| Haunted Castle | |
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North American arcade flyer |
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Composer(s) | Kenichi Matsubara[1] |
| Series | Castlevania |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation 2 |
| Release date(s) | Arcade PlayStation 2
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| Genre(s) | Platforming |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Cabinet | Upright |
| Display | Raster, 256 x 224, horizontal orientation |
Haunted Castle, known as Akumajō Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ, officially translated Devil's Castle Dracula)[3] in Japan, is the first arcade game in the Castlevania series, released by Konami in 1988. It was later re-released on the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan, as part of the Oretachi Game Center Zoku collection.
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Haunted Castle is a typical platform game with 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 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. Like in other games of the series, these bosses are generally taken from horror literature or legend, and include Medusa, Frankenstein's monster, and of course, Dracula.
The back sleeve of an official Konami VHS guide details the games plot. It mentions Count Dracula slept for a hundred years while the village was at peace, with Dracula being thought as a mere legend. The protagonist Simon and his wife Serena were celebrating their wedding at the village's church. Dracula then awakens from his slumber, and asking for Serena's blood, he abducts her. To save Serena, Simon decides to head for Dracula's castle.
A small Japanese game publisher called Hamster ported the Japanese version of Haunted Castle 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.[4]
Multiple versions of this game exist, M and K in America and N and P in Japan. M is noticeably harder than the others.
There are a several notable music tracks in Haunted Castle that have been reused in other Castlevania games. The well-recognized Bloody Tears (first heard in the previously released Simon's Quest) is used in this game as the theme for Stage 3. Another arcade piece, the Stage 1 theme Cross Your Heart, was recently reused in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, under the title "Crucifix Held Close". It is also part of the Akumajo Dracula Medley that appears most-recently in Konami's Dance Dance Revolution Ultramix 3 (originally appearing in the Japanese arcade and PlayStation 2 music game series Keyboardmania), along with Bloody Tears. "Underground Melody" which plays during Stage 5, was remixed in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. Finally, Don't Wait Until Night, played during Stage 6, which fittingly borrows hints of "The Silence of Daylight" (town music from Castlevania II), was remixed in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Julius' theme known as "Heart of Fire", though this particular song is actually a medley of the Haunted Castle tune and "Heart of Fire" from the original Castlevania.
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