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Retro Review: Castlevania III (1990)

Konami’s Castlevania franchise made a name for itself as a mainstay retro platformer thanks to its notorious difficulty, pop-horror allusions, and deep narrative lore. The popular genre known as “metroidvania” pays homage to the series as an innovator in non-linear platformer gameplay, a mechanic incorporated in titles such as Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and Symphony of the Night. Although the franchise’s releases in the past two decades have taken a backseat, Castlevania enjoyed renewed popularity with Netflix’s 2017 release of the acclaimed Castlevania TV series, which is bar-none the best video-game to film adaptation out there. Where so many other adaptations over the years have left us vaguely nauseous, what makes Castlevania different? In my opinion, the TV series is just the natural progression of a franchise that, since its first title, has always excelled when it comes to narrative story-telling, a point perhaps most clearly made in the game’s best titles, Castelvania III: Dracula’s Curse.

Castlevania III is a linear platformer in which the player assumes the role of Trevor Belmont, ancestor of the previous titles’ Simon Belmont, and one of a long line of monster hunters. The games invariably pit the Belmonts against the arch-fiend Dracula, first navigating through his deadly castle. Our tools for doing so are fairly simple. Belmont can walk and jump, and he can attack enemies with his iconic vampire-slayer whip. He can also pick up special weapons on the map such as a dagger or holy water, and team up with other adventurers with their own reasons for hunting Dracula, the proper use of which is vital for dealing with unforgiving boss fights.

The importance of narrative and lore and evident from the beginning of the game. The game opens with somber music, flashing lightning, and a textual introduction describing how the plague of Dracula’s curse has spread across 15th century Europe. It has become so dire that the people have called on the Belmonts, once exiled due to suspicion of their power. We see Trevor Belmont knelt piously in a ruined cathedral, and then the music picks up and the action begins. This intro gives the player so much great background to contextualize our endeavor. The goal, of course is simple: kill Dracula. The motivations, however, may be complex. Saving the world, certainly, factors in. But having been spurned and exiled by the people the Belmonts once protected, and who call on them for protection now, having been accused of witchcraft, in spite of your devoutness, there would certainly be a strong desire to restore the reputation of the family name. I don’t want to overstate the complexity of the characters here, but having a little more to their name than just the Guy Who Saves the World immediately invests the player in the narrative more than when playing Belmont’s more one-dimensional contemporaries like Mario or even Link.

Where Castelvania’s narrative really succeeds though is not in its incorporation of text, which is very sparse following the introduction, but in how it uses visual storytelling to craft a narrative wordlessly. The background artwork in each level block is unique and dynamic, and clearly defines a series of locations as the player approaches closer and closer to Dracula’s castle. In the first level, crumbling buildings, shattered windows, and decapitated statues situate us in a once great town that now lies in ruins. Clearly Drachula has already wreaked a great deal of havoc. Few buildings are intact, and there is no human being in sight, which makes it all the more disturbing when the player begins begins to be attacked by skeletons and zombies. Although the 8-bit graphics do not exactly allow for Castelvania III to be a scary game as such, the morbidity of knowing the fate of the villagers creates an underlying sense of horror that makes for a richer experience in the game.

As the player advances through the levels, they are faced with several choices about which path to follow, leading to entirely different sets of vividly designed levels. They may choose to approach Dracula’s castle by ship, crossing the moat, and teaming up with the Sorceress Syfa. Alternatively, they may approach through network of caves and catacombs, encountering Dracula’s son, Alucard, another playable character, in the process. The player can choose their own path, and with it a variety of different level designs, character abilities, and narrative points. The amount of care that goes into building the particular narrative through level design makes each level memorable since they each fill a unique role. It also makes the payoff of finally defeating Dracula all the more satisfying, knowing the long journey Belmont has had to complete in order to complete his quest. A brief text cutscene at the end wraps up the narrative, adjusting based on the which path and characters the player uses. Even though the amount of explicit narrative about each character we get in the game is sparse, this final nod to story and character is a satisfying resolution to a game that does a great job building a deep and exciting universe which would come to inspire many future titles.

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