I very rarely recommend Angry Video Game Nerd episodes, but if you haven't seen his latest four-part treatement of the Castlevania series than you have to click the link below.

This is part 1. I figure you can find the other three parts without my help.

I'd actually really be interested in hearing what people's own experiences with Castlevania are like. For me, it was a series I was always on the periphery of. I found them fuck-hard, for one thing, and that sort've pushed me away from them throughout my childhood. Also, they actually scared me when I was a child. Like, Simon's Quest I had to turn off the first time night fell. Yeah, I was kind've a pansy. Hell, the battles in FF4 used to scare me. I jumped every time that goddamn swirly screen came up.

I didn't really get into Castlevania until recently, actually, with the newer DS games, though I'm probably one of the only people to actually play the N64 game ALMOST all the way to the end. That game sucked hard.

You know, there's something lacking in the DS games, though. Even the old playstation games, widely considered the best of the series, somehow lost that old action feel of the originals. I think part of the problem is that, with the exception of Super Castlvania, Castlevania games never controlled all that well. The PS and DS games kind've fix that by giving you a shit ton of spells and items to wreak havoc with, but the complexity of items and leveling and what not seems to take away from the series for me.

What I'd like to see is some kind of mixture of Castlevania 3, with its branching paths and exploration elements, and Super Castlevania, with its mastery of the platforming sections. Maybe toss in the epicness of the boss fights in Symphony of the Night.

But I don't know... it seems now there's a Castlevania game out every two months. To me, that's when things stop getting interesting. Same goddamn thing happened to Megaman.

I'm not sure when "every 18 months" (which seems to be about how often Castlevania games are released) became the same as "every 2 months" or even close. I think it's a symptom of you being, as you say, on the periphery. You're not watching the series and anticipating the next arrival, so when another one does arrive you say "Another one already?" instead of realizing just how long its been.

The issue with Mega Man, at least for me, wasn't that Capcom was flooding the market, though new releases every 6 months or so did get to be a bit much. The real issue was that a lot of recent Mega Man games haven't really even felt like Mega Man games. I don't want a Pokemon wannabe. I want classic Mega Man!

Capcom could've released 50 games in the series last year, but I still would've liked Mega Man 9 because it was a good game.

You're right Jason. I think I just remember how long it was between Castlevania 3 and 4 and Castlvania 4 and 5. It's just with the DS games, there seem to be so many.

You're also right about Megaman. I need to get my hands on M9.