Collection essentials #42: Castlevania (NES)

 

Here’s a big early NES game from Konami that spawned a very long-running series highly regarded among gamers. Castlevania is another side-scrolling platformer that plays quite differently than most. Many platformers give you very precise control over your character with a lot of agility and freedom of movement, and sometimes strong and quick attacks to go along with it. Less common is a game like Castlevania, which purposefully doesn’t do this for various reasons. When you jump in Castlevania, you can’t change direction mid-jump. You have to be sure you can commit before launching your feet off the ground. You have a whip to strike enemies with and it has decent range, but it’s not very quick and can only be swung left or right. The game is designed purposefully around these limitations and challenges the player to acclimate or die. In addition to the whip, you can acquire a number of secondary weapons and items (one at a time) as an alternative move, but they have limited ammunition so they must be used wisely and sparingly. Ammo is not scarce, but also not plentiful enough that you can just spam them willy-nilly.

Part of the reason for designing the game around a character who’s not very strong, perhaps, is the general vibe the game is going for. It’s not really right to call Castlevania a horror game as it doesn’t try to frighten the player, but the entire concept of the game is that you’re going into a dangerous castle filled with intimidating monsters with the ultimate goal of defeating Dracula. You’re supposed to feel weak in comparison. The setting and atmosphere is certainly part of the reason why Castlevania caught on. The game’s music and graphics do an excellent job in setting the tone. It’s cool fighting boss monsters from pop culture (like Frankenstein’s monster) or mythology (Medusa) with Dracula being an ideal end boss.

I didn’t get to play the original Castlevania as a kid, but I was aware of the series due to its popularity. I believe the first time I played a Castlevania game was in my preteen years, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I decided to tackle the first game. It was Halloween night of 2012 that I decided to really delve into it. And I managed to beat the game!! That’s a night I’ll always remember.

One may want to play the first Castlevania primarily to see the roots of the series. Indeed, this game provided the building blocks for many future games, and you can see many enemies and gameplay elements that became immediate staples, which is really cool. But how is the actual experience of playing it outside of the context of nostalgia or intrigue? Well, this formula would be improved on by Konami and others before very long (as you’ll see pretty soon), but Castlevania 1 still manages to be pretty fun by its own merit. One thing that may be an issue for people is the high difficulty. You’re going to die, and die a lot, and sometimes death can be pretty frustrating. When enemies hit you, you get knocked back, and many sections of the game feature bottomless pits resulting in instant death rather than depleting your health bar. The end portion of the game feels downright unfair, though I felt awesome the time I beat the game as I used the stopwatch item to freeze all enemies and run frantically for my life, successfully! The second-to-last boss, Death, is absolutely vicious, though, again, after many tries, the one time I defeated him I didn’t even get hit once and it felt awesome. The saving grace to Castlevania’s difficulty is that you get unlimited continues, so you’ll never get booted all the way back to the beginning. If you’re doubtful of your skill at these types of games, though, Castlevania 1 may not be for you other than a short session to enjoy the easier starting levels before the madness ensues.

If you have any modern video game platforms, you can find the original Castlevania included in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, which is a great buy that gives you a lot of content. If it tickles your interest, go check it out.