Play Castlevania on Msdos Online

Castlevania on MS-DOS is one of those weird, fascinating ports that feels like stumbling into an alternate universe. Instead of crisp NES sprites, you get chunky PC graphics and keyboard controls that take some getting used to—but once you adjust, there’s something oddly satisfying about whipping candles with the spacebar.

The music’s still recognizably Castlevania, though it’s got that tinny PC speaker sound, and the enemies are all here: zombies, bats, the occasional Medusa head flying at you from off-screen. It’s definitely rougher around the edges than the console versions, but that almost adds to the charm. Like, yeah, Dracula’s castle was always scary, but now it’s also a little janky in a way that makes you laugh between deaths.

If you’ve played the NES original, this feels like a bootleg someone made in their basement—in the best possible way. You’ll either hate it or love it for how stubbornly it refuses to be polished. Either way, it’s a fun slice of gaming history.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".