The Floofer Zone #19 | August 25th, 2024

Castlevania

Thus begins a legacy

Even in-universe, Simon Belmont is the greatest Belmont to have ever lived. He is far and away the most famous of his clan, and, I would say, for good reason: while other Castlevania protagonists had flashy magic attacks, vampire powers, or a friend or two to back them up, Simon just waltzed right into Dracula’s castle and killed that bastard single-handedly—and then he revived him and killed him again!! Simon doesn't say a single word in either of his adventures, but to me he is possibly the greatest example of why Dracula will never win—there will always be a Simon ready to take his ass down >:3

Castlevania is without a doubt one of the most iconic names in gaming, and while he isn't the first Belmont lore-wise, Simon’s first outing is the start of a great legacy of games… but I've never beaten it! Until now, that is :3

The north-american Castlevania box art. It depicts Simon with his back to the camera, posing heroically in front of a looming castle in the distance. A large figure that looks like Dracula can be seen in the sky above the castle, grinning creepily.

This box art is so cool

(Image credit: the Castlevania wiki)

Konami released Akumajō Dracula (literally “Devil’s Castle Dracula”) in 1986 on the Famicom Disk System to critical acclaim, and half a year later it saw a North American release under the title more familiar to us—Castlevania. In this game, u take control of vampire hunter Simon Belmont, wielder of the legendary Vampire Killer whip, who must venture into Dracula's castle alone and destroy the lord of darkness after he is suddenly revived following his defeat at the hands of Christopher Belmont a hundred years prior.

So how does Simon’s first adventure hold up after nearly 4 decades? Pretty well, actually! …as long as u play the Japanese version (×﹏×)

A screenshot of Castlevania. A purple skeleton is standing on a ledge above Simon, chucking bones at him.

This still image doesn't show it off very well, but the skeletons in this game like to run around all over the dang place like they had way too much coffee that morning

I'm gonna be real, NES games of this vintage are often too hard for me! I’m a huge Castlevania fan, but I've only played the metroidvanias—the games released from Symphony of the Night onward, when Koji Igarashi took over as the “Castlevania guy” at Konami. I’ve tried more than once to go back and play the 1986 original, but it's brutal. Simon is slow, u can't change his jump trajectory in midair, enemies move fast and erratically, they all do a fuck ton of damage, and Simon’s whip takes a second to wind up—it won’t come out the instant u press the B button, which can really mess u up if u don't time ur attacks right. You need to be very proactive & deliberate about ur actions, make frequent use of sub-weapons to take out tricky enemies, scour each stage for hearts & power-ups, and always be very careful when moving forward, or else you’ll get bopped by a Medusa Head and get knocked back straight into an instant death pit… and while u do get infinite continues (which admittedly is a pretty generous thing for a nearly 40 year old game to offer) the fact that u only get 3 lives to work with whenever u do so doesn't help :(

A bright yellow Famicom disk with an Akumajō Dracula label on it.

(Image credit: this eBay listing)

Luckily, that's where the Japanese version comes in. Castlevania launched as a Famicom Disk System title in Japan, meaning that u could actually save your progress after a game over! This one change turns this fiendishly difficult arcadey action game into an actually manageable challenge for someone like me. Now instead of having to beat all six stages in one sitting, I can come and go however many times I want until I get enough practice in to beat them all :3

After slotting in my legally acquired Akumajō Dracula disk which I definitely have into my legally acquired Famicom with Disk System peripheral which I both definitely have, I was greeted with…

The Akumajō Dracula title screen. It's prompting the player to pick between 'NORMAL' or 'EASY'.

eeeh? easy modo?

…no file select screen? an easy mode option? not even a screen telling me to swap the disk to side B? huh. oh well

I didn't realize this until after I had beaten the game (which is very funny in hindsight considering all the very obvious signs that something was off), but Akumajō Dracula was actually released twice in Japan: once on a disk in 1986 (hey, that rhymed), and later on a cartridge in 1993! The version of the game that I downloa- ahem, legally purchased was the cartridge version.

(Image credit: another eBay listing)

This cartridge release drops the save feature, but makes up for it by including a brand new easy mode that's not present in any other version of this game. This new mode significantly reduces the damage Simon takes from enemies across the board, and he won't be knocked back after getting hit either. Not only that, but bosses take way more damage, u start each stage with 30 hearts instead of 5, and u begin the game with a whopping 10 lives! These changes made a big enough difference to the point where I was able to beat the game on my first try, so I can finally say that I’ve seen the ending of Castlevania :)

A screenshot of the ending cutscene of Castlevania, depicting a large forest in the foreground and Dracula's castle in the distance, crumbled and reduced to rubble. The words 'PRODUCED BY KONAMI' and 'DIRECTED BY TRANS FISHERS' can be seen to the left of the ruined castle.

you're telling me that trans fishers directed this game??

Of course, I wasn't content with just beating the game on easy. I still wanted to experience the true difficulty of Castlevania for myself, and see if this time I could finally overcome it. So, I swapped to the Disk System version, and prepared to face the horrors of Dracula's castle once again.

The opening shot of Castlevania, showing Simon standing before the gate of Dracula's castle. The pitch-black castle itself looms ominously in the distance, illuminated only by the moonlight.

