SCREAMSHOTS

Cover Art [American Version] [European Version] Review The day has finally arrived. When I first started this page back in 1997, I didn't even know of the existence of a Castlevania arcade game. Very few people knew of it, and even fewer actually played it. Released in 1988, after the original home game, it apparently didn't fare very well in the arcades. Now the wizards who created MAME have made it playable for everyone with a computer. Some sources report that this is not a "true" Castlevania game. This is not the case at all - the Japanese title is "Akumajo Dracula", just like all of the other Castlevania games in Japan. The game starts with a little intro as the hero (presumably a Belmont) walks off from his wedding ceremony. All of a sudden, the clouds dim, lightning strikes the cross on top of the church, and the evil count Dracula swoops down to whisk the fair maiden away. The only thing left to do is follow him into his (gasp!) Haunted Castle!!! The game mechanics are basically the same, though there are no candles to whip, and the few hearts you actually do find come from dead enemies. Special weapons are scarce too, but they remain fundamentally different from the usual crowd. There's a bomb, a stopwatch, a boomerang (which doesn't work right, because it fails to return), and a cross. You can't upgrade your whip normally, but instead find new weapons (like a chain whip and sword) through the course of the game. There are a total of six stages, some of which are pretty cool in their design. Right in the first level, a wall comes to life and starts throwing bricks as the rain comes pouring down. Later on, a torch falls on the ground and sets the ground on fire, leaving you to balance on top of pillars. One jarring part in the third level mysteriously transports your hero to an alternate realm to fight harpies for a few minutes before whisking you back to reality. Unfortunately, the later levels are fairly pedestrian. Anybody familiar with Castlevania will recognize the enemies - skeletons are numerous (and certain ones will even turn into spirits after they've been dealt with), as well as plenty of zombies, rats and ravens. Other familiar enemies like those horribly annoying Igors, merman (looking especially like they were taken from a low budget 50s movie) and mud creatures who replicate themselves after being destroyed. The bosses are also familiar, like Medusa and Frankenstein, plus gigantic skeletal dragons and rock creatures. Even the stained glass windows break and form a knight for you to battle (this idea was reused in Akumajo Dracula X68000 and Castlevania 64.) Since this was created in 1988, don't expect great graphics - they're not exactly Super Castlevania 4 level, but somewhere just below it. The characters are nice and detailed though animated a bit awkwardly, but the backgrounds are fairly cool. The music, as always, is excellent. I'm surprised the first level tune, "Cross Your Heart", hasn't appeared in any other Castlevania titles (not counting the remix bonus found on the Dracula X soundtrack.) A few tunes were also used in later Castlevania games, like the level 3 tune ("Bloody Tears") and the game over theme, both in CV2. Unfortunately, if there's one thing that ruins the whole cool Haunted Castle, it's the difficulty level. Practically all of the Castlevania titles out there have been immensely difficult, but always maintained some form of balance. Not here. Once you reach level three, scads of enemies are thrown at you, to the point where effectively attacking them is impossible. Worse yet, many bad guys take multiple hits and aren't slowed by your attacks - the upgradable weapons are supposed to balance that out, but oftentimes the game simply doesn't give them to you (depending on the difficulty level) or takes them away after you continue. It doesn't help that your character is very slow and controls very awkwardly, making boss fights in particular very frustrating. Bringing up another concern - you only have one life. That's it. This is considerable since this is an arcade game, and there aren't too many parts where you can die instantly by falling down a pit or anything. But the kicker is you can only continue three times. I kid you not. This is ridiculously stupid, especially for an arcade, where it's just plain silly to toss a player right at the beginning of the game instead of urging them to spend more money and carrying on. While the sound and graphics are vintage Castlevania, the gameplay and its overwhelming deluge of bad guys just suck the fun out entirely. As a result, it's an interesting footnote, though little more. Artwork American Marquee Japanese Marquee American Flier Japanese Flier Haunted Castle Cabinet 1 Haunted Castle Cabinet 2 Jumper Settings Instruction Sheet Instruction Sheet (Japanese) Instructional Tape (Japanese)

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