Does very well on its own, but it really just wants to be accepted as someone else...
Worst Feature: It's good, but not as good as what it tries to be. The story from the original game is pretty much...well its not really there at all. What little story IS there, is told through really poorly drawn cinemas.
Once upon a time, there was a console called "Turbo Graphics-16." This console while not so successful in North America, would enjoy success elsewhere and even get a CD-based add on. This add on would come to be known as "PC Engine" or "Turbo Duo." Soon, a Castlevania game would be released for it overseas. This game was titled "Castlevania: Dracula X Chi No Rondo" (Translated: Circle Of Blood)
Upon release it would be hailed as the best Castlevania game ever made, due to its fantastic 16 bit graphics, high quality CD Audio music, animated and voiced story cinematics and its brilliant multi path stage design. But Castlevania fans in the west would cry foul that they would never see it. (It has since been released on PSP)
But those cries were temporarily silenced, when "Castlevania Dracula X" was announced for the Super Nintendo. That is until they played it. This wasn't the brilliant slice of vampire slaying that was talked about for so long. It was different. But let's stop with the storytelling right there. Because I'm making this game sound bad, when its really pretty good, just not as good as what it is based off of.
It plays exactly like any Castlevania game that came before it. You move from stage to stage, whipping monsters into hell as you go and fighting the occasional boss. And the controls, while they feel a little more stilted then the real Dracula X, still feel pretty good overall. You even get new moves like landing on stairs in midair, backflips and walking one direction while facing another. But most useful of you new moves is the "Itemcrash" which is pretty much a super attack that varies depending on your equipped subweapon. You can make it rain Holy Water, or throw many Daggers super quick.
Visually this game looks almost identical to the original Dracula X, (even the cool stage 1 fire effects) except for the cinemas. While they were animated and voiced in the original game, but due to the technical limitations of the cartridge based SNES that understandably couldn't be done. That being said, they are replaced with absolutely horrible still art with or without text. These seriously could have been drawn better, but more to the point they do very little to explain the game's story. (Not that its complicated)
This game also tries to emulate the original's multi path stage design, which allowed for multiple paths to the end of the game with multiple bosses in the many different levels. While there is only a few extra stages and one extra boss, it does well enough in that regard. The only problem, is that some of the stages themselves are completely different from the original game's stages and some are sort of bland in design to boot, not really taking any risks and generally sticking to straight lines.
This game however, doesn't completely fail in emulating its predecessor. The music in this game is downright amazing. Some tracks are even superior to their PC-Engine brothers. Which is an impressive feat, considering that the PC-Engine game had CD audio. And the ones that aren't better, are easily on par with their counterparts.
One last thing I wanted to touch on, is that aside from the stages being completely changed. Another strange change up thrown by this game, is the bizarre alteration of the final boss fight. Instead of the traditional act of fighting Dracula in his full floored throne room, the fight takes place in a throne room that is really just a giant pit, with a number of pillars used for footing. The odd little change, dare I say...works very well. While Dracula's attacks are exactly the same, you face the added threat of getting knocked into oblivion and dying, forcing you to watch your movement very carefully and making it much more difficult. Difficulty is what old school Castlevania is all about right?
While it falls short of its ambitious goal of being a port of the legendary "Chi No Rondo." (It even has the same cover art) For the sum of its parts, "Castlevania: Dracula X" is still very good Castlevania game in its own right, and is at least worth a try, even just for curiosity's sake.