Castlevania: Bloodlines (Genesis) Castlevania: BloodlinesĪ Nintendo-exclusive franchise for years (we won't talk about that terrible arcade game), Castlevania made the jump to the competition with Castlevania: Bloodlines. Combine this with a knockback effect when taking damage, and you had a couple of broken controllers.

However, the original Castlevania was also a deeply frustrating game because of its stiff controls, which didn't let you course-correct jumps as you could in games like Super Mario Bros. Fighting literal Death and mythological creatures before you ever take on Dracula showed just how powerful the vampire was going to be, even if you had full health and a nearly bottomless supply of holy water to throw his way. Its art direction and music, limited as they had to be on the system's basic hardware, are still classic today, and the enemies are just as iconic. The game that started it all on the NES and began-at least in terms of release order-the ongoing struggle between the Belmont family and the legendary vampire Dracula, the first Castlevania did a whole lot right. Instead, it's arguably the hardest of the original trilogy, to the point that it's reasonable to rage-quit and never actually finish it. It featured multiple playable characters, some of whom you'll recognize from the animated series, both these objections didn't mean the game was easier. The non-linear but often cryptic and tedious Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was followed by Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, which took a more linear approach without being as straightforward as the first game. Super Mario did it, Zelda did it, and Castlevania did it, too. We saw several NES franchises make big changes with their second installment before reversing course back to what worked before when a third game eventually released. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES) Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

Some of the games on this list can be found in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection and the Castlevania Advance Collection.

Anyway, these are the 10 best Castlevania games, ranked. That said, it's to be expected that you will disagree with at least of few of the choices and placements. With such a big and varied collection, it wasn't easy to rank the best Castlevania games, but we did our best. The Castlevania series has been one of the most prolific and long-running in all of gaming, with the success of its many games-including some of the greatest games ever made-even leading to a popular Netflix animated series.

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