Product Description

The legendary action game Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is reborn on the PSP system with incredible 3D graphics and timeless side scrolling gameplay in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. Gamers take up the Vampire Killer whip as Richter Belmont as they seek to destroy the maniacal Dracula once and for all in this pivotal piece of the ongoing Castlevania saga. Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles also includes the original Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night games, delivering incredible gameplay and value while updating two of the most beloved video games of all time for a new generation of gamers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #825 in Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Model: 26036
• Released on: 2007-10-23
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platform: Sony PSP
• Dimensions: .40 pounds

Features

• Retro side scrolling action through more than 10 gothic stages and additional hidden areas
• New song collection system adds additional depth to classic gameplay
• Return to previously completed levels to explore and uncover new secrets
• Includes the original classic Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night games, optimized for PSP system

Customer Reviews

Decent remake on a classic, a few bonuses, and...
First and foremost, I gotta start out with the one aspect of the game I hated the most-- the voice acting. Oh sure, you've heard whining about it countless times, but this game seems to find room near the bottom of my list of worsts. It's not sound quality, that's definetly there. But if you've played Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night and loved the voices in that game, you'll feel cheated here. I can't help but comment how late-20th century "American" the new voices sound --both in accented speech and in chosen words-- for something supposedly set in 16th century central Europe. Anyone remember how erotic Maria sounded as she pronounced "Richter" in CSOTN? That's gone. Gone is the deep, dark voice of Shaft, replaced with what sounds like a mid-20-year-old. So is Dracula's commanding voice of grandeur. It may just be me, but almost all the voices are replaced with, what seems like, an almost identicle voice actor to every character in the game (aside a few of the females). I'm sure they are different, but...they are just TOO similar for my tastes. I haven't played through completely to give my full accessment, but there IS an option to change it to the original Japanese voices. Are these the same Japanese voices as 10 years ago? Probably not, but Japan does a much better job picking appropriate voice actors for their games than we (Americans) do.

I really don't mean to b*tch and moan, but the game had alot of other things that kind of irritated me. For instance, if you want to play CSOTN or Rondo of Blood from the main menu, select it, then go grab yourself a Latte, because it takes at LEAST 45 seconds for the game to load. Music, too, from these classic games takes a few seconds to load. No, it's not the end of the world, and this is a minor nitpick, but when you're used to the PSX version smoothly transitioning music between tracks, you really notice the 3 - 4 second silence. This probably could not be helped.

Okay, now for the good stuff. The plot is the same as almost every other Castlevania-- Dracula is back, and your job is to kill 'im. The graphics are GREAT in the remake game. The backgrounds, baddies, and cut scenes, though short, are a real treat for something on this platform. It has alot of replay value, since you need to accomplish a few things before getting the best ending. The music, most remixed, a few new "replaced" themes, is fantatic (EXCEPT for Dance Of Illusions, which kind of disappointed me). The sound effects-- most were really good, and some were...not. For example, a few of the cut scenes were stock. The "crashing" door the Minotaur made sounded like loud knocking. The skulls Death controlled made a humming harmonica-ish sound, which just came off as silly. Other than that, the rest was gravy.

Before you purchase, take note that this is modeled after classic Castlevania, where the controls are stiff, the baddies have the upper hand in movement, and it takes REAL skill to maneuver your character around and out of danger. This means 4 - 5 hits equals death, whether it be at the blade of an enormous ax, balls of fire and chaos, or simply landing on a frog. Also note that because of it's age and genre, the characters can be slow for some. This is old school at it's finest, my friend.

If you've trained yourself not to care at all about some aspects and love the Castlevania series, then give this game a shot. But if it's the complete package of cutting-edge graphics, music, control, plot, and voice work, you'll have some complaints.

PROS:
It's Castlevania
Original Games Symphony Of the Night, Rondo Of Blood
Improved Graphics and music on the remake
Switch between Japanese/English voices
Old school feel / Challenging

CONS:
Nothing too new
Voices and dialogue completely changed, and suck big time
Old school feel / Difficult for some
If you beat the game, viewing the ENTIRE list of credits is mandatory... EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I bought a second PSP for this game...
That's right, this game is that worth it. Many years ago I bought the original version of Rondo of Blood for the Turbo Duo for $200 and even to this day I regard it not only as my favorite Castlevania ever, but probably my favorite video game ever. I also regard Symphony of the Night as one of the best, and if you're a fan of SOTN and have not played this, you are severely missing out. SOTN basically took everything from this game and expanded on it, turning it into a super metroid style game. You'll notice that most of the monster and character designs in SOTN were pulled directly from Rondo of Blood. Some peole may argue that SOTN is better. However, it's hard to compare the games to each other because the layout schemes are so different.

