Castlevania Iii Dracula Curse Remake

• Castlevania 3 Grant
• Dracula's Curse 2006

Here's the one we've been waiting for. Konami's Castlevania series is one of the gaming industry's longest-running and most successful franchises, and it got its start on the 8-bit NES. The first established the style and setting, and has been available for download through the Virtual Console for a long time. The second Castlevania, continued the saga and introduced adventure elements to the platforming design - and it, too, has been on sale in the Wii Shop for a while. But the NES Castlevania trilogy didn't reach its peak until the third installment, Dracula's Curse.

Which, now, is also finally available in VC form.takes a step back from the adventure elements of its direct predecessor, and is instead a more straightforward and linear action/platforming game like the first Castlevania. That said, though, there are several new ideas included here that elevate the experience - from the interesting inclusion of multiple paths through the game's set of levels, to the even more interesting inclusion of multiple playable characters. Trevor Belmont is the primary hero this time around. An ancestor of Simon Belmont (as this game is set in the past relative to Castlevania I and II), Trevor wields the Vampire Killer whip as you'd expect, and also has access to the standard set of secondary weapons - the holy water, the boomerang, the stopwatch. He's your basic Belmont.

But though you can choose to cruise through the entire journey with just Trevor if you like, you'll also have the option to recruit three different companions along the way.Pick+your+partner. Grant DaNasty is your first possible partner, a small and agile pirate who first attacks you as the boss of the clock tower level, but then offers to join your journey once you break the curse possessing him. His fighting ability is limited in range, as he's armed with only a short stabbing knife - his benefit, though, is his incredible mobility. He's able to cling to sheer vertical walls and ceilings, duck to avoid projectiles, and change directions in mid-air while jumping.

Playing as Grant is the closest thing you've ever going to get to controlling Spider-Man in a Castlevania title, and his dexterity in this debut appearance made him a fan favorite character. Sypha Belnades is the second option. A white-robed sorceress who you'll rescue from the clutches of a hammer-wielding Cyclops, she's nowhere near as agile as Grant. Her ability, though, is her powerful spellcasting - she's the only character who can access the high-damage fire, ice and thunder spells hidden throughout each level. She's also got a bit of a Samus Aran vibe going on, too, as the game introduces her as a man - she's only revealed to be a woman in the end credits. (That's no major spoiler, guys.

Everybody knew it already.) Finally, the last available ally is Alucard - the most notable of all characters, since he went on to become the primary protagonist in the incredible seven years after this first appearance. He's not nearly as capable a character here in 8-bit form, as his height and sluggish pace make him an easy target for Dracula's minions. His counterbalancing positive features, though, are his power to project fairly long-range fireballs and his ability to transform into a bat. If you've saved up enough collectible hearts to fuel it, the bat transformation can help you bypass huge areas of many stages (and avoid unnecessary confrontations with enemies along the way). The sheer variety of the four different characters' play styles made feel totally fresh when it first arrived in 1990, and choosing between the partners still feels like a novel feature today - no Castlevania game since has surpassed this number of playable heroes, to my knowledge. Dracula's Curse also innovated with its path progression system, which allowed you to choose from a variety of different ways to get to the final showdown with Dracula. The clock tower where you meet Grant, for instance, is an optional stage - if you have no interest in recruiting the pirate, you can skip straight past it and move on.

And beyond that, you'll be able to pick whether to cross the lake in front of Castlevania by riding on a ghost ship, or else trudging through a series of caves and swamps to make your way around to the other side of the castle. Altogether, there are several different ways to play through Dracula's Curse - and you'll never see every single stage in just one session.Pick+your+path. Those core positive points - the multiple characters, and multiple paths - are more than enough reason for you to put down five bucks for a download right away. (And that's not even taking into account the superb soundtrack, which is one of the best from the NES.) Castlevania III isn't all amazing, though, and there are certainly a few negatives to address as well. This is an 8-bit Castlevania title, and it handles like one - with the exception of Grant, the characters move slowly and can't change the directions of their jumps in mid-air, making platforming a tricky undertaking. Your characters also all drop like rocks off of ledges, meaning the slightest misstep or timing error in judging a jump could very well see your hero plummeting to a fast death off the bottom of the screen. The challenge is considerable, too - some more modern Castlevania games have been fairly easy to play through, but this older entry isn't to be taken lightly.

