Released only in Japan in 1993 which were the days the CD based game consoles started to take off and the 16 bit era of consoles the Super Nintendo and SEGA Mega Drive where in massive competition. The Nintendo consoles had a great run of games in Konami's popular Castlevania series but for their next game in the series moved over to a console that very few people talk about, what I am talking about is the PC Engine or Turbografx 16 to American players. It was a console to rival the NES but ended up against the Super Nintendo and SEGA Mega Drive and ended up being forgotten in the mists of time. Konami's next game in the Castlevania series would only be released on the CD add-on for the PC Engine as a Japanese exclusive and many people would not be aware of this until it was ported to the PSP in the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles Remake as an unlockable game as Castlevania Rondo of Blood. Now I did take a look at Castlevania Symphony of the Night which was a follow up to Rondo of Blood and I was back in 2018 been looking forward to revisiting Symphony of the Night in the Castlevania Requiem collection on PS4. I was planning to do the later games of Metroidvania/Action RPG style Castlevania games sometime after but I figured cause I also had Castlevania Rondo of Blood to do in the collection also I might as well do it and get it out of the way before I eventually do those. So let's get on with Rondo of Blood and see if this holds up.
The Castlevania games are always set up in a fictional town of Transylvania where there is a conflict between the Vampire Hunters of the Belmont Clan against the immortal Vampire known as Dracula who aims to wreak havoc on not only the world but also on the Belmont Clan as well. The Belmont carry the Vampire Killing Whip which is a Whip Blessed with Holy Power which is used for defeating Dracula and this is something of a running theme that runs in the Castlevania series, when there is a new Belmont that person then takes up the Vampire Killer Whip. In Rondo of Blood the player takes control of a new Belmont named Richter who has to enter Dracula's Castle to rescue his girlfriend Annette alongside three other maidens who were captured and also end his tyranny once and for all. Later on in the game Richter also meets a young gifted girl of the Renard family named Maria who insists in tagging along with Richter. Since it was released on the CD add-on it made use of animated cutscenes which are these anime and the artstyle for the cutscenes are pretty amazing especially for 1993. In the PSP and PS4 releases it does have an English Dub but it is rather sub-par and dull and the intro for whatever reason isn't voice dubbed in English but there is an option for Japanese voice tracks with English Subtitles instead which I think most people are going to go for.
On top of the animated cutscenes Rondo of Blood is a pretty great looking and sounded game, the sprite work is impressive, the details in the stages are cool, the enemy designs especially the bosses are all amazing fit in really well. One thing that has been amazing with the games is always the soundtrack and if you love soundtracks in gaming you will love the soundtrack for Castlevania and especially this game. Each of the game's tracks are memorable and never fails to get you pumped up, it really makes use of the CD format when composing the soundtrack which is awesome.
Now the classic old school Castlevania games are all about the challenging gameplay and it is something that the game delivers pretty well. It is a 2D side scrolling action platforming game where you go from one side of the screen to the other side by jumping across platforms, fighting enemies, whipping candles to reveal Hearts which are used for your sub weapons as supposed to refilling your health bar but finding food like Porkchops do fill up your health bar. Hitting candles not only reveal hearts, money which give you points that add up to your overall score but also different sub-weapons to use such as Axes, Daggers, Crosses, Holy Water, Grimoire and a Pocket Watch. Each time you use any one of your sub-weapons it uses up one your Hearts but you have what's called an Item Crush which acts as your special move that deals massive damage but takes a lot of Hearts to activate it.
While you progress through the levels in a straight forward pattern there are some areas in the game where breaking down walls or jumping down a specific hole takes down to an alternate route that not only takes you to a different level but also fight a different boss as well. Finding the Alternate Stages add more replay value to the game and allow you to progress through the game differently, while the game is short as there are about eight levels overall but the way you to go through the levels not only take you to different levels to face different bosses but also allow you to find the other maidens that are captured.
Castlevania Rondo of Blood has got a lot of charm and enjoyment to it but however make no mistake this game is difficult and will kick your butt so hard. You have not only have obstacles and traps to avoid but enemies that often never stop spawning. It's bad enough that enemies often deal a lot of damage but whenever you do take a hit you get flung back and what has made the classic Castlevania games so notorious in their difficulty is that usually whenever you get flung back you're likely to fall down a pit causes you to fall and lose a life which becomes annoying. Castlevania Rondo of Blood does continue that trend to a degree often having enemies spawn on you as you are about to take difficult jumps across bottomless pits. Beating these stages comes down to memorising the layouts of stages, knowing what traps to avoid and using the right sub-weapon for the job. Some of the enemies can be downright annoying and every single Castlevania player will no doubt hate the Skeletons for chucking bones at long range or more infamous the Medusa Heads where they move in a wavy pattern and deliver a cheap hit to you. Rondo of Blood also adds Medusa Heads that can also turn you into stone further adding the frustrations you are going to have with them especially as they are continuously spawning in. This kind of forces you to play it slow and hope that you don't take too much damage but even then you'll often take a hit cause of enemy placement. The other enemies in the game range from zombies, mermen, axe knights, spearmen, skulls that breathe fire to flying enemies like birds as well with each needing to take caution if you want to get through a part of a stage with minimal damage.
