Hello everyone, I am here once again to review another game from the Stone age of gaming, this time around is Haunted Castle, a challenging action platform title based on the first Castlevania for NES that appeared on the long gone Amusement Arcades.
The first thing to point out is that the plot is different from the one in the original game. This time around, the evil Count Dracula kidnaps the wife of Simon Belmont just as they were leaving the church after getting married, this leaves our hero heartbroken and wishing for revenge (all these can be seeing in brief intro of the game). Is like this that we jump into the adventure inside the ghostly castle to fight against all kinds of hellish monsters and rescue our beloved.
When it comes to the game’s mechanics, it doesn’t really change that much to be honest, we can jump, use the whip, and many secondary weapons that like usual are best left for the final bosses of each stage, without them, it will be harder to defeat them (almost impossible) mainly because these enemies’ attacks take away a big chunk of energy every time they manage to hit us.
Something interesting is that besides the whip, we can also obtain other primary weapons, like a chain with a ball with spikes, and a sword, even though in my opinion this last one doesn’t cause too much damage to the enemies. On the other hand, the secondary weapons go from the iconic crosses, the watch to stop time, and other unique ones, like a boomerang, a bomb and a torch that creates a flame similar to the ones produced by the well known bottles of holly water.
Something that seemed curious to me was that the iconic hearts used an ammunition for the secondary weapons can only be obtained after defeating the enemies, since this game doesn’t have the famous chandeliers that drop this object. This makes the adventure harder in comparison with other titles I’ve played with more of a classic style from this saga.
Talking about the visual aspect, I think this games looks great for its time, in fact, in my opinion it looks superior to other titles released in 8 bits consoles, the things that stand out the most are the size of the characters, the enemies, and the detailed sceneries. On the other hand, the music is spectacular, it was a pleasant surprise that some of the themes that were later re mixed for other releases originated in this game, not to mention that this title also has exclusive melodies that go amazingly well with the eerie atmosphere of the adventure.
In conclusion, this version that derivates from the very first Castlevania had elements I really liked, like the cool graphics and the incredible music. If you are a fan of a more classical take of horror, of action retro games or you simply like restarting a level a dozen of times, this game is for you.
Even though the aesthetics of these video games look old, I like them because they have a unique melancholic aura, reminding you of the good old days.
I think the same, visually speaking this type of games has something special that takes you back in time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.
Looks like a Castelvania clone... but i'm ok with that :)
It is not a clone, this game is an alternative version of the first Castlevania. It was released in arcades in the late eighties.
Lol, I had no idea that this Castlevania existed, the first one I got to play is the first one that had come out on the Nintendo NES, I notice that the graphics of this is Super Nintendo.
This is one of the rarest and least known versions of the original Castlevania. It came out only in arcades and, as you mentioned the graphics looks like a game for the SNES.
I love seeing and reading about these rare or alternate versions that came out of games years ago. I didn't know about this one. I agree that visually it still looks great, although maybe it's because I like retro haha
I also agree, the existence of these alternate versions of games is something cool. Yeah, this game's graphic looks really good for its time.
I think the same, visually speaking this type of games has something special that takes you back in time.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about it.