The Amiga version of Konami‘s classic Castlevania was ported by Novotrade and first released in 1990. I was surprised and excited that the first Castlevania had actually been released for the Amiga, but after playing it I kinda wish they hadn’t bothered, because it’s bloody awful.
Tag Archives: platform game
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, NES/Famicom
The third game in the Castlevania series, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, was first released for the Nintendo Famicom in 1989 in Japan (under the title of “Akumajō Densetsu“). A North American NES release followed in 1990, and a European release in 1992.
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Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, NES/Famicom
The second game in the Castlevania series, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, was originally released in Japan (as “Dracula II – Noroi no Fuuin“) for the Famicom Disk System in 1987, and in North America for the NES in 1988. Europe had to wait until 1990 for a release of the game.
Castlevania, NES/Famicom
The first Castlevania game was initially released in Japan, by Konami, under the title of “Akumajō Dracula” in 1986. Versions for the MSX2 and Famicom Disk System were developed simultaneously, with the Famicom version coming out on 26th September, and the MSX version a month later, on 30th October. That same game was later released in Europe on 30th October 1987 – translated into English – under the title of “Vampire Killer“.
When it came time to convert the game to the Nintendo Entertainment System for a North American release it was decided to re-title the game as “Castlevania“*. This turned out to be a significant decision as it became a big hit and grew to become a popular and well-known series of video games. The name “Castlevania” entered into the lexicon of classic, instantly-recognisable game titles, later becoming a portmanteau of “Metroid” and “Castlevania” (“Metroidvania“) to describe an entire sub-genre of action/platform games that all share similar gameplay features.
*= Although it’s not clear who actually came up with the name “Castlevania” it has been reported that the change was due to Konami of America senior vice president Emil Heidkamp‘s discomfort with the religious connotations of the title “Akumajō Dracula“, which he believed translated as “Dracula Satanic Castle” (although some argue that it translates as “Demon Castle Dracula“).
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Sega Saturn
Konami‘s brilliant PlayStation game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1998, but it was only ever released in Japan (under the title “Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku“). Thankfully, an English translation patch is available to make the game playable to those who can’t read Japanese. The patch – created by ‘Knight of Dragon’ – also features numerous bug fixes and improvements.
For those who’ve never played Symphony of the Night before: it is a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood and is rightly regarded as one of the best Castlevania games in the long-running series (if not THE best).
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Avenging Spirit, Arcade
Avenging Spirit was developed by C.P. Brain and distributed into arcades by Jaleco in 1991. It is an obscure platform/action game about the ghost of a dead man avenging the abduction of his girlfriend.
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude, ZX Spectrum
Castlevania: Spectral Interlude is a free-to-download homebrew Castlevania game for the ZX Spectrum, developed and published by Rewind (a Russian indie team) in 2015. The game is playable on 128K Spectrums only and is available digitally for Spectrum +3s as a disk-based game, and also as a TAP file. A limited number of physical copies were also produced for sale.
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Penguin Land, Sega Master System
Penguin Land is a cute and devilish platform puzzle game developed and published by Sega – exclusively for the Sega Master System – in 1987. The original Japanese title of the game is “Doki Doki Penguin Land Uchū Daibōken“.
Shatterhand, NES/Famicom
Shatterhand is a scrolling action game in which you play a young police officer – called Steve Hermann – who has lost his arms and has had them replaced with enhanced, cybernetic limbs, and is in pursuit of a group of military renegades called “Metal Command“.
Shatterhand was developed by Natsume and originally published for the Nintendo Famicom by Angel under the title of “Tokkyū Shirei Soruburein” in 1991. That version of the game is based on the Japanese TV series “Super Rescue Solbrain“. The US and European versions, published by Jaleco, removed the licensed elements, changed the backstory, and re-titled the game as “Shatterhand” for Western audiences. One level was also completely changed – from a carnival level in the Japanese version, to a submarine level in the American version. The gameplay in both versions is identical, though.
Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, Sega Master System
The Sega Master System version of Capcom‘s classic arcade game, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts, was developed and published by Sega in 1989, and it is a cut-down version of the original and is also easier to play.
The King of Grabs 