Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

The year is 1476 and Dracula is not yet the fallen prince of later installments — he is a powerful threat, one that Trevor Belmont, ancestor of Simon from the first game, must stand against. Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse pushes the series' classic era to its very peak and to this day counts as one of the most technically and mechanically advanced titles on the NES.

Konami took the proven core — the whip, sub-weapons powered by hearts, committed jumps — and enriched it with two crucial innovations. The first is branching paths: at forks you decide which way to go, and each route leads through different levels with different bosses. The game thus offers markedly higher replayability than its linear predecessors. The second is a trio of companions you can recruit along the way and switch between with Trevor at any time: the pirate Grant DaNasty who climbs walls, the sorceress Sypha with her destructive elements, and — perhaps most famous — the vampire Alucard, Dracula's son, who can transform into a bat.

Each character plays entirely differently and opens up new ways to traverse the levels. Your choice of companion thus affects not only the style of play but also which sections you can even get through. It is a clever layer of tactics laid over fast-paced action.

The Japanese version also contained an expanded VRC6 sound chip right in the cartridge, which added extra sound channels and gave the soundtrack a richness that the standard NES couldn't manage. The Western versions lost this luxury due to different hardware, so the Japanese original sounds markedly fuller — music fans still seek out precisely the Akumajō Densetsu version because of it.

The tough difficulty remains, but the branching design and playable companions make the third game perhaps the richest experience of classic Castlevania ever.

Why play: The peak of the series' old school — branching levels, four distinct playable characters and, in the Japanese version, first-class music on top.