Castlevania

The most common complaint about Castlevania is the difficulty. Bear in mind this game was released back before there was voice acting, cut scenes, item collecting, and anything else aside from the stages to entertain the player. Castlevania is difficult because that's the only way it knows to get you to pick up the controller again. I've always been a fan of what I call, "games that hate you" and Castlevania is fairly close to the top of my list there. The game is not impossible, however, and killing the Count has to be one of my all time greatest gaming moments. If you are an easily frustrated gamer, well, you have been warned. If you have yet to play the grandfather of all Castlevanias, I really would suggest a purchase, as it is available for the NES, Game Boy Advance and now the Wii Virtual Console.

If you have a NES or a GBA, pick up the original Castlevania. It'll piss you off to no end, but in the end, it feels totally rewarding. Also, if you could kick a couple of those Medusa head's asses for me, I'd appreciate it... I hate those things.

Going by the cheeky credits at the end, where all the boss characters are listed as "performed" by one-letter-off versions of classic horror movie actors, Konami had absolutely no idea of what Castlevania would become. It represented a rare move for them - starting on the Famicom first instead of porting over a proven arcade title - but I think it's fair to say that this turned out to be a smart gamble. Konami may have just been making a fun, one-shot home game based on classic creature features, but they unintentionally found one of their flagship titles.

Castlevania brought some great action to the platforming genre. Konami went with a more battle heavy than jumping style platformer here. This was a great idea in two ways: 1) We got the framework for a great franchise, 2) Simon jumps like a lead weight. Simon’s jumping ability is the only real downfall to the game, he really has none. As I mentioned earlier though, the score is what really sets this game aside. I’m glad Konami stuck with this, always paying serious attention to the music in this series.Castlevania is a good game which transformed into great games years later. A solid start to what was to become gaming royalty.

Castlevania will always be one of the greatest games of all time. With non-stop horrified action and having the age-old battle against the prince of darkness himself, so what are you waiting for? If you already haven't, pick up this game and start slaying some Undead!

Dracula's inaugural NES Castlevania is very hard, and looks very basic. Unfortunately, those factors might be stressed to a fault. The tunes though, are remarkable, and that certainly elevates the experience, and makes the trip seem that much more legendary. Castlevania's Simon manages to stand up well to his much younger, much better-looking children. He’s mostly forgotten, but when nostalgia, curiosity, or boredom find the original, brown-clad vampire killer on his feet, he defies you to forget him again.

Out of all four of the Classic NES Series titles released, Castlevania is certainly the most recommended. If you have to pick up one of these titles, make it Castlevania.

Hat man die zahlreichen Nachfolger gespielt, wird die Steuerung hier erstmal ein wenig ungewohnt wirken. Im Grunde ist sie gleich, aber viele Features, wie das Rumschwingen der Peitsche fehlen und vor allem die Sprungsteuerung ist ein wenig sehr hakelig.

Even with the limited save feature, Castlevania on the GBA is still a great retro throwback. It would have better fit as an unlockable in an original Castlevania, but as it stands it's the only official way you can have the original game in portable form. It's the best game of the second batch, by far.

Castlevania's simple, arcade-style gameplay is compelling but slightly tainted by its preponderance of cheap hits. Being touched by a little bat can send you plunging into the nearest abyss, and many traps spell instant death. Castlevania's graphics are better than you might expect, with meticulously detailed walls that look properly aged. On the downside, some of the creatures are not well defined, and smaller creatures can be hard to discern. But despite its rough edges, Castlevania is a fun game that stands the test of time.

500 Wii points is an excellent price of admission for this NES classic. The game blazed the trail for its hugely successful successors, and exemplified challenging and rewarding gameplay. It gets a little tricky from here on out, though. Super Castlevania IV, for only 300 Wii points more, seems like a smarter purchase, as it improves on almost every facet of the NES original, including mechanical and graphical upgrades. If you've already (smartly) downloaded Super Castlevania IV, are looking for an even greater challenge, and want to see where the series gets its roots, then give this one a download. For newcomers, however, frustrations may be more efficiently inhibited by downloading the SNES version first.

Ultimately, this all leads to a single question: Should you buy this version of Castlevania? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, provided, of course, that you're into side-scrolling adventure games, the Castlevania license, or anything old-school gaming. This is a well-produced port of an excellent game, and even though it probably would have been better served as part of a collection than as a stand-alone product, you could certainly find a number of worse ways to spend $20 for your GBA.

In the era of the Nintendo Entertainment System, publisher Konami was known for making maddeningly difficult but remarkably enjoyable games. Fortunately, games like Gradius and Contra at least had cheat codes to make the difficulty slightly more reasonable. Castlevania, on the other hand, had no such crutch. In fact, the game had an unlockable "hard" mode instead. But somehow, as frustrating as Castlevania could be, it was still an entertaining game because of its solid action and dark, appealing atmosphere. Castlevania is now available on the Wii Virtual Console for 500 points ($5), and it's every bit as challenging and playable as it was when it was originally released 20 years ago.

The fact that Nintendo would release the original Castlevania on Virtual Console after the superior Castlevania IV almost proves that they're going after the hardcore "Vania" fans. Even so, Castlevania has managed to age a little more gracefully than most other NES games thanks to its top-tier visuals and audio. If anything, your 500 Wii Points will get you a challenging gothic platformer that'll keep you busy for a day or so (even if half of that day is spent trying to get past the Grim Reaper).

Altough it might seem from my review that the game has quite a few flaws, it is in fact highly addictive, keeping you stuck in front of the screen until you finish it (not an easy task, takes about 6 hours of constant gameplay). If you don't mind archaic graphics, give Castlevania a go and you won't be disappointed.

Jeu old-school par excellence, Castlevania constitue l'un des pionniers du jeu d'action et il permet de redécouvrir un genre héroïque où la moindre action doit être calculée, millimétrée et anticipée pour pallier le manque de mouvements du personnage principal. Cruellement difficile, le titre de Konami compte parmi les indémodables de la NES.

Castlevania was a great game in its time. It's still pretty good today, and it represents a whole lot of gaming history. It's a short quest, but while it lasts it's a genuine challenge that promises to kick you in the pants and make you like it. It's nothing to excite devotees of the latest and greatest, but for Castlevania fiends and classic gaming nuts alike it's definitely worth a look.

It’s unfortunate that the simple gameplay hasn’t held up well over the years, because most of the fun here is had through shear nostalgia (whipping candles, etc).

Overall, the PC version has not experienced any technological improvement over the NES version, despite the three years difference. Because of this, and because of the frustratingly difficult gameplay, I appreciate only the historical value of the game, not the little fun I had.