Castlevania: Dracula X (1995)

This title is an action-platformer by Konami, serving as a loose remake of the PC Engine classic Rondo of Blood. While it shares the same protagonist, Richter Belmont, and a similar story, his quest to rescue his beloved Annette and defeat Count Dracula, it reimagines the original with new level layouts, different bosses, and a noticeably harsher difficulty curve. I admit that I never had the opportunity to play the PC Engine version, so I can't say much on this regard.

Visually, the game makes strong use of the SNES hardware, featuring rich, gothic environments, detailed sprites, and atmospheric backgrounds that give it a distinct identity from earlier entries. The OST, a highlight of nearly every Castlevania title, is a standout here as well. It delivers hauntingly energetic renditions of classic series themes and new compositions that fit perfectly with the dark, medieval tone. This was my very first Castlevania title, and still today, for me, this franchise's OST is what gets my attention the most.

And despite it being but only one of it's high quality elements through, not just the mainline entries, but also the spin-offs, I simpyl can't praise this enough. As for the gameplay, this entry sticks closely to the traditional Castlevania formula, with methodical platforming, whip combat, and careful resource management of sub-weapons. Levels are linear, platforming is punishing, and enemy placement can feel downright brutal.

Still, for those who appreciate challenging old-school design, this game offers a satisfying, demanding adventure. It may not reach the same heights as the best entries in the franchise, but it captures the spirit of Castlevania with its gothic charm, memorable music, and relentless challenge. A must-play in my books when it comes to this franchise, even if imperfect, entry in the Belmont saga.

Dracula X is...actually I'm not sure I totally understand the release history of this game and I won't pretend to. The version I played was the one included in the Castlevania Advance Collection from 2021. I believe it was originally a game that only released in Japan for some time and was later ported over in some form to become this, something like that. Either way, the difference in graphics and presentation from the other games in the collection was immediately noticeable. And that's a lot of what I can praise the game for. It does look pretty cool for one of the older games in the series with this linear side-scroller style. It manages to have the classic Castlevania aesthetic—complete with iconic soundtrack—but manages to feel like a step up from the rather basic series origin titles.

Unfortunately, despite so much of the gameplay in some ways feeling more fluid, my biggest gripe is that, unsurprisingly, it's still too jank and difficult. The big health bar looks nice but it plummets when enemies so much as breathe in your direction. While I was able to make it through some of the game without save states, I found myself a little too frustrated by how much damage every little thing seemed to cause me. I know I'm a bit of a broken record with these linear Castlevania games, but though they're short and kind of cool to play to just see where they go, I don't find the intended gameplay experience very enjoyable, and I say that as someone who tends to enjoy a good challenge. Somewhat like the first game of the series, the doable parts are fine enough, but parts like the final boss are just so ridiculous that it took me a long time even when I gave up and started using save states mid-fight. It was just too much.

If you enjoy this kind of banging your head against it until you git gud difficulty, I'm probably not the best person to ask for how this game measures up in that regard, but it might do more for you. While I like some of the aesthetic and style of the game and think it had a lot of potential, it ultimately was too brutal for me. I tend to be a bit more forgiving with some of the first few games in the series given their accomplishments in the context of the era, but even though this one isn't much further along release date-wise, I just have a hard time squaring the sleeker look with the clunky controls, steep difficulty, and ruthless damage from everything.

Where Super Castlevania IV gets mostly showered with love, the other SNES entry in the series, Castlevania: Dracula X, gets showered with piss. I guess the main reason for this being: it's not the legendary Rondo of Blood that the western markets never got. Nor is it Super Castlevania IV. In fact, it's very close to the first Castlevania on the NES as far as gameplay and feel goes.

Aside from a couple of new moves, you're once again a stiff guy who only whips left and right and throws smaller weapons at enemies. The game is (mostly) linear, levels are short, difficulty is brutal yet often cheeseable. Call it going backwards, call it laziness, call it whatever but I kinda dug the throwback feel of Dracula X. Somehow this gets called as being amongst the hardest games in the series but I thought most of the game's bullshit can be learnt to dealt with. The final level is a prime example of this: it's super short and you can breeze past most of it's annoyances. And that's a good thing since breeze past those you shall, again and again, for your pursuit to slay Dracula.

