The Castlevania Games Tier List

Check out Saga of Sins and complete this dare where you beat the first boss: daredrop.com/dare/first-sin-o...
Make your Castlevania tier list here: tiermaker.com/create/castleva...
Follow me on Twitter: / crawling_nyarly
Consider donating on Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/nyarly
Subscribe to my Twitch channel: / nyaarly
In this video I do a similar tier list to my MegaTen tier lists and rank the Castlevania games! Everything from Castlevania on the NES to the Advance Trilogy to even the most obscure games like Order of Shadows and Encore of the Night, as well as the Bloodstained series! Feel free to create your own and share it with me, and tell me what you think!
Intro by Lyric: / @lyric3595
#castlevania #konami #tierlist

[@azeplays3563]

Symphony not being SS is a crime

[@laughingman9574]

DSvanias look better, have better combat, better bosses, and are paced better.

[@xxdevilx3]

Exactly, what in the world. This guy is dumb.

[@juice6521]

What is a tier list?

[@azeplays3563]

@@laughingman9574 to be fair, haven't played those ones yet since they aren't as readily available. However, I have played aria of sorrow and that one is usually regarded as the best and I still liked symphony better

[@laughingman9574]

@@azeplays3563 Oh man, you absolutely should, there are ways ;) My favourite is Order, followed by Portrait, then Aria, Dawn, then Symphony. Don't get me wrong, I love Symphony too, It's not saying much that I like those better, all are great games, I just find Symphony's other half tedious (inverted castle is amazing idea on paper, however). Combat and the variety of it, bosses and movement are amazing in Order and Portrait.

[@TheGothGaming]

Aria of Sorrow is legit awesome. Underrated because it was on the GBA, but it is a true masterpiece of a game

[@dailydoseofvitaminc6565]

Extreme respect for the Aria placement

[@dailydoseofvitaminc6565]

@@debaykroid9910 the story and art style bring Dawn a bit down for me, I know like no one plays Castlevania for the story, but I’ve always really liked Aria’s ideas, meanwhile, Dawn is just kind of boring for the most part to me

[@disturbedrebirth]

I get what you're saying, but Symphony of the Night is still at least S.

[@kinamiya1]

being honest difficulty wise its like a C its too easy(even with non op weapons) Music gameplay and presentation tho combined would be A+ really close to S the difficulty kind of drag it down a bit but doesn't mean it wasn't fun to power trip as alucard tho

[@JohnSmith-nj4zq]

It's SS. They still haven't made a Castlevania coming close to it.

[@budfug8691]

@@kinamiya1 keyword is fun

[@A-Dubs398]

@@kinamiya1 Yeah, I mainly love SotN for its exploration and music, but the RPG balancing has always been off, and it does get too easy for my taste. Wish they was a remake or mod to make everything better balanced and harder.

[@Dhalin]

@@A-Dubs398 I don't mind easy games. I don't like the Bloodstained route, where it's just too damn hard and grindy (the crafting/quest system is utter ridiculousness). SotN was just plain fun. Not the hardest thing in the world, but it didn't need to be, for me to enjoy spending hours exploring a couple castles, and beating up lots of baddies in THE game that defined Metroidvania and set a lot of the standards you'd see in later games of the genre. Everybody who made a Metroidvania ever, copied at least some things that were introduced in SotN. It's like making a tier list and dropping Final Fantasy 4 down to D tier or something ridiculous like that.

[@misterzygarde6431]

Hoping we can get the DS games in a future collection. Perhaps handled like how the ZX games were in the Mega Man Zero collection.

[@yaboi8167]

I second this. I wonder what other games have the potential to include. Like the advance collection having Dracula x for example. Adventure rebirth would be neat.

[@qster4]

Except with the Magic Seal system in CV: DS automated. Easily the worst part about that game and, in my opinion, the most needless mechanic in the series.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@qster4 Good news: Dead Cells is getting Castlevania content.

[@CB-L]

I guess their unique systems involving touch screen are preventing ports..

[@qster4]

@@orangeslash1667 I tried Dead Cells and it sadly didn't click for me. If it ever hit a deep sale or was a free PS+ game, then I'd give it another shot. Not bad, just not for me.

[@HybridAngelZero]

The well-deserved love and respect on Curse of Darkness is bringing me great joy. This is also a powerful reminder that Adventure ReBirth desperately needs some kind of rerelease

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

I liked that game but I could never get a certain familiar to evolve. And it nearly drove me crazy.

[@n.borreros2889]

The one who look like an incubus, you need Isaac's spear, and that needs an special material i think

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

@@n.borreros2889 That's the one, wish I would have known that back then.

[@StillTendo]

Rondo of blood is my favorite. Just a top tier game

[@everysinglepoop]

Don’t really like the older games but Rondo of Blood is a straight banger

[@CB-L]

I know it actually is NOT, but it kinda suits the mood of "last pre-sotn castlevania"

[@flyguy5357]

Rondo of blood is what made a fan of the series after playing the metroidvanias and I've been hooked on the series ever since.

