Games to Try if You Love Castlevania | Friday Night Arcade

What do you do if you wanna play Castlevania, but you've already played every Castlevania? This video can help with that.
Subscribe ► kzbin.info...
Patreon ► / fridaynightarcade
MORE FRIDAY NIGHT ARCADE
FNA After Hours ► / fridaynightarcadeafter...
Twitter ► / fnarcade
Instagram ► / fridaynightarcade
Web ► www.fridaynightarcade.com
Twitch ► / fridaynightarcade
Facebook ► / fridaynightarcade
FNA BUSINESS MAIL
Friday Night Arcade, LLC
1717 W. Kirby Ave
Box 242
Champaign, IL 61821
Starter Pack ► • Friday Night Arcade St...
Every Episode ► • Friday Night Arcade | ...
Merch ► / fridaynightarcade
Amazon Merch ►www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A71411...
#castlevania #retrogaming #FridayNightArcade

[@MichaelTaylor-qp2xf]

Just as Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a homage to classic Castlevania, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night and those style of newer Castlevanias.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

Can't believe you didn't mention 8 eyes for the NES. That's the quintessential Castlevania clone

[@BelmontClan]

And it was tough as hell too but the hawk was cool

[@jeanpaulmichell7243]

Yes 8 eyes. If one can get past the iffy controls and figure out the order of the levels, it's a game totally worth playing.

[@BelmontClan]

@@jeanpaulmichell7243 yep

[@TheGirugamesh1000]

He was too busy listing actual Castlevania games apparently.

[@osakatales9228]

@@TheGirugamesh1000 He only brought up two actual Castlevania games, the rest were inspired or not much relation to the source material like Bloodstained.

[@seanwilson6690]

The character sprite on Haunted Castle walks like he has some terrible low back problems!!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Him and me both! 🤣

[@fattony75]

Hurt my back carrying snow tires 5 days ago - CAN CONFIRM!

[@BenJabituya]

"Kenseiden" for the SEGA Master System plays a lot like Castlevania.

[@retrogamer-meza7345]

I will have to try it out!!! I looked up game play it looks good!

[@3to5andglassy]

Great game. Picked up with the Master in 88. The damn challenge stages were rough on me back then.

[@roguerifter9724]

Q: Why doesn't Simon Belmont carry a gun while the protagonist of Vampire: Master of Darkness does? A: The date their adventures took place. Simon was fighting Dracula in the late seventeenth century. This means the vast majority of guns available too him only allowed a single shot before he would need to reload his weapon, with multi-shot weapons being very expensive, while reloading times were long, and accuracy low. Vampire Hunter was set almost two centuries later when faster reloading, and more accurate guns that allowed several shots between reloads were much more common.

[@michaelblum410]

No worries. He could have just kept a bunch of pre-loaded guns in the same pocket he kept all the axes, boomerangs and bottles of holy water to throw He just needed to think outside the box.

[@redmist78]

I think it was more of a sarcastic joke than trying to be realistic.

[@koopakape]

That comment made me think of Circle of the Moon, which DID take place in the 1800s and you COULD get a gun... though it involved the ultra hard to get Pluto card and had a ridiculously massive cooldown between uses IIRC, but was VERRRRRY powerful.

[@roguerifter9724]

The two Castlevania games set in the 21st century (The last GBA game and the first DS game) also had pistols but those fired fast.

[@soxandbears]

so instead he carries 99 giant battle axes

[@SnipeMD]

_Master of Darkness_ is also available on the Sega Game Gear, it's essentially the same game as the Master System version. You can also get this version on the 3DS eshop for like $3, making it much more accessible.

[@ZigealFaust]

You can also just put the rom on your android, making it much more accessible to non Nintendon't users.

[@ChaossX77]

*Could also get it on the 3ds eShop before Nintendo shut it down. Thank God for emulation.

[@michaelanderson3614]

Awesome video! I’m glad you’re back, I’ve been waiting on new videos from my favorite KZbinr!

[@garyaldridge5574]

FNA back in black with a tribute to Castlevania! GREAT video, highly enjoyable. Need that character name to be a ringtone or something, lol. Also good to read so many encouraging comments. We are here and ready for whatever content you can bring, whenever you can bring it. Rock steady youngblood.

[@randomretroplays3123]

Great video and fun humour, liked and subscribed 👍

[@draketungsten74]

Here's to not being dead!

