Updates? I played it around release so I might have to go back and see what's up. There's 2 8-bit games in the series I never played I should finally check out too.

Either they added updates or maybe I'm thinking that they changed the way the game title shows up. I don't remember "Ritual of the Night" ever being part of the title but my knowledge on that is fuzzy. That's what I was speaking of when it came to update. As far as game updates, I'm not totally sure. But, still worth it to go back and play though.

EDIT:

Nah it was always Ritual of the Night.

I will be checking out Symphony of the Night next most likely. The advanced collection rekindled the flame that is Castlevania and I'm just having a full on blast going through them again.

Looks like SOTN is 3$ right now on Xbox. Hell yeah. Will report back later once I've put a good amount of time into it.

Is that the one that comes with Rondo of Blood? Cause it's supposed to be maybe the pinnacle of old school action platformer Castlevania (or Castlevania 3 or Super Castlevania IV) and I keep telling myself I'm going to man up and beat it like a man but I keep sucking and then giving up cause trying is hard.

You know what?

*chugs*

Imma do it tonight!

The one I bought is just SOTN but now I know I also need to get Rondo of Blood at some point now, too. So far I'm about an hour into Symphony and I'm having a great time. This game really held up nicely.

They're different kinds of game if you're unaware. No Metroid or RPG influence, more like a Megaman game where you have a set number of lives and are trying to memorize enemy patterns and not die.

Rondo of Blood is cool as hell though cause it was from a console in between SNES and PlayStation so it's a visually fantastic platformer. But it's an old school endurance test where you only progress by getting gud.

I played a little bit of Dracula X on the Advanced Collection but not enough to form an opinion. I think I remember noticing the stark difference from the metroidvania style right away so it sort of turned me off a little bit. I'll probably wait until I get through the other metroidvania style games before jumping into X.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
 

Although it may not be fair to compare this to the game boy advance games, I honestly think that Symphony of the Night is my favorite Castlevania game out of the bunch. At least out of the bunch that I have played. Before I got the sudden urge to play the Castlevania games that I never got to play growing up, my only experience with the series was Circle of the Moon, which I've mentioned before. It's not that I didn't know that these other games were releasing, rather I just didn't have the funds to get the games. I was rather young at the time. Better late than never, though. So far, as I've nearly finished up the Castlevania Advance Collection and now going through Symphony of the Night, I have not been disappointed with any of the games that I've played for the first time. Which is basically all of them. It's actually made me want to compile a list of Castlevania games I haven't played, and just play them. Only one I have actually finished at the moment is Circle of the Moon, however both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow are nearing completion. I just started Symphony of the Night.

It's really simple - Symphony of the Night takes everything that I've loved about the previous games I've played, and puts it all together beautifully in a beautifully crafted world along with some stellar looking graphics that really allows the game to hold up even to today's standards. I've beat one boss so far and I've gotten a pretty good feel on the combat, and even that is excellent. I really like the idea of finding new weapons from killing enemies and sort of customizing your build. The RPG element to this game is really neat and I honestly never would have thought these kinds of ideas would work well in a Castlevania game. Though of course, it's always nice to be proven wrong. Symphony of the Night so far with it's vastly improved combat from the Game Boy Advance games as well as it's beautifully crafted world is really shaping up to be a pleasant experience and I'm excited to get through the rest, much like I'm excited to continue on this quest to beat the Castlevania games that I've wanted to play for many years.

Symphony of the Night also has a great soundtrack, but that should be no surprise given that it is a Castlevania game, but the music really works well with this one. Makes everything feel natural and never feels like a song is being forced down your throat. It all goes along with the adventure. So far, I'd say Harmony of Dissonance is the weakest link when it comes to the soundtrack. There were times when I would be playing Harmony and was wishing the music would just be mute. As far as the other games go, I've been enjoying them immensely when it comes to the music. They always do a really nice job with fitting the music with the theme of the area you're in. Allows you to submerge yourself even more into the environment that you are trekking through.

I am also not surprised to find out that Symphony of the Night is touted as being one of the best examples of a metroidvania / platformer done right. And it's nice to know that it's getting the recognition it deserves. Aria of Sorrow is in much of the same league, and after playing a lot of it already, I can certainly see why. It's really interesting to see the progression of games and how things progressed and improved. And Symphony of the Night is a shining example of when everything comes together nicely. Creating a wonderful experience for the player.

I'm yet again excited to say that I will be finishing Symphony of the Night just as well as I will be planning to finish the Castlevania Advance Collection. I'm playing them all collectively just at different times. Depends on my mood. And who knows, I may actually look for more Castlevania games to play since I'm having an absolute blast with the ones I've been playing recently.