POLL: Your favorite Castlevania Game released on any of Nintendo's Portable Systems?

GunPanther

GunPanther

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I just popped in some of my old soundtrack CDs for "Castlevania: Circle Of The Moon" and reminisced about how awesomely fun and time consuming the previous installments of the "Castlevania" game series has been on Nintendo's portable game systems.

So, what is YOUR favorite "Castlevania" game that was released on a Nintendo portable game system? (Unfortunately only "canonical" releases count, so that's why "Castlevania Legends" was omitted from the list. Hey, if IGA says it doesn't count, then it doesn't count.)

My personal favorite from the list has to be "Circle Of The Moon" because it was the first true follow-up to "Symphony Of The Night" which (back then) was only available on the Sony PS1. There were so many places to explore, monsters to destroy and the combination of those magical cards was just a really cool concept that I wish they had used again in the subsequent CV titles released.

Since I created this topic to see what Castlevania Games us CAGers liked, I just want everyone here to get along.

Please be considerate of other CAGer's game choices. This poll / discussion topic is not meant to become a "my choice is better than your choice because....". If someone likes a particular game title but hates another title in the series, that is their choice. We all have independent thoughts and can vote for whatever title that we feel deserves praise.

Democracy is a great thing when people can "Agree to disagree".

Thanks for voting and thanks for posting your comments.
 
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[quote name='moothemagiccow']why dont they sell gba games on virtual console? do they hate money?[/QUOTE]

That is a good question. Common sense and capitalism would dictate that re-releasing titles every few years on current generation consoles (*cough*cough*CAPCOM!!*cough*) via download or disc compilation would occur more often.

From what I can tell and from an industry standpoint, I think it all lies with licensing, promotion and porting over the software titles. It costs a bit of money (though not as much as releasing a new title in general) to re-release titles as compilations or for download onto systems.

If you think about what needs to happen, here is the short list (to name just some but not all of the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to see these games re-released):

Licensing - The software title needs to be re-licensed again for release on the respective system. Precautions also have to be taken to ensure that no legal ramifications will arise due to the re-release of the game; For example- Nintendo gains legal ground to sue Konami for breach of contract because they didn't wait 10 years to re-release a game on the PS Vita, XBLA or 3DS, etc. The reasons could vary widely. Ownership and trademark rights of the software title could also change, resulting in the delay or cancellation of a title being re-released. A good example is "Doom" for the XBLA; A few years ago, it was available for download but was then pulled from the server because the rights to the game were bought by another publisher. It was no longer available for purchase until that same publisher decided to re-release the game on XBLA so they could reap the profits instead of the original publishers.

Porting - Sometimes companies have problems porting the software titles onto other video game systems' formats. Usually, emulator based software is the resulting product but sometimes emulation doesn't work out as well as planned. The company then has to spend money to make sure that nothing really bad happens in terms of software bugs and glitches when the port is conducted. Sometimes the original publisher decides to make a whole new game 'adapted' from the old version of it. A good example is "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles" for the Sony PSP.

Promotion - This is usually what ends up costing the most for software publishers and developers. Sometimes the costs of promoting the software title exceed the amount that was spent to even develop or port the game to another system.
 
I love both Sorrow games, maybe the GBA original slightly more due to it being more original, and the power system in both games was a lot of fun.

But, Circle of the Moon really does it for me. Each time you beat it, you unlock a different character type to play as: magic-heavy, strictly weapons only, etc. It made the game have way more replay value, and while it looked pretty ugly on the original GBA due to the absence of a backlight, it really shines on the backlit SPs or via emulation.
 
Dawn of Sorrow is the business. Any others like that? I didn't like Portrait of Ruin nearly as much.

[quote name='GunPanther']That is a good question. Common sense and capitalism would dictate that re-releasing titles every few years on current generation consoles (*cough*cough*CAPCOM!!*cough*) via download or disc compilation would occur more often.

From what I can tell and from an industry standpoint, I think it all lies with licensing, promotion and porting over the software titles. It costs a bit of money (though not as much as releasing a new title in general) to re-release titles as compilations or for download onto systems.

If you think about what needs to happen, here is the short list (to name just some but not all of the obstacles that need to be overcome in order to see these games re-released):

Licensing - The software title needs to be re-licensed again for release on the respective system. Precautions also have to be taken to ensure that no legal ramifications will arise due to the re-release of the game; For example- Nintendo gains legal ground to sue Konami for breach of contract because they didn't wait 10 years to re-release a game on the PS Vita, XBLA or 3DS, etc. The reasons could vary widely. Ownership and trademark rights of the software title could also change, resulting in the delay or cancellation of a title being re-released. A good example is "Doom" for the XBLA; A few years ago, it was available for download but was then pulled from the server because the rights to the game were bought by another publisher. It was no longer available for purchase until that same publisher decided to re-release the game on XBLA so they could reap the profits instead of the original publishers.

