Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
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Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is the third Castlevania video game produced for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was published by Konami in Japan in 1989, and in North America in 1990, and in Europe by Palcom in 1992. It was later released on the Virtual Console for the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. The game serves as a fallow-up to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, is a prequel to the first Castlevania game and is overall the third/final installment of the Castlevania NES trilogy, this time playing as Simon's ancestor: Trevor Belmont.
Plot
The year is 1476, and Count Dracula has started to ravage Europe with an army of monsters. The Belmont family of vampire hunters, once exiled from Wallachia, are called into action. They feared the Belmonts' "super-human" power, but with Dracula menacing to swallow Europe in darkness, they are left with no choice but to call Trevor Belmont (Ralph C. Belmondo in the Japanese version), current wielder of the Vampire Killer whip.
Joining Trevor Belmont in his mission to defeat Dracula are three new playable characters: Sypha Belnades, a young sorceress with poor physical attack power but powerful elemental magic spells at her disposal; Grant Danasty, a pirate with the ability to climb on walls and change direction in mid-jump; and Alucard, Dracula's son, a dhampir with the ability to shoot fireballs and transform into a bat. Trevor can be accompanied by only one companion at a time. If he chooses to take on another he must abandon his current companion. The player can "spiritually transform" between Trevor and his ally with the "select" button. Both Trevor and whoever is accompanying him share the same health meter and heart counter. The ending of the game differs depending on which companion Trevor has with him at the time, or if he does not take another character with him at all.
Why It's The True Beginning For Castlevania
- Great graphics for its time.
- The game decides to return to the design much like the original. However, it's not strictly linear.
- After completing the first level and at several other points throughout the game, the player is given a choice of paths to follow. The choices made by the player in these circumstances can have a profound impact on how the game unfolds.
- There is now a 1UP, meaning reaching a certain score isn't your only means of getting another life.
- There are 3 other characters that you meet along the way that can be playable.
- Grant: Players can move quicker than Trevor, climb walls and change directions in mid-jump.
- Alucard: Has the ability to turn into a bat and fly at the cost of Hearts.
- Sypha: Has elemental spells that can home in on enemies, freeze them or burn them with a short range flame attack.
- There are four different endings. Which one the player receives depends on which additional character they beat the game with, if any. Each of these endings is a part of the canonical end and the main difference is who watches the castle crumble with Trevor and the text.
- The mobile re-release contains an Easy mode, similar to the 1993 Japanese re-release of the original Castlevania.
- The enemy type has the same enemy types like the original reminiscent of classic horror monsters along with some new ones like Mud Men, Cyclops, and Water Dragons.
- Its has more bosses then both the first and second game combined. There are now 14 bosses consisting of a Leviathan, Snake Man Sentinel, Cyclops, and more.
- Great soundtrack.
Bad Qualities
- The game is little too much like the original to the point that some may think it's an enhanced version of the original.
- The game also repeats a lot of the same mistakes like the original.
- You can't control your jumps mid-air (unless you're playing as Grant).
- Dying at any time, will cause Trevor to lose his sub-weapon and double/triple shot, go back to the leather whip and his heart counter is reduced to 5.
- There's still knockback.
- Annoying enemies like the Hunchbacks return and Medusa's move in the same way like in the original.
- If that wasn't bad enough, the game is noticeably harder due to the enemy placements and the fact that the enemies do more damage the further you progress. Because of this, many fans consider it the hardest game in the Castlevania series.
- It's title is also confusing since there is nothing related to a curse. In fact, that would make more sense for Castlevania II: Simon's Quest to have this title since that was all about Simon trying to break a curse that he got from Dracula.
- All the items and sub-weapons are the same as they were in the original with the only exception of the 1UP.
- Level 7b is frustrating. You have to deal with a bunch of crumbling and shifting platforms, wait for falling blocks to fall so you can jump between each of them to reach a staircase, and worst of all, fight 3 bosses in one life.
Reception
Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse received generally positive reviews with most critics calling it one of the best NES games of all time.
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