Joyce King
Castlevania
Publisher: Konami
Year: 1987
Castlevania, known as Devil's Castle Dracula in Japan, is a console video game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System in Japan in September 1986. A year later, in May 1987 it was ported to cartridge format and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
The player takes control of Simon Belmont in the year 1691, who must defeat the vampire Dracula.
Castlevania is a typical platform game of the 8-bit era: the game is composed of six levels, which are played in a strictly linear progression from left to right. The player controls Simon Belmont throughout the game. With any other game for the nes, the A Button allows Simon Belmont to jump just like other platformer games, such as Super Mario Bros. However he can only jump straight up, left, or right since there is no midair control (the gameplay will give a better understanding). There are many stairs located throughout the levels, however rather than simply pressing left or right to step up them, you must hold up on the directional pad. This gives players an option to continue thier main path or go to an alternative path. His primary mode of attack is via his whip by pressing the B Button, which can be upgraded twice by obtaining special items throughout the course of the game which extend its length. There are also various "sub-weapons" can be obtained which provide different means of attack. These sub-weapsons can be either an axe, holy water, cross, and others. By breaking certain other items located throughout the castle, Simon collects hearts, which can then be used to activate whatever sub-weapon he possesses at that point. The player can use a sub-weapon by simultaineously pressing "up" and B on the controller. Whenever Simon receives damage, he is knocked back a distance, increasing the challenge as this may lead to him falling down into a pit below.
Nostalgic: This game is hard. The video that I posted here makes the game look easily, but as a little kid around the age of 6, this was no easy task. I remember my uncle showed me tips on how to escape certain traps, monsters, and what sub-weapsons to keep. I personally would recommend to keep the cross weapson since it may hit an enemy multiple times and that is always welcomed. Once again I go for games that give me a challenge just to get me mad for no reason, but as a young child who had nothing better to do but to look for a hobby.
Give this game a try to put all your gaming skills to the test of patience, precision, and more importantly, determination.
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