- "Yes they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in hell!"

Whoops, wrong quote. I can't find the right one at the moment so I'll skip it. I'm sure everyone is familiar with the Castlevania series. Spawning at least 20 different games on all systems imaginable, it ranks up there as my favorite Nintendo video game series along with classics like Super Mario Bros. and the Legend of Zelda.

While many of my favorites in the series have been later adaptions like Symphony of the Night (PSone), Lament of Innocence (PS2), and Aria Of Sorrow (GBA), the first ever released by Konami, while not as spectacular looking, is a pretty damn fun game and one of the hardest video games I have ever played.

From the Introduction in the GBA Release Instruction Manual...

Although cheesy for an introduction, it gets the point across without the need of 5-6 paragraphs of 5 sentences each. You want to kill "The Count" (I guess they couldn't license the name Dracula for this) and you'll have to go through everyone else first.

The game is quite unique, as it's only 6 levels, with a boss on the end of each one. The first 3 levels are cake walks, but once you get to the last 3, you'll wish for something like an invisibility cloak or something. Equiped with only your magic whip, along the ways throughout the castles corridors you will find such helpful weapons as an Axe, Dagger (shitty weapon), Holy Water (known as a Fire Bomb here), a Boomerang, and a Watch to stop time momentarily.

The following is a list of enemies throughout the game...

Normal Enemies:
Vampire Bat
Zombie
Black Leopard
Fish Man (only seen in the basement areas with water)
Medusa (flys up and down across screen)
Raven
Black Knight
White Skeleton (throws bones)
Red Skeleton (Undestroyable)
Eagle (drops Hunchbacks)
Hunchback
Dragon Skull Cannon
Axe-Man (tough armor that throws axe's)
Ghost
Skele-Dragon

Level Bosses:
Level 1: Phantom Bat
Level 2: Queen Medusa
Level 3: Mummies [2 Total] (throws Mummy Wrapping)
Level 4: Frankenstein & Igor
Level 5: The Grim Reaper (has floating sickles)
Level 6: The Count!

I have honestly never gotten to the Count, as the Grim Reaper is my choice for the most impossible Boss to beat in any video game. My best showing against him lasted around 20 seconds, with a few sickle kills and only 3 shots to the Grim Reaper himself.

The graphics, although untouched from it's original look, still looks quite impressive for an 8-bit game, and actually looks better than a few Gameboy Advance games I've played. Nowhere near the level of graphics of the recent Castlevania games on GBA, but still good.

The music too remains untouched, and is quite catchy. Every level has a different tune, set to the surroundings of the level. Some levels have creepy music, some have upbeat music, but more of the former. Definitely not a game you would want to mute to ignore horrible music.

I'll end there and let the memories flood back into discussion as I try beating Death again. (son of a bitch bastard, I'll beat you some day!)

Prepare to be really let down as Dracula is a pushover compared to the Grim Reaper in that game.

Personally the medusa heads always drove me insane. Those damned things have killed me more than anything else in video games (ok maybe those beams from Megaman 2 but it's close).

I need to pick this and the two Zelda games up.

Medusa is pretty easy when you have the watch. Keep freezing time and hack away at the bitch like she owes a pimp money.

Right now, I'll take on ANYTHING but the Grim Reaper. The bastard is just too fucking hard, and I'm the king of evasion with everything, but I for the love of everything holy can't survive against 3-4 sickles AND the rat bastard.

Yeah, I think I either did that or chucked holy water at her. The flying ones seem to always catch me in a jump. Those hunchbacks would drive me nuts every once and awhile too.

I like this game a lot though I think Castlevania III beats it out on the NES due to having a second character.

Hmm... funny that I have the NES Castlevania's downloaded on my computer, but I've yet to play any but the first. I guess it's the old "I'm stuck on this one and don't want to give up yet" syndrome.

I think buying this and the two Zelda's would be a good deal, since they are all $20 (I got Castlevania for $17, but no big difference). All 3 combined is barely more than what I paid for Metroid Prime when it was first released.

