Okay. This one seems to stand out among the games I've played and those who know what I've played may understand why I say that. For those unaware, this is the Japanese version of Castlevania III, and it is the version I played. One may find it strange that I played the Japanese version of this and the NTSC versions of the others, and via the Switch no less. Allow me to explain. The Castlevania Anniversary Collection has the Japanese versions of all of the games (with the exception of Simon's Quest) in addition to the North American releases. As I already stated, I played the Japanese version of Castlevania III. Please permit me to explain why. This is already getting pretty lengthy and I haven't even reviewed the game yet, but please bear with me.
The Famicom version has a chip in it that the NES does not have called the VRC6 chip. What this chip did was allow for better music and in some cases better graphics. One reason I played the Japanese version was so that I could listen to an even better version of the music which was already incredible to begin with. The other reason is that the game is not brutally unfair. What I speak of is the fact that the NTSC version of Castlevania III was intentionally made harder. Konami, and Nintendo sometimes as well, despise the American video game rental system. As a way to retaliate against it and discourage renting the games over buying them, they would unfairly ramp the difficulty.
Now to actually review it. After Simon's Quest, Konami returned to the original style. This time, you play as Trevor Belmont (or Ralph Belmond in my case with it being the Japanese version), a distant ancestor of Simon. In addition to Trevor, there are three other characters the player can play as depending on the path the player takes, 'cos that's a thing I forgot to mention. There are multiple paths you can take. You have Grant with his higher jump and ability to climb walls and ceilings, Sypha Belnades has attack magic, and Alucard can transform into a bat and fly at the cost of hearts. Though the difficulty on the Japanese version is noticeably easier than the NTSC version, it is by no means easy. Castlevania III is the most difficult of the Castlevania games regardless of the localisation one plays. Regardless of the difficulty, I had a lot of fun with the game and place Castlevania III as my 3rd favourite of the classic Castlevania games.
The Famicom version has a chip in it that the NES does not have called the VRC6 chip. What this chip did was allow for better music and in some cases better graphics. One reason I played the Japanese version was so that I could listen to an even better version of the music which was already incredible to begin with. The other reason is that the game is not brutally unfair. What I speak of is the fact that the NTSC version of Castlevania III was intentionally made harder. Konami, and Nintendo sometimes as well, despise the American video game rental system. As a way to retaliate against it and discourage renting the games over buying them, they would unfairly ramp the difficulty.
Now to actually review it. After Simon's Quest, Konami returned to the original style. This time, you play as Trevor Belmont (or Ralph Belmond in my case with it being the Japanese version), a distant ancestor of Simon. In addition to Trevor, there are three other characters the player can play as depending on the path the player takes, 'cos that's a thing I forgot to mention. There are multiple paths you can take. You have Grant with his higher jump and ability to climb walls and ceilings, Sypha Belnades has attack magic, and Alucard can transform into a bat and fly at the cost of hearts. Though the difficulty on the Japanese version is noticeably easier than the NTSC version, it is by no means easy. Castlevania III is the most difficult of the Castlevania games regardless of the localisation one plays. Regardless of the difficulty, I had a lot of fun with the game and place Castlevania III as my 3rd favourite of the classic Castlevania games.