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Alternate
Incarnations
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| Famicom Release Date: December 22nd, 1989 - The Japanese version is titled Akumajou Densetsu, which translates to Legend of Demon Castle. Europe Release Date: December 10th, 1992 - The European version as usual arrives much later than its North American and Japanese counterparts. |
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Re-Release
Information
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2002: 2014: 2019: 2021: |
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The
Manual's Synopsis
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IT'S A CURSED WORLD WE LIVE IN (THANKS TO DRAC!) The time is 100 years before Simon Belmont's birth. The moon burns red overhead and black clouds loom large on the horizon. All is still and quiet. Only the call of a distant crow stirs the cold night air. Suddenly, thunder roars out of the Morbid Mountains and into the village of Warakiya. Like the yell of an angry giant, the terrible sound shakes homes and shops as if they were sapling branches. But no one blinks an eye. The village is dead calm. For all the people have fled after receiving warnings from the Great Beyond that Count Dracula has assembled a mighty army of evil, and they're poised to march up from the Valley of Graveyards to bury mankind in a Tomb of Terror. Unfortunately, there's no corner on Earth that won't be gobbled up by this bloodthirsty legion of Swamp Dragons, Slasher Skeletons and Forces of the Undead. The last line of defense is you, Trevor Belmont--the forefather of Simon Belmont and the origin of the Belmont Warlord Chromosomes. But your chances are slimmer than Jim. In fact, the only real edge you have over this fang sharpened freak is your power to transform into three different partner spirits: Grant DaNasty, the ferocious Ghost Pirate. Sypha, the Mystic Warlord. And Alucard, Dracula's forgotten son. Each of these spirits will confront you as you fight through 17 possible levels of never-ending fright, including the Haunted Ship of Fools, the Clock Tower or Untimely Death and Curse Castle. You must also possess the strength to wield the might Battle Axe and Mystic Whip, which were given to you by the Poltergeist King. So go forth young Trevor into the cold black knight, where death lurks around every corner and evil lingers on every stone. And remember, if your courage and cunning are any less than magnificent or if you fail to choose the correct Paths of Fate, you'll be banished to the world of the undead, and zombies will rule until the end of time. |
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Objective
/ Overview
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Konami in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse ushers the return of the series' classic formula after its short vacation in deference to Simon's Quest's adventure-RPG escapades. That is, we're again presented the tried-and-tested style of stage-by-stage action. Though, Dracula's Curse is anything but content and complacent, and the objective's description is hardly fitting: You must take take control of Trevor Belmont and guide him through a number of stages--each crammed with enemies, loaded with traps, and resided over by boss guardians--to infiltrate the ancient Castlevania, to arrive at the castle keep, and to destroy the confident Count Dracula. The game's greatness is defined by how you accomplish this task: Available to Trevor are four possible routes, each with an unassigned but noticeable difficulty level, that take him across the countryside and eventually through Castlevania. On any path, you can meet up with at least one ally that has been assigned to it, a system that offers multiple replayability combinations in terms of paths and allies; though, you can only have one ally at a given time. Once you clear the game, you can partake in a second, tougher quest with the assistance of the ally, if any, with whom you defeated Dracula (though, you can't swap allies the second time through). It's in this harder quest where you'll run across some enemies you hadn't seen the first time around. |
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Version
Differences
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Japanese Version
- The clouds seen over
Dracula's castle in the intro sequence are more numerous and feature an
animation which sees them drift off to the left.
- Because his main weapon
is already a throwing dagger, Grant can only collect the axe and stopwatch
sub-weapons.
- Water dragons breathe slower-traveling, shorter-range flame-blasts. Also, they can breathe flames diagonally downward. They hold their flame attacks longer no matter the direction they're being spewed.
- The boss mummies throw shards high and low rather than in a wavy pattern.
- There are some minor
structural differences (i.e. missing blocks), like the one seen in the
bottom-right portion of the screenshot above. There's also a missing layer
of blocks in the Stage 15 boss room under which Grant can camp and safely
pick off the Doppelganger if he's in possession of an axe sub-weapon.
- Skeledragons and the
Bone Dragon King can be damaged by weapon contact anywhere rather than
just their heads.
- Most noticeably, the crucifix in the intro bears rays that suggest that power is emanating from the object. They were removed from the North American version due to Nintendo of America's strict policy in regard to overt religious themes.
- The text, as seen atop the screenshot below, is presented in a normal font rather than the gothic font used in the North American version.
- The second-quest and
starting-ally passwords do not work in this version. European Version
- As in the North American version compared to the Japanese version, the rays have been removed from the cross in the intro.
- The stopwatch's duration seems to last longer than expected--an extra second than is usual. (Thanks to Danny, Enrico De Castro, Carl, B. Busta, and Amar Youkai for some of this information.) |
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Soundtrack
and Credits
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Soundtrack
Links |
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Character
List
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Lesser Enemies
Japanese-Version Exclusive Lesser Enemies
Bosses
Dracula Forms
Supporting Cast
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