Castlevania: The Adventure

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Castlevania: The Adventure
The slowest Castlevania game ever.
Protagonist(s): Christopher Belmont
Genre(s): Platformer
Platform(s): Game Boy
Release Date: JP: October 27, 1989
NA: December 6, 1989
EU:August 8, 1991
Developer(s): Konami
Publisher(s): Konami
Country: Japan
Series: Castlevania
Successor: Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

Castlevania: The Adventure is a 1989 Game Boy game that was developed and published by Konami. It was programmed by Masato Maegawa, who would go on to become the founder of Treasure, the creator of games like Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy, Alien Soldier, Mischief Makers, Silhouette Mirage, Radiant Silvergun, Bangai-O, Sin and Punishment and Ikaruga.

Plot

Set a century after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse and a century before the events of the original Castlevania, the player controls a descendant of Trevor Belmont and an ancestor of Simon Belmont named Christopher Belmont who goes on a quest to defeat Dracula

Bad Qualities

  1. The main criticism of this game is the fact that it's much slower than the other games in the series, making this game slow-paced compared to other Castlevania games where you have to react fast. It also makes Christopher an easy target for the enemies, especially bats and punaguchis.
    • It also makes the game hard for bad reasons, as after the first level, every level would be a nightmare to complete.
  2. The game is a bit too short, even for a Game Boy game, with only four levels in the game, and you can beat the game in only 30 minutes or less if you're skilled enough.
  3. You lose one step of your whip's power whenever you get hit, and like most Castlevania games, there are only two steps above the base whip, meaning that two hits in quick succession are all it takes to potentially find yourself stuck with the game's weakest weapon when facing a bunch of enemies with tricky attack patterns. Keep in mind that your whip only degraded when you died in the other games.
    • Not to mention that, due to how hard the game is, this doesn't help, and it's actually made the game much harder than it's supposed to be.
    • This can also be a nightmare for the boss fight, even if most of them are not that hard.
  4. The difficulty is unbalanced; while the first level is not so hard and easy, the other levels (especially the third one) are a nightmare to complete, as due to how slow you are, you can easily die in the most frustrating way possible.
  5. The boss fights, while fun, are too easy, and you can easily beat most of them in only 30 seconds.
  6. The jumping controls are absolutely awful, as Christopher feels very heavy when he jumps, and since this game has a much bigger emphasis on precise platforming, you have to jump almost perfectly in segments like in the third level, making the platforming atrocious.
  7. The third level is a nightmare since you have to destroy three coils to prevent spikes from descending on you, deal with an ascending spike floor, and deal with a wall of spikes chasing you from the right. And you must do pixel-perfect jumps for dealing with enemies like She Worms and Madmans.
  8. Some of the new enemies, like the She Worms, feel out of place since they don't fit the classic monster movie rogue gallery the series is known for.
  9. The sub-weapons (a franchise staple) do not exist in this game. Konami's shortsighted reasoning for this was due to the Game Boy's hardware limitations. This is mitigated to some extent by the fact that your whip's most powerful step now gives you a projectile attack. Unfortunately, not only is this cancelled out by the fact that you lose said attack with just one hit (BQ #3), but it's useless for situations where something like the Holy Water or Stopwatch would be more helpful.
  10. Poor level design.

Good Qualities

  1. The graphics are great for an early Game Boy game since they're very detailed and have nice backgrounds. It's also worth mentioning that this is the 13th game released on the Game Boy.
    • Even the ending cutscene, where Dracula's castle crumbles and Simon is watching, looks pretty neat. There is even a part where it shows Dracula (transformed into a bat) escaping the castle ruins.
  2. There are infinite continues, much like the trilogy on NES, and it's made the game more forgiving.
  3. The soundtrack, while not as good as the NES games, is still great and immensely catchy, such as in the first level or the Battle of the Holy.
  4. While they are not hard, the boss fights are pretty fun, and you have to learn their patterns in order to beat them more easily.
    • The final battle with Dracula is good and has two forms. In the first form, he shoots projectiles in two different ways and teleports on different platforms, requiring the player to move carefully. As for the second form (while generic), he transforms into a giant bat and flies to the left and right all the way up to the ceiling. He also spawns three normal bats from time to time, increasing the difficulty.
  5. Most of the game concepts are interesting.
    • In level 2, if you shoot the rolling eyeballs on a bridge, they explode, and a part of the bridge is destroyed.
    • If you max out your whip, it becomes a firewhip, which allows you to shoot a fireball when you attack with the whip.
    • In level 2 and 4, there are multiple paths to choose from, making the game less linear.
    • Some of the new enemies are pretty cool, such as Punaguchis and She Worms (despite feeling out of place), and bats now fly around the screen instead of a linear pattern.

Reception

Castlevania: The Adventure received mixed to negative reviews by fans of the franchise, and it received mixed reviews by critics.

The game was regarded as difficult at times, with long levels and only three lives before playing the second cycle. The graphics were thought to be "competent" and the music was well-composed with memorable tunes. IGN said it had a basic design, none of the series' staple bosses, and nothing original. Game Informer's Tim Turi felt that it was held back by its technical limitations but praised its sound quality.

The game also has a score of 55% in game ranking.

Trivia

  • In its original US release, Christopher Belmont was never named in US material, which suggested it was Christopher's ancestor, Simon's third journey. It was re-released in 1991 to correct that.
  • Hearts actually heal Christopher Belmont in this game; in normal Castlevania games, they are used as a power source for the hero's sub-items.
  • On the cover, "The" is before the word Castlevania, meaning that it would be called "The Castlevania Adventure" but it's actually called Castlevania: The Adventure.
  • This was the first game that Masato Maegawa worked on; he would later go on to form Treasure after he left Konami as a result of Konami rejecting his original ideas in favor of existing franchises.
  • A 1991 Konami sell sheet for Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge reveals as a highlight that Castlevania: The Adventure was the first Game Boy title that sold nearly 2.5 million copies ($60 million wholesale/$100 million retail).
  • There's a ROM hack of the game available that removes the showdown, pretty much making it more playable.

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