Akumajou Dracula (Castlevania)

[Profeta Yoshitake]

I don't think that Castlevania is sooo badly hard...
Ok, I confess that I never killed Death  but it seems to be the major obstacle in this game... 

[Kuvio]

I never really played the original Castlevania that much. Although, I did complete Super Castlevania IV, which was a really good remake IMO. I really enjoyed the sound upgrade with new remixes of past songs. I am a fan of the music from the Castlevania series.

[UglyJoe]

I don't think that Castlevania is sooo badly hard...
Ok, I confess that I never killed Death  but it seems to be the major obstacle in this game... 

Yup, I'd agree with that.  There's a vial of holy water near the beginning of his stage.  If you can grab that and manage not to get killed for the entire level, you can keep lobbing holy water on him and he'll never move.  That's the only way I've managed to beat him.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

I'm gonna try it for sure! 

[KEVMAN569]

I don't think that Castlevania is sooo badly hard...
Ok, I confess that I never killed Death  but it seems to be the major obstacle in this game... 

Yup, I'd agree with that.  There's a vial of holy water near the beginning of his stage.  If you can grab that and manage not to get killed for the entire level, you can keep lobbing holy water on him and he'll never move.  That's the only way I've managed to beat him.

What I do is get a triple holy water on level 2, and if I'm doing good that day I can lose no lives up until Death.  The biggest obstacle isn't exactly Death, it is the room before where you have to fight the Axe Armors while dodging Medusa Heads, which majorly deplets your energy then Death finishes the job.

BTW Triple holy water is the best sub-weapon you could have in the game IMO.

[Profeta Yoshitake]

For me the biggest enemy is still the Death!
Even reaching Death with no loss of energy, she
kills me fast with lots of boomerang sickles!
But I did not used the holy water yet! 

[ReyVGM]

I feel like I've played this game before, I'm not sure. Or maybe I've seen it mentioned before.

But in case I'm just having a bad case of deja vu, here's another Castlevania clone for the FDS, titled Matou no Houkai: The Hero of Babel.

It's a lot like Castlevania 1, only that you use a sword. Also a lot like Castlevania 2 with the obscure puzzles and weapons.



Look at this! This game IS Castlevania 2!



Shame shame shame. Look at the weapons.

The cross, the fire (from CV2) and the holy water.

[JC]

Where does this come from? Fan clone with just a ROM or found on a disk? Looks kinda fun.

[ReyVGM]

Matou no Houkai: The Hero of Babel (FDS)

[JC]

Oh I see what you're saying.

[ReyVGM]

It's a real official game, not a pirate

[ericj]

I have Matou no Houkai and was surprised how similar it is to Castlevania when I first played it.

[ReyVGM]

Another Castlevania clone.

Like 8 eyes, Youkai Club (silly name) is another student of the school of Castlevania. But apparently it spent all day not paying attention because none of the things that made Castlevania good was absorbed by this game.
It is better than 8 Eyes though. If Youkai Club was not paying attention, 8 Eyes was asleep.
The graphics are decent for 1987 standards and the controls are decently tight. You have subweapons like bombs and umm... flashlights and... glasses... Death had nothing to do and fights you 3 different times, and there's even a doppelganger battle at the end, predating the classic Castlevania 3 doppelganger fight on level 9.

During the first few levels it looks like the developers wanted to do their own thing, but by the 3rd stage it becomes much more apparent who their inspiration is.





Amazingly, the style of the character sprite looks a lot like the Trevor sprite from SotN with its long legs and broad back:

[Profeta Yoshitake]

Holy waters! 
This Matou no Houkai: The Hero of Babel looks quite Castlevania-esque!!!
Besides all the similarities, is this game fun to play?

Talking about Youkai Club, I found it pretty more likely to Metroid than to Castlevania...
And yes, it is a good game, specially if you take in count that this game is from 1987!

[ReyVGM]

Fun... well what can I say. The game definitely grows on you, but it's not as fun as a real Castlevania game. Use a FAQ to figure out the secrets and you'll definitely enjoy it a bit more.