As far as presentation goes, Castlevania: Dracula X mostly delivers. I have no bad words about the soundtrack. That absolutely kills. The graphics range from cool to okay. Some levels are pretty bland and the attention to detail Super Castlevania IV had is not there but that's not too big of a crime. Not too shabby but graphics-wise, Rondo this ain't.

Maybe it was the lower expectations, the killer soundtrack or the familiarly clunky NES Castlevania feel but I liked this game. I liked it a bit more than Super Castlevania IV, perhaps. Controversial, I know.

This game has a strange history in that it is sort of a port of a very popular (and well liked) Japan exclusive for PC Engine. I haven't played that game, so I have no point of reference, but I can tell you that this game is nothing to write home about. In fact, the only redeeming qualities come from the core mechanics native to Castlevania titles. It's fun to kill monsters.

This game's level design is very lacking. There are so many rooms that are just hallways you must walk to the end to, climb the stairs, then walk all the way back the other direction. As repetitive as these rooms are, it's nothing compared to the repetition of the enemies. Zombies, bats, crows, spear guard, axe armor... repeat. The spear guards in this game are unbelievably difficult and spammed by the developers to increase the difficulty by tedium. They can deflect projectiles and have a swiping attack that you cannot dodge once its telegraphed if you are within whipping distance.

The enemy placement in this game is probably the cruelest I've ever experienced. Time and time again there is a bat or skull that will spawn while you are landing on a platform, knocking you off the ledge. This is fine in a couple places in the game, but there are multiple per level and it forces you to play slowly so you never get into the flow of it that makes difficult platformers a joy to play.

Gameplay, Story and Value:

I don't want to say that Castlevania: Dracula X gets a bad rap, because I don't know that that's true, but I definitely think it's criminally underrepresented as the game that simply "isn't Rondo of Blood"

This is too bad, as Dracula X is really an excellent game, and one that would lay the groundwork for Symphony of the Night both stylistically and to a lesser extent mechanically.

You play as Richter Belmont in his quest to slay Dracula who has once again risen appeared in our world. The core gameplay is classic Castlevania, almost to the letter. The item system is improved, both by allowing you to pick up your old weapon if you accidentally grab a new one, as well as in the introduction of Item Crashes - super moves with different effect depending on the item used at the cost of several hearts. Item and whip upgrades are also gone ensuring you spend less time finding your chain whip and cheesing candles, and more time playing the actual game!

New to the arsenal is a backflip dodge ability which can be activated by double-tapping the jump button. Monsters and bosses are more complex this time around, ensuring you'll need to make use of this technique to stay alive. Combat is fast, fun and feels really great especially when factoring in the responsive controls and faster item attacks.

Some stages off branching paths which result in you fighting entirely new bosses, or just skipping levels entirely! This adds both a bit of replayability to the game, as well as a slight sense of exploration.

The series established difficult makes its return here, and while the game is manageable for the most part not all of the challenges feel entirely fair. The best example of this is that enemies tend to guard the ledge somewhat frequently in this game which can lead to some very frustrating encounters. In one instance I had to move back and forth between two screens to stock up on hearts, just so I could use holy water on enemies that were otherwise impassible. Of course you should also expect to get knocked off many platforms by bats, birds, Medusa heads and other horrible flying creatures.

One great new feature is how Richter interacts with stairs. For the first time ever you can jump off of and on to stair ways, as well as force fall through them! In addition, you now have a little bit of control over your jumps after leaving the ground. All this results in a platforming experience that feels much better than in previous games in the series.

Presentation, Music and Sound:

While Dracula X doesn't do as much with the hardware as, say, Super Castlevania IV, it still establishes an excellent visual style that would carry on into future Castlevania games. Sprites are large and colorful with fluid animations, and there's an excellent contrast between the bright, bold characters and dark, haunting environments.

The soundtrack to this game is absolutely fantastic and deserves to be played loudly and live on just about any device that plays music. Every stage sounds phenomenal, and while the sound effects themselves are pretty standard Castlevania fare, they fit in perfectly with the rest of the game.

Afterthoughts:

xxx

Review: