Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse

The year is 1476 and Count Dracula has begun ravaging Europe with an army of monsters. His sole purpose is to exterminate mankind. The Belmont Clan of vampire hunters, once exiled from Wallachia, is beseeched by the Church for help, as their own armies have met with defeat. The people feared the Belmonts' "super-human" power and drove them out of the land, but with Dracula about to swallow Europe in darkness, they are left with no choice but to call Trevor Belmont, the current wielder of the Vampire Killer. Joining Trevor Belmont in his mission to defeat Dracula are three other heroes: Sypha Belnades, Grant Danasty and Alucard.

There are four different endings to Dracula's Curse. Which one the player receives depends on which additional character they beat the game with, if any. Each of these endings is a part of the canonical end (Trevor ventured with Grant, Sypha and Alucard simultaneously, as a group).

• The origins of Dracula and his son Alucard, along with his reasoning for declaring war against humanity given in the instruction booklet, are different than later explanations given by Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.

Dracula's Curse abandons the adventure game elements of its immediate predecessor and returns to the stage based action platform style of the first game. Unlike Castlevania, however, Dracula's Curse is not strictly linear. After completing the first level and at several other points throughout the game, the player is given a choice of paths to follow. The choices made by the player in these circumstances can have a profound impact on how the game unfolds. There are fifteen levels in total. Another key feature is the option to choose other playable characters to use along with Trevor Belmont, who plays exactly as Simon Belmont does in the first game. These additional characters are found in stages after certain boss battles and have distinctive abilities that lend in, giving Dracula's Curse much more variety over the original game.