Castlevania (Game Boy Advance Classic NES Series)
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| Developed by Konami Industry Co. Ltd. and published for the Game Boy Advance on October 26, 2004 by Nintendo of America, Inc., Castlevania is a near pixel-perfect port of the classic NES vampire-killing side-scroller. |
Castlevania, neck-and-neck with Zelda, may be my favorite all-time video game franchise. I love the dark, gothic imagery, the incredible graphical and musical production values, but more than anything, I love the generally incredible, generally 2D side-scrolling gameplay. While future installments would add massive layers of backtracking exploration and RPG elements, the original 1987 NES game laid out the franchise's basic blueprint: Dracula's back from the dead. His castle is full of monsters. You, as a member of the vampire-killing Belmont family, in this case, Simon, must travel through Dracula's 2D castle, fighting evil and making difficult jumps, until you reach the King of the Undead. Then you kill him.
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| Killing things that are already dead is my specialty. |
Despite this original game's simplicity, other bedrock aspects of the Castlevania series are laid down here. Simon's main weapon is a whip. Throughout each level, the player can find several upgrades for the whip, extending its length and power. When the player dies, they restart the level with the whip back at its smallest, weakest size--thankfully, though, the upgrades often come very early in a level. While future installments in the series wouldn't always use a whip as the main character's weapon, it was a mainstay early on. In addition to the whip, yet another early mainstay of the early Castlevania games, the player's sub-weapons, are introduced here. These sub-weapons include, but are not limited to throwable axes, knives, and holy water, with each more effective against certain enemies and in certain situations. You'll need to master the use of all to get through Dracula's castle alive.
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| 8-Bit Iconography |
The series' legendary difficulty is also established here. Castlevania is broken into six visually distinct blocks of castle, with each block featuring three levels, for a total of eighteen levels. The player only gets a few tries (lives) to get through a block. A game over, even on a block's third level, will send the player back to the beginning of that respective block...and there were will plenty of game overs. Enemies do plenty of damage, and the game's platforming is quite challenging. To make the platforming hazards even more dire, hitting an enemy, like say, a flying bat, in midair, causes the player to be knocked backward several feet--generally back into the pit the player was trying to leap over, and into certain death. Even climbing stairs can be hazardous. The player has to press the control pad in the direction the stairs are flowing. If the stairs shift directions, and the player doesn't match that direction, and the stairs are over a pit, the player will fall into that pit and die. In this game, death comes fast and easy. This culminates in the last block of stages, where the levels are not only more difficult to navigate, but feature enemies who do even more damage than the enemies found earlier in the game.
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| Welcome, friends. Now it is time for you to die. |
Thankfully, this Game Boy Advance port, while nearly identical to the NES original, does offer an option that makes playing through Castlevania far more convenient. The NES original had no save system. While the game did allow players to restart from the beginning of the same block where they experienced a game over, if the player turned off their NES, that progress was lost. This led to many players leaving their NES on for days, if not weeks at a time, in order to try to finish the game. This Game Boy Advance version allows the player to save their game at any moment. While you'll still have to start from the beginning of the block where you saved, even if you saved on that block's third level, this save function makes progress through the game a lot more consistent, and less stressful. Of course, you've got to remember to save--the game doesn't automatically do it for you. If you play all the way to the last block, then turn off your Game Boy Advance for the night without saving, tough luck.
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| Also, tough luck if you fall in water because like most Belmonts, Simon can't swim. |
The Game Boy Advance (or your DS...or your GameCube through a Game Boy Advance adapter) replicates Castlevania's graphics and sound perfectly. The castle's 8-bit gothic design is still as timelessly retro as always. Enemies, like bats, zombies, skeletons, and fleamen, again, staples of the franchise for years to come, look great and are well-animated. Bosses, generally based around classic horror all-stars like Frankenstein's monster, are charming, yet fun to kill. Simon himself looks iconic, as do his animations. This game's look is beautifully planned and implemented early 8-bit perfection by Konami.
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| I ain't no momma's boy |
As far as sound goes, the simplistic bloops, bleeps, and scratches get the job done in the sound effects department. Meanwhile, the series' legendary music is off to an excellent start here. Castlevania's chiptunes are complex and adrenaline-pumping. The classic "Vampire Killer," a series staple, is here right from the jump. Each block gets its own theme, which was wonderfully refreshing in the mid-80's, and helps progressing through the game feel fresh, even today, whenever today is. The music isn't the only element keeping Castlevania timeless, though.
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| Time is the fire in which we burn |
Since I was a kid playing NES games when they were new, I've always liked looking at map layouts of 2D levels, which reveal those levels' secrets. The original Super Mario Bros. has power ups and other secrets scattered throughout each level, and Castlevania follows in that once new, now classic tradition. Candles are scattered across each level, and when Simon whips them, he receives sub-weapon ammo (in the form of hearts), a change of sub-weapon, a whip power-up, or money. Save enough cash, and you receive a one-up. Also more rarely featured, a power-up that offers brief invisibility, one that can freeze time, health restorers, one-ups, and items that increase sub-weapons' effectiveness. Even better, though, are when these items are hidden throughout the castle walls. You'll want to whip at every castle brick you see, as you never know when one will shatter away to reveal a hidden item. Discovering all of the castle's secrets is half the fun.
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The other half comes in the game's unforgiving, yet fair, extremely fun challenge. While the knock-back feature can make jumping frustrating when an oncoming enemy only makes itself known after you've jumped, the controls here are otherwise spot on. Beating each block feels like quite an accomplishment. The game's later block bosses in particular require quite a bit of strategizing, with the final boss battle against Dracula having to rank high on the list of all time hardest. Rather fittingly, he just does not want to die.
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| Get back in that damn coffin!!! |
While Castlevania is now available as part of compilations for modern systems, there's something special about playing this standalone version on, in particular, a brightly lit DS screen. The small quality of life improvement here with the saving feature only makes progressing through the game more convenient, but not necessarily easier--you just don't have to leave your TV on forever anymore. This Game Boy Advance edition really is the definitive experience for this game. If you're a Castlevania fan, or just a fan of old-school platformers in general, you owe it to yourself to experience this. Castlevania is one of the greats.
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