 Konami sure loved the poke fun at themselves. We saw it with the Perodius series, which openly mocks the Gradius games and shoot them up in general. But Konami also created Kid Dracula, a game that pokes fun at the Castlevania series. The Game Boy edition here is actually a remake and or sequel to the Famicom game, Boku Dracula Koon, which of course only came out in Japan. Instead of a member of the Belmont family, you play as Alucard, who is joined by Death himself, on a mission to stop the monstrous Garamoth from taking over the world. Sounds like serious business, right? Well, the game sets the tone right away, both with the cartoony depictions of the characters here and by revealing that Alucard forgot all the spells he needs to, you know, save the world. Whoops. So yeah, obviously this may be a Castlevania spinoff, but it is decidedly different. And really the game plays more like Mega Man than Castlevania, maybe it's just how the sprite moves around or just how he stands, I don't know. You also have a flame projectile instead of a whip, included with the ability to charge for a bigger shot. As you progress through the game, Alucard relearns the stuff he forgot, like how to turn into a bat, a spread shot, and in an unexpected feature, you can walk on the ceiling. And yeah, the word unexpected is what comes to mind most often with Kid Dracula. On the surface you can't help but expect a harmless and offensive Game Boy platformer, but Kid Dracula really has a lot to offer from all the spells, the boss fights where you can think you've won, only for them to pout for a bit and then come back stronger and more challenging. From the number of mini-games, the diverse levels that vary from the vertically scrolling forest, to Dracula's Castle, to a roller coaster, just to name a few, and there's a lot of locations here, and all the while the game looks great and provides some fantastic music. Kid Dracula isn't perfect though, at times it feels like there's an imbalance of speed between how Alucard moves and how quickly enemies move. So as a result, this game is pretty hard and can be pretty damn frustrating at times. It doesn't help that the Alucard sprite feels like it takes up like a fourth of the screen at times. Alright, I'm exaggerating, but it does feel way too big occasionally. Despite that though, Kid Dracula is surprisingly one of the best original Game Boy games I can remember playing. Despite it being a Castlevania spin-off, it plays more like a combination of Mega Man and Legend of the Mystical Ninja. The humor this game has really puts it over the top too. Of course I have to mention that this game is one of the most sought-after Game Boy games so its price is crazy, but to be fair it's been like that for years, not just recently. This is a case though where the game surpasses the hype, the price tag may inspire. Kid Dracula is a fantastic game and despite it being an older Game Boy title it's well worth playing in however way you can.