Talk:Castlevania (video game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Famicom style controller This article is within the scope of WikiProject Video games. For more information, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start This article has been rated as Start-Class on the assessment scale.
High This article is on a subject of High priority within gaming for inclusion in Wikipedia 1.0.
VG To-do:

Contents

[edit] Incorrect dates

What's this about the game coming out in Japan in 1993?

That's ridiculous. The original Japanese Famicom version came out BEFORE the US NES release.

Check the page again. The "original Japanese Famicom" version was a Famicom Disk System game: it wasn't released as a cartridge in Japan until 1993. This is explicitly stated in the article text. – Seancdaug 03:44, May 21, 2005 (UTC)
Where? It says only at the bottom of the page with that date; the article itself does not explicitly state that there was even a Japanese Famicom cartridge release. The article goes chonologically from the US cart release to 1990's PC version, to 2002. I don't see a specific discussion of the cart re-release other than "February 5, 1993 Japan". It could stand to be better explained in the text, if it was real.
The problem is that there's not really too much information available on the cart rerelease other than that it was, in fact, released. And it's pretty explicitly spelled out that the game was originally released for the FDS: the FDS is listed first in the infobox, and the opening sentence says that the game was "developed and published by Konami for the Famicom Disk System in 1986." It is further explained that the game was later ported to cartridge format for the North American and European releases. While I understand the desire for more information on the Japanese cartridge release, I really don't see what's so confusing about the current presentation. The FDS is mentioned more prominently throughout the article than the original NES, so even a cursory examination of the thing should, I would think, clear up any confusion. With the information we could find, there's not really much to say about the Japanese cartridge release other than what is said in the release date box, and I can't see how restating that information is going to clear anything up. That being said, if you've got some idea of how to edit the article to improve things, go right ahead. Trying to summarize all the platforms this game has been on is tricky, and it's entirely possible that it's not all as clear as I'd love for it to be. – Seancdaug 04:15, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Story Updated/Upgraded a bit

I updated the story on this game a bit...If you want to fix anything feel free to! --Yahweh 1 July 2005 17:56 (UTC)

[edit] Dracula?

Could someone clarify the use of the name "Dracula" in the original NES game? I own the original NES American release, and it [i]specifically[/i] avoids calling the vampire "Dracula," and instead calls him "The Count." By the NES American release of "Simon's Quest," he is called "Dracula," but not before. It sounds like there may have been copyright worries here ala Conan/Case Closed.

Please note - perhaps the Japanese version of the game used the name "Dracula," but the American version disparity should be addressed. --L. 22:44, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Are all of the screenshots necessary?

They take up half the page, and seem to not add all that much to the actual article itself. Hbdragon88 22:43, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

Screenshots look fine to me, always good to have a overview about the different incarnations of a game and how they looked compared to each other. -- Grumbel 02:25, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hearts as Mana/SecondWeapon-Energie?

Not really sure if it is relevant for the article, but one thing I find confusing about the Castlevania series is that they use hearts as mana or energie for the second weapon and not for filling the life energie. Does anybody know why Castlevania does use hearts for that purpose, which seems to conflict with the conventions in basically all other games I know. -- Grumbel 02:25, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] MSX2 Vampire Killer the original version?

Regarding Castlevania, in almost every article except this one is stated that the MSX2 Vampire Killer is the original version of the first Castlevania, which came out before the Nintendo FDS version. IF this is true, shouldn´t it be included here?

[edit] Remakes?

It is mentioned that Super Castlevania is a remake/adaptation of the NES Castlevania. However, I've seen little to connect the two as the same game. Sure, they both take place in Dracula's castle and have the same name, but don't most Castlevania games? As stated above, the MSX version of Akumajou Dracula came first, and should also not be listed under this section. Haunted Castle seems distinct enough from the NES game that I wouldn't consider it the same game. It is noted that all the games are distinct from this one; why, then, are we mentioning them here instead of the series article? The Sharp version should be mentioned for its updated graphics, but the others should be left out.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Jacquismo (talk • contribs) .

They are mentioned because it is a general consensus among the fans. Just take a look at the Castlevania Dungeon or other sites like that, like Mr. P's. They are considered "remakes" because they share basically the same idea. Same name, same character (Simon), etc. What makes other Castlevania games "other games" is that they usually feature different names and different main characters. These games here share the same premise: "Simon goes to Castlevania to defeat Dracula, and that's it". It's true Haunted Castle features Simon's wife/bride as well, though, but this is what people generally accept. Remakes.
Might sound strange, but this is pretty much how it works. You said you've seen little to connect the two (NES Castlevania and Super Castlevania IV) as the same game, but well, they are not the same game. That's not what we are saying. Also, the X68000 Castlevania is also a game on its own. It has as much to do with the original game as SCIV does.--Kaonashi 02:28, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
It's very difficult to track down precise release dates for MSX games, but most places I've looked give a date of October 1986 for Vampire Killer, whereas the Famicom Disk System version was definitely released on 26 September of that year. Very close, but it does appear that the FDS version was the first out of the starting gate. – Seancdaug 02:41, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vampire Killer

The article suggests that Vampire Killer is an "adaptation or version" of Castlevania. Vampire Killer is, in fact, the game that spawned the Castlevania franchise. Therefore, Castlevania is an adaptation of Vampire Killer; not the other way around.

Aye. Also, someone seems to have added Bloody Tears (Haunted Castle/Simon's Quest, etc) and A Requiem (Simon's Quest) as two of the game's tracks. This is clearly not the case! :p
Perhaps the 20th Anniversary disc is causing some confusion; it seems to be recognised as a different soundtrack (perhaps Castlevania Chronicles') when you run it through Winamp. - Klatrymadon

[edit] Vampire Killer is the Second Game, I believe

All the sources I've read that refer to exact release dates point to the following:

Akumajô Dracula- 22 September 1986, Famicom Disk System Vampire Killer- 30 October 1986, MSX2 Home Computer Castlevania- 1 May 1987, Nintendo Entertainment System

This information can be found at Moby Games, among other places. Although I still have these games today and played them when I was much, much younger, I don't remember myself (obviously), the exact release dates of them.

Regardless, there are several other places that attest that Vampire Killer is an "adaptation" of Akumajô Dracula, such as the Castlevania Dungeon and VG Museum.

So, it seems that the "first game" came out in September (whether it was the 22 or the 26) and then was adapted into a more difficult and more RPG-like version called Vampire Killer, named after the whip Simon used.

--Yahweh 22:45, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Simon Belmont

In this article it is stated that Simon is the great-grandson of Christopher Belmont, but this seems unlikely. Christopher Belmont fought Dracula from 1576-91 and Simon didn't fight Dracula until a century later (1691-98). Thus, it seems more likely that Simon is Christopher's great-great-grandson, or in other words, as stated on the Simon Belmont article, the great-grandson of Soleiyu Belmont (who "came of age" in 1591). --Yahweh 22:56, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Plot

The plot section seems to be marketing copy. Even if it isn't, it could use with sprucing up. Lots42 (talk) 06:58, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Number of Players

In the Castlevania manual, it states that the game can be played by two alternating players. It also states that by pressing SELECT at the title screen you switch to 2-player mode. Was this a planned feature that was never used? 72.161.200.85 (talk) 03:30, 5 June 2008 (UTC)