A stroll through the castle with Simon Belmont and Dracula

By Stephen Munn | December 12, 2008

It’s hard to believe it’s been more than 20 years now since the first Castlevania game came out. As I continue to struggle in the final battle of Order of Ecclesia, I think about all the times I’ve faced off against the various supervillains of Castlevania over the years. My collection of games is nearly complete now, and I’ve received word that my review copy of Judgment is on its way at last, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before I’ve got the whole library of North American releases in the Castlevania franchise. Once that happens, will I want to play them all through once again, start to finish? Should I play them in chronological order? There’s an idea.

Let’s have a look at where the franchise has been over the years as I get ready to tear into a game that could provide an excellent retrospective of some of its most important characters.

In May 1988, Nintendo published Konami’s Castlevania in North America. The storyline told of Simon, of the vampire hunting house Belmont, who sets out to infiltrate Dracula’s castle and kick the undead man’s pasty ass armed with little more than a leather strap. This was a linear platform action/arcade game where you progressed through six stages of gradually increasing difficulty. Most of the challenge in the game came from the hard, simplistic controls. Hitting hopping flea men with your whip was an incredible challenge, but if you didn’t master it, you wouldn’t last more than a few seconds. Read my review.

In December of that same year, Konami brought Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest. The story goes that Simon, just as he was slaying Dracula in the previous title, was afflicted with a curse that would eventually kill him. The quest is to gather the various body parts of Dracula that were being kept safely in various places around the map, bring them together and resurrect Dracula, then kill him properly and break the curse. This game dropped the linear progression in favor of an RPG-style game, with plenty of platforming but including branching paths, towns, items and upgrades to find and purchase, and a series of small mansions to explore, as well as one of the best known typos in gaming: “you now prossess Dracula’s rib.” Read my review.

A year later, Konami released their first game on Nintendo’s plucky Gameboy handheld, Castlevania: The Adventure. Christopher Belmont, an ancestor of Simon, ventures into Castlevania to rescue his son Soleiyu, who’s been captured by Dracula. An admirable first effort, the game stands today as the most unplayable game in the series due to the pixel-perfect jumps required and the torturously slow pace. The music, for the era, is pretty impressive though, true to the franchise’s legacy.

The following October, in 1989, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse was released. Trevor Belmont, another ancestor of Simon’s, heads across the countryside and into Dracula’s castle in an effort to put down the Count’s centennial resurrection. Along the way he can meet and team up with one of three alternate characters. There’s Grant Danasty, a pirate whose parents were killed by Dracula. Sypha Belnades, a cloaked magic user who eventually pulls a Samus Aran. Alucard is here as well, in his first appearance in the series, and he brings the very useful ability to transform into a bat. Castlevania III was changed a lot when it was brought from Japan. The biggest difference was that the advanced chip that was built into the cartridge in Japan was pulled to save money, meaning the game took a serious hit in graphics and sound. Still, it sounded great for the era, and may have been the best sounding game on the NES anyway.

Super Castlevania IV hit the SNES in December of 1991, and it did so in a big way. This is a bigger, more beautiful looking and phenomenally great sounding reimagining of the first Castlevania game. Still, when the game was localized, the story in the game was changed to make this a kind of sequel to Castlevania II. It doesn’t so much matter now, because story wasn’t important to the franchise until much later, anyway. IV brought with it much of the tight play control we expect of the series today. Simon can crouch and crawl slowly, jump short or long distances and whip in any direction. He can even swing from his whip or let it dangle in front of him to shield him from fireballs and small enemies. Much of these advanced whip techniques would be lost in later games. Read my review.

Konami went back to the Gameboy for the simultaneously released Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge. This game was basically the same as Castlevania: The Adventure, except with the brutally unforgiving game elements repaired. The game was presented to the west as a sequel to Adventure though, placing it several years later in the timeline than the first Gameboy game.

Castlevania Bloodlines was the only appearance of Castlevania on Sega’s Genesis console, and it brought a far more arcadey feel to the game. It was an attempt to not only connect the franchise to Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel by incorporating relatives of that novel’s characters, but also to create a new and far more bloody image for the game. Two playable characters were offered, John Morris or Eric Lecarde. Morris used the whip, Lecarde a spear. This was composer Michiru Yamane’s first outing in the series, and she did an incredible job with it. Despite the far more limited (compared to the SNES) sound chip on the Genesis, the music in this game is not only varied and original, but extremely catchy.

