Overall 9.1 Graphics 7.5 Sound 9 Addictive 8.4 Story 6.9 Depth 6.8 Difficulty 8.9
8.3
Castlevania - An Epic 100 Years in the Making. geeogree
Konami had some major success making games in the 80's and 90's and this is another one of the classics that started major series. Considering that this is one of the earlier titles for the NES it was incredibly well done. It was so successful that it spawned 2 sequels on the NES alone not to mention the multiple other systems that have Castlevania games for them.
Graphics 8/10 - considering how old the game is and how early into the NES this game was it is very well designed graphically. The cut scenes (limited as they are) look great and then levels are all very well done. The monster design looks awesome as well. The overall look of the castle itself was great. Inside and out it looked like an old, dilapidated castle that was barely holding together in some places. The bosses also looked exactly as I expected them to when I saw them which is great. There was no guessing as to who I was fighting.
The only issue I had with the graphics is that they were glitchy at times. It was a fairly regular occurrence that the player, monsters or the environment would glitch a bit. It didn't happen so often that it made the game unplayable but often enough that it got annoying. Still, not enough to take away the high rating this game deserves. Oh, the other thing to mention - the very background of each level was quite often just a plain color like blue or black. Being able to have something back there that moved slower than the foreground would have been nice. Like a forest or something and maybe a small town. And depending on where you were in the castle it would be bigger or smaller as you progressed. That would have been cool.
Sound 10/10 – by far and away one of the best aspects of this game has to be the music and sound effects. The music alone for a lot of levels is unforgettable. I could play a few seconds of some of these tracks and know it was from Castlevania in an instant. And it did so much to add to the overall feel of the game. Without the music this game wouldn’t be nearly the game it is remembered as being. I feel this is true about a lot of the games from the 80’s. The music was a big way to overcome the generally average graphics that were available at the time and this game used music to its fullest potential.
Addictiveness 9/10 – this game will keep you coming back for more for sure. It has for me. To this day I have never been able to beat the game but I will continue to play through it trying to someday beat it. The gameplay is great in my opinion. The only real noticeable flaw is the jumping/falling. Otherwise it is fun and challenging to play.
Another great aspect of this game over some others of its time is that this game has secrets all over the place! I watched some videos that were made at Vizzed about all the secret food, treasure, weapons etc. that were available in the game and it was mind blowing. Multiple secrets per level. This is something that once I found out how often you could find stuff that it has had me searching for more. Some are nearly impossible to find without either getting ridiculously lucky or knowing exactly how to stand, walk, or crouch in order to trigger the secret. This is a great feature to keep people playing more and more in order to find all the secrets that were included.
Story 4/10 – the story for this game is pretty weak overall. It’s not a bad story in any way but it doesn’t have too much to it. The story is set in 1691 and the hero, Simon Belmont, is tasked with traveling to Dracula’s castle and defeating him. Beating Dracula will make his castle disappear for 100 years. That’s about it. The fun part is that you get to fight things like a giant bat, the Mummy, and Frankenstein’s monsters in order to work your way through the castle to eventually fight Dracula himself. Oh, and you can’t forget the Grim Reaper. Fighting Death itself is pretty awesome.
Depth 9/10 – I’ve really appreciated the number of levels and stages this game has. The game is divided up into 6 levels with 3 stages each. That’s 18 total areas to move through and fight monsters in. That’s pretty awesome for a game this old. Add on top of that all the secrets that I mentioned earlier and you’ve got a fun world to explore.
Then you have all the extra weapons that you use to fight Dracula and his demon horde. These are powered by hearts that you find and collect through each level. The hearts are different from your health in this game. You use hearts in order to use the extra weapon and you will need the extra weapons in order to beat the bosses at the end of each level. I haven’t been able to beat any bosses without some extra weapon helping me out.
Difficulty 10/10 – yet another Konami game that is incredibly hard to beat. With the amount of space on cartridges developers were obviously forced to make games either endlessly replay-able or so hard that you had to play it 30 times in order to figure out how to beat the game. This game definitely falls into the latter category. This game, like so many others of the era, punished you for a bad jump or getting knocked by an enemy into a pit. Include with that the sheer number of enemies in some areas of the map and you stood almost no chance getting through some areas on the first try.
If you managed to get through a stage and get to the final boss you had to do it without losing too much health on the way there. This was also sometimes too much of a challenge. Arriving at the boss with only half health was quite often enough to do you in, especially if you didn’t have enough hearts or the right extra weapon to fight that boss. You die and you end up going back to the beginning of the stage and if you run out of lives you start the game over completely. No save points, no passwords. Just a fresh new game from the beginning. This could be very frustrating sometimes when you made a bad jump or got knocked off something. That’s a big reason why I have the difficulty a 10.
