Topic: Have you legitimately beaten Castlevania: The Adventure for Game Boy?

[RichterB]

Tonight, after at least a decade of tries, and after taking a break for I believe several years, I have finally beaten Castlevania: The Adventure for Game Boy via the Gamecube's Game Boy Player! Took me forever to figure out how to counter Dracula's forms, but I finally did it with just the level 2 whip (no fireball). This has to be one of the hardest Draculas due to the lack of player control. Almost every move you make has to be perfect. I was wondering how many others have gotten through the whole thing WITHOUT any save states or cheats. I'll cast the first vote.

By the way, I was surprised that the game starts over after you beat it, but Level 1 is called Level 5. Weird. Any changes I should know about? I didn't have the time to keep going.

[DoctaMario]

I owned a real copy back in the day so I beat it several times. It was awesome having a portable CV game at that time!

Adventure is just like any of the other classic games. Once you know what to do and when, it almost becomes easy.

[Dark Nemesis]

I was having and still have a real copy of the game and i have beaten it 5 times in a row, took me 2 and a half hours to do that. The fifth time you are 1 hit from every enemy to die. But that was like 18 years ago......now i can still beat it, but not 5 times in a row, with out seeing game over.

[Puwexil]

I play through the game every so often, on a cartridge. At this point I've adapted to the quirks of the geriatric pace and the general demand for near-perfect performance, so I rarely have to leave a run half-finished. Both of Christopher's Dracula encounters are very rigid in their construction, too; rote pattern memorization eventually wins the day every time.

Stage 3 is pretty great.

[X]

HELL YEAH!! That game was a real pisser when I first played it. All those times of swearing and cussing due to the frustrations the game relentlessly brought upon me. It took me around two weeks or so because I kept going at it so obsessively. But I managed to complete it. And the more play-throughs I did the easier it became. I don't know if it's true now since I haven't play The Adventure in years.

[Intersection]

Oh yes -- I've beaten it several times now, along with a few of the harder versions, in all legitimacy. Just as I've done, in fact, with almost every classic Castlevania game. You're rewarded with such an extraordinary sense of satisfaction once you've managed, at last, to complete them -- it's such a remarkable emotion that I couldn't finish a game without it.
Yet Adventure was a very particular challenge. Christopher moved so ridiculously slowly that he became extremely difficult to  master. From that perspective, the game was in fact rather flawed.

I was having and still have a real copy of the game and i have beaten it 5 times in a row, took me 2 and a half hours to do that. The fifth time you are 1 hit from every enemy to die.

Just as a curiosity, how high can the difficulty be scaled? Successively, I've only played through the game three times.

[Nagumo]

Should we tell him the game has four more loops?

[Pfil]

I could beat it once, but not the second loop.

It has 5 loops?
I imagine in the last one you die with one hit!

[RichterB]

It has 5 LOOPS?! Wow, big congrats to those who accomplished that feat! I don't know that I'd have the patience. I can see how it might be done, though. For, as challenging as The Adventure can be, and as flawed as its controls are, I'd noticed by playing  it in concentration that almost every screen of the game has a very careful method in mind. (Like, there's one screen near the end of Stage 4 where you're on a rope and a Zeldo is waiting for you. You basically have a SECOND to jump off that rope, duck, and then jump over his returning sickle. If you stay on the rope or try to climb upward, he will automatically hit you, and you'll lose precious whip power).

But really, one of the keys to beating the game the first time is not to sweat losing whip power. You've got to power ahead with confidence. In nearly all cases, I had to rely on a level 1 whip for part or all of a boss battle.

Speaking of which, the unique bosses of this game are really cool. As a whole, I really like the uniqueness of this game's enemy set and level design. Those knights that come to life in Dracula's castle are possibly the best animated knights in 8-bit Castlevania. If this game had better controls, you could have a bit more fun exploring the game and seeing its sights. On the whole, The Adventure is equally frustrating and charming.

[Neobelmont]

I got pass the spikes and that's a day for me  But in all seriousness I am getting closer and closer to beating adventure.

Edit @ RichterB. You're like a grass ninja here and not here   

[RichterB]

Hold the phone. Did you know there are SECRET ROOMS in this game?! Mind blown. I just watched a partial playthrough to see how someone else would tackle some of the stage obstacles, and I saw 5 secret rooms (one is considered only semi-secret). I have had suspicions (and faint hopes) that such things might exist after I found the semi-secret room in Level 2 by different rope climbing combinations, but dismissed further secrets as wishful thinking, as I didn't want to ruin my level runs by jumping to my potential doom. Well, if I had taken the risk and tested my theories, I probably would have found two more of the rooms, the one in Level 3 and the other one in Level 2. But Level 1's never crossed my mind, and Level 4 even more so was totally lost on me. I've also read a statement that if you skip the first candle in Level 1, that the 11th candle yields a secret 1-up. Don't know if that's true or not, but there might be more secrets in this game than these rooms.

Wow. This is so cool. This would have made the game a little easier. There were moments where I said to myself, "I wish there was a hidden item here or there I could find by breaking a wall," but I ultimately thought something along those lines would be too much effort for the designers of an early Gameboy game with just 4 levels. Was I wrong! This just boosted the game's credit for me. And it also reveals a deeper history for invisible platforming in the franchise. (Super Castlevania IV, CV64, and (I believe) Simon's Quest also have such things). LINK: The four secret rooms in Castlevania Adventure - plus all stage themes

Edit @ RichterB. You're like a grass ninja here and not here   

I'm flattered. Is there an award for that? :-p

[X]

I found out about those secret rooms AFTER I had finished the game. If I had known about them before had I would have taken advantage of them every single time just to beat it. The same is true for Belmont's Revenge. Every stage has a secret room or rooms that will give you lots of goodies.

[JR]

Secret rooms? I feel like an idiot...never knew about those.

I think I've only beat the game once...possibly twice. I can't remember if I made it all the way through on my first playthrough. Didn't have as much trouble with that one as I did with Haunted Castle...I've only beat that game once, and I'm sure I got lucky in a few spots.

[Pfil]

Secret rooms in Game Boy? 
That's really surprising! PANT PANT!

[Dark Nemesis]

Secret rooms in Game Boy? 
That's really surprising! PANT PANT!

It has 5 loops?
I imagine in the last one you die with one hit!

Correct!!! Every stage has one secret room and some a secret candle and yes, at fifth loop you are one hit, but fifth loop is not the last one, you can go on as much loops as you like, i have gotten to 6 loops, hoping that there will be a secret ending, but nah.......