YMMV / Castlevania: Judgment

• Awesome Music: Probably the only thing every fan can agree on is that Judgment has a damn good soundtrack. Hell, the version of "Vampire Killer" used for Simon's reveal in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? This one. See the main page.
• Broken Base:
  • This game is probably one of the most controversial out of the Castlevania series. Flawed, horribly designed, wannabe-Soulcalibur reject that ruined the franchise? Or a severely underrated classic that, though flawed, is still quite fun to play with, and people are just being too picky?
  • The designs of the characters used to have a really negative reception, but some (particularly Cornell and Aeon) are notable for being good. Since then, though many still complain about the designs, there are a good number of Castlevania fans who feel that the designs are actually all right and not as bad as everyone made them out to be. The latter party also raises up the good point that the designs are that way due to Aeon pulling all of the characters from different eras in time.
  • Of all the designs that are quite base-breaking, Grant's design is this the most. At first, it was highly disliked for looking like a Voldo ripoff and less like a pirate — many went as far as to state he looked more like a mummy ninja. In the following years, however, more and more fans got used to and even warmed up to Grant's new design, citing that his original design was generic whereas this new one looked badass and made him far more distinguishable as a character. Some also pointed out two factors that could explain why Grant looks the way he is: he was pulled from a time after his debut, so he could've either gone through a lot of hardships after the events of Dracula's Curse, or he simply could've been beaten badly by Dracula himself during said game, similar to how Trevor is depicted with an Eyepatch of Power in line with the scars he sports in Curse of Darkness. Another argument defenders use (though rare) is that, in the original Japanese, Grant was classed as a former pirate captain, but was presently a rebel, a noble thief, and an acrobat, so it's fair game for the character designer to do what they wanted with his design.
  • Gameplay-wise, Maria causes rifts due to debates over her gameplay and the perceived effectiveness of her kit. Is she seriously OP and easy to use? Or is she far too clunky and difficult to utilize?
  • Story-wise, several characters like Sypha, Maria, and Eric Lecard are taken from before their big heroic deeds and are intentionally abrasive in an effort to retroactively inject Character Development into their stories. But many fans feel that the game went too far and made them outright unlikable and unpleasant; all three of these characters have entries under The Scrappy on this page.
• Character Tiers: Ever-present in a fighting game.
  • Top Tier: Aeon, Alucard, & Shanoa
  • High Tier: Death, Eric, & Simon
  • Mid Tier: Carmilla, Cornell, Golem, Sypha, & Trevor
  • Low Tier: Grant & Maria
  • Bottom Tier: Dracula
• Designated Villain: Characters who battle Golem open the battle with their quote reserved for villains and during its Story Mode, the BGM for the villains' story plays.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Golem. Anyone find it ironic that the one character whose mere existence was overlooked in-universe turned out to be the one part most fans thought the game got right?
  • Cornell was another character that not a lot of people saw coming, and yet he is usually grouped with Golem as one of the things Judgment nailed. His "wolf knight" redesign in particular is widely regarded as the best of the entire cast.
  • Grant. Despite boasting a divisive design, his blend of entertaining personality, flashy gameplay, and unique story are considered some of the game's best. It also helps that this was the first time Grant had ever been featured alongside his compatriots Trevor, Sypha, and Alucard in some time (and, given his unfortunate luck with being Adapted Out in future works such as Pachislot Akumajō Dracula III or the Netflix animated series, possibly his last for the foreseeable future).
  • The new character that was introduced in this game, Aeon, was also well-received. Part of it is because his design is probably one of the best ones in the game, but his cryptic yet straightforward personality was seen as intriguing. Being The Chessmaster and the Big Good also helps. And his theme music is awesome!
• Fan Nickname:
  • Simon Yagami - Simon Belmont, for his striking resemblance to Death Note protagonist Light Yagami.
  • As mentioned ad nauseam in this work's pages, the resemblance to Death Note is easily noticed, and fans won't let go of making references to the manga. Among many examples, there's Dracula Note, Death Notevania, Castlevania Just as Planned, Akumajo Keikaku Doori, Power Stone: The Death Note Version, and Death Note: The Fighting Game. Meanwhile, Castlevanians of the Ottawa region like to refer to the game as "CastlevaNote."
