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No, not quite. Vampire: Master Of Darkness (aka In The Wake Of The Vampire in Japan) was released for the Sega Game Gear in 1992. It was also released in Great Britain (and possibly other areas) for the Sega Master System as Master Of Darkness. While it bears a very strong resemblance (a little too strong in some areas) to everyone's favorite series of vampire hunting games, it most definitely is not a Castlevania. For one thing, the game was programmed by Sega themselves. It takes place in England, in the late Victorian era. The hero, Dr. Ferdinand Social - what the hell were the people at Sega thinking when they came up with that name? - has received several cryptic messages on his Ouija board. They all seem to be pointing to something evil that's going to happen. One of the messages reads "Go to Thames", which is exactly what Dr. Social does...

The programmers obviously set out to try to create a Castlevania clone. The gameplay, level structure and enemies are very, very close to Castlevania - so close that if you're a Castlevania vet, you'll recognize several things lifted straight from the series - special weapons that you have to press up and attack to use, a clock tower (complete with pendulums to ride on and the boss battle on the clock face), and the final battle with Dracula - right down to his two different forms. Granted, the programmers did try to include some new stuff to make it seem like they weren't directly ripping off Castlevania, but I don't think they really tried all that hard. No less of an authority than Kurt of The Castlevania Dungeon has cracked on it for that very reason.

Now don't get me wrong - it's a very fun game, and not anywhere near as bad as some people have made it out to be. For a Castlevania clone, it was done very well. The control is tight, the music is done very well, and the graphics are pretty good. When I originally had the game for my Game Gear, it was the one I played the most... I'd go as far as to say it was my favorite Game Gear game. Of course, I sold my GG in '93 so I could get Splatterhouse 3, so I haven't played the game since - at least until I found a copy of the SMS game in November 2001. Upon playing it again for the first time in eight years, I found that my initial impression of it hasn't changed, and I'm glad I was able to track down a copy. Of course, be wary - some people are trying to pass the game off as an actual Castlevania game, which is definitely not the truth. If you don't mind playing a halfway decent Castlevania clone for your SMS or Game Gear, however - then by all means, grab a copy if you find it. After all, this is the closest you'll get to Castlevania for the SMS - the only other game that comes close is Kenseiden, which is also worth looking into if you want Castlevania-style action for the SMS.

Kenseiden

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