The first Castlevania title I’ve played on the original GB and it still holds up better than most others!
GAMEPLAY ~
It's a simple Castlevania clone, like all the others. Except this time around you only get 2 sub-weapons, but that is all you'll needed. The controls work well with timed jumping and whip upgrades (fireballs!) as usual, but this time there are ropes! You can climb ropes! Now this may seem stoopid to most, but for me to go through lets say 8 Vania titles in the last month or 2 this was a new innovation! The other cool aspect is that in some stages there is 2 route to take to get to the end, no difference in difficulty, just fun to experience.
The game is broken down into 5 different castles, rock, crystal, forest and cloud. each one almost identical to one another. No difference in enemies (5 in all) and the bosses are quickly dispatched... except the last 2, which were difficult. This game had no difficulty setting, so I guess I played on normal. Overall, a nice addition to the Vania franchise on the GB.
STORY ~
Christopher Belmont must rescue his son Solieyu Belmont from the dreaded curse of Dracula!
I actually enjoyed this story! Not too difficult, but alot better than what was introduced in the SNES series of games.
GRAPHICS ~
Graphic wise this game does not stand the test of time. True, it does look nice for it's time. The backgrounds are easy to look at and the enemies don't slow down the actual gameplay. The bosses are big and each castle has it's own texture to accompany the elemental theme. A top notch GAMEBOY game!
SOUND ~
The music was very good, and I say that because it was for a monotone system. Thought basically a bunch of bleeps and what have you, but it still sounded nice. The SFX are non-existent with the exception on you getting hurt and flinging your whip around. The bosses were silent as well, just the noise of a fireball could be heard... and maybe some crickets.
REPLAYABILITY ~
There is nothing to do when you finish this game except maybe pick up another Vania title. An since it was for the original GAMEBOY the actual time spent playing the game should only be about 2 hours or so. Yeah again, there is a score counter, but who really gives. Once this game is over, it's over!
OVERALL ~
This is a great GAMEBOY experience for anyone looking to play some of the classic Vania titles. In this day and age you don't even need to run out and buy it! DL an Emulator and load up a ROM. It's that simple! Enjoy!