Genesis of a classic franchise.
Castlevania came out in 1986 and was Konami’s entry into the platform style game with power-ups that was big on the Nintendo Entertainment System thanks in large part to Super Mario Bros. You control vampire hunter Simon Belmont who, armed with the whip Vampire Killer, is invading Dracula’s castle to fight through the dark lord’s minions so he can take a shot at the head vampire himself. This basic story hook would expand with every sequel to become a sweeping epic detailing the battles of the Belmont family against the immortal Dracula throughout history.
Simon is not particularly fast or even very agile. He can’t change directions mid-jump and the player must be very deliberate about where he moves and jumps to avoid fast moving enemies and projectiles. This is a very interesting design choice and gives you a sense of being a normal human with fairly ordinary capabilities fighting to overcome supernatural foes with inhuman speed and physical power. This theme can be seen again in Konami’s Metal Gear series where protagonist Solid Snake must often fight against super-powered foes with just guns and his own military training.
Power-ups in Castlevania apply more to Simon’s weaponry than the man himself. The whip can have its length extended and be transformed into a morning star. Simon can pick up sub-weapons like the Holy Water, which burns the ground, and the Axe, which is tossed upwards diagonally and essential to defeating aerial enemies. These subweapons even have limited ammo, an uncommon game mechanic at the time, in that they eat up hearts Simon collects through the stages with each use.
The stages themselves, and enemies therein, introduced in this game have gone on to be a big part of Castlevania tradition carried into the further games. Bone tossing skeletons, imps, and even bosses like Frankenstein and the Grim Reaper himself are all here and ready to take you on now and in several more games too. Plus how badass is Dracula that he’s got the personification of death itself on his payroll? Now while the color palette in the game is more limited than others, it does succeed in conveying the atmosphere of each individual area, and the spritework on Simon and the monsters is quite good for the 8-bit era. This is also the first game where players would encounter such memorables locales as a clock tower level and the long walk up to Dracula’s inner sanctum.
Music has always been kind of a big deal for Castlevania as well, so big that soundtrack CDs of the most famous tracks in original and remixed forms have been sold. Composer Kinuyo Yamashita can be credited for the great tunes found here in the original. Whenever you play a Castlevania game be sure to listen for a remixed version of the first level in this game’s background music, “Vampire Killer.”
Many gamers may have trouble getting into the original Castlevania due to its difficulty. Enjoyment depends on accepting the controls as part of the design instead of resenting them for not being something they’re not. The game does offer unlimited continues so eventually the most determined players will succeed and be proud they passed this test of skill. They’ll have also fought some cool monsters in cool levels and listened to excellent music along the way. Castlevania is not easy, but it is rewarding.
