After an eternity's wait one of the best Castlevanias of all-time is re-released for the Wii Virtual Console.
After long last, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse has be re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console and with it all of its nostalgic goodness. This is a 100% faithful port of the original NES classic, complete with the frustratingly bulky icon-driven password system to allow for continuation from where you left off.
This episode is a prequel to the entire series, where you play as Trevor Belmont - the ancestor of the famous Simon Belmont from the first two games. As with most other Castlevania games, you are in a side-scrolling action platformer and you have to use your trusty whip to crack your way through hordes of undead creatures on your way to Dracula's Castle to finally duel with the dark night himself. Along the way, Trevor meets up with three unlikely partners: Grant, the high-jumping wall-climbing knife-wielding thief; Sypha, the spell casting vampire hunter; and Alucard, Dracula's rebellious son.
The game frequently gives you options of different paths to take towards the final rounds in Dracula's Castle. Each path offers different enemies, different locations, different boss fights, and different opportunities to hook up with one of your potential allies. This aspect allows for an added level of replay value, in order to see all that the game has to offer.
All in all, there's no bells and whistles in comparison to today's platformers, but in my opinion this game has stood the test of time and has been resurrected as a solid platformer with good controls, great music, impressive graphics (for when it was made), and by far the BEST battle with Dracula in the entire Castlevania series.