Castlevania: The Arcade

Based on the HIT Konami Brand. A classic story, an exciting new concept

JP release: 2nd October 2009
EU release: N/A
NA release: N/A
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
The Inverted Dungeon Review: 8.1/10
Platforms: Arcade
Version Played: Arcade

Other than a couple of versions of Castlevania 1 very early on, Castlevania had a very light presence in arcades. In 2009, Konami decided to release a full on custom Castlevania arcade cabinet, with a special whip controller to control the game with, although the game warns you against swinging it too hard.

The controller itself is very similar to a PlayStation move (which in turn is similar to a Wii Remote), a motion control device with an LED ball at the end used to control an on screen pointer, used because this game is an on rails light gun shooter (or a light whip shooter). The good news about this is you can use that style of controller to have a faithful arcade experience at home.

There are two kinds of whip attacks. Moving the cursor around quickly will perform a basic attack on enemies (you’ll need to wait for a ring to appear around them to indicate they’re in range), while a bigger swing will perform a powerful attack that needs to recharge. You also have your subweapons, which function much more like guns for a longer range.

Movement is handled automatically, with you playing as an unnamed Vampire Hunter, and it can be pretty disorientating at times, with lots of jumping, rolling around and turning back and forth. Sometimes you’ll go to attack an enemy that has appeared on screen before you’re twirled away to look at orders before looking back.

You’ll get to go through five levels: a village, the castle entrance, sewers, ramparts and the clock tower. It’s a rather dull and uninspired take on Dracula’s Castle, not offering much in the way of stunning sights (the ramparts have the coolest looking background, looking at the clock tower), which seems odd for a light gun shooter. Luckily, the bosses themselves look quite impressive. At the end of each level you can upgrade a few basic stats

Really, the whipping in the game just feels a bit awkward, as you need to make small movements with the controller in order to aim properly and to make it work. There are a few other characters – called Lady Gunner and Little Witch – but they’re effectively just different subweapons. It’s still an interesting curiosity and an interesting case of an arcade game like this that you can fully recreate at home.

Poor

And yet, again, I found myself enjoying it. Clearly it’s not for everyone but if you can get into the basic game play and invest in what you’re doing, there’s something magical and tactile about the experience. I think the biggest knock against the game is simply that it was released in arcades and nowhere else.
Mike Finkelstein, The Inverted Dungeon