#7. CASTLEVANIA: ORDER OF ECCLESIA - The DS Castlevanias are really special titles. It seems for the first two which were 'Dawn of Sorrow' and 'Protrait of Ruin' they abandoned the gothic art style and went for the more anime approach. This was during the anime boom of the early 2000s when people loved pretty much ANYTHING that was anime. While for the most part it's ok; I did not care much for the anime style of Castlevania. In fan art it's fine but not official games. So when Order of Ecclesia came around they went back to the detailed realistic gothic style of artwork reminiscent of Symphony of the Night and Aria of Sorrow. Given the serious context of the story it seemed appropriate. Also like Curse of Darkness, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin were direct sequels where the heroes merely defeat Dracula and call it a day. Order of Ecclesia's place in the timeline is what happened after the Belmonts took a temporary hiatus after their near fall from grace. And yes, this is also among the first in the series' official timeline where the main hero of the story is a woman: Shanoa. But that's not really a major contributing factor to why I think it's among the best of the DS titles. (Though Shanoa is awesome.) It ranks here because they wanted to explore beyond the Castle walls. Not every place in Order of Ecclesia takes place in Dracula's castle. In fact Dracula's castle won't even come into fruition unless you meet specific requirements.Yes, you first need to venture through abandoned monasteries, haunted forests, spooky caves and underwater caverns to free all the villagers which will ultimately save you from your fate and allow you passage into Dracula's castle.
The main method of using weapons in this game is the Glyph system. Where you beat certain monsters and then absorb their powers holding the UP button. It costs magic to use these weapons so there can be an element of challenge to them. And that reminds me; unlike the previous DS titles this game actually can be difficult. Again I have beaten it but some boss fights are brutal. If you are ill equipped or prepared to fight them then you will meet your end rather quickly. Not all Metroidvania games (which this is) are cake walks. While the Glyph system isn't the best system they devised in the series (The Soul Set system is); it does allow Shanoa to use a wide variety of weapons and obtain special abilities. This can even involve one where she turns into a cat and can talk to cats. There's a lot of neat stuff to explore and find in this game. And the soundtrack is awesome. The two previous DS titles had amazing soundtracks; but this one freaking rocks. Overall I do consider this the best title to represent the DS titles. But Dawn of Sorrow is so very VERY close. But we'll cover that later as we move higher up the list when talking about its predecessor.

#6. CASTLEVANIA: BLOODLINES - The only Sega Genesis Castlevania. And in fact the ONLY SEGA Castlevania title; as there was a cancelled Dreamcast Castlevania that sadly never came to be. But you know what they say; something is better than nothing. And Bloodlines really IS Something! Also a part of the Castlevania Compilation collection and the upcoming Sega Genesis Mini; people will now get a chance to play this unique title. What's unique about it? Well first of all, it's one of the few Castlevania games to tie into the story of Dracula. Yes THE actual Bram stoker novel. Granted it's kinda odd given what had transpired earlier in the timeline of the series they now wanted it to tie into the novel. But you know it's kinda cool. XD What's even cooler though are the diverse locations. Think of this as Konami's Castlevania European Vacation. First you start off in DRacula's Castle, same ol stuff. Get through it and realize you're at the top already where Dracula's coffin is. Only Drac isn't here. Some easy to beat mecha knight is. Dispose of the knight and then you're off to...Athens Greece and what appears to be 'The Lost City of Atlantis.' Then to the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy to a German Munitions factory to the Palace of Versailles in France. OK...don't take this as a culmination of European culture. This is just highly dramatic versions of such places. But it's cool that out of all the Castlevania games, this one takes you to the most diverse places across Europe. It's sequel Portrait of Ruin did the same, but that was thanks to portals and the only real world place outside Europe it took you was Egypt. (Other places like the Circus and the Withc Academy seemed too other worldly to be distinct.) Here it wasn't about portals. Somehow the main heroes Johnathan Morris and Eric Lecarde made their way across Europe to catch up to Countess Bartley who was reviving Dracula in England.
