Pachislot Akumajō Dracula

Pachislot Akumajō Dracula is pachislot (often mistaken for pachinko) game created by Konami Parlor Entertainment. It's a spin-off of the Castlevania series. The first official trailer and website launched in August 2008, and the game was released in arcades on January 5th, 2009. It was later ported to mobile phones on which it could be downloaded through i-mode, Yahoo!, or EZwEb. On December 24th, 2014 it was also ported to Android and iOS devices.

Its aesthetics are based on Castlevania: Curse of Darkness and features most of its cast, including Trevor Belmont in the leading role. The game functions like a slot machine but also features cinematic scenes. In 2010, it was followed by Pachislot Akumajō Dracula II.

Story
Being a pachislot with vaguely connected cinematics occurring randomly during play, the game has no coherent narrative like more traditional games in the series. These cutscenes exists to excite the player, but contain little actual story content. However, going by comments on the official developer's blog, the game does tell a story, although most of it requires the player's imagination to fill in the blanks.

On the blog it's written the game is "another story" (hitotsu no monogatari), a term sometimes used to imply the setting is a parallel world or alternate universe. Because the game is mainly based on Castlevania: Curse of Darkness some of the characters resemble their incarnations from the IGA continuity. Together with Pachislot Akumajō Dracula II it tells the same story of Trevor fighting Count Dracula, who has been revived, with the assistance of Angela.

It should be also be noted that from the brief interactions between Trevor and Dracula it's implied they already share a past. This would be further explored in Pachislot Akumajō Dracula III, which is a prequel to the previous two games.

Game Flow
The game structure of Pachislot Akumajō Dracula is different from an average Castlevania game. As such, there is no ultimate end goal, such as for example, defeat Dracula. Instead, the aim is to win medals which can be exchanged at a Pachinko parlor's prize counter. The game starts out at three possible stages. These are named "Chapel in Castle", "Warehouse in Bergfried" and "Corridor in Castle Walls". During this section of the game the reels can be constantly spun all the while several random events can happen, each with different effects. The player starts out with 50 credits, if the player manages to exceed this amount by winning, the amount of medals will go up. If all the credits are depleted and the player has medals, these medals will start to decrease unless the player obtains more credits.

At the bottom of the screen several silhouettes of floating crosses can be seen. If crosses are obtained through the random events, the silhouettes will be replaced by a real cross. If six crosses are collected, the player will instantly enter ART mode. At the left and right side of the screen there are a compass and a trease box respectively. The compass has a chance of glowing, which brings up the map screen, which allows the player to access several events or even ART. The possible outcomes are random and there is also a chance the player will stay where at the same location. The treasure box will randomly reward the player with an item. One of the possible items are hearts, which are either white, blue, or purple. These items merely increase the chance of a better item appearing by varying degrees based on their color. Similar to the compass, the treasure box can let the player access one of the events, as well as ART.

One of the possible events are "missions". When a mission is won, there is a chance of a Regular Bonus or Big Bonus, and the possibility to enter either RT mode or ART mode. The difference between Regular Bonus and Big Bonus is the maximum amount of medals that can be won. In case of the former it's 45 and in the latter it's 300. If the player manages to get a winning pattern, the amount of medals goes up with 12. However, before each set of wheel spins, the amount of medals decreases by 3. During Bonus there is also a possibility of the "Cherry Challenge". If the player manages to get one of three cherries on the first wheel spin, the "cherry navi" or "bat navi" is obtained.

"RT" stands for Replay Time, also know as the "Challenge Zone". This stage of the game is mostly the same as before, except the chance of a "replay", neither winning or losing credits, is higher. During this mode there is a chance the "Countdown Mission" is initiated. During this mission, Trevor must dispatch a certain amount of skeletons. The chance of winning is very high, but there is a possibility of failure. If this mission is successfully completed, ART Mode is entered. "ART" is an abbreviation for "Assist Replay Time", also known as the "Battle Zone". It's a combination of RT Mode and AT Mode. The latter stands for "Assist Time". During this mode, the chance of winning is higher than normal. The first stage of ART consists of Trevor running up to Dracula's throne room. The battle with Dracula is initiated during the second stage. If Trevor wins or loses the fight, he returns to the Challenge Zone. However, there is also a possibility of Dracula escaping, in which case the player starts ART from the beginning, a more desirable outcome since more medals can be obtained.

If the player manages to stay within either the Battle Zone or Challenge Zone and played ART at least 10 times, the BGM will chance from Divine Bloodlines Ver. 511 to Beginning (Crystal ver.). After another 10 times it changes to Vampire Killer, and after yet another 10 it changes to Bloody Tears, both from Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. During both RT and ART a bat navi may appear on the screen in either the color red, blue, or black. These colors are supposed to help guide the player into not getting a cherry during the first wheel spin. In case this does happen, RT or ART is ended. For example, if a red bat navi appears on the screen and the player manages to get a red icon of Trevor, it is guaranteed a cherry won't appear, and thus the player can continue playing. When there are no more bat navi's, three colors will appear on the screen, two colors are "right" and the other is "wrong". The player has to guess which color he should try to get, with the risk of picking the wrong one.

Missions
Missions are random events that can occur during play. In certain cases a special requirement should be met but in others loss or success are decided by chance. The missions include the Battle Mission, the Isaac Mission, the Skeleton Mission, the Trap Mission, and the Countdown Mission. Winning a missions results in a bonus, or in case of the Countdown Mission, allows the player to enter ART. The likelyhood that one appears varies between missions.

During the Battle Missions, there is a chance either Trevor or the enemy will perform an attack. The chance of landing a hit or dodging are randomly determined, therefore the success or failure of the mission is completely out of the player's control.

The Skeleton Missions consists of Trevor fighting a horde of skeletons. There is a chance the player either has 1, 2, or 3 attempts to dispatch all of them. Trevor will perform his Sonic Wave attack, or a more powerful version of it which is more destructive.

The Trap Missions usually follow the order: Floating Rock, Crumbling Bridge, and Guillotine. When either the order is different, or Trevor's face flashes across the screen, the chance of winning is very high.

Character Gallery

 * For more artwork, please see category