PSX | Azure Dreams | 1998 | Dungeon Crawler | Roguelike with town building, romancing, and familiar collecting |
PS2 | Castlevania: Curse of Darkness | 2005 | Action | Hacky-slashy-spooky, uses items to increase stats |
Xbox | Castlevania: Curse of Darkness | 2005 | Action | 3D ARPG - level Hector's stats with items and his familiars with good ol' XP |
DS | Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow | 2005 | Action-Platform | Metroidvania direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow with a more anime design aesthetic, requires the stylus to draw symbols |
Xbox One | Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (DL only) | 2019 | Action-Platform | See PS3 |
Xbox 360 | Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (DL only) | 2010 | Action-Platform | Large-scale Metroidvania crossover with an emphasis on online co-op, stats based on gear and skill grinding |
PS3 | Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (DL only) | 2011 | Action-Platform | Massive crossover metroidvania with local multiplayer and character growth based on equipment |
DS | Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia | 2008 | Action-Platform | Last of the DS Metroidvanias, featuring a glyph combination system to customize movement and combat abilities |
DS | Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin | 2006 | Action-Platform | Metroidvania with highly varied level design and two switchable playable protagonists - CHARLOTTEJONATHANCHARLOTTE |
PSX | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | 1997 | Action-Platform | THE Metroidvania |
Xbox 360 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (DL only) | 2007 | Action-Platform | Mostly the same as the PSX version, but removes FMV cutscenes |
PS3 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSone Classics) | 2007 | Action-Platform | See PSX |
PSP | Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles | 2007 | Action-Platform | Contains a remade version of Rondo of Blood and an unlockable version of Symphony of the Night with dialogue translation closer to the original Japanese |
Vita | Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (DL only) | 2012 | Action-Platform | See PSP |
Switch | Castlevania Advance Collection (DL only) | 2021 | Action-Platform | See XS |
PS4 | Castlevania Advance Collection (DL only) | 2021 | Action-Platform | See XS |
Xbox One | Castlevania Advance Collection (DL only) | 2021 | Action-Platform | See XS |
Xbox Series | Castlevania Advance Collection (DL only) | 2021 | Action-Platform | Contains Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, and Dracula X all with modern QoL features |
NES | Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | 1988 | Action-Platform | Surprise! Contains a day/night system and XP/leveling |
Wii U | Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (VC) | 2014 | Action-Platform | See NES |
3DS | Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (VC) | 2014 | Action-Platform | See NES |
PS4 | Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood (DL only) | 2018 | Action-Platform | An upscaled version of The Dracula X Chronicles, including all improvements present |
JP GB+GBC | Cave Noire | 1991 | Dungeon Crawler | Roguelike - higher level quests start you off with better stats |
JP FC | Dragon Scroll: Yomigaerishi Maryuu | 1987 | Action | *Epilepsy Warning* Otherwise a solid ARPG |
JP FC | Esper Dream 2: Aratanaru Tatakai | 1992 | Action | Cute pastel sprite work and ARPG gameplay |
JP PSX | Ganbare Goemon: Uchuu Kaizoku Akogingu | 1996 | Action | More Goemon ARPG action, XP serves to level weapons |
JP FC | Ganbare Goemon Gaiden 2: Tenka no Zaihou | 1992 | Turn-Based | Changes the battle perspective to show party members on-screen, has lots of side activities |
JP FC | Ganbare Goemon Gaiden: Kieta Ougon Kiseru | 1990 | Turn-Based | Humorous turn-based game set in medieval Japan |
JP PSP | Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki | 2012 | Turn-Based | A Suikoden side story outside of regular series continuity, with some time travel plot elemnets and a class system |
Switch | GetsuFumaDen: Undying Moon (DL only) | 2022 | Action | A 2D roguelite with a heavy uikyo-e aesthetic and slow character progression through material gathering |
N64 | Hybrid Heaven | 1999 | Action | Battles are reminiscent of Parasite Eve |
JP FC | Lagrange Point | 1991 | Turn-Based | Banger soundtrack, sci-fi themed |
DS | Lost in Blue | 2005 | Survival | Successor to the Survival Kids series with more RPG elements; tools can be upgraded to make your experience easier |
JP FC | Majou Densetsu II: Dimashikyou Gailous | 1987 | Action | A sidescrolling ARPG with 2 playable characters, XP gain refills life; life bar can be extended via items |
JP FC | Mouryou Senki Madara | 1990 | Turn-Based | Dark and challenging! Autonomous combat! Anime-based! |
Vita | New Little King's Story (delisted) | 2012 | Action | Changes the watercolor aesthetic to a more anime-styled one, poor English translation, needs quite a bit of visual polish |
PS2 | Ring of Red | 2001 | Strategy | Alternate-history military turn-based strategy game with cool mechs |
