Castlevania is doing an excellent job changing while staying the same. I trust Konami to innovate within each title just enough to keep it fun, while not totally screwing up the things that work (see Sonic the Hedgehog 2006).

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I love the graphics and music but I'm sick of the Metroidvania gameplay. Give me old-school, linear Castlevania gameplay coupled with the present aesthetic and I'll be perfectly happy.

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Soma Crocker almost made me choke to death on my own spit, and yet, I'm oddly compelled to thank whoever designed that for it. It's hideous; it's brilliant.

I'm about as deep into the pro-Metroidvania camp as someone can get. I actually love what stays the same from game to game more than what changes. The pervasiveness of gothic horror, the amazing references to world mythologies in the weapons, items, and monsters, and the dollhouse-like intricacy of the decoration in each room of each level defines the series for me. The storylines of the games have (arguably) become more contrived and less relevant to the original Belmonts vs. Dracula arc and, yet, it seems like I've only become more enthused about the series with each passing title.

The elements come together to create something that is both perfect and familiar, and at this intersection is what separates games that grow stale with each iteration from those that don't--the cycle of the perpetual feeling that everything is over too soon, the longing for the next title, and the playing of the game that releases this pent-up anticipation only to begin it again. Many games become one, linked by a shared sense of greatness and divided only by time. Not only can I not imagine it any other way, I don't want to.

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I really would love to see a "fast-paced" Castlevania like Castlevania 3 on NES (the best of all time) instead a Metroid-Vania style (like Symphony and all others that came after).

I like the simple arcade feelings you have when you just need to play and beat the bosses, with not so much trouble and deviations around the game path.

But, any - 2D of course - Castlevania is welcome!

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Here's a suggestion: Less Save points.

I seriously get through these games without using a single potion except maybe one or two on a boss, simply because save points are a dime a dozen.

Also, make these games hard again.

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I like the direction it has already headed, they can think about changing them dramatically after kicking out 5 or 10 more...

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Honestly, I think the Metroid formula is the prime (god forgive the pun) model for the 2D platformer.
I merely have to mention
Cave story
to support this point.

The key to metroidvanias though is how flexible they are. There's always plenty of room to shake things up- so long as you keep it balanced. As I recall PoR had a bit less exploration and focused a little more on linear gameplay. They could have compensated for this more with a thicker story and more challenging platforming, but that's just me.

If they should break from this model it would have to be something BIG and it would have to really really work.
I'd say something along the lines of a Banjo-Tooie style platformer with LESS empty scavenger hunting and more interconnected cause and effect puzzles.

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I believe there are still a lot of styles to create a great Castlevania/2D action game. But I also agree the current Metroid formula is a very very good ways to produce 2D platformer due to its flexibility.
I think the current Castlevania has provided the necessary gameplay choices to cater different fans. For instance, I think the last installment of the series, Portrait of ruin, maybe the best of Castlevania we ever had.I complete every single mode including the Hard(Cap at level 1) and the hidden 'Blue Armor' mode. I think the blue armor mode is exactly the 'hard old school style' some have asked for. The hard (level 1) mode, which virtually any attack from any enemy inflict about 90% damage of full health, should have provided the challenge for those who ask for it and people may think the save points are not enough. This mode is actually dedicatedly balanced to a level that change the original gameplay. It works like Ghost n' Ghouls, which the most important thing to beat the game is to figure out how the whole scene works, and solve it like a logic puzzle, because most of the enemy attack quite differently and hard to pass totally rely on reflex.
So I'm convinced that Igarashi has been taking the games quite seriously and would change things in a feasible way to make the coming CastleVania.
(P.S. I recommend to give a try to the mode mentioned above, U won't find meaningless difficulties. There are lots of wonders await!)

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What I'm not getting is why it's so...polarized. Either one or the other. You know, Konami's got the seeming choice of sticking with Metroidvania forever and ever, or salting the earth and burning it to the ground and never ever making another Metroidvania game ever.

