Stickvania

About

Stickvania is a stick-figure demake of Konami's original Castlevania for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game reduces the castle, enemies, objects, and Simon Belmont himself to simple line drawings that look like they were scribbled with a Sharpie.

Press the Play button below to launch the desktop browser version of Stickvania.

Play

Controls

Stickvania supports both keyboard and gamepad input. The default controls are:

Press Attack to use the whip. Hold Up and press Attack to use your current sub-weapon.

You can change the button mapping by selecting Options → Input from the in-game menu.

Browser Menu

Stickvania opens with a browser menu that provides New Game and Continue buttons.

New Game starts a new game. Continue resumes your previous game. Stickvania saves your progress so you can close the tab—or even close the browser entirely—and return later to continue playing.

While playing outside fullscreen mode, a hamburger button appears in the upper-left corner of the game. Pressing it pauses the game and returns you to the browser menu.

The browser menu also provides:

• Theme — Selects the game's color scheme.
• Rumble — Switches vibration on or off for compatible gamepads.
• Fullscreen — Makes the game fill the entire screen.
• Scaling — Controls how the game is resized to fit the display.
• Volume — Adjusts the game volume.
• Reset — Erases saved state and restores settings to their defaults.

In-Game Menu

The in-game main menu provides Start and Options.

Selecting Options opens another menu with:

• Input — Remap keyboard and gamepad controls.
• Difficulty — Choose between Normal and Hard.
• Done — Return to the previous menu.

History

My first exposure to the Castlevania series was Super Castlevania IV for the Super Nintendo. That game feels responsive, precise, and predictable. You can change direction in midair, and the enemy patterns and level design feel carefully balanced. If I make a mistake during play, I feel responsible for it.

I had a very different experience when I later tried the original Castlevania for the NES. Its rigid controls, unforgiving mechanics, and level design can make some deaths feel cheap rather than deserved. I like the game. Though, at the time, I found parts of it frustrating.

That experience shaped Stickvania.

I originally created Stickvania in 2010 as a Java game using the Slick2D and JInput libraries. I studied Castlevania in the Nestopia NES emulator and recreated its stages and mechanics through observation. During development, I changed aspects of the game I thought made the original unnecessarily difficult.

I released Stickvania as a Java applet that ran in a web page and as a downloadable desktop version. As technology evolved, both options became increasingly impractical. Browsers abandoned Java applets, while the desktop version required players to download and run an executable and install Java—something many people understandably avoided because of the hassle and security concerns. The game also relied on platform-specific native libraries that became increasingly difficult to run reliably on modern systems.

In 2026, I rewrote Stickvania in TypeScript and adapted it to modern web browsers. The new version once again lets visitors launch the game directly from a web page and adds a few modern features, including configurable input, gamepad rumble, and save-state support. The game itself remains fundamentally the Stickvania I created in 2010.

Differences

Stickvania closely follows the stages, enemy placements, and bosses of the original Castlevania. I tightened the controls, rebalanced the weapons, and tweaked enemy behavior to make the game less punishing and, hopefully, more enjoyable.

I adjusted the mechanics so you can move through levels more aggressively. Simon walks faster and can change direction midair. Enemies also take fewer hits to defeat. I removed setups where a single mistake could cost the player a life. For example, in the second stage, Medusa Heads attack almost immediately after Simon climbs a staircase into a new scene. Before the player has time to get their bearings, a single hit can knock Simon backward into a pit and kill him. Stickvania avoids setups like that.

I tweaked the sub-weapons. I tried to make each one useful so picking one up never feels like a downgrade. For instance, the Dagger is one of the least useful weapons in the original game. I made it faster to throw and increased its damage.

In the original Castlevania, Holy Water passes through an enemy before hitting the floor and bursting into flame. It damages and stuns the enemy as it passes through. I did not understand that subtle mechanic when I first played the game; visually, the weapon appeared to pass through the enemy instead of hitting it. In Stickvania, Holy Water explodes when it hits an enemy and causes damage. I made its behavior more obvious because that was how I expected the weapon to work.

I removed strategies that let a single weapon dominate the boss fights. Holy Water can no longer tear through nearly every boss in the game.

I altered the bosses as well. The Giant Bat now attacks alongside smaller bats. Medusa moves around the screen in a more animated, almost flying pattern. You can no longer cheese the Mummies by whipping from a high block. Frankenstein's Monster spawns multiple Fleamen, but they no longer shoot fireballs. The Grim Reaper uses a different sickle pattern that keeps the fight challenging without making it feel impossible. And the final battle with Dracula draws more heavily from Super Castlevania IV, as do Dracula's death animation and the ending sequence that follows.

I changed how some of the hidden items are revealed. The original Castlevania sometimes requires Simon to kneel in specific spots, which a typical player is unlikely to discover on their own. In Stickvania, I wanted players to have a better chance of finding the secrets. You might instead reveal an item by breaking a nearby block—something you can discover accidentally or by simply wondering whether a suspicious wall hides something.

I also included an Easter egg from Super Castlevania IV that may help you in the final battle with Dracula. It's out there for you to discover.

Hard Mode

If you think I made the game too easy, select Hard from Options → Difficulty. Hard Mode increases the challenge. It was inspired by the more difficult second loop of the original Castlevania, but you can select it immediately without completing Normal Mode first.

Resources

Stickvania is a reimplementation of Castlevania, not an emulation. It does not run or include the original NES ROM.

The source code for the project is available in the meatfighter/stickvania-js repository.

The Java desktop version is available as a ZIP file. To use a gamepad with the Java version, connect and enable it before starting the game.

Download and extract the ZIP, then run the launcher for your operating system:

• Windows: run-windows.cmd
• Linux: run-linux.sh
• macOS: run-macos.sh

Java 21 or newer is required.

Acknowledgements

Konami developed and published the original Castlevania and Super Castlevania IV. Stickvania would not exist without the work of the designers, programmers, artists, composers, and other people who created those games.

Stickvania borrows music and sound effects from Super Castlevania IV. The game's music was composed by Masanori Adachi and Taro Kudo, who were credited in the original game as Masanori Oodachi and Taro, respectively. The sound staff also included Akira Sōji, with Akkun credited for "Super Voice."

The only music borrowed from the original Castlevania is "Prologue," the short piece that plays during the opening sequence as Simon walks toward the castle gates. Kinuyo Yamashita composed that piece.

Stickvania is an unofficial fan-made project and tribute to the original games. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the creators, publishers, trademark owners, or other rights holders of the games it references. Preexisting games, graphics, music, sound effects, characters, names, logos, trademarks, and other third-party content remain the property of their respective rights holders.

I provide Stickvania free of charge. It contains no advertising and generates no revenue.