CR Pachinko Castlevania

Game Overview

Konami developed quite a selection of gambling machines over the years, from the early days of Wai Wai BingoIn the early 1990s Konami started making gambling machines for the Japanese market. Some of these, like this four-by-four "bingo" title, had connections to the Castlevania series. Wai Wai Bingo was the first such title. to their line of Pachislot CastlevaniaThe first of Konami's pachislot games for the Castlevania series, this game features Trevor Belmont on his quest around the time of Castlevania: Curse of Darkness, as well as, of course, lots of gambling. titles. However, one type of machine Konami had yet to actually produce was a proper pachinko game; although their titles appeared in the various arcades and pachinko parlors, Konami veered more towards pachislot titles, in part because those games required vastly fewer mechanical parts to run and maintain.

That's not to say there wasn't a pachinko game in the Castlevania series, simply that Konami didn't officially produce one. Instead they licensed their property over to Takasago Electric Industry, a maker of a number of pachinko games, and let that company handle development and distribution. The resulting game, CR Pachinko Castlevania (titled CR Pachinko Akumajo Dracula in Japan, with the "Akumajo Dracula" translating as "Demon Castle Dracula") is about what you'd expect from a pachinko game: you put in tokens, get a selection of little metal balls to shoot into the machine, and depending on where you shoot/drop them, the balls will bounce into various cradles. You could win more balls based on what slots they fall into, and even activate boss battle mini-games to play.

The boss battles are probably the most interesting part. These share a thread with the pachislot games Konami was producing: you'll see a cut-scene play, and then you're supposed to push a button at the right times to activate further actions. Play it right and you'll win even more balls to play with. And, of course, you can cash out your balls at any time for tokens/tickets to cash in for prizes. It's the standard gambling feedback loop we've seen from all the other, official Castlevania gambling machines, just with pachinko this time around.

What's interesting is that unlike the other gambling games we've covered so far, which either just used a selection of Konami mascots or focused on retelling the adventures of Trevor BelmontThe third Belmont revealed in the release history of the franchise, Trevor's clout among fans has grown. Between love for his first game, and his starring role in the Castlevania anime, Trevor is perhaps even more popular now than even Simon., this pachinko game seems to be set around the time of Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of BloodThe first adventure for Richter Belmont, this game didn't originally make it to the West (instead seeing a SNES remake to replace it) as was considered something of a prized collector's item by fans., featuring Richter BelmontRevealed first in Castlevania Dracula X: Rondo of Blood in Japan, and then Castlevania: Dracula X in the West, Richter is the Belmont hero of the late 1700s who worked with Maria Renard to bring down Dracula. and Maria RenardA young heroine, and cousin to Richter Belmont, with the blood of the Belmont clan in her veins, Maria teams with Richter to fight back Dracula and the forces of darkness in the late 1700s.. It also, curiously, features a lot of "erotic violence" (literally tagged as such in the game's trailer). Apparently eroticism is pretty prevalent in Pachinko and Pachislot games, so this isn't outside the norm. It's just odd to see with these characters and in any licensed Castlevania game.

Over all, though, this is exactly what you'd expect from a pachinko game: a bit of twitch game play, a lot of luck, and so many tiny ball bearings. Although certain collectors and gaming parlors in the U.S. have gotten these machines, they're still a rarity outside of Japan's shores, so the likelihood of seeing one of these out in the wild is still pretty slim. Consider this an oddity for the series, for all the reasons stated above.