Trivia
It was named #119 out of 200 of the "Greatest Games of Their Time" by EGM Issue #200 (Feb. 2006).
Along with the differences listed below, the Japanese version of Castlevania III differs from the North American version in that Trevor's name was "Ralph Belmondo". The zombies, mudmen, leviathan and mummies had more animation to them with slightly different sprites. Instead of having his regular stabbing dagger, Grant uses throwing daggers as his regular weapon (because of this, Grant can only collect the axe and stopwatch as his alternate weapons). Also, the Japanese version is easier than the North American version.
Contributed by
Elix (935) on Feb 23, 2005.
The Japanese version of CV3 has a few differences from the U.S. version, but here's the biggest one...
The Japanese version was built around a special mapper chip Konami created called the VRC6. (In Japan, most third-party Famicom developers used to create their own custom memory mapping chips to enhance the power of the Fammy/NES.) The VRC6 had one special power to it: it allowed the system to play digital instrument samples during music playback, and Konami made major use of it for the Japanese version's music. In short, the Japanese version's soundtrack is MUCH, MUCH better sounding!
Also changed between the two versions were the Hunchbacks (they were frog-like monsters in the Japanese version), some nudity, and the damage system (in the Japanese version, the amount of damage you took depended on what hit you).
