The Castlevania franchise has a rich history and is dear to the heart of many gamers. For this retro game club, we chose to play Rondo of Blood, a game which had previously been denied to the North American audience and came out on the PC Engine (the Japanese equivalent of the unsuccessful Turbo Graphx CD). The game fetches over $100 on Ebay, but thanks to the Virtual Console we can all get it for $9 in all its untranslated, imported glory.

According to some, this game represents the pinnacle of the series. It does seem to take a few steps backward as it loses some moves from the SNES game that came before it, for instance the ability to swing the whip in other directions than right in front of you, but your character remains one of the more agile Belmonts, being able to jump on and off stairs and other feats like that.

The most striking improvement, however, is the game's non-linearity. You may fall into pits in this game, but rather than fall to your death, you will simply fall to a lower level, an alternate course, often with its own boss waiting for you at the end. Some paths are easier than others, so choose wisely.

You also have to, over the course of the game, save three damsels in distress, trapped inside Dracula's Castle. I have to assume this is in order to get a better ending, although... there might be more to it...

The game offers beautiful 16 bit graphics and a fantastic soundtrack. We are in for a treat as apparently, the VC version of the game is one of the best ways to experience it (though PSP owners can also follow along). According to 1up: "The emulation errors that plagued VC's earliest TurboGrafx-16 releases are gone, so this version of the game is colorful, crisp, pixel-perfect, and sounds great. The PSP port was frankly lousy, with muddy color and off-kilter sound. Even the original PC Engine version looks crummy on an HDTV. But here on Virtual Console, it looks and sounds and plays perfectly. This is the definitive edition of the game, or as close to one as we'll ever see."


Why not add Rondo of Blood to your collection, and indicate you are currently playing it? And don't forget to rate it when you're done!


List of Awesome
A list paying tribute to all the brave warriors who play the game to completion as Richter

@nate38
@sirmastersephiroth
@GameDadGrant
@TriforceBun
@Guillaume
@ploot
@roykoopa64
@ludist210
@Robknoxious1
@anon_mastermind
@CPA Wei

List of Awesomer
To get on this list, finish the game with a 100% save file!

@nate38
@sirmastersephiroth
@GameDadGrant
@TriforceBun
@Guillaume
@roykoopa64
@ludist210
@Robknoxious1

List of Awesomest
Attempt a high score and post it!

GameDadGrant - 113,220
Guillaume - 110,640
roykoopa64 - 104,000


Memorable quotes

By the way, you can dodge the stage 3 boss's final attack with a well-timed backflip. I did it earlier today, and it was super manly.
@TriforceBun

URL to share (right click and copy)

I believe I belong on the list of awesome...

@ludist210

Oops, sorry!

Are you Awesomer yet?

Hi guy's, just checking in. I didn't give up or anything. My wife took some time off so we've been doing family stuff. Even when we're not really doing anything it's pretty much impossible to get time on the TV. Come Monday I should be playing again.

I have to say you guys posted some great insights on the game. I'm loving it whenever I get a chance to play. I pretty much suck at it but still have fun

@Guillaume

Not yet. Just need to conquer 5', then I should be set.

EDIT: So I'm Awesomer now. All with Richter. Now for a quick High Score run...

I went and got the first NES Castlevania. I had never really played it that much, really. Or at least I didn't remember much past the giant bat boss. I know I definitely never made it to level 10 before, where it starts with you falling down a shaft.

Great stuff so far. I don't know why I never played it in depth before. I wasn't too good at it as a kid, and I was put off by the rumors of the game's difficulty, but so far it's been very manageable. And very enjoyable. It's pretty cool to see the proto-version of all those areas I've already seen in Rondo of Blood and other recent games! Makes the later games almost feel like remakes.

Oh, there are some annoying parts, though. Being thrown into a pit by a medusa head or a crow is really, really not fun. And the hit box is off for some of the traps: I got insta-killed by them when I was standing way to the left of them. I even though I had gotten an item from a candle that instantly killed me, until I realized what had happened.

But anyway. Castlevania. Thumbs up!


And hey, everyone who 100%'ed the game: update your database!

I just finished the Rondo of Blood Remake after getting all the maidens. I was surprised to find that there is a third form to Dracula, much tougher than the first two. I had totally forgotten about that. It was a really good fight. I'll be working on getting 100% on the remake.

Another interesting bit from the Rondo of Blood Remake. Apparently, you can only get 100% if you beat all stages with both characters.

@Guillaume

The original Castlevania only had six levels...?

@sirmastersephiroth

Is that not true for the original game? Those that got 100% on the remake should be "Awesomerest" than those that played the original only!

@ludist210

The original only had 6 separate areas, but I'm pretty sure it counted each section (when you walk through a door) as another stage. Or something like that. When you get to the last stage, the game thinks it's stage 13 or something. Also, the game refers to stages as "blocks" for some reason.

I finished all stages with both characters in the remake, and I still have 71%. I wonder what's left.

@sirmastersephiroth
Maybe collecting all the music and games counts toward your final percentage. I can't get past where you are (give or take).

Also, Drac's FINAL FORM in the remake is ridiculous. However, I destroyed him a while back. WOO!

Stage 15 in Castlevania (the last part of stage 5, for the easily confused ) is ridiculous, with all the axe armors and the medusa heads.

Ridiculous!

@Guillaume

Just FYI, Dracula in the original is absolutely brutal from what I recall. He teleports on top of you and such...then his second form is borderline unfair. Takes 32 hits to bring down.

@ludist210

His second form isn't bad at all with the right item and strategy.

@ploot I think I'll stop at beating the original and the remake with both characters. I'll collect the audio files later.

Finished the first three stages and unlocked Maria.

Loving the presentation in the game like the burning village and the crumbling skeleton right before the Stage 3 boss. The first encounter with Death in Stage 0 was also a nice touch.

Up to stage 7...holy shit, I didn't expect a boss rush in stage 6, was pretty intense but I figured out their patterns after a few tries. This game is getting better and better.

I'm facing Dracula in the SNES version. So far he's very traditional throwing three fireballs or the two big orbs. The twist is that I have to jump between platforms while I fight him or fall to my doom.

@Jargon

The SNES version is soooo much harder IMO. Maybe I don't have enough experience with that one, but man. It was really difficult IMO.

I kind of liked the opening stage music in the SNES version better. That's kind of non sequitur, but oh well.

@GameDadGrant

Yea I'm definitely having a little more trouble with this one than Rondo of Blood. But I'm such a veteran of the series at this point that I'm pretty prepared for anything they throw at me. I'll take Dracula down, I just need to find some time to put in the work.