Castlevania III (NES, 1989)
Graphics-8 Sound-9 Control-6.5/7*/7.5** Challenge-8.5 Story-6
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-9 Fun-8 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5/8**
*Alucard
**Control improvement hack
+
Four characters with different abilities that you can switch to on the fly
Alternate paths between levels
Good variation
Good checkpoint system (less forgiving though)
Mini-bosses
Great creepy atmosphere
Enemies also drop items (mostly good but you can accidentally pick up a bad weapon for the situation at hand)
Memorable locations (half or more of the game takes place outside the castle – ghost ship, flooded ruins, defiled shrines, toxic caves, marshes, clock towers)
Password save
Unlockable hard mode (more frustrating than challenging due to medusas being replaced by the erratic flying skulls)
Good length
Character abilities (climbing walls/ceiling, turn into a bat and fly as Alucard (drains hearts)
Freeze entire rivers with Sypha's Ice spell)
Decent intro
Some good bosses (Dracula)
Hidden items
+/-
Better music in JP version
Better balanced difficulty in JP version
Can't cancel an attack move by jumping or ducking
Small delay when attacking
Huge knockback (decent invincibility time)
Longer stages
No invincibility items?
Some bosses are much easier when using the right weapon/character (and vice versa)
-
Doesn't improve jump controls
Some trial & error (somewhat random candle drops - can pick up unwanted sub weapon, inconsistency about which blocks you can jump through from below, boss patterns)
Cheap hits (when entering screens on stairs and in autoscrolling parts, respawning frogs part, some platform sections crowded with enemies)
Using a sub weapon close to a staircase cancels the attack and makes you walk up the stairs
Some very annoying enemies (owls, medusa heads, bats, respawning mummies that throw “medusa bandages”)
Unbalanced characters/weapons (Alucard can skip large areas by flying (but is a weak fighter), Sypha's ice spell is overpowered, holy water stomps most bosses)
Some dead space
Some slowdown and flicker
Switching between partners takes about 5 seconds and makes an annoying sound
Can’t jump off or onto stairs
Your character doesn’t automatically climb stairs when there’s a cliff (making you fall straight down to your death, momentum doesn't let you direct the fall)
Many small dead ends in the early levels (not all paths)
Some unreachable candles early on (unless you have the axe)
Alucard can’t attack while climbing stairs
Using sub weapons while climbing stairs is pretty awkward (need to stand still, hold down attack button then press up)
Tedious parts (bone dragons, waiting for the acid drops and blocks to reveal a path in the cellar path to the castle, some of the vertical platforming (falling down = death)
Somewhat sloppy hit detection (large sprites)
Repeats a few bosses (giant bat)
No sub weapon inventory or indicator of which candles hold sub weapons (clocks are useless vs. bosses)
Can't go backwards or exit a level to go back and switch paths
Can't pick up other characters on your second run (hard mode)
Notes:
-Regular enemies do more damage in the JP ver. (3 instead of 2) and it's the only ver. that has the control improvement hack
-Improved controls hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3596/
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-9 Fun-8 Originality-6
Overall Score-7.5/8**
*Alucard
**Control improvement hack
+
Four characters with different abilities that you can switch to on the fly
Alternate paths between levels
Good variation
Good checkpoint system (less forgiving though)
Mini-bosses
Great creepy atmosphere
Enemies also drop items (mostly good but you can accidentally pick up a bad weapon for the situation at hand)
Memorable locations (half or more of the game takes place outside the castle – ghost ship, flooded ruins, defiled shrines, toxic caves, marshes, clock towers)
Password save
Unlockable hard mode (more frustrating than challenging due to medusas being replaced by the erratic flying skulls)
Good length
Character abilities (climbing walls/ceiling, turn into a bat and fly as Alucard (drains hearts)
Freeze entire rivers with Sypha's Ice spell)
Decent intro
Some good bosses (Dracula)
Hidden items
+/-
Better music in JP version
Better balanced difficulty in JP version
Can't cancel an attack move by jumping or ducking
Small delay when attacking
Huge knockback (decent invincibility time)
Longer stages
No invincibility items?
Some bosses are much easier when using the right weapon/character (and vice versa)
-
Doesn't improve jump controls
Some trial & error (somewhat random candle drops - can pick up unwanted sub weapon, inconsistency about which blocks you can jump through from below, boss patterns)
Cheap hits (when entering screens on stairs and in autoscrolling parts, respawning frogs part, some platform sections crowded with enemies)
Using a sub weapon close to a staircase cancels the attack and makes you walk up the stairs
Some very annoying enemies (owls, medusa heads, bats, respawning mummies that throw “medusa bandages”)
Unbalanced characters/weapons (Alucard can skip large areas by flying (but is a weak fighter), Sypha's ice spell is overpowered, holy water stomps most bosses)
Some dead space
Some slowdown and flicker
Switching between partners takes about 5 seconds and makes an annoying sound
Can’t jump off or onto stairs
Your character doesn’t automatically climb stairs when there’s a cliff (making you fall straight down to your death, momentum doesn't let you direct the fall)
Many small dead ends in the early levels (not all paths)
Some unreachable candles early on (unless you have the axe)
Alucard can’t attack while climbing stairs
Using sub weapons while climbing stairs is pretty awkward (need to stand still, hold down attack button then press up)
Tedious parts (bone dragons, waiting for the acid drops and blocks to reveal a path in the cellar path to the castle, some of the vertical platforming (falling down = death)
Somewhat sloppy hit detection (large sprites)
Repeats a few bosses (giant bat)
No sub weapon inventory or indicator of which candles hold sub weapons (clocks are useless vs. bosses)
Can't go backwards or exit a level to go back and switch paths
Can't pick up other characters on your second run (hard mode)
Notes:
-Regular enemies do more damage in the JP ver. (3 instead of 2) and it's the only ver. that has the control improvement hack
-Improved controls hack: https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/3596/