Castlevania

Originally written 11-18-10

Taking place in 1691, Count Dracula is wreaking havoc with his minions. Simon Belmont, whose family has a long history in battling the vampire sets off on a quest to destroy him. In order to make it to Dracula, Simon must venture through Dracula's castle armed with his whip and guts. -summary

When I speak to most folks about Castlevania, I get responses like "the best Nintendo game I ever played", "the best franchise ever!", "real cool weapons"; but the one response I will always hear is," those f'in games are hard!". Yeah, I can definitely vouch for that. For some strange reason Konami seemed dead set on producing the hardest games ever. I often wondered was the company made up of masochist.

Castlevania was released in the states back in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and it was an instant classic. Sequels would begin to follow and the franchise happens to still be running strong up to now. Therefore, it's no wonder that the original would be re-released for the Gameboy Advance as part of the Classic NES Series line. I remember this game giving me pure hell when I was a kid, and I felt like I conquered the world when I beat it; and along with Mike Tyson's Punch-Out and Ninja Gaiden 2, no other games made me feel like I was the man. So I decided to give it another try and see if I was able to do it again. Although I was able to finish it, I did learn that my tolerance has gotten better since I was a kid, because I didn't throw the game across the room once.

Gameplay:

For those whom may not know, Castlevania is a one player, side scrolling 2-D plat-former. The game follows Simon Belmont on a linear path as he journeys through six levels to confront Dracula. The stages can be very creative and they end by defeating the boss at the end of the stage. The bosses are based off horror creatures of literature, and many, if not all of them have went on to become horror icons; Dracula, Frankenstein, The Grim Reaper, The Mummy, and even Medusa's Head. On the way to meeting these creatures, the player will encounter ghouls, ghost, mermen, and other creatures.

Simon Belmont is armed with a whip for his primary attack, and it can only be used in one direction which is straight. He can also attack from jumping and crouching positions. Along the way, the player will be able to pick up secondary weapons to help during the journey, with many of them possessing a different trait; such as axes being hurled in the air in an arc like motion, daggers thrown straight across the screen, a cross being used as a boomerang and several others. These weapons can also be upgraded and fired up to three times in succession. The secondary weapons are very helpful and can make boss battles much easier.

Now it's time to talk about the difficulty. The first stage is apparently meant to get the player accustomed to the gameplay, because this is the only easy stage in the game. From the second stage on, this game is hard, but it can be mastered though. You will die a lot in this game, but it's best to look at each death as a learning experience. If you have the patience, then some of those deaths you will suffer are likely not to happen again or not as much.

The player will die a lot of cheap deaths on his/her path to mastering this game. Some of the levels have platforms that are incredibly small, and a single attack will knock the character back and send him falling to his death. The game doesn't restart you too far away, but when your game is over, you will have to redo the entire stage again. Surprisingly, this can actually be the best approach, because once you die, you will lose the secondary weapon you once had, and it can seem impossible to get through a stage or some boss battles without it.

Controls:

The control set up is very simple and easy to understand. There's an attack and jump button; and to operate the secondary weapon, the player simply holds the directional pad up and press attack. When climbing up stairs, the player must hold the directional pad up or down to ascend or descend them. The controls kind of have a rough-like feel I think when compared to many of today's games, but they are responsive and getting use to them takes no time.

Graphics/Sound:

Visually, the game feels very dated with some lack luster animation, but it was definitely good for its time though. The stages have a few nice designs with many areas not looking the same. Some are very well lit when the action is outside, while others feel a little darker with different color schemes. The character designs for the boss monsters are really cool though. The sound effects aren't something I would say are great, but I really didn't detect anything that I would consider to be a standout. The soundtrack feels just right for the stages and they set the right mood for an action game.

Overall:

In regards to the Gameboy Advance, this is the exact same Castlevania for the NES. The only difference is that the levels can now be saved, and you will not have to play through the whole game to get to a certain point. The game is very difficult and I've known of many people to just give up on it; but after beating it again, I seriously doubt if I'll bother with this monster of a game any time soon. Still, if you're a serious gamer who is looking to play through the classics, this is one that shouldn't be skipped.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Pros: Lots of cool weapons, will challenge you

Cons: Very very difficult, too many cheap deaths