The best way I can describe it is as follows - Rondo of Blood is the hands down king of the old style [linear] Castlevania games, SOTN is the best of the newer metroid style [free-roam] Castlevania games. To own both of these on one disc is worth far more than the $30 price tag.

Quite possibly the most superior aspect of Rondo of Blood compared to ALL other Castlevania games (including SOTN)is the music. The soundtrack is the most top notch you will ever find in a video game and it makes for an extremely satisfying experience (don't get me wrong, SOTN also has an insanely good soundtrack, but it completely lakcs any original Castlevania remakes - Rondo of Blood has most of the classics). The game designers were obviously aware of the superiority of the score and that is most likely why so much of this remake focuses on music collection and customization. That's right, you can actually take songs from the orginal Rondo of Blood or SOTN and place whatever tracks in whatever levels you want of the remake! For me, this completely enhances replayability. Bored of the game? Well try substituting the orignal soundtrack into the new game, or better yet throw in some SOTN clasics like "Wandering Ghosts" or "The Tragic Prince" and see how the levels play out. It may not seem like much to some, but this is actually one of the greatest features I could have asked for.

As far as difficulty, this game is probably on par with Castlevania 1 or 3. Some people will complain that the play control in Rondo of Blood is not as good as in SOTN or Castlevania 4 for SNES, but to be honest with you, I think these people are way too spoiled on the newer Castlevania games, and the point behind Rondo of Blood is to keep the classic NES Castlevnia play control intact. Rondo of Blood truly is the missing link between the older and newer Castlevania generations.

All good points aside, there are a couple of criticisms I have about the remake. First off, Richter's backflip was a pretty handy technique in the orginal Rondo of Blood because it played smoothly into the controls, but in this remake it is absolutely ridiculous. I find myself accidentally doing backflips almost everytime I jump. In fact, I'd say unintentional backflipping is my number one cause of death in this game. I didn't remember the backflip being such a nuisance in the original so I figured maybe it was just weird because I was playing it on a PSP, but when I unlocked he original and started playing it, everything seemed as normal as ever, so this is obviously an annoyance exclusive to the remake. It's so bad it's hard to not choose Maria over Richter every level.

Another small gripe I have is about the screen size settings of the original Rondo of Blood and SOTN games included. First off, full screen is a must, unless you like feeling like you're playing a gameboy game on a TV with a super gameboy adapter. Full screen mode does eliminate the bottom borders, but still leave you with the side borders, which you fill in by choosing on of a few different frames. The frames all look completely lame, and why they could not allow you to choose just a solid black frame is beyond me. And I do realize these are old games that were made years ago to fit different resolutions, but come on - I had the original Rondo of Blood on my PSP over a year ago with an emulator and was still able to choose a stretched fit that looked fine, so this cheesy border thing is just inexcusable.

One final complaint about the originals is the voice acting. Rondo of Blood was never made in English, so I can't complain too much about the voices and dialogue. But there was absolutely no reason to toy around with the voice acting in SOTN. The voices are definitely different, and I even think some of the direct dialogue has been changed. Besides Richter now sounding like a whiny kid and Death, instead of sounding like a skeleton, now sounds like just some regular dude, the changes are in fact probably better overall because, to be honest with you, the voice acting is the original SOTN was just plain terrible. However, going back and changing something so major from what was supposed to be an "original game" definitely seems to diminish it's authenticity.

In summary, despite some minor undesirable nuances, this is still the best game released for the PSP to date, and if you're a Castlevania fan picking it up shouldn't even be a second thought. This is a great opportunity to own two of the best games ever made, along with a semi-decent remake enhanced with tremendous sountrack customization. I may as well toss the game case, because this game is never coming out of my PSP.

Gaming Bliss
Finally a spruced up old-school castlevania. I fell in love with the series when i played the original gba title circle of the moon since then i have done my best to get as many as i could.

Originally i was more excited to have a portable Symphony of the Night and the remake of Rondo of blood was an added bonus. I have spent far more time with the remake of Rondo than anything else.

The backgrounds are simply put amazing and gorgeous. Yes this follows the linear castlevania formula with clunky controls no ability to change direction after a jump. But these are easy to get used to. unlocking maria as a playable character makes control issues less of a problem as she is far more menuverable.

As mentioned above this has an unlockable version of symphony which is a superb game to say the least. Also the original Rondo is included which make for some fun comparisons between old and new.

Bottomline This is a treasure in my video game collection. the Remake of Rondo is a must for any fans of old-school gaming. If you have only played the recent castlevania titles i would recommend trying to track down some other older titles that are cheaper just to see if you dig the style. Overall this is a great package the satisfies my hunger for linear and non-linear gameplay.