The Castlevania series is a grandfather of the modern survival horror genre. With its dark, gothic settings, moody music, and variety of strange enemies and surprises, it helped define how a horror game should play.

The original Castlevania, which was released in 1987, set the standard for the rest of the series. You went from level to level climbing stairs, platform jumping, collecting items, hearts, and weapons, and fighting enemies with your whip. It was a pretty tough game because there were no passwords or cheats to skip levels. You had to play through every challenging level to get to Dracula.

Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest was a bit of a departure, as it incorporated many RPG elements into the adventure. Simon had to gain experience and money by fighting enemies, talk to towns people and read signs for clues and information, and collect items and weapons that would become important later in the game. Time of day was also an important element in this game, as night would fall at certain times.

Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse, however, was the most elaborate of the NES portion of the series. Gameplay wise, it returned to the layout of the original Castlevania, removing the NPCs and item hunting of SQ. However, new elements like additional playable characters and alternative routes to Drac’s castle were added. This allowed for non-linear gameplay, high replayability, and a huge variety of passwords and secrets.

Years ago, I spent many hours playing this game and discovering new passwords. I was cleaning recently, and discovered about a dozen yellowed loose-leaf sheets that contained the fruits of that labor. So, at long last, here is some of that list of codes.

Grant DaNasty—a pirate who has the ability to climb walls.

Sypha Belnades—a witch who uses magic, such as powerful fire and ice spells.

Adrian F. Tepes ("Alucard")—Dracula’s son. Can change into a bat and fly around.

For a more complete list of CV III passwords and secrets, click here.