Both sides do have decent points. The maps and enemies are getting somewhat repetitive: the castles tend to bleed together like watercolors, and the sprite reuse is...yeah. They could get more creative. I mean, I still remember the circus map in Portrait of Ruin because of the creative use of gravity.

But conversely, it's not like they're just pumping out just Metroidvanias. There's Curse of Darkness and Lament of Innocence for the PS2, and Castlevania Judgement for the Wii. Plenty of change right there.

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Personally, I feel the problem is not so much the trend of making similar games within a series or trying to create innovations in a series. The problem is that everyone has a different opinion of what they want to see and with series getting so long these days, it's hard to please everyone. I think if more of us took chances on new ideas, we would see more variety in our games and find companies dedicating their time to creative new ideas. Don't get me wrong. I think Nintendo has a history of the best video game series. Still, it would be nice if they didn't come out as often. And we would also find that innovations could then affect the games in series we love.

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Not platformer fan. In fact I hate Castlevania because I bought it some time ago. Just like with Mario - another dumbly wasted 40€ on overrated sentimental junk.

If only they had made and RPG... Then it might have been a different story.

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WOW I feel so passionately about this! But for me, the new blood has to come from KILLING OFF CASTLEVANIA. I love the new gameplay -- I even love what they have kept static -- and think there's potential for all the bestest platform gaming ever to come in this franchise, but I am SO SICK of Castlevania and the awful writing. Also, how fun is it to get the same weapons and items and armors over and over? There are lots of changes in each episode -- they do lots of great, hard, work over there, and I love that. But Castlevania was only a mildly interesting setting to me when I was eight years old, and since then it has only gotten less and less so. Ditch the fake flamboyant vampire thing and get some new story writers in, PLEASE!!! When I first played Symphony for the PSX I was thinking, awesome! Castlevania finally delivered on the potential of Metroid; given it a hundred times more equipment to use and more dynamic moves! Now... I keep hoping something will take Castlevania and maybe... set it BACK in Metroidland.

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wow. whoops, i got all excited, posted a response after reading the RSS post about this topic. Meaning that I kind of duplicated your thoughts on the subject (all while feeling VERY OBSERVANT about the Metroidvania thing), THEN i read that you'd said those things already. Anyway, I still maintain that if you're playing a nostalgic vampire game for ten years, then you're obviously going to feel stuck in a rut. It doesn't mean the gameplay is any less good than it was in 1997 or whatever it was. It just means you need to get some new writers in and take the damn handcuffs off the art and music teams. I look forward to the new Castlevania, I just dread the organ music.

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I've honestly never liked the "metroidvania" games. Mostly I just hate the level design, which seems directed more at getting you to the next screen than making it fun to get to the next screen. It's always "jump to the step, kill the guy, jump to the next step". It's not very inventive. That, and the games gets depressingly easy later on, because you've reached level 90 and you can kill every enemy in one hit.

What I'd like to see is a Castlevania game with the controls and inventiveness of the early games, along with the art direction and scale of Symphony of the Night. It would be linear, with branching paths, smart enemies, and a limit to unlockables and all that unnecessary bullshit. That would be all it would take to "revive" Castlevania.

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I'm gonna get Order of Ecclesia as soon as I can, but I want an old-school game. Perhaps one where you play as Julius Belmont, pre-Aria of Sorrow? That'd be way too awesome.

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Both arguements are well made; especially the point about the forgotten and unloved iterations.

Surely, there's a happy medium between Simon's Quest, Symphony of the Night, and Castlevania 64.

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One way I can think of to make the Metroidvania style of gameplay harder (and more oldskool Castlevania-like) is by having pitfalls where you can die instantly (or something in the vein of the spikes in the Megaman games). Also, the return of stairs would be very welcome! It would also be more realistic (I have NEVER jumped on platforms to reach higher areas - I use the frickin' stairs!).

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