[@mikeysaurlol]

Very happy you included Bloodstained, those games are severely underrated

[@sludgewave4786]

True successor to the metroidvania castelvania (A bit redondant lol). I really love that they integrated a randomizer in the game.

[@kraken5003]

the 8 bit games are great but i just REALLY hate the whole 2,5D crap, it just feels so unintuitive and glitchy... the 'metroidvania' would have been so much better if they would have just made sprites and make it look more like SOTN

[@mikeysaurlol]

@@kraken5003 personally I didn't really have a problem with it and thinks the game manages to look really great at times because of the 3d, but I've also played the 2.5 Metroid games like Samus Returns and Dread so maybe my eyes are just used to it?

[@sludgewave4786]

@@kraken5003 They did multiple castelvanias with the wonderful sprites of SOTN. Dawn of sorrow, portrait of ruins, and order of ecclesia. They all are amazing, even better than SOTN for me. So I think it was time Iga tried something new in term of artistic direction, and I think it looks great, plus you get to wear silly hats in 2.5D! I don't really see what you find unintuitive or glitchy. But if you are nostalgic for the pixel art of the 16bit era (I understand I like it too), the indie sphere is full of lovely rendered pixel art metroidvanias, who really are heavily inspired by the atmosphere and feel of SOTN: _Blasphemous I and II _Record of lodoss war: deedlit in wonder labyrinth _moonscars _death's gambit _souldiers _Dead cells _Momodora reverie under the moonlight _Phoenotopia awakening (more a zelda II clone, but still a pretty good metroidvania) And they keep coming, I saw there was an upcoming game "Gestatlt steam and cinder" in developement wich looks gorgeous and seem to really scratch that itch too.

[@kraken5003]

@@sludgewave4786 it's unintuitive because when you add the extra dimension it becomes that much harder to see where 'exactly' the platforms are, and just getting a feel for everything isn't at all like when you are working with clearly defined sprites also it looks uglier and it's glitchy because things keep getting stuck in walls and such, the hit detection is crap compared to how 2D games usually work also the other games you mentioned are fine, but i don't think any of them top SOTN and only some of them are avalible on modern platforms, we need to get the DS games on ps4/ps5/switch and such

[@Xx1devilgod1xX]

Order of Ecclesia is my favorite Castlevania game of all time, it's good to see there's some appreciation for it.

[@omegaweapon116]

Just beat it about two months ago. It's now my second favorite Castlevania.

[@HENTAIsamus06]

Mine as well, especially after recently replaying the DS ones!

[@robertpadua6096]

Is there a way it can be ported on PS5?

[@Xx1devilgod1xX]

@@robertpadua6096 I seriously doubt it, not only is from a Nintendo handheld, but Konami doesn't like to do anything but pachinko these days, either that or Metal gear. They couldn't care less about Castlevania.

[@A-Dubs398]

It's always been my fav hand-held Castlevania, love the difficulty of it too. Love the environments too! The Light House area is very pretty!

[@LDsprite]

Rondo and the Sorrow games being at the top is exactly what I wanted to see, hell yeah

[@Namingway248]

it should be mentioned rondo of blood's cutscene artstyle is also the definition of "generic anime style" for the time it came out. the definition of "generic anime style" changed greatly between the 90's and 2000's though, and you could argue the story wasn't really a focal point in the early castlevania games, so perhaps thats why you don't recognize it/don't think its worth mentioning.

[@KamenRaiden]

Surefire way to make sure Richter looks cool forever lol I've always disliked the newer boxart depicting richter with longer hair. Great art, don't get me wrong, but Richter has always had that short hair with the cool bandana.

[@CrowScareify]

Great list! I love all of the bloodstained games and I’m really glad you included them. Order of Ecclesia is my personal favorite Castlevania game and one of my favorites of all time, but both sorrow games are wonderful as well. Really stoked for the future of the bloodstained games

[@sammyshelor4476]

Yeah I agree with aria being SS but I would’ve swapped dawn and order of OOE.

[@WithScienceAsMySheperd]

9 games superior to Sotn ? Yeah noob peasant opinions in this video

[@Edo_Luna_]

​@WithScienceAsMySheperd SOTN is incredibly overrated. It deserves the respect for being the first to adopt the Metroidvania style, but there is a lot of things it does that the future games simply do better.

[@WithScienceAsMySheperd]

@@Edo_Luna_ i haven't played any yet, I dont care, SOTN is still perfect just replayed it 3 times ... last month.

[@Dinovania]

​@@WithScienceAsMySheperdentonces tu opinion no vale 🗿

[@stevecolianni1499]

SOTN is not only the best castlevania game, it is one of the best games ever made.

[@Alucard12456]

Of course 👍🏼

[@charaznable8072]

Lol A tier it should be S at least.

[@Alucard12456]

@@charaznable8072no, SS and not a debate, just a fact.

[@fabian2006]

the fact that castlevania its so relevant now days its just cuz SOTN, thats it... Given a A its just to try not to fit with most ppl so its gets a lot of comments,likes,dislikes he knows Simphony its a before after of games.....

[@Evilwombat]

His opinions lost all credibility for putting it in A tier 🤡 would have accepted S tier based on personal preference but A is just a dumb take.

