Castlevania Legends

Wow like wtf. This came out in the same year as Symphony of the Night and it makes you wonder: Do the dev teams actually communicate with each other? Probably not as this is the most barebones Castlevania ever. Even the 2 GB titles that came before were a bit more interesting. The first one was tough as nails and the 2nd one had cute gimmicks and the option to choose your level. This on the other hand is just... nothing really. It's ok I guess but it really doesn't have anything interesting going for it.

We play as a girl this time but the story really doesn't matter as it isn't brought up throughout the game. Basic goal: defeat Dracula. This time around we are back to basics. One way whip and no side weapons. Yes not a single alternate attack. You can find them laying around in the level but for christ sake I couldn't figure out how to use them. And I'm pretty sure you can't. After defeating a boss you unlock this special abilities which pretty much all do the same: They make you invincible for a certain amount of time. Some of them make you deal damage and the last one even let's you shoot a projectile but that's about it. So we have even less options as in games prior.

The levels are so uninspired that I really can't remember any of it... There was a water cave and a clock tower but that's all that I can really gather right now from my memory. Heck even after Symphony of the Night I remember the 4 castles of the 2nd GB title. There are 6 stages as far as I can remember and all of them are quite linear. There are branching paths however and some lead to optional items and others are just alternative routes. You play through the six stages and then you're done basically. It took my under 2h to finish the game.

The last 2nd to last boss is Alucard which I defeated like all other bosses in the game: I went into invincibility mode and just button mashed myself to victory. Exciting! Dracula is a joke time around as you just remember 4 spots and then just do the same trick for the last stretch of the fight. This super power really makes the entire game trivial. If you die you just continue at the last checkpoint so there's not even any kind of fear of losing progress. It's easy it's dumb it's there. Sidenote: the 2nd GB game had really fun rope mechanics and enemies and they just ruined all of it here. It's so frustrating when you take a step back in a sequel.

The only good thing I can take away from this is the last dialogue between Dracula and our main character. Dracula says that as long as there is light/Belmonts in the world he will also be there as they are the source that casts the shadow. Quite spiritual viewpoint for such a dumbass game. Overall this is the most forgettable Castlevana I've played thus far and it's kinda strange. I wish they would've tried to make a more simple metroidvania type game like SotN. Guess the missing communication in such a big company really ruined a game that could've been great

So, after talking about one of the most content heavy games with pages upon pages of talking points, I guess it only makes sense to follow this up with what is easily the most unremarkable, mediocre game in the series where I’ll barely be able to find anything worth mentioning. After the genuinely enjoyable GameBoy game Belmont’s Revenge, my expectations were heightened for this entry, given that it showed that even with the limited hardware of the handheld console, something genuinely fun could come from a Castlevania game on it, which made this one all the more disappointing when this title felt so devoid of much of anything.

In a lot of ways this game feels like a massive downgrade from the previous handheld game honestly, going back to simply proceeding through Dracula’s Castle, rather than evoking a wide range of atmosphere that Belmont’s Revenge did, along with having much weaker variety overall, most stages having the same few enemies, along with no meaningful new or interesting mechanics or ideas between stages, making for an extremely uninspiring playthrough. Probably the most perplexing of the decisions in this game is the fact that the role of subweapons was decreased further, each stage having a particular subweapon that you seemingly cannot change, but with the issue of none of them actually being worth using in the slightest, making the game feel closer to the awful Castlevania: The Adventure than its sequel. Other issues with the game are that the levels end up feeling way too long and repetitive, with some setpieces seemingly used multiple times in each stage, almost feeling as if you’re playing through the same area 2 or 3 times, not helping is the fact that the game’s incredibly easy. Any challenge this game potentially could have is removed by the invincibility feature, which allows you to move incredibly fast and take no damage once per life for about 10 seconds, making those few moments of potential challenges absolutely worthless anyway. The only time I struggled in the slightest here was in the very last section of the final level, and it was more a test of patience than skill.

Overall, this game is pretty bloody disappointing just in how it feels devoid of practically anything good, although it’s not the horribly misguided mess of the first GameBoy title at the very least. There wasn’t a point in this game where I felt like I was actually having fun, just happens to be fortunate that it was very short and easy anyway, otherwise I’d probably rank this as my least favourite, since even Castlevania The Adventure managed to have some more distinctive level design, for as horribly flawed and unbearable that game felt.