So, the era of the Dracula series ended on Family Computer – the first act in Castlevania life. The time of the father of the franchise – Hitoshi Akamatsu ended. But Castlevania further grew without its creator, while not losing the characteristic features that Akamatatsu-san brought him. And all the features. Thought out gam-design, diverse gameplay, magnificent and memorable sound, stylish design. All these foundations that the Hitoshi laid down did not disappear in the future, and even, on the contrary, developed very actively and finalized.
So after the second part, spin-off was developed, in which Hitoshi Akamatsu did not take part. And during the development of his final game in this series, a portable successor was already developed on the only gaining popularity of the portable console from Nintendo – Game Boy.
But this is not a new act on the path of this series, this is only a small halt before a big trip on a long another 20 years. And such stops will be after each significant period of time in the life of the franchise. Therefore, I suggest you sit down a little, pour yourself with hot coffee or tea, depending on your preferences, and find out how a series of Dracula began to conquer the already “pocket” gamers of that time.
By 1989, the series about Dracula was well known in Japan and in the West. By that time, two license plates on Famicom, one on MSX and another on the arcade gland were released. In Konami bins, Hitoshi prepared the third part, and she should go out at the end of the same year.
In the same year, Nintendo was ready for the first portable console. The essence of the device was that you could take your favorite game in your pocket and play, where you would like it (well, where there was good lighting, since this toy did not have a screen of the screen). Previously, the same Nintendo already had portable prefixes – Game and Watch. But the bitterness was that each prefix was with a separate game that could not be changed. And Game Boy has everything different. You can play any game that you have. That is, like Famicom, only in your pocket!
And what does any console sell? Right! These are games. And Nintendo needed loud and good games. On the launch of the console, the big n released a couple of small games and a new part about a mustachioed plumber. But the prefix needed even loud names, so Nintendo turned to its longtime partners, who had long made good games on Famicom, and one of these companies became Konami.
Konami by that time had enough cunning franchises. Take the same Contra or Gradius. But the leadership decided to make the pioneer his other series. And this series became … Well, of course, Castlevania, what else did you expect to see? The most interesting thing is that Akumajou Densetsu and a new game about Dracula on Game Boy were developed in parallel. Maybe even that game began to be developed later than most. But she came out before.
It was in October 1989 https://pirate-spins.uk/ that the Japanese market saw Dracula Densetsu (Per. Ang.: "Legend of Dracula"; per. Rus.: "Legend of Dracula"). The development was led by Masato Maegawa (Yoshiaki Yamada) and Yoshiaki Yamada. Maygawa is known as the developer Gunstar Heroes and Sin and Punishment, and, possibly, even as the founder of Treasure Company. But all this will happen in his career in the future, and at the moment Dracula Densetsu is his first project. And it is very clearly visible. And Yoshiaki Yamada, Gradius 2 and Track & Field II, was engaged in the development of this game. But still there is a feeling that Dracula Densetsu is also a pen of the pen for him. And I will explain it a bit later. In the meantime, the plot.
Transylvania is a small country in Europe, and it is connected with the legend of the evil demon. With his great evil force, the legacy of Count Dracula terrified people. However, it doesn’t matter how many times Dracula was returning to life, he could not plunge the world into darkness. All thanks to Simon – the descendant of the Belmont clan.
Devil Dracula lived long before the confrontation of Simon. Not like a devil, but like an evil sorcerer. Count Draculus was very interested in otherworldly forces and dark rituals. So he built an ominous castle on the outskirts of Transylvania and performed devilish experiments every night. He called the powerful demons from the infernal world to serve the count. And Dracula himself tried to get eternal life. So he became the king of demons in reality – Prince of Darkness.
Every day the graph forces grew. His army grew. The prince of darkness sowed horror for the whole Transylvania until one person once came. The descendant of the ancient clan is Christopher Belmondo. Christopher went to personally captivate the self -navigated prince once and for all. I wonder if he will manage to cope with such a terrifying force of the Count Dracula?