[@GymnasticsCoach83]

Just began watching your videos, I LOVE the quality and information provided. Keep up the great work!

[@otaldozack7594]

Sotn in the same tier as circle is a crime

[@GakuKodori]

Indeed

[@Numbbullets]

Symphony is simply SS.. played that over 10 times or so and never got bored of it

[@hermis2008]

Symphony Of The Night deserves SS rank and it is a masterpiece.

[@ranniely]

@@hermis2008 it even looks better when playing of big tv. Aria of sorrow and Dawn aged much worse :(

[@nexusbe-po4xz]

at fact

[@gdassspar6nr204]

No, it's balance is too broken for ss but otherwise solid game

[@Odin4300]

Symphony is not SS is barely SSSS+ this tier list is bad. period

[@AnemoneMeer]

Personally, I feel that PoR stands in SS tier. The game has an absurd amount of content to it, that content is generally extremely good, and the game isn't bogged down by the content. You can beat the game and have an authentic experience without bothering to level subweapons or deal with the sidequests or anything of the sort. The portraits play very differently, with Sandy Grave being easy enemies and deadly traps, the Circus of Fools being complex platforming, the Evil Forest being a nearly linear gauntlet of hard enemies, and the pixel art detail being completely absurd. Just the shops in the first portrait alone are so absurdly detailed that it boggles the mind. Someone really spent time making individual sprites for cakes.

[@Spootington]

Finally, some love for Portrait!

[@kingdongho571]

Another banger tierlist, our tastes more or less line up in this one as well. The DS Castlevanias were honestly so good, I really hope they're next to get a modern rerelease.

[@Forever_Zero]

Giving Bloodstained their deserved place in this list and the Sorrow Duology in SS? This is officially the best tier list

[@sanjithechef]

I love your videos. The passion and way you articulate how good certain games are make me want to play them. Same with the SMT games you talked about, except I’m way less familiar with those (hoping to change that)

[@lowhp_comic]

It really is tragic how Konami just put in 0 fuckin effort into the franchise after Iga left and devolved it into casino machines

[@PezRabbit]

I was kinda dreading your opinion on Castlevania 64 & Legacy of Darkness purely due to their reputation online caused by, as you said, certain internet personalities. I was surprised when you gave them a fair shot and rating though! They're certainly not the best games, but they're definitely up there in my top Castlevania games. The levels, character designs and music are all so memorable to me.

[@swilliams21231]

Lords of Shadow 1 was amazing. It was by far the best of the God of War clone games.

[@blazerchocobo]

Other than bumping SotN up one tier, I can't really critique much about this tierlist. It's well thought-out and reasoned so kudos for that.

[@Teen_Drama]

Aria had so much memorable tracks. Castle Corridor and Clock Tower were already bops the first time I heard them

[@Mohamed-tp7pg]

symphony of the night it's just a masterpiece

[@moebino2685]

SSS tier

[@srg24601]

I loved the pause before actually placing SotN followed by the immediate opening argument for the defense lmao. I haven't played every Castlevania, but of the ones I did I think they were placed fairly. Good tier list.

[@ionut7350]

Just started to play some more games from the castlevania series after i finished aria of sorrow. This vid made me realize i was playing a not so great version of rondo of blood so thanks! i also got to see a ton of other games i didn t know about from the series. I recommend the ”Return to Castlevania DLC” for the Dead Cells game also. Altough not a stand-alone game, the addition of new weapons, dialogue, map layout/design and well placed refferences is worth checking out.

[@SilverNightbane]

Bloodstained is one of those very rare Kickstarter winners, alongside Shovel Knight.

[@imackamoo2]

Your videos make me want to jump into the franchise. Played a few growing up. But maybe i need to take a closer look.

[@maugzsr556]

Definitely enjoyed your insight on what Castlevania game is good and average. Also liked how you implemented the Bloodstained games as well especially since their Igurashi's babies. I speedrun the first Curse of the Moon game and it's a lot of fun to run for sure, BUT I would like to learn CoTM 2 and RoTN at some point.

[@Scorpionspear77]

My PS4 disc for Bloodstained still crashes randomly- wondering if that’s the disc and not the game. Has the Switch version been fixed? Might just spring for that to get it on the go.

[@Waterwish545]

Order of Ecclesia my favorite of the DS titles but I agree that the 3 games are peak castlevania. Glad you gave it another chance

[@WeAllEatFood]

Breathed a sigh of relief to see the DS games in (roughly) the right spots lol Great list, but I do encourage you to spend a bit more time with Chronicles. It really hits a groove when you get comfortable with the jank, and the aesthetics are probably my favorite out of any of the Classicvanias. I probably will never put it above Rondo, but I was surprised how much I ended up treasuring my copy.

[@noraizhaider8269]

😊😮

[@teeth227]

YES, i love castlevania. super happy about seeing you cover it

[@Chernobog2]

Honestly the funniest thing about Bloodstained to me is that they straight up remade Castlevania 1 with Bloodstained's assets and released it as an extra gameplay mode

[@Papen1115]

Order of Ecclesia is my personal favorite of the DS vanias (though havent played Dawn all the way through yet) hearing that its your least favorite of the DS vanias and still being in S tier was a pleasant surprise.

