Castlevania: The Adventure is a handheld spin-off to the popular NES Castlevania series, originally
released on the Game Boy in 1989.
Through the years it would receive a number of updates, including added Super Game Boy
support in the Japanese release of Konami GB Collection Vol. 1, and full Game Boy Color
support in the European release of Konami GB Collection Vol. 1.
Additionally, it would receive a full remake in Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth on the
Wii in 2009.
But today we're going to take a look at the original Game Boy title.
First, the game was well received upon release.
Electronic Gaming Monthly scored the game 7.8 out of 10 stating, “This game is proof
that the Game Boy can duplicate all the action of an NES title.
Visually, one of the most amazing Game Boy games to appear, with crisp backgrounds and
excellent stereo sound.
A good quest with plenty of challenge!”
Zero Magazine gave the game a 9 out of 10 noting, “The action gets a tad repetitive
after a while, but there's enough variety to keep you whipping for some time.
And the ever-so-handy continue option makes the game that much more unputdownable.”
Surprising I know, as this game regularly gets a drubbing these days.
In 2007 IGN noted in a Castlevania retrospective, “The game is made up of four levels, and
is pretty basic in its overall game design.
There are no sub-weapons, no familiar bosses (aside from Dracula himself), and an overall
lack of true inspiration in the game.”
In 2013, YouTuber Derek Alexander stated, "There is no reason for Castlevania Adventure
to exist in your life…
it is a terrible game, don’t play it.”
So has Castlevania: The Adventure really aged this poorly?
Let's dive in.
Castlevania: The Adventure takes place in the year 1576, 100 years after Trevor Belmont
took down Count Dracula in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, and around 100 years before
Simon Belmont would accomplish the same task in the original Castlevania.
Like many early Castlevania games, you are a Belmont on a quest to take down Dracula
after his 100 year time-out.
And that is pretty much it.
So, with the story out of the way, let's move on to the actual gameplay.
The opening level takes place in a forest setting and it is here we learn the main mechanics
of the game.
Basically Christopher Belmont can use the Vampire Killer whip, jump, and climb up ropes.
Like the other 8-bit titles, the jump is static.
Whether you hold the jump button, or tap it, the jump arc and height is exactly the same,
with no mid-air control.
If you’re not familiar with the series this will feel a bit stiff at first, but for veterans
of the classic games this should be no problem.
The Vampire Killer does have a new trick up its sleeve however.
The default leather whip is fairly weak with a limited reach.
The first upgrade is a chain whip, doing twice the damage as well as featuring an extended
reach.
And finally, the third upgrade is the fireball whip, which adds a fireball projectile to
each whip crack.
Some enemies can block this ranged attack, but generally speaking this addition is awesome.
Sadly, if you take damage, your whip upgrade gets knocked down a notch, giving greater
incentive to play proficiently.
This first level also introduces the Cross of Gold, offering temporary invincibility.
Finally, there are hearts to refill your life bar as well as one-ups.
Unfortunately, there are no sub-weapons whatsoever, and Christopher Belmont relies solely on the
Vampire Killer to inflict damage.
As the first level comes to a close, the screen will stop scrolling and you’ll notice a
final candle.
Inside this is a flashing crystal, and collecting it will summon a Primary Evil, or in video
game terms, a boss.
Other than Dracula, Castlevania: The Adventure has you battling random goblins, rather than
old movie monsters.
With the first level out of the way, Christopher makes his to the caves.
Here, the difficulty increases.
Right away there is an onslaught of bats and Castlevania: The Adventure starts to give
off an 8-bit hard vibe.
The bats fly somewhat erratic and thanks to the stiff jumping, it can be hard to take
them down as they fly around.
Same goes for these spitter enemies.
They’ll shoot out an orb that bounces around the screen.
Up to this point, the incredibly slow pace of the adventure isn’t really an issue,
but when you are trying to dodge bats or these orbs, the controls can feel a bit limiting.
This second stage also has some branching paths, where going down the wrong rope will
send you off in the wrong direction.
There are only two real decisions to make, but choosing the wrong path will force you
to take on extra enemies you don’t really need to face.
On the flip side, killing enemies, and collecting the coins that come out of some candles, do
reward points, and scoring 10 thousand points earns an extra life.
So after making your way through the caves, across a bridge, and through the labyrinth,
we make our way to the second boss.
Again, there is no horror film monster here, just some bouncing creatures popping out of
holes.
This can be extremely annoying at first, but once you learn all four patterns, on top of
being proactive with your whipping, this Primary Evil goes down without much fuss.
As we cross the halfway mark in Castlevania: The Adventure, we make our inside Dracula’s
Castle.
The gimmick here is all of the moving spikes you’ll encounter.
At first this is just the ceiling, and you have to whip this gear in the background to
have the ceilings retreat.
Then the real challenge begins.
First is a forced scrolling area with spikes on the ground.