[@requiett]

Great vid as always. I'd personally also recommend Ghost Sweeper Mikami (Japanese release) on the Super Famicom as a great old school Castlevania title, and Touhou: Luna Nights as an incredible Metroidvania style title that plays and feels like a spiritual successor to Aria of Sorrow.

[@kjhoskins]

Here's one you may have forgotten: 8 Eyes. Very Castlevania-like.

[@256bando8]

Came to the comment section to see if somebody mentioned 8 eyes!!

[@riatsila144]

Yup, was also wanting to post this. Probably my favorite NES game growing up, and definitely a soundtrack that's stuck with me all this time. One of the best OSTs on the console. Not to mention the unique 2-player mode.

[@bendtfp8977]

Easily my favorite KZbinr. Great work, FNA

[@ArcNeoMasato]

There's a game I downloaded on the Switch called Wallachia: Reign of Dracula that's pretty great actually from what I've played.

[@brandonkruse6412]

It’s a pretty horrible, buggy mess with unfair difficulty even to CV standards. I’d avoid it but the idea and weapon upgrade system is very nice.

[@derek-64]

@@brandonkruse6412 i have it myself and i personally enjoy it even if it is rather difficult.

[@Sandman_Slim]

IT'S JUST BAD

[@leecarterreppinjesuschrist7686]

I heard that game is way!!! Difficult. Jesus Christ is the way.

[@bluediamonddirector]

Great to see you back. Love your content. I hope dad life is treating you well.

[@kcadventures1454]

Glad to hear you are coming back!!

[@cedarvalleygaming]

Great video, Aaron! No matter the length of time between videos, the viewer is always in for a good time.

[@fartspoo4244]

Blasphemous is one of the best games I’ve ever played

[@juanelorriaga2840]

It looks great but I don’t have switch sadly but if it’s on Xbox or PS4 I’m there I gotta check cause I’m a SOTH junkie

[@chadadams1393]

Yeah it’s Friday Morning Arcade!

[@cameron398]

So good to see you posting videos.

[@rayfincham1595]

Slain Back From Hell is another Castlevania type of game. And I didn’t know about a couple of these games, thanks for the video!

[@SaitohYatate]

While not the best in the franchise, Vampire Killer and Simon's Quest's overall impact was important for Konami, because both had elements that served as foundations of what would later become Symphony of the Night.

[@thegreatape884]

Simon's quest is often the most hated Castlevania, but to me it's the one I love the most. Closely followed by Symphony.

[@LarryLonson]

@@thegreatape884 I agree dude. 100 percent

[@matthewrease2376]

It's been a while, welcome back!

[@Mylatenightvids]

Great episode, awesome to see u back

[@colinmcdonald2499]

I hit like while the ads were still running. Just happy to see another FNA release in time for Halloween!

[@MisterDozer]

Happy Halloween FNA 🎃 Glad to see a new video from you!

[@SoundsideSherry]

Man, KZbin was *late* telling me there was a new episode of FNA. But I lit up like a bonfire when I saw Odallus: The Dark Call get a shout-out. It's such a great love letter to Castlevania and Grimdark fantasy, and I'm glad you got a chance to play it! Any chance you'll cover JoyMasher's other retro platformer, Oniken?

[@piratebear3126]

Man I was all ready to start recommending Odallus The Dark Call; it feels like no one knows about that game. The game deserves a ton more recognition than it gets. My suggestions are Rogue Legacy and Shovel Knight. Yeah Shovel Knight is a love letter to the whole era, but it has a ton of Castlevania influence in it. As for Rogue Legacy, it's essentially a roguelite metroidvania game where the castle shifts around every playthrough (unless you lock the layout down). A ton of rage-inducing platforming goodness, and there's a second Rogue Legacy that's coming along nicely in Early Access.

[@MikeRox83]

Yeah Rogue Legacy definitely has CastleVania vibes! Shovel Knight I more view like Duck Tales though :D

[@neuromancer9k]

Excellent video. Cadash is a RPG-game that (to me) plays a lot like Castlevania. I guess that there's a Genesis version of it somwhere, but it's also on Antstream Arcade, which hopefully you (Aaron) have gotten to check out, by now. Good to have another FNA video. Cheers, Aaron! 🍻🕹

[@josd_4636]

You can also try Maldita Castilla from Locomalito and it's also free to download. P.s. He also had developed Curse of Iosos, which in many ways similar to Vampire Killer and Zelda 2.