Controlling your main character is responsive enough, D-pad moves, one button jumps and the other button is the standard attack button, select uses the Item Crush move and holding up while pressing the attack button uses the equipped sub-weapon. These controls aren't bad considering the PC Engine controls have the same amount of buttons as an NES controller making the gameplay much like the NES Castlevania titles and anyone who played those will feel right at home but they don't feel perfect. See Super Castlevania IV on the SNES was the pinnacle of 2D Castlevania games as it allowed you to Whip in eight directions and have full control of your Whip, the controls were perfect and you weren't handicapped by either controls or what you couldn't hit above you because you didn't have a sub-weapon to defend against it. This game on the other hand only allows you to whip in a horizontal matter which is a downgrade from Super Castlevania IV plus the controls do feel a bit stiffer, Richter does have a backflip which can come in handy in some areas but not being able to to whip in eight directions does make the challenge a problem especially in some of the earlier levels.
Eventually when you rescue Maria she becomes a playable character and playing as her makes the game more easier as she can double jump across higher areas that Richter can't reach, uses animals as her main weapon which hits multiple times as well as her sub-weapons. She also has access to one ability that breaks the game in half as that ability deals massive damage to enemies especially bosses without costing any Hearts. Using Maria does help make the game easier on the player if they are struggling on a very tough level but even then you'll still fall victim to respawning enemies and Maria has less Health than Richter does. You have only a limited number of lives and if you run out of lives it's Game Over and you have to restart the level from the beginning, same if you do make it to the stage boss.
As for the bosses compared to the actual stages are actually much easier, they all have a pattern where you hit them two or three times with the right sub-weapon or using Maria's special ability on them and then getting of the boss' attack range to avoid taken damage and then repeating till it is done and if you have enough Hearts then you won't have too much trouble boss fights, you can with the money you earned through the game spend it on boss clips that provide the best methods of beating them without taking damage which is very useful for those wanting to perfect their skill.
Playing through the first path of the game will take you at least an hour or maybe two or three if it is your first time playing plus also another hour or more if you are going for 100% completion which is an accomplishment, but the high difficulty that the game offers will prove frustrating for newcomers. This is an old school classic Castlevania game for those who played the NES games and if you haven't played any of those then you are in for a hard time playing this one.
Now let's talk about ways of getting it, there's obviously owning the actual machine and the game which are Japanese exclusive and importing them costs a ridiculous amount of money for them. There is the aforementioned PSP port in the Castlevania Dracula X Chronicles which was the first way to experience it but getting your hands on a physical copy is going to cost you £60 for a second hand copy unless you go for downloading it on the PSN Store for £7.99 which I have heard works on both the PlayStation Vita and the PlayStation TV which is the best way to go. This is because you don't just get the 2.5D Remake and Rondo of Blood on there but also Castlevania Symphony of the Night as well with the ability to play as Maria and also new voicework which throws away the cheesy and memorable lines from the original. Then of course there was the recent Castlevania Requiem on PS4 which has Rondo of Blood on there and also Symphony of the Night which run close to the versions found on the Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP but without the Remake but has unlockable trophies, options for Japanese and English voices but the aspect ratio do not cover the screen. Lastly while the original version of Rondo of Blood remained as a Japanese exclusive for years to come it did however get ported to the Super Nintendo as Castlevania Dracula X (or Castlevania Vampire's Kiss to European players like myself) where it did maintain the gameplay feel of the other Castlevania games including the high level difficulty that we know. There were some levels that do show off the graphical power of the Super Nintendo hardware but however the Super Nintendo port was a let down due to the game having less levels, you can't play as Maria, it reverts back to the NES controls, it didn't have the cutscenes and the overall game being much more difficult than the original version making it a very inferior version to play.
Castlevania Rondo of Blood maintains the challenge and gameplay of the NES Castlevania games, it offers up alternate paths leading to different levels plus also having two characters to play as make it a very enjoyable game for not only Castlevania fans but also hard core old school gamers who enjoy very challenging games. It's not on the same level of excellence of Super Castlevania IV on Super Nintendo but those who love the Castlevania games need to check this one out if they have the skill and patience to go through it.
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Game Score: 7.5/10
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Game Title: Castlevania Rondo of Blood
Platform: PC Engine CD
Developer: Konami
Genre: Action
Age Rating: PEGI: 12+
Release Date: 29th October 1993 (Japan)
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The Good Points:
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Excellent Soundtrack
The cutscenes and the graphics are superb
Challenging Gameplay much like NES style Castlevania games
Alternate Paths that allow you to progress differently through the game
The Bad Points:
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Sub-par English Dub Voices and the Intro isn't English Dubbed
Stiff controls and not being able to whip in eight directions
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Reviewed by: Anthony Hayball (AQWBlaZer91)
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