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There’s many things that Castlevania fans are to this day still waiting for. Whether it be, despite the high quality of Lords of Shadow, a faithful and superb 3D title that the whole fanbase can approve of, or the highly-demanded ‘1999’/Demon Castle Wars game. There’s one other thing fans have been craving for as well, and that is a Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse remake. This request spawned when Koji Igarashi stated Dracula’s Curse as being his favorite title in the storied franchise. Since then, fans have been waiting for the oft-rumored remake of this NES classic.
Now let’s shift gears to the 3DS and the fact that Iga has development kits for the system in his possession. With the series being almost synonymous with Nintendo’s handheld platforms in the last decade it’s safe to assume that we will be getting at least another trio of Castlevania games on the 3DS. And what better way for Konami to kick-start their 3DS Castlevania trilogy than by revisiting one of the best, if not the best, games of the series, thus remaking Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse.
Like Castlevania Chronicles on the original Playstation and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP, Konami could go back to this NES classic and bundle it with a remake, thus continuing their Chronicles line on the Nintendo 3DS.
Of course, this remake should consist of more than just updated sprites and music, like in the case of Castlevania Chronicles’ arrange mode which gave way to red-haired Simon. We want a full-on 2.5D remake for Trevor Belmont akin to the one Richter received in Dracula X Chronicles. And coupled with the 3DS’ ability to show off the depth of field in side-scrolling games, this would make for more than just a simple 3-dimensional polygon make-over.
And while packaging this game in with the original NES version is a no-brainer, there’s one thing Konami could do differently with the NES port, and this is highly possible seeing as how the original Rondo of Blood port on the PSP got a full English translation. While America saw the release of a much tougher Dracula’s Curse than did Japan, what we want from overseas is the higher quality in audio. And, of course, a convenient save system to replace the tedious act of inputting passwords which would be something freshly implemented into the NES classic. But what of the remake itself? What should Konami add to this classic entry in the franchise?
Despite it being released on the NES, Dracula’s Curse is quite a large adventure for its genre. Not only are there multiple paths, which lead to multiple bosses, but there’s also 3 other character which you can play as that each differ from the game’s main hero, Trevor Belmont. Grant Danasty was the agile pirate who made going through certain obstacles all the more feasible. Sypha Belnades was the magic caster, and despite what many may say of her, she’s quite a force to be reckoned with. Alucard is, of course, the son of Dracula and he’s able to cast hell-fire like fireballs and transform into a bat, which makes going through levels easier so long as you have an efficient amount of hearts. Now this leads to one of the new things Konami should add to this inevitable remake, character-specific challenge levels.
These levels can be scattered throughout the entire map and would only be found if using the appropriate characters for them. Hell, these levels could even serve as each character’s prequel story of sorts, taking you on their journey to where you end up finding and fighting them before recruiting them in the main quest.
Sypha could get levels where using elemental magic is a must, like burning through surfaces or freezing water to get across, throw in hordes of enemies and you could have yourself some decent challenges. Alucard could have vertical scrolling levels where candles serve as checkpoints to replenish your hearts so you can keep ascending. Grant is where things could go quite fun. Since he’s able to cling to walls and ceilings, the devs could go really crazy with his character specific levels and give us some very satisfying platforming bits. These new levels can then, once 100% completed for each character, lead to a brand new secret ending.
Now while it was earlier stated that we’d prefer a full remake over just re-doing some sprites, specifically the main character’s, one can’t help but wonder if Trevor will adapt a new look, possibly one that resembles his appearance in the PS2 title Curse of Darkness. Or maybe a new attire altogether. Leaving the costume as is would also be fine, but judging from the 2 previous Chronicles titles, the main character always seems to get at least a minimal form of an aesthetic upgrade. There’s also his “Greatest Five” look to consider from Portrait of Ruin. Regardless, one could definitely expect an awesome look for the “Big-Boss” of Castlevania, and hopefully his cloak will be worn throughout the whole quest!
There’s load of other features that we’d like to see implemented in a potential Castlevania 3DS: Dracula’s Curse Chronicles, like a boss rush mode, cut-scenes to replace the dialogue boxes when you recruit new characters, a remixed soundtrack, a Castlevania: Harmony of Despair type co-op mode, and so on. Despite what we may write though, it’s all just pure speculation and what this Castlevania fan would love to happen, as would legions of other fans. Will we see an eventual Dracula’s Curse remake? Yes, there’s doubt about that, it’s only a matter of time and let’s hope we see it on the 3DS where it could really shine. And where it could be conveniently titled, too.
But enough of this one editor’s opinions, how about you guys? What would you want in the Castlevania 3 remake? Do you agree or disagree with what has been listed above? Sound off in the coments!
