Haunted Castle, known as Akumajō Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ, officially translated Devil's Castle Dracula) in Japan, is the first arcade game in the Castlevania series, released by Konami in 1988. It was later re-released on the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan, as part of the Oretachi Game Center Zoku collection.
Haunted Castle is a typical platform game with six levels, which are played through in a linear progression. The player controls the main character, whose primary mode of attack is via his whip. He must fight various enemies which consist partially of skeletons, zombies, fishmen, and hunchbacks. By destroying certain enemies, he can switch his weapon to a more powerful spiked mace or sword. In addition, various "sub-weapons" can be obtained which provide different means of attack which consist of bombs, boomerangs, stopwatches, crosses, and torches. Hearts are collected to use each of these "sub-weapons." The player can only carry one sub-weapon at a time.
Each of Haunted Castle's six levels conclude with a boss fight. Like in other games of the series, these bosses are generally taken from horror literature or legend, and include Medusa, Frankenstein's monster, and of course, Dracula.
Count Dracula slept for a hundred years. As he did, the village was at peace, and Dracula was nothing more but a mere legend.
However, one day a young couple named Simon and Serena were celebrating their wedding at the village's church. The couple were very happy as the wedding bells rang. Their future seemed blessed, but suddenly, the empty sky filled with dark clouds. With a rolling thunder that shook the earth, Dracula once again awakened from his slumber. Asking for Serena's blood, he flew down during the wedding, and took her with him. To save Serena, Simon headed for Dracula's demonic castle."
Source: Wikipedia, "Haunted Castle (arcade game)", available under the CC-BY-SA License.