Castlevania: The Adventure

is an action-adventure platformer video game, part of the Castlevania series, for the Nintendo Game Boy handheld system. It was the first entry in the series released on a handheld system. It was released in Japan on October 27, 1989, and in North America on December, 1989. It was released in Europe and other PAL regions in 1990.
In 1997, the game was re-released for the classic Game Boy as part of Konami GB Collection, Vol. 1. The compilation featured Super Game Boy utilization and a picture frame. The collection was released in 2000 on the Game Boy Color in Europe, with new color schemes added to each stage of the game. It also became available for download on special flash RAM cartridge through the Nintendo Power service in Japan.
The original version of Castlevania: The Adventure became available on the 3DS Virtual Console in 2012 in Japan, Europe and North America. A remake of the game titled Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, part of Konami's ReBirth series, was released via WiiWare in 2009.
==Plot==
:Transylvania, a small country in Europe, is associated even today with a demon's legend. With his powerful evil power, the legacy of Count Dracula has been dreaded by the people. However, no matter how many times Dracula comes back, he never manages to fully change the world into darkness as he is always put away by Simon, a descendant of the Belmont clan.However, the devil Dracula has existed long before his first confrontation. Not as the devil Dracula, but as an evil sorcerer. Count Dracula was a fanatical demon worshiper, who built a dark castle at the outskirts of Transylvania and conducted evil rituals every night. He has summoned several demons from the other world to serve him and he himself has been trying to get eternal life by becoming a demon king possessing evil powers.With each day, Count Dracula's evil powers became more frightening, as he spread fear and terror to the people of the village. Until one day, a man stood up. It was Christopher, an ancestor of the Belmont family. Christopher rushed to the dark castle. Many demons and traps laid out are waiting for him at the castle. Will he be able to defeat the transformed devil, Count Dracula, as expected?
— Official Japanese instruction booklet story for Castlevania: The Adventure.
==Characters==
==Gameplay==
Castlevania: The Adventure was the first game in the series to be released for the Game Boy, as well as one of the earliest games to be released for that system, as such many elements from its console counterparts had to be compromised due to hardware limitations. This resulted in The Adventure having many unique characteristics which, aside from other games released for the Game Boy, have not been before or since in the franchise.
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A major difference from its predecessors is the complete absence of sub-weapons. Due to this, while candles still drop Hearts, they no longer act as ammunition; instead, they regenerate the player's health. They can also drop gold pieces, which increase the total high score. The whip can still be upgraded two times —the first time a Morning Star, second time a Fireball Whip— but receiving a hit from an enemy decreases its power a level. The rosary no longer kills all the enemies on-screen and instead gives the player invulnerability, replacing the usual invisible potion.
The iconic diagonal stairs are not present, being replaced by ropes. Also, almost the entire enemy cast of The Adventure is completely unique. Notable ones include the scythe-throwing Night Stalkers, rolling Big Eyes, and the fire-spitting Punaguchi, a role usually fulfilled by the traditional Bone Pillars.
Something which is noticeable very quickly is that the game moves very slowly, as well as the protagonist, Christopher, dropping abruptly after making a jump. This requires for precise timing when whipping or making jumps. Whether this is in order to reduce blur on the Game Boy screen or due to technical issues is unknown.
In total, there are four stages, albeit very long ones. The game starts out in an outside area with woods and a graveyard, followed by a trip through a cave, and the last two stages taking place in Dracula's castle. Being developed for the Game Boy, The Adventure features minimal backgrounds and details. The first stage features a mountain backdrop and gravestones, and the second stage features stalactites. The fourth stage contains the most detail, with chandeliers, arched pathways and widows.
Unique level ideas include falling platforms which quickly need to be traversed before they fall down into an abyss, descending ceiling traps which require to quickly destroy a mechanism to deactivate, and an auto-scrolling area where spiked walls are quickly closing in from below and from the right.
Through the stages, there are hidden rooms that can be found (often without any indication they are there). For example, requiring climbing to the top of a rope and through an invisible wall, or jumping on an invisible platform and up to a rope hidden in the wall. In these rooms, health restoring items, 1 Ups and coins can be collected.
==Stages==
Stage	Name 	Boss 	Music
1 	Stage 1	Gobanz 	Battle of the Holy
2 	Stage 2	Under Mole	Darkness
3 	Stage 3	Death Bat 	Death Fair
4 	Stage 4	Dracula 	Revenge
==Music==
The soundtrack of the game was composed by S. Fukutake, Norio Hanzawa and H. Funauchi. The music of this game has been commercially released several times as part of albums like Akumajō Dracula Best 2 (1991), Castlevania 20th Anniversary Deluxe Music Collection (2006), Akumajō Dracula Best Music Collections BOX (2010), and Music from Akumajo Dracula Kuro (2021). Some of the tracks are rearranged and featured in CDs like Perfect Selection Dracula Battle II (1991) and Perfect Selection Dracula ~New Classic~ (1992). The theme of the first game Battle of the Holy was later remixed for the Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth & Contra ReBirth Original Soundtrack (2010).
