TrojanHorse711 | Haunted Castle Revisited (Hard Mode playthrough, 1cc, 425,310pts) @Trojan711 | Uploaded August 2024 | Updated October 2024, 5 days ago.
Halloween came early this year! ...As is tradition with these holidays.

0:35 - Stage 1
4:01 - Stage 2
12:26 - Stage 3
18:27 - Stage 4
26:07 - Stage 5
31:35 - Stage 6

So this was a nice surprise! In addition to rereleasing a collection DS Castlevania games they threw in a full fledged remake of Haunted Castle for the arcade! This remake takes the setting and bosses from the original and reimagines it as a game closer to the old-school Castlevania games, and I'd say M2 did a fantastic job with it! The controls feel appropriately tight, the whip feels especially snappy, the arranged soundtrack by chibi-tech sounds great, and all the remixed bosses are a blast to fight! I had so much fun playing this that I just had to record a second Hard Mode 1cc of this!

I do have a few nitpicks about this. First (and this isn't especially apparent in this playthrough), if the bridge falls and you don't get to the other side in time, it doesn't respawn until you fall off and take damage. It's a minor annoyance, and I get why they did it that way, but still. Second, this game is surprisingly easy, even on Hard Mode. I understand that the arcade Haunted Castle was apparently way too hard, but I think they overcompensated for it. Though then again, it may be because I'd played a lot of classic Castlevania games last year. Third, and I'll admit this is kind of a positive, this *really* should've been its own release instead of merely a bonus to the "Castlevania Dominus Collection". I get that it adds value to that collection, but it makes me wonder if Konami had so little faith in releasing the first new non-mobile Castlevania game in 10 years that they had to tack it on that way.

Either way, had a great time playing this, and I might revisit this closer to Halloween!
-Trojan

Castlevania (C) 1986-2024 Konami

#Castlevania #CastlevaniaDominusCollection #HauntedCastle