Castlevania Chronicles

It's only too bad that a few extras couldn't be included. I would have loved to have a couple of the NES sequels on the disc. Also, all the technical aspects (graphics, sound) are dated (as they should be).

One tough mother through and through. It's a simpler, tighter, better-paced and more addictive old-school side-scroller adventure than 1997's "Symphony of the Night."

Chronicles has the classic formula I’ve come to know and love. Frustratingly good difficulty, cool extras – an oldie but a goodie. [Nov 2001, p.216]

With a value price and sentimental value for long-time Castlevania fans, Castlevania Chronicles is a must have to the collection for fans of the series. However, outsiders to the following may not be very impressed by the older-looking graphics and gameplay – even with the minimal upgrades of "arranged" mode.

If your first encounter with Castlevania was "Symphony of the Night" or even some of the SNES games, you'll be disappointed by the dated graphics, static gameplay, and lack of replay value.

Castlevania Chronicles will probably only appeal to fans of the series who can’t ever get enough.

Gameplay is pretty shallow stuff, but it's also somehow more intense, and much more challenging, than recent games in the series.

Castlevania Chronicles is a reimagining of the original Castlevania on NES, originally released for the Sharp X68000 gaming computer in Japan. The game would later receive a port for the PlayStation, with the original game (Original Mode) and an updated version (Arrange Mode). Original Mode is very difficult and plays like a second quest, where enemies do much more damage and the jumping controls feel stiff. Arrange Mode is more beginner friendly with easier difficulty and smoother controls. While the game doesn't bring anything new to the table as far as the Castlevania series goes, it's a solid entry in the series and worth playing for any fan.

The game itself has 2 modes: original mode and arranged mode, the arranged mode has different more "modern" music and is easier, mostly because the character moves faster. I played in original mode and while the 1st stages where kind of easy, soon the difficulty starts to get really punishing, this can be good or bad depending on the person. You can Save your file from the start of each stage which made things easier.

It's really like the old franchise games. A difficult game with instant kill levels and annoying flying enemies. Checkpoints could be more generous in Arrange mode