Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

About Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991) is Konami's second Game Boy Castlevania, in which Christopher Belmont storms four themed castles to rescue his son Soleil from Dracula.

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge in Depth

Fifteen years after Castlevania: The Adventure, Dracula returns and kidnaps Christopher Belmont's son Soleil at his coming-of-age feast, turning him into a demon. Using Soleil's mystical powers, Dracula regains human form and rebuilds his castle, and Christopher must face him again to save his son and Transylvania.

Unlike the first Game Boy game, it includes sub-weapons, holy water and the axe, or the cross in Japan. Four opening levels, each a separate castle themed on air, plants, earth or crystal, can be tackled in any order, much like Mega Man, and the levels contain large trap rooms. Progress is kept with passwords. The North American version replaced the cross, which flew in a long horizontal line like the fireball whip, with an axe that arcs upwards through walls and barriers. IGN felt it used the Game Boy's hardware better than its predecessor and praised its traditional Castlevania items and weapons and cleaner look, though it criticised the hero's lack of speed and short length. GameSpy called it one of the best action games on the original Game Boy.

Making Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge

Konami developed and published it for the Game Boy in 1991 as its second Castlevania for the handheld, releasing it in Japan on 12 July. The Konami GB Collection Vol. 4, released only in Japan and Europe, presented it in colour and restored the original cross sub-weapon, and it was re-released in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection in 2019.