Castlevania 1, 2, and 3 - NES

Castlevania is not just a game, but an entire franchise for Konami. Yeah, we tend to think of the Wii title that flopped recently, but it's definitely one of those series that will go on for a long time. The story is simple: Dracula is alive and well; he commands an army of darkness; the Belmont family has a tradition of killing vampires. Yes, we all remember the whips, the crosses, and funny potions. Where else can you battle the Grim Reaper, the Sand Man, Frankenstein, and Medussa in one game? Let's travel back in time for a minute and look back at these classic games. 

The first one was basic. You side-scrolled your way through levels, grabbed hearts, and fought bosses. You had a whip and a little knife to throw, and that was enough to make a classic. I know I beat this game, but I can't even remember what the pitiful ending was. It might have just been a picture of you looking at the castle with words scrolling up... which is usually the case in old NES games. 

The second one was totally different. Coined as, "Simon's Quest", it became more of an RPG mixed with elements from Metroid. You had to complete quests and find runes, all while defeating ghouls and goblins of all types. Bosses lead to more questions and questions lead to more quests. There were events in the day and events in the night. I remember beating this game, but I don't think I liked it too much. 

The third one of the first trilogy involved one of my favorite characters, Alucard (of course that's Dracula spelled backwards). He's on his quest to defeat his own father. Now the gameplay of this one is more like the first one, but for the first time, there were more than one main character. The clock-tower was one of those places that burned into my memory; something about jumping and having medusa heads loom towards you made me hate that level. 

The Belmont family continues!

Completion: Beat the game:

Castlevania - 20 hrs

Castlevania 2 - 40 hrs

Castlevania 3 - 20 hrs 

Hours Spent: approx. 60 hrs.

Check out the Angry Video-game Nerd bashing Castlevania 2: