Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Konami's 1990 action game for the NES, Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.
This video shows four playthroughs of the game, each with a different partner and ending:
1:47 Sypha path
57:44 Grant path
1:59:32 Alucard path
2:51:56 Trevor goes it alone
Konami’s final chapter of the classic NES Castlevania trilogy, Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse is a true 8-bit technological tour de force, constantly pushing the hardware to - and occasionally beyond - its limits. Staged as a prequel to the first two games, Trevor Belmont, ancestor of Simon, takes up the mantle of humanity’s last hope as he battles Count Dracula's army of darkness.
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse eschews the adventure/RPG trappings of Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and returns the series to its traditional platforming roots, but with some significant improvements. The new branching level structure allows you to forge your own path through the Transylvanian countryside, and on each of these paths, Trevor can meet and join forces with one of three unique playable characters.
These include Grant Danusty, a ghost pirate who can scale walls; Adrian “Alucard” Tepes, Dracula’s shape-shifting son who would later go on to star in Symphony of the Night; and Syfa Velnumdes, a spell-casting priestess and vampire hunter.
These characters lend the game a ton of replay value. There is no way to see all of the game’s fifteen stages in one play through, and the new characters offer entirely new ways to experience the stages and all come with their own endings. Castlevania III also marks the addition of vertical auto-scrolling stages, which add an unexpected layer of tension to the proceedings. Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse offers up a challenge that far surpasses that of the original, though it feels a lot more modern because of its improvements.
The sound composition is as impeccable as ever, though the sound quality is notably worse than Simon’s Quest’s ( • Castlevania II: Simon’... ). The Japanese Famicom version ( • Akumajou Densetsu (Fam... ) utilized one of Konami’s custom memory management chips, the VRC6, designed to improve the base system’s graphic and sound capabilities. Akumajou Densetsu, Castlevania III‘s Japanese counterpart, sounds absolutely incredible, with several additional sound channels that allowed for a more complex layering of instrumentation, but the NES version’s tunes sound a bit weak and flat in comparison.
The graphics are fantastic: the enemy sprites are detailed and the backdrops are extremely atmospheric and offer impressive sights by NES standards (the clock tower’s whirring gears, the stained glass windows, and some of the larger bosses come to mind). But, like the sound, this version's graphics suffer a few downgrades due to the lack of the VRC6, and Nintendo’s famous censorship policies led to a further few minor alterations. (Topless statues? Gasp Think of the children!)
The host of innovative improvements make this a must play for any fan of the series. It's not quite on par with its Japanese counterpart, but even still, the spot-on controls, challenging gameplay, and impressive graphics cement Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse‘s place as one of the true classics of the 8-bit era.
_____________
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
NintendoComplete (www.nintendocomplete.com/) punches you in the face with in-depth reviews, screenshot archives, and music from classic 8-bit NES games!

[@ValenceFlux]

The last game I played with my father before he died. I was so determined to beat it after he passed I had to do it on my own. Amazes me I got to show this to my girlfriend who also passed away. She loved vampire stories and video games. The music was so much fun to learn on guitar.

[@cherokeefit4248]

Dang

[@LPetal86]

Condolences for your losses. The soundtrack really is something special, isn't it?

[@Thorongil1984]

Damn. Condolences friend’

[@songoku9348]

Sorry for your losses.

[@LaprasTrainerLiam98]

Sorry to hear that man. May they both RIP. 😔

[@omt4293]

Arguably the most important Castlevania game ever made. This opened up the Castlevania universe with other Belmonts who battled Dracula over the years. And this game was one of the harder Castlevania games.

[@moldecheese]

This is my absolute favorite Castlevania game of all time. We would be remiss, however, to acknowledge that Symphony of the Night is also fairly important. It single handedly kept the franchise from fading into obscurity. I still prefer Castlevania 3 over Symphony, but Symphony was crucial to the franchises survival. I also agree that this is the hardest Castlevania that I've ever played.

[@treeface2128]

The sound that the boss makes when you defeat it will forever be engraved in my mind.

[@MatthewTheWolf2029]

The screaming?

[@HaunterOfKanto]

@@MatthewTheWolf2029the constipation.

[@NintendoComplete]

Castlevania III is one of the best Castlevanias Konami ever made, but the game is so damned hard!

