Castlevania
Simon’s first quest
Castlevania was one of the first games I got for my trusty ‘ol 8-bit NES-console. It was a translation of a Konami’s arcade game, and it was very successful when released. The Castlevania saga is one of Konami’s longest series and has had its sequels in nearly every console, newest additions being Castlevania: Curse of Darkness for PS2 and Xbox and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for Nintendo DS.
The Castlevania series follows the battle between the Belmont family and Count Dracula. The Belmont family is destined to fight against Dracula. The hero of the first Castlevania game is Simon Belmont. In Castlevania I Simon has to fight his way to Castlevania, the castle of Dracula, defeat count’s forces and finally slay Count Dracula and restore peace to Transylvania for the next hundred years. (Once defeated, Dracula and his castle would vanish for a century, and return after it has passed.)
At the gates of CastlevaniaThe game starts as Simon arrives to the gates of Castlevania and begins his journey towards Dracula’s chamber. Player watches Simon from 2D view familiar from many platform games. After all, Castlevania is a platformer, but an action oriented one. Player controls Simon through Castlevania beating the crap out of Dracula’s minions with his whip, the Vampire Killer.
Although Simon gets other weaponry as the game progresses, whip stays as the primary one. When player collects bonus items, whip changes from slow and rather weak to faster and more destructive one. Other weapons are, for example, an boomerang, an axe, a dagger, holy water and the Bible. These differ very much, e.g. dagger is weak but fast while an axe is slower but more powerful, boomerang returns to throwers’ hand, etc.
Dracula’s pets are far from the ordinaryWhen Castlevania was released in 1986 the graphics were nice, but now, of course, obsolete. Sound effects are standard 8-bit stuff (read: quite bad). Music, however, was different. There were many great tunes. They’ve been remixed and performed by real orchestras. Some of Castlevania’s songs are also in other Castlevania games, e.g. the main theme, ‘Vampire Killer’.
Like most games of its era, Castlevania is at times frustratingly difficult. No saving for you, not even password saves. Continues aren’t around. What’s best, whenever mighty Belmont is hit by an enemy, he grunts and flies backwards from the impact. This is especially fun when trying to avoid falling into a conviniently placed pit. Or when in mid-air. Results are usually seen in the death count. That recoil has nowadays become kind of a trademark for the series, being around for every Castlevania expect the latest ones.
The Clock Tower