You have to carefully navigate the ropes, maneuver over collapsing platforms, and jump
onto tight platforms, all while taking down numerous enemies without getting hit by the
floor spikes which cause instant death.
After finally reaching the top of the level, you then have a forced horizontal level, and
have to stay ahead of the wall of moving spikes.
Thankfully, as gravity isn’t working so hard against you in this area, it is a little
easier, and a nice reprieve from the brutal vertical section.
And of course, the level ends with another Primary Evil, in this case a large flying
creature.
Unlike the first two bosses, the patterns here can be trickier, and figuring out how
to lure the creature towards you without taking damage can be tough.
But once you learn the patterns, the boss goes down and we move onto the final level.
This final castle section in Castlevania: The Adventure is challenging.
While you could get by with the weak leather whip for most of the game up to this point,
having the chain whip or fireball whip feels almost mandatory in the final level.
At a few key moments there are some knights, reminiscent of the first boss encounter.
Thanks to the leather whips shorter range, and the fact it does half the damage, you
can easily get pinned against a wall, or be forced to keep retreating until previously
defeated enemies respawn, making life even worse.
Next, the spitter enemies can be even more obnoxious, with tighter corridors leaving
you less room to react, causing you to take damage, downgrading your whip, which is a
tough punishment thanks to these knight enemies.
This final level also features plenty of spiked floors and ceilings which again cause instant
death, which leads us to moving platforms, the main gimmick in this level.
These come in the form of floating platforms as well as spiked platforms coming out of
walls.
Needless to say, the last level in Castlevania: The Adventure is hard and will require a ton
of trial and error until you memorize enemy locations as well as the patterns of all of
the moving sections.
Thankfully, Castlevania: The Adventure does feature unlimited continues, which in my opinion,
is necessary for this particular gameplay style.
Once you finally make your way through the Stage 4 gauntlet, it’s finally time to take
on Dracula.
Like the first three bosses, there are patterns to learn and take advantage of.
While Dracula fires out projectiles in all 8 directions, alternating from horizontal
and vertical, and then diagonal, dodging these is pretty simple.
I found just sitting in the bottom corner and waiting for him to warp near me to be
the easiest way to take him down with the least amount of risk.
Even with the timer, and the weak leather whip, you’ll have more than enough time
to get in the hits necessary to take him out.
Then, the timer disappears and he turns into a giant bat.
I found this particular boss to be rather challenging.
You have to time your whip attack just right, so he doesn’t fly into you while you are
striking him.
It's easy enough to find a good rhythm, but unfortunately he will also stop and release
three bats.
This is where things can get tricky.
Depending on which way Dracula is moving, you can jump up on the platform and then walk
back down, avoiding the whole mess.
But if Dracula is flying towards you during this, you’re just sort of boned.
Still, with enough patience and a bit of luck, he will again go down, bringing the entire
castle crumbling with him.
Unlike the beginning of the game, which features no cut scene whatsoever, we are treated to
a little scene where Dracula’s castle crumbles to the ground, signifying our victory.
Then of course, the credits roll.
After beating the game, Castlevania: The Adventure repeats on hard mode.
As best as I can tell, you take more damage when getting hit, but everything else seems
the same.
So with the gameplay out of the way, let’s move onto the technical aspects.
For a 1989 release, this is a decent looking game.
Unlike Batman or Super Mario Land which had some strange proportional issues as they tried
to mimic the look of an NES game, Castlevania: The Adventure just accepts the fact there
is reduced resolution and everything is a full-sized sprite.
I even like how there is a lot of background detail, instead of vast areas of white, again
not always common on these first generation Game Boy titles.
However, the graphics engine feels like its sloppily coded.
There is a ton of screen tearing and sprite jitter throughout the entire game.
It’s quite jarring initially and hard to ignore.
I did get used to it, but I’ve never really seen a 2D game with this many graphical oddities
before.
It’s a shame too because I rather enjoy the art direction and the quality of the sprites.
Thankfully, the game redeems itself with a wonderful soundtrack.
As you would expect from an 8-bit Konami game, the music quality is outstanding with catchy
melodies, excellent compositions, and a richness and depth that is hard to put into words.
Seriously, even a couple days removed from playing this one, a few are still stuck in
my head.
The sound effects aren’t bad either, with the whip offering a satisfying crack, enemies
going down with an appropriate thud, this bird chirping announcing its arrival, and
little chimes when collecting goodies.
If you love the trademark Game Boy sound, you’ll find Castlevania: The Adventure delivers.
So, with all of that out of the way, we arrive back to the question asked at the beginning
of the video, is Castlevania: The Adventure underrated?
If you come into the game expecting a shrunken down edition of the NES games, you’ll probably
be disappointed.
The lack of any sub weapons, a generic cast of monsters, and reduced speed are a departure
from the established Castlevania formula.