Porting - Sometimes companies have problems porting the software titles onto other video game systems' formats. Usually, emulator based software is the resulting product but sometimes emulation doesn't work out as well as planned. The company then has to spend money to make sure that nothing really bad happens in terms of software bugs and glitches when the port is conducted. Sometimes the original publisher decides to make a whole new game 'adapted' from the old version of it. A good example is "Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles" for the Sony PSP.

Promotion - This is usually what ends up costing the most for software publishers and developers. Sometimes the costs of promoting the software title exceed the amount that was spent to even develop or port the game to another system.[/QUOTE]

So lawyers, bugs and ads. The first one's unavoidable. I get that one.

The second is honestly not that common. People are playing these games for free with emulators on PC Wii and DS. The only bugs come with unique games that take advantage of quirks in the hardware like Starfox. If someone hasn't written a nearly perfect emulator for old consoles, I'm a fingerless glove.

I rarely see any kind of promotion for virtual console titles apart from the weekly lists from destructoid/joystiq et al. It's only when they add something, e.g. HD remakes or online play, that I see any advertising going on. Generally that's not much bigger than a spot on the PS3 store's main menu or marquee.
 
Aria of Sorrow all the way. I spent more time with that one than any other Castlevania collecting every soul. Aria was more like a PoKeMetroidVania: Gotta kill 'em all!

Rather than just finding hidden items scattered randomly throughout the castle, it turned me into a soul Headhunter, searching out every monster and taking their soul, always anxious to find a new monster and hoping their soul will randomly drop quickly for me.

They really brought it to the next level by then having the souls I own become a weapon or buff. I've never seen anything that extensive and fun within a game, and probably won't ever again.
 
The top three castlevania's in the poll are my favorite but I think I would go with Dawn of Sorrow with Aria 2nd and circle of the moon 3rd.
 
[quote name='moothemagiccow']Dawn of Sorrow is the business. Any others like that? I didn't like Portrait of Ruin nearly as much.



So lawyers, bugs and ads. The first one's unavoidable. I get that one.

The second is honestly not that common. People are playing these games for free with emulators on PC Wii and DS. The only bugs come with unique games that take advantage of quirks in the hardware like Starfox. If someone hasn't written a nearly perfect emulator for old consoles, I'm a fingerless glove.

I rarely see any kind of promotion for virtual console titles apart from the weekly lists from destructoid/joystiq et al. It's only when they add something, e.g. HD remakes or online play, that I see any advertising going on. Generally that's not much bigger than a spot on the PS3 store's main menu or marquee.[/QUOTE]

Yup. You hit it on the nose.

It's true that these games can be played on emulators but even with that emulation software, someone, somewhere down the line has to get paid for letting a company use that software, so it all comes back again to the legal aspect.

Additionally, there are just some emulation software programs that are still a bit buggy even in 'perfect emulation' that companies just don't want to deal with.

Another slant I would like to add would be the devalorization of the original game titles. Besides extra costs (as mentioned previously) sometimes companies don't want to 'cheapen' their game software title experiences by making their titles available at each and every avenue possible. Releasing it on all platforms makes it accessible to everyone but that also takes away the 'thrill of the hunt' by not keeping it exclusive to a specific system.

Take for example Atari games. They've released their vintage Atari 2600 titles on almost every platform imaginable. Once people buy these games for whatever platform, they play it, feel nostalgic then put it away right before telling everybody how awesome/cool it was to play the game again but now they don't need to play it again for another few years/decades, etc. . Once that cycle has run its course, Atari waits another year or two to re-release the same titles across all new platforms or on the same previous platforms, but with small tweaks to the software or interface (i.e.; maybe everything is now controlled by a stylus pen as opposed to being strictly control pad only, etc.) all while the people who purchased the same titles one or two years prior simply look at Atari and go "WTF? They're releasing the same game again?".

There's also the possibility of the game companies not wanting to deal with porting games because they will take too long and the money/effort put into the project will not lead to a profit.

Personally, I'd love to see a huge Castlevania GBA/DS compilation on a current gen handheld or even a home console but the reality is that Konami does not want to bother with it and they want the fans to clamor for the original titles. If it is released (unlikely) which system is it going to be released on? How much will it be? How are the royalties for licensing the previous titles going to be handled?

