So has anybody been playing any 'Vania lately??
During the holidays, I added this little guy to my collection...
If you're familiar with the Parodius series of shooters, you'll recognize little ol' Kid Dracula there! But you might have been a little unfamiliar with his true origins..
In 1990, Konami Japan released a side-scroller on the Famicom named '
Akumajō Special: Boku Dracula-kun', or 'Demon Castle Special: Kid Dracula'. The story is very basic and involves Dracula's son - Kid Dracula, (or Alucard - if you want to attempt to include this niche title into Castlevania canon,) awoken of a long sleep by a demon named Garamoth who wants to rule the world. Kid Dracula decides to take his father's magical cloak and defeat Garamoth himself.
Does the demon's name sound familiar to you? It shouldn't - if you've played through Symphony of the Night. In that game, Galamoth is the large, two-screen-tall dinosaur creature clad in gold armor that battles Alucard while wielding a scepter. This was an intentional ode to Kid Dracula, and was largely missed by American and European audiences, as gamers outside of Japan didn't officially get a chance to experience this lost NES "Castlevania" title. Konami attempted to expose Western audiences to the Kid in 1993 with a Gameboy remake/sequel simply titled 'Kid Dracula'. But due to a lack of any Castlevania branding whatsoever, the game was largely passed over - and it's a shame!
Kid Dracula is an incredibly fun mix of classic NES platforming, with a heavy dose of MegaMan gameplay for good measure, (charge shots are a-plenty here, as are new attacks/abilities after boss fights!) Add to that Konami's notorious sound effects, visuals, and difficulty curve, and you've got yourself a game that begs the question "Why wasn't this released on the Western NES?!"
I've never really given much thought to collecting Reproduction carts.. But once I saw that they finally translated and made available a physical cart of this game - I'm definitely impressed with the possibilities for my game collection! This gem looks awesome among my other Castlevania titles! Even though, technically, Kid Dracula is to Castlevania what Parodius is to Gradius - a parody series!
Cart -
RetroZoneBox -
Uncle Tusk at Wal R' Us Games