OST of the Day #35: Castlevania - Vampire Killer 🦇
Hey Steemit!
OSTs are really underrated but they're so good, so I thought I'd share a song a day and my thoughts about it! I highly recommend listening while reading! 😊
Since Halloween is coming up pretty soon, I thought I'd pick a song from a (not really) spooky game, Castlevania!
Source: gamefaqs.gamespot.com
This is a super retro game, and probably one of the oldest games I've written about on here. If you've never played/seen this before, Castlevania is a 2D action-platformer & side-scroller game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System video game console (aka FamiCom) in Japan in September 1986. It was ported to cartridge format and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in May 1987 and in Europe in 1988.
Plot-wise, you control Simon Belmont, who has entered Castlevania to defeat the vampire Count Dracula. There are 6 areas in total, with each area ending off with its own boss. Obviously, Dracula is the final boss of the game (woop spoiler alert, but not rly). You have different weapons at your disposal, but Simon's primary weapon is a chain whip (with a spike ball at the end of it). There are various sub-weapons including a dagger, the cross boomerang and holy water. And trust me, you're gonna need them.
Source: Purityswing on deviantart
Castlevania was actually one of the first games I remember playing on the GBA back in the day. And by that time the only other games I played were Pokemon Yellow (1st gen) and Super Mario Bros., so I was really unfamiliar with the interface of these classic NES games.
Source: retrogameage.com
I figured that the bars were the HP, but no matter how many hearts I collected my HP wouldn't increase and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why! Back then, games didn't come with tutorials and they were actually printed on the game manuals, and the version I had wasn't exactly the original (it was a GBA cartridge with like 100 games in 1 so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). Turns out the hearts are ammo for your sub-weapons! Man, I wished I'd known that. But I think it wouldn't have made much difference anyway because this game (like many other classic 8-bit games) is actually really difficult! I don't think I ever got pass the first stage because the damage ratios are insane (you can only take 4 hits until you die)! Well, insane for a young 7-year old girl at least.
Anyway, the song for today is the very first song in the game, called Vampire Killer!
Right off the bat you can tell that this is from a really old but classic game. The nostalgic chiptune and 8-bit melody and bassline, the simple composition (due to NES limitations) but still catchy tune. It's not really a spooky song despite being called Vampire Killer, and it's actually quite upbeat; at just the right tempo to get you into the feel of the game and excited to take on a new adventure! The song goes into a minor key at the bridge but it's quite subtle and definitely brings out that slightly spooky feel of the mansion (which is the first stage).
Source: produto.mercadolivre.com.br
One of my favourite Let's Players, NintendoCapriSun, did an LP of Castlevania that is probably one of my favourites of his. He also made up some lyrics to this song that I can't help but think of every time I listen to this. Give it a listen!
And here's an acapella version courtesy of the amazing Smooth McGroove!
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
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