What was-your-first/is-your-favorite Castlevania game?

My first was Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest. If I didn't have Nintendo Power there was no way I could have "beat" that game. Really all I ended up doing was entering a code that gave me most of the items. The game gets a lot of hate, but I loved it. I just was probably too young to really have a chance at completing it properly.

My fandom for Castlevania hit a whole new level when I played SotN though. I missed the game when it came out because that was the year I graduated High School, and I had a lot going on. Later when I was running a D&D group, one of my players was surprised that I was a Castlevania fan but had only played some of the older games. I went an got SotN on the Xbox Live Arcade and went nuts over it. I then made a pen and paper game for Castlevania that picked up where Lament left off (I just read the plot, I have never played that game). I used the 3.5 ed release of Ravenloft as a kind of guide mixed with a set of rules called Grim Tales. It is my 2nd favorite campaign that I've ever ran and I still talk to all the players even though I haven't DMed in a couple of years.

Anyways, after I finished SotN I went Castlevania crazy and played every Iga game except the 3D ones. I really like Super Castlevania IV. Before SotN that was the best. I didn't play Rondo until it was remade for PSP. I should note I haven't played Circle of the Moon, but that wasn't Iga anyway. I will probably post all the games I have played and a comment for each one later, but I gotta hit the sack!

My first castlevania game was "Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest". I watched my brothers play it when I was (I think) 4-5 years old, and it scared the shit out of me for some reason.

When it comes to a favorite though, I want to say Rondo of Blood, or SoTN, but it's very difficult for me to pick one over the other, since they both have amazing music, along with the other games in the series. Dawn of Sorrow, OoE, PoR, are all awesome to me.

So I guess my favorite is "Castlevania: Harmony of Dispair" since it combines all of those games into an online game that deserved a lot more stages and items. Really would've loved a higher difficulty, too.

I do have a favorite but i would like to say all the 2d ones first since i can play any 2d castlevania any day of the week, but since i have to pick one it will be simons quest since it was the game i have the most fond memories playing. I used to go to my cousins house every friday(almost every)we would watch old movies,play games and have a good time. Well one of those times we played nes for one weekend but not only that we opened up every nintendo power of the nes era, i watched my cousin play castlevania 2 and beat the game using NP issue 2 it was great but i never played it for long that weekend since i sucked at it at the time.

My first Castlevania was the original for the NES. I never could get very far in the original when I was younger and I still can't beat the game with out cheats of some sort. But where as I used to be lucky to pass the second level, I can usually get to The Monster or Death on a pretty regular basis, but they still give me trouble.

As far as favorite of the series? The PC Engine version of Rondo of Blood ALL THE WAY! That game took the multiple path element that was in CV3 and brought it to a whole new level. The game may have been a "linear" style game but it played a lot like an open world game. With that, the new sub-weapons, THE ITEM CRASHES (OMG!!!), the HUGE diversity in enemies, and ESPECIALLY 100% the detail in the art and decorations and how much stuff was just there to make the game look cool. Rondo WAS the spring board that led to SotN. That was the game where the idea of all that cool extra stuff that was in SotN came from as well as a large portion of the art and the enemies.

The first I ever played was Simon's Quest. I never did beat it, but I also remember reading a little novella that had a boy from our world get trapped in the Castlevania world to help Simon with the whole quest.

The first game that got me completely hooked on the series was SoTN. Unfortunately, I no longer own the game and have no way of playing it. However, my absolute favorite of the series would have to be Dawn of Sorrow.

Well... my first game was Super Castlevania IV from SNES, I love that game, also I have played and beat Simon's Quest without any guide or something, but it took me like a month to beat it XD! When I got my PSOne I did playe SotN but I didn't like it at all, but after so many attemps I did like it, just like the other "Igavanias". BUT my first favorite Castlevania game was:
Lament of Innocence



Yeeeaaah.... I have played and beat/finish lot of Castlevania games, but Lament of Innoncence is one the games that I can play multiple times in a year (with Curse of Darkness, Super Castlevania IV and SotN) because it's awesome, the story of the very first Belmont, the connection with Dracula and the creation of the Vampire Killer was unique, the gameplay was different from the other ones, but I did like the exploration and the quick combat style of the game (hack&slash), a very interesting and amazing OST (House of Sacred Remains and Leon's Theme FTW!)

 

And... yeah, that's my first favorite Castlevania game (but not the only one, eh?).

Probably I'm gonna do a LP of it on my channel, I haven't play that game in months!! XD!

The first I played was the first. But I didn't own it, rather I borrowed it from my next door neighboor like a dozen times. I did in fact beat it as a kid back then because I had it so often though. I never did try 2. Castlevania 3 was the first castlevania I personally owned. I even remember seeing an ad for it in the newspaper... like the actual black and white newspaper newspaper, not a magazine or tabloid or whatever.

I never really got into super castlevania 4, I can see how the control is great and such but... I dunno. It just felt like it had nothing over 3 other than greater esthetics due to SNES hardware.

So my first is both 1 and 3. 1 was the first I played and beat, 3rd was the first I personally owned.

Curse of darkness is probably my fave though, I just wish that the art and background was as good as lament of innocence, instead it gets kinda ruined by frequent copy paste hallways and rooms.

I believe my first was Castelevania 2 on NES, but my favorite has to be SotN.

I will give an Honorary Mention to Lords of Shadows. While it wasn't a classic or igavania style, it was good in its own right.