Castlevania III isn't the hardest of the series, but it's definitely tough - you're likely to die, a lot, before getting the hang of it and charging deep into Dracula's dungeons. (If you enter your name as Help Me, though, you'll get a bonus of 10 extra lives to start your adventure with.) And lastly, you'll find your team of heroes will be limited to only two at a time. Though you can recruit Grant, or Sypha, or Alucard, that conjunction's always 'or.' You can never have more than one of them with you at a time, and you're also never allowed to leave Trevor behind. No Grant plus Alucard tag-teams, true believers.

Castlevania 3 Grant

VerdictCastlevania III: Dracula's Curse is an excellent game, and one of the best adventures the 8-bit NES had to offer now nearly two decades ago. Its age will be made apparent to modern players through its challenge level and the stiffness of its control, which could be frustrating for fans only familiar with the more modern, smoother installments of this same series - but its innovative inclusion of multiple playable characters and branching paths through levels more than make up for any negative aspects. Its soundtrack, too, is one of the best you'll ever here from an 8-bit title. For only 500 Wii Points, Castlevania III is one of the best options for your money on the Virtual Console. Download it to complete your digital collection of 8-bit Castlevania hits, or just grab it on its own - its quality stands alone, even without its predecessors.

NES gamepad:Gamepad control:Player 1:Player 2:↑↑-↓↓-←←-→→-AZ-BX-SELECTShift-STARTEnter-Emulator selection:The following emulators are a­vai­lab­le for this game: (Ja­va­Script), (Flash), (JS) and (Java).Other platforms:Unfortunately, this game is cur­rent­ly available only in this ver­si­on. Be patient:-)Game info:box coverGame title:Castlevania III: Dracula’s CurseConsole:Author (released):Konami (1989)Genre:Action, PlatformMode:Single-playerDesign:Hitoshi Akamatsu, Yasuo Okuda, Mitsuo Takemoto.Music:Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto.Game manual:File size:1016 kBDownload:Game size:242 kBRecommended emulator:From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is the third and final Castlevania video game produced for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was published by Konami in Japan in 1989.

Dracula's Curse 2006

The plot of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse is a prequel to the original Castlevania set a few centuries before the events of the original game. The game's protagonist is Trevor C. Belmont, an ancestor of the original hero Simon Belmont.Castlevania III abandons the action-adventure game and role playing game elements of its immediate predecessor Castlevania II: Simon's Quest and returns to the platform game roots of the first Castlevania title. Unlike Castlevania, however, Castlevania III is non-linear: Trevor, the main character, can be assisted by one of three possible assistant characters, and after completing the first level, and at several other points throughout the game, the player is given a choice of two branching paths to follow. The player can obtain multiple endings depending on the choices they make throughout the game.There are two main routes through the game's fifteen stages. The second stage is an optional excursion for picking up one of the three partner characters, and the main branch occurs part way through the third stage.

Each route contains total of nine stages (ten if the player takes the optional second stage). The upper route takes the player across the lake to the main bridge, entering Dracula's castle through the front gate, and is generally regarded as the easier of the two routes. The lower route takes the player through a series of underground tunnels and cavernous areas, eventually scaling the cliff side below the castle, and is generally considered more difficult than the upper route. The lower route also features one short branching section of its own at stage 6.

The two paths converge in the main hall of the castle.The year is 1476, and Count Dracula has started to ravage Europe with an army of monsters. The Belmont family of vampire hunters, once exiled from Wallachia, are called into action by the Church.