Kid Dracula
Nintendo Entertainment System
Nostalgia Factor:
I continue to make my way through the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. I just finished Super Castlevania IV not too long ago, so next up…. Kid Dracula.
Wait, what? Kid Dracula? What the heck is this game? I had never heard of it before.
Well, turns out Kid Dracula was released for the NES in Japan back in 1990. For whatever reason, the title was never brought over to the states. Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a Game Boy version of the game, but apparently it was extremely rare and not a lot of people had the chance to play it. In fact, it is one of the rarest and most expensive Game Boy games to date.
Not that I care about that. I’m here to play the NES version of the game, finally ported over to the U.S. 20 something years after its initial release. Despite my initially low expectations, I ended up having a really good time with this game. Read on for the full details!
Story:
This game’s story is not too horribly interesting. Kid Dracula wakes up after a long sleep to discover that his authority has been challenged by Galamoth, a super intense dinosaur-monster thing. Kid Dracula sets off on a journey to defeat Galamoth so he can prove his dominance and retain his throne. Unfortunately, he has forgotten most of his magical spells while he was asleep. As you play through this game’s levels, you slowly recover your lost abilities. By the time you get to Galamoth, you are fully powered up and ready to kick some major ass.
Gameplay:
On the surface this looks like a cutesy kids game, but it is actually surprisingly challenging and fun. The controls are simple. Kid Dracula can move left to right. He jumps. His main form of attack is your generic thrown projectile attack. Hold down the attack button and your projectile charges up. Release the button and you hit your enemy with an extra special attack. As the game progresses, you slowly learn new abilities. Most of these abilities affect your main attack, but not all of them. They all are activated in the same way, however, by holding down the button until your attack charges up and then letting go of the button. The non-attack related spells either flip gravity so you are walking around on the ceiling for a few seconds, or turn your into a bat so you can fly for a little while. You will need to utilize both of these at multiple points in the game if you want to make it through these levels.
But like I said most of these spells affect your attack in some way. A couple examples include the homing attack and the bomb attack that delivers an extra powerful blast to your opponents. Deciding what weapon to use and when is a key strategy to doing well in this game.
While I am not certain if this is actually considered a canon Castlevania game, at the very least it is certainly inspired by it. The first level of the game gives off major NES Castlevania vibes. After the first level, though, the game begins to forge its own identity. Best I can compare it to is a Mega Man title. While this is a challenging game, it is nowhere near as difficult as either a Mega Man or Castlevania game. In fact, I beat this game in a couple of one-hour playing sessions while barely having to start over at all.
That’s not to say you won’t have a tough time with this game. It can get pretty difficult! It never quite reaches that “brutal” threshold, however, and for that I am grateful. Kid Dracula finds the perfect balance of not too difficult and not too easy.
Graphics:
There’s nothing too amazing that stands out about this game’s graphics. It looks like an NES game – and there is nothing wrong with that. I think this game looks charming. It has well-designed characters and bosses as well as some unique level layouts.
I do have to give a shout out to some of the story sequences in this game, particularly the opening. The special effects are really nice, particularly for an NES game. It sets the tone perfectly for this game.
Sound:
As I played Kid Dracula I was grooving along to the game’s music. It matches the graphical style and the gameplay of this title flawlessly. The same can be said for the sound effects.
If I had to offer one gripe, it is that I just beat this game a few days ago (I even beat it twice) – and I already can’t remember the music. I remember the music being good and I remember liking it, but that’s about it.
Overall:
Kid Dracula was such a pleasant surprise. I had a really fun time playing this game.
I’ve already outlined what I like about the game. What does it do wrong? The answer is: not much.
Your character moves a bit slowly. This can be a pain if you die and have to restart an area, or if you fall and have to make your way back through a level again. He’s also quite big and takes up a lot of room on the screen, which can make it harder to avoid damage. I was playing on the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, so I was able to utilize save states so I could drop out and stop playing and pick up where I left off whenever I wanted to. Obviously the original game doesn’t give you that option. In fact, I am not even sure if this game has a save or continue option. You might have to start this from the beginning each time you play it, which is a major pain in the butt. Let’s be real, however. If you’re playing this game you likely have the Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You’ll be taking advantage of those save states just like I did!
There’s really not much else I can say bad about this game. I enjoyed myself from the second I picked it up to the second I put it down. Whether or not this counts as an actual Castlevania game doesn’t matter much in my mind. It is just as fun and just as worthy as any of those games. In fact, I’d put this above Simon’s Quest and Super Castlevania IV any day of the week.
I can’t recommend this game enough to people who haven’t played it yet, and I am sure there are a lot of you out there. It’s SO FREAKING GOOD! Get off your tush and play it now. I’m so happy I discovered this and didn’t just skip over it, dismissing it as some dumb kids game. Kid Dracula is anything but dumb. If I had grown up with this game and developed nostalgic memories of it, it could have very well earned an A+ score. Instead, it will have to “settle” for a step below perfection.
Final Score:
A
If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:
No comments:
Post a Comment