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.

You should break the review into categories and talk about sound and graphics as well but other wise, good job