Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Game Boy
I’ve nearly made my way through the entire Castlevania Anniversary Collection for the PS4. Now that I’ve played through Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge, all I’ve got left is Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis!
Before we get to that game, how did I feel about Belmont’s Revenge? I had never played this game before, so this was my very first experience with it.
Read on for my full thoughts.
Story:
This game takes place 15 years after the events of Castlevania: The Adventure (also for Game Boy). Christopher Belmont, the protagonist from the previous game, must fight through Dracula’s castles and destroy him once again in order to save his son from eternal damnation.
Gameplay:
I enjoyed this game a lot more than its predecessor, Castlevania: The Adventure. It’s faster. The controls are more responsive. It has better weapons. The stage design is improved. It is more forgiving in its difficulty. Overall it feels more on-par with the classics like Castlevania I and III than anything else. It does carry over the projectile whip from the previous game, so that is a nice touch.
One thing this game does differently is how it allows you to select the order in which you play through the stages. You have four stages available to pick from right off the bat. I didn’t notice much difference in difficulty among the stages, so play them in whatever order you want! Each of these stages plays like your typical Castlevania stage. You jump, whip, and fight your way through the level. You battle a boss character at the end. You move on to the next stage.
After you’ve beaten all four of these stages, you move on to Dracula’s final castle – which is broken into two separate stages. So lengthwise this game is right up there with the first Castlevania. Honestly, if you’ve played other entries in the series there really isn’t too much more I can say about this game than I haven’t already said in my previous Castlevania reviews. I could offer you a more in-depth breakdown of how things work, but I feel as if I’d just be retreading old water if I were to do that.
I guess all I can say is: this game is fun. I wouldn’t say it’s an absolute blast like some of the NES classics, but it is better than its predecessor and it is surprisingly solid all around for a Game Boy game. I never had a Game Boy growing up because I figured each game was probably a lesser version of its NES counterpart, but I’ve been playing through a number of Game Boy games lately, and titles like Batman: The Animated Series, Operation C, Castlevania: The Adventure, and now this game are really doing a lot to change my mind.
Graphics:
I mean, it’s a Game Boy game so it isn’t really going to look that great. It’s black and white. The graphics are a bit dated. But you know what? I don’t care.
I’ve always said my only concern is if a game is fun or not, and this is definitely a very fun game. It’s not the prettiest game in the universe, but then again it doesn’t pretend to be.
Sound:
If I did have to offer one big criticism about this game it would be in its music. Normally the music is a high point when you play a Castlevania game, but here the music is just flat out bad or annoying in parts. My wife even came in the room when I was playing this game just to complain about its terrible music.
The sound effects are good though. Classic Castlevania stuff. And I do have to point out that there’s at least one decent musical track in this game: it’s that tune that begins to play when you hit the midway point of most levels. It’s got this “cool” laid back vibe to it that I enjoy, and I find it to be a nice reprieve from the rest of the game’s music.
Overall:
This is a fun Castlevania game. I enjoyed it more than the other one I played for the Game Boy, but not as much as I did the other classic NES titles. I don’t really know what else I can say about this. It’s fun, it’s challenging. It’s Castlevania! If you’re a fan of the series, you’ll probably like this. If you don’t like retro games or you think you’ll never be able to “get into” an old black and white Game Boy game, it’s your loss.
That said, I'm 100% certain that at some point in the future I'll be revisiting all the classic Castlevania titles for the NES. I'm not so certain I can say the same about this.
Final Score:
B
If you liked this review, check out some of my other Castlevania reviews:
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