Topic: Did anyone ever bother to preserve the three mobile ports of CV1?

[Nagumo]

A lot of people don't know this, but the original Castlevania actually had three different mobile versions, one of which was even released in the West. The first one (from 2002) was a Japan-only release and is very primitive. However, this game got upgraded a year later. This second version has better graphics and some of its sprites even seem to be based on the X68K version. This is the version that was also released overseas. Finally, the third version, which is known as "Akumajou Dracula Complete Version", looks pretty distinct from the NES version and kind of has a remake feel to it.







I already played the original version many times, so I would be curious to try out either the second or the third mobile version. I was wondering if any of these mobile ports have been preserved? If they aren't, it might be a good thing to do so while it's still possible for preservation's sake.

Anyway, if anyone knows anything, please let me know.     

[AxeLord]

I don't understand how stuff like this gets lost. I mean, it's still theoretically out there. Downloaded on somebody's old Nokia and left in a closet.

Games preservation is a mess.

I already played the original version many times

Do you have a link for that? I'd love to play it.

[Nagumo]

Do you have a link for that? I'd love to play it.

Looking back at my post, I realized that sentence you quoted was horribly misleading. I was actually talking about the original NES/FC version.

But I have some good news! I found the third version here (it's the Chinese version rather than the Japanese one). I haven't played it played it might self because I don't know what emulator to use, but somebody posted some screenshots a while back:





Also, somebody made a remake of CV1 using the graphics from this mobile version. Here's a brief video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geoO0rIYJfM

It looks really bad actually!

If anyone can get it working, please let me know. Also, does anyone know a good ROM site to upload this to?   

 

 

[AxeLord]

I got it running! I use a Nokia 3310 3G as a burner phone, and it runs it great. I can't record straight from the phone, but I can stick it in front of a camera!

I'm gonna see if I can rip the audio from it. There are MIDI versions of the soundtrack that actually sound pretty good.

[Nagumo]

I got it running! I use a Nokia 3310 3G as a burner phone, and it runs it great. I can't record straight from the phone, but I can stick it in front of a camera!

Please do!

[theplottwist]

But I have some good news! I found the third version here (it's the Chinese version rather than the Japanese one). I haven't played it played it might self because I don't know what emulator to use, but somebody posted some screenshots a while back:

You can run it with this emulator. Tested it myself:



It handles.... Pretty good, in fact To get the best results, you have to limit the emulator's framerate to 30 (ESC brings up the config menu).

[Gaawa-chan]

Really cool stuff, guys.  It's such a shame that preservation of old games has been stifled by anti-piracy stigma.

[Nagumo]

I also found the second mobile version from 2003. It's a bit confusing but at least two different versions of it exist (both are included in the file). However, no matter which version you play, all of them are divided into three parts (2 stages each). It seems they couldn't fit all of the stages into one game, so they had to divide it in three parts. Unfortunately both versions are incomplete. One version has only the first part, the other has both the first and second part.