Best and worst Castlevania games

[Dscross]

I recently went back to Castlevania. I have played the majority now.

I think I'd still have to say symphony of the night is the best by a whisper. All the DS games are awesome as well though - Order of Eccesia, Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin are all equally amazing I think. Obvious Aria of Sorrow for the GBA is top quality too (not better than symphony though)

But I wouldn't say the worst is Simon's Quest as some people think. In fact, I quite enjoyed it. The classics are pretty good despite their difficulty - love Rondo of Blood in particular (Oh my God the music).

Castlevania 64 is a bad game... that's fairly clear. It's probably the worst one. However, I know it's not a popular opinion but I also really didn't like the Lords of Shadow games - I think because it's a reboot the story kind of annoys me because it messes with established characters. I wasn't even that keen on mirror of fate.

Anyway, what are your favourites and least favourites and why?

[Maxtiis]

I tend to separate them by Metroidvania and "Classic" vania so my list is

My bests are:Metroidvania: SOTN (as if there were any doubt) and Classic: Rondo of Blood.

My worsts are: Metroidvania: Harmony of Despair and Classic: American Castlevania 3.

[Yoko/葉子]

Favorite Classicvania: All of them. They were just cheesy fun and tough until you get the patterns down.

Least favorite Metroidvania: Symphony of the Night (especially the PS1 version's inexcusable dub)and Dawn of Sorrow. The former was too easy for my tastes in many parts and being able to buy strategies to beat bosses with no hits was even dumber, in my opinion. I do give it credit for expanding on Dracula and Adrian, though. Some of the boss fights were just too weird, but I liked others. As for the latter, having to collect multiples of the same souls to power up made RNG overstay it's welcome. In Aria, you just needed one of each for the full effect. That and I think it was just not a good story for continuing what was made clear with Soma being able to save himself from Chaos-Castlevania's control. Though I really liked how there was a Dracula's Curse mode of sorts with Julius' what-if game. Having to cough up a soul you just spent 20 minutes on to make a new weapon was also frustrating.

[Red]

My personal favourites are Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin. They were such fantastic games and Dawn especially was super fun collecting souls and crafting weapons with them.

My least favourite is the Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP. After having played the DS and GBA games, I just couldn't get into Chronicles. It was way too needlessly hard. Getting health was a bitch when the game was constantly throwing 100 enemies at you all at once. 

[Salamander]

I've played far, far less Castlevania than I would like - literally just the DS titles - because I basically got into the series right as it was on its last legs, so I can't really give a fair listing.  But, unusually, I'd say it's probably the first Castlevania game I played, Portrait Of Ruin, which has aged the least well; the more animesque aesthetic doesn't do anything for me in the context of the series, and the way exploration is broken up through truly sealed-off sub-areas in the portriats diminishes the interconnectedness I most enjoy from this style of gameplay.  Order Of Ecclesia, on the other hand, managed to win me back on style despite being in some ways even more linear and broken-up (that is, until you get to Castlevania itself).  OoE is exactly as gothic as I wanted the series to be, and it was a huge disappointment that the series basically ended there.  Dawn Of Sorrow I only played much later, and it still hasn't really sunk in; I appreciated that it really was a more open exploration title, and the snowy opening has stuck in my memory, but that's about all I've held onto.

[BlueFlare]

I love the DS titles and Aria Of Sorrow. SotN is a legend, but not my favorite in Castlevania series. I should play more of the older games. I wish Bloodstained will become an excellent succesor but for some reason, I have doubted it lately.