Akumajou Densetsu (Castlevania III)

[UglyJoe]

The music is nicer and the graphics are supposedly better (at the very least, they're uncensored).  There's not enough text in the game to really worry about the translation.  If you've played through one already, play through the other.  If you haven't played through either, well, I guess I'd suggest the FC version since this is a Famicom board

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Really? Is there no kind of prologue/epilogue?

[UglyJoe]

Well, there is, but "go to the castle and kill dracula" pretty much sounds the same no matter how you translate it.

[nensondubois]

The US version has less special effects; here are some other changes from the US and Japanese versions.

    * Instead of using a stabbing dagger, Grant throws daggers as his main attack.
    * In the North American and European versions, each enemy takes away the same amount of energy when the player is hit. But as the game progresses, damage taken from enemies increases (capping off at 4/5 bars, depending on your character, in the North American version, and 3/4 bars in the European version), Instead, in the Japanese game, each enemy takes a different amount of energy away from the player. Many fans believe this factor makes the Japanese version easier.
    * On the final stage, if the player dies while fighting Dracula, instead of starting back at the level's second section, the player begins right outside of Dracula's keep (as in the original Castlevania). This is another factor said to make the Japanese version much easier.
    * The game's font is different between versions, with the Japanese version using the same font as the original Castlevania--a standard video-game font used in many other old games--and the western versions using a Gothic-style font (with some similarities).
    * Medusa has female breasts in the Japanese game which were altered in the North American and European releases to resemble a more masculine chest. The female statues in stage 8 are partially nude in the Japanese version. The statues were clothed for the North American and European releases.
    * The flea men in the Japanese game are hopping gremlin creatures.
    * Several enemies are colored differently, have altered sprites, or have slightly different attack patterns, including the zombies in the first stage.
    * Several stages have different color palettes than the Japanese version.
    * The original Japanese version contained a specialized "VRC6" music microprocessor chip which was removed in the North American and European releases. This chip added two extra pulse-wave channels and a saw-wave channel to the system's initial set of five channels. The majority of the music combines the channels to imitate the sound of a synthesized string section. See: Multi-Memory Controller. The reason for this removal was that the western versions of the NES didn't have the ability to support external sound chips, so the game was re-programmed for the western releases. Some of the percussion instruments were also slightly changed, even though the low-quality PCM channel was no less capable without the VRC6 mapper.
    * The Japanese version had slightly better graphics than the North American version. The backgrounds in many stages had special effects not seen in the North American and European releases, also due to the lack of the special mapper chip found in the Japanese cartridge (which was manufactured not by Nintendo, but by Konami itself).
    * Like Simon's Quest before it, religious imagery once again appears uncensored in the North American and PAL versions. The only difference is that the cross in the opening scene has bursts of rays around it in the Japanese version.
    * In the Japanese version, Trevor Belmont is named Ralph Belmondo.
    * In Stage 9, the background music "Riddle" repeats its first section once in the Japanese version.
    * The North American and PAL versions have several hidden features that can be accessed by entering a certain name for the player, which include starting the game with 10 lives as well as when restarting after a game over, the option to start the game with any of the three spirit partners, and to access the second, more difficult quest. These features are not present in the Japanese version.

That is all of the known differences. Good luck finding the Famicom version as they're somewhat rare.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

I paid five bucks for my second one, the first one was ten to twenty if memory serves. They go for a decent amount though on eBay.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I just realized - I already have CastleVania 3 since it came as a pair with CastleVania 2. I got it cheap because the seller misspelled it "Catlevania."

So it might be one of those games I pick up afterward.

By the way, was there a soundtrack for this game? I don't see one on VGMdb.

[b1aCkDeA7h]

I don't think there was one for the U.S. Castlevania III, but here's the one that had tracks from Akumajou Densetsu:

http://vgmdb.net/album/4586

Still, I bet someone's made NSF's of both games for that purpose. There are some times when I prefer listening to the U.S. music over the Famicom music.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

Of course, how often is there a U.S. soundtrack for every Japanese soundtrack?

And I typed in "Castlevania 3" in the search, should have made it "III" .

[nensondubois]

I paid five bucks for my second one, the first one was ten to twenty if memory serves. They go for a decent amount though on eBay.

Care to sell one?

[b1aCkDeA7h]

Nah, gave it to a friend since I got it so cheap with a bunch of other games I wanted.

[timu-san]

I think it's a somewhat level trade-off. They get a better-looking/sounding version, we get one with a difficulty times 11. What was neat was, I had the two seperate carts, playing them side-by-side, you can use most of the same passwords. It took like three tries to be Dracula on the Japanese, about three days of trying on the US one.

[RGB_Gamer]

I have always been a Castlevania fan. I wish they would have made a Mario All Stars-like compilation for Castlevania with updated graphics and sound.

I play the NES Castlevania 3 because my favorite character, Grant Danasty, actually plays better (in my opinion) since he stabs with his dagger rather than throwing them. That and it's in English. The Japanese Castlevania 3 seems to be more of a novelty with it's extra sound and enhanced graphics and is fundamentally the same game.

[namakubi]

I actually have both versions of the game, and sometimes the "enhanced" music is more distracting than immersive. The music comes out of a completely separate channel than the sound effects, and doesn't mesh well with the overall sound of the game, sound effects are always a decibel or two higher than the music. It's great as a stand-alone soundtrack, not so great in practice.

Also, I hated that the jumping hunchbacks were changed to little gremlin guys in the Japanese version. Glad they went back to hunchbacks in the US version.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

I actually have both versions of the game, and sometimes the "enhanced" music is more distracting than immersive. The music comes out of a completely separate channel than the sound effects, and doesn't mesh well with the overall sound of the game, sound effects are always a decibel or two higher than the music.

I think I know what you're saying.  When I heard The Adventure of Link's intro, it sounded too odd, & same with the ending of SMBJ2.

Often NSF players & emulators mess these sounds up, but FCEUXD is a rather accurate one, no?

[namakubi]

Often NSF players & emulators mess these sounds up, but FCEUXD is a rather accurate one, no?

I wouldn't know, but this was running on the actual Famicom hardware and I noticed it right away when gameplay started.