Believe it or not, I was not such a big Castlevania guy. I've never played the first in my youth and when I rented the second I was just hopelessly lost. From then on out, I just ignored the series. Even-- and I know this is sacrilege -- Symphony of the Night was not spared my spurn. I know, I know, but first impressions can be lasting ones and Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is just not a good game. It's an ambitious one, I'll give it that, but it ruined me for the series until Christmas Day 2002.

I spent Christmas Day 2002 in a tollbooth on The New York State Thruway. I had to work a 3pm-11pm shift and the snow started at 1pm. The snow was unrelenting. I knew that I was going to end up working all night, so I came armed with a roommate's Gameboy Advance and a few games. I don't remember most of the games, but two of them stuck out in my mind. One was Circle of the Moon and the other was Harmony of Dissonance. I found the former nigh unplayable, but the latter was a whole different thing all together.

Now I know what your thinking--"Harmony of Dissonance isn't that good of a Castlevania game either"-- and I just don't care. Sure, it's got it's issues. The sound that comes out of the GBA speaker is atrocious. It's so bad sounding that I find it offensive to my auditory system. It's also not very challenging, I beat it while working that double shift, but it was very entertaining to me on that very cold, very lonely Christmas.  Because of it, I kept Castlevania at the back of my mind as something I was going to give a second shot.

Fast foward to a year ago, I picked up Castlevania III for Virtual Console. I tried it out and quickly realized that it's old school hard. My skills were just not up to its level. Playing most modern games and playing old school NES games are very different. The reflexes needed to succeed are not the same in the least. I wasn't ready and I didn't want to blame it on the game. A year passes and I feel that I'm ready for the challenge. I actually beat the first level on the first try, which caught me off guard. 

I must say, I like this game. It's hard, but I never feel hopeless. All the moves are there for me to beat this game, so it's challenging me without being cheap. The music is fantastic, but after hearing the Japanese version I am a bit envious lush tones the VRC6 chip could output. I'm not sure if I'll be able to beat it, but I'm gonna give it my best and I'll be a better gamer for it.

On a side note, I do own Symphony of the Night on XBLA now and I'm working on that one as well. My main issue is that the 360's D-pad is just not up to snuff. I'm looking into other options to play this game (I even tried my Hori stick). If you got any ideas that don't involve either buying a PS3 and that version or paying for the an original copy for a PS1, let me know.