Castlevania: The Adventure DX

Original game : Konami GB Collection Vol. 1

Platform : GB

Author : ProstatePunch

Release date : 03 March 2023

Category : Improvement

Patch version : 1.0

Modifications : G, L, T, P

Downloads : 2682

ROM Information

Database match: Konami GB Collection Vol.1 (Europe) (GB Compatible)
Database: No-Intro: Game Boy/Color (v. 20210227-015730)
File/ROM SHA-1: 760ABB9E3950F39BF01320E414A4F4D516E04C83
File/ROM CRC32: 203F8727

Hack description

Castlevania: The Adventure is a fan favorite Game Boy game that was included in Konami GB Collection Vol. 1. That compilation did provide a much needed color injection, however it was full of weird color choices and incorrect overlays on backgrounds resulting in a marred experience. This release intends to correct as many of those flaws as possible, increase the quality overall, and make the game a dedicated stand-alone experience. Changes include:

Almost every enemy sprite has been re-colored in some way.

The main character sprite has been redrawn and re-colored.

The fully-powered whip fireball was given actual fireball colors.

Candle color was changed, and the design was reduced in size.

Color palettes for every level were altered to make the game more realistic, also resulting in better blending of objects into backgrounds.

Health bar was changed to a solid red rather than a color changing system, consistent with other Castlevania titles.

Inclusion of the "autoboot+speed+whip hack" by richirobot (with credits to tidi, hiro1112 and Ugetab) here.

Removed the ability to reboot the game to the selection menu using Start+Select+A+B.

Removed the ability to go back to the game selection menu at the title screen by pressing Select.

Hopefully this provides an experience more consistent with other "DX" quality releases. This was an excellent project for learning the ropes of Game Boy debugging, with the goal to contribute more to the colorization of DMG-only releases.

With that said, it couldn't have done it without the assistance of Xenophile, Specialagentape, and MojoDodo. Big thanks go out to them, with hopefully more to come.

Screenshots

Contributions

Contributor	Type of contribution	Description
ProstatePunch	Hacking	Primary hacking & tile editing
xenophile	Hacking	Debugging & QA
Specialagentape	Hacking	Debugging & discovering attribute table
MojoDodo	Hacking	Debugging & removing reset commands

Reviews

A single major flaw prevents greatness	Zeikar	2024-05-23	Version 1.0
Every new color choice is perfect and amazing. However, this DX hack is marred by a puke green Belmont that is supposed to wear red. The remake game ReBirth and official art shows a red clothed Belmont. Puke green is a serious downgrade. I can't put a YES Recommend unless this issue is fixed and then this DX hack would be definitive.

A nice QoL patch for a game that deserves one	Arm-Runner	2023-05-09	Version 1.0
Nice to see how there are still modders willing to fix games like Castlevania: The Adventure. These kind of hacks also show really well, how numerous small fixes to original games design can increase the quality of the game considerably.

Not really an improvement	Ligeia	2023-03-05	Version 1.0
The hack is functional and some things are great, like polishing of the edges of background objects etc. But the recoloring leaves a lot to be desired, it may be more "realistic" but as a result it is much duller. I'd rather have an unrealistic but eye-pleasing popping color scheme than the other way around. I also think the main character sprite has been made much worse, by deleting shades of color on his outfit and giving him a very dull color palette. Generally speaking things are much less vibrant and sprites don't stand out anymore, making them seem like background objects. So as far as I'm concerned the official colorized version is much better.

A Fresh Coat of Paint for an Oldie!	face235	2023-03-04	Version 1.0
I never knew that I wanted to play this game in color. Now that I have, here is why I recommend it: 1. It has several QoL hacks that make this game fun to play. Your character no longer moves at the speed of molasses. Although there is some slowdown when multiple enemies are onscreen, it is still far faster than the vanilla version. You do not lose your Whip Upgrades when you get hit either. 2. The colors really pop and make the areas stand out far more than they have before, especially Stage 4. The credits screen is still monochrome though. 3. The difficulty increases that take place once you see the credits are still in effect, so feel free to New Game Plus this as many times as you can get away with. There's no save feature, so keep that in mind. Having said all this, there is one bug in Stage 3 that you should be on the lookout for. In the 3rd section where the spikes are coming at you from the right, the screen graphics start to get rather wonky and can cause you to lose a life. Ironically, losing a life in this section made this bug go away and I was able to complete this stage as I normally would.

Can't wait to see Belmont's Revenge get this treatment!	MekkMarcos	2023-03-04	Version 1.0
Now that the hack description mentions it, some of the original color choices DO come off as questionable. But now, this game has a color scheme that TRULY takes advantage of the Game Boy Color's capabilities, and justifies the fact that the entire GB Collection - let alone this version of the game - is only playable on GBC (unless you play the earlier Japanese version, which supports the Super Game Boy). The cave actually LOOKS like one, and once you reach Dracula... SUCH AN APT PALETTE! Like if Simon's Quest colored HIM like that, instead of Simon himself. "As ever, the ally of worthless humans." Go get this patch, and show 'em WHY you're with those "worthless humans".

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