Castlevania

HahAHaaahahahahaha!! ..

no

Didn't rate this on its release and I don't care for it now. Music is poor, graphics are clunky and gameplay is badly hampered by the controls.
There's a weird 'lag' between you and the central character which is compounded by the fact the enemies move too fast, the collision detection is at best questionable and the jumping feels off. Add in some really cheap deaths and the whole things a no from me.
There's worse in this genre on the C64 but also much better.

Like everybody says, play the NES version instead. The C64 is capable of way better than this. Some talented C64 coder should make some kind of remake. The Spectrum got one and it very good. See here spectralinterlude.com/ .

Not as goot as the NES version but still a descent and playable C64 game. Most C64 platformers are far worse than this. Music is not that good. The SID can do better.

The Bad: collision is off, enemy speed too fast, jumping mechanics are skewed.

The Good: the music, familiar game play.

I rated it a 6. The NES version is an 8, so that should give you some perspective. I recommend playing with a gamepad instead of a joystick and giving it a little patience. There are far worse action platformers for the C64.

Someone mentioned the PSX-version being 'the best Castlevania'. This is not necessarily true. I recommend watching the AVGN Castlevaniathon for good arguments of why that claim is wrong.

AVGN really makes some good points, and after playing all those different versions, I agree that the SNes "Super Castlevania IV" is the best game in the series, in all possible ways - with the only exception being the music, which can sound pretty uninspired a lot of the time compared to some other games (though the PSX-version has awful 'heavy guitar' style crap, which I would classify as 'non-music') in the series.

The Megadrive "Bloodlines" is pretty good as well, although nothing really compares to the Super Castlevania IV.

So - although I do like the PSX-version (though it's probably too hard for me), it's a bit too much style over substance, with additions of unnecessary kinds (the RPG and Metroid elements) and Super Castlevania IV simply gets -everything- right (you can even get used to the uninspiring music).

So, the PSX-version is NOT unquestionably the best in the series - to some, it can be, and from certain perspectives it might appear that way, but I STRONGLY suggest playing the Super Castlevania IV thoroughly before making up your mind about it, if you like Castlevania games.

In my opinion, AVGN is right about this - Super Castlevania IV is certainly the best game in the series. But there are lots of good games in it, and the PSX-version is certainly good.

Why do some people keep insisting this is an Arcade original? The only arcade version of this game is a "Playchoice-10" version, which is practically just a slightly modified NES inside a cabinet, running the NES version of the game.

The C64 version is horrible.

Music is way too slow, and badly executed - even I could make a better rendition of the tune for the C64, easily.

Gameplay is completely changed - gone is the fluidity and the 'right feel', and instead you have this illogical pause between doing something, and the sprite on the screen obeying, that throws everything off. The enemies move faster and appear quicker, so you have to completely redefine the way you play this, if you have just been playing the NES version.

Climbing the stairs is a pain.

Of course the NES version is a hard game, but the way the ghosts zoom all over the place is ridiculous. In the NES version, there is a balance there - the first levels are easy, and you don't get hit, unless you really fumble. The ghosts are easy, but not -too- easy.

With the C64 version, it's impossible to navigate the ghosts in a coherent manner - they simply zap all around you before you can make even one painfully slow, poorly drawn, lores whip movement.

The sprite looks horrible, the color choices are awful, and the graphics all in all look like they have kept the NES limitations (that the C64 doesn't have), and then worsened a lot.

The animations are almost non-existent (look at the ghosts and compare to the NES version), and the candles diminish into the background, making it messy and unclear to see them. In the NES version, they are always easy to spot, very clearly separate from the background.

Everything is sluggish and slow with your character in the C64 version, but the enemies zoom around without difficulties, making this even harder than the NES version.

In 1990, programmers were creating beautiful things on the C64, and the main sprite could have easily been a combination of hires+lores sprites to match the original, or even surpass it! Instead, we get this lazy "let's just quickly mash something together and call it castlevania"-rip-off.

Whoever enjoyed this must have been under the influence of some certain substances..

The C64 conversion of the NES original does not look as good as the console version but plays very well IMO. The only drawback is the slow whip speed, takes a while to get the timing down but it's nothing a keen gamer couldn't manage. Music and sound f/x are good, the SID variant of the good old Castlevania main theme is pretty cool in my opinion. I'm a huge Castlevania fan and have played almost any incarnation of the series and the Commie port lets me feel right at home. Good one, Mr. Stewart. 7/10.