Which then brings me to my next point. For a classic Castlevania title you can choose who you wish to be and each comes with a different skill set. Whether you want to do it the classic way with Morris using the whip and sub weapons. Or a different way with Lecarde and his spear. Whichever way suited your fancy and each man had a different method and reason for hunting the Count.
I also want to comment on the game's soundtrack. Genesis gets some flack for not being a sophisticated in creating  symphonic sounding soundtracks as it's SNES rival. But when people cite times the Genesis produced solid music (quite a bit of its games did actually) Castlevania Bloodlines often gets brought up. That's because it truly has an amazing soundtrack. What is a Castlevania game without a solid soundtrack? Fun but not as memorable.
What's also memorable about Bloodlines is that it's also among the most violent of the 2-D Castlevania games featuring blood and gore not seen since Mortal Kombat first touched the Genesis giving the SNES version the finger. And it's a good thing too because what is a game about Dracula and vampires without some blood? And maybe some gore? Well...most Castlevania games prior to Bloodlines really. XD
Now it reaches Number 6 because the hit detection is even more annoying than getting knocked back. Yes cheap deaths are crappy when getting hit back. But how about getting hit by the same enemy or another enemy at once at barely getting any recovery time? Bloodlines is like that. If you don't dispatch of enemies or get hit all at once you probably will die. The use of the whip despite being versatile to swing across chasms is also extremely limited compared to its SNES rival Super Castlevania IV. Oh baby do we have much to talk about THAT one. But yes overall Bloodlines should not be missed. Check it out!


#5. CASTLEVANIA DRACULA X: RONDO OF BLOOD - For the longest time we US audiences were stuck playing the watered down SNES port. But here's the thing. A lot of people complained about that port. On it's own it was still an awesome game. Hard as Hell and had a bunch of unwanted graphical tweaks. But other than that; still a decent and solid Castlevania title. Back then the only way to play the original Japanese version was either getting the original CD and playing it either on the original Japanese PC Engine or owning the CD Add-On for the Turbografx 16. (The latter of which is extremely rare.) Now I DO finally own a physical copy of this game; but merely as a collector's item. But in 2007 the remake (so to speak) of Rondo of Blood came out in the form of the Dracula X Chronicles. The 2-D and 3-D hybrid of a remake was pretty good honestly. But of course we fans wanted to play the original still. So in Dracula X Chronicles you could unlock the original Rondo of Blood as a playable game within the graphical remake.
And it was through the Dracula X Chronicles I finally got to play it for real. Playing the original Japanese version is among the Holy Grail of avid Castlevania fans for a time. Now it's available in the Dracula X Chronicles, on the Virtual Console and Castlevania: Requiem of Blood. But it still maintains the original German language of the most awesome opening cut scene of any Castlevania game I've played.
The original JP Version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkEGFo… The Chronicles version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLA6UE…
there is also the main hero of the game: Richter Belmont. Often cited as the "Ryu" of Castlevania due to his similar appearance, he brought a whole new dimension of playability to Castlevania in the form of the Item Crash. Primarily saved for bosses, at the expense of extra hearts players could use their equipped sub weapon to dish out a super charged version of the weapon. Holy Water and Cross Item crashes in particular were among the most useful. Richter also did away with the method of collecting power-ups for whips and stuck primarily to his chain version of the Vampire Killer throughout the whole game. He could also backflip which came in handy in some instances. Though a bit of the downside is the slide backwards when he landed that might result in a cheap death. Unfortunately this awesome game gets put at number 5 because like Bloodlines you get hit a lot in one setting and can get your life drained by a group of monsters easily.
