Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (DXC) was originally released in 1993 as Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo for the Japanese NEC PC Engine Super CD console. This title was never released stateside, one reason could be, by the time Rondo of Blood released in 1993 the TurboGrafx-16 was running dead last in that generation's console war. Also, the expensive CD-ROM add-on, which was needed to play the game and sold for an unheard of $400, caused consumers to shy away from the peripheral in favor of the TG-16's rival consoles. There are, more than likely, a few other factors and I believe they caused Konami to seriously reconsider bringing Rondo of Blood to the console, if they were even thinking of releasing the game in the first place.

Rondo of Blood’s storyline saw some daylight in 1995 with the Super Nintendo’s Castlevania: Dracula X. The SNES title varies quite a bit from the original PC Engine game. The level layouts were changed considerably and bosses were flipped around and/or removed entirely. While Dracula X contains hidden stages, like the original, the branching level layout is all but completely missing from this version. All of the anime inspired cut scenes were removed and the artwork was changed considerably. Even the final battle with Dracula was changed from what was found in Chi no Rondo. As a result of the differences between the two versions, collectors and fans alike have heralded the Chi no Rondo as a proverbial "holy grail" of the series, mainly due to it never seeing daylight outside of Japan. It's been 12 years since the release of Chi no Rondo and now the wait is over. This little piece of gaming history has been released stateside with updated graphics, English voice-overs and both the new version and original version of the game! Even with the updates, does this title stand the test of time? I would have to say, yes.

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is actually three games in one package. Included on a single UMD is the remastered version entitled The Dracula X Chronicles, the original PC Engine Super CD version of Castlevania Dracula X Rondo of Blood, and yet another port of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. At first, only the remastered Dracula X Chronicles is playable and the other two titles are hidden and must be unlocked via hidden items in the main game. The two hidden items aren't too tough to find, I was able to discover their locations within an hour or so. It could, possibly, take even less time if you get a little help via the web.

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles gives Rondo of Blood a fitting treatment for its international debut. Every aspect of this title works very well, from the new character designs by Ayami Kojima to the sensational soundtrack. This game is pure, old-school Castlevania at its finest. If you're used to playing the post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania titles and are expecting more of the same from this title, you are in for somewhat of a rude awakening. Since DXC is a remake of a game from 1993, it is classic Castlevania action. As such, rather than exploring every nook and cranny of an expansive castle, you are besting hordes of skeletons, bats, zombies and other creatures of the night in a linear stage by stage design. There are no experience points or leveling up, no inventory or equippable items to manage and no supernatural abilities (e.g. Spells, Souls, etc.) in this game. Instead it’s just Richter Belmont and his whip, one sub-weapon and a whole lot of luck.

In classic Castlevania fashion, DXC is tough and can be unforgiving at times, some of which is intentional while other times it's purely accidental. For instance, bats and other fast-moving critters have a tendency to blur, or ghost, across the PSP's screen. This makes things a bit harder to see than was originally intended, especially in the areas with black or dark colored backgrounds. Unseen bats have cost me more than a few cheap deaths; however, adjusting the brightness of the screen tends to help a bit, so it's a minor issue.

I would have to say the 2.5D graphical makeover DXC has received looks amazing, while still retaining the 2D feel. All the character sprites have been converted to 3D models and the backgrounds are now three dimensional as well, much like the backgrounds found in Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin on the Nintendo DS. I had read somewhere before DXC was released that there was a problem with hit detection due to the 3D models of some of the bosses. I have yet to see a problem in any of the boss battles, or in hit detection at all for that matter. Graphics aren't the only thing that has been updated in DXC; parts of the levels have been slightly modified to accommodate the locations of hidden unlockables. These modifications aren't really changes in level layout, as they basically add extra nooks for things to be hidden and you are still following the same path as you would in the original to reach the end of each stage.

All of the features, which were present in Rondo of Blood, are also at your disposal in DXC. Richter has the ability to jump up staircases, back flip out of harms way and then there is the all mighty "Item Crash." Item Crash allows you to use Richter's sub-weapon to its full potential. Each has its own ability and some are more useful than others. Item Crash takes more hearts than normal to use, but it is also more potent. For example, Holy Water takes 1 heart to use normally and sets blue holy fire running along the ground for a short distance. Its item crash, "Hydro Storm," takes 20 hearts, but fills the screen with rain essentially 'cleansing' the area of undead.

The musical score for Dracula X Chronicles is, like the many titles before it, amazing. Every track sets the tone for each stage perfectly. Even though most of the songs are remixes of the same tracks we have all heard countless times before. Most of these songs are so ingrained into the franchise that it would feel as if something was missing if they weren't present. It's just not Castlevania unless you hear "Vampire Killer" or "Bloody Tears" at some point in your journey. The voice work seems to be delivered well, and doesn't feel forced. But some of the spoken sequences are a bit awkward. Since the original game had animated cut scenes, I would have liked to see them remade in this version when Richter is interacting with other characters. Instead we receive almost static dialogue scenes with the character's portrait popping up as they talk, like most post-Symphony titles.

The original Rondo of Blood (ROB) is unlocked via a hidden token within the main game of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. I’m not going to spoil the search for you by stating where to find this in-game treasure, or how to go about it. I will say, it isn’t too difficult to obtain and shouldn't take too long to find. As much as I wanted to play the revamped version of Rondo of Blood, like any other Castlevania fan, I have been waiting to get my fangs into the original PC Engine version for far too long, so it's good that this version isn't unlocked after completing DXC.

As far as the gameplay of ROB goes, there isn’t really much I can add which I haven’t already stated about DXC, because they are essentially the same game. I have noticed that some of the areas, which weren’t tough in DXC, are fairly difficult in ROB; almost as if the revamped version was softened up a bit. The game itself looks great for being over 14 years old and all of the sprites are spot on. The game doesn’t seem to suffer much from aging. I have yet to run into any type of slowdown while playing, mostly due to the more powerful PSP hardware it is running on. Like DXC, this version also suffers from the blur of some fast moving sprites and when the background is black or dark seeing those damn bats still makes things more difficult than they should be. As is standard for the Castlevania series, the music sets the tone for each area perfectly. Of course since this is the original ROB, all of these songs are the same ones from the PC Engine release of the game, no remixes here. The entire soundtrack is high quality and sounds great on the PSP.

Compared to the tight control of last year's Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, it sometimes feels as if Richter is moving sluggishly. There are many times when you need to dodge projectiles and you just can't seem to get out of the way fast enough. Then again, games such as Portrait of Ruin and Dawn of Sorrow where made years after Rondo of Blood was initially released, so using them as comparison seems a bit unfair. Though, when you look back on the earlier titles in the series, the control of ROB is as good, if not better than its predecessors

At this point, I’m unsure which I like playing more, DXC or ROB. Though, I’ve found it most enjoyable comparing the subtle differences between both versions of the game, especially the puzzles involved in finding the missing girls and comparing boss battles.

Final Thoughts

As a huge fan of Castlevania, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles has not disappointed. The re-localization of SotN was a nice touch, though I already have the game for the PlayStation and the Xbox 360. It almost feels as if SotN was used for sales purposes rather than to complete a 'saga' within the Castlevania franchise. I would have liked to see a port of the Castlevania: Dracula X game for the SNES included within the Dracula X Chronicles set, but I can understand why it might not have been possible to include. I feel that the move to 2.5D worked out rather well for DXC, and if Konami is looking for an alternative to making a 3D Castlevania title, they may be on to something with DXC. All in all, Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles does a bang up job of updating a classic entry in the series for a new audience.