Vampire Killer (Castlevania MSX)

A whip against vampires, Dracula's castle and music you keep humming long after switching off the computer — that sounds like Castlevania, and indeed it is. But Vampire Killer on the MSX2 from 1986 is its curiously different twin, released alongside the famous NES version yet going its own way.

While the NES Castlevania is a purely linear platformer where you gnaw your way forward through levels, Vampire Killer adds a noticeable dose of adventure. The castle is not just a corridor to fight through — you have to collect keys in it, explore rooms and search for the way ahead. This structure changes the pace and the player's mindset: here you discover and think about where to actually go more than you simply react to swooping bats and skeletons.

The core of the experience, however, remains unmistakably Castlevania. You control a whip-wielding hunter, face gothic monsters and advance toward a duel with the lord of darkness. Even back then Konami masterfully built the atmosphere of a horrific mansion and underscored it with music that became one of the hallmarks of the entire franchise.

It is precisely the existence of two different versions of the same game that makes Vampire Killer a fascinating study material. It shows how Konami adapted its design to different platforms and how differently the birth of a single series could look depending on the machine on which the player encountered it. For Castlevania fans it is an alternative view of the very roots.

Today Vampire Killer will be appreciated mainly by someone who enjoys exploration and does not mind a slower, more deliberate rhythm than that of its more action-oriented NES sibling. It is a reminder of an era when a series' identity was still being sought and a single brand could have two quite different souls on two computers.

Why play it: For an alternative, more exploration-focused take on the birth of Castlevania, which Konami created for the MSX2 alongside the legendary NES version.