Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Review by The Successor

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any developing for the Gameboy had the notion of re-imagining a familiar series on the handheld, and separating it from what it was on the Nintendo Entertainment System. They adhered to certain establishments, so as to keep the games recognizable, but strayed from others.

Good examples are the Gameboy Mega Man games. They are titled the same as their NES counterparts, and borrow many key aspects from them, including bosses and weapons, but they're entirely different games with special quirks that differentiate them from the NES adventures. The Super Mario Land games are similar. Generally, they play in the same way as their NES counterparts, but many things are different. There are new villains, a maiden to rescue that isn't Princess Toadstool, no Luigi, and so forth. Like the Mega Man games, familiar ideas were reworked.

These games are almost like forgotten tales. They are in shadows while their more well-known console cousins bask in the spotlight. If you mention Mega Man 5, most will think of Mega Man 5 on the NES and not Mega Man V on the Gameboy. Despite the latter being one of the very best to bear the Mega Man title, and possibly being the very best action platformer on the Gameboy, it is sadly a whispered segment of the saga.

And now we come to Castlevania.
The original Castlevania laid ground work for the two games that followed it on the Nintendo. A definite graphic style, recurring enemy roster, returning sub-weapons and power ups, and distinct controls. In 1989, Konami released Castlevania: The Adventure on Gameboy. This title resembled the NES games, but was different in a variety of ways. Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge is the direct sequel to The Adventure, and follows in Adventure's footsteps of crafting a new style of presentation for Castlevania on the Gameboy. It is almost as though it is creating a mini-series within the series, with its own graphics style, enemy roster, starring character, controls, and power-ups. It dares to go even further by including a stage select similar to the Mega Man games.

In Belmont's Revenge, four castles rise when Christopher Belmont's son, Soleiyu, disappears. Deducing that there is probably a connection, Christopher Belmont explores the castles for answers about the whereabouts of his teenage son. Players choose which castle they want to go to in any order. There is no type advantage or anything of the sort for beating one before another, so it's a matter of preference and nothing more.

The castles are some elemental crap you'd see in an RPG or something. They each have a theme -- Plant, Crystal, Cloud, and Rock.

Early on, there isn't much hinting at the gothic horror and dark fantasy nature of Castlevania, which embodies the trilogy on the Nintendo Entertainment System. There are no decaying castles or meandering corpses, none of the initial four bosses have anything to do with the horror genre, and though you may see the occasional gargoyle statue, gothic landscapes are not too discernible.

It could be argued that the limitations of the Gameboy make it more difficult to portray gothic characteristics, but The Adventure started players in a graveyard decorated with crosses and headstones, and creepy horror shaded notes lead the music.

Belmont's Revenge suggests we begin in a Crystal Castle. Due to vague graphics this place can be interpreted different ways. If any parallel can be drawn with anything else in the series, it would be the Atlantis Ruins in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. The Greco-Roman architecture is present, as is the water and Mermen. Other options include a Rock Castle, or Plant Castle. In concept, these areas have nothing to do with Count Dracula, or anything remotely related to Castlevania, aside from being castles, which doesn't even come across while traversing them. No broken architecture, headstones, stained glass and very few statues or curved windows.

This can be taken in a good way. These areas don't have much to do with Castlevania and Belmont's Revenge doesn't really care. It throws all this weird, loose, disjointed stuff at you, and is comfortable in what it's doing, suggesting, "Let's take this series you're familiar with and explore it in a different way." You've got the whip brandishing Vampire Hunter and Count Dracula and his castle, but in-between all of that is a bizarre illusory adventure that seems like maybe it didn't really happen.

The allure to this is that despite these elemental castles being dumb ideas and very out of place, Belmont's Revenge does it anyway and makes it so it doesn't even matter that they're dumb and out of place. Much of what makes this game entrancing is this attitude of throwing rhyme and reason to the wind while coming up with appealing content that is hard to deny.

Concerning appealing content in Belmont's Revenge, one of the first things that come to mind is the music. It doesn't often have that spooky tinge that Castlevania music is famous for. That appears at and near the finale, but for the most part this is straight up kick your butt video game action music and not much else. But what it does, it does very well. It's energetic, compelling, and extremely catchy. It takes full advantage of the Gameboy's capabilities, using the dreamy synth to give many lead melodies beautiful, melodious tones despite sounding like machines, which are pleasantly contrasted with the rugged bass.

The Gameboy sound chip never produced great percussion, but it keeps up well enough. Clever use is made of the Gameboy's stereo capability, especially in the Plant Castle's theme "Ripe Seeds", which has a vivacious bass line as a result of bouncing back from one speaker to another.

It's astonishing that such lovely, well thought-out tones are coming from a tiny cartridge in a tiny handheld, which is almost forgotten today. It's like haphazardly finding a music jewelry box in your friend's sister's bedroom and opening it to discover unbelievably mesmerizing music.

