Haunted Castle
Released: 1987
Systems: Coin-Op

In 1987, while lots of gamers were home playing Castlevania on their NES (or even Vampire Killer on their MSX2), some gamers were going after Drac in the arcade. Although you can't technically call Haunted Castle a Castlevania title, it definitely fits the line --a daring warrior set to defend his homeland and rescue his bride slogs through a castle to defeat the evil Dracula. And this one was a coin-op, which means you actually had to pay to play.

Haunted Castle didn't do very well as far as arcade games go. There weren't too many reasons to go to the arcade in the mid to late '80s. If you did, it was likely for something more interesting like Gauntlet. HC simply got the short end of that stick and ultimately became one of those arcade games that sat down the aisle, instead of the aisle cap where the quarter munchers sat. It's like a book that barely spends any time at the front of a bookstore.

The storyline was pretty simple, you and your bride strolled arm in arm illuminated only by the moon. But the moon goes dark as clouds snuff it away, and Dracula came down from the skies and snatched your bride out of your bulging arms. (As far as Castlevania-esque characters go, this one needs to cut back on the weights.) You ripped your tux off - under which you somehow managed to fit armor - tied on a headband, and headed into the cemetery.

As with all arcade games, especially during this time, the graphics and sound were unlike anything you could buy for your home. The graphics were somewhere in that mystic area around and between the NES, Genesis, and SNES, with most of the attention paid to high-quality character sprites. Like all arcade games, Haunted Castle had much better color palette than any home machines at the time. The main character was the most colorful yet with his light blue and gold-trimmed armor. The sound wasn't anything special, though the game did have some of the popular Castlevania tunes, like "Vampire Killer."

Graphics aside, Haunted Castle is a pretty bad game. It's nearly impossible to advance past the third level or so because of the ridiculous amount of damage the hero receives from enemy attacks and the many enemies that pop onto the screen at once. If you can beat this game, the later Castlevanias will probably be a cakewalk.