9.4 /10 1 Votes
Director(s) Kouki Yamashita Programmer(s) Yoshiteru Yamaguchi Initial release date 27 November 1997 Developer Konami Genre Platform game | 4.7/5 Emuparadise Designer(s) Tsukasa Hiyoshi Artist(s) Kazunobu Uchida Series Castlevania Publisher Konami Platform Game Boy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Composer(s) Kaoru Okada
Youichi Iwata Release date(s) JP: November 27, 1997
NA: March 11, 1998
EU: 1998 Similar Castlevania games, Platform games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Castlevania Legends, released in Japan as Akumajō Dracula: Dark Night Prelude (悪魔城ドラキュラ
Contents
Castlevania legends review one step forward
Gameplay
A player starts with three lives, after which the game is over. A player may continue from the beginning of the last stage they were in. There is also a Hit score showing how many enemies have been defeated in each stage. Like other Castlevania games, striking candles will cause items to appear. However, unlike most other Castlevania titles, the traditional subweapons are replaced with five unique magic spells called "Soul Weapons". Hearts are used as currency to acquire weapons. Sonia can also enter a "Burning Mode", where she becomes invincible, moves faster, and has more powerful attacks, though this power can only be used once per life or level.
Plot
The story begins in Transylvania in the year 1450. In the game (although not the series' overall canon), Sonia Belmont is the first Belmont to confront Dracula. She also meets Alucard who seeks revenge against his father Dracula. After Dracula's defeat, he swears to Sonia that as long as there is evil in the world, he will be resurrected, and in response she swears her family will always defeat him. The game was also the first game in the series timeline until Lament of Innocence.
Reception
IGN called the game one of the Game Boy's cult classics despite the portable system's limitations. GameSpy called the music "disappointing", as the previous two Game Boy Castlevania games were highly praised for their music. Game Informer's Tim Turi felt that the game was lacking especially compared to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Longtime Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi removed the game from the series timeline, claiming that in his opinion it conflicted with the plotline of the main games. He has stated that "Legends remains something of an embarrassment for the series. If only that development team had the guidance of the original team of the series."
Other media
Sonia was one of the confirmed leads in the Dreamcast game Castlevania: Resurrection, up until that game's cancellation.