This iconic shot never gets old no matter how many times I see it

Now that I knew what to expect, it was surprisingly easy to clear the first few stages on normal mode. Sure, I immediately noticed how quickly Simon’s health could deplete if I wasn't careful, and the knockback effect on getting hit lead to some unfortunate deaths here or there, but overall nothing in the game was challenging enough to deter me… until I got to stages 5 and 6, which are home to the nastiest bosses Castlevania has to offer: Death and Dracula. Death’s homing mini scythes proved to be very troublesome to avoid with Simon’s limited movement, and as for Dracula… don't even get me started –w–

The final boss of Castlevania: Dracula's monstrous second form, which is blue, has wings, fangs, and a big snout, and is three times Simon's height. Simon is standing in front of him as he leaps high into the air.

fuck this guy

I must've tried dozens of times to beat Dracula, but his second form has a completely random pattern. Sometimes he’ll do a short hop, sometimes he’ll do a high jump (which is the only time u can go under him safely), and sometimes he’ll shoot a bunch of fireballs—when he decides to do which is a complete mystery to me. Not only that, but he seemed to be taking very little damage from my attacks—or sometimes none at all!! Oh, and good luck even reaching the second phase with a full health bar when he keeps teleporting on top of u in phase one. I genuinely almost gave up on beating Dracula… until I saw in a YouTube video that ur supposed to jump up and hit him in the head in phase two to deal any damage. That's not how it works in any other Castlevania game! That's not even how it works in easy mode!! How was I supposed to know :((

In any case, despite my struggle to defeat the count, I still had a lot of fun playing Castlevania. I wouldn't say the difficulty is 100% fair all of the time, but there isn't anything in the game that u can't play around. Whereas other 40 year old action games might’ve had more randomness or “gotcha” moments (something something mega man), almost every element of Castlevania feels well-balanced and considered: most enemies act in predictable ways that u can counter, the game always gives u the right sub-weapon for the situation ahead of time, and all power-ups (including the ever important wall chickens) are hidden, but they're in the same place every time, so it's up to u to find them. It may be a tough game, but master it and u will be rewarded :)

The Akumajō Dracula file select screen. It shows three save slots, each with the name given to the file by the player, what stage the player has reached, and how many continues they've used.

A small detail I love is how the file select screen keeps track of how many continues you've used, as if to taunt u by saying "I bet u can't get that number down to 0!"

Speaking of which, the fact that Castlevania launched with a save feature in Japan I think puts the game’s difficulty into context. Konami knew that they had made an incredibly tough game, and they didn't intend for anyone to beat it in one sitting. The option to try is there, but rather than force anyone to simply get good or quit, they decided it would be better to let players tackle the game at their own pace. And when they had to cut out the save feature in the cartridge rerelease, someone over there must have thought “hey, this is a bit much—let’s add an easy mode!”

Would I have had the confidence to try normal mode again had I not been given the opportunity to practice in easy mode first? Would I have had the patience to see this great game through to the end had I not been able to save right before Dracula? No one can say for sure, but my guess is “probably not.” And isn't that a bit sad? I believe, and I know that some may disagree (something something dark souls fans), that the inclusion of features like easy modes or infinite continues in crazy-hard games elevates the experience for everyone. More options won't take away the hardcore player’s ability to crush challenges that would make most shut the game off, but having reduced difficulty options available allows less skilled players to enjoy the same game, just in a less stressful environment that they can actually survive in. They can learn the ins and outs of a game slowly, before moving up to a more advanced difficulty when they feel prepared (or not, it’s up to them). The alternative is having them try a couple times and then give up, never growing to appreciate the game at all, just like what happened the last time I tried to play Castlevania.

And to those who would say: what about the intended experience? What about the developer’s vision? What if the game is about the difficulty?

I raise you this:

A screenshot of Mega Man Zero. A frightened-looking girl with a yellow ponytail wearing a pink helment & a pink shirt with black sleeves can be seen running away from some offscreen threat, as bullets fly past their heads. In the background, a man wearing a green beret, goggles, and a similar outfit is running with her.

Mega Man Zero 1 opens with Ciel, leader of the reploid Resistance, about to die. She and her rag-tag group are fleeing from Neo Arcadia: a cruel regime where reploids are treated as sub-human, mere robotic tools fit only to serve their human masters… and be disposed of if they show even a hint of rebellion. Although she managed to free a group of reploids and escape with them from Neo Arcadia’s walls, it’s too late. She's been cornered by Neo Arcadian forces, and there's nowhere left to run. Her only hope is a rumor of a legendary warrior, a red reploid sleeping somewhere nearby, one who goes by the name “Zero.”

Zero 1 is a very hard game, and it is about the difficulty. The whole game is a story of underdogs clawing their way back up from nothing, from nearly getting wiped out in the beginning to barging straight into the heart of Neo Arcadia and taking out their leader at the end. Even Zero, who's lost his memories after being asleep for 100 years, has to slowly regain his powers over time during gameplay. Of course the game is really hard! It's telling a story about hardship!

And yet, when I was much younger, I had a blast playing through the much easier “casual scenario” mode introduced in the DS Zero collection. I tried to play the games without it, and they were way too hard for me at the time, but that didn't matter—a less skilled player like me was able to have fun anyway. Years later, with much more gaming experience under my belt, I revisited the Zero games and beat all four of them on normal mode, which led in part to me becoming the Mega Man super-fan that I am today. I have a much greater appreciation for the design of these games than I did back then, and I’m a huge nerd about the incredible lore the Zero saga adds to the Mega Man universe; the fact that an easy mode exists doesn't do anything to affect my love for these games. After all, why would it? The easy option is the reason why I’m such a big fan in the first place! Kid floof wouldn't have started liking Mega Man if Capcom didn't put in an easy mode!! There were no downsides to giving the Zero games an optional difficulty for newer players, only benefits.

…right, so, how do i tie this back into castlevania again? (￣ω￣;)

Essentially, what I’m trying to say is: Castlevania kinda rules? It's fun, it's tough but fair (most of the time), it's accommodating for players of various skill levels, and it was the start of a series that gave me some of my favorite games of all time. What's not to like? :3

Next time on The Floofer Zone… i dunno. u think i plan this shit in advance?