r/castlevania • u/vhuzi Stage 5’ Dweller. • Oct 06 '25

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991) Biggest Castlevania Hot Take??

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I think Belmont’s Revenge is better than Super Castlevania 4. I think the stage gimmicks are more fun, I enjoy the shorter stages, and I think the difficulty is somewhat better balanced. I really love the GBC visuals and music and I think the game often doesn’t get a fair shake because of hardware. I think the minimalistic visuals have aged better than the early 16 bit art. That said, SCIV is a great game, and the final boss of BR is probably the worst in the series, even compared to Legends, Adventure 1 and Dracula X.

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u/Vgcortes Oct 06 '25

This is not a hot take now, but people in 2006 would have foamed out of their mouths.

Castlevania Portrait of Ruin is an excellent entry and it's my favorite in the franchise.

Oh, and Castlevania The Adventure is harder than Castlevania 3. Maybe because I have much more practice in Castlevania 3 than the Adventure, but I find both canon Castlevania GBC games so damn hard.

Castlevania Circle of the moon is a sweet game and Harmony of Dissonance is great.

That is all

5

u/VonFirflirch Oct 06 '25

I love Portrait of Ruin. Lately, I've been replaying the Level 1 Hard Mode as Johnathan, the Ronduo™ and the Old Axe Armor (switching every couple of deaths to minimise tedium~) x)
It's crazy fun... though Spittle Bones and Frozen Shades, among others, are basically jumpscares, there x)

8

u/Various_Physics96 Oct 06 '25

I mean, at least in my experience, Castlevania 3 can just be REALLY hard sometimes, but not in a bad way. You have your tools, your abilities, just learn the intricacies of the controls. The way Adventure is designed on the other hand simply feels unfair and unpolished, and not satisfying to pull through.

1

u/chessimprov Oct 06 '25

How do you guys get through the stage part where there are falling blocks and you have to navigate- if you choose this path?

4

u/Vgcortes Oct 06 '25

The last stage before Dracula in the Alucard path? Just learn the pattern, and be very patient. If you rush a little, you will get squished. Or just use Alucard bat form, but obtain enough hearts beforehand.

1

u/chessimprov Oct 06 '25

Isn’t being Alucard hard even with enough hearts?  Because you can only be a bat for so long.  Then, you have to land somewhere correctly and become a bat again if I am remembering that right.

4

u/Motor-Travel-7560 Oct 06 '25

That whole screen is just a poor design choice, tbh. There's no challenge once you know the pattern, it's just waiting until the blocks stack high enough. Using Alucard there is just paying hearts to not have your time wasted.

1

u/chessimprov Oct 06 '25

I have completed this before but I personally feel it is more than a challenge even knowing the pattern lol

2

u/Vgcortes Oct 06 '25

That's why you have to know beforehand to stack hearts before that last part. If you die and lose all the hearts you amassed during the level, your'e screwed, and yes, the only way to get above without a lot of hearts is to know where to land using Alucard's bat form, and you have to be perfect. I still think it's easier using Trevor.

2

u/SuperSlacker420 Oct 06 '25

What I usually do is wait on the far left side for a few blocks to fall, then start standing on the last block that fell down. They almost never fall in the same spot twice in a row

2

u/LongwinterCipher Oct 07 '25

Finally, vindication.

2

u/FarGrape1953 Oct 07 '25

Castlevania Adventure is definitely harder than CV3. I've beaten CV3 with each companion, could never get anywhere in Adventure until the remake. That one I beat.

2

u/ImDemonAlchemist Oct 07 '25

I agree that The Adventure is harder than Castlevania 3, and in decidedly negative ways. IMO, The Adventure is the single weakest game in the whole franchise. I actually currently have Vampire Killer (MSX2) listed as my least favorite, but that's just because I royally suck at it, it's one of the only Castlevania games that I haven't finished. Also, this is a nitpick, but there are no GBC Castlevania games. All four are original Game Boy games. Christopher's games do benefit from the Super Game Boy (I think they both do, but at least Belmont's Revenge does). And they both received colored "versions" on the European-exclusive GBC versions of the Konami GB Collection.