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Comment count is 4
jyrque - 2011-07-13

Nice unintentional audio design. The music is great and the pauses due to sound effects playing pause it out perfectly.


kingofthenothing - 2011-07-13

I didn't know this existed. I had to look it up on GameFAQs. Strangely enough, even though the game was cancelled, it's got a walkthrough and people have written reviews. This one caught my attention. It's rated 7 out of 10, if you can believe that bullshit. Here's the entire thing copied and pasted:

"Review by Tachibana Ukyo
"Now let’s go back to that ... building ... thingy, where our beds and TV ... is."

Witness this ghostly tale of weal and woe concerning an ancient prince immortalized in literature, a legendary bloodsucker of stage and screen, the favored prey of leather-clad men brandishing whips . . .

Dracula!

Apparently finding a little free time in between his busy schedule of being resurrected every hundred years and subsequently slain the next night by vampire hunters who jump through stairs, our fanged friend departs his castle by carriage one stormy evening looking to get lucky with a comely wench named Mina. To do so he’ll have to overcome the surprisingly powerful peasants who have apparently decided that, much like communism, a Nosferatu system of government is all very well and good in theory but simply doesn’t work when put into practice.

Master D begins the night (out) at the foot of his coffin on the castle’s highest floor, his obvious goal being to reach the ground floor and make it to the village in time for a bit of midnight romance (wink wink, nudge nudge) before dawn. Prepare to descend a long vertically-scrolling tower of danger-laden floors; seeing as how the castle is crawling with ungrateful commoners who scale the stairs looking to send our hero back to the grave, not with torches and pitchforks but by walking into him, Drac will have to make use of his keep’s many deadly traps in order to survive. For example, do you see that switch over there on the wall? Pressing it will drop a nearby chandelier on anyone unlucky enough to be standing beneath it. That lever on the floor? It opens the gate to your left, releasing Frankenstein’s bulky (and hungry) monster, who proceeds to patrol the floor in search of victims before returning to his cage. Or perhaps you would instead care to investigate what lurks behind that painting? A venomous spider emerges from a secret passage behind the adjacent bookcase. It’s simple, yet satisfying. Ah, the joys of interior decorating!

Once a peasant has been cruelly struck down, perhaps after a saber launches itself from the wall and soars across the screen, you can direct Dracula to finish them off by partaking in a late-night snack which also fills his health meter; should he be hit our hero vanishes in a puff of smoke but is merely knocked back a few floors as long as he has enough blood remaining; amass enough kills in a row and he will transform into an invincible bat for a short while to make for a quick descent. Caught in a tight spot without any traps at hand? Drac can also temporarily immobilize one of his foes through hypnosis at the cost of a pint or two. Blood: it’s not just for dinner anymore.

Of course, none of that blood is actually depicted on-screen and some of the traps are rather silly, such as the stereotypical sheet-like ghost that floats across the screen and the giant spring-loaded boxing glove. You might also agree that the music is rather bouncy for a game starring the prince of darkness. However none of this can possibly compare to Drac’s preferred power-up . . . the mighty Reebok Pump.™ As you may recall, Pumps were a poorly made yet incredibly expensive line of sneakers popular in the early 90s; I have no idea if they are still made, as years of martial arts training has led me to the conclusion that footwear is for sissies. In any case, slipping on these soles will allow Dracula to run faster and jump higher than any vampire has ever dreamed before. It’s gotta be the shoes! But just like real Reeboks, his Pumps will only last for a few seconds before disintegrating into dust.

Yes, I’m perfectly serious. Let’s move on.

Have you made it to the entrance? Ah, excellent! Our hero’s carriage departs for the village without a hitch, taking us to a very different place indeed. Unlike the trap-springing descent down the castle, we now arrive at a massive overhead area; the “village” (which by all rights should be labeled a “city”) is huge, with countless locked buildings that may or may not hide Mina. The village too is filled with peasants, some of whom chase the Count down the streets in gangs of three while others are easy pickings; fallen residents may leave behind the keys you need, while old men that dwell in some of the houses provide you with information regarding your love's location (aged people being very antagonistic toward the young). You may also find yourself in a house containing a sleeping maiden; a quick bite and she becomes an undead slave who will lead you closer to your goal if you can keep up with her. Don’t forget – you only have until dawn!

If Drac can traverse the winding streets and reunite with his woman, you’ll be treated to a brief victory screen before emerging back in the castle for Round 2! However you might notice that you are in a deeper part of the castle with a slew of new traps to spring for your uninvited guests; with every round Dracula’s quest becomes longer and more difficult, as he must travel farther to reach the castle entrance and Mina’s increasingly obscure location. Should you successfully complete all five rounds, you’ll get –

Well . . . nothing, actually. What I didn’t tell you before is that this game was never released and is in fact known only to exist in the form of an advanced prototype that was smuggled into the world at large, possibly by ninjas. Wow, you lose! I can’t tell you why it was never released or how close to completion it was, though I can speculate that the timing (1991 being the year of the Super Nintendo) coupled with the publisher (Parker Bros, not exactly the most important of licensees) were major factors. Somehow I also get the impression that Nintendo of America (whose censorship would remain in full swing for a few years to come) would have taken a rather dim view of murdering cross-carrying innocents with traps before drinking their blood, and they may have told the developers as much. But who knows; perhaps one of the trolls in Marketing simply discovered that his company was publishing a game about Reebok-wearing vampires.

All right, so I lied about that “weal and woe” part. Drac’s Night Out is a morbidly silly yet genuinely interesting game that you should see for yourself. It’s somewhat unfair to rate a program that was never actually finished, but what’s there is enjoyable enough on its own. If nothing else its development team really, really needs to get together with Kenji Eno and the designers of Monster Party to discuss future game ideas over tea and magicake. I can only guess as to what sort of mind-bending evil would result from such a meeting, but it can’t be all that much more disturbing than SCEA’s stance on 2D software.

Blah!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/03, Updated 06/29/03"


twinkieafternoon - 2011-07-14

The larger issue, to me:

Why did Dracula construct or arrange his castle so it was IMPOSSIBLE to ever peacefully exit?


pastorofmuppets - 2011-07-14

Bugs Bunny's Crazy Burgertime Castle


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