PSX | Suikoden | 1996 | Turn-Based | Amazing NTSC cover art, loads of different playable characters, and a highly political story |
PS3 | Suikoden (PSone Classics) | 2008 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
PSP | Suikoden (PSone Classics) | 2008 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
Vita | Suikoden (PSone Classics) | 2012 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
PSX | Suikoden II | 1999 | Turn-Based | Sweeping political epic- |
PS3 | Suikoden II (PSone Classics) | 2014 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
Vita | Suikoden II (PSone Classics) | 2012 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
PSP | Suikoden II (Psone Classics) | 2014 | Turn-Based | See PSX |
PS2 | Suikoden Tactics | 2005 | Strategy | An SRPG with a heavy focus on elements and support characters; takes place both before and after Suikoden IV |
DS | Suikoden Tierkreis | 2009 | Turn-Based | Not part of the main series storyline (no returning characters), but similar 108-star recuitment and turn-based gameplay |
PS2 | Suikoden V | 2006 | Turn-Based | Last game in the series before being abandoned by Konami, a return to 6-person parties, lots of story connections to I-III |
DS | Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal | 2006 | Turn-Based | Sequel to Azure Dreams (PSX/GBC), with similar tower climbing/dungeon crawling mchanics, with the addition of touchscreen runes |
Wii | Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's: Dual Transer | 2010 | Card-Based | There's Norse mythology, there's XP to gain by winning card games, there's mysterious duelists, there's a lot of cards- par for the course |
PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 4 | 2009 | Card-Based | See above, with some different characters/follows a different series, still with UMD recognition from previous games |
PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 5 | 2010 | Card-Based | As before, lots of anime-only cards, winning duels levels you up, lots of unlocks using the UMDs from the games preceding, adds new summoning/attack sequences |
JP PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's Tag Force 6 | 2011 | Card-Based | Last of the 5D's entries in the series, also includes Xyz monsters from the successor anime, otherwise mostly the same as before |
GBA | Yu-Gi-Oh!: Reshef of Destruction | 2004 | Card-Based | You will be judged by many for playing this game and even more for enjoying it- be warned |
GameCube | Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Falsebound Kingdom | 2003 | Card-Based | It's an RTS/turn-based RPG hybrid with Yu-Gi-Oh characters. I don't make the rules here. |
GBA | Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Sacred Cards | 2003 | Card-Based | Surprisingly, there's a story surrounding the gameplay of a children's card game. You level by dueling. Shrug. |
JP PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V Tag Force Special | 2015 | Card-Based | Almost like a YGO All-Stars, featuring characters from throughout the various series, but takes away 3D animations- UMD unlocks are limited to Tag Force 6 only |
GB+GBC | Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories | 2002 | Card-Based | Third game in the Duel Monsters series, but first to come to the West; many card effects only work the first turn or just plain don't work at all- duelist level determines total deck cost capacity |
JP 3DS | Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters Saikyo Card Battle (DL only) | 2016 | Card-Based | Speed duels only here, where you wander the streets and take on fellow unknown and famous duelists alike to increase your rank and earn cards to level your preconstructed decks up |
GBA | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Duel Academy | 2006 | Card-Based | Want to be the King of Games? Then you better study up on your dueling skills and card knowledge! Both successful duels and passing exams help to increase your duelist rank |
DS | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Spirit Caller | 2007 | Card-Based | Mostly follows season 1 of the anime from Jaden's perspective, leveling as a duelist is a requirement for story progression |
PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force | 2006 | Card-Based | Something something tag team children's card game, beating rivals levels you up and makes you eligible to buy better booster packs |
PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 2 | 2007 | Card-Based | If you played the first one, you've played this one; playing the previous game can unlock extra cards |
PSP | Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Tag Force 3 (PAL/JP only) | 2008 | Card-Based | Partner characters have more storylines to make up for a smaller number of events per storyline, UMD recognition of previous games gives a bonus partner, same leveling as the prequels |
DS | Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour | 2005 | Card-Based | It's the Battle City Tournament and the Virtual World arc, but with spiffy 3D monster summoning animations for particular cards and a distinct lack of Tristan |