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Castlevania Legends

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Castlevania Legends
North American box art
Developer(s)Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya
Publisher(s)Konami
Director(s)Kouki Yamashita
Designer(s)Tsukasa Hiyoshi
Programmer(s)Yoshiteru Yamaguchi
Artist(s)Kazunobu Uchida
Composer(s)Kaoru Okada
Youichi Iwata
SeriesCastlevania
Platform(s)Game Boy
Release
  • JP: November 27, 1997
  • NA: March 11, 1998
  • EU: 1998
Genre(s)Platforming
Mode(s)Single-player

Castlevania Legends[a] is the third Castlevania title released for the original Game Boy. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1997 and in Europe and North America on March 11, 1998.

The game's now non-canon plot follows Sonia Belmont, a vampire hunter battling the first incarnation of Count Dracula.

Gameplay

Gameplay

Castlevania Legends is a side-scrolling platformer where the protagonist, Sonia Belmont, armed with a whip, charges through five stages of Count Dracula's castle, filled with various enemies and candles containing items. Each stage ends in a mini-boss fight which rewards a "Soul Weapon", which Sonia can cast, consuming varying amounts of hearts.

The game implements two difficulty levels and password based save states. Should the timer run out, Sonia fall off the screen, or either her life bar or time counter fall to zero, she will lose all of her hearts and one life, and will restart at the beginning of the current screen with the basic whip. If she loses all of her lives, the player is presented with the Game over screen, where they may exit or choose to continue from the beginning of the current stage. Once per stage, Sonia can activate her inborn ability to enter "Burning Mode", where she becomes invincible, moves faster, and has more powerful attacks for ten seconds.[2]

Plot

The story begins in an unspecified year in the Middle Ages in Transylvania, during the incarnation of the original Count Dracula. Sonia Belmont, the first vampire hunter of her clan, develops mystical powers in her 17th year, and ventures out to challenge Dracula, meeting Alucard who seeks revenge against his father.[3] After Dracula's defeat, he swears to Sonia that as long as there is evil in the world, he will be resurrected, and in response she swears her family will always defeat him. The game was designed as the first game in the series timeline, but later declared non-canon[4] after the release of Lament of Innocence.

Reception

IGN called the game one of the Game Boy's cult classics despite the portable system's limitations.[4] GameSpy called the music "disappointing", as the previous two Game Boy Castlevania games were highly praised for their music.[5] Game Informer's Tim Turi felt that the game was lacking especially compared to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.[6]

Longtime Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi removed the game from the series timeline, claiming that in his opinion it conflicted with the plotline of the main games.[7] He has stated that "Legends remains something of an embarrassment for the series. If only that development team had the guidance of the original team of the series."[8]

In other media

Sonia was one of the confirmed leads in the Dreamcast game Castlevania: Resurrection, up until that game's cancellation.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula: Dark Night Prelude (悪魔城ドラキュラ 漆黒たる前奏曲（ダークナイト プレリュード）, Akumajō Dorakyura Dāku Naito Pureryūdo, lit. Demon Castle Dracula: Dark Night Prelude)[1]

References

  1. ^ Konami (2010-08-04). Castlevania: Harmony of Despair. Konami. Japanese: 歴代の「悪魔城ドラキュラ」シリーズから選ばれた登場キャラクターを操作して、仲間たちと悪魔城に乗り込み、宿敵ドラキュラ伯爵に立ち向かおう。 English translation: Take control of past protagonists from the Castlevania series to brave the Demon Castle alongside friends and defeat the ancient enemy Count Dracula.
  2. ^ Castlevania Legends Instruction Booklet. Konami. 1997. pp. 2–11. DMG-ADNP-EUR.
  3. ^ Castlevania Legends Instruction Booklet. Konami. 1997. p. 2. DMG-ADNP-EUR.
  4. ^ a b Mark Bozon (2007-01-18). "Castlevania: The Retrospective". IGN. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  5. ^ "The Music of Castlevania Legends". GameSpy. 2000-01-01. Archived from the original on 2009-07-22. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
  6. ^ Turi, Tim (2012-04-04). "Ranking The Castlevania Bloodline". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2013-05-07. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  7. ^ Kurt Kalata (2006-07-26). "Tales from the Crypt: Castlevania's 20th Anniversary Blow-out". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14.
  8. ^ Nintendo Power, August 2008
  9. ^ "Castlevania Resurrection." IGN.com. 2007. IGN Entertainment Inc. 21 June 2007. <http://dreamcast.ign.com/objects/012/012004.html Archived 2009-02-28 at the Wayback Machine> [1] Archived 2009-02-28 at the Wayback Machine [2] Archived 2013-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
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