Haha, I was just telling one of my friends the other day about the old days of gaming. He's only been a gamer since maybe the middle of the Playstations run. He couldn't believe that games used to cost $70 or $80 new. I miss the games don't miss the prices.

Castlevania II is the weakest. They try and go with this RPGish type game and while it's still decent it's the weakest game. Castlevania III goes back to the old formula but this time you run across 3 guys during the course of the game that might join you, Alucard is one of them. I only found one of them to be useful but he could climb walls and stuff making him cool. Alucard had nice attacks but he was really tall and got hit easily. The other guy I never really saw the appeal of.

I actually remember when my father bought Castlevania a few years after it was released (I want to say 1990) and it was something like $60... FOR A 3 YEAR OLD GAME at Toys R' Us. That's highway robbery. Oh well, I still have the original NES cartridge (it's actually only 2 feet away from me :lol:) and still in perfect working condition.

I have them all for the NES too. It's just I've owned mine since 1988 or 89 and it doesn't work so well anymore. I've been trying to get ahold of a top loader but that hasn't been going very well for me. I've also heard replacing the prongs in the back will also fix it.

I've played this damn level so much (Level 5), I know every creature appearence by heart.

2 Hunchbacks at the start, another under the stairs at the end, with a dancing white skeleton on the top level.

Up the steps to the next level are 2 more skeletons (1 on top, 1 bottom). Walk a ways and you'll come across a red skeleton, 2 hunchbacks, another red skeleton, and another hunchback.

In the next door is an Axe Thrower and Hunchback on the bottom level and another Axe Thrower at the top.

Climb the stairs, and there's 2 red skeletons. Jump down an there's another Axe Thrower and 2 red skeletons. Up the stairs is another Axe Man and down the next steps is a red skeleton.

Next level is a dragon skeleton, red skeleton, another dragon at the top of the stairs, and another red skeleton.

Next level is countless Medusa's and 2 Axe Throwers until you reach the Grim Reaper.

I can make it all the way without losing, but Grr...

I looked the battle up on Gamefaqs and it seems everyone has a different theory on how to best beat him.

I really miss these old days in video games. Games are far too easy these days.

Good point. I still, after 12 YEARS OF PLAYING, have yet to beat the Technodrome level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the first on NES). So damn hard. Unless you have 1,000 scrolls, you're fucked.

I FINALLY BEAT DEATH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I just went psycho on the bastard with Holy Waters that I just kept avoiding all the sickles and burning the bastard until he was nothing but ash. Hold on "Count", here I come!

Well tell me what you think of Dracula after dealing with the Reaper.

I'm taking a break until tomorrow. I literally played that Level about 60 times.

First wave of attack from Dracula was pretty easy, once I understood his pattern. When the flames come directly for me and can't avoid with a jump, I had to realize to take them out with my whip or cross boomerang. I was too short of energy to fight the second wave of him though.

Something is very familiar about this fight, like I've done it before, except I know I didn't since I never beat the Grim Reaper until yesterday.

I DID IT! I finally beat Castlevania, and beat Dracula with ease. Kinda disappointing, since MD pointed it out that he's pretty much a cake walk compared to Death. Oh well, I can finally claim I beat this game. (does happy dance)

I never understood why they did that. But it was the early days of bosses in video games and that seemed to happen a lot.

In something that shocked me, I actually beast Castlevania III without much trouble. The Grim Reaper in this one was a push over compared to the 1st, maybe because I finally beat his monkey ass in the 1st, or the area to fight was more comfortable.

The Dracula battle was even easier, considering it was a 3 part fight instead of a 2 parter.

Trying to remember this game. EVERYBODY got stuck in this one. The spot that got me was the jump down in the sewer in the 3rd? level. It doesn't look like you can make it but alas you can. ONce I got by that I did manage to beat the game.

Yeah, that pissed me off quite a bit. I had NO clue what to do in Level 3 until I played it for at least 3 hours. Since I beat this challenge (and that easy as heck Castlevania III), I think I might try beating this game.