The colors are perty.

Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse was the final 8-bit title for NES, and the best of the three. Period.

The final NES installment comes with detailed graphics and three other playable characters of which you can choose depending on what direction you take in the game.

The paths will often branch to let you decide where you wish to go next. It does not affect gameplay, but it may shorten your trip towards Castle Dracula.

Trevor hated sunlight.
You start with Trevor Belmont, 100 years before the first Castlevania game. As you lead him around the Transylvanian countryside, you will meet the following:

The man with the sticky touch.

Grant DaNasty: A hapless warrior who encountered Dracula and got transformed into an apish monster inside a Clocktower.

Lady Slayer.

Sypha Belnedes, Vampire Hunter: A sorcerer with the powers of the elements who was turned into a statue by the Count.

Alucard was never given a break in here. Seriously.

Alucard the Vampire: Another foe turned ally with the same goals as Trevor in the game. You fight him in his own tomb before he offers his help.

Of all three, I found Sypha to be the most helpful. Her magic can clear a room of enemies and at times, freeze them to use as stepping-stones or just to weak them enough to be destroyed in a single blow. One drawback is that she is too weak to take physical damage.

As for Alucard, this is not the same Alucard you find in Symphony of the Night. That is, in here he is not as powerful, nor he owns all of the tricks you learn in the Playstation version. His only abilities include launching a trio of spheres from his cloak and the ability to turn into a bat, which can help clear some of the tight areas of the game. Other than this, he is not much worth the effort to acquire.

And then, we have Grant. Some may find his wall crawling useful if it wasn't for the fact that it is difficult as hell to keep him there. One slip of the controller and he goes down the tube. A rather difficult ally to control.

I find the idea of having a group to fight Dracula very noble, but it's too bad you can't use all of them instead of choosing which one you'd rather stick with.

With Sypha I was able to overlook a couple of stages in the game and found myself at Dracula's door very quickly. It was a pleasant ride using her as my second character in the game. The fight with the Grim Reaper (one of the best in the game) was a lot easier by using her tri-sphere spells. It was the same with Dracula, who you have to fight THREE times in order to beat him.

The only "curse" I ever found on this game is the hideous lack of control it sported. Jumping is a luxury I often had to live without, and those infernal stairways that could not let me send a special weapon like an axe to get that medusa head before it hit the last two bits of energy. This game also helped me hate those damn axearmors more than in other version of the game. Too bad Simon never read his ancestor's journals. He could've prevent that "curse".

The ravens are as annoying as ever. They haven't changed a bit since the first Castlevania.

But all these complications were well worth it, since the best ending was compiled of Trevor and Sypha watching Castlevania crumble in the horizon. Sypha removes her cloak to reveal her beautiful blonde hair moving against the wind. She then rests her head on Trevor's shoulder as he embraces her with his arm.

No kiss was necessary to see that these vampire slayers were an item. The ending just explains it to you in case you didn't get it. However, it was still nice to read the epilogue with the lovebirds beside it. I consider this to be the best ending to this awesome adventure. Trevor and Sypha together to continue the Belmont bloodline.

Castlevania 3 was a great game to play with, and a sure bet after that RPG-induced Castlevania 2.

Trevor'n'Sypha standing on a cliff...
A fitting ending to an otherwise brilliant game.


Sypha, Like Sonia Belmont, was a rough female and glad to kick Dracula in the undead nuts. Long live Sypha!

ABOUT SYPHA:

You would think because she was the sole female of the series she would just be playing a familiar role of "healer" in the game. Wrong. This awesome lady comes out of her predicament after turned back from being a statue. She has proven to be more helpful than Grant and even Alucard, and when the game ends, she hooks up with Trevor in a lovable epilogue. If anything, Sypha might've even had her own videogame of vampire-slaying goodness, and I don't think any fan of the series would object to it.

 

RED DRAGONS CONCUR- Good things come in threes, and the third time for Castlevania was a charm indeed. It's too bad that in Castlevania 2 these ideas never were implied. This game gives Castlevania fans a run for their money.

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