Castlevania: Dracula X for the SNES, which came in September of 1995, was an attempt by Konami to port the excellent Dracula X: Chi no Rondo from Japan’s PCEngine (TurboGrafx-16). It was an extremely limited port in comparison, and felt like a solid step down even from Super Castlevania IV. However, in the US, this is all we got of Dracula X until much, much later. This game was actually billed as a sequel to Chi no Rondo in Japan. Dracula X tells the story of Richter Belmont, who heads into Castlevania to conquer Dracula. The original game had a far more elaborate story involving the rescue of maidens, not to mention a much better CD audio soundtrack. Dracula X’s main claim to fame is that it was produced in such limited numbers that despite its shortcomings, it’s rather expensive to buy in any respectable condition.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night appeared in 1997 on Sony’s new PlayStation console with series programmer Koji Igarashi at the helm for the first time. Something’s amiss in Dracula’s castle, so Alucard, who’s apparently been asleep since his experience with Trevor Belmont long ago, awakes and sets out to figure out why his father is up and about. This was a direct sequel to Chi no Rondo and a turning point for the series. Koji Igarashi and his team chose to reinvent Castlevania in the style of the contemporary Super Metroid, taking the player’s equipment near the beginning (unless you tricked the game with a quick backslide, oops) and making them progressively collect it all again to gradually unlock more of the castle. Of course, we don’t find out Alucard’s a girl at the end. We already knew that by looking. Read James’ review.

Castlevania Legends was the third Gameboy Castlevania game. This appeared in March 1998, and it starred a female Belmont named Sonia, who marches on to fight Dracula, bumping into Alucard along the way and perhaps even becoming more than just friends with him. This was the pinnacle of handheld Castlevania at the time. Nowadays it seems not much more remarkable than the other two Castlevania games, except for its scarcity and steep price tag on eBay.

Castlevania arrived on the N64 in 1999 with the confusingly named Castlevania. Choose from either Carrie Fernandez or Reinhardt Schneider and following varying paths through the first 3D version of the game. This was a controversial move, perhaps because the series hallmarks of beautiful graphics and amazing sound were not really feasible with the technology of the time, particularly on the N64 which didn’t even have a dedicated sound chip. In fairness, it’s not a bad game, but it doesn’t capture the feeling of Castlevania well at all, playing more like an entirely different kind of game.

Later that year, Konami sought to release a more finished version of the game for N64, polishing over many of the rough edges and adding a playable character named Cornell, who was a werewolf. Opinions are split. It’s generally accepted that the game is better than its predecessor, but at the same time it doesn’t help that it’s basically the same game less than a year later for another $60. The game was a much shorter run than the other N64 game as well, making it pretty scarce and expensive nowadays when in collectible condition.

In June 2001, Castlevania went handheld once again with Circe of the Moon. The Belmonts are nowhere to be found, so Nathan Graves must rise to the challenge when Dracula takes off with Graves’ teacher Morris Baldwin. Circle of the Moon was the first Castlevania on the Game Boy Advance and it came at a time when there was no internal light available for the system. Compounding this issue was the darkness of the game’s design. The game was pretty much unplayable on a standard GBA without direct sunlight. If you were lucky enough to play it though, the game was pretty good, involving a card combo magic system and a lot of interesting powerups. Read my second spin.

Four months later, Castlevania Chronicles was released on PlayStation. This was an enhanced version of the remake of the original Castlevania that had appeared on the Sharp X68000 computer in Japan many years before. Players get the option of playing the original or a dressed-up version with new sprites, and there are some bonus features on the disc like a video interview with Koji Igarashi. This game was a limited run, and it’s not clear whether it sold well. It tends to fetch a high pricetag nowadays in good condition.

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance appeared on GBA in 2002. Juste Belmont dives into Castlevania with the intent of saving his girlfriend, who’s disappeared and is reportedly inside. Dissonance plays very much like a handheld Symphony of the Night, but instead of an inverted castle, the hook here is that there are actually two parallel castles that overlap in general geography but vary greatly. The visuals in the game were amazing for the time, particularly the complicated bosses. Konami’s developers brightened up the color palette in response to criticisms of Circle of the Moon, only to face further criticism when players were trying the shockingly bright game on their now internally lit GBA SP systems just a few months later.

Late in 2002, Konami published Konami Collector’s Series: Castlevania and Contra for Windows. This was a collection of emulated versions of the three NES Castlevania games and two NES Contra games. The shell these run in is simple, but it is easier to understand than trying to play these games emulated. Further, the games have been adjusted. For example, Simon’s Quest has its famous localization errors fixed. This is out of print now but can still be had brand new for just a few dollars on eBay. Set this up with a gamepad using an external utility, and you’ll be all set.

In May 2003, Castlevania hit a high-water mark on the GBA with Aria of Sorrow. This game, set in the future, has Soma Cruz stumbling into Castlevania accidentally, and trying to find a way out. Dracula was put down permanently in 1999, so not even those who know where he is understand why he’s there. He discovers he has the ability to absorb the souls of defeated monsters to learn some of their abilities. There’s a wide cast of memorable characters and a seriously shocking twist near the end that knocked me out of my seat. On top of all this, the graphics and sound are probably the best on the platform.