Overall 8.3/10 – I’ve decided to start averaging my scores to get the overall rating. I know this isn’t exactly accurate because an easy game doesn’t make it “bad” or good and a weak story line can still make a for a great game but I felt it was the most fair thing to do doing forward. Still, I came up with an 8.3 for this game which I think is more than fair. It is one of the top NES games ever made and I doubt many people would disagree with that. It will give just about anyone a run for their money trying to beat the game in 1 sitting. It should take just about anyone multiple attempts at the game in order to beat it even using some sort of guide. The game is simply too hard to teach. You must play the levels in order to know when to jump and when not to jump or how early/late to start your swing in order to adjust for the weapon lag that Castlevania has. Still, this is a great game with minor problems in it. Anyone who wants to play one of the classic, super difficult retro games would be easily challenged with this one.
Graphics 8 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 4 Depth 9 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.7/5
Submitted: 04-12-16
Review Replies: 6
8.5
Crack that whip and show Dracula who is boss. Azul Fria
Velcome to my castle, Mr. Simon Belmont. I am Count Dracula and once again, I have returned after 100 years yet again to seek revenge on vat your ancestors have done to me in the past. This time thing vill be different. HAHAHAHAHA!
OVERVIEW
Also known as Akumajo Dracula, your name is Simon Belmont, an up and coming vampire hunter who is the next in line of the Belmont family who goes against Dracula who resurrects every 100 years to unleash hell again and again. Before you can get to Dracula, you must go through his minions such as Grim Reaper, Frankenstein Monster, and a Vampire Bat to name a few. There are 18 levels to go through with each level split into three sections with a boss at the end of the third section.
GRAPHICS - B+
The graphics are fine for the most part as the characters and backgrounds are little detailed but based on what I have seen in later ports of the game, the graphics were a little held back by the NES's limitations as you can't even see Simon's facial features at all in this whole series. They could have at least given him some eyes and a mustache just like the Mario Bros whom had gotten those features initially to separate their noses from the rest of their faces but they were drawn proportionally in a well uniformed manner while Simon was drawn more realistic in a way that the head is many times smaller than the rest of the body. The developers actually threw more attention to detail to the enemy characters and bosses as with the best award going to the vampire bat who serves as the first boss and later on appears in the sixth section multiple times with the final boss, Dracula's second form coming in a close second.
CONTROLS - B
The controls will take some time getting used to because this game is guaranteed to piss you of at some points of the story because you are trying to perform a certain functions such as climbing down the stairs and even just cracking your whip can be a chore in some points of the game because when you go to attack the foe, there is an extra frame showing Simon taking out of the whip before the attack actually comes out so you are almost guaranteed to get hit when in close quarters with the enemy if you are not careful. Another aspect of control that can hurt you is the jumping. You have to time your jumps just right or you may overshoot your jump and land in a pit to your death. This is especially dangerous when you are dealing with long jumps and moving platforms.
SOUND/MUSIC - A+
The music is very entertaining and can get stuck in you head very easily. The music is so special that the game's soundtrack is still on sale through Sony in Japan and apparently in the USA. Seriously, if you were to play this game and upload it on YouTube, you won't get a copyright strike but you will still get a notice from YouTube that prevents you from monetizing the video and that is such a buzzkill for YouTubers. However, what goes on YouTube has no effect on how well the music is. My favorite track in the game as well as the entire Castlevania series is every variation of Vampire Killer which is usually the track to the first section of the game. The other song I enjoyed the most was Wicked Child which is the second set of levels.
GAMEPLAY - B-
The game may not look too hard but there is one thing that will be a nightmare for the people playing this game. When you get hit, you do recoil back a bit like in most games but the recoil is just too ridiculous in this game. You can be very far away from the pit and when you get hit especially during a jump, you fly far back enough to land in it and die. The hit detection is awful at times. Sometimes a projectile won't even touch you and it will still register a hit and damage you.
There are some high points of the game too. Throughout the levels you will see candles that yield all sorts of power ups with the most notable ones being hearts. These are necessary to make the sub weapons usable. The most common one is the knife but for the first three sets of levels and the first part of sixth set of levels, the most useful sub weapon is the stopwatch which freezes time momentarily and it also allows you to freeze the first three bosses into place and wail on them but they won't freeze after the third set of levels. The holy water does a little bit of fire damage and even freezes Dracula's 2nd form briefly if timed right. The holy water, however, became more of better use in the sequel Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. The stake acts just like a boomerang. If you throw it at the enemy, the projectile will come back and damage the enemy the 2nd time if the enemy didn't die the first time. The hammer is not thrown like the other sub weapons are. Instead they are lobbed and it is almost harder to hit enemies that way but you can easily hit lots of enemies just above you. The most important power ups of all are the chain extensions and the roman numerals. The chain extensions expand the range of your whip up to two times so you can do major damage at a distance. The roman numerals will increase the maximum number of some sub weapons you can use at the same time. the II symbol means you can use 2 of the same sub weapon at the same time like the boomerangs and the III obviously means you can use three at the same time. What matters the most is that you have enough hearts to use them.