And again we have a story that Dracula wants to drown the whole of Europe with darkness, and another Belmont decided to interfere with this. But the most interesting thing is that in the Manul of this game it is mentioned that this is his first attempt to capture the world of people. More precisely, hints for this. But we already know that earlier Dracula had already attempted to Europe, and he failed. And also it proves that at that time they did not care about the plot of the games and the elaboration of Laura too. But not because of the plot, we play this series of games, but because of the worked out and atmospheric gameplay. Right?
So. Dracula Densetsu was unlucky to be the first game from the Dracula series on Game Boy, one of the first game in general on a pocket console, and even the first game Masato Maygava. Why do I think so? Now we will analyze.
But to begin with, I would like to say that Game Boy was a console, of course, close to Famicom in iron, but still being a console weaker for that time. This is due to its compactness. Dracula Densetsu is different from its older brothers. And I am not about the visual and musical part, more on that later. I’m talking about gameplay and game design component.
Gameplayino Christopher knows the same as Simon and Trevor. He jumps only in the arc. Hits a whip, which can also become stronger after each improvement. But this Belmont cannot use additional weapons. Because of this, the location design must be built taking into account this omission. And also taking into account the fact that Christopher’s whip improves differently.
First, this Belmont is given Vampire Killer, then the whip improves to the Morning Star, and to the immediately elongated. Well, and the third improvement what? And our third is Fireball Whip. This new whip for the series. When impact, the fire ball throws forward. Sounds like a very useful feature, and it is such. But at a time to improve the whip to the fire and go through the whole game would be too simple (by the way, the whip improves with special balls). Therefore, Maygava and Yamada decided that the Christopher, after each blow, was dropped to the previous one. Sounds as a logical solution, and in principle, it is.
Yamada and Maygawa, having deprived the players to use additional weapons, gave in return the whip, which shoots Fireball. This is actually a good alternative, and so you need to do. Another distinctive feature of this game is ropes that are scattered at all levels and are the replacement of the stairs.
How can you logically think about it, the hero will climb upstairs on them. But in certain segments of the game of these ropes, there are many. And okay, if they were somehow correctly placed and not very annoyed, but no. Sometimes, in order to jump on them or jump from one rope to another, you need to read the trajectory of the jump right to the pixel, otherwise the kayuk. And, and Christopher, when he hangs on a rope, cannot beat a whip, which is also sometimes angry, but far from always.
And what really infuriates is jumping. More precisely, their crookedness. This, comrades, is kibead. I understand that gamed -designers have little experience in developing games, Game Boy is a new console, and it was difficult to figure it out, but why one of the main mechanics of the game was made crookedly? Well, sometimes, sometimes to jump to a certain platform, you need to have a scientific degree in physics. And it will be in the very first level
By the way, later Contra has such a problem on Game Boy, although the game will be released in 1991. So that you understand, Christopher is not jumping along a long arc, as his descendant and grandfather did, but on a narrower. That is, if two blocks jumped in front of them on Famicom/Nes, then Christopher barely jumped only one!
Okay, you cannot make a character jump, as in past parts. You can forgive this. But then it was possible to build levels taking into account this normally! But no. The players are mocking us. I understand that the game should be difficult, but if the player in this game dies, then this is 80-85% due to the fault of the game itself! Because the character on the pixel did not jump to the platform. Anyway, the game is built in such a way that everything passes to.
Take, for example, the entire third level. We will have time to reach a safe place until the press from the spikes will crush us. We will climb the endless number of ropes in order to have time to leave the rising platform with spikes. And then run away along the winding corridors from a large wall with spikes. Yes, there is also a fetish on spikes. In addition to the third stage with spikes, the fourth is also half dedicated to spikes. Only. And you need to jump on them.
It’s good that the game itself is short. Just 4 levels: forest, caves, some rooms with spikes and Dracula’s castle. And honestly. In each level there is something memorable. In the first, these are small platforms that you need to jump. Secondly, it is a bridge with exploding eyes. Third … – Spikes. Fourth, too, spikes. Well, in the second, there is also an element of raminess. More precisely, there is a place where the premises are piled and you need to find the right passage.
