Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge is an odd entry in the series. It was released in 1991, four years after Simon’s Quest, which is also titled Castlevania II. To try and avoid any confusion, I’ll just call this Belmont’s Revenge. It is the second Game Boy game, and it is a sequel to Castlevania: The Adventure.
Belmont’s Revenge wasn’t a game that I played as a kid. I learned about it much later when I started collecting Game Boy games in the 2010s. While I owned a Game Boy in the early 1990s, I wasn’t old enough to collect games for the system.
With two years between the Game Boy games, I’m hoping that there were some improvements to the gameplay, graphics, and story. Konami usually improved from game to game in a series, and they normally tried new things as well. Hopefully this will be a fun game.
I did review this game a few years ago, but I don’t remember much about it. That review was also in a format that wasn’t very good. This’ll be an update to that, and hopefully it will be better written. Let’s get into it and see what this game has to offer.
TLDR: Good graphics and fun gameplay make this a great sequel.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Revenge Narrative
Belmont’s Revenge has a pretty good story, but it raises a few questions about how good this Belmont actually is at killing Dracula. It takes place 15 years after Castlevania: The Adventure, which feels like a tight timeline for Dracula to get resurrected again. It does feel like a better sequel than Simon’s Quest because of the whole catalyst for the story in both games.
With Belmont’s Revenge, Christopher Belmont from the previous Game Boy game has to save his son. Dracula kidnapped him and turned the kid into a demon. To save his son, Christopher has to travel to Transylvania and defeat Dracula.
The scan I found for the manual is a little rough, but I wanted to check to see if there was more to this (Link). What I found is: Dracula survived the events of Castlevania: The Adventure by turning himself into mist. He had to stay in this form to slowly regain his power. Makes sense to me, I suppose.
The story is pretty good for what it is. I like this story more than Simon’s Quest. Christopher has a better motivation for going after Dracula in this game than in the NES Castlevania II. It does make me wonder why Dracula didn’t turn the rest of the Belmonts into demons, but I suppose that would mean we might not get the other games in the series.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Belmont’s Revenge is closer to what you might expect from a Castlevania game. The controls are better, and the sub-weapons are back. It also has some of the same issues that Castlevania: The Adventure has.
The sub-weapons are back, so the hearts act as your ammunition. It has the same control scheme for using your sub-weapons as well. One cool thing that I like about this game is that your whip can shoot. If this were in the NES games, then I don’t remember it.
This is a short game, but that works for a Game Boy game. The level design in Belmont’s Revenge is a bit more complex, which is nice to see. There are only a few stages in this game, but you can start where you want. The controls are still a little stiff, but I expect that from the Castlevania games.
It does make platforming and climbing a little rough at times. You also have a large hitbox, just like Castlevania: The Adventure. Enemy sprites are easier to hit in this game, so I guess that evens out.
Instead of the stairs, ropes are the biggest enemies in this game. There are a few places where you have to slide down the ropes to avoid wall spikes. This looks cooler than it really is. It isn’t impossible to get used to it, but it does take some time.
Overall, the gameplay is an upgrade over the previous game on the Game Boy. There are a lot of slight improvements in this game, and one big one is the inclusion of the sub-weapons. It is a shorter game, but there is a little more challenge in this game.
Visuals
The graphics aren’t that much better than Castlevania: The Adventure. Belmont’s Revenge looks very good for a Game Boy game. It is still a black-and-white game, but it looks quite good.
Enemy and character sprites look a little better than the previous game. They have a little more detail, and the hitboxes are a little more balanced. It is easy to see the patterns in enemy movement, which makes it easier to exploit.
It was easier to line up your attacks because of the reduced size of the sprites. This cut down on many of the issues I had with the visuals in the previous Game Boy game. Konami did a great job with this,
The creepy atmosphere is still here, which is great. Each stage looks very good, and I like how they’re in different castles. It feels more like a bigger quest across a fantasy land. The background art is minimal, but looks very good, just like the previous game.
The level design is a bit more complex than the last game, and I like some of the effects on things. The power-ups are easy to see, and I like that they stand out a bit. I also like the animations on the character sprites. There is some flickering, but that seems like a style choice instead of trying to get too much on the screen.
Overall, I really like the look of this game. Character sprites are surprisingly detailed and are smaller in this game than in the previous. It still has the creepy atmosphere of the other games in the series. Belmont’s Revenge has very good graphics for a black-and-white Game Boy Game.
8/10. Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge is a big step up from the previous Game Boy game. The graphics and gameplay are better, and I like this game’s story a little more. Konami did a good job of building on what was done in the previous Game Boy entry in the Castlevania series.
Pros
- Fun gameplay
- Good graphics
- I like the story
Cons
- Short
- Controls are a little stiff
- Ropes are a pain in the butt
Conclusion
Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge is a big step up from the previous Game Boy game. It makes several improvements to the first game and brings the gameplay back to what the NES games were like. This is a very good Game Boy game, and I’m glad that Konami has made it playable on a few platforms.
This game does have problems. It isn’t a perfect game, but it is a lot of fun to play through. Belmont’s Revenge has a better story than Simon’s Quest, and I like that the motivations make more sense. Most of my issues are with the controls, and I could make the same complaints about the three NES games and Castlevania: The Adventure.
I’m glad I revisited this game. I really couldn’t remember what I said about it a few years ago, so I’m glad I gave this another look. Belmont’s Revenge is a better game compared to Castlevania: The Adventure. While it is shorter, it is still a ton of fun. The graphics really stood out to me as being some of the best on the Game Boy.
If you liked this post, check out some of my other posts on the Castlevania games. Such as Castlevania: Bloodlines or Castlevania: The Adventure.