[@wedding2710]

Ecclesia is automatically better than the other two DS games since it is a hard game. The difficulty is appropriate and finely tuned, but it isn't a cakewalk which can't be claimed for the other two

[@qster4]

@@wedding2710 And it doesn't have the awful Magic Seal system, so it's automatically better than Dawn of Sorrow.

[@Leo80310]

@@qster4 just use Definitive edition patch from romhacking, meh.

[@qster4]

@@Leo80310 That'd be a great idea... if you could do that with a physical copy. I'm sorry, but as much as I like Dawn of Sorrow, I feel he gave it WAY too much slack. But that's the cool thing about opinions. We all can have our own and nobody can take them away from us.

[@ariannadravis3934]

@@wedding2710 Hard dosen't mean good, lol

[@NisseDood]

While Symphony of the night is good one annoyance is that the difficulty curve is reversed. The game starts out with a good challenge but becomes easier the further in. Later in the game I could just facetank bosses and kill them in a short time (except the super boss unless cheesing him)

[@Namingway248]

that might be true for someone familiar with the genre, but the openness of the inverted castle can create a lot of challenge depending on the order in which you choose to explore it. I know I've had friends lose hours of progress in their first playthroughs by fighting bosses they really shouldn't have gone anywhere near yet

[@CB-L]

Heard something like SOTN's inverted castle, or entire 2nd half of the game was VERY rushed in development. Something bothers me more is that still none of the ports had properly implemented saturn exclusive elements..

[@mrcodpwns]

Thats why sotn Is not on my top, Is one of the easiest game i have ever played, also, the dialogues are cringy, but the music, art, animations, are one of the best in the history of videogames.

[@omegaweapon116]

That's my only gripe with SoTN. It's just too easy. Other than that, I love everything about it.

[@phoenixreborn5147]

symphony of the night is only easy because people spam overpowered weapons like the sword familiar, the crissaegrim, the jewel knuckles, every chance they get. if you play the game with your own rules, or what the game gives you at the time, instead of pocketing certain subweapons, & being cheesy, the difficulty is fine. honestly aria of sorrow has the smae issue anyways, i beat 90% of the game just using valkyrie soul. if you go look at guides and find what the most op weapon and soul is, aria of sorrow difficulty is the same as sotn. also aria of sorrow goes from easy to hard to easy again, the game isnt hard at all, until death, and then its a sudden major difficulty spike, and then it gets way easier again.

[@oIFIFeNSe]

Well put together video! I personally have castlevania 4 as my top game, but respect the list

[@alloounou6900]

I've got nothing but praise for all the bloodstained games to date. I hope to see more of them.

[@thedecembomber]

Dude me too, Curse of the Moon 1 and 2 make the part of my heart reserved for classic Castlevania sing, and Ritual does the exact same for the part reserved for Metroidvania Castlevanias.

[@enman009]

Hard agree on Bloodstained! The fact that the developers were still improving the game's technical problems, while adding fun new content for free deserves a lot of respect. Also, the endgame becomes really fun. And yeah, Aria of Sorrow might be the best Metroidvania, period.

[@Melkac]

Eclessia not being SS is nuts.

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

🤣

[@WinspearUltima]

This is a great tier list, and if you are into this series I’m gonna mention, could you do a tier list on the final fantasy franchise please I would love to hear your thoughts on them

[@stefanoblack2221]

Pretty relatable tier list! I've been playing Bloodstained for the last couple weeks and I can confirm it has been VERY enjoyable! Really brings back that classic metroidvania style and the best from Aria/Dawn of Sorrow c:

[@MaverickHunterXZA]

I think i'd genuinely put Bloodstained (Ritual) in SS simply for its depth of content ans ease of replayability thanks to things like its inbuild randomizer. It's just such an easy game to randomply pick up every once in a while and have a fresh experience with. Other than that, i'd personally rank the Lords of Shadows games much higher, but i can definitely see why people don't like them. For me, it's the voice actor performance that anchored the game into my memory. There's this dialog between Gabriel (Robert Carlyle) and Marie (Natasha McElhone) in LoS2 that, to this day, gives me goosebumps. Great List!

[@jurtheorc8117]

Seconded on the LoS games, even though i've not played Mirror of Fate. I know what scene you mean, seeing Gabriel at that point being in tears at all that has happened, preceded by recounting the misfortune that has befallen their family, is heartrending. It's fair enough if people don't want to count them as true Castlevania games on their own, and I personally have had my issues with gameplay and story. And yet, overall, i've had fun with both LoS 1 and 2, played them all the way through (bar the DLCs), there's a lot I like about the combat, art direction, lore, bosses, environments, and a lot of it is like you say elevated by the voice acting-- and also the MUSIC! Oscar Araújo has delivered beautiful pieces, bombastic and intricate alike. All in all, sweet to encounter a person who looks positively upon the LoS games throughout their shortcomings. Both in a vacuum, and as experiences on their own.

