Weeks 20-21: Castlevania I, II, & III (Famicom + NES)
CASTLEVANIA (Akumajo Dracula)
14 tracks, 14:08. Samples-
Underground (name entry, FDS only)
Vampire Killer
Wicked Child
Black Night
Originally released in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System as Akumajo Dracula, this is the soundtrack to the very first Castlevania game. The Japanese version included a name entry screen with a short tune titled “Underground”, which was unused in subsequent ports. That track of music is hidden within the ROM data of the American Castlevania, but you’d never get to hear it by playing the game.
While the FDS had support for an additional channel of sound, it was unused for this game, making the Japanese and American soundtracks identical.
Composed by Kinuyo Yamashita.
Wikipedia entry on Castlevania.
9 tracks, 8:28.
9 tracks, 8:07. Comparisons-
Message of Darkness: Dracula II | Castlevania II
Bloody Tears: Dracula II | Castlevania II
Dwelling of Doom: Dracula II | Castlevania II
Within These Castle Walls: Dracula II | Castlevania II
First released in Japan as Dracula II: Noroi no Fuin in 1987, and later ported to the NES as Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, there are two different versions of the same score. This time around, the original floppy disk version made use of the additional sound channel.
There are more differences between the two than the cartridge version simply lacking an extra voice, however. Sometime during the 15 month gap that separated the two releases, Konami decided to tweak the soundtrack.
For their second attempt they added new (and more driving) percussion parts, and all sorts of reverb/ delay effects that weren’t there before. Other differences can be heard as well, including a different length for A Requiem and a different bass part for Within These Castle Walls.
It’s neat hearing how the original version sounds, but I much prefer the changes they made for the American release. Despite having less channels to work with, they managed to make the music more complex and interesting by manipulating the soundchip with more care.
Composed by Kenichi Matsubara and S. Terishima.
Wikipedia entry on Castlevania 2.
… as the above entry explains, a browser crash deleted my write-up for cv3 here! I’ll redo it one of these coming weeks.
3 years ago
