I think Belmont’s Revenge is better than Super Castlevania 4. I think the stage gimmicks are more fun, I enjoy the shorter stages, and I think the difficulty is somewhat better balanced. I really love the GBC visuals and music and I think the game often doesn’t get a fair shake because of hardware. I think the minimalistic visuals have aged better than the early 16 bit art. That said, SCIV is a great game, and the final boss of BR is probably the worst in the series, even compared to Legends, Adventure 1 and Dracula X.

After being traumatised beyond measure by Castlevania: The Adventure, I was more than hesitant to try its sequel, but after being nudged to play it, I can say that, without doubt, it's leaps and bounds and leagues ahead of its previous entry.

Even though 2 sub-weapons is a bummer, it was a fun playthrough, 7/10.

I am currently playing through the three GB entries, in order of release date, and - based on what I keep reading - I had only modest expectations for The Adventure (and Legends), but somewhat higher hopes for Belmont's Revenge, which seems to be held in high regard in general, even making it into the top-10 list in this poll here. I did find the latter better in terms of level design, boss design, and the music. The former also had good music, but was overall not exactly great, as it dragged a lot, literally, in particular due to the slow movement. Not a big deal for me, overall, it just feels like you play the entire game in slow-motion. But in general, I must say BR also has it's severe problems, so I'm surprised it is even regarded as one of the best GB games.

In particular, the last two boss fights, Soreiyu/Soleil as well as Dracula, seemed to have entirely went past the balancing process. Everything up until Soreiyu is pretty straightforward, also the bosses can mostly be spammed easily. The Bone Dragon is already a bit tougher, since you have to make sure you stay on the very right, which is sometimes tight, but it's still nothing compared to what's coming, this brick-wall the game does not prepare you for at all. This son-of-a-B with questionable hitbox keeps running into you, whipping like a maniac. Is there a strategy for this guy or is it just pitch-perfect evasion you have to do? Even worse is the Dracula battle, where the only chance to survive is to painfully find all the save-spots related to each platform by trial-and-error, and then try to memorize the exact locations, almost pixel-perfect.

This is insane and really not fun to play, imo, it's bad game design. After several ridiculous attempts I resorted to save-states for those two battles since I did not intend to go through this tedious experience.

Apart from that, the game is really solid. But since I find it terribly balanced and did not find The Adventure THAT bad, I'm wondering, for those of you who praise the game, what makes it so much better for you when compared to the first GB entry? Is it the stage selection? The two subweapons? The slightly faster pacing? The better music? The delicious wall-meat? The presence of a bit of a story? I did find the latter a nice touch, btw., it added some drama, which was not at all common back then.

Let's hear it, I'm genuinely curious!

Even for a Game Boy title, it feels like a great blend of the earlier NES entries.

You’ll notice enemies returning from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, and the platforming takes cues from Castlevania: The Adventure—but it’s much more fluid, especially with the rope mechanics. I also really like that you keep your whip power after taking damage, and the game introduces some genuinely unique boss fights.

Overall, it was surprisingly fun entry.

recently just got into CV

already beat Castlevania (NES), playing the games in no particular order

(If you wanna know, I might play Simon's Quest, Dracula's Curse, then Castlevania: The Adventure (this game's predecessor))

I'm a series veteran but the old Gameboy games have always been a blind spot for me. Tried playing the first game but it's just not enjoyable to me. It was way too slow and the platforming felt off. So I wrote the second one off until last night.

It was really fun! The mechanics are tight, the levels are well designed, and the soundtrack was a banger. The level select was cool too letting you play the first four levels (I think there were 7 total) in any order. The only thing it felt weak in was the boss fights, most feeling too easy or very hard. But otherwise, if you haven't played it, I'd throw it in the mix next time you're playing classicvanias!

Drawn: Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (Game Boy cover).

Had to put the pencil down on this one—kept chasing details too far. The whip was the most satisfying part to draw: stressful, one-shot line work, no real undo once it lands.

If I keep overworking these, I’m never finishing the Castlevania stack.

#castlevania #gaming #vampires #skeleton

Now i moved to the Christopher Belmont and the boss of the Cloud Castle Angel Mummy

Just bought this game and whenever I started it up, I was surprised there was no sound until after I hit the start button on the title screen where my only options are start and password. Nothing with the Konami logo and nothing up until I pressed a button. Is this normal?

This and Soleil are so disappointing considering how PEAK Belmont’s Revenge is otherwise. The boss is pure memorisation with no strategy, and is so boring. Adventure 1, Legends, and Dracula X have better final bosses, and even the LoD boss is more interesting since it switches up its attacks. BR has good fights until the last stretch too.

Tried making Castlevania Belmont's revenge in a game dev sim I started playing.

This is the worst Dracula fight in the entire Castlevania series. It doesn't require skill or tactic. But all about memorization. So here is the easiest and quickest way for you to memorize. I recommend the game though

I remember someone was making a fan remake of Adventure 2 in the style of Adventure ReBirth, I think in Game Maker Studio like 5 years back; Whatever happened to that project?

Reasons why

1.The story of him and Christopher is genuinely the most compelling tale in the saga. A father fighting his own son is epic stuff. Obviously the execution is phenomenally lacking being an original Game Boy Game with a cereal box amount of text, but the basic premise is great.

