DvD Translations presents:

Demonic Castle DRACULA

Patch Released: April 26, 2020

Downloads

Patch | ReadMe | Japanese FDS Manual | NES Manual

The version of "Akumajou Dracula" we have localized was originally released for the Famicom Disk System on September 26th, 1986.

Screen Shots

Title Screen
FDS Before and After
FDS Original Title Screen

NES and Famicom
NES Title Screen

Menu Screens: Before and After
Original Main Menu

Moai Hidden Treasure

Game History

Castlevania is the largest game series made by Konami.
Akumajou Dracula (KDS-AKM) was released by Konami for the Famicom Disk System on September 26th, 1986.
- It was quickly ported to the MSX, released on October 30th, 1986. This version was localized for the European market as Vampire Killer.
- The FDS game was also quickly ported to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in May of 1987, adding a two player mode, but lacking the save feature found in the FDS version.
- Akumajou Dracula was even ported to the arcade in 1988 which was localized as Haunted Castle.
- There are also versions for the Commodore 64, IBM, and Amiga.
- Due to the popularity of this game, very late in the Famicom's lifetime, it was ported to cartridge format on February 5th, 1993.
  The Famicom version, like its North American counterpart lacked any way of saving the game.
  It did add a whole new ability to start in a easier mode, but a password to save the game with the proper difficulty would have been much better.
Dracula II: Noroi no Fuuin was released August 28, 1987, also for the FDS.
- Unlike the first game, this game utilized the extra sound channels of the FDS.
- It was released in North America as Castlevania II - Simon's Quest, but without the extra sound channels, the audio had to be simplified, similar to what was done for the Legend of Zelda.
  Due to the fact that this game was an action RPG, they needed some way to save the game. So, a password save system was created.
- This game was never released in cartridge form for the Famicom.
Akumajou Densetsu was released for the Famicom on December 22nd, 1989.
- This game is one of only three Konami games that utilized the amazing sound capabilities of the Konami VRC6 chip.
- It was localized in September 1990 as Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse highly modifying the music for a cartridge that lacked the VRC6 and drastically changing one of the playable characters.
Of course, countless other games in the Castlevania series came out after this for just above every platform imaginable.
Note that the first Game Boy game came out before Akumajou Densetsu.

Patch Features

Accurate Title Screen Translation
The exact name was chosen based on a detailed discussion on what the original authors intended the game title to mean.
Translated main menu, Enter Name, and Erase Name screens
Additionally, it finally describes the column of numbers that represents the total number of times a player has died when they saved.
Able to Use Space in a Player's Name
Since your name is actually displayed in the ending in this FDS version having a name that is less than 7 characters without having periods to pad it makes a big difference.
Displays the Hi-Score on the Main Menu and Game Over Screens
The Hi-Score completely existed in the save file but was unused for some unknown reason. Why not display it? Since it is unlikely that people playing this game are starting with a clean install of the FDS game, the patch purposely zero's out the Hi-Score so the player can see their copy's personal high score. Also, not that the Hi-Score is only saved if Save is chosen sometime before resetting or turning power off.
Displays the Last Played Score
Again, the Last Played score also completely existed in the save file, for whatever reason, although it's not very useful. Still, since it existed, why not display it too?
Automatically Selects the Last Save File Saved
Again, this also existed in the save file, but it was never used. So, I added it.
Moai hidden treasure now finally animated properly
This is pretty cool. Konami never got this working properly in the North American NES or Japanese Famicom releases. It's likely that they never got it working in any re-release. Since most people never played through the 2nd round, it's unlikely that very many people have even seen this. It's the only hidden treasure that is animated. There are at least two of these. One is on Stage 24 (duck when standing on the first moving platform) and Stage 27 (simply go to the end of the hallway without going up the stairs).
Localized Simon Belmondo to Simon Belmont in the Ending
Even in Japan, starting with the 2nd game, his name changed to Simon Belmont.
Secret enhancement to the main menu, Enter Name, and Erase Name screens
See if you can figure it out...