REPLAYABILITY - A
This game is not as easy as it seems. If you manage to beat the game then you will still be able to go back and play it again just for a good old challenge because there are some hidden secrets throughout the game you would like to fine. I can name one right now and it is a major shortcut for level 5. If you time a jump where yo land on a bat, then you can vault yourself over the wall and complete the level in a hurry. If you played Castlevania 4 first which is a remake of this game, then towards the end don't try to walk down the invisible staircase as it is not there in this game. The bosses will keep you on your toes.
OVERALL - B+
Castlevania is one of the classics that will never die. While the sequel was much of a disappointment compare to this one, it did help pave the way for the term Metroidvania with much more exploration and puzzle solving as seen in Metroid and to a similar extent, Zelda II: The Adventures of Link. Castlevania is straightforward and linear and that's what I like about it. Castlevania 4 takes this game up a notch. Even the other ports like the MSX one explores the game even further and they are worth giving a shot as well.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 7 Difficulty 5
Review Rating: 4.6/5
Submitted: 04-08-15
Review Replies: 2
9.3
A run through what this game has to offer Zircron Swift
Castlevania, this name name me think of Dracula. I'm not sure why, probably the link to Transylvania and Dracula there and the name sounded alike made me think that. Boy, what a game. This was the first hardest game - and I mean proper hard core tricky - that I played. The story starts out with a castle appearing out of nowhere. This castle is called....Castlevania. The castle of Count Dracula himself, an evil vampire that wishes to cover the world in darkness, something like that. He's not called the Prince of Darkness for nothing! You are Simon Belmont, a vampire slayer set out to kill Dracula and return the world to peace.
The controls are a little stiff. You don't have much control over jumping. Your movement is fixed, meaning you can't move in mid-air. Once you get used to this, the controls are fine. By pressing up and B, you can use your sub-weapon. These sub-weapons need hearts to use. They are ammo, not health. Whenever you see a heart, get it, you'll need it for the boss battles. The big hearts are worth 5 hearts. Where do you get these "hearts"? In candles, of course. I know, the logic in the game isn't perfect, it's a little lob-sided. Try destroying as many candles as you can. You'll get money bags for points, hearts for sub-weapons, and even some sub-weapons themselves. But be careful, on more than one time, I had a good sub-weapon, only for it to be replaced with one I really didn't need.
The sub-weapons can also be sued two or three times in one sitting. You just need the double and triple power. They can be found in cracks in the wall. That's right, cracks in the wall. It's a old castle, you go to expect the walls to be weaker than they once were. You can find pieces of chicken that heal your health, double power (or tripple power if you already have the double power), big hearts and maybe even a little secret.
Secrets? Like secret rooms filled with money bags, the best sub-weapon and lots of hearts?
NO! No, nothing like that. If you find a space you whipped open on a wall, but it's empty with nothing it in, try standing in it. You might get some point bonus. Secrets arn't just that, either....
Sometimes you need to press down somewhere, sometimes you need to jump somewhere, sometimes you need to drop down from somewhere. I think I found them all, but there might be one or two that might have missed me.
Now the music. Needless to say, superb. This is the kind of music that you know will stick worth the name Castlevania forever, no matter what (ok, maybe one time in Castlevania 64, little or no music what-so-ever). Enough said. Music awesome! ^^ (ok, maybe there is never an enough said on this matter).
The boss battles are epic. You get to fight Death himself, scythe and all. Death in this game is Dracula's right-hand man. Death is to be respected in all manners (I have done this in the other games, he's just so cool!). Seriously, this is one boss you don't want to fight again. He's deadly (pun unintended). He will kill you over and over and will most likley be the stopping point in this game. So give him hell when you fight him for me!
Overall, this game is one of the most remarkable classics you'll ever play. The music matched with the difficulty and game play, with it's eerie grapthics and monsters and weaponry makes it one of the greats. It's in the top 10 in the lists of "top 10 greatest platformers". One Castlevania game springs to mind as the only one being better than this one. What is that? I hear you ask, I'll do a review all about it next time. But it begins with "S" and ends with IV with the air of epic engraved all over it...
