One thing I really love about Konami was how good they were at making fun of themselves. Konami is the king of parody in the video game realm. They did so with Parodius and a few other releases. The one I’m talking about today is a curious title brought to North America as Kid Dracula. This was a cheese on their Castlevania series, and is actually a sequel to a Famicom only title. I played this one leading up to Halloween, and planned to write about it to commemorate the holiday. Life got in the way, but I still felt like writing about it so here we go. Is Kid Dracula worth picking up? Well you know the drill; keep reading to find out!
The game doesn’t take itself too seriously. Let’s get that out of the way right now. Konami is the king of parody after all. Kid Dracula starts as the demon Garamoth has returned, and it’s up to the son of the head vampire to take him out. As I mentioned this game is a sequel to a Famicom only release, and so I’m willing to let the story slide. The first thing you should know about this game is that it doesn’t play like any real Castlevania title. If you’re expecting some whip slinging action you’re out of luck. It actually feels more like Mega Man to be honest. Kid Dracula is a side scrolling platformer at heart, but with some very different fundamentals in place.
So this is a 2D side scrolling platformer game. You move either left or right (some levels will require you to do in either direction). It’s best to leave everything you know about Castlevania at the door because this is quite different. By default you can throw fireballs (you’ve got a charge up shot ala Mega Man), walk, and jump. Enemies generally take just one hit to kill. It’s not that simple because they move in a variety of different patterns. What’s interesting about Kid Dracula is that you can shoot the default projectile up and down as well as horizontal. That’s more options than the typical Game Boy action title offers, and that aspect reminded me of something more like Contra.
Let me start off by saying that Kid Dracula is rich in references to other games. These are generally subtle, such as a boss character that looks like Rick from Splatterhouse, or environmental hazards with sprites ripped straight out of Gradius. When you complete a stage you gain a new ability (again, it’s like Mega Man). The most significant ability you have is the one that allows you to transform into a bat. Using this you can simply fly through a level. This is however limited by the power-ups you’ve collected. You can also mess with gravity and flip it on its end. It’s pretty cool, but you’ll be made well aware when it’s required.
The abilities are what make this game so varied. This holds especially true with how the level designs play upon these. I really must say that Kid Dracula excels in stage design. There’s always something new to see. The game throws new ideas at you from start to finish. No two levels are alike, nor do they feel repetitive in the least. For a Game Boy game that’s pretty impressive given the memory constraints. The hardware is pushed in some significant ways by this. Kid Dracula has a lot of moving parts which include both enemies, platforms, and more. There’s some slowdown, but not more than you’d expect for a handheld game of this era.
The variety Kid Dracula offers can’t be overstated enough. Levels are primarily horizontal in nature, but there are times you’ll have to move upward or downward instead. Some stages have moving platforms you have to navigate which makes these areas feel autoscrolling. In these sections you can’t simple use the bat ability to be successful, but that’s because of the design instead of any limitation. I really liked the sections of the game that you could actually fly over because the developers put projectiles and enemies you still must contend with. You also have sections where the floor is falling, and it’s tough to keep up because enemies are still attacking your character. This is another case where the bat ability comes in handy!
Boss fights are so well done in Kid Dracula that this alone sets it apart from the rest of the pack. It’s rare that in modern times I’m so eager to see what big baddie awaits at the end of each level. The first one is a simple ghost (it had to be edited from the Japanese release, google it and you’ll see why). Next we have the clone of Rick from Splatterhouse (as I mentioned earlier) and the reference is a very fun one. The rest of them are very fun and have attack patterns that will force you to think and plan for. Again, this is something that surpasses the limitations of the Game Boy hardware.
Kid Dracula is heavily based on the Famicom version of the title. It’s easy to see where the sprites were carried over. The games themselves are different, but the graphic engine was ported over almost perfectly. There is some slowdown and flicker, but for the most part the game is very sound as far as the engine goes. Kid Dracula however is a very beautiful game. The sprites animate wonderfully, and you can tell just what the developers were going for. In some ways this looks like a game that should have been on the Super Nintendo. The art style is also very on point and every scene looks incredible. The soundtrack is fun and bouncy. The music is wonderful and takes great advantage of the hardware. This is a soundtrack I would love to have (hint, hint).
Kid Dracula is easily one of the best platformer games on the Game Boy. It easily breezes past all of the incarnations of Castlevania on the portable system. Konami does the parody right, and Kid Dracula actually surpasses this entire notion by being a great standalone game. Kid Dracula is one of the best non-Nintendo games on the original Game Boy.