[@FreedomDaveX]

Three of those games are actually Castlevania games.

[@nufi20]

Yay Friday mornings are back

[@zintosion]

Never heard of Odallus! Looks pretty dope! Thanks for sharing, will check it out! Also been a while since your last upload, thought you went texting and driving.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Zing!

[@bland9876]

8:30 this look like if someone told Simon Belmont to "wise from your gwave". He's also walking how I would expect someone injured to walk.

[@jasonz7788]

Great work Sir thank you

[@corgibuttz2550]

Happy Halloween! Always happy to see a new vid pop up. :)

[@tonypacino7034]

Glad to see u back

[@mattmorgan881]

The last boss from Kid Dracula is that guy from SotN that's in the bottom of the inverted castle who looks kind of like an Egyptian god and shoots lightning at you. He's also a big bad in that awful Castlevania fighting game.

[@rionthemagnificent2971]

Holy Diver is a good one you forgot to mention, it has the same difficulty as Castlevania, and has a similar gothic horror, except you fight demons instead of dracula. It also has one of the most 8-bit metal soundtracks as "Offal Hell / Golden palace" Theme is one of my top ten NES songs.

[@ariekanibalie]

4:06 good thing quicksand turned out to be less of a problem IRL than NES games would have had my younger self believe, otherwise I'd be shit out of luck trying to keep from sinking by jumping up and down

[@Sinn0100]

I know I already posted but I had to watch this again. Particularly because I don't remember watching it. At any rate, you asked why Simon Belmont didn't carry a gun with him? Well... Simon Belmont fought against Dracula and his evil forces in 1691 and 1698. Now, firearms existed in the very late 1600's but they were very primitive and would make a terrible weapon against the undead. Look up the King Henry Eights Carbine as an example of what Simon would be killed holding.

[@gooniesneversaydie8350]

FNA, thanks for all you do sir! You are making some great vids for us to enjoy. Can’t wait to see what’s next. Say, have you tried Alwas Awakening and Alwas Legacy? How bout Undertale? Cheers

[@Alianger]

My fave from back in the day has to be Kenseiden, which has more of a japanese folklore theme to it. There were similar early MD games too, like ESWAT, Shadow Dancer and Mystic Defender.

[@thefiendreturns5309]

By 1992 most people had already moved onto the Sega Genesis - i didn’t even realize that they were still making Master System games in 1992

[@kelvinoneal]

Oh my god you’re back!!!

[@maverick7291]

Yay first! Great way to wake up to. Happy to see you back.

[@davidgoodman6924]

Remember your video on Atari's Haunted House game. I still play it! Reminds me of Halloween in the 1980's.

[@MotherKojiro]

I can vouch for Master of Darkness personally; it was good on both the SMS and the Game Gear, and has one of the best soundtracks on either. I've played a little of Haunted Castle, but it was too hard to be any fun, and I've played a little of Kid Dracula, but that was so long ago that I don't remember why I never finished it. I haven't played Vampire Killer, but if you're looking for something similar, there's a Castlevania hack called Castlevania: The Holy Relic that was quite good.

[@garyhall7867]

Yeah, you were right, I've heard and played most of these, but some I've never heard of

[@Osimear]

Mannn tengen I have not heard that name in years!!! The nostalgia is strong in this video

[@DragnSly]

Should've titled this video "Games that aren't Castlevania, but actually are Castlevania."

[@jeffr23817]

"I swear, I'm not dead!" lmao I was starting to wonder.....

[@seanrobinson4894]

You might like a Genesis homebrew called Demons of Asteborg

[@Champion2D]

It's also available digitally on the Switch.

[@thescopedogable]

Also no one will ever believe me but I completed Haunted castle on mame and it was one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences I ever had. In the arcade version if you used more than like 8 continues it would send you back to the start to complete it I had to get the stop watch and keep it at all costs. It actually got alot easier the further i got in because the devs clearly stopped caring the further you get into the game the last few levels seemed really just thrown together.

[@zachmcclintock7431]

Yes!!!! FNA!!!! That made my day…..Aaron hope your doing good have a great Halloween 🎃

[@demonsty]

man youtube just now putting you back in my feed!? i miss watching your videos man wtf! btw great vid dude.

