Haunted Castle

Haunted Castle
Also known as: Akumajou Dracula (JP) Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Platform: Arcade (custom) Released in JP: February 22, 1988 Released in US: December 26, 1987 Released in EU: December 26, 1987 This game has unused graphics. This game has revisional differences.

Haunted Castle is one of the (previously) forgotten Castlevania titles, released for arcades without any explicit connection to the series (at least in America and Europe). It's also hella hard. Good music, though.

Interestingly, this game was remade as Haunted Castle Revisited and is included in the Castlevania Dominus Collection released in 2024.

To do: There's likely more revisional differences...and wasn't there some third version, too? Design doc and other random prerelease info featured in Konami's "Anniversary Collection Arcade Classics" collection from 2019. Check the Dominus Collection version from 2024 for differences and see which revision it uses.

Unused Graphics

A weapon icon for an unused book or Bible subweapon.

Graphics for what appears to be the Holy Water weapon used in other Castlevania games. A bomb is used instead.

Two sets of filler icons, used in different areas of the ROM. They both read "kara", which means "empty" in Japanese.

Another filler word. This one reads "ikeru", which means "to go".

More filler data: a beetle with "Danny" written underneath, and a smaller version of said beetle. The palette may be incorrect on both of these. "Danny" may be a mistransliteration of "Dummy".

Haunted Castle	Castlevania

A fancy 8x16 font, nearly identical to the one used in the cast roll in Castlevania. The final game has no staff roll or ending text whatsoever.

Revisional Differences

There are two revisions of the North American version of the game: Version K, and Version M. The former is the original version, while the latter has fewer enemy drops and harder-hitting enemy attacks. In the M version, the bats have a different trajectory.

In the Japanese versions of the game, when Simon falls into a bottomless pit, he loses half of his current life and respawns on the last checkpoint, unlike in the other three international versions where it counts as a game over.

(Source: Wikivania)

Title Screen

Japanese	English