Well, I did it. I beat the original Castlevania. I have to say I wasn't expecting to get nearly as much life out the eight dollars I spent on the GBA port as I did, but here I am three weeks later and I was so exhilarated by the experience that I went out and tracked down Castlevania: Dracula Chronicles X to continue my journey into the series. So, I thought I'd offer you all a little review of my experience. I'll let you know right away that generally speaking, I tend to be pretty formal reviewer. I like to do a good job and provide people with all the best knowledge about the game I can. But considering the fact that Castlevania has been on the market since the late 80's... well, I think the knowledge has been out long enough for people that I can have a little bit of fun.


It may surprise people to know that after all of these years, Castlevania held up remarkably well. I was watching a Gametrailers video the other day explaining what they think makes a great retro game, and I have to agree with them on one point. If you can sit and play the game for hours despite its age, then it's still a great game. I've spent more than three hours straight playing Castlevania on more than a few occasions over the past few weeks, so immediately I'd say it passes muster there. The game falls in the funstration category I blogged about a bit back. It's mind bendingly addictive, but largely because it tends to be so damn hard that you feel like you have to beat it or you'll lose a bit of your soul. It's all in good fun though.

There are a few things I could see being problems for modern gamers though. The controls can be a bit less than accurate, which is a problem I've had with a lot of old NES games. You really have to adapt yourself to the very slight delays in your on characters reaction to your moves, or the game will kick your ass all the way to the highway. It's a small adjustment to make though, and the early levels are lenient enough that you won't have much trouble.


A bigger difference, and possibly infuriating aspect of the game, is the fact that you can't change direction while jumping. When you really think about it, modern gamers are rather spoiled. We're all used to defying the laws of gravity, that, at least in my experience it's a bit of a shock when a game insists on following them. For instance, in Symphony of Night, the first Castlevania game I played. You can, as in most platformers, change direction while in midair. The original Castlevania doesn't allow this. As in real life, if you jump in one direction, you're going to keep going in that direction until your feet touch ground. At first, its annoying, but if you possess the mental capacity to think about it in a rational way, it does make sense and it adds challenge and strategy to the game in a way that isn't cruel or game breaking. Each jump just becomes more important, because once you make one, you're committed to it.

The gameplay itself is solid side scrolling action. There is some platforming involved, but the game is largely a matter of leaping over holes whilst avoiding the cleverly placed baddies on the other side. In fact, if I had to quickly define what the game is about, I'd label it to be less about monster killing and more about monster avoidance. So much of the game is just running through the levels and figuring out the various patterns of your foes so you can get past them to the boss. There is combat of course, but it is relatively simple. That said, the levels grow quite challenging as they progress. I spent an entire week just trying to get through one of later levels.

The bosses too can be pretty tough. While the first few are relatively simple, later foes, basically from Frankenstein on become a test of sheer frustration. Death in particular is a pain in the ass and inspired me to throw my DS across the room more than a few times. Thankfully my fiancee has many pillows about so no permanent damage occurred.

Sound and visual wise, Castlevania is 8-bit at its best. The soundtrack is still considered one of the best in gaming by many fans, and coming from a newcomer to the series I can say it is rather catchy at many points. The visuals are nice, but do show some age, largely in the color department. You'll see a whole lot of same colors all over the place. That said, in an era when retro is actually becoming an artistic direction in many ways (who couldn't love Mega Man 9 I ask you) I can't complain much.

When it comes to things like story, its surprising to think that the Castlevania series, which enjoys an almost odd plot line with multiple characters spanning centuries could have evolved from this game which is about as bare bones as it gets. The entire story is basically as such: Simon Belmont approaches the gates of Dracula's castle, enters, and fights a butt load of monsters until bring down the big guy himself. The focus of the game is clearly in the gameplay, which works fine. I have no complaints in this department.

Now comes the part where I should probably give it a score. I usually think long and hard about my review scores, weighing in things like my own biases toward or against a particular series or genre. That said, I'll throw caution to the wind here. Castlevania gets an 8. 8 out of what you may ask? Well 10 is the likely answer, but go ahead and figure out for yourself. If you want it to be an 8 out of 100 feel free.