But unlike Bloodlines, you have a diverse set of paths for which to choose. Each one holds different bosses and outcomes. And you could revisit them at the menu screen if you so wished. Some paths lead to a fair maiden Richter could save on his quest to save his girlfriend from Dracula. (Yes it's uh....one of THOSE games. XD) But the one girl you really wanted to save the most was Maria Renard. A young Maria Renard all blonde and dressed in a pink frilly dress....which reminds me of another damsel-waiting-in-a-castle game franchise I'm familiar with. Mama mia....
But the main reason you wanted to save her was because you could play her as an optional character at any point in the game. Once more, she was actually better to play with than Richter. Her animal buddy sub-weapons and Item Crashs were cool. (They represented the four Holy Beasts Byakko, Genbu, Seiryu and Suzakau which is SUPER cool!) But her double jump and power slide ability actually came in more handy than Richter's back flip and stiff walking. Agile little minx isn't she?
Cool boss fights, a solid soundtrack and the best use of anime in a Castlevania game back during a time it was more appropriate. I'm so glad I finally have the privilege to play this monumental Castlevania title.

#4. CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA'S CURSE - Speaking of monumental Castlevania titles, this one title perhaps had the most influence on the series in terms of story. This was the game that inspired the creation of the Netflix series. In fact for the longest time Konami was looking for a way to animate this game into a feature. With the advent of Netflix they found a way to turn it into a series. And it was surprisingly a very good series. One of the few video game adapted series and movies that actually came out quite good. It took some liberties with the source material but that's understandable. Castlevania III is a very old game. XD (But why oh why did they leave Grant out? XP)
But more than just being the game that sparked the Netflix series; it's also the game that sparked the first confrontation between Belmont and Dracula....officially. Remember: In Lament of Innocence Leon did not fight Dracula and Castlevania Legends is no longer canon. Dracula was reigning over Europe and making life Hell for everyone. Finally after exiling them in fear of their power (the game did no specifically say the Church exiled them like the Netflix series did) the people found a surviving Belmont. That Belmont being Trevor Belmont. He looks nothing at all like the one in the Netflix series and was more or less a Simon Belmont sprite clone with basically the same move set having changed very little. So after going through the town as your first stage and beating a large horned skeleton called the Skull Knight it seems we're back in familiar Castlevania territory. Particularly since its predecessor Simon's Quest proved too cryptic and impossible to follow without a guide ending with a lot of frustrated gamers. The third of the NES trilogy clearly wanted to return to true form of the first game. But as soon as you beat the first boss, the differences between this one and the first game are seen immediately.
You get to choose which path to take. Be it the clock tower where you can find Grant DaNasty. Or the forest where you can either choose the path to Sypha Belnades or Alucard. Which then leads to the biggest difference of the NES titles. You can have a selectable character aide you in your quest. You can only take one with you of course; unlike the Netflix series where Trevor, Sypha and Alucard traveled together at once. (Grant was scrapped like I mentioned earlier.) Each one brought a unique ability to the table to help you on your quest; and each offered a different ending depending on who you ended the final battle against Dracula with. I usually finished it with Sypha sense her spells were the most useful. But when it came to the final battle against Dracula and his three hideous forms; I stuck solely to Trevor Belmont and his axe sub-weapon. James Rolfe (the AVGN) made it seem like the final battle against Dracula was impossible. It isn't. Like his Ghost N' Goblins review where he repeated "Get the knife!" you do the same here in this game. Only it's "Get the axe!" You use it to aim for Drac's head in his final form. And it's the surest way to beat him usually.
With diverse paths to travel and a diverse cast of characters this is easily the best of the NES Castlevanias and among the best of the traditional side-scrolling Castlevanias. Like the original Castlevania it is challenging and hard as Hell. But play it enough times like I have and you can get a feel for it to where it's not quite so tough. HINT: You can always type in "HELP ME" as your name for help. And yes...I knew about this back before James Rolfe said it. I played the original NES cart back before YouTube.
So it almost reaches the status of best 2-D side-scrolling Castlevania if not for it's typical cheap death hits of getting knocked into pits or getting stuck on stairs. And it's appropriate I bring up James Rolfe here; because our next entry he will be referenced a lot.

