Best Castlevania Games: Ranking The Top 15 Entries

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By Gabe Gurwin and Darryn Bonthuys on

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Times may change, but if there's one thing that remains eternal, it's a Castlevania adventure in which you crack your whip and take on Dracula when he has home-field advantage. Konami's long-running series has been dormant as of late, but with decades of games and a highly acclaimed animated adaptation on Netflix, the monster-slaying franchise is still a fan-favorite that hasn't dulled with age.

From its humble beginnings on the NES to its grand reinvention on PS1, a modern-day Renaissance on the Game Boy Advance, and a bold stab into three-dimensional territory, Castlevania games at their best have always been a tight balance of ghoulish design and action that requires quick reflexes. With such a big and varied collection, it wasn't easy to rank the best Castlevania games, but we did our best. That said, it's to be expected that you will disagree with at least of few of the choices and placements.

These are the 15 best Castlevania games, ranked.

Updating a traditionally 2D franchise into a 3D adventure can push even the most experienced studio to its limits, but Konami found its groove with Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. 1999's Castlevania for the N64 was a janky experience, but Lament of Innocence provided intense action and superb art direction that went all in on its gothic atmosphere. Sure, it's not a perfect 3D Castlevania thanks to the barebones story and meagre amount of content on offer, but it's easily a slick action game with polished arcade-influenced action gameplay that propels it forward like a vampire with an empty