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Castlevania Reviews - Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse 
Castlevania III: In 1990, Castlevania 3 was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Castlevania 3 was a return to the gameplay style of Castlevania 1 after Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest (The oddity of the Nintendo trilogy). Once again breaking candles was the way to upgrade the whip and sub-weapons. Trevor Belmont, the hero of this Castlevania adventure, also looked much like Simon Belmont from the first Castlevania, with his brown outfit. At the beginning of the game though, we notice that Trevor wears a cape. The game begins in the town of Warikaya, in the year 1492. Trevor is the first male Belmont that we know of so far to face the evil of Dracula. Many of the enemies in this game have the exact same animations as in Castlevania 1, such as the flea men ( Igors ), bone pillars, skeletons and bats, though the zombies have a different look. I've read that in the Japanese version, the flea men somehow became frogs, and Trevor is named Ralph. ( Ralph Belmont? Sounds more like a used car salesman than a vampire hunter. ) Level 8 is a deja vu of level 1 of Castlevania. Oddly enough, the "Vampire Killer" theme song which plays is also known as "Deja Vu". Unlike the other Castlevanias up to this point, CV 3 allowed the playing of 4 different characters. Here is a look at what they can do. 
The Characters: Trevor Belmont: The typical Belmont, Trevor attacks with the family whip. Starts as a leather whip, first upgrade is the chain whip ( short morningstar ), and second upgrade is the legendary vampire killer ( morningstar ). Sub-weapons used: Axes, Throwing Daggers, Stopwatch, Cross Boomerang, Holy Water. Alucard: The first game appearance of Dracula's son Alucard is in CV 3. Alucard attacks with fireballs that start as one bolt, then are upgraded to 2 and 3. They are actually weak unless all 3 hit at once. Sub-weapons used: Alucard uses his hearts to keep up his flight as a bat, and may also use a Stopwatch. 
Sypha Belnades: A female vampire hunter hidden under a blue-white cloak, Sypha attacks with a staff. Not as powerful as a whip, but it doesn't matter when you are breaking a frozen enemy. Sub-weapons used: Fire Tongue, Ice Crystals, Ball Lightning, Stopwatch. Grant Danasty: A pirate whose family was murdered by Dracula, Grant is the first spirit helper you can find in CV 3. He can climb walls and change direction in mid-jump. His main weapon is a dagger. Sub-weapons used: Throwing Daggers, Axes, Stopwatch. Difficulty: The enemies and bosses in Castlevania 3 make this one challenging. It routinely takes several tries to beat a level and boss or sometimes bosses. Some of the jumps can be difficult to execute to, like trying to balance on a see-saw like plank or jumping upon blocks as other blocks fall from the sky. It's no picnic, but this can be a good thing. It's not quite as difficult as Castlevania 1 but much more difficult than CV 2. Certain characters work well on certain areas. "I brood, alone in my corner." | ||||
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Grant's jumping and climbing and Alucard's flying can help in the difficult jumping parts, and Sypha and Trevor work best on the bosses, Sypha with spells and Trevor's vampire killer. Get used to seeing: the cyclops, the mummies, the bone knight and the vampire bat. They show up a few times. It's also interesting to beat this one with all 3 secondary characters with you, and also you can try to beat it alone.
