Retro Weekends Episode 36: Castlevania

Well you know me, I like my platformers and Castlevania was a very entertaining one. The game has very good music and very nice theming thoughout with all of the Hammer and Universal monster movie influences. I don't feel that the secondary weapons were as notable as Rich says, as many seemed to not be particularly useful, but still all in all its a very enjoyable game and as the first game in the Castlevania series this was the start of something incredible.

I think this is very impressive for 1986. The platforming layouts are intricate for the year of release and the music is good. Graphically its okay (its one of those NES games with quite odd colour choices) but the game certainly has no shortage of atmosphere throughout. Castlevania's secondary weapons add a little bit of extra strategy to the game that's not seen in many other platformers of the time, the player needs to experiment with these weapons to find the most suitable for each situation which adds to the gameplay. I feel that this is a first rate game in all aspects, its an important release for the genre and it went on to spawn a whole multitude of classic sequels across multiple formats.