Castlevania: Rondo of Blood v The Dracula X Chronicles v Dracula X

Intro

This will be the first part of a series of the Castlevania versus review where I'll talk about the original game and the differences between it and the remake and/or ports.
Castlevania Rondo of Blood was launched in 1993 in Japan on the PC-engine CD console, also known as TurboGrafx-16 CD. It is an action platform game with horror themes developed and published by Konami (in a time where they cared about quality).

The game was also launched on the Super Nintendo as Castlevania Dracula X in USA. The SNES version was a downgrade from the original. It was launched in 1995 and it had so many changes that it doesn't look like the same game. Maria is not a playable character this time. Only the story is the same.

In 2007 the game was remastered for the PSP with 2.5D graphics as Castlevania the Dracula X Chronicles. It was an awesome game too. It has the same plot as the others but this time some changes are made to add to the experience. And you can also unlock the original PC-engine game and its sequel Castlevania Symphony of the Night in game.

Story

You are Richter Belmont and your mission is to defeat Dracula and his acolytes. Dracula has been awake again by evil men who wish to pay him tribute. And they need the sacrifice of young women to make him even more powerful.

They capture four maidens for that purpose one of them is Annette your own fiancée and her little sister Maria Renard (who is a playable character in this version).

You are in your lands when you hear about the city being attacked. You prepare your Holy Whip, the Vampire Killer, and go into the village to save as many lives as you can.

Presentation

The PC-engine was the first 16-bit console on the market and has the capacity of 512 colors and max of 482 on screen. CRoB shows a lot of colors and very good light effects. The characters' movements are very smooth and natural thanks to the CD size used to its maximum. The high number of frames for each character makes it quality soar.

All the bosses have lots of color and movement they are as big as the screen can let them be and you can see all the details that form them. For example in the Bone Golem transformations you can see almost every bone and skull that attaches to form the boss.

The background is what needed are little more polish. Sometimes it is very simple and repetitive like in the first stage. But it has a good parallax effect in many stages. And the bosses have an initial animation that adds to the atmosphere of the game. The Wyvern flies and the Werewolf howls on the background before you fight them.

The SNES counterpart has almost the same graphics as the PC-engine version. It lacks some animation from all the characters and enemies and the stages are very different too. The number of Stages are the same but they seem are little shorter.

But the presentation shines on the PSP remastered version. The colors are vivid and rich. Many details were added on the characters, bosses and background. The characters were redesigned with new clothes and new action movements. The bosses are the same but they are more natural now and every time you enter the boss arena you see a cutscene presenting the boss for you using the 2.5D ambience and camerawork.
Soundtrack

The classical Castlevania tune is here and the list is amazing. The CD-quality music of CRoB is used with care and respect for the songs. Every song is unique and fits its purpose well. Most songs were rearranged and added new instruments which gave them a more pop rock feel but add to the final quality.
The SNES is not left behind because of the Sony sound chip many songs are almost at the same level of the original.
As a bonus you can take the songs as items hidden in game on the PSP version. You them to he music store to hear them later and they also add to your exploration percentage ratio.

Gameplay

Richter Belmont is the classic whip man of the series but in CRoB he has some new abilities. He walks and plays the same as the Belmonts of the past. But now he has a backflip to evade attacks and he can use the Crash of the sub-weapons that consists in a powerful magic that changes the animation of attack, can cause much more damage and spend more heart as well. The sub-weapons are; the silver knife, the axe, holy water, holy book, stopwatch, and the cross. Each has its animation and Crash ability.

We also have the addition of a new character as Maria Renard she is a small children but very powerful witch who has the protection of the Four Sacred Beasts. Her sub-weapons are based on the beasts. She has a cat, a turtle, a red bird, and a dragon sub-weapons each with its animation and different Crash ability as well. She uses doves to attack but the range of it is very short differently from Richter's Vampire Killer and weaker as well. She can't take many hits as Richter but because of her mobility she is considered the game “easy mode”. She can double jump, her sub-weapons’ Crash are very strong, and she can slide and pass through small gaps.

When you return to the game you see that you can change the character you're playing and even choose different stages to start from. This game has the same gimmick as Castlevania 3. Where you choose you path and discover other areas with different enemies, items and bosses. If you want to 100% complete this game you will have to use this feature.

If you want a more classic approach of the Castlevania series you can play only with Richter but if you are having any problems on a stage you can pick Maria up and use her better abilities. The choice is yours.

The SNES version has only Richter as a playable character. He has the same abilities as the original but some animations are different, like the cross crash animation, because of the lack of space of the cartridge. You can’t play as Maria and the game uses password system to start where you’ve stopped.

The PSP version plays the same as the original, the stages and bosses are also the same. The only differences are the cutscenes and they added a new boss near the end and a third Dracula form.
All games have different endings depending on you saving every one of the maidens.

Ending Thoughts

Castlevania Rondo of blood is one of the best Castlevania games made. You have your classic Belmont with a strong sidekick who can kick your butt with ease as Maria. If the game doesn't look very appealing 25 years later you can always play the PSP version. And the SNES version is different enough just to try it out.
All three are different enough games to play and enjoy just don't play them back to back so you don't get fatigue.