I know. Everybody on the planet knows about Castlevania. It's one of the most popular franchises....ever! I'm not here to talk about Castlevania, or Symphony of the Night, or Order of Eclessia, or the dozens and dozens of Castlevania games we all love and play. I'm here to talk about the lesser known titles. I mean...sure, you might have heard of them, but with little to no knowledge. And if you do, then just sit back and enjoy yourself. (Also, everything is recorded by me except the youtube links)
First off, we're going to cover the thousands of Castlevania remakes. We'll begin with Vampire Killer
This remake was made for the MSX 2. It was some....system of sorts. Don't worry about it. I did some reading up on all of these before blindly playing them. Apparently, it is the same as regular Castlevania, but with Castlevania 2 elements thrown in. In each section, there are chests and keys. The keys open the chests and you get special items. Then there is a skeleton key which opens the door to the next section. Repeat and rinse until you reach the boss.
At first, I was like "Wow, this music is terrible." It is. The basic element in the music is there but it is missing a bunch. A certain beat is gone, or it isn't the right speed, or little things like that and it messed up the whole song. The sound effects are...bleh. It's just better to put on your own music while playing. The castle structure doesn't make any sense. I'm going to the right, then down, and I'm back at the beginning of the level? They couldn't make it loop correctly? I guess they tried to make it up by having Simon walk a million miles per hour. Seriously, he just speeds around.
VampireKiller Gameplay
Uploaded by TempleGuardian. - Watch game reviews, trailers, and walkthrough videos.
I mentioned the Castlevania 2 elements before. Well, I was hacking away blocks and I saw this old woman. I was still hacking so I hit the button and it closed her screen. Great. I whacked her several more times, and tried to get her to talk to me again it wouldn't work. I ended up killing her. Apparently, you have to purchase items in the game. (like the dagger and holy water) By collecting hearts. What was wrong with the way it was before? And why is there only 1 whip powerup in that 1 section? And the skeleton keys are hidden in blocks. I had no idea I was suppose to attack the blocks. Finding the merchant was just lucky. But I had no desire to run around the place whipping the crap out of walls. I'd prefer to stick to the original.
Now prepare your ears for pain.
That, was an arcade remake of Castlevania (there was also a PS2 port of this, but good luck finding that crap). This is Haunted Castle. Wow. Just...wow. Do I really have to point out what's wrong?
The music is terrible quality (it's like that ingame, not the recorder's fault. I got the game working but I couldn't record it properly) Simon walks like a bitch, Simon looks like a bitch. The monsters are annoying, just...argh. The sound qualittyyy.... no. In some levels, you have to walk...to the left? It makes no sense map wise because you are moving right. I suppose it does have it's good quality. (like the backgrounds) but...blah. I won't even post a third video so I don't damage your ears.
Like the video says, this is Kid Dracula. I'm...not quite sure what this is. A spin off, parody...something. I don't know. It has a ton of Castlevania references, and it's made from Konami. It was originally an NES game in japan, then they made a sequel for the Gameboy, then sent to the sequel to US. It's also interesting to note that in the japanese version, you are playing as Alucard, not Dracula. But it makes more sense that way doesn't it?
This was the only one I expected to be flat out terrible. (the other ones I figured were just ports, but I was ever so slightly wrong) In fact, I like Kid Dracula. It's fun. Don't think about in relation to Castlevania, or you'll be like "wtf does Alucard act weird?" The music is upbeat and catchy. The art is extremely cartoony but that's alright. You can shoot fire, fly, and get several new abilities later on in the game.
It's not too difficult, or has a big story. It's just a nice little simple game. I actually played through several levels while recording because I didn't want to stop (the video I recorded messed up, booooo).
And next is part 2! Halloween day (Saturday) will be the final. Then of course, tomorrow is the PSN/Wii/XBLA update I promised.