==Storyline confusion==
When The Adventure first came out in North America, the back of box of the game was written in such a manner that it incorrectly implied the game's protagonist to be Simon Belmont.Back cover of the box of Castlevania: The Adventure. This suggested the game was a follow-up to Castlevania and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest for the NES. None of the text on the box, manual, or in-game mentions the name of the hero of this game. The official Game Boy Nintendo Player's Guide also incorrectly referred to the protagonist as Simon in a magazine ad.Game Boy Nintendo Player's Guide When this game's sequel, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, was released, which had a more developed plot, it was realized that the hero of The Adventure was not Simon, but rather a new character no one in America had heard of: Christopher Belmont. It was still figured that The Adventure was a sequel, however.
In Japan, however, it was always clear that this game featured Christopher Belmont and took place ages before Simon's time. The Japanese manual for the original Castlevania mentions the "Legend of Christopher" and Simon was considered the heir to Christopher's legacy. This game was created to tell the story of this legendary warrior. In Japan, Christopher Belmont was considered the first Belmont to face Dracula.
However, the Japanese opening for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse had also placed it the game to be 100 years before Simon's time and it was also stated that its protagonist Trevor C. Belmont was also the first Belmont who went up against Dracula.
For a time in Japan, both The Adventure and Dracula's Curse were considered to be the "first" fight against Dracula and to predate the original Castlevania by 100 years. One of the staff members of Dracula's Curse revealed in an informal manner on the Japanese forum 2ch that he intended the full name of the game's protagonist to be Trevor (Ralph in the Japanese version) Christopher Belmont.2ch The manual only uses the initial "C." instead of his full middle name. The staff member then went on to state the "Christopher" from Dracula's Curse was the same person mentioned in the Legend of the Hero Christopher. This meant The Adventure and Dracula's Curse were mutually exclusive prequels to the adventures of Simon.
IGA stated this discrepancy happened because of lack of coordination between the teams who were responsible for the games. When IGA created his timeline, he corrected it by placing Dracula's Curse 100 years before The Adventure, which itself takes place 115 years prior to the events of the original Castlevania.
==Reception==
Castlevania: The Adventure received moderately successful reviews at the time of its release.MobyGames Total!! UK Magazine upon giving the game a score of 89/100 stated that "If it wasn't for the annoying restart points this game might have got into the nineties". The game scored a 79 of out hundred in Electronic Gaming Monthly, citing the game as "proof that the Game Boy can duplicate all the action of an NES title" and complimenting the game on its visuals, namely its "crisp backgrounds" as well as its "excellent stereo sound". The German magazine Aktueller Software Markt wrote that the large, well animated sprites and nice background gave the game a nice image. However, the music was "lukewarm" and the rope climbing didn't have much to do with the original NES Castlevania at all, ultimately telling fans of that game to stay away.Aktueller Software Markt
Notably, later fans reviews rated the game a lot more negatively. Similarly to Haunted Castle, The Adventure has a notoriously poor reputation among the Castlevania fan base.Hardcore Gaming 101 Presents: Castlevania. September 2014. Kurt Kalata.Anti-Chapel Haunted Castle ReviewCastlevania Realm Review The slow movement of the protagonist Christopher and his abrupt plummeting after making a jump, complete with the overall platforming, appears to be the major criticism of the game, as this makes it slow and difficult.
==Legacy==
*Castlevania: The Adventure has a direct sequel that continues the battle between Christopher Belmont and Count Dracula titled Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge.
*A visual novel titled Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy published in 2005 by IDW Publishing is based roughly on the same story and featuring a reimagined version of Christopher Belmont, his son and Count Dracula.
*Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth is a 2009 remake of Castlevania: The Adventure which retains many concepts of the original game, but also expands it by introducing new stages, bosses and enemies.
*Homages to The Adventure include a DSS combination in Castlevania: Circle of the Moon which allows Nathan Graves to shoot a fireball from his whip, and the item Bullet Tip (Christopher's Soul in the Japanese version) in Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, which allows Juste Belmont to shoot projectiles from his whip like Christopher.
*The 'Game Over' theme in both Belmont's Revenge and Harmony of Dissonance is the same jingle heard in The Adventure, although using different synthesized voices.
==Trivia==
*A 1991 Konami for Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge reveals as a highlight that Castlevania: The Adventure was the first Game Boy title that sold nearly 2.5 million copies ($60 million wholesale/$100 million retail).
==See also==
*Adventure Bestiary
*Adventure Inventory
*
*Adventure Walkthrough
===Related games===
*Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge - Known in Japan as The Legend of Dracula II, it is the real sequel to the first Castlevania game.
*Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth - A remake of the game.
===Related music albums===
*Akumajō Dracula Best 2 - Contains the Castlevania: The Adventure original soundtrack.
*Akumajō Dracula Best Music Collections BOX - Contains music from Castlevania: The Adventure on Disc 1.
*Music from Akumajo Dracula Aka - Contains music from Castlevania: The Adventure on Disc 2.
===Related comics===
*Castlevania: The Belmont Legacy - A comic book adaptation of the game.
===Related guides===
*Game Boy Nintendo Player's Guide - Guidebook featuring artwork for all of the enemies. 
*Famitsu Dracula Densetsu Guide - Japanese mini-strategy guide containing stage maps for Castlevania: The Adventure.
==References==
==External links==
*Official site (Japanese)
*Castlevania Realm
*
*GameFAQs
*MobyGames
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