. Final boss was pretty awesome, if seemingly never-ending at the time. First the Grim Reaper deals out tarot cards and you have to knock through each one. Some of them are re-fighting old bosses, some of them give you food, some of them just shoot fireballs at you. Then the green haired evil witch from the opening cinematic splits into 5 different duplicates and then summons a bunch of floating spheres that all align in a pentagram. You have to hit her before they all combine or else dodge a lightning strike, or wheel of fire that looks like a dragon, or circle of knives flying at you, etc. That part was pretty cool and I just figured it out on my own.

She also changes into a green half-man half-worm demon and then finally the above grotesque monster with a horrible face for a crotch that spits out streams of fire. The end of the game was extremely anti-climatic, at least it was for me, with simply a cool-looking full-screen loop of your character watching the castle crumble into dust in the distance, hair waving in the wind, standing on top of a mountain or something over endlessly swirling clouds or water or who the hell knows but it looks cool. It was fine w me tho because the game seemed to really go on and on for a LONG time.

It never slowed down, and while yeah there were only 2 or 3 bad guys on the screen at once, it usually felt like more. Plenty of really cool graphic tricks in this, neat water reflections, cool rotating floors and things that deliver a real 3d illusion. At one point *** SPOILER *** you enter a room where the screen is split into 4 parts and each part is horizontally offset in some effed up way, as if you are playing the game through a funhouse mirror or something. It's the most mind-blowing part of the game. At least until a stage or two later when you revisit it, only the distorted view is gone and THE ENTIRE STAGE IS UPSIDE DOWN. Thank God there are no enemies in these parts.

I almost feel like this was better than the Super NES one, it seems to control a little easier (even on an GENS) and the graphics are just jaw-dropping! There's the Genesis version of Contra waiting for me but something tells me it can't possibly be this good.

No doubt it was better than Super IV IMO. i don't remember Hard Corps being at the same level, but still pretty good? Alien Wars on SNES was more to live up to

The end of the game was extremely anti-climatic, at least it was for me, with simply a cool-looking full-screen loop of your character watching the castle crumble into dust in the distance, hair waving in the wind, standing on top of a mountain or something over endlessly swirling clouds or water or who the hell knows but it looks cool.

Hah maybe i've blocked them all out cos getting to the ending is always such a treat!

IV, Bloodlines/New Generation, and Rondo of Blood/Dracula X - those are the only 16-bit Castlevanias, right? Or are there more?

I purchased the Dracula X disc for psp just to get SOTN as a playable game

THE ENTIRE STAGE IS UPSIDE DOWN. Thank God there are no enemies in these parts.

I mis-remembered this. There are enemies during this part. This game is hard! And so good! I've played it through 3 times now.

i found my long, long-neglected DS and started playing through Aria of Sorrow again. this game is perfect.

They should flipped the text as well for the full upside-down experience

literally had the same thought

people would have hated it, but now, in retrospect, they would have loved it