Haunted Castle (arcade game)

Haunted Castle is the name of an arcade game released in 1988, by Konami. In Japan, the game is known as Akumajō Dracula (the name given to all the older Castlevania games), so besides the different name it gained in the west, Haunted Castle is indeed a game from the Castlevania saga. It is one of three Castlevania arcade games released (along with the PlayChoice-10 and Nintendo Vs. Series versions).

The game seems to also have been released in Europe but no release date is known.

The game's placement in the Castlevania chronology is somewhat disputed as many fans consider it to be a revision of the first game. Technology wise it predates Super Castlevania IV, another supposed revision of the first game, but the two games seem quite similar despite their varying gameplay.

Storyline
The storyline is similar to the older Castlevania titles, in which Dracula wakes up to wreak havoc after a hundred years of slumber. The most notable difference is the presence of the main character's bride, Serena, whom he is marrying at the beginning of the game. Serena is kidnapped by Dracula during the wedding, prompting the main character to travel to Dracula's castle and rescue her.

The main character is not named in the game itself, but he is generally identified as Simon Belmont by most gamers.

Gameplay
Haunted Castle is a typical platform game comprised of six levels, which are played through in a linear progression. The player controls the main character, whose primary mode of attack is via his whip. He must fight various enemies which consist partially of skeletons, zombies, fishmen, and hunchbacks. By breaking candelabras or destroying certain enemies, he can switch his weapon to a more powerful spiked mace or sword. In addition, various "sub-weapons" can be obtained which provide different means of attack which consist of bombs, boomerangs, stopwatches, crosses, and torches. Hearts are collected to use each of these "sub-weapons". The player can only carry one sub-weapon at a time.

Each of Haunted Castle's six levels conclude with a boss fight: these bosses are generally taken from horror literature or legend, and include Medusa, Frankenstein's Monster, and of course, Dracula.

Critical reaction
Many gamers have criticized Haunted Castle for certain gameplay problems: The main character, whos sprite is rather quite large when compared to other Castlevania games characters, is an easy target for enemy and obstacle hits. This is made worse with poor hit-detection.

Another big gripe among gamers is the game's difficulty. The game must be completed in one life; If the main character loses all of his life or falls into a pit, the game is over. While it was possible to continue, the game would start the player off back in Stage 1 after 3 continues. However, the player is given the option of adding additional energy to the health meter in replace of continuing, although it too is limited.

Many assume these factors are what contributed to Haunted Castle's poor sales when it was released to arcades.

Ports
A small Japanese game publisher called Hamster is porting the Japanese version of Haunted Castle, Akumajō Dracula, to the PlayStation 2 in May 2006 as part of the "Oretachi Game Center Zoku" series. This game port is not slated to be released outside of Japan.