Games Like Castlevania
Quick Answer
The closest games to Castlevania are Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Symphony of the Night, Ghosts n Goblins, Mega Man 2 and Ninja Gaiden. Below are 10 picks with the reason for each — what carries over from Castlevania, and what does not.
What Made Castlevania Work
The first Castlevania is deliberately stiff: Simon cannot change direction mid-jump, the whip has a wind-up, and knockback will throw you into a pit. Every one of those is a rule you learn rather than a flaw, and the game is built to be beaten by knowing it rather than by reacting fast. Six stages, one castle, and a difficulty curve with no apologies in it.
10 Games Like Castlevania
1.Super Castlevania IV
The same game loosened up — whip in eight directions, and the atmosphere intact.
More about this game →2.Castlevania Symphony of the Night
Where the series stopped being stages and became a map. The other half of the genre.
More about this game →4.Mega Man 2
The other NES action platformer built on memorising a level until it becomes easy.
Games like this →5.Ninja Gaiden
Faster, meaner, and the wall-climbing gives you options Simon never had.
Games like this →6.Bloodstained Ritual of the Night
The modern continuation, made by the producer of Symphony of the Night.
More about this game →9.Shovel Knight
NES platforming rebuilt with everything learned since, Castlevania included.
More about this game →
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How These Picks Match Castlevania
Castlevania is catalogued here as a 2D platformer and action-adventure on the Nintendo Entertainment System. All ten picks share at least one of its genre tags — ten action games, nine platformers and four arcade games among them.
Four of the picks have their own list on this site, catalogued under the PlayStation, the Nintendo Switch (2) and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Blasphemous, Hollow Knight and Shovel Knight are from small or self-published studios.
| Game | Genre | Shares with Castlevania | Where to play |
|---|---|---|---|
| Super Castlevania IV | Platformer, Action, Adventure | Platformer, Action | — |
| Castlevania Symphony of the Night | Action, Adventure, Platformer, RPG | Platformer, Action | PlayStation (catalogued) |
| Ghosts n Goblins | Platformer, Action, Arcade | Platformer, Action, Arcade | — |
| Mega Man 2 | Platformer, Action, Arcade | Platformer, Action, Arcade | — |
| Ninja Gaiden | Action, Platformer, Arcade | Platformer, Action, Arcade | — |
| Bloodstained Ritual of the Night | Action, Adventure, Platformer, RPG | Platformer, Action | — |
| Blasphemous | Action, Adventure, Platformer, Indie | Platformer, Action | — |
| Hollow Knight | Platformer, Action, Indie | Platformer, Action | Nintendo Switch (catalogued) |
| Shovel Knight | Platformer, Action, Indie | Platformer, Action | Nintendo Switch (catalogued) |
| Contra | Shooter, Arcade, Action | Action, Arcade | Nintendo Entertainment System (catalogued) |
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How We Picked These Games
We start with hand-curated similarity data for flagship titles, then layer in tag and genre matching from RAWG's open game database. Every recommendation is filtered to remove franchise duplicates, NSFW content, and games without proper artwork.
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