VIDEODROME: Castlevania vs. Metroid

WELCOME TO VIDEODROME!

This is part of a series of bloody matches to the death. Show support for your favorite game so it will do better in the fight. You can support it by writing why you think its the better game and more importantly by betting on it. End your first post in this thread with the title of the game you're placing a bet on (i.e. voting for) so its clear to me when reading it later. You have until Friday when I tally the bets and declare the winner. Counting sequels, spin-offs, expansions, system ports and DLC or not is entirely up to you.

Although you should be familiar with both games, there is no rule that says you have to have played both of them. The only rule in Videodrome is this:

Two games enter! One game leaves!

Vote Metroid.

But since Castlevania is a kind of stupid Whip'n'Run (no Jumpin' here) and requires almost no thinking at all, it's likely going to win.

What CASTLEVANIA games have you played, Schweig? It sounds like you haven't seen anything past IV.

The first METROID sucks. I hated it. When I was a kid, I regarded it as "that jumping and shooting upward" game. SUPER METROID, however, is one of the best video games of all time. And the METROID PRIME games are all pretty great. I love the atmosphere, the isolation, and the core gameplay elements, no doubt.

But CASTLEVANIA is one of the best series of games of all time, there's only a couple of duds (typically the 3D games) and SYMPHONY OF NIGHT is every bit as good as SUPER METROID. The DS games are three of the best games on the system. And it's the coolest gothic horror game setting created to date. It's probably my favorite series of all time. So I have to vote CASTLEVANIA.

Interestingly, these two games also have some of the best video game music ever recorded. I'm not one to listen to video game music outside of play, but both of these series have music that's actually worth hearing on its own.

Damn you.



I'll vote later. Right now I have a nervous twitch in my eye that won't seem to go away.

This is easily as tough as the last one. I didn't really care for them that much on the NES (especially as I was a SEGA guy at the time) but on the GameBoy advance I really got into metorid and on the DS I really got into Castlevania... the DS's metroid was... weak (But I loved the gameboy advance one... I think I prefer 2D games), I never finished it and didn't like it all that much but the Castlevania... man I played it to death, it was awesome... my favorite was probably Portrait of Ruin but ask me next week and I may give a different answer. This one is easier for me the more I think about it.

vote: Castlevania

Michael Barnes wrote:

What CASTLEVANIA games have you played, Schweig? It sounds like you haven't seen anything past IV.

I've played one of each on both the GB and the SNES. The two Metroid games are fucking awesome, the two Castlevania titles rather meh.

OK, I just checked, I played on the Game Boy: Castlevania II and Metroid II, on the SNES: Castlevania IV and Super Metroid. (I played through all of these.)

Schweig! wrote:

Michael Barnes wrote:

What CASTLEVANIA games have you played, Schweig? It sounds like you haven't seen anything past IV.

I've played one of each on both the GB and the SNES. The two Metroid games are fucking awesome, the two Castlevania titles rather meh.

OK, I just checked, I played on the Game Boy: Castlevania II and Metroid II, on the SNES: Castlevania IV and Super Metroid. (I played through all of these.)

Castlevania has really evolved since those SNES and Gameboy days. They play much more like Metroid games now hence the term "Metroidvania" gets slung around a lot, especially when describing new games like Shadow Complex.

Yeah, Schweig, I think you'd be really surprised by the newer CASTLEVANIA titles, they've come a long way. I think they're more complex than the METROID games because there's a lot more options in terms of equipment, supplies, sidequests, and general choices. Plus, with stuff like the partner system in PORTRAIT OF RUIN or the glyphs in ORDER OF ECCLESIA, it adds a lot of depth and customizability. They're really not much like the older games at all aside from the side-scrolling whip n' jump format.

If you have Xbox, get SYMPHONY OF NIGHT. It's one of the best video games ever made.

I could never get into the Castlevania games. The fact they had to rip off Metroid gameplay before they were considered good really says it all. Metroid is the best.

Vote: Metroid

I don't really play video games anymore. My last console was the N64.

But that's not true. SotN was the first "Metroidvania", but CASTLEVANIA IV, DRACULA X, and BLOODLINES preceded it and all of those were great. CASTLEVANIA III: DRACULA'S CURSE was also pretty good. The first two, oddly, aren't that great and have aged horribly.

Hmmm... tough one.

When it comes to the original NES titles, no question in my mind that Castlevania comes out on top. The franchises, though... that's tough. I'd like to use Metroid Prime (my favourite game) as the clincher, but Kojima's Castlevania due next year looks frikking incredible.

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For now, Metroid.

Castlevania
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
Super Castlevania IV
Castlevania: Bloodlines
Castlevania: Dracula X

Each of these represents the apex of 2d action gaming for its particular time. If you tell me you've beaten one of these games without having to think, memorize the levels, come up with a winning strategy, and execute it perfectly, you either cheated or you're fucking lying.

These games are everything 80s/90s action titles should be. Awesome music, great bosses, inventive level design, the whole nine. Old-school Castlevania kicks fucking ass.

Then Symphony of the Night came out. My theory is that this was a result of the rise in popularity of RPGs during the playstation era, which meant a lot of people who suck at video games were getting into them. The Castlevania games were transformed into some thoroughly unoriginal RPG-action hybrids where you spent more time customizing your equipment, level grinding, and reading shitty Anime-style pseudo-philosophical keyboard diarrhea than fighting undead monsters. Needless to say, this was hailed as a great step forward for the series by cosplay nerds and Twilight fans, as the simple "hold right on the D-pad and periodically mash the attack button for 17 hours" gameplay was perfect for people whose steady diet of Cheetos and Mountain Dew had rendered their flabby meathooks incapable of performing more complex controller commands.

The Metroid series hasn't had a bad entry yet, and as tedious as the older titles can be, at least they're not full of brooding, pasty-faced, androgynous buttholes.

Vote: Metroid

The Metroid series hasn't had a bad entry yet

So you didn't play the DS one.

It was fucking horrible. I traded for it here in a math trade and tried no less than five times to get into it. It sucked. Bad control, bad graphics, bad METROID.

The first METROID is just no good at all, and any nostalgia for it is misguided. It's kind of like the first ASSASSIN'S CREED- some great ideas, awesome design, but it all goes nowhere and is horrendously repetitive. SUPER METROID eclipsed it so completely and so thoroughly I can't imagine anyone going back to the first game again.

The core gameplay of CASTLEVANIA remains untouched despite the addition of RPG elements. But yes, they aren't as balls-out hard as the pre-32 bit titles. But you also don't spend two weeks trying to get up the god damned clock tower either.

SotN also has some of the most hilarious writing of all time...

"Die, Monster! Mankind ill needs a savior such as you!"

"Man? What is a man but a petty collection of secrets!"

In middle school I read the novelization of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and it sucked.

Vote: Metroid