PixlBit

Was going to put this on Twitter, until I forgot that website is made for people who don't read and can't pay attention to anything that's not a Transformers movie for more than 30 seconds:

"I like Fusion ... it's linear as hell, but I don't think of that as a bad thing the way other people do. Imo these games are all somewhat linear anyway, since most people would tend to backtrack to the same areas etc. "

Such an essay, I know. 

I give the edge to Metroid because it did that sort of style before SotN and ... ok, golly garsh gee willikers FUCK, can I change my vote? Cause now I'm thinking Castlevania is a more diverse series with those first entries and I prefer its style and presentation. 

Choosing is hard for me. The highs of both series are so extraordinarily high. i'd give the edge to Metroid though just because I love the sense of exploration and atmosphere.

 I'm... currently writing a Metroid Fusion analysis since I have extremely mixed opinions on that game. Not even about the linearity honestly, since that's mainly a concession to being on a portable platform.

Maybe, but "Zero Mission" wasn't quite as linear ... quite. 

Is it the story that concerns you? 

Somewhat. There are other things too, but story is a pretty big part.

I prefer Metroid.  Just never got into Castlevania, and I've played a lot of the main series.  The only Castlevania game I really liked was Kid Dracula.

I really love the visuals and music in the Castlevania games but I find the gameplay frustrating. I'm more about exploration in games anyway and Metroid Prime gave me that. So I go Metroid. 

Love both, but Metroid has the edge. It's a series that has been consistently fantastic (I'm ignoring Other M for all our sake, though I'd argue it's a passable game and better than all the 3D Castlevania games). Metroid Prime and Super Metroid are among the best games ever made and are 2 of my personal favorites.

Dawn of Sorrow is amazing though as is SOTN. Generally, I think Castlevania was smart to borrow the exporation elements of Metroid and fuse them with the traditional Castlevania stuff. The end result of that fusion has been highly successful and I think it deviates enough from Metroid that I could easily play both series back to back and not feel fatigued.

I'd also argue Fusion is a massive dip in quality as well... but I get your point.

 I would argue that the 3D god of war clone was far better than Other M. Both in gameplay and story. I mean, it's not a great game, but dog's prolapsed vagina is better than Other M.

 The strong points of both series are:

 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, Rondo of Blood, and SotN.

  Metroid: Super Metroid, Metroid Prime series, Zero Mission. 

  I think Castlevania has more good games than Metroid (it has more games period, so it also has more shit games), but the pinnacle of Metroid far outshines the pinnacle of Castlevania.

 Also, I just prefer metroid's powerups, although if they do a new game they need some new powerups asap.

Neither of these games are really my cup of tea, maybe I'm just impatient or something, but I do have a deep respect for them.  I think though, Metroid has a sort of mystique and mystical nature to it that Castlevania, in all its pulp style, does not. That's my two cents.  

"Casualvania"

More like CasualSneenia!

Hmm. Tough one. I think the Metroid games control better, the powers are more interesting to me than they are in the Igavanias. But Castlevania has that gothic horror theme I love, and the music is second to none while I think only Super Metroid has inspired music of the bunch, and the bosses are overall better and more fun to fight. It's really hard to decide. The NES CVs, especially 3, are better than Metroid. But Super Metroid blows the doors off of SC4. LIke you said, CV has more good games, but SM is just in the upper upper echelon of video games.  And Prime also blows the doors off of 3D vania so bad it's not even funny. Slight edge to Metroid I guesss, but Vania made me a gamer.

Honestly, most games blow the doors off of SC4. It's one of my least favourites in the series. I even prefer 1 and 3 to it. I think it's mainly because there's a lot of gimmicky nonsense in it to try and show off the SNES and a result it doesn't hold up to the others that were very much games first.

 Wow. It feels weird to say that about a SNES game.

 The only game that's come close to Prime in the 3D Metroidvania genre is the Souls series, and then it's arguable that they're proper metroidvania. I mean, they're the best 3D Castlevania games we'll ever get, but still.

 I pretty much agree with your opinion. Metroid wins for me even if I adore Castlevania.

I've only played the original Metroid, so Castlevania is an easy number one for me. Played and beat all three of the GBA Castlevanias plus Dawn of Sorrow and the PSP one. Circle of the Moon is still my favorite Castlevania (yes, I like it even more than SOTN).

I haven't Played Circle, but I prefer Aria and Dawn to SotN.

 Also... you need to play Super Metroid and Metroid Prime ASAP!

I too prefer Aria and Dawn over SotN.

I would love to try both Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, but I don't have the consoles to play them on.

I might sound hypocritical but I think Metroid 1 and Prime left real big impacts on me that Castlevania didn't. Metroid 1 on NES was a very haunting experience and the sound played a big part to that. That intro music was very booming and loud and ominous, like the game was warning you to stay away from it. This is nostalgia speaking, but Metroid Prime on Gamecube really blew me away. I wasn't a PC gamer until much later, so Metroid Prime and Turok 64 before that were my introductions to fully 3D 1st person exploration. Again, it was a very haunting and beautiful experience. 

Castlevania on the other hand, I want to insert something I overheard on Retronauts podcast where the hosts mentioned that they kind of got tired of 2D Castlevanias on handheld when they first released, but then they stopped making them and so they appreciate them more in hindsight. I'd say this also happened to me. I adore the visuals of the castle and horror themes of Castlevania, and they kept freshening up the formulas towards the end, but I had kind of forgotten about them and enjoyed them more afterwards because they stopped making them. 

