Akumajou Densetsu/Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse -Famicom/NES- 9.5

July 26, 2024

I originally played Castlevania 3 for the NES on emulation with save states back in high school, and it has long been one of my favorite titles for the 8bit system. After all these years, I wanted to finally beat the game legitimately, but I opted to pop in the Japanese Famicom cart, titled “Akumajou Densetsu.” This version has the superior sound quality and is supposed to be slightly more fair in its steep difficulty. I just spent the last week and a half playing through the game four times to venture through all the different paths and defeat Dracula with all four characters.

This third entry in the Castlevania series is the best in the 8bit trilogy. It brings back the linear level layout of the original, but keeps the sense of freedom pioneered in Simon’s Quest by letting you choose different paths along your journey. Trevor Belmont can even recruit one of three party members as he progresses through the game.

Grant is a dwarf-like character who can climb on walls and throw daggers. Sypha is a witch with powerful magic spells and a quick but short-range melee attack. And Alucard is Dracula’s son, who can transform into a bat to fly through certain sections easily. Trevor himself is still the most powerful character with his whip and boomerang combination.

I loved choosing between the different paths to experience every single level, beautiful in their gothic design. There were tons of secret items to find and dangerous enemies to fight. Learning every monster’s pattern is hard, and I loved every minute of it, no matter how many times I died and started over. The crows that swooped in at odd angles were especially pesky but satisfying to kill.

The boss battles at the end of each level were awesome, and got progressively harder as the game continued. The Grim Reaper battle in particular is an epic showdown that very much lives up to the legacy of fighting him in the first game. Fighting Frankenstein, the giant devil, the skeleton dragon, and Dracula himself were all memorable battles themselves. After the weak boss battles in Simon’s Quest, it was great to see a return to form here.

As the Castlevania series is known for, the music in Akumajou Densetsu is absolutely marvelous. Due to technical issues, the American version of Castlevania III had to downgrade the sound quality of the Japanese original, so I am really grateful I got to experience this amazing music in its original form by playing the Famicom cart. If you have only played the American version, you must go back play the Japanese version for the sound quality. The music here sounds so much more powerful and full compared to the American counterpart. “Beginning”, “Mad Forest”, “Dead Beat,” and “Aquarius” were my favorite tracks, but the rest were also great and fit the mood perfectly. The NES/Famicom library has some of the greatest videogame music composed to this day, and Akumajou Densetsu’s soundtrack is up there with the best of them.

Beating Akumajou Densetsu four times with all the character paths was an arduous journey, but a grand and unforgettable one. The different paths and teammates you can choose make each playthrough feel fresh, so the replay value keeps you coming back for more. And I cannot stop listening to that glorious soundtrack. Whether you play the American Castlevania III or the slightly superior Japanese Akumajou Densetsu, this is a classic action title of the 8bit generation and it is not to be missed. 9.5 out of ten.