Whats your favorite Castlevania artwork style?
 
NES “Macho 80’s” style
 
Gothic style
 
Anime style

NES style

Gothic style like Order of Ecclesia. I think that is the best looking 2D Castlevania for sure.

The poll doesn't seem to be working

edit: ok I figured it out

I accidentally hit "Macho" style. lol

I kinda dunno what that means though. You mean the main character?

Castlevania's always had a bit of a gothic or horror theme style IMO. Character styles may be different, but as far as the atmosphere, it's pretty gothic.

Anime too, it's just different styles of anime presented in each era in the series. It's a Japanese made game after all.

In the US, a lot of NES artwork took on a style that presented the hero in a very macho masculine style. For example Trevor Belmont in Castlevania 3 is bulging with muscles, he looks like He-Man.

Pc engine took the artwork in Dracula X to anime.

Then with symphony of the night Ayami Kojima introduces the gothic style. Some of the DS games brought back the anime style again, but since symphony of the night it’s pretty much mostly been gothic style 

 

Gothic for me, for sure.

Yeah, the US changed a lot of games to represent a non-anime style on the boxart. We were afraid that anime wouldn't sell back then I guess. lol It's interesting to note that while the series is primarily anime, a lot of influences are western. Initial design before it hit the US was "anime" though.

As far as a "gothic" style like in SotN, I would say it's still a more realistic approach on anime, but with a very gothic theme to it. Not quite Hellsing, but rooted in an anime style that again seems a bit more realistic than others.

I guess to answer the question, that would be my favorite out of the bunch. lol

Gothic style, not even a slight competition. Ayami Kojima's work is fuckin' amazing

I definitely think Ayami Kojima is a talented artist. But, the whole darkness thing isn't really my groove. I was hoping to see more likes for the anime style:















 

I dunno, it isn't bad but I really feel like that kind of art style just doesn't really sit well with the overall tone of Castlevania, personally. It just feels kinda... goofy I guess, whereas I feel like most CV games take themself pretty seriously, storywise. Dawn of Sorrow IMO took the anime style WAAAAAAY too far, that shit didn't work in the slightest, I think Portrait of Ruin perfected the anime style. It was still distinctly anime, but it wasn't in your face anime like Rondo and Dawn were. I just think Ayami's work is so good that it's just almost impossible to top it. Dracula was usually very gothic and I feel like Castlevania should kind of follow in those footsteps, since he is in a way the main character of the franchise, and the vast majority of the games are about storming his castle (which would be pretty gothic) and killing the bastard.

is it?   I mean, technically its lovely and clearly she has a lot of skill but those things are just dripping with teenage angst.   I'm not 14 anymore and I don't need my cover art by to be sexually ambiguous.   Tiny heads, enormous clothes?   That second pic?  WTF is going on there exactly ?  Why is the skin tone death ray white, the one hand enormous, what exactly is the person looking at, etc?  

 

looks like a couple people beat me to the punch

sorry I ment to say 80's followed by Gothic, don't care too much for the anime style

80's. I don' like the anime at all, and while i like the backgrounds of the gothic style, the actual people look horrendous to me.

I hate the androgynous look, almost every character looks like that. Some look okay, but overall it is just a very unappealing look for me.

This one is my favorite

I already voted anime, but just gazing into this I changed my mind

 

^Now that is what a Belmont should look like. Badass.

Indeed!  But I like all three styles actually, in different ways.  I think I prefer the "macho '80s" style most, probably due to nostalgia, but I like the others as well if they are done well.

 

I like the overall feel of gothic, but like the energy that the anime conveys.

However, nothing will beat the original artwork shown above^^^

Gothic all the way! Symphony of The Night!

I don't know exactly how you would classify this one - but I'm a big fan of the visuals represented here (from Dracula X Chronicles):



Something about the combination of the darkness plus beauty, really appeals to me here.  When I think of Castlevania, I think of gothic and darkness, but also I think of a style reminiscent of Baroque I guess you could say. 

There isn't really a right or wrong here, as they are stylistic preferences, but I definitely lean a bit more to the Symphony of the Night era representations, as opposed to the earlier ones, in terms of the visuals that really appeal to me.