#1. CASTLEVANIA: SYMPHONY OF THE NIGHT - I....I really can't say anything more about this game that I haven't said already in my previous listings. In both my favorite Video Games of All-Time and my Top Ten Playstation Games Lists this game came in at number 1. And I already stated this was the game that influenced the creation of my most well known character Lady Malmsteen and the land for which she rules over.
I have praised this game to death and have cited it as among my biggest influences in terms of games affecting my life and my art. Symphony of the Night is truly king in my heart.
Of course since then other games have surpassed it and in some cases, Castlevania games like Super Castlevania IV can be just as fun as it is. But that's just it. Was Symphony of the Night merely just for fun? No. For me and apparently a lot of other people: Castlevania Symphony of the Night was inspiration.
The detailed enemy sprites, the gorgeously decorated backgrounds, and that absolutely amazing soundtrack!! All this elements combined created something that was more than just a game. If you are like me you don't play Symphony of the Night for a challenge or just to kill time. You play it because it is an experience. You lose yourself into this immense castle complimented by its many twists and turns and amazing stage themes. You encounter monsters influenced by myth, legend and literature. You collect power-ups and items to which you are curious as to what they can do. The truth is there is so much in this game to do that even if you know everything, it's still an enjoyable experience to explore the castle again and again.
Well....for me it is. I will say this. When you play the game as the main hero Alucard; it's really not that hard. Your first time through it might be a little cryptic figuring out where to go or how the game mechanics work. But when you're like me and know the game and it's many hidden secrets like the back of your hand; it becomes a cakewalk. And Castlevania games are known to be hard. But like Super Castlevania IV this one is among the easiest. But again. if you're playing as the seriously OP Alucard. If you play as either Richter Belmont or Maria Renard in the later re-releases of this game then yes it does get challenging. And thus this leads to what James Rolfe considered the biggest bane of this game: the Game Over screen.
Yes, it CAN be a bit annoying to have to load the game up again to continue. But that continue aside: the Game Over screen is AWESOME!!! Dried up demonic bones with the castle looming in the background with an ominous "GAME OVER" voice letting out a chuckle. But above all are the words it says at the bottom urging you to continue.
"Let us go out this evening for pleasure! The night is still young!"
Wow! Now THAT is some real vampire honey-dripping right there. And how appropriate as it fits the series' most classiest and bad ass character: our fan favorite Alucard. To many people he embodies Castlevania just as much as the Belmonts. That can be good or bad depending on what mood you're in playing Castlevania games.
But that quote actually sums up Castlevania. Just cause you lost doesn't mean you should quit. The night is still young, let us continue. And playing Castlevania games at night is something I do a lot to get into the right mood. Granted during the day is fine too. But it's a game about vampires and unearthly creatures. It's nighttime baby, let's play us some Castlevania!
And look I put that Game Over screen quote next to the number one slot. Suck it people! I LOVE THE GAME OVER SCREEN!!! XD XD XD
Is there something sucky about this game then? Well aside from being too easy and the infamously cheesy voice acting of the original PSOne release (though I actually find it endearing); what is up with that US release cover? The Japanese version was far more awesome. And look a the rest of the titles on this list. They all have their own awesome artwork with such amazing amount of detail and depth to them! For Symphony of the Night's US release, it's just a photo of a real castle wit ha lightning bolt in the BG. Granted that castle probably looks pretty sweet IRL. My point is the cover is just stock compared to the more beautifully detailed overs of the other Castlevania games. Even Castlevania Adventure 1 which i consider the worst has a far more awesome box cover than this.
And I also have the version that has "Greatest Hits" printed on the side. So yeah; that sucks. XD
But really that's my only major complaint. When a game like this influences your artwork, your taste in games, your taste in music and overall your gaming experience; it truly speaks volumes of its greatness.
And that's why to me; Castlevania Symphony of the Night is not only my favorite Castlevania game but my favorite game of all time period!