Posted by Chad M. on Monday, October 3, 2011 ? Leave a Comment?
Wel?come to the month of Octo?ber. Since Hal?loween falls at the end of the month, I fig?ure this is the time to really go all-out for Page to Pixel, and what bet?ter way to start this off than with that ven?er?ated tale of vam?pirism, Bram Stoker?s Drac?ula. For those unaware of the basics of the story, it involves a young lawyer trav?el?ing to the wilds of East?ern Europe to work out a real estate deal with the epony?mous Count. The Count traps the agent in?his cas?tle, trav?el?ing to Lon?don to ful?fill his need for fresh blood. Late 19th-Century hor?ror ensues.
Now, Drac?ula has prob?a?bly been fea?tured as a char?ac?ter in more indi?vid?ual media appear?ances than any other. In addi?tion to the novel, there have been?many film adap?ta?tions from the leg?endary (Bela Lugosi and Christo?pher Lee ver?sions, for exam?ple) to the laugh?able (Coppola?s 1992 film with Gary Old?man and Drac?ula 2000 spring to mind), as well as comics like Tomb of Drac?ula?and that?s barely scratch?ing the sur?face. Drac?ula has made his chill?ing pres?ence known in the videogame world for quite some time as well, appear?ing in titles for the Intel?livi?sion and VIC com?put?ers, and prob?a?bly most famously appear?ing in Konami?s Castl?e?va?nia series. He also appeared in the Sony Image?soft tie-ins to that godaw?ful Drac?ula film?with Gary Old?man (don?t get me started on the many?rea?sons I hate that film). How?ever, I don?t really want to talk about any of?these.
No, I want to go back to a game that didn?t have the ben?e?fit of adver?tis?ing or the kind of mar?ket?ing or dis?tri?b?u?tion that com?pa?nies like Kon?ami could put behind their games; no, this was a hum?ble share?ware game from 1998?that made the rounds on a lot of the share?ware com?pi?la?tions back in the day. I always thought it was pretty inter?est?ing and ended up whiling away quite a few hours play?ing it. It?s an RPG/adventure game that draws heav?ily from the novel it?s based?on.
The game allows you (and pos?si?bly 5 other friends, as the doc?u?men?ta?tion and in-game prompts say things like ?pass the key?board to player 3?) to take con?trol of the novel?s vam?pire hunters (Van Helsing,?Arthur, Quincey, et al) and?explore 1890?s Lon?don, search?ing for clues to the Count?s where?abouts, talk?ing to wit?nesses, explor?ing pos?si?ble hide?outs, and fol?low?ing up on leads in the newspapers.?This is all done quite sim?ply ? I think in the entire game you get the map of Lon?don and an occa?sional door or win?dow drawn on screen for you. Oth?er?wise, the game is almost entirely played via text ? even the houses and bat?tles (in turn-based D&D style) are drawn in (rather nicely?done) ASCII?art.
I played this game for hours on end back in the day. The lack of sound besides an occa?sional PC Speaker blip meant that I had to use my imag?i?na?tion (some?thing that was stan?dard issue among kids born before the Unreal Engine). This was a game that was true to the text of the novel (incor?po?rat?ing a great lot of it into the game), and later being updated for Win?dows 95.? You can still find it out there on the Aban?don?ware sites, and if you feel like trav?el?ing back to?the time of Crys?tal Pepsi and floppy disks, this old ghost is wait?ing to rise?again.
In addi?tion, I fig?ured I?d cover the one Castl?e?va?nia game that acknowl?edges and has the most to do with the novel; 1994?s Castl?e?va?nia: Blood?lines for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Through some con?sid?er?able artis?tic license, the game stars the sons of both the novel?s Quincey Mor?ris and Sym?phony of The Night?s Alu?card, as they fight their way through World War I-era Europe to pre?vent Dracula?s res?ur?rec?tion. It?s actu?ally a pretty cool game, if lack?ing in a lot of the new fea?tures that made Super Castl?e?va?nia IV the best game in the series. It man?aged to do a lot of cool things that the Gen?e?sis tech?ni?cally shouldn?t have been able to do ? par?al?lax scrolling, mir?ror?ing effects, and prob?a?bly my favorite ? the upside down level (which is a royal pain in the ass but MAN, is it?cool).
It also has a truly excel?lent sound?track, the first game in the series which Michiru Yamane would com?pose. And sadly, it?s prob?a?bly the last of the ?clas?sic? style Castl?e?va?nias, before Sym?phony and the ?Metroid?va?nia? style games took over (and before each and every awful attempt at 3D which we will not speak?of).
Filed under Featured Articles, Features, Page to Pixel, PC, Retro ? Tagged with abandonware, Bram Stoker, Castlevania, castlevania bloodlines, classics, dos, Dracula, dracula in london, Konami, London, Michiru Yamane, ms-dos, Quincey Morris, shareware, Sony Imagesoft
Source: http://bnbgaming.com/2011/10/03/page-to-pixel-dracula/
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