Castlevania: The Adventure
Game Boy
Nostalgia Factor:
I recently started making my way through the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on the PS4. Last up was Simon’s Quest. Before taking the leap to Castlevania III (which I have never played and I am very excited to check out) I figured I’d quickly detour over to the Nintendo Game Boy and check out Castlevania: The Adventure first. I must point out that it bothers me that this is called Castlevania: The Adventure and not The Castlevania Adventure as it appears on the box. But whatever.
I’ve never heard a single thing about this game before, so I came into it completely blind and not knowing what to expect. How would I like it? Let’s find out.
Story:
This game is a prequel to the original Castlevania. You play as Christopher Belmont, an ancestor of Simon. Your quest is to destroy Dracula.
Wow, what deep storytelling! The only point of interest is at the end of the game when a bat (clearly Dracula) escapes from the castle’s rubble and flies away. Obviously, he doesn’t die in this game as he appears later in the series. So is there really any point or relevance to this game’s story? Not particularly, but come on. This is an early Game Boy platformer. Its story is inconsequential.
Gameplay:
This is a very difficult game. I feel that this is one of the first things I have to point out. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t think Castlevania I or II for the NES are particularly challenging. This game is TOUGH!
There are only four stages in the whole game, but they are all very long. You get three lives. If you die and use up those three lives, you have to use a continue and start over at the beginning of the stage again. Let me stress: these stages are LONG. There is nothing more frustrating than making it ten-plus minutes into a stage and then dying and having to start the whole thing over again. Better get used to it, as this is going to happen to you a LOT. This game is a brutal challenge. There are spikes that kill you with one hit. Bouncing projectiles that hit you multiple times. Pits you must jump over that require precise, pixel-perfect accuracy lest you fall to instant death. You’re going to constantly be bombarded by enemy attacks that drain your health. You must nail precision jumps from rope to rope. Each stage has a fairly difficult boss battle at the end of it. It takes a while to get their patterns down. But guess what, you only have three lives - and chances are that you have used some of them up by the time you get to the boss. If you die, you go back to the beginning of the stage.
The most difficult stage for me is the one where the screen scrolls up and you have to avoid the spikes at the bottom of the stage. So much precision jumping is required, along with pattern memorization. It seems to go on forever. Then all of a sudden it starts scrolling left and you have to outrun a giant wall of spikes coming from the right, trying to crush you. If you make a single mistake, just one misstep and you’ll get killed immediately. This took me SO MANY tries. Luckily I was playing on the PS4 Anniversary Collection, which has save states. I was able to beat the game, but it took a lot of trial and error to do so. After beating the game I tried playing through it again without using save states and only made it to end of the third stage. I’m sure if I had kept playing and practicing I would have been able to make it to the end of the game, but do I look like I have time for that?
Last thing I must add is that this is a very basic version of Castlevania. You don’t get knives, axes, or holy water to throw at your enemies. Hearts actually restore your health rather than give you points or money. The biggest change is how your whip operates. You start out with the basic, weak whip and you earn upgrades as you play by whipping candles. The strongest form of the whip is the size of the long whip from the original Castlevania. This whip, however, fires projectiles from the tip of it. This is a cool addition to the game for one reason: if you get hit, your whip’s strength level goes back one. So if I have the fully charged whip and I get hit, I drop back to the regular long whip. Get hit again and I drop to the weak whip. The more you get hit, the weaker you become. This gives you further incentive to not get hit, as the fully charged whip makes most enemies super easy – particularly the bosses. That makes hanging onto them absolutely vital, and also what makes it such a kick in the balls when you get hit and have to watch your whip’s strength drop down a level.
Graphics:
There’s not much to look at here. This is a very basic looking black and white Game Boy game. It doesn’t look anywhere near as good as the original Castlevania or any of its NES sequels. It’s very bland looking. It also moves a bit slow and choppy at times. I wouldn’t say that the visuals make this game unplayable, however. It might look extremely primitive to us playing it here in the year 2021, but they get the job done well enough for you to be able to enjoy the game.
Sound:
I like the way this game sounds. It definitely has that classic Castlevania feel to its sound effects. The music, however, is terrific. All of the game’s tracks are originals, but you can clearly see where they are inspired by the first two NES Castlevania games. One of them sounds a lot of like my favorite Simon’s Quest theme, and I will admit that hearing it brought a big smile to my face. I never would have expected a Game Boy game to deliver such quality music, so color me super surprised.
Overall:
I had a pretty good time playing Castlevania: The Adventure. It’s challenging but fun at the same time. It keeps you coming back for more. You should definitely play this using save states. While I appreciate classic titles that offer a stiff challenge, this game can get downright brutal at times. You have to be perfect when you play this game, or you die. Unless you want to sit down with this game for 30 plus hours, becoming a master of it, I’d suggest just using save states. You’ll have this game beaten in one playing session.
I was able to master two of the game’s first four stages without save states. Didn’t die once on either of them. But the third stage with the screen scrolling is where the difficulty starts to become super ridiculous. And if you die and use up your lives, you have to go back to the beginning of the stage. Given how long these stages are, I can see this becoming a real problem for people.
Looking at reviews of this game online, it is often slammed as one of, if not THE worst Castlevania games out there. That kind of surprises me. I liked this game. If this is the worst the series has to offer, I must be in for a real treat when I get to the rest of them. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Castlevania III and IV. And Rondo of Blood. And Aria of Sorrow. And Bloodlines. And Symphony of the Night. And all the litany of handheld titles I haven't played yet. I wish you could see me greedily rubbing my hands with glee right now.
Overall:
B-
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