So here we go back to the castle again after all these years. For those of us who played this game way back when I can assure you that it translates to the Virtual Console very well and if indeed there is anything missing I have yet to notice. The bad news is that the extreme difficulty is still here and unlike the two sequels there is still no password or anything to let you go back afterwords. The save feature on the wii for these types of games really make the difference to those of us who have gotten to the top of the castle and all the sudden have other things to do and can't just leave the console on forever (though I have done this before for the second game way back in the eighties). The plot well.... You are simon and your job is to enter the castle and kill dracula and his minions. You have your trusty whip and the various subweapons that you collect from the candles that are everywhere in this game. The main problems that this game faces is the difficulty. There is no room for error here. If you lose all your lives then its back to the start of the level for you. The hit detection is a little weird as well. This counts on some of the bosses as well as form simon. Just play Castlevania 2 or 3 and then go back to this one and you will know what I mean. The graphics are a bit dated but remember exactly when this game came out and you can get past that. The music is good and seems to set the standard that Castlevania games have to have good music. The enemies are what you expect; from bats to skeletons to mummies and of course the medusa heads that to this day continue to plague eager vampire hunters. The level design is good from the castle halls to underground caverns and then back to the upper halls of the castle. The backgrounds are good and make the stages stand out more than other games of this era. So if you want to go back to the beginning of the series then this is the easiest way short of hopping a plane and running around in Romania till you get arrested for hitting lights with your whip.
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