Haunted Castle (悪魔城ドラキュラ) - Version M
Loop 1 Clear - 1CC - Player: edusword
Emulator: WolfMAME 0.221
INP: http://replay.marpirc.net/inp/1/b/3/e...
Haunted Castle (c) 1988 Konami.
It is known in Japan as "Akumajou Dracula

COMENTARIO PERSONAL:
Partida jugada con el único objetivo de completar el primer loop (sin tener en cuenta para nada la puntuación), dejándome matar una vez completado éste e iniciado el segundo. La versión M es la más difícil de todas, ya que la mayoría de los enemigos quitan el doble de energía que en las otras versiones.

El juego al principio resulta difícil, pero sin embargo tiene una curva de dificultad que en mi opinión es muy buena, y puede llegarse a controlar de manera suficiente en poco tiempo, una vez se haya conseguido memorizar las partes más conflictivas. Me ha gustado más de lo que en un principio esperaba.

INFO:
Haunted Castle is a side-scrolling platform game released by Konami for the arcades in 1988. The game serves as an adaptation or parody of the original Castlevania, but was not marketed as part of the series outside Japan. Unlike VS. Castlevania (an earlier Vs. System version released exclusively in North America in 1987), it is not a direct port of the NES version, but rather it is a completely new game running on custom JAMMA-based hardware.

The game has the player controlling a blue-haired Simon Belmont, who embarks on a journey through a dilapidated manor to save his wife Serena from the clutches of Count Dracula. Simon must trek through six stages in order to reach the Count's lair.

GAMEPLAY:
Haunted Castle is a typical 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 switch his weapon to a more powerful spiked morning star. 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 (stop enemies), crosses (powerful straight attack), and torches (continuous ground attack, work like the holy water in the other Castlevania games). Hearts are collected to use each of these "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, being a series staple, Dracula.

AUDIO:
The soundtrack was composed in part by Kenichi Matsubara, who previously did the soundtrack to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. There are several notable music tracks in Haunted Castle that have been reused in other Castlevania games. The well-recognized "Bloody Tears" (first heard in the previously released Castlevania II) is used in this game as the theme for Stage 3. Another arcade piece, the Stage 1 theme "Cross Your Heart", was recently 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 also 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),[citation needed], 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.

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. Haunted Castle is also included in the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection, released digitally on April 19, 2019 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC (via Steam). Unlike the stand-alone Arcade Archives release, the version of the game included in the compilation varies depending on the region.