Best Castlevania Games On Nintendo Consoles

Image: Nintendo Life

Today is Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow’s 20th anniversary, so in honour of its two decades of utter magnificence, we’re republishing this article rounding up and ranking every game in the series on Nintendo consoles. (Spoilers — Aria rates quite highly in the list below.) Enjoy!


The Castlevania series has a rich history on Nintendo consoles ever since the original game came first to the Japanese Famicom Disk System way back in 1986, and then to the NES a year later. There may be a significant release or two from Konami’s vampire-killing catalogue still missing from Nintendo platforms (we’re looking at you, Symphony of the Night), but the vast majority of the series can be found on Nintendo consoles.

But where should you start if you’re new to the Castlevania series? Which Castlevania game is the best? Those are tough questions, but we’ve done our best to whip up a ranked list of the best Castlevania games (on Nintendo consoles) below. The series has many high points, plus a couple of very low ones, and comes in two distinct flavours: the more straightforward right-to-left style of the original games or the more expansive brand of Koji Igarashi-produced games — sometimes referred to as ‘IGAvanias’ — which combined spiritually with Nintendo’s Metroid series to birth an entire genre of ‘Metroidvania’ video games.

For Switch owners, the Castlevania Anniversary Collection should obviously be your first port of call, with the more recent Castlevania Advance Collection containing one of the very best games in the series, too. And there’s always Koji Igarashi’s non-affiliated Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night once you’ve exhausted all the Belmonts below. The Switch version isn’t perfect, but it is much improved since launch and is arguably the closest thing fans will get to Symphony of the Night on Switch until Konami decides to put Symphony of the Night on Switch.

We’ve included a couple of spin-offs and oddities, but that’s enough talk. Wipe away those bloody tears, and let’s go kill us some vampires.

Castlevania Judgment (Wii)

Castlevania Judgment (Wii)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 18th Nov 2008 (USA) / 20th Mar 2009 (UK/EU)
Castlevania: The Adventure (GB)

Castlevania: The Adventure (GB)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 10th Dec 1989 (USA) / 10th Dec 1989 (UK/EU)
Haunted Castle (Arcade)

Haunted Castle (Arcade)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: Feb 1988 (USA) / Nov 1988 (UK/EU)
Castlevania Legends (GB)

Castlevania Legends (GB)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya

Release Date: 11th Mar 1998 (USA) / 11th Mar 1998 (UK/EU)
Castlevania (N64)

Castlevania (N64)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 31st Dec 1998 (USA) / 11th Mar 1999 (UK/EU)
Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (N64)

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (N64)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 30th Nov 1999 (USA) / 3rd Mar 2000 (UK/EU)
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 1st Dec 1988 (USA) / 27th Apr 1990 (UK/EU)
Vampire Killer (MSX)

Vampire Killer (MSX)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 1987 (UK/EU)
Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)

Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)

Publisher: Konami / Developer: Konami

Release Date: 1st Sep 1995 (USA) / 1st Sep 1995 (UK/EU)


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