[@TrevorBelmont1476]

Nosferatu for the SNES. It plays a lot more like the original Prince of Persia games but if you love Castlevania, that’s a great one to play as well.

[@Thatonedude917]

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Astalon: Tears of the Earth, Lost Ruins, Cathedral, uh... Panzer Paladin, I guess? Cyber Shadow probably counts, too These are all newer games that you can get on PC

[@JLAvey]

Been a while since I played the arcade version of Castlevania. I remember it having a time limit and that could get really annoying when you are trying to get through the levels with the minimal amount of damage.

[@KnickKnacksPlasticPlanet]

FNA is Back! :) Missed you!

[@FridayNightArcade]

Missed you too!

[@nunavyourbiznas8660]

I would add 'Holy Diver' for the famicom. It was Japanese exclusive and was loosely based on the heavy metal vocalist Dio.

[@3to5andglassy]

Hard as fk if I'm remembering correctly, but damn good!

[@derekfelska5683]

Holy Diver, give that one a spin if you get the chance! I think you'll like it!

[@trevg3027]

Welcome back good sir.

[@MegaMegajennifer]

i think dr. jekyll and mr. hyde is pretty similar when you're in hyde mode. and the dogs have the same running style as castlevania monster dogs. and midnight castle succubus has lots of the same stuff as castlevania and games like that, like beating monsters with a whip, fish people with flame breath, skeletons, vendors like in castlevania 2 and i noticed that the music in bloodstained during the beginning of boss fights is the same as when the hero in midnight castle succubus finds the damsels in destress. warning, midnight castle succubus has 2 versions. 1 clean, 1 dirty

[@ChrisCa1601]

I played Haunted Castle through the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. The game is just as hard on that too. If you plan on playing it, be prepared to spam save states, a lot.

[@classicmikecade]

Devoted husband, father, and successful KZbinr....I honestly don't know how you do it Aaron..... TGIFNA! Thanks for the hard work as always bud. Some of these I never even heard of but will go on my list for sure. Bloodstained series- epic, Haunted Castle Port for PS4...garbage BUT playable. Have a great weekend sir!

[@blackishjustin]

I can attest to Master of Darkness, or Vampire: Master of Darkness as it's known in North America on Sega Game Gear to being a really awesome Castlevania clone. And back in the day, it was pretty great to be able to bring a fully colored and kick-ass game like that portably over the Game Boy games my friends had. I mean, I got to play it for only around two hours on 6 AAs, but what a hell of a two hours it was. Lol.

[@megadan2988]

good picks man

[@juanelorriaga2840]

Great vid I def gonna look into sone of these specially “Blasphemous” or whatever it’s called that game looks like insane fun

[@MikeRox83]

As a massive CastleVania fan, I'll never forget the epic day I accidentally stumbled across Master of Darkness in the early 00s before retro gaming was a big thing! XD

[@hezekiahramirez6965]

How many Castlevania arcade games are there? There's this one, the modern-ish one from several years ago, and vs. Castlevania. Are there more? Also, it's interesting how there are so few retro Castlevania clones. I can think of 8 Eyes, Holy Diver, Master Of Darkness, Rusty, and maybe Earnest Evans if you count that. I don't know of any more. Maybe there were a few but I've looked for them and haven't been able to find them

[@entity8019]

Great video...this reminds me - I visited Florida around 1988/1989 and walked into a 7-11. In there was an arcade cabinet - it was Castlevania. The graphics were pretty good, but it definitely wasn't the NES version (admittedly I've never ACTUALLY played any CV games on the NES) and I could only get a few screens in. I've been looking everywhere for an answer - what was this game?!?!?! According to the internet, this game doesn't exist, but I know full-well what I saw. If anyone has ANY clue, please let me know and I'll buy you a beer. It's NOT the one in this video btw.

[@danielespeziari5545]

I recently played the Game Boy version of Kid Dracula, and actually only the first few levels take inspiration from Castlevania, the rest are your typical platforming stages. Great game however. Master of Darkness is a great Castlevania clone, but I wish it was a bit harder. It's over too soon.

[@TheGirugamesh1000]

Um dude Vampire Killer, Huanted Castle, and Kid Dracula are all literally Castlevania. And no I'm not being sarcastic they're literally part of the series. And even though Kid Dracula is a parody game it's also actually Alucard's origin story. Might wanna do a little research next time or at least a Google search.

