Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Why I Love Castlevania


Castlevania captured my imagination long before I ever played a Castlevania game.  As a kid reading Nintendo Power, Castlevania stood out to me because it combined two of the things that I loved the most: horror and video games.  The graphics looked amazing and atmospheric and the concept of hunting Dracula within his haunted castle was enough to send chills up the spine of a prepubescent boy.


I’ve always been fascinated by horror stories, and Dracula has been one of my favorites from the beginning, and I’ve never grown out of that.  Although I enjoy other tales of vampires here and there, I’ve never been a huge fan of vampires just for the sake of vampires, but Dracula himself has always been the ultimate villain.  Compelling, sometimes just a little sympathetic, but at his core he is Satan himself.  As a boy on to the present I would devour any film I could get my hands on which dealt with this aristocratic monster, and the first part of Bram Stoker’s novel, detailing Jonathan Harker’s journey into Transylvania and his encounter and subsequent imprisonment by the Count, genuinely frightened me as a child and is one of my favorite portions of any literary work.


Given that, you can see how Simon Belmont’s quest to slay the Count, who in Castlevania lore commands an army of demonic creatures, set my imagination free.  I couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to step out into the wilderness surrounding Dracula’s castle, journeying up to the ancient castle gates and, with no idea what to expect and knowing that your presence has not gone unnoticed, stepping inside.  The idea of challenging Dracula head-on with nothing but a whip (enchanted or not) was terrifying and exciting.


As a child I never took games at face-value; what was behind the game was always present in my mind.  For Simon to die at the hands of a zombie in-game meant crumpling to the ground while a few dark musical notes played, but I knew that death by zombie meant incredible suffering as your flesh was ripped from your bones.  To me, Simon was a total stud, a man filled to the brim with courage, striding out with confidence against incredible odds and the potential for excruciating pain.


When I finally obtained a copy of Castlevania for my NES, I was thrilled.  It was one of the hardest games I had ever played, and I ate it up.  I knew from the beginning that Simon was up against impossible odds, and I think that had the game been easy I would have been let down.  But it wasn’t just one game, and the lore of the world continued to open up for me.  Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest told how Dracula placed a curse on Simon before he was defeated, a curse that was slowly killing him and caused him constant pain while Dracula’s evil slowly poisoned the countryside.  This was a dark story where Simon’s only hope for salvation lay in collecting the Count’s body parts and personal effects, which had been stolen away and hidden by his minions, and burning them on an alter in the heart of Dracula’s ruined Castle.  The game was quite a departure from the arcade action of the first, but the music and mood were fantastic and I spent hours roaming the countryside looking for those grim relics.


Then Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse revealed that Simon Belmont was not the first, but that the battle between Dracula and the Belmont’s had been going on for some time, with Dracula resurrecting some years after each defeat.  Finally, Super Castlevania IV brought the game to the Super Nintendo, and I was completely blown away.  Castlevania always looked and sounded good on the NES, with dark exciting music to match the visuals, but Castlevania IV was worlds ahead, with much more detail and deeper orchestrations.  It was exciting and frightening and everything that an SNES title could aspire to be.


From there the series has gone on and endured, telling an epic story across multiple consoles, even re-writing itself through stand-alone titles (Circle of the Moon) and reboots (Lords of Shadow) that have continued the tradition of the originals even as the core canon continues to be explored.  Of all the long-standing video game franchises, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda and the like, Castlevania appeals to that darker part of us that enjoys Halloween, horror movies and sleepless nights, and it will always be one of my favorite series.

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