Overall, I give it 9.3/10
Graphics 7 Sound 10 Addictive 6 Story 2 Depth 7 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 4.5/5
Submitted: 04-28-11
Updated: 06-25-11
Review Replies: 2
8.6
Fun, addicting and hard- an NES classic! TheScarletSaiyan
Konami has released many outstanding video games over years, but perhaps no Konami game carries a bigger legacy than the NES classic, Castlevania. Released in 1987, Castlevania put you in control of Simon Belmont and had you fight your way through Dracula's castle, fighting several monsters before going face-to-face with the count himself. The game is composed of 6 stages, as you begin in the courtyard of Dracula's castle and begin your journey towards the top of the castle. Along the way, you will be attacked by several enemies, including skeletons, flying medusa heads (these guys are so ANNOYING!), bats, hunchbacked igors (also annoying!), knights (extremely hard to kill), and more. At the end of each stage, you will face a boss, and when you will move on to the next stage after you defeat the boss. The bosses in the game include a vampire bat, medusa, twin mummies, Frankenstein's monster, Death himself, and Dracula.
The game play is quite simple. Simon can walk, jump, crouch, and swing his Vampire Killer (his whip) either left or right. In addition to whipping enemies, also make sure to whip every candle you see. In candles, you can find handy sub weapons, powerups that allow you to throw more than one sub weapon at a time (you can throw up to 3 at a time), hearts (these acts as ammunition for sub weapons), and money bags that give you extra points. Also, whip the walls, as you may be able to break them and find more hidden goodies, including a pork chop that will restore your health.
And speaking of sub weapons, you want to get those, as they are quite handy. The sub weapons include a dagger that you throw straight ahead, an axe that you lob, a stopwatch that can momentarily freeze enemies, a cross that acts like a boomerang, and holy water that can stun enemies and bosses (holy water will really come in handy in the final showdown with Dracula!!). Make sure to get hearts though, they are your ammunition for sub weapons. Also, you can only carry one sub weapon at a time, so if you see one, think carefully about getting it.
This game is infamous for being extremely difficult, and I would say that the game is almost impossible to beat. The enemies spawn like crazy, there are several pits you can fall into (which is instant death), the bosses get harder and harder, and the amount of damage you take will increase to the point where one hit costs you a quarter of your health! Oh, and to make things worse, you get knocked back every time you take a hit, which can make falling into pits very easily (this makes the first part of stage 4 a nightmare!). And that is a huge problem, because jumping in this game is already very freaking stiff! Honestly, I haven't beaten this game yet. The farthest I can get is to the boss fight with Death on stage 5 (the corridor Death is in may very well be the hardest part of the game).
However, despite a nightmare difficulty level, Castlevania is a blast to play. The graphics look very impressive for 1987, and all of the sprites of the monsters are wonderful as well (Death and Dracula both look amazing and particularly threatening). The soundtrack is one of the best on the NES as well, and includes nothing but ridiculously catchy songs, such as the famous "Vampire Killer", the theme of stage 1. But every theme in the game is hard to get out of your head.
And despite the absurd difficulty, I find Castlevania hard to put down. It's one of those games you will come back to over and over until you beat it. The second you push start at the title screen and see Simon standing outside the gates of Dracula's castle, you know an epic adventure is about to begin.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 8 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 07-22-13
Review Replies: 1
9
Castlevania is this vampire slaying game worth your time? DoubleD1997
What? a game where you get to kill Dracula? You start to wonder if this game is good well it is in Castlevania you go to a castle and you must slay Dracula who wants to cover the world in darkness. Here is my review.
Graphics 7
Guys its a NES game you cant expect good graphics but at the time I think it was pretty cool the protagonist has nice detail and so does your enemies but of course there is flaws some things can look pretty dumb like what might look like ghosts are actually zombies yeah like that kind of stuff.
Sound 8
The music is catchy because it just keeps you in that killing mode its hard to explain but play the game and you will know what I mean. The sound effects are good enough the player makes noise with his weapon and the enemies make a monster like sound when they are trying to attack.
Addictivness 10
Yea! this deserves a ten the game is super fun because of its difficulty and what the game offers. This is the type of game that posses certain techniques that other games didn't have at the time originality and gameplay.
Story 3
Well the story doesn't really do a good job in explaining this is where it lacks. Even if you figure out the story it still isn't well structured. It is about a man named Simon Belmont who goes to castlevania to slay Dracula and save the world. Its weird because how can Dracula take over the world? There is so many things that can go wrong a person can slay him in the heart with wood, thers the sun to worry about but I guess thats how the story was made.
Depth 2
The game doesn't offer anything but the story mode which is normal for a NES game but yeah once you beat the game all it does is restart from the start of the game so unless if you are a big fan of repetition you will probably never play this game again once you have beaten this game.
Difficulty 10
Okay this game is super hard! I raged so many times in this game because of how hard it is. if you lose all of your lives you must start not the whole game over but from a certain point in the game and you must start from there. The boss battles are not easy because most of the time to get to them can be such a hassle! Normally you would have like 3 more health points when you get to the boss so you can tell that this game requires a lot of skill.
