Haunted Castle (video game)

Haunted Castle[lower-alpha 1] is a side-scrolling platform game released by Konami for arcades in 1987. It is the second arcade game in the Castlevania franchise, following Vs. Castlevania, an arcade port of the original 1986 NES video game released in North America. Unlike the previous arcade title in the franchise, Haunted Castle is not a direct port of an existing console game, but a newly-developed arcade game running on custom JAMMA-based board.

Haunted Castle
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Designer(s)Masaaki Kukino[1]
Composer(s)Kenichi Matsubara[2]
Masahiro Ikariko
"T"
SeriesCastlevania
Platform(s)Arcade, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
ReleaseArcade
PlayStation 2
  • JP: May 25, 2006
PlayStation 4
  • NA: September 14, 2017[7]
Genre(s)Platforming
Mode(s)Single-player

The game has the player controlling Simon Belmont, who embarks on a journey to save his wife Selena from the clutches of Dracula.

Gameplay
Gameplay screenshot

Haunted Castle is a platform game with six stages, which are played through in a linear progression. The player controls the main character, whose primary weapon is a whip. He must fight various enemies which consist partially of skeletons, zombies, mermen, and hunchbacks. By destroying certain enemies, he can upgrade his primary weapon first to a more powerful spiked morning star, then to a sword. In addition, various "sub-weapons" can be obtained which provide different means of attack which consist of bombs (powerful ground attack), boomerangs (straight attack), stopwatches (freezes enemies), crosses (powerful straight attack), and torches (continuous ground attack). Hearts are collected to use the 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 Dracula himself.

Multiple board versions exist, all of which have varying levels of difficulty. Version M is considered the most challenging, Version K and Version J are regarded as being easier to play.[9]

Development

Audio

The soundtrack was composed in part by Kenichi Matsubara, who previously worked on the soundtrack of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. There are several music tracks in Haunted Castle that have been reused in other Castlevania games. "Bloody Tears", first heard in the previously released Castlevania II, is used as the theme for Stage 3. Another arcade piece, the Stage 1 theme "Cross Your Heart", was reused in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin under the title "Crucifix Held Close" and as an unlockable song in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. It is part of the "Akumajo Dracula Medley" that appears 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". "Clockwork's Beat", which plays during Stage 5, was remixed in Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow under the name "Underground Melodies" (actually the name of Haunted Castle's Stage 4 theme). Finally, "Don't Wait Until Night", played during Stage 6, which borrows hints of "The Silence of Daylight" (the town music from Castlevania II),, was remixed in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow for Julius' theme "Heart of Fire", though this particular song is actually a medley of the Haunted Castle tune and "Heart of Fire" from Stage 5 of the original Castlevania.

Releases

A PlayStation 2 port of Haunted Castle was released by game publisher Hamster in May 2006 as part of the Oretachi Gēsen Zoku series. This port was only released in Japan.[10]

In September 2017, Hamster released the game for the PlayStation 4 as part of their Arcade Archives line of digital releases. This version includes the option to play the Japanese, North American and European versions of the game.[7] Haunted Castle is also included in Konami's Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, released digitally on April 19, 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam).[11] Unlike the stand-alone Arcade Archive release, this version varies depending on the region.[12]

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Haunted Castle on their April 1, 1988, issue as being the sixth most-popular arcade game at the time.[15]

Time Extension placed Haunted Castle last on its list of ranked Castlevania games. It was described that "It starts off well enough; the sprites are nice and large (a fact that makes it hard to avoid danger) and there are some amazing tunes here. However, the brutal difficulty level is clearly designed to suck in coins, and the controls feel stiff and awkward. [...] Outside of saying you've played it, there's little reason to seek this one out. It's dreadful."[16]

Notes
  1. Known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ, Akumajō Dorakyura, Demon Castle Dracula)[8]

References
  1. Szczepaniak, John (4 August 2014). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers. Vol. 1. SMG Szczepaniak. pp. 231–232, 235, 242–245. ISBN 978-0992926021.
  2. Konami Game Music Collection Vol.1 (Media notes). King Records Co., Ltd. 1988. Archived from the original on 2009-06-13. Retrieved 2010-09-28.
  3. "Haunted Castle - Official Konami page (JP)" (in Japanese). Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  4. "Haunted Castle - Official Konami page (EN)". Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  5. "Haunted Castle - Official Konami page (EU)". Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  6. "PS4『アーケードアーカイブス 悪魔城ドラキュラ』12月1日配信決定！" (in Japanese). Famitsu. 25 November 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  7. "Latest | Official PlayStation™Store US". Archived from the original on 2016-05-12. Retrieved 2017-10-18.
  8. Konami (2010-08-04). Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Konami. Japanese: 歴代の「悪魔城ドラキュラ」シリーズから選ばれた登場キャラクターを操作して、仲間たちと悪魔城に乗り込み、宿敵ドラキュラ伯爵に立ち向かおう。 English translation: Take control of past protagonists from the Castlevania series to brave the Demon Castle alongside friends and defeat the ancient enemy Count Dracula.
  9. https://castlevaniadungeon.net/games/hcfaq.txt
  10. "Haunted Castle". The Castlevania Dungeon. Archived from the original on 18 July 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  11. "The Absolute Worst Castlevania Is Coming To Arcade Archives On Switch". Nintendo Life. March 31, 2021.
  12. "Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics". Archived from the original on 2019-03-21. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  13. Miki, Koji (May 1988). "Super Soft Corner: 特集 AOU アミューズメント・エキスポ レポート - '88AOU出展ビデオゲームを完全レポート — 悪魔城ドラキュラ（コナミ）". Micom BASIC Magazine (in Japanese). No. 71. The Dempa Shimbunsha Corporation. p. 270.
  14. ザ・ベストゲーム2 - アーケードビデオゲーム26年の歴史: ゲーメスト大賞11年史. 17 January 1998. pp. 22–23. ISBN 9784881994290. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  15. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 329. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 April 1988. p. 25.
  16. McFerran, Damien (2 January 2023). "Best Castlevania Games - Every Castlevania Game Ranked". Time Extension. Hookshot Media. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
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