[@projectmessiah]

My favourite castlevania games are basically sotn, the ds games and my top 2 are specifically the Soma games in no particular order.

[@Artahe]

The simple fact that you put DoS in SS warrants my sub :D Also, the funny thing about Bloodstained Ritual Of The Night is that, the first time I played it, I just got out of my, idk, 15th completion of DoS, which incidentally also has my second favourite soundtrack in the franchise after SOTN, and none of the songs in Bloodstained actually stuck during my first playthrough. But then, replaying it a couple years later, which incidentally was just a couple weeks ago, I could finally appreciate the soundtrack for what it was and I have to say, it is easily in my top 5 from the franchise - I also think that Bloodstained is Castlevania rebranded. Gameplay-wise, Bloodstained, to me, feels like IGA wanted to reexplore Order Of Ecclesia's glyph system and make it better. Now, I haven't played OoE in about 10 years at this point so I kinda forgot how the glyph system was, but the Shard system in Bloodstained actually reminded me more of the AoS/DoS soul system, AKA my absolute favourite system in the franchise. Which can't be a bad thing, obviously. Now the ONE thing I hope IGA add in a future update of ROTN, or maybe in the sequel, is a whip-holding character that uses the whip the way the Belmonts do. Because I, for one, don't like how Miriam uses it x). But that just a small, cherry picked issue I have that doesn't really change the fact that to me, Bloodstained is actually a SS tier.

[@KolozII]

Oh my god. The music you picked for the background in the beginning gave me big nostalgia shots. I thought it was from Castlevania Adventure, because I’m sure that’s the one I played on the GameBoy way back when I was a kid, but when I booted up a port of the game more recently, I wasn’t hearing the nostalgic tunes. It’s been driving me nuts. I thought I was imagining things. So, long story short, is that music from Castlevania Adventure? The only reason I can think of as to why I’d have memories of that music but not hear it is maybe the passwords. Because the copy we had when I was a kid I’m pretty sure had passwords taped to the back of the cartridge, and so I did a password that went to a later stage, instead of playing from the beginning. But videos I’ve watched on the game never featured the specific song I remember hearing as a kid, so I spent a long time wondering if I was imagining music that didn’t exist Hearing the first stage tune wasn’t nostalgic for me, but eventually became familiar, probably because that’s the track people use to represent that specific game. Sorry for the rambling, but it’s been driving me crazy, and I just gotta know.

[@Vhynyr5555]

Castlevania 3 and lament of innocence are my two favorites. Both SS for me their so good and are great challenges. Not to mention the soundtracks 😮

[@davidhunter2824]

I'm glad to hear that someone else loves the lament of innocence soundtrack. Everyone talks about how good the soundtrack of Symphony of The Night is (which I agree that Sotn has one of the best castlevania soundtracks of all times), but Lament of Innocence is almost as good as SOTN. Btw, both soundtracks are composed by Michiru Yamane, and she also worked on the Skullgirls and Castlevania Bloodlines soundtrack as well.

[@yaboi8167]

Based tierlist. Curse or darkness is great. Would love to see a remake or remaster that adds a little bit faster movement and more combos. The wacky and secret equipment in the metroidvanias is my favorite aspect of them.

[@Carlos-Garcia47]

What song was that at the end, I know it's from bloodstained ritual of the night but I don't remmebr if thats the official song or a remix of it

[@androidoficeandfire9667]

Played Symphony Of The Night recently and omg it’s so good Fans which game should I play next Beaten Rondo Of Blood and the remake in Dracula X Chronicles and Lords Of Shadow and SOTN, have access to 1,2 and 4 through collections and own LOS2

[@janmarcoperezbatres2203]

Honestly play through 1 just for that classic castlevania love and 4 is really good. As the video said, 2 can be annoying, but not entirely bad. Just make sure to play it with a guide. I personally would recommend playing Circle of the moon GBA

[@NickolayT92]

You have my respect for not overrating SotN and putting both Aria and Dawn of Sorrow in SS. There are some places i disagree, but overall i think your tier list is very good.

[@toryficarola]

Same same

[@somefries3101]

i consider Aria to be the overrated one :P

[@Auvisome]

@@somefries3101 dumb

[@xXLunatikxXlul]

@@somefries3101 Agreed. It has aged very poorly in a lot of areas like graphics, sound effects/music, and weird pacing, imo.

[@Dinovania]

​@@somefries3101la mayoria de elige a symponhy como el mejor

[@stevesteve0521]

Having symphony of the night as the lowest ranked metroidvania game is an absolute insult

[@MarsofAritia]

Harmony was lower. it really belongs in the middle.

[@MrDark086]

Simons Quest could've been so much better if the translation hadn't been so atrocious and maybe shortening the day night transition. For what it was, it was ambitious for a Castlevania game for its time

[@reyemilio00]

This video was awesome for the sheer fact that it shows so m souch love to the GBA & DS games Castlevania games. While Symphony of the Night will always be in my Top 10 games of all time, Aria & Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin made so many improvements on the SotN formula and are just totally addictive!