Overall 9
Overall this game deserves a nine out of ten. It may lack in story and depth but the game play is amazing castlevania will always be remembered in our hearts and will never be forgotten. Now if you don't mind I'm going to go slay some vampires.
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 10 Story 3 Depth 2 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 3.8/5
Submitted: 03-04-13
Review Replies: 3
8.5
Castlevania 1 Review CrystalKnight
Castlevania, the first of a long line of tough-as-nails games that left their mark on every console they were on.
Graphically, Castlevania doesn't look great. But for it's time, it was pretty decent. The fact that such a big game had such nice graphics really shows how much effort was put into the game's look. The graphics, while simple, really do achieve what the developers where trying to do. It gets the point across, and you shouldn't have any issues differentiating objects and enemies. I rate Graphics 7/10.
Sound...well, let's put it this way, there are some good songs in this game. While they aren't amazing, they do work in the areas they play in, and the music always has this eerie feel to it, just like it should. While I don't personally love the music in the game, I must admit I like the songs, and that they are well put together. I rate Sound 8/10.
Addictiveness is linked to Difficulty, so let me explain. The game is hard. Like REALLY hard. So you die a lot. And by a lot I mean hundreds of times, so yeah. This game, for being pretty simple, is just hard to put down. You know you can do it, but you just need to know how. You need to try to work it out, and sometimes experiment to see what works. Sometimes it requires some memorization to complete, but either way this game is just fun. Now, after you beat the game, you'll either do one of two things: either never play it again, or play it again and again until you get bored. It's oddly re-playable, just because of how fun it. I rate Addictiveness 8/10.
The story is minimal, you're a dude name Simon Belmont who's here to kill Dracula. THAT'S IT. Simple, but good enough. While I do think there could have been some more story to the game, I'm not really bothered. The story is small, simple, but works. I mean, you really don't need a story if the game play is good enough, and Castlevania is proof of that. I rate Story 5/10.
Depth is an interesting concept here, because there's a lot to do because the game isn't short. It will take some time to complete, but other than the main game there's not much else to do. There are some secrets to find, but they don't affect the game play or story that much. The main reason I'm going to rate this high is because of how long the game is. I rate Depth 8/10.
Difficulty. Let's get this out there right now, this game is so hard, that it took me a month to beat. A MONTH. And that was with me playing for at least an hour every day! Let me explain in detail why this game is so hard. First off, it's easy to die. You don't really have that much health, and there aren't many healing items you can pick up. Second off, the jumping isn't like most games where you can jump forward and move slightly back/control yourself in air. Oh no, in this game, you jump forward and you can't change direction. Did I mention you also have to fight enemies and platform over instant-death pits? Third off, when you attack with your whip, there's a slight delay, meaning you have to time your attacks. There's also knock back, and it's not small. The main cause of death other than running out of health is being hit and falling into a instant-death pit. The bosses are infuriatingly difficult at times, and rage-quitting is a common occurrence. While the game is hard, it's fair most of the time. There are some annoying parts where enemies spawn off screen and fly towards you at relatively fast speeds, and they will more than likely hit you if you aren't paying attention. They will also probably knock you into an Instant-death pit. I rate Difficulty 10/10.
Overall, I rate this game 8.5/10 because of it's mediocre graphics, good sounds, high addictiveness, lack of story, the surprisingly high level of depth, and it's insane difficulty.
