365//365: Day 005 – Castlevania 3 (NES) [Quickie]

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In general, NES games were some of the most difficult games you could ever play. The gameplay is mostly incomplex, yet challenging and satisfying as hell. Castlevania 3 defines this notion in spades. Not only is it appeasing, but its one of the most challenging games in the NES library. Although there is a fine line between a challenge and hair pulling frustrating. Castlevania 3 walks that tight rope with some near falls.

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What was awesome about the third installment of this storied franchise, was the fact that you could recruit three other characters (one at a time, and you can’t replace Trevor Belmont). Grant can walk ceilings and is hunched lower to the ground, Sylpha the caster who wields elemental spells, and the debut of Alucard, who fires a three way projectile and can turn into a bat to traverse through certain areas a lot faster. Trevor still remains the most durable character, who can take more hits than the rest of the cast, but it’s a lot more fun to play one of the side characters through this Castlevania title.

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If you have enough hearts, you can turn into a bat and fly around. If you get hit while in bat form, you change back to Alucard.

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It looks great for its time, even with the redundant use of square bricks. The music sounds great, even though the Japanese version had a different sound chip that added more quality and detail to the music. Controls are okay, although having no control of your jump once you’re in the air can lead to some frustrating deaths here and there, especially when trying to dodge flying Medusa heads and random projectiles.

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Which leads to the fact that the difficulty borderlines excessive. It’s mostly a game of patience. Rush through and yeah, you’re going to get reamed. Even with patience, there’s some later stages where your patience could break with ease. Falling blocks from the sky that forces you to dodge the drops, all the while, you’re climbing up to reach a platform way up high. One wrong move and you get hit. Two wrong moves and you fall to your death.

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Trevor Belmont is the most well rounded of the four characters, but come on, you can use a whip in almost every other Castlevania game!

With enough patience and an open mind, Castlevania 3 is is an extremely satisfying, and confidence building journey. When you get things going and you’re not dying, you feel like you can take on anything the world of gaming unleashes upon you. When you’re dying and dying and dying, it can get infuriating. It’s still quite a thrill ride that pushes your skills to the max. One of the best in the series, and that says a lot.

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Rating: 8.4

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