Overview:The birth of yet another classic series, our first battle with Count Dracula will still remain with us, as this year’s GBA release will attest.
Story: Every 100 years, the evil prince of darkness, Count Dracula, arises from the grave to unleash his unholy terror upon the world. Simon Belmont, the next one in line of the famous clan of vampire hunters, steps forward to put an end to his tyranny.
Graphics: I have little complaint about the graphics. They look absolutely splendid, even for a game as old as this one. The backgrounds in particular look well detailed, and well surpasses most other games from that time.
Sound: This game gave birth to several of the familiar Castlevania themes from later games, most of which are superb.
Gameplay: As Simon Belmont, you’ll travel through a total of six stages in the familiar platformer-style action. Before facing Drac, you’ll have to contend with his many minions, most of which should be familiar monsters from various forms of folklore (Medusa, the Frankenstein monster, etc). Simon fights primarily with a whip, but he can find other weapons to assist him as well, such as throwing knives, throwing axes, holy water, and crosses.
Challenge: Yet another early NES game where you’ll probably be swearing at your Nintendo at least a little before you finish it. The first stage is easy, the second and third stages are a little tricky, but still manageable. Stage 4 is where things go horribly wrong. From near the end of this stage onward, Simon dies in just four hits from any enemy. Unless you are extremely good at this game, you can expect to spend a lot of time on those last three stages. Another thing I should mention is the fact that Simon is a bit hard to control as well, since he moves and attacks very slowly, and you can’t control him in mid-jump.
Final Rating: 7.5/10 A great game for the most part, but its once again driven down by those difficult stages, which can make it considerably less fun to play.
