So, after talking about one of the most content heavy games with pages upon pages of talking points, I guess it only makes sense to follow this up with what is easily the most unremarkable, mediocre game in the series where I’ll barely be able to find anything worth mentioning. After the genuinely enjoyable GameBoy game Belmont’s Revenge, my expectations were heightened for this entry, given that it showed that even with the limited hardware of the handheld console, something genuinely fun could come from a Castlevania game on it, which made this one all the more disappointing when this title felt so devoid of much of anything.
In a lot of ways this game feels like a massive downgrade from the previous handheld game honestly, going back to simply proceeding through Dracula’s Castle, rather than evoking a wide range of atmosphere that Belmont’s Revenge did, along with having much weaker variety overall, most stages having the same few enemies, along with no meaningful new or interesting mechanics or ideas between stages, making for an extremely uninspiring playthrough. Probably the most perplexing of the decisions in this game is the fact that the role of subweapons was decreased further, each stage having a particular subweapon that you seemingly cannot change, but with the issue of none of them actually being worth using in the slightest, making the game feel closer to the awful Castlevania: The Adventure than its sequel. Other issues with the game are that the levels end up feeling way too long and repetitive, with some setpieces seemingly used multiple times in each stage, almost feeling as if you’re playing through the same area 2 or 3 times, not helping is the fact that the game’s incredibly easy. Any challenge this game potentially could have is removed by the invincibility feature, which allows you to move incredibly fast and take no damage once per life for about 10 seconds, making those few moments of potential challenges absolutely worthless anyway. The only time I struggled in the slightest here was in the very last section of the final level, and it was more a test of patience than skill.
Overall, this game is pretty bloody disappointing just in how it feels devoid of practically anything good, although it’s not the horribly misguided mess of the first GameBoy title at the very least. There wasn’t a point in this game where I felt like I was actually having fun, just happens to be fortunate that it was very short and easy anyway, otherwise I’d probably rank this as my least favourite, since even Castlevania The Adventure managed to have some more distinctive level design, for as horribly flawed and unbearable that game felt.
In a lot of ways this game feels like a massive downgrade from the previous handheld game honestly, going back to simply proceeding through Dracula’s Castle, rather than evoking a wide range of atmosphere that Belmont’s Revenge did, along with having much weaker variety overall, most stages having the same few enemies, along with no meaningful new or interesting mechanics or ideas between stages, making for an extremely uninspiring playthrough. Probably the most perplexing of the decisions in this game is the fact that the role of subweapons was decreased further, each stage having a particular subweapon that you seemingly cannot change, but with the issue of none of them actually being worth using in the slightest, making the game feel closer to the awful Castlevania: The Adventure than its sequel. Other issues with the game are that the levels end up feeling way too long and repetitive, with some setpieces seemingly used multiple times in each stage, almost feeling as if you’re playing through the same area 2 or 3 times, not helping is the fact that the game’s incredibly easy. Any challenge this game potentially could have is removed by the invincibility feature, which allows you to move incredibly fast and take no damage once per life for about 10 seconds, making those few moments of potential challenges absolutely worthless anyway. The only time I struggled in the slightest here was in the very last section of the final level, and it was more a test of patience than skill.
Overall, this game is pretty bloody disappointing just in how it feels devoid of practically anything good, although it’s not the horribly misguided mess of the first GameBoy title at the very least. There wasn’t a point in this game where I felt like I was actually having fun, just happens to be fortunate that it was very short and easy anyway, otherwise I’d probably rank this as my least favourite, since even Castlevania The Adventure managed to have some more distinctive level design, for as horribly flawed and unbearable that game felt.