When I first played the original Castlevania on the NES, I couldn’t think of a more difficult and frustrating game. Sure it was fun and addictive, but its steep sense of difficulty made it one of those games that you wouldn’t play as often as let’s say Super Mario Bros. But, it was still a fun game. So fun, that it became a success for Konami. The game soon spawned a sequel that would get savaged by gamers and critics alike for being too cryptic, easy, and plain boring. So Konami gave the franchise one more try on the NES with Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse. What they got was easily the best game in the trilogy. Instead of following Castlevania II’s structure, Konami went back to the first Castlevania game, took everything that made it a great game and multiplied it several times. The game had better graphics, more replay ability and a better atmosphere. But Konami also upgraded the difficulty and it shows; this is easily the most challenging of the Castlevania trilogy and today, we’ll see if that statement still stands after almost 30 years after its release.


Graphics – 8

As mentioned before, this game improved on everything that made the first great, and the graphics are no exception. The game gives you a good demonstration of what the NES could accomplish. Each level fits the game’s theme of horror perfectly. Some levels give you a gothic atmosphere, like Frankenstein’s cellar, while other levels are shrouded in mystery, like the forests. The enemies are also well done. Most of the enemies are from the first two Castlevania games but better like the skeletons, the medusa heads, and the hunchbacks. But they gave the monsters an overall better design. They also gave better animations on the monsters, bosses, and characters you play as. The bosses are also entirely new and fresh; it’s nice to see that Konami didn’t rely on the first two games for designs too much. You see inspiration here and there, but for the most part Castlevania III stays true to its source material while giving itself its own theme and identity. Because of this it gets an 8 for the graphics department.


Sound – 8

Not only are the graphics better than the first two games, but so is the overall sound and music. Each track fits the stage and gives each of them a nice atmosphere. The music can go from adventurous and endless, to dark and eerie depending on which level. The music overall is among some of the best on the NES. Keep in mind that the NES was quite limited music wise. The majority of NES titles with more complex music, such as Silver Surfer, had special sound chips that added more notes and chords. This, however, has no sound modifications which is why I feel that it’s one of the better NES titles when it comes to the music department. In all three of the Castlevania games on the NES, it’s pretty much a tradition to incorporate good themes in the games. And Castlevania III delivered. It went from simplistic tunes in the first game, to more complex and interesting themes in this installment. So it’s no surprise that it gets a solid 8 for its music.


Addictiveness – 7

It’s no surprise that Castlevania III is a rather fun and enjoyable game. But with that said, it comes at a price. This is one of those games you don’t play all the time due to several reasons regarding difficulty. While difficulty can add to a game’s enjoyability, it can also take away some of that enjoyability. And Castlevania III suffers from that problem. The overall enjoyability is still there; the game is a great platformer and sequel. But at the same time, there are only so many tries it takes until you to shut off the game and find something else to play. It’s not a great game to start off with, especially for newcomers who want to try their hand on NES games for the first time. In all honesty, I found the game to be quite tedious when I first played it on my NES. It has a steep learning curve and is one of the most cruel and unforgiving games on the NES. With that said, the enjoyability is still there. The game pushes you to new frustration as you try to learn the game’s mechanics. It keeps the player invested in the atmosphere and level design. With that said, it gets a 7 for the addictiveness.



Story – 9

When it comes to Castlevania, the story has remained similar throughout all three of the NES games. But in Castlevania III, rather than being a sequel of Castlevania II, is a prequel of the first game. You play as Trevor Belmont, an ancestor of Simon Belmont. He is next in line to face the infamous Dracula after he has risen from the beyond and has again sworn vengeance on the Belmont family. It’s up to Trevor to stop Dracula from spelling chaos and destruction throughout Europe. Along his perilous journey, Trevor meets three other characters. There’s Syphia, a sorceress who was turned into stone, Grant, a sailor who was turned into a monster, and Alucard, who was enchanted by his father, Dracula. Trevor continues his quest along with his new partners as he hopes to rid the world of Dracula once and for all. Now THAT’S a story. Instead of being the same plot as the first Castlevania, this game gives you multiple possibilities for the final outcome of the story. The game only allows you to have one additional character with you, which adds to the game’s replay ability of playing simply to see all of the endings. The overall story is well done, which is why it gets a 9.