[@escriptonauta]

The DS trilogy are the peak of castlevania. I spent hours on it until I got everything the game had to offer. Portrait of ruin is by far my favorite.

[@grimvana9475]

The reasoning for giving SOTN an A tier is pretty weak, it’s probably one of those feeling things that you failed to articulate because there’s no substance to your stance. I just wish it’s not to be the “cool contrarian with a different opinion” because that’s just lame.

[@ActionAbe1]

its just not as good as the other ones so he didnt rank it as high. just that simple

[@grimvana9475]

@@ActionAbe1 That’s the thing, He said SOTN can be confusing and the other games are better .. without explaining better in what, just better I guess … which is why it came off as a feeling thing, As per his own opinion, they’re not better in Music, content or art … better in what exactly ? Did he mean Combat ? Maybe but he didn’t explain.

[@jacobsmash1]

I'd drop it down to A tier on the combination of the wierdly floaty movement and the difficulty being incredibly unbalanced. Movement physics are the biggest thing for me, the snappier movement of the DS games just feels better to play vs. the floaty jumps, slow bat and stiff superjump of SoTN.

[@Multienderguy37]

@@grimvana9475 Symphony is amazing in exploration and atmosphere, but in combat, general difficulty curve and progression every successive non linear Castlevania outdoes it, with maybe harmony as an exception. Its more similar to an exploratory game like Azbu rather than an action adventure like the rest.

[@Multienderguy37]

@@grimvana9475 Its extremely open ended nature also muddles the progression. The clock room cycle is the most notable issue, barring the player from experiencing the game on a puzzle obtuse enough to warrant comparisons to Simons quest.

[@wmv8996]

Afterimage is a recently release metroidvania and its a fantastic game. The hand drawn look is really pretty too.

[@lordofbears9463]

Great to hear you'll be at ACEN again. Are you doing another panel again?

[@leargamma4912]

Aria of sorrow is the best game in the series, mostly because of what it pulled off on the GAME BOY ADVANCE. Dawn is good too, but the environments and level design is not as tightly woven as it is in aria, Symphony of the night, or even in portrait of ruin. Plus it's pretty easy. Great ranking, except not putting Symphony of the night in S tier. I would have accepted A teir if there was no SS tier.

[@shuny11r23]

I agree with Symphony of the Night. While I own Orders of Ecclesia. I have yet play it lol. Portraits of Ruins its still my favorite Game in the series, Love how the game looks and the replay ability. I remember beating the game Multiple Times back in the day. This Video got me Hype! now I just want to play Castlevania again lol

[@plasty8665]

So happy to see the original Bloodstained project so high lol. Everyone always just talks about the 8bit ones but god I love Ritual of the Night so much. It’s a game that more people seriously need to play, it’s got so much to enjoy and it really is just metroidvania goodness. Although I haven’t played all the metroidvania ones, I can say that I only prefer Order of Ecclesia and the sorrow Duolingo over Ritual of the Night. It really just is so fun

[@sir.mannington]

It was great to hear about so many of the titles in the franchise, honestly I've only really played Curse of the Moon, but now I'm curious to try and play more.

[@KisekiFox]

How interesting, as someone that played and loved all of the metroidvania castlevania games, I still don't think ANY of them had as much budget and love poured into it as Symphony of the Night did. All those secrets, all that content, it definitely feels the most "full" game of them all so i expected at least an S rank, even though i think it should be SS for starting the genre with one of the truly best games ever in the genre. Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, Order of Eclessia the true golden 3 The less said about dawn of sorrow the better, genuinely one of the worst disappointments I've ever experienced after how good Aria was, will never understand why people like it at all.

[@greekskudoufly]

This is the first tier list that didn’t feel like a generic SotN fan

[@indecision6326]

Where would you put Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania? I loved it a lot, but it's also my only direct exposure to the franchise.

[@luminocuratoria1335]

I just watched your Castlevania Handgun-Only Run. What a coincidence!

[@HaeravonFAQs]

Not a Castlevania expert. I despise the oldschool ones, love the metroidvanias, but I'm an RPG guy, so... I'll just enjoy the rankings for what they are.

[@williamzeo2493]

Symphony of the Night overrated? Finally someone said it! Also I buy the fight all the time in internet about how Aria and Down of Sorrow are great games, not many people had the opportunity to play on a DS and the emulators really don't do justice to the DS. It's funny how our experiences with Order of Ecclesia was the same, I hated at first (especially the difficulty lol) but now it's one of my favourite games, in my opinion all the DS games are SS, also I don't buy the argument of DS games being bad because of anime style where Rondo of Blood had it and also had a silly end with Maria.

[@kevinnorwood8782]

I like that you included all three Lords Of Shadow games in the same tier. And I also found your ultimate opinion of them very interesting: "These games aren't terrible, but, they just lack what makes Castlevania so much fun to me." I think that's one of the most neutral opinions I've ever heard about the LOS Trilogy, which is a welcome change, because most opinions I've heard regarding that trilogy lean more towards the negative side, whereas I am one of the few who actually really enjoyed that trilogy. One thing that you and I really seem to agree on regarding LOS is that the main thing that trilogy has going in its favor is its story. And for me, its story is also one of the main reasons why (and this is a very UNpopular opinion to a lot of die-hard Castlevania fans) Gabriel Belmont is my personal favorite incarnation of Dracula in the entire franchise (although the version in the Netflix anime is a very close second).

