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This hack really brings nothing new to the table. The alteration of a few sprites, changing the amount of hearts it costs to use each sub-weapon, lowering the amount of starting lives, and decreasing, the amount of time on stages that need more give the hackers the illusion that they have created a revolutionary work of art. Well, I'm sorry to say, but it hasn't. I will reiterate my headline "Nothing More Than a Fresh Coat of Paint." This hack of Castlevania is not worth your time.

Vanilla Castlevania with a new coat of paint. I like it! Especially the Details in the background .This is a must play for some wants to play a Castlevania Hack thats not overly frustrating. Although.. i wish this Hack Had new music in it Thanks for Hack.

This could be the best CV Hack and we have many points as to why:

The use of colors is great, being the most gloomy & gothic style removing those garish colors that the original had, and it reminds me of what Konami would bring us later with Castlevania II & III. The redesigns of some characters may look more cartoony compared to the original game, but that doesn't take away from being well done and that in other redesigns they look better than the original (for example Dracula, resembling the one on the cover more than an old man).

The level design is very good with the player, it teaches you the danger ahead, removes the most annoying enemies and uses them in places you can foresee (Flea Man/Skull, Medusa, Ghost, etc). Also, something that I always disliked about Castlevania is that just by hitting you they already throw you into the void, and the designers were aware of that, making more holes. Instead, here it is totally different, so much so that he even removed the annoying void blow that Simon had.

The change that it had between versions is noticeable that it was for the better, since seeing the previous ones I understand the mistakes it had, but currently this would be the Best Castlevania Hack for players totally unrelated to that difficulty of the original game, thank you very much Sky for this lovely Hack.

This hack suffers from Final Fantasy XIII syndrome, in that the best content is near the end, and getting there can sometimes be a chore. As I said while playing through it, "This is making me feel how the original Castlevania made me feel as a kid. I'm not sure that's a good thing." Level 4 (Stage 10-12) was the peak of this feeling, and the one time I Game Overed in my playthrough.

As other reviewers have noted, besides the level structure changes, the main "gimmick" of this particular hack are the new blue and red ghosts, with the latter in particular coming in annoying spots. While the level layouts have changed, the underlying "skeletons" of the original levels can still be seen in most of the game.

This really only changes in the last couple levels, particularly stage 17 and 18. Here, the layouts are not only different, but the order of going up and down stairs to get to different parts of the level changes as well. I honestly wish there had been more of this throughout the game.

Overall, I finished it, and I recommend it, albeit not strongly.

As this is my first review on RomHacking, I'd like to be relevant. I'm also very fond of every Castlevania stuff, so you can understand my hype about it.

1. GAMEPLAY

Simon moves better, quicker, and ladders aren't a problem anymore. It still lacks jump control, but this is part of the game's charm. The stages are filled with breakable blocks that inject some more exploration to the run and go of the original. Collecting gold bags now have a meaning, as extra lives by score are now feasible, so hunting for coins add another level of gameplay. Overall, this is the better of patch additions, to me.

Only Bosses are a bit bland. Come equipped with TimeStop and see. Come *unequipped* of it and you'll be puzzled about their routines for minutes.

1. GRAPHICS

The older enemies are better drawn, no flicker for ghouls, no cheap monochrome enemies. Anyway. The *new enemies* look more like they're from Ghost and Goblins than Castlevania. Big evil eyes and open laughing jaws == Ghost and Goblins.

The original game used a palette of "messy tiles" to depict backgrounds and platforms. The overall look, while not so precise, was an inspired artistic job. This version seems made out of a cold tile app. Single tiles are more refined, but the complete design lacks the abstraction that made the first Castlevania a great immersive game. The designer also abused multilevel stages, and that means every screen is literally filled with the same wall/platform tile. This creates an overall sense of scarcity and lack of contrast. The original Castlevania had a lot of void space filled with background to generate a mood, this patch is a "dungeon". The general look is much more cold, and *way* less gothic. It's Spelunky with a whip.

1. LEVEL DESIGN

The platform arrangement is creative and not punishing. No more Medusa heads while crossing the abyss! As said, stages are full of secrets so they are fun to explore, and more interactive.

Anyway, there's an overall trolling factor that kill the whole thing.

Stages are literally infested by two kinds of new enemies. Blue flames, Red Flames. They are trolls, in the meaning they activate at given, trolling points (Red also camouflaged as Candles) sometime leaving you with no time to react. Red also have erratically, chasing movements. As you're way too often on the verge of abyss, the better strategy is... to get hit. This is very frustrating and gives to the game an unpolished mood.

• The entire game* is about such Flames. The game could be called "Castlevania: Simon vs Flames" for good. At least one by screen, more often two. Every X steps, a red flame start to chase you (or whatever, sometime stop, sometime fly away... it's also unpredictable).

Where are my BATS?! My Panthers? My FleaMen? Just these Flames, used and abused in every circumstance. Look, Medusa Heads, finally! And guess what? They work as additional obstacles for two Red Flames. Aaargh.

1. FINAL WORDS

It turned a good game into another, that have a different perception about how "Castlevania" games should work. Considering the amount of work it surely costed... why not creating a new game entirely?

I'm not satisfied entirely.

To start with, I really like the resprite of Simon. Works very well with the style, animates nicely and consistently. The redesigned enemies and custom tilework are similar. It's not bad looking. But that's kinda where the good stuff ends. The levels have had much darker and muddier palettes applied to them, taking away the interesting contrast the original had. The new tilework, while nicely made, isn't intricate or varied enough to make up for it aesthetically. The level tilesets actually have less variety, with the levels looking nearly the same the whole way through. The design of the levels themselves also suffers, with enemy variety dropping and disjointed 2-tile wide platforms everywhere. Somewhat easier than the original in that respect. It's a shame because it seems that the creator would be capable of something a bit more memorable, but phoned it in when it came to the important bits.

This hack only does a few things, but it does them well. It gives the original Castlevania a massive graphical overhaul and changes the layout of every screen. Everything else, however, is left as it is, i.e. the enemy patterns, the overall structure of the castle and the original music all stay in place. The result feels like a new take on the original, so if you expect a completely new game, you will almost certainly be disappointed. But if it's October again and you are a seasoned Castlevania player looking for a new challenge (or just don't want to go through the exact same castle you went through last year), look no further: This is one is made for you. Recommended!