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1989 · NES · Famicom
| Region | Date | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Japan | 22 Dec 1989 | Konami |
| North America | 19 Sep 1990 | Konami |
| Europe and Australia | 10 Dec 1992 | Konami |
The year is 1476, Dracula is loose in Europe, and the exiled Belmont clan is called back to stop him. You play Trevor Belmont, Simon's ancestor, with the same whip, sub-weapons and deliberate jumps as the first game, across sixteen stages on the way to his castle.
Two things make it much more than a remake. First, the path forks: after the opening stage and at points later on, you choose which way to go, over the lake to the castle's front gate or through caverns and up the cliffs beneath it. Second, you can recruit one of three partners and play as them in Trevor's place. Sypha is a sorceress with weak attacks and strong spells, Grant is a pirate who climbs walls and steers mid-jump, and Alucard, Dracula's own son, shoots fireballs and turns into a bat. Only one can travel with Trevor at once, and the ending depends on who is with you.
Konami released it in Japan on 22 December 1989 as Akumajō Densetsu, in North America on 19 September 1990 and in PAL regions in May 1992. It is a prequel, set centuries before the original, and it dropped the role-playing wander of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest in favour of straight action.
The Japanese cartridge carried Konami's VRC6 sound chip, which added three extra channels, and its soundtrack is noticeably richer for it. Western NES consoles could not use extra sound chips, so the music was rearranged for the standard five channels. The Western release also made some enemies hit harder. The story later formed the basis of the first two seasons of the 2017 Castlevania animated series.
It is the most complete of the NES Castlevanias. The level design is varied and atmospheric, the branching routes and partners give it real replay value, and switching to Grant to climb past a hard section or to Sypha to torch a boss makes the stiff controls feel like a choice rather than a limit.
It is also very hard. Trevor still cannot adjust a jump once he leaves the ground, and the Western version's tougher enemies make the late stages a grind. The Japanese Famicom version, now officially available in the West, is both a little easier and sounds far better, and is the one we would start with.
Castlevania III has two soundtracks, and which one sounds like home depends on where you grew up. Japanese players heard it through Konami's VRC6 chip and its three extra channels. Everyone else heard a rearrangement squeezed into the NES's standard five. Meet the richer version decades later and it can feel strange: better, clearly, and somehow wrong.
That is nostalgia at work. Tim Wildschut and colleagues found it is mostly positive, often features close others, and raises our sense of connection and self-regard. And it clings to the version we lived with, not the best one. The thinner NES arrangement belongs to a particular bedroom, a brother who was better as Grant, a rental due back on Monday. The Famicom music has no such company yet. We still recommend the Famicom version, and mean it. But loyalty to the one you grew up with is not a mistake. It is the part of the game that was about you.
Read: Why old games feel like home →
Verdict · 9/10
The best Castlevania on the NES: hard, handsome and full of choices. Start with the Famicom version if you can.
