Castlevania, I am ready for thee.

[MattWritesStuff]

Maybe.

I've played a lot of NES games in my day, but one series I've never really gotten into (something I regret) is Castlevania. The only one I ever played at length was Castlevania II, though I was too young and too inattentive to get anywhere substantial in the game.

So now, much older and wiser, I want to play at least the NES games from the series. I also have sufficient Wii points for, oh, two of the games. This brings me to my question: where should I start?

Typically I'd just play them in order, but I've heard the series is quite difficult, and I'd like to pick one that will help me get into the groove for the other two. So which one should I play first? Help me, legendary warriors.

[NintendoLegend]

Start with the original, in my opinion. The second game has its fans, but can be really... awkward/frustrating if you don't know what you're getting into. The third is spectacular, but does delve into additional characters, decision paths, etc. -- which might be what you dig, but in terms of where to start, I would still find the first most appropriate.

[lorfarius]

It's a tough one to choose. 1 is an interesting yet very significant game to start with as it offers so much of the series history, really gives you an idea of where it all began. Whilst 3 is just a damn fine game, improves on just about everything the first 2 offered and is such a great lead on to 4.

4 is a different story entirely as it's pretty much a remake of 1 with one of the best SNES soundtracks ever IMO.