In a perfect world, nothing good would end and nothing bad will ever happen. Unfortunately, this world we live in is far from perfect and I'm afraid will never be perfect.

So in the end, we can only wish that Konami takes the initiative and makes a compilation happen. If they do, I'll buy it.... for $19.99 or less.
 
Aria/Dawn of Sorrow are roughly tied for me, with Circle a close second. Generally enjoyed them all, but Portrait of Ruin was pretty shit, and Order of Excclesia was ok but still felt it was missing something.

Circle of the Moon's card system was awesome, especially at the time, but Aria/Dawn's pokemon influenced souls system was just brilliant. Made fighting every enemy feel worthwhile, because you could look forward to seeing what power their soul would give you.
 
I bought Circle of the Moon at the GBA launch. I wasnt able to finish it until the launch of the GBA:SP of course. It helps to be able to see the game when trying to beat it.

I'll go with CotM as my sentimental favorite, since it was the first metroidvania style CV game I'd played since SotN, and that fact itself made the game awesome. Later games improved on graphics and gameplay, but none can capture that feeling I got with Circle of the Moon.
 
It's been so long since I've played these but I remember C:OOE being amazing - one of those games I just couldn't put down until I beat it. The power ups and athmosphere were awesome and I remember loving and being wowed by the boss fights. C:CotM would be my second pick though they are all excellent games (the 6 starting with C:CotM that is - never played the older ones).

I never beat C:poR. I should get around to that one of these days...
 
[quote name='Puffa469']I bought Circle of the Moon at the GBA launch. I wasnt able to finish it until the launch of the GBA:SP of course. It helps to be able to see the game when trying to beat it.

I'll go with CotM as my sentimental favorite, since it was the first metroidvania style CV game I'd played since SotN, and that fact itself made the game awesome. Later games improved on graphics and gameplay, but none can capture that feeling I got with Circle of the Moon.[/QUOTE]

I feel the same way about CV: CotM.

It was the flagship title that made me want to buy a GBA within 2 weeks of the system's release.

I remember playing it for hours in the kitchen because the light bulb back then was just the right wattage so I could clearly see what was going on in the game. Later on down the line, I then realized that a small LED light peripheral for the GameBoy Color was compatible with the GBA so it was nice to finally have a constant light source pointed directly at the screen. That little device finally made it possible for me to play the GBA in the dark while in bed.

But once this company called Portable Monopoly announced a "front-lit" GBA peripheral, I had to have it.

I eventually bought it and installed it, albeit incorrectly but at least I now had to ability to fully enjoy the game without having to search for a proper light source.

CV:CotM is one of the main reasons why I still have my DS Phat as well as the GameBoy Advance Player for the GameCube. There's nothing more awesome than finally playing one of my favorite portable CV games on a television screen.
 
I think Castlevania had a great run from the GBA... I enjoyed all 3 games very much, but I think I'd give CotM the edge of the three. DoS was a a great game, PoR was ok, but I hated OoE with a passion.

OoE was just a pain in the ass... I don't mind a challenge, but the difficulty spike was substantial. I would spend hours in every area, made worse by the very sparse save points. And then there were some of those bosses which drove me insane. OoE was the last Castlevania game I played and it's made me pretty sour on the entire series.
 
I barely played Aria of Sorrow. I don't really know why, I think I tried to play it after running through both Metroid Fusion and Zero Mission and I was sort of burnt out on side scrollers.

Dawn of Sorrow on the other hand, I got right when I really needed another Metroidvania game to run through. The stylus parts were stupid and annoying though.

Circle of the Moon gets an honorable mention from me because (if you were playing in a well-lit area) it had probably the best graphics I'd ever seen on a handheld by a huge margin. I got it, Fire Pro and Super Mario Brothers 2 right when the GBA first launched and was blown away.
 
Dawn of Sorrow gets my vote. Just plain epic in gameplay, music, bosses, everything. Not as flashy as latter titles including Portrait of Ruin but a better game in my opinion.
 
[quote name='Halo05']
Circle of the Moon gets an honorable mention from me because (if you were playing in a well-lit area) it had probably the best graphics I'd ever seen on a handheld by a huge margin. I got it, Fire Pro and Super Mario Brothers 2 right when the GBA first launched and was blown away.[/QUOTE]

The original GBA didn't do Circle of the Moon justice. Fire it up on a backlit GBA SP, DS Lite, or PSP, and play it the way it was meant to be played with it's detailed backgrounds in full view.
 
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