Konami’s Akumajō Dracula (“Demon Castle Dracula”) came out on Nintendo’s Famicom Disk System in Japan in September 1986, and reached America and Europe on the NES as Castlevania. Its director, Hitoshi Akamatsu, loved films and wanted players to feel as if they were inside a classic horror movie. The player, Simon Belmont, walks into Dracula’s castle with a whip and fights his way past a cast of screen monsters, from the Mummy and Medusa to the Count himself. What players remember is how hard it is. Simon cannot change direction in mid-air, and a hit knocks him backwards, often into a pit.
Fast facts
- Developer and publisher: Konami.
- Japanese release: Akumajō Dracula, Famicom Disk System, September 1986.
- MSX2 version: Vampire Killer, about a month later, with a different, more exploratory structure.
- Western release: NES, North America in 1987 and Europe in 1988.
- Director: Hitoshi Akamatsu, uncredited in the game.
- Music: Kinuyo Yamashita, with Satoe Terashima and Hidenori Maezawa, according to Wireframe.
- Computer versions: Commodore 64 and IBM PC from Konami’s American arm, 1990, with an Amiga version listed that year.
A horror film you play
Early Konami games rarely carried full credits, and Akamatsu gave few interviews, so Wireframe went to his former colleagues in 2022 to piece his career together. They confirmed that he directed Castlevania after programming arcade games in Osaka, and that he was “directly involved with Castlevania’s design”. Sonna Yuumi, a sub-planner Akamatsu later mentored at another studio, has since passed on some of his reasons. The “rogues’ gallery of movie villains” came from his love of horror films, and Simon’s whip, instead of a sword, came from Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Akamatsu did not think his game was unfair. Asked about the difficulty, Wireframe reports, he pointed to the sub-weapons, which make some fights much easier, and joked that it was less punishing than Super Mario Bros., where one hit kills you.
Simon’s toolkit
Simon attacks with a leather whip, which the player can upgrade by breaking candles and collecting power-ups. The candles also hide hearts, which are ammunition for a single secondary weapon: a dagger thrown straight ahead, an axe that arcs upwards, holy water that bursts into flames on the floor, a cross that comes back like a boomerang, or a stopwatch that briefly freezes enemies. Picking up a new one replaces the old, so choosing which to carry into a boss fight matters. Stairs have rules of their own, and Retro Gamer later singled out one of them: Simon is “famously unable to jump off the many staircases” in the castle.
The MSX2 version
Because it was localised before the NES version, Vampire Killer was the first Castlevania released in Europe, according to both Wireframe and Retro Gamer. It was a different game built on the same idea. Simon had to find a skeleton key before he could leave each stage, and merchants sold him weapons and upgrades in exchange for hearts.
What British reviewers said
The NES cartridge reached British magazines at the turn of 1989. The Mean Machines section of Computer and Video Games thought it didn’t “look particularly attractive” because “the colours are a little muddy, and some of the sprites lack definition”, but said it “plays extremely well”. The difficulty was “nicely graded, letting you progress a little further with every game”, although the reviewer thought the cartridge overpriced. The Games Machine, reviewing it at £29.95, gave it 71%, compared with 69% for Vampire Killer on the MSX. It rated it “among the best Nintendo games” for graphics, but thought unlimited continues made progress “easier than it should be”.
The computer versions
Konami’s American office brought Castlevania to the Commodore 64 and IBM PC in 1990, advertising an Amiga version for the autumn. An Amiga guide that year listed it at $44.95. Reviewing the Commodore 64 version in June 1991, Compute! found the graphics “a little on the fuzzy side” and the music “riveting”, but some levels hard enough to leave the reviewer “ready to smash my joystick”.
Sequels and later history
Akamatsu directed the next two. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987) swapped stages for towns, swamps and dungeons to explore, and had townsfolk who lied to the player. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989) went back to stage-based action with branching paths and extra playable characters. In the West it came on Nintendo’s MMC5 chip, while the Japanese cartridge used Konami’s own VRC6 with extra sound channels. Development then moved between teams at Konami, including the Tokyo studio that made Super Castlevania IV (1991). Wireframe notes that Simon’s Quest inspired Koji Igarashi’s later work on Symphony of the Night (1997). By 2022 the series had inspired, in Wireframe’s words, “countless sequels, spin-offs, and even a Netflix TV show”.
Sources
- Retro Gamer Collection volume 4 (2010), Damien McFerran, Castlevania series history: the Disk System release in September 1986; Vampire Killer on the MSX2 as the European debut; Western and European release years; Simon “famously unable to jump off the many staircases”.
- Jack Yarwood, “Tracking down the obscure mind behind Castlevania”, Wireframe issue 62, April 2022, pp. 28–32: Hitoshi Akamatsu’s career and role as director; the horror-film intent and Raiders of the Lost Ark; the difficulty and sub-weapons; the composers; Vampire Killer (the key and merchants); Simon’s Quest and Dracula’s Curse; the move to Konami’s Tokyo studio; the Netflix series.
- NESdev Wiki, “List of NES music composers” (web, secondary): Kinuyo Yamashita as composer of Castlevania. https://www.nesdev.org/wiki/List_of_NES_music_composers
- Castlevania (Konami, NES, 1987), the game itself: the fixed jumps and knockback, the whip and candles, hearts and the five secondary weapons.
- Computer and Video Games issue 87, January 1989, p. 139 (Mean Machines): NES review.
- The Games Machine issue 16, March 1989, p. 49: NES review (£29.95, 71%; the MSX version’s 69% from issue 2).
- Konami Inc. advertisement, Computer Gaming World issue 69, March 1990, p. 9, and Compute! April 1990: Castlevania for Commodore and IBM, Amiga “Fall 1990”.
- AC’s Guide to the Commodore Amiga, Fall 1990: Amiga Castlevania, Konami Inc., $44.95.
- Compute! issue 130, June 1991, pp. 126–127 (Gazette section): Commodore 64 review by Russ Ceccola ($14.95).
- Nintendo Power volume 20, January 1991, pp. 28–31: Castlevania III and the MMC5.