Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (originally known as 悪魔城伝説 or Akumajō Densetsu, meaning "Legend of the Demon Castle") is the story of Trevor Belmont's battle against Dracula from the times before Simon's battle in Castlevania. In this complex and difficult game, there are three playable allies whom Trevor can recruit: Alucard (Dracula's son), Grant DaNasty (a pirate captain), and Sypha Belnades (a mystic warlord).

Unlike the other branches of Castlevania III, this run uses a stairs glitch in Block 4 to climb directly to Dracula and skip most of the game. Only the USA version allows this glitch to work, so it was used instead of the Japanese version, which has superior sound quality.