I'm starting off this blog with a series of reviews of games, albums, books, etc. that I consider to be absolute masterpieces. And of course, since I'm a complete and total poser, I'm starting off this series with a game where I have been able to access a grand total of 9 of the game's 18 levels. I don't even know if there are, in fact, 18 total levels: I had to google it to check. Still, I'm confident in declaring this a masterpiece because in games, I really only care about three things:

1. The "Gamefeel": Does the game feel good to play?
2. The Narrative: Do the game's various systems along with it's story elements impart a unified narrative onto the player?
3. The Music: Does it slap?

Note that, despite the fact that Castlevania is often cited for its thoughtful level design that turns action gameplay into a series of little puzzles, level design is not a part of this list. This is because my Mario Maker 2 levels, according to my friends, disqualify me from talking about level design, while those same friends say my music is "alright." Additionally, I will omit discussion of the graphics. Gamers often tend to focus on how much a game exemplifies the current 8th gen trend in graphics, which is how you get people deriding Breath of the Wild because it looks like a PS2 game (I did this, in 2017). This seems to me like criticizing games moreso as a product than as a work of art. One should more likely talk about art direction, which I've lumped into the narrative section.

Now, the answers to the questions posed above, before that overly long paragraph, are "Yes," "yes," and "fuck yes." The game has some control quirks that makes it seem at first like the directors slept through the release of Super Mario Bros at first, but these quirks serve only to make the combat feel that much more satisfying. For instance, the game uses a fixed jump arc with no mid-air control, and has a delay on the whip. You could say the controls create fake difficulty, and in certain cases you'd be right (the stairs in this game are a nightmare). However, the controls also create a feeling of deliberacy that one could argue is a satisfying 2D interpretation of Soulslike combat, before that was a thing. Like in those games, if you mistime one of your actions, there's no way of rectifying it. The controls make it so that instead of simply reacting to things up close, you have to scope the situation out, and act carefully. Castlevania with responsive controls would be easy, but it would also lose everything that makes it Castlevania, same as removing the stamina bar from Dark Souls. Additionally, the fixed jump arc makes the controls consistent in a way that makes platforming sections much easier, and makes rerunning through areas smoother. With a variable jump arc, it would be harder to create the precise jump you needed to platform: a fixed jump arc takes this difficulty away.

Next, I'll talk about the narrative. At first glance, there seems to be no narrative, apart from a monster movie pastiche. However, in old NES games like this, the excitement of seeing what comes next is what is meant to keep the player going, rather than any cutscenes. The game provides this excitement in spades: each area is entirely unique, with its own music, visuals, enemies, and end boss. The game doesn't quite achieve the visual differentiation of its sequels, perhaps due to technological constraints, but it still keeps you on the hook to see what's coming next. This means that, given that this game predates cutscenes, the developers created the best game narrative they could: one that keeps you playing, and perhaps has you imagining what the anime adaptation might look like in your head.

Lastly, the games' music is excellent across the board. It starts off with the excellent Vampire Killer, remixed in many forms, including disco for Symphony of the Night. Every other level theme is just as good. They all provide this driving pulse that really makes you feel pumped to kill dracula, and all of them, with some remixing, could become true club bangers like this:

Ignore all that stuff above, THIS is why I believe the game deserves to be called a masterpiece. But in addition to being the inspiration for that, Castlevania 1 provides a great model of a game that is tough-but-fair, a game that breaks away from current control paradigms in order to create a uniquely great experience. It has flaws, and can be very frustrating, but I think it's over all the exemplar of a great game, and wanted to write this review so I could link back to it during the many many times I will reference it. Earlier in this review I referenced Dark Souls, in order to show that things people deride for being old can also be deified when recontextualized. However, referencing that game is a bit of a cliche, so I'll only do it one more time, to underscore my point: Dark Souls is the Castlevania of 3D action-adventure games.

game completion: 9/18 levels

SCORE: 10/10