In October of that year, Lament of Innocence came to PS2. Lament we should, because this 3D Castlevania game chronicles the beginning of the Belmont vs Dracula story, and while it’s a phenomenal game, it drew some harsh critics. Leon Belmont is ousted by the church when he insists on heading to Romania to rescue his girlfriend, only to stumble upon Castlevania. This origin story is not only brilliantly written and competently voice acted, the graphics and sound are, to date, some of the best the series has to offer with a genuine Castlevania feel right along with tight play control.

In October 2004, Nintendo published a port of Castlevania as part of their Classic NES Series for Game Boy Advance. Notable enhancements include a save function, which makes the brutally cruel game far more manageable as you can play it in short bursts.

In the following October, Dawn of Sorrow, which was a direct sequel to Aria of Sorrow, brought the Castlevania goodness to Nintendo DS. A cult bent on resurrecting the late Dracula has built their own castle and is trying to install one of their own as the Count. Just as Aria did before it, Dawn of Sorrow seemed to “break” the platform, showing just how good a 2D game could look on Nintendo’s new handheld. The soul-stealing function returned, along with a somewhat clumsy “seal drawing” system that used the stylus. The cast of characters from the original game returned with all their revelations from the previous game open to each other, and it made for some interesting dynamics.

The following month, Curse of Darkness appeared on PS2 and Xbox. This is a direct sequel to Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse and it features Trevor Belmont as an NPC. The main character is Hector, one of the recently slain Dracula’s top guys who had some involvement in the big guy’s downfall. Hector’s a devil forgemaster, a man with the ability to create and manage an assortment of familiars to help him progress through the castle to put an end to the ambitions of another of Dracula’s top guys, a devil forgemaster named Isaac. The innocent devil system is cool but confusing, and the weapon forge system is brilliant. The game is absolutely huge, with a variety of large areas to explore and lots of stuff to collect.

January 2006 brought the very short run of Castlevania Double Pack, a compilation cartridge for GBA that had Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow on it for those who didn’t get one or both of those games the first time around. I made the mistake of not picking this up right away thinking it would be around for a while, and when it disappeared quickly I ended up having to pay a premium to pick it up.

Portrait of Ruin became the second DS entry in the franchise in 2006, and it was a direct sequel to Castlevania Bloodlines. Jonathan Morris, son of Bloodlines’ John Morris, joins Charlotte Orlean, a descendent of Castlevania (1999)’s Carrie Fernandez in a cooperative adventure to take down a vampire named Brauner who’s taken up residence in Castlevania in Dracula’s absence and decorated it with magical paintings that serve as portals to other places. Brauner’s brought his creepy daughters with him, and they cause plenty of trouble along the way. Portrait of Ruin was another beautiful game with some amazing effects, but the cooperative element was not well implemented. This game had a great 20th anniversary preorder bonus, including a series soundtrack CD, a stylus, art book, and some other great things. Read my review.

In September 2007, Konami’s mobile division produced a Castlevania title called Order of Shadows for mobile phones. Desmond Belmont staggers slowly through a tiny Castlevania killing things. This clumsy, ugly, noisy game bears little resemblance to the quality titles in the rest of the series, and is stunningly short at less than two hours. I envy those who reportedly found a way to play all the way through Konami’s demo version on their website, because I paid $6 for this game and I want my money back. Read my review.

The following month, we found out where Koji Igarashi had been. Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles was released for PSP. This is a compilation of the original Chi no Rondo, plus a remade version (called Rondo of Blood) with modern graphics, plus an enhanced port of the PlayStation version of Symphony of the Night with far improved localization. Chi no Rondo and Symphony need to be unlocked and it’s not easy to do so. The 3D character models in a 2D world look great on the PSP, and this compilation should not be missed. It serves as a kind of turning point in the series, from the generally linear Rondo of Blood to the Metroid-style Symphony of the Night, probably the most important shift in the series.

In October 2008, Order of Ecclesia arrived for Nintendo DS. The game takes place after Richter Belmont’s disappearance, so an Order called Ecclesia has appeared to handle the task of keeping the forces of darkness at bay. Things start to go wrong with the plan however and everything takes a dramatic turn. Ecclesia uses a Glyph system where Shanoa can absorb magical seals into her body, gaining abilities from enemies and objects like Soma did in the Sorrow games. The game is beautiful to look at and hear, controls like a dream, and has a surprising amount of things to uncover. It’s also astonishingly hard compared to other recent games. Look for my review if I can even beat the final enemy.

Castlevania Judgment is the most recent Castlevania game. It came out last month, in November 2008. This is a fighting game with a cast of characters from across the series’ history. There are some surprising cast choices and some apparent omissions, but we’ll have to see how that turns out later, as my review copy is supposed to be forthcoming. There’s even a new character named Aeon who is apparently the one to blame for this little timeline-hopping brawl. The game features open combat with opponents and also monsters in some parts, as well as boss battles against more powerful monsters like the minotaur.

Image source: AOS Citadel