Castlevania Legends Review (Game Boy, 1998)

Castlevania had a rough go on the Game Boy. We know now that the hardware was more than capable, but for some reason Konami struggled making a capable engine on the hardware. These games were overly slow (even moreso than the NES iterations) and had simplified level designs and mechanics. Castlevania Legends was the final release in the Game Boy line, and it’s the topic of our review today. Interesting enough this title came out in 1998 which is super late in the system’s life span. It was also the first post Symphony of the Night release in the franchise. With all the extra time Konami had to get familiar with the hardware Legends fixes all of the issues the previous ones had, right? Unfortunately that’s not the case. Let’s check it out.

The most interesting thing about Castlevania Legends is the fact that it’s the franchise’s origin story. This is the first game in the timeline. It’s also worth noting that this was the first title in the series that had a solo female protagonist. Here you play as Sonia Belmont. At age 17 she develops mysterious powers that make her the first vampire hunter in her clan. The game begins as she sets out to defeat Dracula in his first incarnation, and so starts the Belmont’s family curse. Castlevania Legends was later deemed non-canonical, but I like this story more than what Konami later came out with. That’s even despite not particularly liking the game. My theory is producer Koji Igarashi was just jealous because he couldn’t come up with a more interesting origin story.

Castlevania Legends plays like a traditional release in the franchise. This is a side scrolling action game with heavy horror elements. Basically all of the enemies are either monsters, zombies, or other ghouls. That’s what Castlevania is all about. As Sonia Belmont you move through each stage fighting enemies by smacking them with her whip. This grows in range with power-ups and when this reaches its max it shoots a single projectile across the screen with each attack. Besides that she can jump, and climb ropes. That’s pretty much the game. It’s a little disappointing that this title was released after Symphony of the Night yet didn’t incorporate any RPG elements from it. Instead we have one of the last traditional Castlevania titles here.

That last statement isn’t completely accurate. There are some missing elements of classic Castlevania that didn’t make the cut here. For one thing, stairs. This one isn’t a particularly good deal, but it’s still noticeable. Secondly Sonia’s movement is super slow like in the other Game Boy Castlevania titles. It’s a major problem for pacing. This is one of the few Castlevania titles where I was worried I would run the timer out. It’s really that bad. It makes wide open areas a chore to explore. Legends has a mechanic which temporarily fixes this, with burning energy, but it only lasts a short while. It’s insulting because it shows that the speed wasn’t caused by just the hardware. It was a design choice here, and a bad one at that. It’s like the Sonia has mechanical legs or something.

Sub weapons have also been altered. Previously you picked these up and had several different options. Now they’re dropped by bosses which is vaguely reminiscent of Mega Man. They’re alos now called soul weapons. These function more like magic spells than secondary tools. You switch between them via a menu (accessed by the select button oddly enough) and each consumes hearts with their use. Their functions include things like stopping enemies briefly, attacking all on-screen foes, recovering Sonia’s life, and shooting a wave of energy forward. There are a few others but I found these to be the most interesting. The altered mechanic isn’t necessarily worse, nor is it better than the classic mechanics. It’s just different. On one hand I like the enhanced abilities. On the other I miss classic weapons like the axe and dagger. I wish this aspect of the game was explored in later sequels.

Then we have the burning energy I referenced earlier. This mechanic is found only in Legends, and it’s a shame because I think it’s actually pretty interesting. Basically by pressing the A and B buttons at the same time this is activated. For a brief while Sonia’s attack power is increased as is her movement speed. Unfortunately this lasts only until the bar at the bottom of the screen drains. There’s no way to re-fill this; you get a full bar with each life and at the start of every level. I found that this was best saved for the boss battles, but at the same time it’s hardly necessary. Castlevania Legends isn’t a particularly difficult game with the most painstaking moments caused by the sloppy gameplay mechanics.

Level designs are improved from the past iterations, but not by much. Adventure and Belmont’s revenge suffered from endless repetition. You have more obstacles as well as a bigger variety of enemies here. That alone makes Legends a clear step above them in my book. Unfortunately it has its own set of problems. For one thing there are too many ropes to climb. Some rooms are absolutely filled with these and you’ll have to hop between them to cross. Other times you’re dealing with moving platforms that travel super slowly. It’s can be frustrating especially when you miss a jump and have to start over. Things are only made worse by the fact that you can be knocked off of platforms by enemies. Unfortunately this is a common occurrence. The experience can be pretty maddening thanks to the slow gameplay pacing.

Castlevania Legends isn’t a difficult game. Most of the enemies don’t do much damage, and they’re pretty easy to hit. Healing items aren’t exactly plentiful, but they show up just when you need them. The game does have a few branching paths but one of these always leads to a dead end, and this is where you’ll find healing items. Enemies have predictable patterns and there aren’t any here that are particularly cheap. My favorite of the new monsters is the flying skull, but only because they’re so easy to deal with. These are like boos in that if you look at them they can’t move. The bosses in particular are a cakewalk. Their attacks and patterns are exceptionally easy to dodge. Despite being so easy there are a few parts of Castlevania Legends that are tough. Unfortunately it’s basic things like jumping over pits. That’s because of the speed.

The game is really pretty by Game Boy standards. It’s all sprite based and blocky, but that’s just how I love my games. Sonia has a very different sprite than any of the other Belmonts (probably due to her being a woman). There was also a lot of care put into animating her. The whip slinging in particular looks really nice with lots of different frames. Enemies also look fantastic and I loved the variety between them. The only thing that’s really lacking is the backgrounds. These are generally white with few textures and details. It’s safe to assume that this was because the system lacked a backlight. It does have Super Game Boy support, but it’s not particularly well done. The soundtrack is traditional Castlevania fare. Each composition is well done, and fits the medieval horror motif. It’s a solid soundtrack of bleeps and blips in my opinion.