My Favorite Games, Vol. 1.14 - Castlevania (12/13/09)

Ah, Castlevania, how I adore you and your subsequent series.  Though my first time I played you, I had no idea what you were.  Who's heard of Haunted Castle?  You in the back shut up, I wanna tell my story.


The flyer for the arcade port


Anyways, in 1988, Konami made Haunted Castle to be the arcade cabinet version of Castlevania.  The game played identical to the NES version, save that it was a joystick set up.  However, rather that be an exact clone of the original (like the one found in the Play Choice 10 series), this added more to the story by giving Simon a reason to go in and fight Dracula.  He wanted to get laid.  Seriously, he was there to save his girlfriend, Serena.  It also increased the graphics that still wouldn't be matched until Rondo of Blood (they were still better than Super Castlevania 4).

A friend of mine's father owned the cabinet, and it was amazing.  We'd played it from time to time just because I loved it.  If you ever see the cabinet, drop a quarter if you have any love for the Castlevania games.

A few years later, another friend and I were looking through her brothers games and we came across Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest, a game neither of us had played.  About a minute in, I realized this was in the same series as Haunted Castle, and given the names of both series, it really made sense.



Given that this was a sequel, and that Haunted Castle was somehow related, I started looking for the first Castlevania game.  What I found was Haunted Castle for the NES, and I was happy.  Sure, Simon's motives had changed, but I didn't much care.  In actually made more sense that he was the legendary defender against Dracula than he was off to save his girlfriend.  The romantic in me still gets annoyed that she wasn't there, especially with the later iterations involving someone to be saved.



Castlevania though is your average action adventure platformer for the NES.  Unlike Megaman or Contra though, you have a whip and more medieval weapons, similar to The Legend of Zelda.  Special items were a little more difficult to use than other similar games, as you had to hit up+B to use them rather than just a single button, but that was ok.

I'm not going to rant about the flaws of the game, as I get to put on my rose colored glasses for the series...but those damn stairs.  Beware of them.  They've killed me more times than I can remember.

Graphically, it's no where near Haunted Castle, that rivaled many SNES titles, but it is a very pretty NES title.  Background and foreground items do become an issue though, if you're not expecting them, that is.

I love the Castlevania music.  Anytime I hear it, I want to turn on my NES and play the original title (which is how I ended up playing it today after it the classic theme came on Last.FM).  If you've not heard it, you're missing out...but I have a solution for you.  A full run through of the game.

So let me know what you think.  It's one of those classics everyone's played, but have you?  Do you like it?  Do you hate it?  Do you think it's hard as hell?  Leave a comment and let me know.

-Sara