Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993)

Played some classicvanias after beating SOTN. My rankings so far below:

1. Super Castlevania IV
2. Rondo of Blood
3. Castlevania III
4. Bloodlines
5. Catlevania OG
6. Castlevania 2 Belmonts Revenge

I'm not playing Simon's quest or castlevania adevneture 1 or any of the non-beloved ones. But some of the newer ones might be worth playing. Any classicvanias I should still play? I'm also going to start diving into the metroidvania side of the franchise shortly

Preliminary: Wow this is so epic. The anime style intro (reminding me of the modern show I like a lot), the start of the next era of Castlevanias (and the first Castlevania is one of my ultimate favorite games), and the music at the beginning of the actual game is excellent and I see so many influences on the modern show. Excited!

Day 1

To note, I am playing the 1993 original Japan-only version. I wasn't in love with the introductory boss and the Look of the actual game is admittedly less advanced than I got myself pumped for, but still excited for the Castlevania hook.

Nice I'm already noticing several QoL features, like landing on steps frmo a jump and your former Special Weapon falling to the ground when you collect a new one. Jumps are more fluid and you can generally change direction while jumping. I can hit away enemy projectiles so far. So many of the platforming features I look for in a game! While still feeling like the original Castlevania somehow! I'm also liking the level design so far. Nice!

That first boss was... a little easy dare I say? But ti is the first boss.

Oooo omg I can play as Maria . I see now that this was quite literally what the new series of Castlevania is based on lol. Nice. Welp I had to call it for tonight becasue it's bed time but I am really loving this and see why it's highly rated and also makes me excited for Sympony of the Night which I've heard so much about too! I loved all the early Castlevanias, but so far, this is bringing me the closest to that feeling of the first one maybe just because it's been a bit, or because it added some of the features I wanted to see added.

Day 2

Oh wow there are a lot of special moves and backflips and backward-walking and other things. I will ened to delve deeper into the manual. This Werewolf boss kinda forced me to. The "Item Crush" move is kinda OP, but I ain't mad at that.

Oh nice I stumbled upon an alternative/secret route. And ahhh I'm realizing I can't switch between the 2 characters, instead I am enticed to replay the whole game as Maria. That might be too much for this playthrough but definitely increases the replayability factor. Based on my research, there are entirely different bosses depending on what route I take through the levels (while always retaining a feeling of straightforward fun because no matter what you're heading to the goal, unlike the annoying antics of Mario 2 "Lost Levels" etc that lead to dead ends or inescapable deaths or mazes with deadends etc), so that really increases the replayability too!

Yesss the Phantom Ship music. Tho I never was a big fan of some of the music they reuse in this namely that "dungeon"y one the dundundunnndun one lol I dunno.

Wow this game just keeps hitting the Play checkboxes, every projectile so far in the game has been able to be hit away. I always love that feature

Oooo I'm on Dracula (as Richter). But it's bed time. Ah!

Unfortunately as often happens with platformers, this Clocktower/endgame level is really bringing out the faults, with the jump still being very dependent on teh direction you originally pressed and some iffy collision masks with the rotating clockwrok.

But in the end, I was eager to play it start to finish. Dracula was substantially easier than the first Castlevania's Dracula (imo). It was easy to get the rhythm of jump hit jump hit down which always dodged the small fireballs and you had a chacne to see if it would be the big fire balls, and just duck then jump for those. The second form was easy too. Odd for a Castlevania ha, but made me feel good.

Beautiful ending. And I love how now on the start screen I can see a percentage?! Of completion?! Nice! Like Super Mario World and early adventure games. With dramatic chanting music it's definitely enticing me to play as Maria tomorrow, or at least a few levels. Which is very impressive since only the first Castlevania, and few other games, ever get me to try the "Second Version" etc . Even with RE2 and other childhood favorites I played soooo much. But ahhhh, no way I have time to go for 100% Do I?! I'm thinking just playing a couple levels at Maria will suffice. >.> And can always return to it for more.

Day 3

Maria is so small lol. And she has a whole different set of weapons and sub weapons and special moves! Wow! Robust game! Wow and her doves have a sort of boomerang effect, and she can double jump. Neat stuff!

