The 1993 Sharp X68000 version of “Akumajō Dracula” is arguably the best version of the first Castlevania game available, with improved graphics and sound, and redesigned gameplay to accomodate new and more dramatic situations.

Also known as “Vampire Killer” in Europe; also known as “Castlevania” in North America; but known in its native Japan as “Akumajō Dracula“, this is an updated remake of the first game in the Castlevania series. And it is known for being two things: 1. REALLY GOOD, and 2. REALLY HARD!

In this you’re playing as Simon Belmont who is fighting his way through Dracula‘s castle with a mystical whip inherited from his father, in order to destroy the evil Count.

Graphically, the X68000 version is excellent – better than most other early versions of Castlevania, but maybe not quite up to the level of Super Castlevania IV on the SNES.

The X68000 version’s difficulty is legendary and this is a game that is very testing and very unforgiving. You may even be forgiven for throwing away the gamepad and giving up on it, but there is another way to play it: the 2001 PlayStation version – Castlevania Chronicles – has an ‘Arrange Mode’ version of this game which has been designed to make it easier to play. Not ‘easy’, just not impossible… Check out Castlevania Chronicles if you want to play this game, it has both the X68000 original ‘tough guy’ version, and the ‘Arrange’ version.

Note: the grabs here are from the original X68000 version (not the PlayStation version).

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