Origins of an iconic vampire slayer
It feels odd to say that despite the variety of games I've played that there's still a few series of games that I've just straight up never touched due to my inherent bias that I don't like platformers that much. Coming into the original Castlevania though, I didn't know what to expect but what I ended up getting was a fun but challenging platformer.
The premise of the game and probably most of the series is simple: head into a spooky castle and defeat Dracula. The ultimate vampire as old as time itself. You generally encounter a decent variety of enemies as you climb your way up stairs and rooms of the castle and fight some pretty cool looking bosses in between, stuff you'd generally find in a setting like this.
Belmont's general gameplay is odd to describe as it feels rigid but also extremely methodical in that jumps don't have that floaty effect some people might be used to. There's also a tiny delay when your whip attack comes out so spamming it sometimes might not be the most ideal. A variety of items is also available providing more utility to aiding you on your journey and if used correctly can trivialize some of the bosses (looking at you holy water). All of this accompanied by the general challenging NES design at the time makes for a moderately frustrating but still a fun time.
I generally don't have the patience for platformers of an older generation but I think the original Castlevania was still a generally fun time. I have a lot of appreciation for it starting an entire series and nailing the groundwork for what would be one of the iconic vampire slaying forms of media we have today. Almost failing to neglect the great music with Stage 16 being my favorite track giving you that rush right before the end and you got a short but fun ride.
It feels odd to say that despite the variety of games I've played that there's still a few series of games that I've just straight up never touched due to my inherent bias that I don't like platformers that much. Coming into the original Castlevania though, I didn't know what to expect but what I ended up getting was a fun but challenging platformer.
The premise of the game and probably most of the series is simple: head into a spooky castle and defeat Dracula. The ultimate vampire as old as time itself. You generally encounter a decent variety of enemies as you climb your way up stairs and rooms of the castle and fight some pretty cool looking bosses in between, stuff you'd generally find in a setting like this.
Belmont's general gameplay is odd to describe as it feels rigid but also extremely methodical in that jumps don't have that floaty effect some people might be used to. There's also a tiny delay when your whip attack comes out so spamming it sometimes might not be the most ideal. A variety of items is also available providing more utility to aiding you on your journey and if used correctly can trivialize some of the bosses (looking at you holy water). All of this accompanied by the general challenging NES design at the time makes for a moderately frustrating but still a fun time.
I generally don't have the patience for platformers of an older generation but I think the original Castlevania was still a generally fun time. I have a lot of appreciation for it starting an entire series and nailing the groundwork for what would be one of the iconic vampire slaying forms of media we have today. Almost failing to neglect the great music with Stage 16 being my favorite track giving you that rush right before the end and you got a short but fun ride.