I neglected to mention I got CastleVania Legends at the end of June. That'd be a clue that I don't hold it in high regard. On our way back from some miscellaneous seafood place, I put it in my Game Boy Pocket. After hearing the hearts being collected for the 34th time, I decided to punch up a review.

In the early days of my Internet Sector, I requested Konami to make a CastleVania game in which the lead was a GIRL BELMONT. I will never know if it was this request, or Konami's original idea, but on March 1, 1998, the Game Boy game CastleVania Legends was released in the United States.

After successfully completing Senior year and making a smashing performance on my portfolio review for New York Institute of Technology, I was rewarded a $200 spending spree. I got Evangelion tapes 5 and 6, EVA-02, Sonic 2 and Joe -n- Mac for the Genny, a come apart Allosaurus with a medical center attached to it (dino for use in Jurassic Junk 8) and CastleVania Legends.

CastleVania Legends is another prequel, this one for the Game Boy. To a certain extent, it is linear, except for certain parts where you open up a new area because you have acquired certain items. Legends takes place some time before CastleVania III Dracula's Curse, when Count Dracula was just starting out on spreading his reign of terror. You play as Sonia Belmont, the other origin of the Belmont warlord (not double y) chromosomes. At 17 years of age (!!!???), she is the first to set forth and challenge the Dark Leader. Legends also brings back the Anime style of artwork from CastleVania Dracula X that classifies CastleVania as being an Anime. Oh and the instruction booklet is in color!!!! In many blue ranges of color, with black text.... :(

In my humble, but expert opinion, I enjoyed The (castlevania) Adventure more when IT came out, then I enjoy Legends NOW.

The game starts out in the forest, with a remixed tune of the Wilderness/Forest/Outside theme in Simon's Quest.

The remix deal began in CastleVania 3, with Deja Vu, an awesome remix of the stage 1 theme in CastleVania 1. As far as my view towards remixing goes, CV3, that was a surprise. It was great. In CV4, that was cute. They had the tools and tech there. In CV6, a.k.a. Dracula X, that killed it. That sent it to the grave, I'm sorry. Again, I'm sorry, but almost EVERY board's background music is from the earlier games. I haven't officially played Bloodlines yet, so no remix comment there.

Anyway, the game gets very annoying at the start. You're running throughout the forest, collecting 70+ hearts that are useless to you at this point. Hearing the hearts "veeveep" every 1/2 seconds gets annoying. And these are all single hearts you're collecting, no Large Hearts here. The Mystic Whip, this is pathetic, when powered up to the max...is VERY short, like in other console games, when your whip is powered up to 1/2 full length. And check this one out...the BURNING MODE, which I call the "Busty Barbara Mode". I apologize to all the females, but I think it is rather silly that Sonia sticks her bust out to power up before going into this invincible, running, berserk mode. On the left hand, there are SOME things good about this new player character. Can it be that she..

1. ...walks fastest of all player characters in the CastleVania Game Boy games?
2. ...can run?
3. ...can leap as high as Grant DaNasty and change direction in air?
4. ...move when in a crouched position like Simon did in Super CastleVania IV?
5. ... can fall through "thin" platforms when you crouch on it and press jump?

Another ...milestone. This is the only Game Boy game in which spells are used. "Soul Powers" they are called. Each one of these elemental sub weapons is gained every time you defeated a boss. The Wind Soul Power acts as the Time Stopper, or Pocket Watch, freezing ENEMY actives in place for a bit. The Ice Soul Power lets you restore your lost energy. The Fire Soul (Bird!...nah) Power will act as the Rosary, destroying or severely damaging the enemies on screen. The Saint Soul Power is just like the Scroll Weapon from the NES classic (Konami made) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It sends a wave of energy forward to wipe out the opposition. The Magic Soul Power is (probably) another Fire Soul Power. It's amusing how Sonia uses these Soul Powers when she happens upon the Dagger, Cross Boomerang, Holy Water, Axe, and Pocket Watch on the way to CastleVania. Anta baka, Sonia???

Riding on the coattails of his PSX success, Alucard makes an appearance in Legends, the fool. Funny how he decides to dye his hair black and lose his sword and fancy shmancy wardrobe before Dracula's Curse. Anta Baka, Alucard? He is the stage 4 boss. I killed him good in Burning Mode. They really had me gassed up when I heard that Al was in this one. I was also gassed up when I heard that you could play as him.

The Enemies, of which I am an advocate (supporter) of, are given a C grade by me. Yes, there is "Enemy Refresh", which gets extremely aggravating in the vertically scrolling areas.

For those of you who have never heard of my term for it, "Enemy Refresh" simply(?) means that enemies will appear when the part of the screen they were on is displayed again after the enemy was eliminated, and the enemy comes back.

At least there are finally Zombies in this one. Others you encounter are (these are the names I came up with) Vampire Bats, their perched sprites as big as the Big Bats in Belmont's Revenge, Floating Spirits, Dancing Spirits that'll chase you down, Tree Worms, Zombies, again, and Skeletal Spearmen. I probably missed some in the first stage. In the second stage, I was impressed to see Puweyxil suspended in the air. I was also happy to see it come forth and bite Sonia's backside when her back was turned. The Puweyxil here behave as the Boo Buddies do from Super Mario Bros. 3 and 4. I also liked seeing the Dragon Skull Cannon as well. They are in stacks of three, and get this...their fire ball sprites are from the whip's fireballs from The Adventure and Belmont's Revenge. The Molemen...Hunchbacks, finally look like Hunchbacks! They will run forward and back. If you're not careful, they'll start to leap. Following Alucard to the Game Boy are several of the Giant Green Armors, the Sword Lords. A pest in the Clock Tower is this weird lizard guy who climbs the chains and spits out projectiles. The Fish Man makes an appearance here as well.

I am the Dungeon's resident boss expert who rewrote its' descrips. The bosses in this game...are, well, not as good as I hoped 9 years of technological advancement would bring forth. The first boss of Legends is actually the Blue Gargoyle with arm attached wings from Super CastleVania IV. In the instruction manual, they make him look like some ugly guy with arm attached wings and add more insult to injury by titling this boss, the "Creatures Bat" in the instruction book. Who is Creatures, anyway? I'd like to meet him. The Library's boss is the Death Dragon. It gets its name from the DEATH BAT of The Adventure. The Dragon just moves his neck up and down, spitting flames at you. The Grim Reaper, who looks like a Joker from a deck of cards, hops from one side of the room to another, launching his sickles to slash you up. He makes a good performance. Alucard is the stage 4 boss.

Dracula is the last boss you face. He's a bit of pervert during his dialogue with Sonia. He's like "ooh, little girl, give me your body, bla bla bla...". After you go berserk and trash his first phase, he turns into a silly final threat. I think this one's main weapon is the ability to make me laugh so much I forget that there's a Beginning remix as the BGM and I'm fighting the last phase! He's this silly winged thingy and a bat head fades into and out of sight. What a riot! In my humble but expert opinion, I like The Adventure's final phase more.

Music comment. The music isn't much to have stuck in your head, not like the funky stage 3 beats of the Adventure and the rocking Cloud Castle theme of Belmont's Revenge.

I have YET to beat this game.

 I give this one a 4 out of 10. It pales in comparison to The CastleVania Adventure and CastleVania II Belmont's Revenge.

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