Mine personally will either be Circle of the Moon or Aria of Sorrow.

Ahh, Circle of the Moon. I never beat the final boss. God, he was a bitch.

"Ahh, Circle of the Moon. I never beat the final boss. God, he was a bitch.

Symphony of the Night here, of course. Not just my favorite Castlevania game, though. It's my favorite game, period.

"

Dawn of Sorrow

"Godwind said:

"Arkthemaniac said:

"Ahh, Circle of the Moon. I never beat the final boss. God, he was a bitch.

Symphony of the Night here, of course. Not just my favorite Castlevania game, though. It's my favorite game, period.

"

Sadly, as a Castlevania fan, I have yet to play it.  Strangely enough, I imported the Turbo-Grafix version.  Cost me like $500.  Sold it for $800.  That includes the system itself."

!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Well, do you own a 360 or PSP!?! You can get it on either one of those. If not . . . I could mail you my copy.

No, NEVERMIND. IT'S MINE. Also, the sound is all fucked up.

"

Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow. I really want to get Order of Ecclesia though. I heard it was good!

Aria of Sorrow.

Circle of the Moon was the first game in the series I played, and it may be my favorite, though Dawn of Sorrow and Order of Ecclesia are right up there. Im playing Symphony right now. 

Castlevania IV, with X just behind. The game on SNES was great, I loved the level design, especially the Mode 7 stuff,  not forgetting the amazing music the game had.

Circle of the Moon introduced me to the series, so yeah, it's my favorite. Second would have to be Symphony of the Night. In fact, I'm playing through that game now for the first time. Started the game a few weeks ago and play little bits here and there whenever I have the chance.

Symphony of the Night. Some badass bosses, and the best soundtrack ever in a game.

So Circle of the Moon, Symphony of the Nights and Aria of Sorrow seem to be the most popular ones.

It seems the Castlevania fans hate the Belmont clan.

Definitely Symphony of the Night.  It was the first of the "Metroidvania"-style Castlevanias, and they haven't beaten it yet.  I think I've played through it about 10 times by now, and it was one of the first XLBA games that I bought when I got my 360.

Symphony of the Night mainly because the RPG side was done so right and you play as Alucard. Alucard is awesome.

Aria/Dawn of Sorrow were both pretty awesome. Aria is probably my favourite. I didn't play SotN until I got it on the 360 so it has no nostalgia for me.

SotN isn't about nostalgia, it's still the best, biggest, most varied Metroidvania. Aria of Sorrow came close to replicating the awesome, but it's still a far more limited and far shorter game. You did figure out how to go to the reversed castle, yes? Though SotN wins even prior.

Edit: So, yeah, SotN is my favorite also.

Symphony of the Night, definitely. Second would be Dawn of Sorrow, followed by Portrait of Ruin. 

The only one I have played, Symphony of the Night!

The first one and that's the only one i have played...

Symphony of the Night. I loved the music and the game play.

Symphony of the Night. The original PlayStation version. I would've said the PSP version was better, but they replaced the iconic voice acting between Richter and Dracula.

"Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon are the best Castlevania games out there on the market.  I'll have to mention that Castlevania 64 was the shittiest game of all of them.
"

Dawn of Sorrow for me (I actually reviewed it a couple of days ago). I'm playing bits and pieces of SotN right now though.

RichardLOlson said:

"Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon are the best Castlevania games out there on the market.  I'll have to mention that Castlevania 64 was the shittiest game of all of them."

"What about CV 2?"

"Godwind said:

RichardLOlson said:

"Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon are the best Castlevania games out there on the market.  I'll have to mention that Castlevania 64 was the shittiest game of all of them."

"What about CV 2?"

Castlevania II was just poorly designed. I actually think that some of the things it did were ahead of its time."

Favorites :

Castlevania 3 (Japanese version with nicer sound)
Super Castlevania 4
Castlevania 1 (NES version)
Dracula Rondo of Blood (TG16)

don't like the 'Metroid-style' vanias so much.  Of those SOTN is my fav, but I don't madly love the game.

Sleepy_Insomniac said:

"Castlevania II was just poorly designed. I actually think that some of the things it did were ahead of its time."

"Things ahead of their time will always fail."

It would probably have to be Dawn of Sorrow for me but, I also love SOTN.

I actually enjoyed Castlevania 64. Probably one of very few. :? 

I'd say SOTN. But every Castlevania that came after it for the handhelds are great games.

Been a fan since the first on NES but overall my favorite like many is still SOTN.

Circle of the Moon. Game was so hard and so badass.

Symphony of the Night, though to be fair aside from Castlevania 64 it's the only one I've played.

SotN, but I still drag Circle of the Moon out sometimes when I'm on a trip somewhere.

Harmony of Dissonance. 
 
The first one I played was Castlevania 64 back when it came out (98 or 99) and I loved it. Then when I got GBA in 2001 I played Circle of the Moon...and hated it!  So turned off by CotM, I stopped playing Castlevanias until one of my friends really turned me onto it again, and I tried Lament of Innonence. Again, hated it. And then another few years went by. Another one of my friends got me to try it again, and I downloaded CV4 on Wii. I thought it was pretty good, not great, but it was fun. So I decided to give it another shot, and got Harmony of Dissonance. LOVED it!!!  It even made me go back to CotM (which I have yet to beat) but I did slightly enjoy that one more than I initally did. Then I got Simon's Quest for my NES, and was hooked (this was only about 2 months ago), and ever since I have been dying to play every Castlevania, even the ones I disliked, giving them another shot. Played Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia (my 2nd favorite), and I just started SotN on PSN, and I am liking it so far, but I think HoD is still my favorite. Sure it's not the most original, and people claim the music sucked (I don't see why), but it's the one that got me into Castlevania, and Simon's Quest really hooked me after that. I plan on playing every Castlevania I can get my hands on, including Lords of Shadow. Yes I do realize I am missing the 2 Sorrow games, I will get to them eventually. So that's where I stand.

SOTN of course. The followups were nice, but did not resemble the "original" enough for my tastes. I do not like the classic style Castlevania games.

This topic is a year old, but whatever. It still works. 
 
I am also in the SotN camp, because I think it was easily the best designed of the Metroid-vanias. I tried Order of Ecclesia and was not a fan. At all. I like Super Castlevania IV too, mostly because it's not quite as brutally punishing as the NES games were while still being stupid hard.

Castlevania III.

I realize I already posted in this topic but I just want to say it again: Harmony of Dissonance. And with all the similarities to SotN and the awesomely fast-paced gameplay, why do people hate this game so much? This and Simon's Quest are my favorite. Ecclesia is also very very fun. I am in the process of playing SotN so I will judge that after I finish it. 

I really dug Order of Ecclesia.
 
Aria of Sorrow was real good too. Didn't care for the sequel as much.

Super Castlevania IV, Symphony of the Night, Castlevania III, Rondo of Blood.  I never really got into the GB/DS ones.