The appeal of Konami’s recently released Castlevania collection of games is, in theory, that it’s a modern way to play three meaty Castlevania adventures from the Nintendo DS era (Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of a RuinAND Order of the Church). But the most significant thing for me is that I am a staunch and long-time opponent of the 1987 game. Haunted Castlethis is something modern: Haunted Castle Revisiteda remake of Konami’s disastrous attempt to bring the Simon Belmont vs. Dracula fight to arcades.
Konami released the original Haunted Castle about a year after the original Vania Castle came to Nintendo’s Famicom Disk System in 1986. A modern version of Simon’s original adventure, Haunted Castle sends our hero on a mission to rescue his modern fiancée Selena from her kidnapper Dracula. Armed with a whip and other collectible weapons, Simon faces familiar threats like Medusa, Frankenstein’s monster, and a giant rock golem.
Original Haunted Castle had a few good points — namely huge sprites and catchy music. But Haunted Castle was punishingly arduous, awkward to control, and poorly animated. The original Vania Castle it was also a challenge, but Haunted CastleThe difficulty spikes were brutal and often unfair, clearly designed to steal coins from innocent adolescent gamers who loved the NES original and were lured in by the fancy graphics. (That innocent adolescent gamer was me.)
Haunted Castle Revisited adopts the basic framework of the original Haunted Castle and transforms it into a classic side-scrolling Castlevania action game. Developer M2 and Keisuke Koga, who designed Castlevania: Adventure Rebornspectacular remake of the first Castlevania game for Game Boy, they are responsible for transforming Haunted Castle around 2024. The developer has improved the difficulty level, redesigned levels and enemy encounters, and provided Haunted Castle major graphical improvement Visited again. Simon is now nicely animated and much easier to control.
On the normal difficulty level of the game, Haunted Castle Revisited is relatively straightforward to complete, thanks in part to generous checkpoints, continues, and a level selection option from the main menu. There’s also a Hard difficulty setting that remixes enemy layouts and introduces modern enemy variants not found in the normal setting. Hard is incredibly fun—challenging but not punishing.
The biggest update in Haunted Castle Revisited are the game’s bosses. They’ve all been redesigned in some way, but two of the (six) boss fights stand out: the Stained Glass Knight and the final battle with Dracula himself. I won’t spoil them, as they’re worth experiencing for yourself, but they’re inventive and exhilarating spectacles all on their own.
M2 even improved Simon’s whip. Like in other classic Castlevania games, Simon can upgrade his iconic weapon from the standard leather bullwhip to the morning star by collecting orbs. Haunted Castle Revisited adds an extra layer to this; Once Simon’s whip is upgraded, any orbs he collects will grant him a short-lived buff, increasing its range and widening its damage radius. It’s a compact detail, but it adds a sense of urgency to the game — you’ll want to make the most of your super-charged whip while you can.
Haunted Castle Revisited may not be the biggest attraction of Konami’s modern product Castlevania Dominus Collectionbut for Castlevania fans who played the original and hated it Haunted Castlethe remake is worth playing. It transformed the plague of the series into a fresh, classic Castlevania game the likes of which we haven’t seen in many years.
Castlevania Dominus Collection was released on August 27 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. The game was reviewed using a pre-download code provided by Nintendo. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commission on products purchased through affiliate links. You can find more information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.