Worse still, Adventure features a lot of random elements that can be very annoying.
The spitters don’t launch projectiles in the same direction every time.
Instead they can go high, or low, and since Christopher moves slow, and the Game Boy has
a low resolution, sometimes you’ll find yourself breezing past these guys, and other
times you’re stuck taking damage due to no fault of your own.
The randomness doesn’t stop there either.
The eyeballs are also random, sometimes appearing in logical increments, and other times launching
when you are on a rope giving you no room to evade them.
Even these boomerang things are random, sometimes launching attacks high and other times low.
It can be too easy to get caught on the rope unable to react to the behavior.
When you combine some unfair randomness, a stripped down Castlevania formula, a sluggish
pace, and some really strange graphical glitches, it’s easy to see why many gamers aren’t
too fond of Castlevania: The Adventure.
However, there is a lot here to like.
In fact, I’d argue this is a well-crafted game.
I like how the level design perfectly complements the capabilities of Christopher Belmont.
While he moves slowly, the enemies are generally designed around this.
All of the enemies that move faster than him can be defeated in just a single hit.
And all of the enemies that take multiple hits move slower than him, allowing the player
to retreat.
Speaking of slow, and most Game Boy games are slower than their console counterparts,
there is almost always something the screen to actually do.
So while the player isn’t making progress quickly, there are no lulls in the action.
There is always an enemy to take down, an item to collect, or platforms and ropes to
navigate.
While on the topic of ropes, this is another positive addition to the game.
Screen real estate is at a premium and rather than fill an entire area with a stairway,
the designers chose the much tidier option of a rope allowing vertical progress, which
is something I can appreciate.
Though it would have been nice if you could attack while on the rope, there are very few
moments where this would actually be needed, again showing the developers actually placed
care into the level design.
I also really dig the overall progression.
With each stage comes a new gimmick.
Stage 2 has branching paths, Stage 3 has forced scrolling, and Stage 4 adds moving platforms
as well as moving spikes.
It makes for an experience that is always presenting new challenges to the player, from
beginning to end.
The difficulty progression is also excellent, with each stage offering a greater challenge
than the one before it, but also building upon previously learned concepts.
In Stage 1 for example, there are rows of these tight platforms.
If you miss a jump, you fall safely to the ground and are allowed to try again.
You get to learn the jumping mechanics without being punished with death.
Later on, you are forced to use the skills learned in the safe environment of Stage 1,
and apply what you’ve learned in a setting where failure is penalized.
Again, it really feels like the level designers put thought and effort into the level design.
I previously mentioned Castlevania: The Adventure featured unlimited continues, but it’s also
worth noting there are checkpoints as well, and these are logically placed.
In Stage 3, there is a checkpoint after the vertical scrolling section.
So if you die during the horizontal scrolling section, you don’t have to redo the vertical
section, you get to start back at the beginning of the horizontal section.
If you die during a boss fight, you aren’t sent back very far either.
And there is always a weapon power-up nearby, meaning you never have to face a boss fight
with just a leather whip.
As a whole, the item placement is well balanced.
Before I wrap up I should also mention the timer at the top of the screen.
I can honestly say I never ran out of time, ever.
It does offer point scoring potential though.
The more time you have remaining after completing a level, the more bonus points you receive,
and the quicker you’ll score extra lives.
There are also secrets to discover.
Some are obvious, like jumping across these platforms to a tough-to-reach candle containing
an extra life.
Others are less obvious, like climbing up the rope behind the wall.
These are great additions and add a bit of replay value to the experience.
It’s also worth noting the religious references are not censored, a rarity for a Nintendo
game.
Now, the amount of enjoyment you will get from this game will depend on a few things.
If the lack of sub-weapons and series staples like stairs and movie monsters is a deal-breaker
for you, nothing I say is going to change your mind.
This is Castlevania Light, no doubt about it.
I would also consider this an 8-bit hard game.
Trial and error as well as memorization are absolutely key to success, and there are plenty
of unfair moments to trip you up on your first try.
Additionally, there is plenty of pixel perfect jumping required, with little room for error.
If you don’t enjoy this style of gameplay, Castlevania: The Adventure will absolutely
drive you mad.
I will say, the generous amount of health drops, balanced checkpoints, and infinite
continues mitigated many of the issues for me, but your mileage may vary.
So yeah, I’d say Castlevania: The Adventure is underrated.
While it is no longer worthy of the glowing praise it received upon release, I don’t
really find it to be bad either.
The progressive difficulty curve is balanced, the jumping perfectly matches the obstacles
presented, most enemy behavior works within the limitations of the whip, and the soundtrack
is outstanding.
Other than a few random enemy behaviors, and the really odd graphical issues, I honestly
don’t have a lot to complain about here.
I found my time with Castlevania: The Adventure to be enjoyable, and beating the game was
a challenging, yet satisfying, experience.