To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the series, we're republishing this ranked list of every Castlevania game to appear on Nintendo systems. Enjoy!
The Castlevania series has a rich history on Nintendo consoles ever since the original game came first to the Japanese Famicom Disk System way back in 1986, and then to the NES a year later. There may be a significant release or two from Konami's vampire-killing catalogue still missing from Nintendo platforms (we're looking at you, Symphony of the Night), but the vast majority of the series can be found on Nintendo consoles.
But where should you start if you're new to the series? Which Castlevania is the best? Tough questions, but we've whipped up a ranked list of the best Castlevania games (on Nintendo consoles) below, as rated by Nintendo Life readers.
The series has many high points, plus a couple of very low ones, and the 2D games come in two distinct flavours: the more straightforward right-to-left style of the original games or the more expansive brand of Koji Igarashi-produced games — sometimes referred to as 'Igavanias' — which combined spiritually with Nintendo's Metroid series to birth an entire 'Metroidvania' genre.
Enough talk. Wipe away those bloody tears, and let's go kill us some vampires.
Available on Switch as part of Konami's Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, as a standalone arcade release from Hamster, or as part of the Castlevania Dominus Collection, Haunted Castle is an odd duck. Made exclusively for arcades, it occupies a strange middle ground somewhere between homage, parody, and port and sees Simon Belmont (with a sprite which stands a quarter of the screen tall) rescuing his new bride from the villainous clutches of the Count.
The music is by far the best thing about it, but despite looking superficially 'better' than the original, it's an unfairly punishing arcade experience designed to empty your pockets of shiny coins. As such, there's very little fun to be had. If you're interested, you can check out the differences between the original NES game, its VS Castlevania arcade port, and Haunted Castle in this video.
One important caveat with this one: Haunted Castle Revisited, M2's reimagined version in the Dominus Collection, is absolutely worth a look. In fact, our pals over at Time Extension whipped up a full review, so check that out if you're intrigued to know more:
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.nintendolife.com/guides/best-castlevania-games-ranked-switch-and-nintendo-consoles