Dang. She is... really strong! Especially thanks to the multiple hits via the Doves. It seems that to get 100% I have to do all the different routes and save all 4 girls (I didn't klnow there were 4? I don't think it matters who you play as to clear them? So regardless, I am most interested in playing as Maria for a few levels, and possibyl even the full game. Which would say a lot if I replay the whole game I just played ha. I'm not gonna stress about which route I go etc, tho that is something I love about favorite games that I can replay.

Wow I love her Doves and I love her qiuck dodge roll and I love her double jump. I don't really care for trying to use her "Dark Side" effect. I am fully relivened with the game and have the closest to the original Castlevania Play feeling.

Tbh I just happened to wind up on seemingly an entirely different route than last time, I don't recognize several of these areas, and even a different boss, so who knows what I did lol. Will get this save file closer to 100% I suppoes for when I do return for that.

I'm already on Stage 6 as Maria, and experienced a few different routes from my last playthrough.Time for some piano and music time but will definitely be finishing this as Maria tonight! Wow!

Gosh Dracula was downright easy as Maria. Sweet a different ending too, with the cat lol. This silly anime flee :-p

The music and Look of this credits gives Tomba vibes

Wow still only 70% completion. Very interesting and further proof I will be returning to this. What's neat is, I wont only be returning to this to replay, I will be returning to still yet experience all it has to offer!

Look: 9/10 For the most part, nothing spectacular with the levels themselves (tho always a good Castlevania Look). But the anime and credits/ending scenes helped cement this as a solid 9

Sound: 9/10 I really don't like the dungeon-y tune, but all other tunes are jams. And I was going to give this 8.5, which is still a solid rating, but gave an extra boost cuz I laughed out loud at when the Harpies would die and some other sound effects. Plus the 80s cozy anime/animated-video voices segments.

Play: 10/10 Yes. Yes. Yes! Purest, most first-Castlevania experience I have had since, well, the first Castlevania. I absolutely loved it. Sure some little flaws, but so do all my perfect 10 Plays. Oh, also: when the second playable character feels like a whole new game, rather than reskins of the same attacks etc. <3

Feel: 9.5/10 So much fun, so hooked. This may increase over time, but it's mostly getting the 9.5 just cuz the frequency of the dungeon-y tune. I love the drive to replay with the Completion rating and the 2 characters. Just all around an amazing Feel.

Attachment: 9.5/10 I know I will be returning to this, I know Castlevania is one of my all-time favorite series, and I know this will likely become a 10 as I return to it and get 100% completion. Yes!

Overall: 9.4/10

Completion: 70% (Played all levels, without keeping track of routes, as both Richter and Maria)

Playtime: ~3h 30m

This is a great example of "Classicvania", rolling back some (but not all) changes made in Super Castlevania IV and building directly on ideas from Castlevania III. Overall it definitely earns its reputation as one of the best games in the series, by being a better-looking and better-feeling version of that great foundation.

The main thing of interest that returns is the branching paths. It's more organic this time with different ways to go inside seemingly all of the levels, often well-hidden and requiring extra exploration. I also later went back and unlocked an extra character whose different movement and properties were really fun to play with and very distinct from the default. Definitely a good way to add replayability.

The game feels like a bridge between eras with all that it shares between the older games and Symphony of the Night. They even directly call all the way back to the first game in a fantastic and unexpected way, with a pretty tough boss rush including updated versions of four of that game's iconic bosses in a row.

I really enjoyed the bosses here in general, and a few were pretty unique as far as my experience with the series goes. While I disliked the last main level, as is tradition for these games, the rest were all fun. The worst thing I can say about the levels is that they don't feel like the most memorable compared to some prior games (maybe just since I’ve played a bunch of these at this point), but I enjoyed them all in the moment.

The new presentation style is interesting, with some almost anime-style cutscenes throughout. I don't think they added that much, but they're definitely better than text boxes. Other than that, just a couple quality of life changes worth mentioning: no more timer in levels, and you can finally pick back up an item if you pick up another one and want to change back. They’re nice concessions that may slightly alter the formula but not for the worse in my opinion.

