Great and creative platformer for the NES. I have no idea how I would have beaten the game without the holy water (or the "fire bomb" as the manual calls it lmfao) being super fucking broken, but I'm happy to say I beat it nonetheless! I love the variety in additional weapons you can use, and feel as though the whip has to be one of the best things I've gotten to arm myself with in a NES game yet. I would take Simon Belmont's whip over a gun any day!
I just came off of playing a bunch of NES Mario games with Castlevania, so the platforming parts were a bit annoying in comparison, but it's still a good platformer don't get me wrong! I'm just too used to how fluidly Mario can move and even change direction while in air. Come on, Simon! The stairs are overblown in being hated in this game, and I actually found them to be a last minute life-saver from the REAL enemy in the game... how Simon always gets knocked back when hit... UNLESS you're on the stairs, which just gets you some health depleted vs falling off the edge.
I actually don't know if I'm supposed to be playing as Simon Belmont in this game... I just assumed lol. His name isn't dropped in the manual anywhere, and the Nintendo Player guide book I looked at for tips just calls him the "Hero". It's probably brought up later, or I just missed a detail, oh well lol. He is my random muscle man, and I shall call him Simon.
Overall, Castlevania is a fun time, with a satisfying challenge. I probably cheesed it with depending on the holy water too much, but it was still a fairly difficult game! Bless whoever decided to allow players to continue right outside Dracula's final boss area after dying; I probably would have rage quit broke the cartridge if not for that.
3.5/5
I just came off of playing a bunch of NES Mario games with Castlevania, so the platforming parts were a bit annoying in comparison, but it's still a good platformer don't get me wrong! I'm just too used to how fluidly Mario can move and even change direction while in air. Come on, Simon! The stairs are overblown in being hated in this game, and I actually found them to be a last minute life-saver from the REAL enemy in the game... how Simon always gets knocked back when hit... UNLESS you're on the stairs, which just gets you some health depleted vs falling off the edge.
I actually don't know if I'm supposed to be playing as Simon Belmont in this game... I just assumed lol. His name isn't dropped in the manual anywhere, and the Nintendo Player guide book I looked at for tips just calls him the "Hero". It's probably brought up later, or I just missed a detail, oh well lol. He is my random muscle man, and I shall call him Simon.
Overall, Castlevania is a fun time, with a satisfying challenge. I probably cheesed it with depending on the holy water too much, but it was still a fairly difficult game! Bless whoever decided to allow players to continue right outside Dracula's final boss area after dying; I probably would have rage quit broke the cartridge if not for that.
3.5/5