• First Installment Wins: Seemingly invoked. Aside from Shanoa and the newcomer Aeon, all of the characters in this game were introduced to the series before 2000, prior to when IGA became producer. References to the handheld Metroidvanias and the non-Nintendo 64 3D games are sparse: Death's music comes from Lament of Innocence, Trevor's ending foreshadows Curse of Darkness and most of the enemy models are taken from that game, Alucard's ending foreshadows Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, and Eric's ending hints at a plot point introduced in Portrait of Ruin. By comparison, one only needs to look to the playable cast of Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, which sits at the other side of the representation spectrum.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Crossing over with Hilarious in Hindsight, Maria's plotline being centered on comparing her bust to every other girl's comes across as scarily prophetic considering the period in The New '10s in which Castlevania took a rather sexualised direction.
  • When Aeon's Hyper Attack is used against Grant, he will end his trek through the glass with this: "Your tale will be passed down for eternity." Rather notoriously, the Netflix adaptation of CVIII saw Grant being Adapted Out, which definitely makes Aeon's assessment fall under this trope.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • A small example. Since Aeon has unique comments for each member of the cast when hit by his Super, fans have tried their hands at making lines for Aeon to use against characters from non-Castlevania properties.
  • As a result of Maria's Story Mode, referring to large breasts as a "sacred gift." What makes this especially ironic is the fact Maria was pretty busty herself in her artwork from Rondo of Blood.
• Ron the Death Eater: Though not hugely grossed out or highly exaggerated compared to other characters (thankfully due to other games featuring him not being like this), Trevor gets a lot of flak and is accused of being a self-righteous asshole for what he says to Grant in Grant's Story Mode. Players felt that Trevor wasn't being fair to Grant by accusing him of feeling himself worthier for Sypha... despite the fact that, considering Grant's tone and posture (he sounded sad, tired, and his head is bowed down), that might not have even been the case, and instead of challenging him to a fight, players felt that Trevor should've just talked to Grant to sort things out. Especially jarring since they're supposed to be best friends (though some can justify it's because back in the era where Trevor and Grant lived in, this was probably one way to settle things out). Players also felt that by the end of Grant's story, it's not Grant who broke apart their friendship, but Trevor himself, and that it was better that Grant distanced himself away from the two things that made him miserable (even though Grant did skip out from their wedding of his own free will due to his own jealousy and resentment that he Did Not Get the Girl).
• The Scrappy: Many of the heroes pulled out of time before their games have taken place are intentionally very flawed in an effort retcon Character Development into their stories and contrast them with their Older and Wiser selves, but not everyone considers this experiment to be a success...
  • This incarnation of Eric is really hated due to him being a smug and arrogant child who thinks he's superior to others. A lot of fans were also angry at this incarnation due to questioning why Eric Lecarde should even be a child in the first place. However, it seems that this may have been intentional, as even the characters in-game disapprove of Eric and his arrogance — Alucard firmly tells him off that the lance was only meant to accompany the whip, not be superior to it, and even Aeon takes a jab at Eric in his Hyper Attack against him.
    Aeon (using his Hyper Attack against Eric): Jealousy of the whip does not excuse your arrogance with the lance.
  • That said, just by taking place later in his life, Bloodlines itself implies that Eric got over himself, as Sypha did below. Indeed, his portrayal in Portrait of Ruin shows that Eric died a far cry from the arrogant child that entered the time rift.
  • Sypha is also really hated in this game due to being an uptight hypocrite who claims she is doing goodness by eliminating all children of the night, yet in the same vein, she does not seem to care or acknowledge that some of those characters have good intentions and have nothing to do with Dracula (even going against him) or simply derive their powers from the darkness and nothing more. What doesn't help her case is that a) the characters she antagonizes are Cornell and Shanoa, who are far more well-liked than her, and b) Sypha herself draws upon otherworldly sources for her magic and is seen no more favorably in the eyes of the church she serves than the creatures she hunts. Carmilla even calls her out on her hypocrisy.