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 8 Story 5 Depth 8 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 3.6/5
Submitted: 03-26-16
Review Replies: 5
9.7
castelvania review gamingMadNES
Castelvania is a amazing game for its time. the games story is about simon bellmon who is trying to kill Dracula. Along the way he meets a bunch of enemies and death him self. The game has nice graphics and sound. and difficulty is balanced the controls are perfect and the game is hard but not so hard that you get pissed off and want to stop playing. its the kind of game that u want to beat and never stop playing until you did it and at the end you fell completely satisfide with what you acomplish. I hope they make a remake for PS3 or X-box 360 cause this game is pure gold
Graphics 9 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 05-31-12
Review Replies: 1
9.5
Castlevania omgcookies22
Castlevania is what you could say a Horror game for nes it's the closest that I played but even then it's not that scary like Slender but this review is not on slender it's for Castlevania for the NES as I said before so let's begin
Graphics: The graphics are pretty standard for the NES but it's not that it's the contrasting colors that I give such a high score I mean they use wonderful colors for it. Simon is a nice bright orange which makes him pop out against the blue background and such
Sounds: I don't play with the sound on so no score
Addictiveness: I love this game I love the bosses the level design I don't know it's just so much fun
Story: the story is that Simon is going to kill Dracula and isn't in the base game at all so no rating
Depth: I love the hardness and all of the hidden wall chicken and all the hidden stuff is just great
Difficulty I give the difficulty a high rating because of the total game design and the hardness of it and I do believe that the delay whipping is the game designer giving you a metaphor that is a real life situation that you won't just go whipping about with it your going to slow down and think about it even the jumping is realistic you not going to jump on way and then midway through change direction that is why I love the "effects" (also thanks egorapter for part of this review)
Thanks for reading a have a wonderful game
Graphics 9 Addictive 9 Depth 6 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 3.5/5
Submitted: 01-28-13
Review Replies: 0
10
Castlevania is awesome dekker101
Are you a worthy Belmont.In this game all have is your skill and your whip(yes you get sub weapons)as you go into the castle called CastleVania the epic songs play demons try to stop you but passed them then you fight Dracula himself. kill him you won game and you see the castle crumble.things you should know jumps are stiff and your weapon delays but it changeling. Simon is the best Belmont. you fight death the grim reaper . truly a classic i am a big fan of Castlevania. this game is HARD!!! this game is Awesome OK lets get deeper in this game this game is great why because it has good enemy placement but some time it can just get you in a crappy mood just playing the because its so HARD! the in some game extra weapons are just useless but some there needed like in Metroid well in Castlevania you don't need sub weapons but oh yeah they will come in handy like your going to holy water fighting Frankenstein and need the ax fighting bat so your going too need them a lot well the story the story is simple but then it was Gothic for a NES game Belmont clan trying to stop Dracula but later on the in the other game it gets more complex. Well this game was not big but Hey it kept you busy with the difficulty. sound NES game did not have that good sound but it was fun just those monsters die but i hate the holy water noise its so annoying. For graphics other game had better graphics but you can still tell what things are. over all this game is awesome and i love this game but if you are casual gamer then don't play this game if your hard core then yeah you should try out...Oh i forgot the music, the music for this game is great i love that song called "Vampire killer". Just play this game! P.S the chicken is really a pork chop lol
Graphics 4 Sound 7 Addictive 10 Story 7 Depth 5 Difficulty 10
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 04-17-11
Updated: 04-24-11
Review Replies: 8
8
Castlevania Review Marcmoney
Overall - 8
Castlevania is one of the most horror-made games ever made. I think that this game has its good things and bad things. It is a good game to try out if you have never played a Castlevania game. When I played this game, it was so interesting because it was made to look scary and horrifying and it was amazing how the game was played. I really enjoyed this game a lot.
Graphics - 8
The graphics are good for an NES game. The movement of the player, however, is a joke. If you jump off something and fall, you will fall very fast. It is kind of like the old Mega man games.
Sound - 9
The sound is good. It gives you that horrific feeling when you play. The most annoying part of it is the sound of dying. :P
Addictiveness - 6
This game is something I wouldn't try again because it is the first game ever made. It is still okay to try out once in a while, but not constantly.
Story - 8
The story is about Dracula. A person named Simon has to stop Dracula and get rid of him. I do not know the exact story of it, but it is somewhat close to that.
Depth - 7
The game can get annoying. The levels are perfect size. It is not too small or too big. What is cool is that you get to use a chain to fight with and you do not see those in other games. The fun thing about this game is that you have a secondary weapon. It can be anything like crosses, potions, etc and they can be very useful.
Difficulty - 7
The game has the most messed up controls. You can't attack diagonal and when you want to use your secondary weapon. You have to hit up and the attack button at the same time repeatedly, how annoying is that? The worst part of this game is the enemies. Some move so fast, some move up and down like crazy, and some just appear when you don't know it. The bosses in the game is somewhat hard. It can be difficult to defeat some bosses, on a count of how many times you want to hit diagonally. :S
Wrap Things Up...
Castlevania on the NES is not that bad of a game, but just a no-fair control. I recommend trying this game out if you hadn't already. I guarantee that this is the most awesomest horror game ever made. :)
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 6 Story 8 Depth 7 Difficulty 7
Review Rating: 3.3/5
Submitted: 08-15-11
Updated: 10-17-11
Review Replies: 5
9.2
Castlevania NES review Hamish171
Castlevania for the NES is the first game in the series. You are Simon Belmont travelling through Transylvania killing enemies and your main objective is to kill Dracula. That is the story of this game. Pretty basic but the gameplay is where this game shines. In Castlevania there are 6 levels and 18 stages. That may seem like a short game, but let me tell you know, this is one of the hardest games in the NES library. It may seem simple at first, using your whip to kill enemies, but it is not as easy as it seems. The most annoying enemy in the game is defiantly the Medusa heads. They travel in a wavy-like way and can drain your energy faster than you can cuss at your computer screen. The difficulty of this game is extremely high, and you will see the continue screen on many occasions. I suggest to use save states unless you are very skilled at the game. The game is fun once you get over the fact that you will die alot. Going through a difficult level is defiantly worth it after beating the boss. I give this game a 9.2 as it is fun but the difficulty almost ruins it self and the lack of story is a bit of a bummer. I defiantly recommend this game to anyone looking for a challenge.