[@SoulStreak64]

Definitely tougher than the first Castlevania that's for sure. It took me a couple hours, but I was motivated to beat, which I did.

[@twiztid350]

wait til loop II

[@michaeloffgrid]

I had a bad habit of picking bad games when I was a kid, but this was one of the few not just good but great games I ever bought! It was hard as nails for me, a kid that wasn't very good at video games, but I would always come back to it. It might be my favorite NES game.

[@hasangenc2922]

This game was insanely hard.

[@ef7558]

It amazes me how fast Death goes down with the holy water w/double or triple shot. I remember making a bet with my uncle saying I can beat both forms of Death in 30 seconds. He said "I got $20 says you can't!" Guess who lost that one 😀

[@retro3188]

I have this game on the Anniversary Collection. It’s fun trying to explore every path with each character, and I’m impressed what they were able to do with only so much space.

[@bboyhanvzla]

Castlevania III is one of those soundtracks that comes with a game included.

[@ikop5829]

I love your detailed descriptions, they're a real treat to read through!

[@verygooster]

Other than SMB3, it's my favorite NES game. I'm doing a rewatch of the Netflix series before I get to Nocturne.

[@SolCresta3405]

The best of the NES Castlevania games.

[@thepatriot2603]

I always took Grant on the Sunken City Path and I went through the Castle Basement with Alucard whenever I play!!

[@WhiteFangofWar]

We must not allow Count Dracula to create a bad world filled with evil!

[@doomedspy]

The cartridge had a chip in it that expanded the number of colors the NES could display and improved the music capabilities. The later NES days were pretty wild with what developers did with in-cart chips, probably due to the system being more simple than later generation consoles. You didn't see that in the 16-bit generation aside from polygon chips in Star Fox and Virtual Racing.

[@JemZard]

Kinda a missed opportunity to use the three extra PSGs on MMC5 as an attempt to faithfully recreate the Japanese version of Castlevania 3 with VRC6 inside the cart giving the rich composition with two extra pulse waves and one beefy sawtooth wave for beefy bass.

[@kinggalxi3an]

This was my favorite game playing as a kid

[@billroberds9075]

I remember buying it and price tag was 60$

[@LordSephleon]

Best of the NES Castlevanias! While I do have a soft spot for the first two Castlevania games, this one is the best use of the IP on that console. I'm glad they kept some of the ideas in later games down the line. Thanks for the gameplay and upload!

[@xxHUNGRY4THETRUTHxx]

Of all the entire NES library, this is my absolute #1. The Famicom version is the better sounding one. But this one will always remain close to my heart like shear nostalgia.

[@rjcupid]

1:26:13 One of my favourite Castlevania songs (“Demon Seed”). This game is a masterpiece.

[@Bloodreign1]

A game I never rented, though I knew about it, and that it was a return to the CV1 formula, why I never rented it, I'll never know. Fast forward years later, my friend had 2 copies of the game, and I played the game to death at his house, and eventually he gave me his second copy of the game. Needless to say, I played it to death yet more on my own NES.

[@LPetal86]

One of the best in the entire series and boy, do later games of the series pay homage to it! There's so much to like, even if you had to get up-close and stabby with Grant in this version. And I really like all the little touches too, like throwing the knife at the cyclops boss while lightning strikes in the background to electrify it! Konami put a lot of thought into their games back in the day, didn't they?

[@JessWLStuart]

Been watching these since I saw Castlevania on Netflix.

[@gabrielperez3619]

33:28. lol. It actually shocked me. Great video.

[@NintendoComplete]

Hahaha thanks!

[@VahanNisanian]

Excellent use of the Triple Shot and Holy Water. And if you've got a Turbo Controller, you're pretty much unstoppable.

[@thepatriot2603]

I didn’t know they made turbo controllers for the NES! That’s wild

[@ramrodbldm9876]

​@@thepatriot2603weirdo

[@thepatriot2603]

@@ramrodbldm9876 jackass!!

[@jasonmonster]

I love playing the Japanese version of this. The music just sounds so damn good.

[@thecunninlynguist]

Classic right here.

[@SoulStreak64]

Always preferred Alucard as my partner. His ability to fly helps me skip portions of levels and enemies. "Yeah, I can cheat to. You rotten bastard..." -AVGN Funny how this is ALSO the same Alucard that appears in Symphony of the Night. Talk about a glow up!