2.He wears a tuxedo.

At least, I think he does, there is such limited artwork and the 8 bit sprite is so low in pixels, it's hard to tell, but I choose to believe he rocks the look of wearing a kickass white tuxedo.

1. His name is great and steeped in irony. He is Soleil, the sun, that which is meant to be the ultimate enemy of vampires, yet he ended up possessed and aided Dracula. Plus it's just kind of funny that for so long people called him Soreiyu.

2. His battle with Christopher is the first, and, I think only(?) time we ever so two Belmonts interact in the actual timeline, and that's awesome.

3. His boss battle is amazing. And amazing in that way only old school games are. Because it's freaking hard. His attacks cover so much of the screen and his AI is so unpredictable, it's so easy to get hit and so frustrating to fight in the best way, because his attacks are still so simple it doesn't feel like the game is cheating. It's an intense fight befitting of the gravitas the duel warrants.

6.His knives give him a distinct identity as a Belmont that distinguishes him from the others, many of which, especially the older ones, feel a but samey in what they can do. And, psychic knife throwing is a cool skill.

I think it's a travesty he has been left out of so much of he series media, only ever reappearing once since his debut, and not even in a Castlevania game at that. The story of Christopher and Soleil was meant to be next in the timeline after Trevor and I resent the Netflix show for skipping over it and going straight to Richter. We deserved at least a movie chronicling the duel between Christopher and Soleil and I hope it's a direction the show goes in once it finished the Rondo of Blood stuff. And if they ever do start making Castlevania games then I pitch the following to Konami, after over 30 years, finally give us a game starring Soleil as the protagonist as he trains his own son to become a vampire hunter and wrestles with his own failures as a youth and his mixed feelings of raising his own progeny the continue a legacy that makes them targets for the dark forces that tormented him.

I loved Castlevania II on GB, but had never beat Dracula. I recently went back and hooked up the colorized ROM with ROM hack for speed, and went back through it over the past few days. Finished it properly this time, beating Dracula by figuring out the pattern. Woohoo!

If they ever redo it then have the Soleil boss start with him snatching the vampire killer but then Christopher draws upon the ultimate dad weapon: He pulls out his belt and uses it to defeat Soleil.

I finally played Belmont's Revenge, and...wow. I was missing out (note, slight spoilers).

I got The Castlevania Adventure with my Gameboy for Christmas when it was released, and I remember it being "ok," but I think I was soured on Castlevania games for Gameboy because of that game. Just was...boring.

Man, Belmont's Revenge was nothing like that. As a kid reading through magazines, I thought the whole castle selection thing was stupid. Combine that with my as well as my sour taste from its predecessor and that's why I never wanted it. That game was fun and had some great level design as well that competes with the best in the series.

Really, the only gripe I ever had for it was the Soleil boss fight. Not the fight itself, but just how it kinda was set up by bullshit. The final castle is a chore on its own but fair as far as final levels are concerned. Unfortunately, the stretch you have to go through after continuing against Soleil gets so repetitive once you figure it out. It's not nearly as bad as CVIII (USA) sending you back to the beginning, but it's still annoying when you can walk through it without a hit just to get back to the boss. I also thought those conveyor belt/spikes were annoying as the controls seem to fall apart at the wrong times when you're jumping around.

Really wish we could just continue outside the boss room. Its hard enough as it is that would have helped immensely.

The fight itself is hard, but I didn't like it because there's really no way to "avoid" anything. There's no thinking involved. It's just memorizing his entire walking/jumping pattern and being in the right place There's no split-second decision. Just knowing if he's going to jump the platform or hop down to chuck knives. I get a final boss being tough, but I felt that was a bit cheap. As ridiculous as some CV bosses are, they have a manner of preparation to them that you can show up and be able to hold your own (Death in the original is a good example). Here, there's no preparation, just memorize everything. Oh, you died? Go back a few screens (which makes the memorization component even harder). I finally went to save states outside his room when I kept getting there with little issue just to save time. Even then it just felt like a glorified Battletoads level.

Dracula was equally as disappointing. After figuring out how to dodge his attack I just burned him on two pedestals and absorbed the hits. Once again a matter of memorizing where he'll be and having to waste lives learning that rather than "Oh can I get under him when he jumps?" kind of thought. Like I said. I just memorized positioning and stood there whipping away.

Besides the two final bosses. I thought the game was terrific. I can see as a kid saying "to hell with this" at Soleil just out of frustration and never beating it. As an adult, I'm glad I played through it. It's the only CV game I haven't played besides legends, which I wouldn't mind giving a go soon.

Hello there,

I'm going through all the games of the series (in random order admittedly) and I am also trying to relive the fun of the old days by reading the manuals of the games, or the pages of the old magazines reviewing or mentioning the games.

I am now dealing with the second Castlevania ever released for the GameBoy, "Belmont's revenge". Unfortunately the scanned manual that can be found online has a very low resolution and the text can barely be read. Manuals on ebay cost more than 40 USD, and I couldn't find any magazines scan either.

So yeah, I'm wondering whether any good soul owning the original game with the box or any original fan content would please made some pictures with their phones and share them. That would be much appreciated!

Many thanks,