 I can't resist the siren song of the original Game Boy. I gotta do a video on Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge. Why the second Game Boy game and not the first? Well the first one titled Castlevania the Adventure is a little bit of a disappointment. The jumping is problematic, the levels are way too long, and the difficulty is a bit over the top. Belmont's Revenge on the other hand makes the same loop that the Mario Land series did between its two first games. Everything is better. You can't fix the controls, the level design, the structure, and especially the music. That's not to say the music in the first game is bad, it's pretty good, but the music in Belmont's Revenge is THE highlight of the game, and some of the best music the Game Boy ever produced. Seriously, I could just stop the video right now by saying, do you like Castlevania? Would you like to play NES styled Castlevania gameplay with a kickass soundtrack? Then there you go, done. Video over. But I guess I should talk about everything else going on in the game here. Belmont's Revenge is your classic Castlevania style game that's low on gimmicks and high on substance. You're limited to whipping left and right using the B button, and you jump with the A button and you use your special item while holding up and pressing B. It's probably closest to the first NES Castlevania game, although there are some pretty significant limitations here. For instance, there's only two special items you can pick up, Holy Water and the Axe. Also different is that you can pick between four different levels to play in any order. I always appreciate that approach because it allows you to see more of the game without playing it for so long that the sweat on your hands starts to short-circuit the Game Boy. In addition to the music, the level design here is also really well done. It's tough without being unfair, and it's different enough from the NES Castlevania games without feeling like the same old stuff. This rope climbing section here gave me so many problems as a kid, but that's where you need either the Axe or Holy Water to help you out. Same with this section with the breakaway blocks, you'll need something to help get rid of the bats. Yeah, it's kind of a bummer you only get two special items, but the game maximizes their usefulness, so you really gotta keep an eye on your heart meter to make sure you can get past certain sections. Also different here is your second whip upgrade, which has you throwing a projectile. That's pretty sweet, and you're gonna need it against some of these enemies, and especially the boss fights. The enemy design here is pretty limited. There isn't exactly a lot of variety here, but check out these things. What are they? Metroids? Also, some of the bosses are seriously awesome looking, like this thing here which looks like something out of our type. The bosses can be pretty tough, but overall the game is pretty doable by Castlevania standards, and there's a password system here too, which also helps. I should also mention that in Belmont's Revenge you play as Christopher Belmont, who's also the star of Castlevania the Adventure, and Christopher's son also appears in this game, but I won't spoil when or how it happens. After you conquer the four castles, Dracula's Castle arises in a really cool scene, and there's two more levels to get through before you fight Dracula once again. Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge is such a fun game, and I'd recommend you play it any way you can, whether that's emulation, the Game Boy Color version only released in PAL regions, the Game Boy cartridge on your Super Game Boy, or on your Game Boy Advance, or hell, even on your original Game Boy. This game kicks ass to this day, even on that thing, so stock up on your AA batteries and rock out to this badass soundtrack. Belmont's Revenge is one of the best Game Boy games ever made.