The more than excellent n0sd0s-version of Castlevania that the dudes from Nostalgia released as a Xmas present in 2010 wonderfully solves my previous mentioned problem regarding the loading of level 2. In fact, the loading-time itself is solved as well: almost vaporized into thin air!

A big thanks to S! R and Fungus of the Nostalgia-crew!

Not so blech, I agree with bronstein. I just played Castlevania with Vice64, and I must say I rather enjoyed the game untill the emulator stopped loading after level 1. The graphics are actually the same standard as the original arcade.

The music in the C=64 version of this game is also pretty good, I liked hearing it back after all those years. When I first got a crack of Castlevania, I felt kind of ashamed because of the lousy graphics, but not anymore after checking the coin-op screen shots. All in all not a bad conversion for the Commodore.

Blech. It was very OK on the NES and MSX2, and it's mediocre here. The C64 could produce much better graphics and sounds (seriously, this looks like something from 1986, not 1990), and the controls are broken, even compared the the stiff original's.

Don't bother.

Rather boring, horrid sound, though graphics are alright. Worth a few plays, but it's really not my bag as games go.

I find this one rather solid, it's nice that they released a Commie version in the first place (at least in America, to my knowledge it remained unreleased and therefore largely ignored over here in Europe).

A horrible conversion of the NES game. Stick with the NES version, it's not broken.

I liked this game on NES. But on the C64 it fails to even match it. More programming effort on this game and it could of cut the mustard.

This game came out just a few years too late. Had it been released at the same time as the NES or MSX versions then it would have really been good, but seeing how it was outclassed by so many other games by then, it really fell flat.

Try Castlevania X: Symphony of the Night on PSOne, it's the best Castlevania game in the series.

Comparing C64 vs. NES screens, it is true the NES has slightly better graphics, but not by much. However, this is still an accurate port of the original game. Almost every detail from the NES is here, including the music and sounds, and the gameplay is near identical. I was never a big fan of the original NES version because the gameplay was not very fluid. Same thing with the C64 version.

This is an okay game based on a very good game. The music is gargled compared to the NES counter part, the graphics are washed out looking, and the controller is a little sloppier. Compare to the NES version it is a little worse in every way.

Well said frsh.

Castlevania is a very bad game. Your standard platform game from japan which ends up making lots of fanboys, lots of sequels and lots of money. Like Mega Man.

If you are into Commodore... Why would you want to play this crap? Arent we supposed to be inmune to this overhyped console shit?

I first played this game on the NES in 1988. Then I tried it on the C64 in 1990. Neither one impressed me very much; in fact I found it rather annoying, almost too difficult to play, and a damn near-impossible-to-read password book to operate the game. On the whole, I found this game to be rather primitive, even for the C64.

At first I want to say that this is a C64 site, everyone is mentioning other ports of the games. But now I'll join the club. I just wanna share I hate al those people talking about NES Castlevania... Does nobody know it all started on the MSX with Vampire Killer? That's by far superiour to all other versions... In all ports, where have the level key's gone? A trivial part of the game left out...
On the other hand for C64 it's not that bad. Though the music is not clean...

Interesting conversion... My chief complaint, however, is the very poor player control. Too bad they didn't spend a bit more time on that and it would have a very decent conversion.

One of the better arcade ports imo. Though both the origninal NES game and the Amiga version rules without arguments, this version holds a decent playtrough with somewhat of that "right CV feeling".

Okay... This is coming from a die-hard Castlevania fan:

For the C-64, it's a good game that plays quite well. However, to me it just doesn't have the overall "feel" that made the original console games my all-time favorites. The music is slightly out of tune in places, and the Simon Belmont sprite doesn't have the "look" that makes the Belmonts. Again, this is coming from a die-hard Castlevania fan, so my standards tend to be pretty high in this case. It is a good game, however, and I definitely recommend it. The C-64 version is actually better than the Amiga version... Believe it or not.

A near perfect conversion of the NES hit game. Its a lot of fun as long as you are patient and can put up with the odd cheap death (falling off the stairs is common). There are still sequels for this game being produced.