Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1990)

Rarely I'm smart enough to drop a game that's pissing me off but this time I just might. I have no idea what kind of beast I was when I beat this the last time but I don't think I want to waste my time and nerves on this now.

I have Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Sonic Superstars waiting for pick up at the gamee store so I'll just reward myself for this rare instance of self-awareness and jump into those today.

Also, who am I kidding, I'm pretty sure sooner than later I will be back with my legs spread wide just letting this game gleefully kick my balls again.

After looking for some spooks by completing Castlevania I & II, I hesitantly jumped to this one. I'm pretty sure I thought I'd never (want to) complete this again when I did beat it years ago but here we are again.

Honestly, though, for all the new and great things it adds to the formula, I can't help but like the first two games more. The frustration factor is off the charts here. There's a lot more tricky pitfalls, stairs and annoying flying enemies. Also, Grant's affinity for grabbing ceilings and walls leads to a lot of accidents and Alucard's fireball is weak as shit. And the music, while good, is not as clicking as hard. I think that is most likely the fault of the western release without the extra sound chip that makes the Japanese version sound killer. And speaking of that, I kinda remember hearing that the Japanese version is also easier but might just be my dodgy memory. Maybe I should play that next when I have an itching for 8bit Castevania, if only for the music.

Beat without using any companions. I had no idea there were companions so when I defeated a boss and he offered to come with me I was suspicious. He was a monster and attacked me. What is to say he won't attack me again in the future? There were a lot of graphical glitches playing this on my PSP. When paused and going through doors much of the graphics were replaced by text. At one point the walls became repeated "KLL", which added to the horror vibe. The bat boss was extremely difficult because all sprites disappeared as the bats divided, and there were a couple other places I had to get past blind. The outdoor area with lightning in the background had the ground as a jumbled pixelated mess, and the split path screens did not render properly. I beat Alucard using the classic Dracula strategy though it was tough to not get hit. Again I did not trust him and did not let him follow me. Then I fought the flying bone snake boss, which was very difficult until I figured out the pattern of staying in the center and letting him circle around me. Then was the ghost boss with the mummies, cyclops and devil. The first 2 were a challenge but I wrecked the devil easily with the axe. Death and the evil clone were also very easy with the axe, to the point where neither hit me. Then was the fight with Dracula himself. The first form was the hardest due to the unpredictability of his fire pillars. I had to move back and forth to hope I got more than 2 free spaces, do a quick attack, then bait the next pillar so I could avoid it while having enough safe space to whip or axe him. The later 2 phases were ridiculously easy with the axe.

This game was a definite improvement over the first. The jumping was still stiff and I hated not being able to move while in mid air. It made every jump a commitment that had to be carefully thought out in advance. Much of the platforming was tense, especially when there were infinite enemies and/or auto scrolling. The part that I disliked the most was the block falling sequence that built up 3 towers. It went on far too long and there was too much margin for error. It was there that I discovered he could not hop up 1 space, instead each jump had a minimum distance of 2 spaces. This was very bad when the spot 2 away was a death fall. I hated any time I had to use stairs with enemies around. You really should have been able to jump from and drop off stairs. Instead it felt like a cheap way to screw the player over, just like some of the obnoxious enemy placement. Like that shooting bone head near the end that had only crumbling blocks leading up to it and bats coming from behind. How are you supposed to get past that without taking a hit? I played most of the game in 30 frames per second slow motion, and the game was still incredibly difficult.

Then I beat Hard mode while checking out the other path. I was very disappointed that the companions did not join in this mode. The new bosses were not difficult but I found the single worst part of the game that was infinitely worse than the block tower. A section with bone heads packed along both edges shooting at stairs. I almost gave up here until I figured out I could attack from stairs. It took a perfectly timed axe throw to destroy the last projectile to get off the starting stairs without taking damage. The rest of the section was slowly killing what I could, while trying to luck past what was out of range. I still took a couple hits and barely got past it with extreme save state scumming. The rest of the game was not bad, and I actually beat that bone head on the crumbling floor just before Dracula without getting hit.

Then I used cheat codes to start as each companion to try them out. Alucard had a projectile attack with a little longer range than the long whip, which also shot additional projectiles up and down diagonally when upgraded. This would come in very handy for killing awkwardly placed enemies but the damage was much lower than the whip. I found them not so good against the medusa heads because they took 2 hits. His flying bat ability was the best use of hearts in the game, to skip past annoying parts. He could use the stopwatch too to get past tricky areas while Trevor might be best using the dagger for range. Grant the rogue controlled like a platformer character should, with faster movements, longer and higher jumps, and the ability to move in mid air. He could also crawl on walls and ceilings making him awesome for platforming. He sucked at combat but at least had good range with the dagger sub weapon and would pair extremely well with Trevor having the axe. I had to play longer as Sypha to try out all the spells. The fire was similar to the whip though likely did more damage. I did not see the point of using it. Ice was awesome as it sent out a short range burst in nearly every direction. It was excellent for dealing with flying enemies even though I needed to use the staff to kill frozen enemies. Or just run past them. The lighting was the best though due to being long range homing. Other than the screen clearing rosary, it was the best way to attack in the game and would easily deal with the most difficult sections. I bet lighting would wreck bosses so Trevor might be best off with the stopwatch.

I was very impressed with this game and the novel ways to play using the companions. I could even see challenge runs to beat the entire game using only a companion. Though it still has some annoying features from the first game, like losing your favorite subweapon because you accidentally touched a pick up.

8.5/10

Completed on emulator, no savestates/rewind in 5 hours. I didn't know anything about the routes or the helpers, so I just randomly selected the stages and somehow got Alucard.

I'd say it's the best of the NES trilogy, but it's still a dreadfully slow game, the animation when you switch characters being the prime example of this. And of course, the slowdowns are terrible once again.

Overall, a good game, but I didn't feel motivated enough to play the other routes or the second quest.

After taking a brief detour into "Metroidvania" land with Simon's Quest, Dracula's Curse brings back the classic arcade-style adventure most fans love. You play Trevor Belmont, one of Simon Belmont's great ancestors, as you travel Transylvania in order to destroy Dracula. Along the way, you meet other characters, who will join your quest. Once they do, you can play them, which helps in certain challenges in this game. Also, the game features "Choose Your Own Adventure" choices, which allow your characters to skip certain levels to face other levels instead. NES hard is very prominent in this game, but if you pick it up on newer consoles, like the Anniversary Collection on the Switch (the one I played), you have save states, which helps immensely, especially later on, where death in certain areas is unforgiving in where you start the level over.

While the game is tough, I didn't feel it was "cheap" tough, which sometimes I felt in the original game. You can overcome with enough trail and error.

If you love Castlevania, I'd recommend picking up the anniversary collection and giving this game a go.

Finished with Grant, and I don't think I'm going to play again. The first half of the game was correct. Good music, interesting levels and some variety of enemies.

Then it was Dracula's Castle turn... and all broke down. Too long levels with absurd checkpoints, the same enemies a thousand of times, a lot of one-touch deaths, boring level designs... I wasn't expecting that, but I only can say I was extremely dissappointed this time.