CastleVania is a game series that began on the NES and has since spawned multiple games on almost every major system to date. The first game was a huge hit, but the second title failed to impress as much with its adventure-like storyline kind of gameplay. So, with CastleVania III, Konami chose to go back to the basic stage-oriented style gameplay of the original game. But the developers wanted to make the game fresh for fans of the first game, so they added a lot of new elements to the game as well, only keeping the basic gameplay mechanics. The result? The best CastleVania game for the system and, perhaps, ever.

In CastleVania III you play as Trevor Belmont, the grandfather of Simon Belmont, the hero of the first two games. Trevor was mentioned in an episode of Captain N, as well!  In the year 1476, he steps forward to free the city of Walakiya from Dracula’s control.  But wait, the story doesn’t end here: on his way to Dracula’s home, Trevor meets friends who may join in to fight the vampire lord for their own reasons.

The thing that sets CastleVania III apart from the rest of the NES generation is the cast. Instead of controlling only one character, you have four different characters to play the game with! Of the other three characters, you can only choose one, but the varying abilities they have makes playing a stage with one of them an entirely different experience.

The first of the side characters is Grant, a pirate who whishes to rebuild his town, which was destroyed by Dracula, and who can climb walls, jump higher and walk faster than Trevor. You must fight him as a boss, but afterward you’ll find he is one of the better characters to play. Secondly comes Alucard, the now famous son of Dracula, who shoots fireballs and can turn into a bat and fly at the expense of hearts. Again, you have to fight him before he’ll join you.  And finally Sypha, a magician who can’t fight much, but who can cast some spells that are pretty helpful. For the three, Grant and Alucard can be really useful – although not to fight – while Sypha is only good for those who want some intense challenge.  Ironically, Sypha works the best on the path you can’t normally take her on.  Apart from the fact that they exist, the ending of the game actually changes depending on the second character you are controlling.

As always in the series, the setting of the game is a strong factor. You don’t start inside Dracula’s castle this time – you have to get there.  This takes the roaming the countryside feel of CastleVania II and gives it a fresh twist. There’s the option to choose which path you are going to take, including a few minor changes, and one major change that not only affects the difficulty of your journey, but also the length. Apart from giving the game much more diversity (in terms of challenge and also visually) it gives CastleVania III a lot more replay value. If you like the game the first time through, there are plenty of different things to try out when starting a new game, with new characters to get and new stages to visit, so it won’t be the same old thing once again. Depending on the path you choose you will meet or miss some of the optional characters, so it adds quite a lot of variety to the game. The levels are pretty well designed, and for the NES days they are pretty good looking, and there’s a good deal of variety, like the Mad Forest, the Clock Tower, and the Ghost Ship.

The basic gameplay is still classic CastleVania platformer action; one button to jump, the other to attack. Up+B will use a special weapon at the expense of one heart, which you collect by killing enemies and destroying candles. The controls are pretty simple and responsive enough – there should be no problem learning them, especially if you’ve played any game of similar style of its time: most used the same basic kind of gameplay. Everything is pretty much the same as the first CastleVania game, including the enemies and the special weapons you will find during the quest.

Another thing that makes this game the best (or at least one of the best) in the series is its insane challenge. While you do have a password feature to continue the game at the last stage you played, some of the stages are quite nasty.  There are towers where you are climbing stairs, fighting enemies, and being shot at from the side of the screen, all at the same time.  Replaying the game recently, I can’t believe I had managed to reach the last stage in my youth. Anyway, the challenge adds a lot to the game in the sense that when you actually beat it you really feel rewarded for your efforts; something quite rare these days in gaming.  Also the game rewards you by letting you begin at the beginning of the game with your partner.  This allows you to take characters down a path you couldn’t before, such as Sypha down the Alucard path.

The sound of the game was pretty good, very true to the original CastleVania. The music writing is pretty intense, something the CastleVania series has always been good with.  There are a good number of excellent tracks, like the opening song ‘Prelude,’ the first stage tune ‘Beginning,’ or my favorite, ‘Aquarius.’  This is also the first CastleVania game to reuse a song from an older game; something that is the norm for recent titles.  The song ‘Vampire Killer,’ which was the first stage theme in the first CastleVania, makes an appearance (although it is referred to as ‘Déjà vu’ in the sound test for humorous reasons). Also, there’s much more variety in the tracks ranging from adventure-like themes to darker, moodier themes, like the great ‘Nightmare.’  CastleVania III’s soundtrack is pretty much an example of how good a NES soundtrack could be, especially for action-adventure oriented games.

This third game is, in short, the best thing CastleVania you will ever play on the NES. While the general gameplay is still the same – classic and great – thing, there’s a good deal of new elements to make the game interesting even for those who have played the first two. If you have any affection for CastleVania games, or just some time to kill, give this game a try; it’s worth your time.

Review by Red Silvers