There's not too much to complain about with this one. If you like the classic style of games in this series, you should play it. If you haven't tried the classic style, this is honestly a decent place to start, especially if you already own the modern release that combines this and Symphony of the Night.

I played through this one via the Castlevania Requiem collection on PS4, which includes this along with Symphony of the Night. A true double-whammy! And with each Castlevania title I pick up, I feel like I need to play more games in the franchise to get a better idea of how I feel they each measure up. Which I guess is fine, because the batting average for the series' classic 2D entries seems about as high as it gets in retro gaming.

Rondo of Blood is an excellent title through and through. The sprite work is fantastic (many of the assets to be reused in SotN), and the music is amazing -- even by Castlevania standards. Richter isn't the easiest whip-wielder to whip-wield, but level design is built around his controls and movements. And since this is Castlevania, it's really difficult... at times brutally punishing. I get the impression this is one of the harder games... (And if it's not, please don't tell me lol.)

One of the coolest things about Rondo of Blood is that there are multiple paths you can take in some levels, should you explore well enough. This leads you to new hidden levels, which even have their own bosses. So in a way this game acts as the stepping stone between classicvania and metroidvania (Symphony of the Night onward). All in all this is a solid action-platformer well-worth experiencing both from a historical standpoint, and because it's a great game that stands the test of time.

At the moment I feel I'd put Bloodlines a little higher than this one, which I imagine is a lesser-held opinion. I still need to play IV, so maybe I can work out how the 16-bit entries all stack up better once I get around to that.

This is a classic game that has been ported onto many platforms. The original is the PC Engine/turbo Duo/turbografx 16 (that weird thing). This is the first PC engine I played.

Akumajou Dracual X: Chi No Rondo (japanese title)

Now, i was a bit confused so had to do some reading. there are snes ports/remakes:

Castlevania Dracula X (SNES)
Akumajou Dracula XX (super famicon/jap SNES)
Castlevania Vampire's Kiss (SNES/pal)

some like the ports and remakes just fine but most seem to prefer the original. it has a lot of features and quite a bit of content was cut from the snes (not just the religious content and blood, which is a somewhat well known fact with nintendo and the castlevania series)

Pretty impressive once i got it working. Rally nice voice overs and cut scenes.nice intro video.

this feels like a classic retro anime. start menu plays a nice creaking door sound. you select character save slots which is odd (but that's better than password puzzles!),

and rack up points that can be redeemd to show perfect 'tactics' for defeating bosses. Really nice music in this game which can be played through the options 'sound test'

I quickly discovered why this game is popular and has a cult following (minor spoiler). divergent branching pathways. the levels are completly non linear. not just map to map but within the maps themselves.

the game tracks which routes you've taken and your save slot after a playthrough or session will let you try alternate routes again. This is a really cool idea. Technically you can keep playing it as you wish after you beat the game.. Oh, there is also no time limit.

The levels look nice and really a lot of super castlevania IV seems to be inspired (maybe refines some of) these ideas. There are a lot of familiar places in Rondo of Blood.


Such as the water way level, in this you ride a raft and it feels a bit more like an arcade, in the SCIV it has a very different feel and is a slow ride and meshes and flows well with the rest of the map.

besides the cutscenes, voice acting and level selection there is another big thing. you can rescue a prisoner hinted at in the cutscenes and play her as unlockable character. that's cool.

it's a short and dated experience but really fun, it makes me want to play more PC Engine games time to time as this game demonstrated a lot of nice things. Reccomended way to spend a fortnight if you like Super Castlevania IV.

big thanks to QDB for introducing me to this one. As much as i like super castlevania IV i am inclined to think this is the superior castlevania game (that i've played. i havent played many yet)

-cutscenes, anime voice acting.

-branching pathways non linearity. adds to the replay value.

-save slots/no password 'screen'

-unlockable characters, and a few other hidden secrets and easter eggs if you pay attention to detail it would seem. (the mirrrors in the last level: good design and clever.)