NES Taking a look back at Castlevania 3

[Thomas Ennis]

Castlevania 2 is one of my all time favorites. I loved how they mad the game an adventure, as opposed to a whip and kill action game. There was nothing wrong with the first Castlevania, but it lacked the depth of Simon's Quest. I mentioned in the Zelda forum that designers should not change the formula for a classic right away, but in this case, I think they did a good job in doing so. Simon's Quest was just too easy though.

Enter Castlevania 3. I was a little disappointed they went back to the original formula, but man was it cool to have multiple characters. Having a choice in which path to take was amazing. Apparently, Konami decided Simon's Quest was too easy as well, and boy did they do a complete 180 on Castlevania 3. This game is HARD! I only managed to beat the game once my entire life, and it took many hours and tears to do so. All in all, it's a memorable classic.

 

[Professor E. Gadd]

Dracula's Curse was insanely hard. To me what made the game very special was the branching out levels. I still don't know if the levels you don't choose early on during the level forks are later presented to you under a different level number? If not, then Konami made a big investment into making levels (artwork, music,etc) that many players wouldn't experience because they didn't choose that branch, right?

I am also curious if some levels strictly follow others, so if you made one decision early on, you will miss not just one but several levels from that branch, or are some of the later entrances reconnected/looped?

 

[Thomas Ennis]

You know, that's an interesting point. I don't really know how that pans out. I never really paid attention to which levels I was missing. Because the game was so freaking hard, I always picked the levels I could beat in the beginning. On the later levels, the choice was gone if I remember correctly.

 

[BanjoKazooie]

I did what Ennis did, I just picked the ones I could beat and then rolled with it, haha. I like the 1st and 3rd better than the 2nd though. I don't know why, I just do

 

[Thomas Ennis]

I watched some guy on youtube beat Castlevania 3 with seeming ease. To be honest, it kind of pissed me off All those hours I spent beating that game, all the anguish, and this guy beats it like it's nothing. Perhaps he played it more obsessively then I did.

 

[Professor E. Gadd]

It may not have been human, possibly Dracula himself.

 

[BanjoKazooie]

Or... A a superhero with awesome video game playing powers 8/

 

[Thomas Ennis]

Whoever he was, he was very good. He also beat the Grim Reaper fairly easily, and he had half his life bar gone. Some people just have a natural talent for video games.

 

[Arasayle]

Dracula's Curse was insanely hard. To me what made the game very special was the branching out levels. I still don't know if the levels you don't choose early on during the level forks are later presented to you under a different level number? If not, then Konami made a big investment into making levels (artwork, music,etc) that many players wouldn't experience because they didn't choose that branch, right?

I am also curious if some levels strictly follow others, so if you made one decision early on, you will miss not just one but several levels from that branch, or are some of the later entrances reconnected/looped?

Castlevania 3, Dracula's Curse was mapped out in a very specific way. There were 16 routes (levels), and the paths you chose determined which of these routes you saw on your journey. For example, there is a point where you have to choose between going through the level that leads to Syfa, or the level that leads to Alucard. You simply couldn't do both. Believe me, I've tried, and I've beaten it with each companion and with Trevor alone. The companion you have at the end determines which ending you see, and the order of difficulty from easiest to hardest is as follows: Grant, Syfa, Alucard and finally, Trevor alone. Most of this difficulty is based on the fact the some routes are harder than others (particularly the ones you get locked into if you go for Alucard), but the paths also eventually converge at Route 14, which is the castle's halfway point. If you take Syfa's path, you start the castle here, but if you take Alucard's path, you have to make your way up the the castle's basement levels, which are a real pain. (And don't even get me started on the difficulty of fighting the Doppleganger at the end of Route 15 without a companion for the shapeshift exploit.)