[@astrominer11]

Also fact that Patrick Seitz gave voice to Dracula in Dracula X Chronicles it's instant SS tier

[@ryanfulton8421]

SOTN overrated? Are you high!?

[@ActionAbe1]

compared to the other metroidvanias that dont get much recognition because less people are nostalgic about them? yes absolutely. they do almost everything better but dont get talked about much outside the fandom

[@Multienderguy37]

Top 5 Castlevania but yes, it is the most overrated in the series.

[@CB-L]

Though it IS a masterpiece and has important place on the series, the rushed design of inverted castle and continued ports with flaws(still no saturn exclusives wtf) are kind of a minus

[@ActionAbe1]

@@tiagocrypto just because something is first doesnt mean it needs to be ranked the highest on a personal list about how much he likes a game. i love zelda but why tf would i rank the first one above botw, ww or oot

[@AntoniusTertius]

You nailed the ranking of COTM, but you completely underrated Symphony of the Night, you placed way too many games ahead of it. SOTN is top tier, no need to put it in number 1, but it's top tier...

[@marshmallowcat2456]

30:00 Castlevania HD is still available for purchase and even backwards compatible with xbox one and series. It's a completely different ball game, a little more like a roguelike, but if you can get past the differences you got a game with some decent grind and fun multiplayer

[@StriderVM]

There is actually a fan port of Harmony of Despair for the PC. It's basic features are complete. But I think currently the project is in an indefinite hiatus.

[@AxeMain]

I agree with this list, but Dawn can't be SS with that trash art style

[@CB-L]

Aria's art style was just too good compared to Dawn

[@AxeMain]

💯

[@alastorlol502]

awful set of opinons jesus christ

[@NeoMusicGamer]

You're right. Im not a fan of that. You were way too generous to Lords of Shadow. Sarcasm aside, I only played the first one and it was a game alright. I guess I didnt dislike my time playing but nothing stood out or felt memorable. Glad to see justice for Portrait tho. That and Lament are my nostalgia filled favorite games in the franchise.

[@cdominguez95]

Super useful. I've never played any Castlevania and was looking to play Symphony of the Night as a starting point because I simply didn't know anything from the other games. Buying a copy of Order of Shadows right now

[@franciscobutte]

OK. You just wanted to be controversial with that SOTN placement. I get it.

[@toddc7450]

Totally checked out when he only gave it an A… Oh well 🤷‍♂️

[@Dinovania]

Entonces si symponhy no es tu Castlevania favorito tu opinión no cuenta.....

[@vladkhajiit4166]

interesting tier list, i would've put Portrait of ruin in SS tier though, to me it's the best opus on the DS, with variety of gameplay since you can play Jonathan and Charlotte, plus the 3 other game mods that im not gonna spoil. and i would've put Aria of sorrow in S tier, the game is a pure banger but the difficulty isnt consistant, i find the game quite hard when you begin, then you have a lot of items and souls that are overpowered really fast, if you know which one to pick or if you have a lucky drop (especially for souls) the game begins to get easier and easier (claim solas hello), but still, a very nice game. what do you think?

[@GamesAndAnimes]

Cursed of the Moon is for me at least A tier, I like the classic style a lot more in comparison of the Adventure-Platformer games. (Yes, I avoid the term metroidvania, because it is inaccurate, people new to videogames have no idea what it mean or what type of game is and personal I had not a good time playing those for the first time).

[@ericschaper3540]

I agree! I hate how all gated by ability games are called “Metroidvanias”. They used to be called adventure games and that new term was coined for SOTN because it was like a cross between Castlevania and Metroid. I feel like that term should only be used for the Castlevania games between SOTN and Order of Ecclesia.

[@GamesAndAnimes]

@@ericschaper3540 The worst thing is, if any element of a adventure platformer appears in any other non-"metroidvania", like RPG or Action-Adventure games, some people call it out "... how a metroidvania does it ..." and I mean normal things, like shortcuts, fast travel or you need some item or ability to progress. I think a lot of people don't know what a genre is and can only compare a game with another game. In that case the FPS genre is next, should we call it Doom-Like again or is CoD-Like the better version today?🤪

[@ericschaper3540]

@@GamesAndAnimes I read an article about Metroidvanias and they’re like, 3D games like the modern Tomb Raider are Metroidvanias because of gated progress even though most people don’t think so because it isn’t a platformer. Next thing you know, they’ll be called Super Mario Sunshine a Metroidvania.

[@GamesAndAnimes]

@@ericschaper3540 🤦 That reminds me, I read multiple times, that people call The Legend of Zelda series are RPGs. Which is obviously wrong, they are Visual Novels, because you have to read the dialog boxes. 🙃

[@pandalenz6534]

Hey Nyarly, wonder where you live? I'm actually from the chicago area!