[@le-corbeau8119]

Got this one for my 14th birthday from my dad R.i.p dad miss you 😢

[@franklintwigg2986]

This is one of my favorite channels due to your deep knowledge of retro games and the fun of watching the proper playthroughs. I like how you cover both American and Eastern versions and do translations. As a huge fan of you and also Go Nagai, my dream is that you someday review and do an on-screen translations of Devilman for the PSOne and also CB Chara Wars starring Go Nagai's characters for the SNES. Both of the games, especially Devilman for PSOne due to spoken audio and lack of in game subtitles, are unlikely to have any English translation hacks soon. But playing along to one of your translation videos would be the next best thing. If this was a thing, so many English speaking Go Nagai fans would be thrilled.

[@Dorian_Scott]

As much as I love the Japanese version's soundtrack, the NES OST is also very good.

[@mestreoogay]

the game's soo hard that even a professional can't beat it without dying

[@RetroreviewsPlus]

Wow brings back memories, good times

[@kaikai5674]

Great gameplay and the description of game... Also Ur only death at 30min mark shock me alittle...😅

[@samugai7]

Each Castlevania games are special in their own way and this one is definitely special. Konami sitting on a gold mine with this one. They need to give it the HD remaster treatment; 2D, 2.5D, 3D, whatever. Just do it Konami! Swallow your pride and let IGA do it if you have to!

[@joemint5666]

This game has a great soundtrack. There's not one that sounds alike, which makes some of the harder levels a little more tolerable.

[@charaznableplays2110]

The first Castlevania i ever played,i love this awesome game!

[@donaldkick4806]

I'm 57, I never played too many rpg, but starting to play nes games in my new shop, after watching this, I wanna try it, but never tried 1 or 2, is that okay to just go to 3? I don't know the whole story line..... 😮

[@fivespot83s24]

Damn son! You make this look easy!

[@NintendoComplete]

Thanks! :)

[@spoonshiro]

Really good game. Crazy tough though!

[@rmp.attackerfake9446]

1 month ago? Guess the game is haunting you since the 80s and the pressure building up can't be kept shut anymore. Took me 12 days to beat this game using only password saves and stage entrances state saving because typing the password over and over again is really tedious. There are games that are fun and challenging, but this is just torture. Spent 6 days just on the last 2 stages.

[@ZeroThe14th]

Such an amazing game!

[@im_cart8656]

imagine being so good at retro games that you can make 3000 videos about it and make a living off simply beating them with relative ease

[@VahanNisanian]

And is this the only Castlevania game where a stage continues a little bit longer after you defeat the boss?

[@XpRnz]

I remember loving and hating this game because of it's difficulty.. i always got very far but just not enough to beat it. It was a very long game too, and especially the multiple routes/characters were something i had never encountered before. Classic in every way!

[@bladecrow7599]

My favorite game 🤘🏾

[@ZoeMuller80]

I prefer first and second. although second more than first

[@sukhramchawarguwal3115]

This game has very good level design

[@TheNei]

I love this game, very funny

[@Steph_7d7]

I like this versions music the most, the Japanese version utilizes too much buzzing tones for my tastes, sure it sounds more textured but not more musical.

[@geizamarcelino1830]

Jogo incrível ❤❤❤

[@mikedski9698]

Trevor Belmont Is Out To Stop Dracula In CASTLEVANIA 3 DRACULA'S CURSE.

[@shanelamereux9878]

your health bar is full. . . what the hell man

[@thenewdarknessgamer6203]

I like this game, but the biggest issue for me is that this game is extremely hard. This game makes me very mad when I lose. And I prefer the first and second one, I mean they do piss me off but this game just ruins some of the fun for me. I mean Castlevania 2 is confusing as hell, but I have played it a lot and I actually grew up playing it the most when I was young because I thought it was a great game. Well, nowadays I think that games has flaws but I love that game because I have a lot of nostalgia for it. Same thing with Castlevania 1, I grew up playing that game, and it’s tough, but I finally was able to beat it this year. So it’s a great game, and it’s fun. But Castlevania 3, I don’t know why but I never played this game a lot when I was young, idk why honestly, I guess I just preferred the first 2 because I thought they were fun. Now this game I think is fun, but also really makes me very mad. And this is my least favorite of the NES trilogy because I have the least amount of fun with, and I don’t have huge nostalgia for it. But it’s still good. Now that’s my opinion, don’t hate me okay. People have different opinions.

