Poll of the Day > For someone looking to get into Castlevania....

(+) Yeah! (+)

Would you start with Symphony of the Night or Rondo of Blood?

Also, is the Netflix anime any good? Who's all in it, in regards to characters?
---

You should definitely start with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. It's really really good.
---

IMO, Super Castlevania: which is both a good and bad start because it has everything good about Castlevania before the whole Metroidvania thing with all the backtracking and equipment management however is bad because no other Castlevania will ever play as fluidly since you'd be too spoiled from playing this.
---

I'm mostly interested in playing a game with Richter. It's not that big of a deal, but he appeals to me the most.
---

Rondo of blood is first chronologically so do that.

The Netflix show is about Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. It stars Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Alucard so far, all playable characters in the original game.
---

Garlands_Soul posted...

The Netflix show is about Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse. It stars Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Alucard so far, all playable characters in the original game.

Ill add that its only 4 episodes from season one at the moment, so its a very quick watch.
---

Based on your second post, Rondo of Blood.

Krow_Incarnate posted...

Would you start with Symphony of the Night or Rondo of Blood?

Also, is the Netflix anime any good? Who's all in it, in regards to characters?

They're both good, but offer different experiences. Sotn is a metroidvania, and rondo is the classic Castlevania type. I prefer sotn, however, if you want the Richter experience, go with rondo; you don't get to be Richter until you beat sotn.

I enjoyed the anime, and as someone else said, it's based off of Castlevania 3.
---

A good way to play them, IMO

Castlevania 1 It's the first one and it's really short, only 6 levels
Castlevania 4 It's a Super Nintendo remake of the first one more or less, and it's sublime
Castlevania Bloodlines A Sega Genesis game, and this is really where they started to expand the universe and locations
Castlevania Rondo of Blood If you want something more challenging, and you want to see Richter's story, and it's a direct prequel to Symphony of the Night
Castlevania III if you want something even MORE challenging. This one also ties into SotN, and it's actually, imo, the true sequel to CV1, even though it's a prequel. They ignored everything they did with CV2, and took CV1's gameplay to the logical conclusion.
Symphony of the Night Ties together Rondo and CV3, and it's the major turning point of the series going forward in terms of gameplay, structure, and even overall plot for the series. Pretty much every game after this one aped its design for a reason.

After SotN, play any of them, they're (almost) all fine choices.
---

Also, the music in CV4 is god damned fantastic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPXjixmyOK4" data-time="
---

If you just want to play as Richter, play Rondo of Blood.

I say start with the GBA games or Symphony of the Night. Symphony isn't anywhere near as good as people make it out to be, but it's a solid starting point if you want to play the Metroidvania games.
---

Thanks, everybody!

I'll see if I can get Rondo working.
---

Anime was cool. Played through all the NES games and 3 is the most refined and definitive from that era. Simon's quest had some neat, but obscure mechanics for it's time. They're all short and most of the story and lore is in the manuals anyway.

Also played lament of innocence, which I really enjoyed at the time. It's probably the first 3d entry to do the series justice but it's fairly repetitive.