For one thing, this game was a Game Boy launch title (somewhat the way Castlevania IV was for the SNES) so there weren’t very many prior platformers on the Game Boy to set the standard. (I actually think this game is almost as good as the original ‘Super Mario Land)’. The main qualm people have with it is the difficulty. But it’s because these old platformers required a different kind of dexterity and adaptability on behalf of the player. They made you memorize and concentrate very deeply on the game layout, as opposed to the modern equivalent of mashing buttons or lazily improvising. Modern Castlevania games have become very different in terms of the action-dynamics, probably because today’s multi-tasking, ADD-imbued audiences cannot concentrate on a challenging game.

Old games were challenging in order to increase the length of the game. They had no budget, a small programming team and a fairly small audience. This game is four levels but still takes a long while to play through. And even when/if you beat it, it’s not particularly easy to do again. These games take practice, like a real skill, so that slacking off for a few years means you have to catch up to where you were to progress.

You complained about the slow speed, but faster platformers on the Game Boy tended to induce headaches. Things moving quickly on a tiny grey-yellow screen causes the screen to blur and your consciousness to fade. The only way I could ever play ‘Super Mario Land 2′ for more than 20 minutes without getting a migraine, was by playing it on Super-Game Boy or emulating it. I think the ‘Castlevania Adventure’ paces intentionally slowly. Though it may seem horribly boring today, considering the obscenely fast pace and animation of games, the characters movements are actually efficient.

For instance, you complained of the complications found in jumps, that the (large number of) jumps must all be mind-numbingly precise or you die. But this is nothing new to the series. All the early Castlevanias, up through ‘Castlevania IV’ and ‘Bloodlines’ featured this dynamic. Your character is always rather heavy and gravity-struck, making jumps precarious and dangerous. It’s a pretty fresh way to go for a game series, especially from today’s perspective. And it works because the Castlevania game programming and collision detection is always spot-on. If you miss a jump in ‘Castlevania Adventure’ it is because you failed, not the game designers.

The Castlevania Adventure is a pretty good miniature rendition of what was going on with the Castlevania series back in the ’80s. I think you might’ve taken this one out of context or something. Not to mention, the music is some of the best Game Boy music of all time!

Anyway, did you beat the third level? That one brings back some old-school 2-D adrenaline like no other. You know — frustration so great, you break the controller, scream, and cut yourself. LAWL!!1!

I agree that the game has a dark, enveloping sensation that many games (then and now) fail to capture. The atmosphere is wonderful, and even friendly characters in the towns seem poised to become foes without notice. I think that element is intentional. The same uneasiness and subtly dark fantasy can be found in “Zelda II”, where some townspeople in their homes will randomly attack you and certain secrets are to be accessed only with the aid of magical items — the existence of which are alluded to only cryptically.

My main complaint with the Day-to-Night-”What a Horrible Night for a Curse!” thing, is that it makes certain parts of the game obnoxiously difficult (getting lost in the countryside, for instance) and monotonous (killing vampires and waiting out the night in the towns when you have stuff to do there). Additionally, the text box takes so freaking long to appear and disappear each time! Why did every Nintendo game in the ’80s/’90s have to display text portions one character per second, accompanied by a grating typewriter noise — all without the ability of the player to skip it? This was a major innovation of the ‘Dragon Warrior’ games in my mind: totally smooth, fast, text boxes. Now if only you didn’t have to open the menu and press talk every damn time…

Also, I like how jumping over the water-pits in the towns is one of the more difficult parts of the game. It’s hard as hell during the daytime, but then night comes and vampires come out, and you realize that life is miserably painful and human dreams are total fantasy and……

Ahaha! But I digress. Is no one else amazed by the fact that this game actually made you feel like you were in Romania? I mean, come on… the dark, grim forests, the town architecture, the unfriendly people… it was totally Romania! Pretty vivid stuff for an old-school Nintendo game. Maybe I just have nostalgia (yeah, maybe ), but this game made for a pretty engrossing experience even when couldn’t get anywhere in it.

Although, man, when you think about the games that bookended this one it is almost unfathomable that they could fuck up this bad.

I probably paid about $4 for the copy of this game that I currently own, and I still feel like a got ripped off. If Konami was a woman I’d marry her, but this game is still ass.

I will bring a big stack of books for Garth and beg him to continue writing Punisher.

I’m pretty stoked on WW and Garth Ennis being there. My comic dork friend and I tend to exchange daily text messages with comical anecdotes involving Ennis’ sanity (or lack thereof).