Castlevania Chronicles III: Dracula's Curse

Review by Mike Finkelstein

The original three Castlevania NES games are good. CastlevaniaThe game that started the series, the original Castlevania was hailed for its combination of action and platforming, all wrapped in Gothic style, to create one of Konami's earliest Million Sellers. launched a franchise, Castlevania II: Simon's QuestThe first true sequel in the franchise, and one of the few direct sequels ever released. It was the first game in the series to introduce players to the concepts that would eventually become the Metroidvania genre. was a solid, if strange, sequel that did a lot to grow what the series could be, and Castlevania III: Dracula's CurseThe third, and final, NES entry for the series, Dracula's Curse returned the series to its roots with a more traditional adventure. But it also added in branching paths, multiple characters, and new hero Trevor Belmont. was a refined iteration of the original game’s concept, made bigger, longer, and harder. For fans of those games, revisiting them felt like going back to a little, retro home, but there’s no denying that, over the years, the art style and general vibes of the franchise had moved on from those games. Titles like Super Castlevania IVOfficially a remake in Japan, this was the first entry in the series for 16-bit consoles, and is often considered among the best Castlevania games ever made. and Castlevania: BloodlinesThe first Castlevania game for a Sega console, this title marked the introduction of elements from Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula, into the game series. set the new standard for the franchise’s art style, and then with the rise of IGA’s era, the games found ways to improve and iterate on that style while never losing their connection to the 16-bit glory days.

While fans love those original games, there is always a desire, deep down, to see how they’d look and play if they were brought up to the modern standards of the rest of the series. Castlevania Chronicles provided that concept for the first title, giving us a remixed, remade version of the NES original with gorgeous 16-bit graphics and a stunning soundtrack. But then Konami didn’t go back and remake the others, leaving the second and third NES titles on their original consoles, in their original forms. Developer Warmachine, though, felt that the other titles deserved their own time in the remake spotlight. We’ve already covered his first remake, Castlevania Chronicles II: Simon's Quest, which was pretty but, at times, flawed, and now he’s back with a remake of the third game, appropriately titled Castlevania Chronicles III: Dracula’s Curse.

For anyone just wanting to know if the game is worth downloading, the answer is yes. It’s a very pretty, very well made remix and remake of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, taking the bones of that game and adding on a lot more content. If you were someone itching to play a more modern version of that third NES title (and the half-finished Castlevania Chronicles: Dracula's Curse wasn’t enough) then this remake provides just about everything you could want or desire. It’s fun, it’s pretty, it’s what you’re looking for.

With that said, it’s not without its flaws, and Castlevania Chronicles III: Dracula’s Curse has a number of decisions and design choices baked in that are strange, confusing, and sometimes confounding. This fangame was clearly a labor of love and a lot of time and effort has gone into it. I don’t want to make it sound like I'm crapping on the hard work that Warmachine put in. But at the same there are enough weird decisions put in that hold the game back from true greatness. This is a fantastic work as a fangame, but if you were to compare it to a true modern remake, like Haunted Castle Revisited, it does fall short.

The game starts off just as you’d expect. You play as 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., member of the disgraced Belmont clan, who has been called to duty after decades of exile for his family when Castle Dracula rises from the mountains in Romania. The goal is to track down the vampire at the top of the keep and take them out, but along the way you’ll also have to battle through all the monsters and mayhem waiting for you in the many long stages that make up his edifice of evil.

But worry not because along the way you’ll also find three companions to aid you in your battle: Grant DaNastyOne of three heroes recruited by Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula, Grant is a former thief from Wallachia who was captured by Dracula's minions and placed within the bounds of the demon castle, at least until Trevor rescued him., Sypha BelnadesOne of three heroes recruited by Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula, Sypha is a powerful sorceress, and one of the most famous members of her clan., and AlucardOne of three heroes recruited by Trevor Belmont on his quest to defeat Dracula, Alucard was the son of Dracula who turned from his fathers evil, battling against his cursed family line again and again.. Each has special abilities and skills that could prove beneficial in different situations, so using their skills wisely, and knowing when to switch between them, will be essential to your quest. Prove to be the strong, brave hero Romania is counting on and you, too, will soon find yourself standing over the defeated body of that evil master vampire, DraculaThe lead antagonist of the Castlevania series and most famous vampire character in all media, all thanks to Bram Stoker..