Depth – 9

The game has a lot going for it when it comes to the depth. For starters, you still have all of the secondary weapons that were in the first Castlevania like the holy water, timer, axe, and countless others. Castlevania III also made a huge improvement on the stage layout. Instead of the original Castlevania, where you only have one path throughout the entire game, Castlevania III gives you multiple forks in the road to choose from. This gives the player more levels and paths to wander through. Not to mention, each path gives you one of the three different characters to come across. Each character has their strengths and weaknesses. Grant, for example, can climb on walls and ceilings and jump higher than Trevor. The downside is that his weapon is too small; you need to be right in front of an enemy in order to hit it.

Then there’s Syphia; she can conjure various spells that can make boss battles much easier. But like Grant, her main weapon, an iron mace, is smaller than Trevor’s whip. At last, we have Alucard. He can transform into a bat and fly above the enemies below. Because of this, he can be very valuable when going through some of the later stages. But Alucard has the worst weapon of all four characters; he shoots beams which are ineffective against a lot of the stronger monsters in the game. And keep in mind that as you progress farther in a level, the monsters grow in numbers. Not to mention, in order to be able to turn into a bat, you need hearts. Overall, each character has their own faults, but at times they make the game much easier with their unique abilities. The only issue is that you can’t keep more than one additional character at a time. Because of this, it’s wise to choose the character you play best as. Because of the overall features this game gives you, it gets a solid 9 for its depth.


Difficulty – 10

A lot of people can agree that the original Castlevania was a pretty hard game on the NES. The question is, how is Castlevania III when it comes to difficulty? Answer: even more frustrating and anger inducing than the original. The first game was difficult because of one flaw; you couldn’t control your jump. In this game, Konami somehow managed to put even more flaws and obstacles for the game’s clunky and stiff controls. For starters you’re limited to where you can use your weapons. Yes I know that this was also a problem in the first game, but it wasn’t as obvious. This game has a huge emphasis on having more hordes of enemies than the first two Castlevania games. Not to mention, half of the time you have more enemies in the air than on the ground which makes it much more difficult to kill them than it has to be. The second big flaw is trying to use your secondary weapon when you’re on the stairs. When you want to use a secondary weapon, you need to press UP and A. But when you’re on the stairs, the game thinks you’re pressing UP to walk up the stairs. And keep in mind that you face tons of enemies in the game, lots of which are stationed in or near the stairs. AVGN went into great detail on this problem when he reviewed this game. It’s best to watch his video as he’ll give more detail on this flaw more than I ever could. But aside from those two flaws, the game is still rather fun. Overall, the game gets a full 10 for its difficulty.


Overall – 8.1/10

For what it is, this game is probably the best Castlevania game on the NES. It took everything that made the original great and made it even greater. This game is a must have for those who like difficult platformers like Ninja Gaiden and Megaman. It’s easily one of the best titles on the NES. This game can go for quite a lot of money; you’ll find listings on Kijiji and Ebay between $40 - $60 dollar range. If you have a copy HANG ON TO IT! They are very desirable and valuable. This game makes the perfect to any collection whether it be for your NES or a Castlevania Collection. Do I recommend it? Of course. While the difficulty may be a downside for some people, I feel as though it’s BECAUSE of the difficulty that people come back to this game even after 30 years. It continues to excite old fans as well as interest new ones to this day. And that to me is what a game should do.

Wow, this review is a masterpiece! Excellent structure, solid arguments that are developed very well and ample comparisons with previous Castlevania games. Plus, despite your apparent frustrations with the game you are able to give an objective critique of the game. High 5!