Vampire Killer to Castlevania MSX2 patch

Back in 1986, Konami created a videogame that would become one of the company's main series: Castlevania, also known in Japanese as Akumajō Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ). Castlevania was first released on September 26 for the Family Computer Disk System (FCD), followed by an alternate version for the MSX2 platform on October 30, known as Vampire Killer outside Japan. While containing considerably different gameplay (linear arcade game VS exploration game), both games share most of the same background settings, enemies and music.

This year the series will celebrate its 30th anniversary and Manuel Pazos has teamed up with Imanok to join the party with a funny experiment: What if the MSX2 version had been developed with a gameplay similar to the FCD one? So they set out to make a patch that does exactly that. This VK2CV patch is now available and contains the following modifications:

Added new game logo
Maps & stages redesign
Added castle map display after defeating a boss
Jump key remapped to M/N keys. Fixed jumping trajectory
Boots and Wings enabled by default
Now it's possible to turn around while player is crouching
16x16 breakable blocks instead of 32x32
Player keeps all weapons and items after clearing a stage
Overturned hourglass can also stop time
Holy water throwing changed to JUMP+UP instead of JUMP+LEFT/RIGHT. Heart consuming changed to just 1 heart
A few new tiles added at stage 18 tileset to recreate the clock
Some other minor adjustments

Game Master related stuff keeps intact, so it can still be combined with the game to get some advantages. Be prepared to visit Dracula's castle once again and live Simon's adventure in a different way!

Relevant link: VK2CV Site

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Comments (31)

By msxtrd

Champion (276)

07-06-2016, 15:32

Ummm... link does not work?

By Guillian

Prophet (3528)

07-06-2016, 15:40

The right link is: http://vk2cv.msxcartridgeshop.com

By snout

Ascended (15187)

07-06-2016, 15:43

fixed, thanks for spotting!

& top class work, Guillian & Imanok. What a way to celebrate 30 years of Castlevania!

By nanochess

Master (222)

07-06-2016, 16:44

Kudos to both for the great idea and work!

By Vampier

Prophet (2415)

07-06-2016, 17:11

for those who want to patch, use the goodmsx rom with this name: Akumajyo Drakyula - Vampire Killer (1986) (Konami) (J) [a3].rom

By Vampier

Prophet (2415)

07-06-2016, 17:12

great work!! will do a walk through later!

By QBee Sam

Champion (296)

07-06-2016, 20:36

I've played just a bit and i want more and more, very nice job mates.

By Pippo

Hero (521)

07-06-2016, 20:57

It is really a good work!
You are very great!
Congratulations!

By KdL

Paragon (1485)

07-06-2016, 21:49

very nice job! a plan to do the scrooling?

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6976)

07-06-2016, 22:09

On msx 2 or msx2+ ?
Probably on 2+ it would be not that hard ...

By gdx

Enlighted (6426)

08-06-2016, 01:56

I make a patch to create a Castlevania Rom with mapper SCC.

VK2CVscc.zip

By Imanok

Paragon (1200)

08-06-2016, 08:52

@KdL @ARTRAG I bet it would be easier to make a new game from scratch

By TheKid

Paragon (1238)

08-06-2016, 11:42

Oohh Cool, Nice initiative
Never understood why it wasn't called Castlevania at first. Great work.
@gdx: I tried the scc patch, but can't hear scc music in Openmsx. I tried scc, scc+, a rom with scc in slot b. Am I missing something ?

By bigjaac

Expert (95)

08-06-2016, 11:49

Genial

By gdx

Enlighted (6426)

08-06-2016, 12:23

TheKid wrote:

I tried the scc patch, but can't hear scc music in Openmsx. I tried scc, scc+, a rom with scc in slot b. Am I missing something ?

I just a patch to run the game on real MSX2 with a MegaFlashRom SCC, a SCC+ cartridge upgraded to 128kB or a Megasram SCC (ESE-RAM). It creates a Rom of Castlevania with a rom mapper SCC but the music doesn't change.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6555)

08-06-2016, 12:30

KonamiSCC mapper does mean indeed automatically SCC music, they are 2 different things.

By mars2000you

Enlighted (6555)

08-06-2016, 19:43

Correction :

KonamiSCC mapper does NOT mean indeed automatically SCC music, they are 2 different things.

By fernandomanuel.garciagarcia

Master (199)

10-06-2016, 15:48

Thanks Imanok & Pazos for your work... I am really enjoying it!

By ~mk~

Champion (340)

10-06-2016, 23:56

This is brilliant. Please do similar work for other classic MSX games!

By ren

Paragon (1947)

12-06-2016, 10:10

Got to love stuff like this.. Thanks & congrats!

By ARTRAG

Enlighted (6976)

12-06-2016, 10:17

Ok now I want SCC audio ;-)
Please !!

By iamweasel2

Paladin (722)

20-06-2016, 22:42

I've been playing Castlevania in MSX. What a great work. Thanks Guillian & Imanok.

I was wondering, in the original NES game, you can have 2 power ups in your whip and you don't loose your powered whip when you get a weapon. It doesn't seem to be the case in the MSX version of Castlevania. Is it supposed to be this way in your version of Castlevania or can this be fixed?

By Imanok

Paragon (1200)

20-06-2016, 23:03

It's supposed to be this way. That would require serious mods in the code and implementing a longer whip (2 extra sprites added horizontally) would make the whole thing fliker a lot.

By iamweasel2

Paladin (722)

21-06-2016, 01:25

I see, thanks Imanok for explaining it.

By scrimpeh

Supporter (6)

01-07-2016, 21:42

Theory TAS in 10:16.86

By Manuel

Ascended (19676)

02-07-2016, 00:07

Cool! Looks like the game became a bit easy (especially the bosses) with the simpler levels and still being able to use 2 subweapons all the time.

Are there any secrets that could speed up the TAS? Did someone already discover any?

By Imanok

Paragon (1200)

02-07-2016, 12:37

@scrimpeh cool!

@Manuel yes, this version is easier... but the bosses are just like in VK

By Protoman

Resident (44)

08-10-2016, 12:00

Very nice!!

By iamweasel2

Paladin (722)

13-10-2016, 21:01

Is it possible to apply FRS Vampire Killer patch and then apply this castlevania patch?

By valrond

Expert (71)

20-05-2018, 15:41

Late reply, but no, you can't apply both cause the use different roms for the patch.

By Apocalypse612

Supporter (1)

20-11-2020, 02:37

Would you consider making this patch selective, or making multiple versions of it? Personally, I want everything inside this patch without the changes to the level design.

Cheers!

Vampire Killer to Castlevania MSX2 patch

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