Graphics 8 Sound 9 Addictive 9 Story 5 Depth 7 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 3.2/5
Submitted: 12-08-12
Review Replies: 0
7.8
Castlevania, is this good or what? Stevie 764
Castlevania on the NES, how bad could it be?
First, the usual how to play:
You are Simon Belmont who has to kill Count Dracula to free the world fron evil. You can use weapons, you can find hearts. You can use hearts as ammunition with weapons. Weapons take hearts away with every use, and it depletes a certain amount depending on what weapon you use. You get 3 lives, you can get a extra life starting at 50,000 points, (I don't know how many points you need for the next life) when you lose your 3 lives, the game ends and when you continue, guess what. Instead of starting you back at the exact stage of the level, it sends you back ALL the way to the very beginning of the level! Avoid dangerous enemies, like zombies, bulldogs, (I think) bats, you even have to dodge ceiling chain spikes. Can you defeat Dracula? Once you enter, there is NO turning back! You can hold up to 99 hearts, you have a time limit of either 300 or 400 seconds to beat the level. You do get unlimited continues, but there is no stage select code. Not even a password system. This game sticks out to be the only Castlevania NES game out of all 3 that don't have a password system.
Onto the review.
Graphics: Good enough.
Decent graphics in NES standards, but they seem ok, nothing bad with the graphics, but hey, this is where the good begins. :) With the characters drawn out good and all the sprites, it seems that it isn't any chopped. The graphic for the moon is kind of nice, especially trying to draw it NES style.
Graphic rating: 8/10
Sound: Also decent.
There are sone good tracks, but there is one sound effect I am so confused about. When you get hit by a enemy, it sounds just like when you get hit by enemies or projectiles in The Legend Of Zelda 2. Does it really sound like that? Did Konami steal that sound effect from Nintendo's Zelda 2 game? I think so. Just because of that...
Sound rating: 6/10
Addicting: If it wasn't for difficulty...
It seems good enough to have a little addiction, but if you played any other Castlevania game first, you forgot this game. But, it is decent for addictiveness, but not that addicting. Although it is a fun game, it might not as fun with difficulty.
Addictiveness rating: 6/10
Story: Seems great.
The story is that you are Simon Belmont, Count Dracula has rised to doom the world with Dracula's evil enemies, and you have to stop him. It's like a good touch to the start of the Castlevania franchise. It seems ok, but it somewhat gets a little old. The story is good enough to start a franchise.
Story rating: 6/10
Difficulty: I need to snap the game in half!
It is unforgivably hard, but atleast it is a little easier than Battletoads, (But hey, I finally beat the first level on Battletoads. :D) I got to Level 3 (stage 07 in game) but I couldn't even get halfway through the level, that is as much as I could take before I probably start to rant on Castlevania insanity with difficulty! When I first played, I never beat level 1. A few months later, I beat level 1 and get stuck at the spike ceilings in level 2. A couple weeks ago, I finally beat level 2 with luck and I can't beat level 3! Even if I could beat Castlevania in the future, it wouldn't be worth it. But, it is mostly due to the fixed co trims with jumps, and with when you get knocked back whenever you get hit. (Same with Zelda 2)
Difficulty rating: 9/10
Depth: Not alot of it in the game, but it is a long game with difficulty!
When looking at how long the game is, there are 32 stages (They are little pieces of the levels) and (I think) 6 levels. 32 divided by 6 is 5.33333333! Is there really 6 levels or what?
Depth rating: 7/10
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Overall: I'm ok with it!
Castlevania was a good game, until a bunch of problems started, from bad game rating to swearing at the game to raging to even ragequitting to even possibly throwing the game into the trash. Despite the problems, it isn't that good of a game, but if you were to find another game that would be great to play, try the newest Castlevania games or some DS Castlevania games.
Overall rating: 7.8/10
This concludes a review from yours truly, Stevie 764. Future reviews will be made, and hopefully more often. (I hadn't made a review in maybe a month or less)
Graphics 8 Sound 6 Addictive 6 Story 6 Depth 7 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 3.2/5
Submitted: 07-15-12
Review Replies: 1
10
Castlevania tangyphoenix
My opinion, this game is just pure awesome. It's graphics are pretty cool and eerie. Very fitting for a game in a castle. Although, since it is an NES game, it has very few animations, like a lot of Nintendo's first games, such as The Legend of Zelda. And the bosses/enemies have cool graphics too. Overall, I think the graphics are good, but it's an 80's system. 9/10.
