The most underrated and overlooked Castlevania game in Konami's money making franchise.
Difficulty
For those of you that find the recent installments to the Castlevania series as "walks in the park", Akumajou Dracula (Haunted Castle) will chew you up, and spit you out; leaving you begging for more. Castlevania titles these days give you health items, and frequent save points. Akumajou Dracula does not give you these perks. Health items are not found in this game... however, the difficult end of the game does not stop here. Even though this is an arcade game, the game only allows three continues. So if you are the kind of person that would brute-force through a game with a bag full of quarters, you are $hit out of luck. There is one thing that can be done to compensate for the difficulty, and that is combining all three of your continues into one big life bar. However, you only get one continue as a result, and falling into a pit is fatal, so this makes the game harder in its own way.
Graphics
The graphics are nothing short of amazing. The stages have their own unique charms. The first stage's background has mountains with mansions, and the sky has an orange evening, which later turns into a purple night. Within the same level, you reach a dark graveyard, and a grassy area with trees in the background; it even rains at one point! What I am trying to say is that the game has a variety within it's stages, and the backgrounds never get dull.
The sprites are also great. The hero, Simon Belmondo, looks a bit heavier than his other counterparts, but he still has the famous whip and headband he is known for. The enemies vary from skeletons and zombies, to eyeballs and silverware, and they all make various noises like dismal groans, and eerie laughters. There are several different enemies within this game, and they never get repetitive. Another thing I really appreciated is the fact that the sprites in Haunted Castle were never used in any other Castlevania game. The sprites for Simon, the enemies, and all of the bosses are not in any other Castlevania, which cannot be said about the latest Castlevania titles. Ever since Symphony of the Night, reused sprites have become quite common, which I feel takes away from the "new game" experience. Haunted Castle maintains that "new game" experience. If you aren't impressed yet, all you need to think about is this: This game came out in 1988... how did games look back then?
Music and Sound Effects
One word: Astounding; this is how you define the music in this game. Varying from triumphant songs such as Cross Your Heart, and dark songs such as Den of Worship set the tone for the levels you go through. Even when you die, the music played during the high scores screen leaves you feeling like a winner. This game has the kind of music you find yourself humming day and night, and are heard in Castlevania games to this day.
Simon's grunts when taking damage, and the enemies crumple when they are killed are well done. You can hear Simon's whip when you attack, and the chime noise the game makes when you collect items is obvious, but not annoying in any way, and the bosses scream in different ways when they are defeated. Overall, the game sounds impeccable.
Gameplay
This is where the game takes a plunge, preventing it from becoming another classic in the Castlevania series...
Scattered throughout the game are various power-ups and sub-weapons, that Simon depends on. All of the power-ups and sub-weapons are found in enemies you must kill to obtain. The sub-weapons consume hearts that Simon also collects from enemies. If you do not collect these sub-weapons, power-ups and hearts, YOU WILL NOT BEAT THIS GAME! Fortunately, the game has enemies specifically placed to give you these items, but if you fail to kill them, you will not get much further.
With the game being difficult as it is, issues caused by the game can be infuriating. Enemies that are supposed to give you specific upgrades or sub-weapons do not appear, $crewing you over in the long run, bosses refuse to take damage, or do not get within attacking range, bats go through your whip and damage you, and enemies appear when they're not supposed to. There have even been times when a boss, namely the giant rock creature in stage 4, sends unavoidable attacks; this can lead to unnecessary, and unfair losses of continues.
I can imagine that playing this game with an arcade stick was terrible, and having the horrible experience of playing the rom on a keyboard drove me crazy, but if you have this PS2 port of the game, the controller makes the game... enjoyable. Unfortunately, the game is very short, but the hard difficulty gives it a high replay value; it will definitely take several tries to master this game. With lots of practice, and memorization, this game can be a lot of fun; I highly recommend it.
Bonus
Before this review is over, I just have to mention that this game includes a mini CD that has all of the music in the game, and a mini DVD that advertises other Konami arcade games, and shows a partial speed run of Akumajou Dracula, which totally makes the game worth what it costs.