[@donkeykongisytpooping3002]

The Japanese version is much easier. They made the game harder for us because of game rentals. Didn’t want people beating the game quickly.

[@aes1603]

"chill bro, the game is not that hard" also the game "not that hard":

[@RyoSakazakiFans]

English version BGM is so nice,too.

[@kevinvigil5867]

Two things... Nobody likes the Axe 😂 and on level 6-2 when you missed the pork chop I died laughing lol

[@karnovjunior]

Hard for me to go back to the US NES version with this really flat sounding music. Nintendo of America was insane for ditching the VRC6 chip.

[@justinbrink7425]

(Ears perk up)

[@VahanNisanian]

Was it ever established what the "canon" ending was according to the Castlevania timeline?

[@treeface2128]

From the official timeline by Konami: In the year 1476, Trevor Belment, the pirate Grant, the cleric Sypha, and Alucard, son of Dracula, join forces and succeed in overthrowing Dracula. Sypha then takes Trevor's hand in marriage, while Alucard pained from fighting his own father---submerges into a eternal sleep. So it sounds like even though you can only take one partner at a time, they suggest that all of them battled Dracula together in terms of storyline canon.

[@d_valroth]

@@treeface2128 Yep. Because the shapeshifting zombies in SotN take the forms of Trevor, Grant, and Sypha, to torment Alucard, confirming he met all three of them.

[@Just_a_random_who_likes_stuff]

I prefer the JP version (Akumajou Dracula) because the music is better

[@juanmarquez1679]

👽

[@demonofelru3214]

1:40:59 badass right there!

[@NintendoComplete]

Gotta pose at the win song!

[@demonofelru3214]

@@NintendoComplete Absolutely! 😆

[@TheJasonsvideos]

Has anybody ever seen the anime series on Netflix?

[@johnmaring7056]

I Have! 🙋🏻

[@johnmaring7056]

Sypha Belnades The Speaker Magician Voiced By The Talented & Beautiful Alejandra Reynoso Had The Best Kills In All Four Seasons The Original “Castlevania” Netflix Adult Anime Series! Without A Question! My Favorites Were When She Lit Up That Hell Demon @ The End Of Season 3 When We All Saw Her Shoot ⚡️ 🪄 For The 1st Time! Or What About When She Created An Ice 🧊 Wall & She Vertically Sliced In Half That Vampire @ The End Of Season 2 Using Her ❄️ 🪄 & Also When She Killed That Vampire By Lighting Him On 🔥 By Using Her 🔥 🪄 Just By Touching His Head! That Shit Will Never Get Old!

[@rafeguttman]

Yep. The banter between Alucard and Trevor is excellent.

[@NintendoComplete]

Yeah, I loved it, especially the first season.

[@arturo1724]

📽️✴️

[@sergedeleon9592]

Bgm of this is different the original Japan version is best

[@TerminalFrost79]

Help Me!!!

[@briandenapoli3250]

You get 10 lives for that passcode

[@paramoutarcanelegend]

Break dance practice, KZbin

[@TheRealSephiroth]

This game made me realize that its SYFA and not Cypha and its a dude not a chick, damn it netflix! "Those bastards lied to me" - Pawn stars

[@jaredbaratta8589]

Real dickey & douchey move to not let Grant enjoy the kill.

[@EliosMoonElios]

Sadly no one realyze than the game: Symphony of the night Is practically a remake of this game.

[@TheTdw2000]

I am utterly baffled by how you could possibly have come to this conclusion.

[@flepyflop5620]

If I'm your first comment u have to pin me!!

[@user-lk4lz8dg2i]

動物と人を大切しろ!愛新持栄隊総館超久保田勉ゲーム新大臣!会社行政改革大臣!安全・自殺対策大臣!仕事対策大臣!地方活性化大臣!規制緩和大臣!平和維持!❤

[@SmoggyLambGG]

What do the Ⅱ and Ⅲ items do?

[@NintendoComplete]

They let you fire 2 or 3 copies of your subweapon at once.