The level designs, art aesthetic, variety in locations, enemies, bosses, items and weapons are all brand new, coupled with reworked controls and gameplay features inspired by previous entries. Despite being a ‘remake’ of 1989’s Castlevania: The Adventure for the Game Boy, ReBirth is much less a standard remake than it is a full from-the-ground-up reimagining of Christopher Belmont’s exploits to take down Dracula. The control schemes can be reconfigured at the “Options” menu according to player’s preferences.įeaturing a total of six stages, the game is a largely linear one with a focus on 2-Dimensional side-scrolling combat and platforming. Using Sub-Weapons is executed with a combination of pressing up on the directional pad and the attack button.įinally, the upward and downward directional buttons are used to ascend and descend staircases when Christopher is near them, with the minus button used to pause the game. Attacking can be combined with crouching and jumping to take down either ground-based or airborne enemies. Jumping is mapped to “1” and “2” is used to attack. Turned on its' side, the Wii Remote's directional pad controls Belmont’s movements to the left and right and can be used to select menu options, where crouching is performed by pressing down. For the purpose of this review, the Wii Remote was used.

This could have been remedied with a button prompt and looped music to allow players the time to read and absorb the text and images, before pressing the button to advance.Ĭontrols-wise, ReBirth offers standard button inputs similar to earlier games, and can be played with a variety of compatible controllers (Wii Remote, Nunchuk Controller, Classic Controller, or GameCube Controller). Players will find that the on-screen text and images scroll by too quickly for any but the quickest readers to register, leaving the story element of the game somewhat wasted. The immediate attention to detail here in respect to the established Castlevania timeline of games is appreciated, as the original 'Castlevania The Adventure’ for the Game Boy did nothing to reveal its' place among the Castlevania video game series' timeline. However, from these accompanying images and the story detail that '100 years have passed since Dracula's demise', players can make the connection that Castlevania The Adventure ReBirth is set in the year 1576, a hundred years after the events of Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (which takes place in the year 1476), and that Christopher Belmont is Trevor Belmont's descendant. At first glance, it’s a simple story told through a small number of brief text screens, accompanied by some sepia-tone images from 'Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse'.

List of castlevania games in order