It would be something if merely a couple tracks were of this high quality, but the entire soundtrack lays one hit after another on you. The Crystal Castle theme "New Messiah" is every bit as good as Castlevania III's stage 1 track, "Beginning", if not more so. Each note of "Praying Hands" from the Cloud Castle couldn't be better planned, and the sweet lead synths of the Gameboy and computerized bass can't be outdone by guitars or orchestras.

Belmont's Revenge does a cover of Bach's "Chromatic Fantasia", and it's a heck of a lot more exciting in Belmont's Revenge than the CD recording of it I have, largely because of the punch that the Gameboy offers. There is also a rendition of Claude Debussy's "Passepied", which is lovely channeled through Nintendo's old machine.

Perfectly complimenting the character of this game are the hazy graphics. Rather than paint vivid, solid pictures, they make suggestions, and let your mind fill in the rest. This is very fitting with the overall demeanor present, and lends to the blurred feeling given to everything. It's qualities like the great music and sublime minimalist graphics that make on outwardly silly idea, like the four element based castles, seem more acceptable, because it all works within this game's dreamlike presentation. Besides that, the castles are pretty well designed.

Each stage has something particular about it. The Crystal Castle has water currents that push you one way or another, as well as blocks that break if you stand on them too long. The Rock Castle has pitch black rooms where you must keep from hitting the item holding candles so they may light your way. The Cloud Castle has a series of rope climbing sequences reminiscent of The Adventure's third stage, and the Plant Castle hearkens back to The Adventure's second stage by including explosive eyeballs that blow gaps in bridges if attacked. There are also wrong paths that may send you on a wild goose chase and around in a big circle. There are few stages and a limited set of enemies, but everything is handled with careful consideration, making for winning level design throughout.

Elaborating on hearkening back to The Adventure, Belmont's Revenge does this a lot, refining many of Adventure's rough edges. Adventure is frequently criticized for Christopher's sluggish movement. In Belmont's Revenge he is quicker, though still slow-moving. The ropes return instead of the stairs from the NES games. This time, players may descend them faster with the touch of the A and down buttons. The fireball launching whip also makes a comeback, but you are not penalized for suffering damage with the loss of a whip upgrade. Only a certain enemy can cause the whip to regress a level. Due to some of these adjustments, Belmont's Revenge isn't nearly as nail bitingly difficult as its predecessor, and ultimately, more inviting.

The difficulty is an oddity. In so far as classic Castlevania games are concerned, Belmont's Revenge is either laid back or extremely tough. The greater part of the game is not too demanding. There is perhaps one boss that may prove a problem, but it's mostly easy sailing until you reach the final two stages. This is when Christopher steps into Dracula's Castle where more traditional Castlevania frills are seen and heard.
The difficulty skyrockets.

The problem lies with players being able to choose which stage they want to go to. Each stage is about as hard as another, so there is no progression of difficulty until it sharply rises in the last two stages. Bosses become incredibly powerful and will, in all likelihood, take copious repetition to defeat. The final two bosses may even seem impossible, though, in reality they aren't. They are very pattern oriented, but the patterns are complex, and it will take many tries to get them down pat. There isn't much room for mistake, and in this, it is once again reminiscent of The Adventure, which forced players to take cautious consideration into every move they made.

There's been a lot of talk about how Belmont's Revenge is reminiscent of Adventure, and how it dances to a different beat than the NES games, but it does conform to the NES methods in certain ways. The most important being its inclusion of sub-weapons, which The Adventure did not have. There are only two – the Axe and Holy Water. If you're playing the Japanese version, the Cross takes the place of the Axe, for some reason. Instead of restoring health the way they did in Adventure, hearts power sub-weapons like they do in the NES titles. Likewise, health is replenished by finding meat within walls. The Adventure managed with its bare bones approach, but these add welcome variety to the gameplay.

To sum it all up, Belmont's Revenge is a bit strange for the Castlevania series. It is unlike the others of its ilk and follows the first Gameboy Castlevania game in presenting Castlevania a different way. It fixes many major problems of its predecessor and has dazzling music, a dreamy atmosphere, and solid level design. It's pretty easy for the most part, but abruptly inclines the difficulty near the end.

I wouldn't go so far to say this game is better than some of the console Castlevania titles that were available at the time, like Castlevania, Dracula's Curse, and Super Castlevania IV, but it has a certain unique mystique those games don't have. Some sort of aura brought upon largely by the hardware and weird things the developers were trying . . . that Gameboy style bending of certain establishments while adhering to others.

If you can appreciate Belmont's Revenge's distinct charisma and let it take firm enough hold of you, then you may prefer this game to some of the higher profile console releases. Or, if not, you may think, "Why did they make it like this? What is this weird crap? Why is the character so slow? Perhaps this thing should not have been made."

Belmont's Revenge is one of those games like Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. It is hard to call it better than some of its peers, yet it is hard not to have a very special place in your heart for it. This unsung hero may not represent the series as well as some others, but dares to stand away from the crowd as a veiled, misty island unto itself.