I feel like Bloodborne is a perfect 3D iteration of how I originally envisioned the horror in 2D Castlevanias, or at least in my imagination, or the varied theme stages of Dark Souls 2 perhaps.

I just love Castlevania more in hindsight, and there are a lot of clones now, where as I haven't really seen Metroid done right after Prime series in terms of space horror unless you count Dead Space I suppose?

I own many of the gb cartridge Castlevanias. Aria is my favorite for some reason? I think it was the most contemporary/future take on that series and SOMA wears bellbottom pants! 

As much as I love horror themes, I also enjoy space and sci-fi horror too. If only Alien wasnt so damned long, I would love it!

I didn't play the original Metroid until a few months ago, and unfortunately it doesn't hold up that well. The one thing that definitely still resonates though is the atmosphere.

 I've been saying Dark Souls is 3D castlevania since it came out. Bloodborne might be a bit closer though.

Aria is my fav Castlevania full stop. Have you played Dawn?

Also, onto the space horror thing: the demo for Prey is out on PS4. You should give it a go. Gave me major System Shock vibes. And if you want sci fi horror you NEED to play SOMA. It's not very often you get good hard sci-fi that makes you think in games, and even rarer to have it scare you.

I agree about Metroid 1 not holding up that well. I'd rather play the remake. I should have given a response with a more technical angle which is, I think, what your were trying to do. I honestly forgot about 2D games in general when games became 3D, then retroactively started loving retro games all over again after the fact, like today. 

I've been playing, or usually replay 90s survival horror games all the time because the genre basically died, much in the same way that 2D style games died for a while until indie games. This is the context that I play Castlevania or Metroid games now. I wish that they'd make a Metroid 3D game in the style of SOMA honestly, like if they're going to revive the game it should take the horror atmosphere of the original, like how RE7 rethought the series in 1st person walking sim. 

I've played all the Castlevanias, even the PS2 3D ones that everyone hates, although I consider Devil May Cry a true 3D Castlevania until Souls. There might be an obscure sega one that I missed because I never owned the system.

Have you listened to the Castlevania episode of Retronauts? They go through ALL the games except the 3D ones, and go into all the portable ones with a lot of detail. It's a really good episode! Also, there is a Retronauts music podcast where they've been playing NES Castlevania music too. 

No offense, but I'd hate a Metroid game in the style of SOMA. Metroid is a series about progression, overcoming roadblocks and whatnot. Yeah, they could do to bring back some of that lonely atmosphere but I definitely don't think Metroid should go down the horror route.

 Secondly, RE7 isn't a walking sim horror game. It has a buttload of combat. It's basically first person RE4 with the mansion setup from RE1.

 I've actually heard some people say that the PS2 castlevania games are quite good, just not great castlevania games.

 And I haven't heard it, but it feels like required listening for me now!

-------EDIT---------

I felt like I was coming off as a bit of a dick when I was disagreeing with you. It wasn't intentional. It's just that RE7 only comes off as that sort of game in the very beginning and then drops it as soon as you get a gun. There are boss fights where you have rocket launchers and flame throwers.

 As much as I love SOMA and Amnesia, I'm really over the "defenseless horror genre." Most of them aren't that good and feels unrealistic that the protagonist wouldn't pick up even a stick and fight back. I like older survival horror games because they make me panic about whether I should fight or flee.

no offense taken. I'm sure Metroid is great for all the reasons you state. I haven't played them in a while and I've been meaning to replay MetroidPrime3 on wii. Honestly can't comment since I haven't played them (Classic Metroidvanias)in a long time aside from Rondo recently maybe. But what stands out for me from metroid is that isolation and atmosphere. I'm sure mechanics and progression would stand out more if I play them again, but again, they're not really fresh on my mind. There is a sega castlevania that I've never played and I really want to DL a rom of it to finally check it out . (Bloodlines on Genesis)
 

Do it. Bloodlines is a great game, though it really feels like a sega game. By that I mean there's a lot more blood and stuff. It's more classicvania, but it's pretty fun. If you want a good emulator for sega games, I suggest the fusion emulator, as it emulates all of the sega systems from genesis to dreamcast.

does fusion do Saturn as well? Been meaning to try out that library.

Actually, it does Saturn but not Dreamcast. Got confused for a second there.

Even though Super Metroid is my favorite game of all time, I have to go Castlevania, because I think it is a stronger overall series. Castlevania 1 and 3 are some of my favorite NES games (especially 3), Super Castlevania is great, if a bit of a "look what we can do on the SNES" showcase, and the Koji Igarashi directed games are pure bliss. Yeah, it has issues when it goes into 3D, but I am also one of those crazy people that thought Lords of Shadow was solid. 

Love me some Metroid, and without it the best games in the Castlevania franchise wouldn't exist, but I think they're all better than most of the Metroid games.

Except Super Metroid. That game is perfect. 

I would have to go with Metroid purely based on the first game because that's the only game out of both franchises that I really put any legit time into. I've tried a bit of the Castlevania games and they are fine, but from what I've seen the Metroid brand seemed to have taken chances with different styles (a first person game, a pinball game, etc.). Now I could be wrong and Castlevania has done similar things, I really haven't kept up with that Franchise.