2026 Special - Castlevania Legends

Transylvania is in danger! Some Prince of Darkness has decided that mankind needs to perish. Sonia Belmont, the first in a long line of vampire hunters, grabs her whip and storms the dark lord's castle. Castlevania Legends is where it all began. Before Richter, Simon, or even Trevor, there was Sonia. However, as many are aware, she was removed from canon. It's a terrible shame that we never saw this Belmont again, especially since she never got the opportunity to appear in a good game.

I'm afraid that this is one of those reviews where I couldn't go one paragraph without making my (negative) feelings apparent. KCE Nagoya has the talent to make an enjoyable Castlevania. However, they just can't seem to let go of their individuality. I feel terrible saying this, because it's supposed to be an unequivocal good thing. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a vampire hunting game where the protag climbs rope instead of stairs and the bone pillars have three heads instead of two. There are times though that I wish they had gotten their own series, something unique that isn't tied to an existing brand, creating expectations they're seemingly uninterested in meeting. 

Much like the previous entries in the Game Boy "trilogy", the whip-slinging protag moves at a speed that's at least a tier below methodical. Whereas Belmont's Revenge managed to work around this issue and still be a fun time, Castlevania Legends chooses to bearhug it. At the beginning of every stage, you'll see that there's 500 maybe 600 seconds on the clock. Get used to the idea that most of those seconds will be spent slowly, glacially, agonizingly trudging through stages that are way too long for their own good. Sonia can slide down ropes very quickly, but she'll take her sweet time climbing them. She also duckwalks, which might help with getting under projectiles. Otherwise, it's just an excuse to move even slower.

The jumping controls are actually pretty flexible, and the game wisely avoids the slew of pixel-perfect leaps that plagued Castlevania: The Adventure. Besides pits that are either bottom-less or full of spikes, hazards are kept to a minimum. There is the collapsing bridge in stage 2, but Sonia can inexplicably outwalk it. Fair warning though, jumping off of a rope gets hardly any distance, so don't take any chances unless there's a platform almost directly underneath the vampire hunter. Also, I have to praise the fact that death by getting kicked off of a ledge by an enemy is actually pretty rare. This is somehow balanced out by Sonia having a noticeable lack of invulnerability frames after getting hurt. Deal with foes immediately before they get the chance to land another 2 or 3 hits.

With every passing stage, the grim realization sets in that this entry loves its respawning enemies. They return the instant you move the camera a micrometre away from their spawn point. It's not a huge problem during horizontally scrolling sections, but your eyes will roll many times over during the likes of stage 3. There are bipedal rope-climbing creatures that respawn almost as quickly as you destroy them, making vertical sections a breeding ground of annoyance. As much as of a hassle it tends to be, you'll want to whip every candle to keep those hearts topped off. In lieu of subweapons, hearts are spent on special abilities like time-stop and healing. Under the right circumstances, they're pretty overpowered. 

By pressing the jump and attack buttons together, Sonia enters "burning" mode. For a limited time, she moves much faster, has invinc- Wait. Wait! Wait!!! She moves much faster?! Am I being pranked right now!? Castlevania Legends could've been so much more bearable if this Belmont walked like she gave a shit about saving her homeland. Instead, her ability to move at a speed besides snail is limited to once per stage (or once per life). I... I seriously can't believe this. The urge to finish the review has left me like a ghost had just been exorcised. Goddammit! This is totally something that only KCE Nagoya could've come up with! I can't trust them. I can't trust them at all. 

Anyway, just use burning mode to defeat bosses and... yeah. That's practically the entire game. GG or whatever. Castlevania Legends could've been a predictable, somewhat bland, but still entertaining traipse through the haunted castle if it moved at any speed besides Rolan's Curse. Locking all of the precious speed behind a temporary ability is a knife in the back. 

"Oh my god!"