This is a completely dumbed-down version of Castlevania- Belmont has NO abilities in this! No jumps or charges, no use of weapons like the axe or cross, not even whip-spinning. There is horrible slowdown when there are more than two enemies on screen at once, which is surprising given how simple the game is. It also lacks any kind of level progression like pass codes, so you start at the beginning every single time you play. This is a flat-out terrible game, it is not even worth the few dollars to buy it.

Early Castlevania games tended to be hit or miss affairs, and unfortunately this is . When I originally posted this review in 2003, I had made a concerted effort to create an honest review for the average player; I was (and still am) quite fond of the game. If I were to redo my rating scale, perhaps I'd score it slightly higher at three stars. All the same, I still feel that this game provides a low amount of fun given the intense challenge, and the rating is deserved given that overriding criteria.

Doesn't the classic GB logo give it away? This is not the fantastic GameBoy Advance title Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, nor is it Circle of the Moon or even Harmony of Dissonance.

What this is might well be described as one of the slowest sidescrollers ever made (and that's without slowdown affecting the game). Made in 1989, this is one of the first titles in Konami's Game Boy lineup and it shows. The level one music (Battle of the Holy) is excellent and a personal favorite, but the aural experience is unfortunately quite limited afterward. I personally like many of the background details (whenever they show up, that is) such as the trees and graves seen at the game's beginning. Much later on the ability to use exploding eyeballs as dynamite to open up a hidden area (no joke!) is a great concept well executed.

The whip Christopher uses in this game may be upgraded once for a chain whip, and once more for flinging fireballs...it's not quite an adequate replacement for the traditional Castlevania subweapons, but it does give you unlimited attacks at range.

Christopher's slowness in this title (and its sequel) makes Simon Belmont's hunched back and slow gait appear like a semi barrelling down the road, whereas Christopher is perhaps the man trying to push a tractor trailer down the road. Suffice to say that he's very slow - hyperbole aside, he seems to move at roughly half the speed of Simon.

The worst part of it would be the intensely difficult jumps found in large quantities. This is the textbook example of frustrating level design: Nearly every single jump must be done within an accuracy of a few pixels. While the most difficult jump in the game requires you time perfectly across two falling platforms-essentially three jumps-is thankfully optional (used to snag a 1-up extra life), since I can only manage it about once in twenty tries (an optimistic guess), the normal jumps are too close to this required accuracy for comfort. One long series of jumps has you going over about a dozen blocks in such a fashion; while there's solid ground below to fall down onto and the process of jumping may always be restarted it's easy to mess up here. A later and quite ugly level where you are chased by spikes for nearly the entire level (and one part consists of climbing upwards and jumping from rope to rope) has the same feel to it, as mistakes tend to get you killed quite often.

There's more. One level starts you off by bats which of course you can't hit right away because while a Castlevania Axe could take them all out, you have no axe, only your whip. Getting through this section unscathed is more a matter of luck than skill.

The end of the game, oddly enough, consists of the easiest Dracula fight since Castlevania 2 (where you could simply lay on the laurels for invincibility for the fight's duration). I won't give it away, but Dracula's second form is even more pathetic, in terms of an attack pattern, than the first (in either case, Dracula looks silly in this one). Given how hard this game is, though, it's probably not a bad thing to have some reprieve.

Are there any more problems? Oh yes, the killer: Getting hit downgrades your weapon one notch, so you essentially play the whole game with the basic short leather whip.

All that said, I do love this game, but it's not easily playable. It brings solid graphics to the GameBoy, but the gameplay...if it is solid, perhaps we would better say that you'll need a jackhammer to scratch the surface of this particular rock.

It gets the second star only because some people consider all terribly difficult games to be a challenge and they might enjoy it somewhat. As I noted, there are some nice points later in the game...unfortunately, just as with the previous year's (1988) Castlevania arcade game (Haunted Castle), most mortals will never see many of its neat details.

My recommendation is to pick up Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge instead. You have subweapons, less difficult jumps, a better soundtrack overall, and weapon downgrades have been checked significantly. Pick that one up if you're looking for classic GameBoy action!

No it isn't. This is a standard platformer with extremely sluggish control, no secondary weapons, and slow movement. Plus, your whip loses power each time an enemy hits you. This is a pain. The saving grace is that you can obtain a whip that shoots fireballs and the first stage has GREAT music. But that can't save the game. Even CastleVania fans should steer clear of this one.