The Castlevania is a very old game series. The very first Castlevania game was released in 1986, the year that the very first Nintendo Entertainment System came out. Castlevania came out in the same year that the first Mario game came out, and was one of the first nintendo games, along with Zelda and Metroid.
The first Castlevania game was very simple, but yet very hard. Even though in Castlevania, you have a health bar, that health bar could empty out very quickly. With the game's stiff controls, it was also hard to dodge as well. If you aren't careful, you could also fall into an instant death pit, or even get knocked by an enemy into an instant death pit. This game has a reputation with flying monsters knocking you back. Even though it is a very hard game, there is a weapon in the game called "Holy Water" that stuns your enemies and allows you to keep attacking without your enemy moving. Even so, this is a very hard game.
The Castlevania series usually has a very simple story. The series is rarely known for it's stories. It is about a Vampire Hunter who traverses a giant castle, to fight his way to the throne room at the top of the castle to meet up with the Lord of Vampires himself, Dracula. Every Castlevania has Dracula, or a character with similar powers to Dracula, and in every Castlevania game, the main point of the story is to destroy Dracula.
Super Castlevania 4 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment system and Castlevania Sympathy of the Night were known as the greatest Castlevania games ever made. Castlevania 4 was one of the last classical side scrolling Castlevania game, and Sympathy was known as the first Vania game to add the exploration system, and tone down the difficulty down. Ever since Sympathy of the Night, all 2D Castlevania games were made in the same format.
Even though the earliest Castlevania games are known to be incredibly hard, the more recent Castlevania games are known to be more easier games. The DS Castlevania games "Dawn of Sorrow" and "Portrait of Ruin" are known to be very easy. They also had an anime like art style. Not many hardcore fans of the series had liked either of that. The more recently "Order of Ecclesia" fixes both these problems, giving more of a challenge, while changing the art style to a more gothic style. Ecclesia was known as the best Castlevania game since "Sympathy of the Night", the Castlevania game known as the best made.
The Castlevania series is a very excellent series and also a very old one as well. I've played the Super Nintendo, GBA, and DS Castlevania games. I spent many hours with Castlevania games, and it is certainly a series that I hope they'll make more of.
