Vampire Killer Review by The Successor

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f you take Castlevania, Simon's Quest, and perhaps Haunted Castle and throw them in a blender, you might end up with this thing. Vampire Killer – quite possibly the most obscure Castlevania game that isn't a Tiger Handheld or something like that, and also the second game in the series.

For Europeans and Brazilians, it's actually the first, since it was available to them before the NES/FDS games. This little oddity was released for the MSX2 home computer, an ultimately popular piece of hardware in its day that, for some reason, never caught on in the United States and Great Britain. Nowadays, it's mostly known for being the original home of the Metal Gear series, including the once elusive Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake (not the bizarre Snake's Revenge that appeared on the NES).

Castlevania made its own showing on the MSX very shortly after its debut on the Famicom Disk System. Similarities to the original game are quickly apparent. Vampire Killer features stages and music that are very parallel with Castlevania. Nearly all music pieces are arranged versions of Castlevania's themes edited to fit the MSX2 synth; all of Castlevania's bosses make return appearances, and many of the same weapons are present.

Just from looking, it seems like a direct port of Castlevania, but huge differences come forth upon closer examination as Vampire Killer begins leaning more toward a Simon's Quest style.

The game focuses on exploration. There are merchants placed within stages that sell Simon goods at the cost of hearts, there is a shield that blocks projectiles just like Dracula's Rib, and loads of complicated puzzles. A touch of Haunted Castle is added for incredibly cheap difficulty. Though the game has a strong emphasis on exploring, fighting for dear life is also at the forefront, and the odds are amazingly stacked against you.

The first things players must struggle with are not the ghouls haunting Dracula's Castle, but rather the devilish, unintuitive controls. The control scheme is set up in an unbelievably stupid manner. An example of this is the usage of sub-weapons. The hour glass sub-weapon, which operates the same as the stop-watch, is triggered by jumping in the air and pressing down. This can cause the player to take damage (or worse, die) when they shouldn't have to. And forget about using it on staircases, since, in traditional fashion, Simon Belmont isn't able to jump while situated on those.

To use holy water, the player needs to jump in the air and press right, which is even odder. Like Simon's Quest, Simon can carry more than one sub-weapon at a time, which is cool, but using unorthodox button combinations to activate them is not. The good thing is that there is no flipping through menus to select a sub-weapon, but even that would be better than these peculiar combinations that open players up to attacks. There are other annoyances with the controls, such as pressing the up key to jump and Simon Belmont's whipping, which is so fast it is a detriment.

There are only the two sub-weapons mentioned above. Any other items that would usually be sub-weapons in Castlevania titles, such as the axe or dagger, take the place of the Vampire Killer whip. Because of the whip's length and Simon's overly quick whipping, all other weapons are better than it.

The cross and axe act as boomerangs that fly directly horizontally. They offer ranged attacks, but the bad thing about them is that if they are not caught upon returning, they will leave forever . . . or at least until another one is found or bought. This creates an interesting dynamic, but given everything else that Vampire Killer pits players against, like the weird controls, it is unfair. Enemies who often move better than Simon and outnumber him can knock him around eight feet upon contact and easily cause players to miss the returning sub-weapon if the unwieldy controls themselves don't do it instead. Some may say that the best thing to do is learn to dodge the enemies. Ideally, yes, but one of the worst aspects of Vampire Killer is that there are times when damage cannot be avoided no matter what you do.

Yes, that sounds pretty bad, but the absolute worst thing is the complete lack of continues. That's really inexcusable in a game as difficult as this. If players somehow manage to carry on despite everything else, this is usually what will turn off the few who actually give this game a thorough chance. It's just not fun or satisfying struggling and getting far in the game only to have that all taken from you. Limited continues would have been understandable, but having no continues at all is just discouraging.

This is breaking a rule of reviewing games, but in this day and age, it's safe to assume that about 98% of people who play Vampire Killer will be doing so on an emulator. Therefore, the limited continue problem can be bypassed with save states. Even so, Vampire Killer manages to be an exceptionally dispiriting game.

Each stage is long and punishing. It just doesn't encourage players to try again when they fail, and most players will fail a lot. It's nice that Vampire Killer has enough confidence in the player to throw a challenge at them, but this game is at the "Wow!" level. It is hard to believe what it expects players to go through. It's too bad, because the primary thing that really holds Vampire Killer back is how much it punishes the player.

There's quite a bit right with the game, but the wrong makes it difficult to appreciate.

The gameplay concept is very good at its core. The stages are divided into small areas that can be explored freely, and there is a key hidden within each small area. The key is usually hard to find or get to, but once acquired, Simon can use it to unlock a door that leads to the next small area within the stage. The puzzles for finding the keys are usually well thought out and clever, but are occasionally unfair because they sometimes demand you to experiment with one of Simon's lives; for instance, seeing if a pit will either kill him or lead to a path toward the key.