The music, ah yes. Castlevania is known for that. Of course I didn't know that until watching a Let's Play of it. I think I'll be humming 'Heart of Fire' and 'Out of Time' until I die. That's how catchy those songs are. The sound? Pretty good, if you ask me! If only there was more of it to hear! 10/10
Is it addictive? Heck yeah! Though this game is frustrating, I'd play it all day (if I had the patience)! I would play this a million times if I could! (Not literally, but it is addictive!) Not much else to say about this topic other than IT IS ADDICTIVE. 10/10
Now, the story.... um, basically it's about a guy named Simon Belmont, who's family has a long history of vampire killing. So Dracula, who appears every hundred years, lives in Castlevania, located in Transylvania. So Simon is "summoned" to slay the mighty Count Dracula, who is making Transylvania evil. (I might be accidentally mixing in a bit of Castlvania III but oh well. Basically the same thing happened anyway!) So then Simon sets out on his quest, a quest to slay Count Dracula, and survive. Pretty wicked story if you ask me. But classic. That's not a bad thing but still, stuff gets old, it just takes a while. 9/10
The depth? Well, I'd like to say there isn't any! But that wouldn't be right. But still six levels? Well, satisfies me. It doesn't have a lot of choices to make, and you really in a sense, can't do things your own way. 4/10
Difficulty, well it's different for each of us. Some of us are lucky enough to actually grow up when the NES came out. Some of us, play the Xbox all day. (Not me! I don't even own that thing!) But of course, this determines whether or not it's hard. 8/10
So, overall, I love this game, but It hates me! And I still haven't beaten Level 3..... yet. ~ Tangyphoenix
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 9 Depth 4 Difficulty 8
Review Rating: 2.7/5
Submitted: 05-07-12
Review Replies: 1
9.7
this game is a classic but its one of the hardest games on the NES tastyjuice
this game is amazing, it has a great soundtrack, good graphics for its time. other than its difficulty (which i will get to in a minute) this is an amazing game that every gamer should experience. but if you aren't to good at video games you shouldn't play the game to much because its EXTREMELY HARD. it gets harder each time you advance like every game but its harder than it should be for a few bad reasons.
1. when you get hit you jump back uncontrollably, and there's always something like fire, water, E.T.C that will kill you.
2. in super Mario bros. you can control your jump, but in Castlevania you have to go straight. this isn't to bad, but this means you have to time your jumps and that can take a while to do.
there are many sub weapons which you can use by pressing the attack button and up at the same time. some of these weapons include: holy water. axes, and you can power up your whip too!. you can make it longer, you can make it on fire and every time this happens Simon changes colors! (Simon is the person you control). all of this adds to the games awesomeness, on top of that you have amazing artwork, a great soundtrack, and its really addictive if you like it. in conclusion this game is amazing. (but beware its hard)
Graphics 7 Sound 8 Addictive 7 Story 9 Depth 7 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 2.6/5
Submitted: 07-10-12
Review Replies: 6
9.8
my favorite nes game leatherface9
my all time favorite Nintendo game.
i love the graphics they look so great for 1987 all the colors work fine. the ghosts look so detailed. Simon could use a face though.
i give the graphics a 9
the sound is amazing the music is my favorite part. everything sounds like an explosion. compared to zelda, my 2nd favorite the sounds are both really amazing but castlevania just barely wins that part. i give sound a 10
the story is unlike any other Nintendo game trilogy you are Simon Belmont in Transylvania to stop the newly resuscitated count Dracula. when Simon sends Dracula`s head to the moon and he turns into some weird hybrid of the cookie monster and a werewolf with a bit of vampire in there. really cool but it could give a little back-story for those who don't have the box or manual. story gets an 8
the depth oh ho the grand mother load it may be only 18 stages but its so difficult that it feels like a longer game.
i love it but i never get past stage 5 with the Medusa heads flying at my face to fast to swing my whip.
i give the depth a 9
finally the difficulty. its debated to be one of the hardest games ever made the hardest part of the entire game besides Dracula is the hall before death himself. there are two knights throwing axes at you with Medusa heads flying everywhere. the controls are also a bit choppy
overall i give the game a 9.8 out of ten
i want to thank everyone who commented on my other 3 reviews on castlevania 2 Mario 3 and ghost-busters on Nintendo.
you people inspired me to write a longer review thank you. leather face 9 out.
Graphics 9 Sound 10 Addictive 10 Story 8 Depth 9 Difficulty 9
Review Rating: 2.5/5
Submitted: 08-29-13
Review Replies: 2
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