    • What also doesn't help Sypha's case is that Shanoa is also part of the church. So technically, they're on the same side. Which basically means that she really is a huge hypocrite. The only silver lining in this is that this was supposed to be a take on past!Sypha before Dracula's Curse, so her eventual fate was to be given a soup of humiliation by being petrified by the Cyclops, saved by Trevor, and mellowed down once she felt calmer and matured up during the quest. But considering that in the original, she was amiable from get-go even when her ending hints at a Dark and Troubled Past, that artistic liberty isn't helping much. Even the pachislot version had her be more amiable. (Though some defenders will point out that her attitude, while flawed, has at least some justification behind it, as Judgment upgraded the mention of her having "a bad life" prior to meeting Trevor to Sypha being the survivor of a Witch Hunt instigated by Dracula's servants, thereby explaining her poor view on anything darkness-aligned.) Thankfully, because of this, the usually profanity-littered Netflix version decided to just make her the Good Is Not Soft Only Sane Woman, having her rudeness toned down along with several moments putting her caring nature on display, coming off a lot more well-received than (or considered a good improvement over) this version.
  • The incarnation of Maria here usually tends to trump both Eric and Sypha, despite not being turned into an arrogant version of herself, simply because she has the most "anime-ified" design considered to be the worst offender, very awkward fighting style, and her storyline being considered the most ridiculous amongst all others and also completely OOC in its own way compared to her Rondo of Blood origin (she was cute, but she didn't obsess over the boobs of other ladies). If most people get asked who's the most problematic character in Judgment, Maria is usually first in line.
• Scrappy Mechanic: Maria has a random chance of failing two of her special attacks due to weakly tripping, which gives opponents an advantage to press.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Golem, a generic enemy from the games, is a fully playable character.
  • Cornell, hailing from the obscure Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.
  • Grant Danasty. This game was the character's first appearance in over a decade (and even longer than that depending on how one counts his zombie doppelganger from Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin).
• Viewer Gender Confusion: Eric looks even more like a girl than he did in Bloodlines!
• The Woobie:
  • Golem's own "Mama" (Carmilla) finds the concept of it thinking for itself to be absurd. And even after Death affirms its sapience as close to achieving humanity, he tells it that it should be mindless. Given his strength, he potentially reaches Iron Woobie levels.
  • Cornell can be seen as one. He hates his beast form, yet he ends up stuck in it while in the Time Rift. There, he tries to find a cure for his curse. Along the way, he not only tells Carmilla to get lost when she tries to convince him to join their forces since he is also a child of the night, but when he goes to Sypha who is part of the church, she nastily rebukes him and tells him she has no cure along with telling him to, as she put it, go to death. Though, Cornell interprets it as actually going to Death rather than taking Sypha's obvious notion of telling him to go die. However, Cornell would most likely be an Iron Woobie as well, since when he finally finds Death, Death offers him the cure in exchange of his allegiance to Dracula. Cornell refuses and declares that he'll find a cure himself.
  • Grant can also count. Considering the amount of crap he went through in his debut (i.e. his whole family, which could possibly be or include his crew, getting killed off; and getting cursed to be a rampaging demon that was locked in a clocktower); and how different he looks now (which could actually veer into Fridge Horror if you think about it), he also Did Not Get the Girl. And who did he lose the girl to? His best friend. He was so jealous and heartbroken, he didn't even attend their wedding. However, unlike most Romantic Runner-Up characters with Grant's personality in mind, instead of wishing ill, siding with the bad guys, or trying to steal the girl, he instead tries to repair his homeland from all the crap caused by Dracula and his posse. In fact, we're unaware of Grant's heart being broken until his fated fights where he lets loose, but even then he seems more melancholic and tired than full-out angsting, which made him easier to sympathize with. This is very noticeable when he fights Trevor, to which he doesn't even seem angry or upset at him for being able to win Sypha's affections (in fact, most players found themselves hating Sypha and Trevor instead). But after beating Trevor, Grant finally wishes good tidings to the couple and moves on. Adding that to how he's usually quite chipper, this would probably also make him an Iron Woobie.