Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin is great

[A Black Falcon]

(what game came before Symphony of the Night?)

Castlevania Dracula X (SNES), 1995, I believe. Castlevania Bloodlines for the Genesis was before that (1994). Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (PC-Engine CD) came out in 1993... (and was much, much better than the SNES version)

Symphony of the Night was a sequel to Rondo of Blood, though -- it's set four years after Rondo, and Rondo's two main characters are in it.

That's a good question. They certainly have their own Castlevania style down, but it has been such a long time since the last classic Castlevania game (what game came before Symphony of the Night?) that it might be tough for them to go back to the roots of the series. It would be interesting to see a mix of the two types of games, though, and it could be incredible if done well.

Yeah, I agree... I got Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania Bloodlines last year and was playing them and thing they're great, and have played Rondo of Blood emulated before (and it's fantastic, makes me wish I could afford a TurboDuo), and there is a huge contrast between those games and the Metroidvania style of the new games... Portrait of Ruin is great fun, but the original style was great too... if done right something with both definitely would be very interesting.

As it is though this isn't bad, though if it was the sixth Metroidvania title I had bought instead of the first, I'd probably be a lot more tired of the formula by now... (or maybe not. Some things are just as fun in numerous sequels as they were the first time -- see Mega Man for instance... and the dual-character design is a new idea for the series. The only one like it before was Castlevania III, and that one had two switchable characters, not two onscreen at the same time...)