The areas are broken up into screens. Instead of the frequent scrolling of traditional Castlevania games, Vampire Killer takes a room by room approach, with each room usually used in a worthwhile way, presenting its own obstacles, benefits, or mysteries. Sprinkled throughout stages are small keys that open treasure chests, which contain an array of items.

Along the journey for these different keys are the aforementioned merchants, who players can buy useful items from. The items themselves are good ideas. Similar to the Poisonous Mushroom from Super Mario Bros: The Lost Levels, there are Fake Bibles that fall from candles; if these are picked up, the items from merchants will be considerably more expensive. Fake Bibles are shrewd traps, because many players have a tendency to haphazardly pick up anything they see. Likewise, there are Holy Bibles that very conveniently lower the price of items. Boots that boost speed and feathers that enhance leaping prowess as well as shields that raise defense and block projectiles make for a very diverse, fun, and useful inventory.

Vampire Killer gets frustrating again when it erases all progress made toward building up Simon each time a new stage is started. This is especially problematic in the later stages. It's annoying to spend so much time and effort getting great items only to start the next stage with everything stripped away. One of the main reasons for staying alive is to keep all the items that have been acquired, so when these are going to be taken away anyway, a "why bother" attitude sets in a bit. And this lends to a larger "why bother" attitude concerning even playing this game.

It's a game you wish could be good because there are some great ideas, but even those are marred with vexing problems. A good example is the diverse and useful items mentioned earlier. Without taking a trip to GameFAQs or some fan site, chances are that players won't know what about 75% of the things they pick up do. If the player figures out how the hour glass and holy water work, it will either be by luck or looking up a guide. Vampire Killer leaves players near totally in the dark, but not in the captivating way something like Metroid does. It's just bothersome, because the game is either not informing you or fighting against you nearly every step of the way. And this is the type of fighting against you that makes you want to stop playing.

Admittedly, if you get used to Vampire Killer, get a good feel for the game, and really figure out how it works, bizarre and flawed as it may be, it can be kind of fun. But, why go through all the trouble when you can play a better and much more accessible game than this patience eater?

The aesthetics are probably the main thing that tempts people to play this game, even when they know they probably shouldn't. They're more downplayed and dreary than Castlevania's. This game is closer to Simon's Quest's legitimately unsettling feeling than it is Castlevania's camp.

Some will like the ragged and dingy look of Vampire Killer, while the more vivid colors of Castlevania will appeal to others. No style is particularly better, but it is interesting to note the differences. Technically speaking, however, Vampire Killer's graphics are superior. The divergence in music is similar to the visual disparities. Vampire Killer's tunes are less peppy and upbeat. They're a bit more contemplative. Ultimately, the music from the NES game has more range in its sound, and better use of percussion. It's more rhythmic and exciting. The more toned down color pallet, some of the enemies, and tone of the music actually gives Vampire Killer more of an old horror movie feeling than the original Castlevania. Aesthetically, the game performs very well, as it does in a few other areas.

The best way to shortly sum up Vampire Killer is that it's a novel idea that fell apart at execution.

Had it granted us continues, given us a better control scheme, and perhaps some in-game instructions as to what all the different items do, then it would be a pretty good game. As it is, it's something for the bored, especially curious, or highly devoted to experiment with for a while. Even then, chances are whoever starts this game won't finish it, because it's so inaccessible it pushes players away.

Above all else, the problem with Vampire Killer is that the punishment is too severe. Players spend their time collecting great, hard to get items and pumping themselves up only to have it all ripped away from them, due to a small tap from a slime that sends Simon plunging down a pit. Then, Simon is back at square one, in an almost unbelievably hostile environment.

What was it all for? In Castlevania, when we die, we lose our sub-weapons, some whip upgrades, and hearts; all of which can be easily attained again. In Vampire Killer, those things are much more necessary and not so easily attained, so when players die due to the slightest err, it doesn't compel them to go on, but say, "Hey, you know what? This game isn't worth it," and give up.
The ultimate slap in the face is when we commit the time and effort to getting deep in the game with three lives, and then being forced to start back completely at the beginning when those three lives are used up. Note: the stages in Vampire Killer are far lengthier and more difficult than Castlevania's, which makes things even worse.

This whole idea would have worked really well if the developers had smoothed out the many bumps that came up, and didn't expect the world from players.
It would have been nice to see the Castlevania series attempt something like this again, because the concept is good, but Vampire Killer's realization of the concept is tremendously poor. We'll probably never see anything like this again, but Vampire Killer's legacy lives on in Simon's Quest, where its ideas are more beneficially used, even though that game brought forth a host of its own problems.

Vampire Killer is one of those games that are going to deter mostly everyone. Not only is everything ridiculously challenging, but you just don't totally know what it is going on.
Perhaps some "old school" aficionados can forgive all that and enjoy the game based on the attraction of being an old, forgotten relic with cool atmosphere, which is the long lost brother of a highly popular game; but that doesn't change that it's actually pretty terrible because it's so user unfriendly.

Ultimately, this game is not good . . . but depending on your type, there may be something there for you.
Good luck finding it.