Difficulty:

Very Hard

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Best in series"

I got this game for the NES through a bet: back when I was 10, my parents were watching a movie late at night we all had seen before. My sister and I go to the family room, and my parents ask the title of the movie, as they had forgotten (back then, there were no digital boxes to tell you the schedule or the title of what you were watching). He told us that if we guessed correctly before the commercial break, which would say the title, we could get one gift we wanted. I went ahead and guessed correctly before the break, so my dad asked me what I wanted. I asked for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.

This game is amazing! Not only the levels were incredibly cool, but you had the choice of which path you would take to get to Dracula's castle. On the way, there were 3 fights that at the end would give you the choice to be joined by an ally. You could switch on the go through a level, altering the level itself, and changing the player movements and attacks drastically. This game brought to the Castlevania canon Alucard, who would be the main character of Symphony of the Night. The BGM is one of the most memorable form the 8-bit era. I still have a few of those songs in my mind from time to time, and I've played a TON of games in my life.
And the game is HARD! I only beat it once, and that was because I got very lucky. It has great replay value, as you can try to beat the game through different paths and with different allies. There is a different ending with each ally you finish it with, or you can also finish it solo.
Hands down a great game to have in your Virtual Console collection, if you like platformers. Oh, and by the way, the movie I guessed correctly was Shoot to Kill, with Tom Berenger and Sidney Poitier. I still remember that.