[@MatheusNiisama]

Symphony of the Night not being all the way to the top of the tear list is definetly the opinion of someone who actually played all the games. I respect your honesty with that rating. Although, I'll say, criticizing the story of Harmony of Dissonance while not even mentioning how basic and bare bones the plot for Circle of Moon is felt very weird to me.

[@nice-guyhunter4013]

Nyarly Castlevania arc continues.

[@iankoch6177]

Quick question, can we get a video on smt 4 apocalypse without fusion?

[@nickcooper7714]

I have the mobile port of symphony of the night and it rocks plus it's also my first Castlevania game.

[@septhentrionm9201]

I liked your selection, mine would be almost the same but with 2 major changes 1 in my tier Castlevania 3 should be in rank A, just a lever higher that the original Castlevania, my reason is simple, it had alternative routes and we knew new characters that continued until the end like Alucard, of course it was so important, that we had the fake trio in Symphony, also Trevor appeared in Curse of Darkness, and it was a good starting point to know the lore and netflix did the best with that story as starting point. 2 finally symphony of the night would be in top, by the moment it was released we only had linear maps, it was the beginning of a new concept and the serie of DS followed and expand the Metroidvania formula from Symphony, also it was a before and after point in the series, for that reason they included it the PSP port of course it would be nice to have the best version at the beginning with Maria as playable character. Beyond that I agree with your selection, it was very entertaining and I enjoyed it... well maybe Lord of Shadows 1 would be higher since it was an interesting experiment but I agree... without the time events and the colossus fight would be much better

[@The_Politikaster]

I find it funny how you said that Bloodlines was the most difficult of the 16 but era, with Bloodlines being the only Castlevania I have ever fully beat, I love it, SS tier easily.

[@spacechannelfiver]

Portrait of Ruin was my favorite of the DS games, was young and doing nightshifts a lot at the time. Being able to main Charlotte who was cool and competent and a girl lifted the game for me.

[@SkywardChocobo]

An interesting take on the whole series. Lots of odd games I've never heard of (The Wii Ware remake of Castlevania 1 and the PS3 Castlevania Harmony game with multiple crossover characters fighting bosses throughout the series were the two most interesting ones I missed/never heard of). I must admit, I almost stopped watching when he placed Circle of the Moon on the Same Tier as Symphony of the Night lol. I beat Circle of the Moon twice (once in GBA when it came out and again more recently last year on WiiU virtual console) and I think it's a decent Castlevania game....not on the same level as Symphony though. But he made solid arguments supporting his reasoning though and I actually agreed with most of his list (However, Symphony of the Night aside, I would definitely have placed Castlevania 3 and 4 much higher though). It was cool to see Bloodlines get some love too. I feel like that game gets overshadowed from the other big hitters in the series. Overall, very cool video. Thanks for sharing. 👍

[@williambargery5855]

I'm more of a classic vania guy. Rondo, bloodlines and 3 are among my favourite games ever. I was always a little disappointed with the metroidvania games after symphony as I think none of them touch it after content wise although I do love aria.

[@mirrorblade6268]

Who was the character designer for eccleesia? They were very good. Reminded me of the Valkyrie Profile god tier designs.

[@herved.2063]

I think the Wiiware one is a remake of Castlevana adventure for GB, not the first one on NES. I guess if you're putting the bloodstained series there, you might also consider Holy Diver for NES as well? :) Also... no spoiler alert for Aria/Dawn of sorrow ?

[@aljongreat1900]

I think sotn should be higher than rondo of blood. I know sotn has flaws but it innovatives the castlevania series. I also think portrait of ruins is better than dawn of sorrow I think aria is great but if its ss tier, then sotn should be ss tier too. I think bloodlines is better than sc4

[@IPLayedVR42Long]

I still need to replay Circle of the Moon via emulation. I haven't touched it since launch year on a non-backlit Gameboy Advance because of how freakin' dark it was lol

[@xeni6277]

I do have to admit I have only played two of these, but I wanted to give my two cents on one of them: Harmony of Dissonance. It’s the only one I’ve beaten so far, and it’s kinda special to me because of that. Also, it just has a certain…idk, vibe to it that I really love. Music‘s shit, though 😅

[@liamconverse8950]

That came out with the Game Boy Advance SP which was backlight and in a clamshell form factor. I used to play circle of the moon on that.

[@adriangtrz1213]

Harmony of Dissonance’s music is absolutely godlike… the beautiful complex compositions completely make up for the SOMEWHAT poor quality sound which isn’t even so bad. This is just my rant about the music part. I get we all have our opinions but that game is easily S tier for me and I’ve played all metroidvanias. Such a beautifully dark game

[@MarsofAritia]

it's literally ear vomit lol

[@adriangtrz1213]

@@MarsofAritia they’re great classical compositions especially Successor of Fate idk what y’all are on

[@MarsofAritia]

@@adriangtrz1213 it's not the compositions that are the problem, it's the instrumentation

[@adriangtrz1213]

@@MarsofAritia unfortunately true. I like listening to covers and rearrangements of the songs to make up for it