In 1830, Morris Baldwin and his two apprentice vampire hunters enter Castlevania to stop the resurrection of Count Dracula. They arrive too late, and Dracula kidnaps the master Baldwin to use as a sacrifice to regain full power, and casts the two young pupils - Hugh Baldwin and Nathan Graves - into a bottomless abyss. Hugh, upset that he was not choosen as his father's successor, runs off on his own. It is now up to Nathan Graves to find Hugh and recover his master.

Nathan's control and abilities differ from protaganists in the later GBA games. He naturually walks at the speed of an eight bit Belmont, and double tapping the d-pad allows him to run. Holding the whip button causes him to rapidly spin his whip, which can be used as a shield against weak enemies and projectiles.

Also unique to this game is the DSS system, which allows you to collect special cards which magically affect the whip. There are two different types of cards - attribute cards - which must be paired together to produce some result. For example, the Mercury Action card causes attribute cards to effect your whip, so pairing the Mercury action card with the Salamander (fire) attribute card causes Nathan to use a flame whip. There are twelve cards of each type in the game.