[@bland9876]

4:00 I recommend a GameCube controller because the button placement is better for 2d games. But that may be my nastalgia talking

[@chaospoet]

"Or piss you off." *raises hand* Master of Darkness is great. When I got my Master System that was one of the first games I picked up. Though be warned it's pricey these days. I grabbed it when it was cheap. Vampire Killer is one I wished I owned. But it goes between $200-$300 which is still a lot cheaper than Castlevania for the Sharp X68000 and the North American version of Dracula X because there is no God. Also don't feel bad for not knowing about Kid Dracula. I own the famicom version but for years had no clue it was released in the states on Gameboy.

[@Sinn0100]

Hey man, it's good to see one of your videos again! Bro, I thought you left KZbin as I haven't gotten a notification from you in a long time. How are the kids and the wife my man? My fiancee and I are absolutely killing it right now. Both of our careers have taken off like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. We're doing so well we paid off our house. At any rate, speaking of The Heart of Darkness's use of guns and Castlevania...I believe Soma Cruz uses guns in his last GBA outing. Speaking of Soma Cruz, have you played the exciting Castlevania Advance Collection? It's freaking great man and you should definitely check it out post haste. Just as I'm going to check out Blasphemous and "Haggis!" I haven't heard of either game but man they look neat. ;)

[@GamerThumbTV]

At 8:00 "maybe Haunted Castle is more playable on those consoles?" It's not. It's not...at all lol.

[@FridayNightArcade]

Noted 😂

[@zimzimzalabim]

I like to think of Kid Dracula as Alucard's First Adventure.

[@RetroGamerBB]

I'm kind of surprised sms "Master of Darkness aka Vampire" doesn't have a Castlevania type ROM hack.

[@used39]

Haunted Castle is definitely not easier on the PS4. It’s not even one of those good arcade ports where you can keep plugging in virtual quarters to continue immediately after you die - they send you back to the last checkpoint when you try to continue. It’s frustrating as hell.

[@Zvasra]

I have the switch port of Haunted Castle and it’s definitely the hard version. Absolutely brutal.

[@Donscottgaming]

I'd recommend a game, simply called "D", for the original Playstation and Sega Saturn. It's an older game from the 90's and the graphics haven't aged very good, but they just add to the creepiness, of the whole experience.

[@oscarjimenezgarrido7591]

Curse of Issyos.

[@UpIrons777]

8 Eyes on NES basically was CastleVania.

[@darktetsuya]

definitely a couple of these I gotta look up! at least in the case of haunted castle and kid dracula you can also get those on konami's collections out now on modern platforms (and yeah that first boss got edited in this collection cus that's definitely sending the wrong message... yikes!) gotta get odallus at some point, and need to sit down and play MSX vampire killer to the end!

[@MichaelTaylor-qp2xf]

I've played the PS4 version of Haunted Castle and found it to be a monstrously hard pain in the ass, so it sounds comparable to the arcade version.

[@lutherheggs451]

It is the arcade version...Those arcade games are just ROM dumps, they don't change or fix anything.

[@scottg7660]

He’s back baby!!!!

[@knifeteeth]

Watching this while driving.

[@nerdcraftercoley7305]

Kid Dracula is my favorite game on the Gameboy and I also have the version for famicom that I paid 49 bucks for off of Amazon

[@randalfox7773]

3000th Duel is amazing... Try it!

[@jc.1191]

Try Vigil: The longest night. It's like symphony of the night, and excellent. Ritual of the Night is fantastic, great suggestion.

[@AxiomofDiscord]

Firearms would have been pretty widely available in Simon's time and you see almost no evidence of this it really is weird. Castlevania has like 600 years of game history that just keeps looking like 1000 AD never ended.

[@iamsemjaza]

I was waiting for Kick Master to show up in this.

[@heilong79]

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is a great Metroidvania.

[@ravinnox2640]

I went through more hell filing my master of darkness review a few years back than I did playing the game. Game rocks though.

[@rogeliolarronda]

Thank you for the Odallus suggestion.

[@rodrigogirao8344]

There are many Castlevania fangames, for example look into The Lecarde Chronicles.

[@DarkMirria1]

I also recommend a DSi Ware game that’s on 3DS eShop called “Soul of Darkness”.

[@SgtSega]

Kid Dracula was released in the US but on Game Boy.