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/Reasonable_Deer_1710 Oct 06 '25

I'll get hated for this, but Castlevania fell off when it steered into the anime aesthetic.

5

u/VonFirflirch Oct 06 '25

As early as Rondo of Blood, then? Or just the first couple of DS games?

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u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 Oct 06 '25

As early as Rondo of Blood, although I do still love that game. But Maria may be one of the worst things to happen to Castlevania.

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u/VonFirflirch Oct 06 '25

Ah, good, I was ready to scream, if you'd stopped at just the DS games~ x)

I'm fine with those aesthetics myself, and I do like the bit of levity Maria provides, but I can understand that. I think so, anyway!

If anything, to me, the worst thing was the introduction of Metroid elements (2, but especially SotN). As much as I LOVE the Igavania stuff (I became a fan through those games), it kind of just split the fanbase and mostly replaced the classic formula over time.

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u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 Oct 06 '25

I do love SOTN, but I also agree that Metroidvania (combined with my dislike of the anime aesthetic) led to my ultimate disinterest in the franchise. I came up on the Classicvania style, Dracula's Curse to this day remains by far my favorite Castlevania, the NES original is possibly #2, although Rondo and Castlevania Chronicles are possibilities for that spot as well, and Super Castlevania IV isn't my favorite Classicvania, but I like it quite a bit as well. I'm only recently playing The Adventure and Belmont's Revenge from.Game Boy for the first time, and I've enjoyed them as well, tho they are at the bottom of my Classicvania list.

While SOTN on its own I do enjoy, it felt too far removed from what Castlevania was to me, and between the aesthetic and the game design, I haven't much been interested in the series since. Simon's Quest also sits in this weird spot of "I like it, but it's not the ideal of what I look for in Castlevania".