In basic construction, Castlevania Chronicles III: Dracula’s Curse mirrors the third NES game. You start off in the ruins of an outskirt town before climbing a clock tower, collecting Grant, and moving out into the Mad Forest and the rest of the world. Sypha and Alucard join soon after, and then it’s a long trek over the river and through the castle. Many of the monsters you know from the franchise will show up, from Medusa to Frankie and Death, and everything has that vibe of a Castlevania game. It works, and it’s fun, and it plays more or less like you’d expect.

Where the flaws with the game come in is specifically in execution. There were design choices made that I don’t really understand and they actually detract from the game in specific ways. We start with Trevor who has seen a number of upgrades for his character. His basic whipping remains the same, but he’s been granted a power bard that he can use to cast very powerful item crashes. These significantly boost his power output, making him pretty tank-like for bursts of time. He’s also been given a backflip, which he can use at any time, even in mid-air, and this gives him a short burst of invincibility as well, making it a maneuver that can get him out of many, many jams in the game.

Now, if you’ve played Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse on the NES you’ll know that being safe and getting easily out of jams runs counter to everything that game was about. That game was hard, brutally, punishingly so, and it expected precise movement and a lot of strategic thinking to get through the game. Between the double-jump backflip, which eliminates any need for precise movement, and the item crashes, which often can straight up melt bosses in seconds, there is absolutely no difficulty curve in the game.

And it gets worse when you start using the companion characters. Grant can climb walls as before, but now he also has a monster transformation skill that turns him into a hulking brute and lets him wander around invincible while his power bar lasts. Sypha has her powerful magic, and her own invincibility shield tied to her magic meter. And Alucard has his bat transformation which, instead of using up hearts, now uses that power meter. The meter refills whenever it’s not in use, so you can use these game-breaking skills regularly, bypassing substantially portions of the game.

Naturally, the first thing I said upon playing this game was, “this is really easy.” I complained about Warmachine’s previous remake, Castlevania Chronicles II: Simon’s Quest, because that game has sudden difficulty spikes that absolutely ruined the experience. I wanted more balance in his fangames, and he apparently listened. However, it feels like he went too far, making the game so easy across the board that any sense of challenge is thrown out the window. Instead of being a balanced, but tough, game, this is just easy from start to finish and I found it quite odd.

I will note that I played on Normal difficulty and there is a Wicked level that spikes the difficulty up substantially. That’s fine if that’s what you want to play, but I do feel like there is a middle ground to be had between “too easy” and “fangame hard”. I want to feel challenged, but not punished, and this game doesn’t quite find that mode either way. I liked what the game was doing, but I didn’t like how much it got out of my way. I could have done with something in the middle between the very easy Normal and the very hard Wicked.

And while we’re talking about things that didn’t work for me, I want to comment on the art style because it’s kind of all over the place. A lot of the assets, especially with the graphics, come from other Castlevania titles. Most, but not all, and there are some original pieces of art, especially with the heroes. Strangely, instead of using art that already existed, such as the Zombie Trio art for the heroes, Warmachine decided to draw all new sprite sheets for the main heroes and, well, they’re not great. They look out of place, not matching the art ripped from the series, and sometimes they’re not as well animated as they could have been. Alucard in particular was done dirty, not looking like any previous version of himself at all. He’s missing that quality that screams “Alucard”, and I hated looking at him.

Warmachine has talent, and I don’t want to deny that at all. Again, this game is fun to play and works well. It’s just that there are enough weird moments, enough little things that I don’t feel like it really rises up to be a true fangame masterpiece. I liked it fine, and I’m sure if you play it you’ll like it too. It benefits from being free, so I don’t hold it to as high a standard as I could. But if I were to compare it to an official Konami remake, it wouldn’t compare well. It does its job, being a credible fan remake. But as a professional game it falls a tad short.