Topic: Castlevania Chronicles

[beingthehero]

Does anybody else love this game?

It's a little ignored, pretty much as it was back in 2001 except among die-hard CV fans. It was already probably too old when it was released then, and it's admittedly inferior to both its predecessor, SCIV, and to Rondo.

But the game still has its own charm. It felt like a nice fusion of CV1 and SCIV, and the graphics were definitely far crisper and clearer than SCIV's. Plus I totally dig the X68k's internal sound. The bosses were excellent and well-animated for their time, and the entire soundtrack is pretty flawless except for Tower of Gears. Too bad the game very closely follows CV1's linearity. There's a few divergent paths here and there, but it's not really enough to warrant multiple playthroughs other than to see the graphic of Simon smoking. The ending/credits sequence with Simon looking upon the castle ruins is pretty bodacious.

The arrange mode is pretty good, too. Just by giving Simon and Drac new sprites and remixing the soundtrack, the game's atmosphere suddenly changes from classic CV to SotN-ish. It's quite a charming transition. I wish they re-worked more of the backgrounds, though. KCET's efforts really stood out in regards to Stage 3's background, which went from three purple-colored bars to a lovingly-rendered cloudy night sky. I know the mirror room in the Tower of the Dolls could have used a face-lift like that.

Even though Kurt-kun didn't like it, I really enjoyed the soundtrack. Its version of Bloody Tears and Simon's Theme are powerful, and I actually like the techno remix of Vampire Killer and Wicked Child (though they took time to grow on me.)

I can't believe it's been 10 years since Simon last starred in a game. Besides Judgment, that is. 

[Munchy]

YES. Curiously I've come much, much closer to 1CC'ing this than Bloodlines.

I found it just okay at first, godly when I became more skilled at OG Castlevanias. My strategy is usually "hold on to the herb as long as possible".

It's like CV1 but given a kick in the ass. I noticed Simon even moves and whips at pretty much the exact same speed as in the NES one. Usually readonlymemory it because even Original Mode on the PS1 version is slightly easier.

[Thunderbrand]

YES YES YES YES YES!!!!

I loved Chronicles 1 from the day it came out and still do to this day! It's a great throwback to the classic games but with a more modern touch. I felt it was a more thorough way to tell Simon's initial story and I thought it was a great re-definition of the X68000 game with some newer touches/design blended in. The package was great with the 2 game modes plus the extra features. I still enjoy playing it to this day. Hell, look at my avatar 

Cheers to this game for sure!

[Bloodreign]

Believe it or not I preordered Chronicles from Gamestop way back in the day, I knew what I was going into headfirst, a game with my kind of CV style, level for level (and thanking EGM for the heads up on this game). Eventually a friend later hooked me up with a PAL copy of Chronicles, so that gave me 2 copies of this wonderful masterpiece. It enthralled me a good while before I moved on to something else, but the craving has returned for it, since it's still in my collection (along with my PAL copy of course), I should give it a spin in the old PS 3 sometime, and help Simon return back to whipping Drac and his goons back to the hellhole they came from.

Also I love the Tower of Gears theme, it is the most fitting for it's stage, it drives you insane while the stage itself finishes you off.

[GuyStarwind]

I played it for the first time earlier in the year and I really enjoyed it. Not to mention the soundtrack was wonderful. I think it has my favorite version of Simon's theme. However, I only played one mode(I got it from PSN) I really need to beat the second mode.

[Munchy]

I have a question. Haven't played the PS1 version in a while but does Original mode still do the "2nd Quest" loop?

[PFG9000]

Chronicles rocks.  I, too, preordered it when it came out.  I was in college at the time, and I spent the better part of the day playing it when it showed up in the mail.  I remember describing that day as "pure gaming bliss" at the time.

I've really played the game to death since then, so I don't play it so often anymore, but it's a very worthy installment in the series.  My favorite thing is all the unique enemies, ones that you only see once in the game.  There's that skeleton spider, the two-headed monster, Frankenstein, the merchant, the giant snake thing in the ice cave, etc.

My favorite level is the first part of Level 6.  Climbing down the outside of the clocktower and crossing the collapsing bridge while "Moon Fight" plays in the background....absolutely classic Castlevania right there.

[uzo]

Chronicles was great. I liked how it found a nice middle ground with the SCVIV multi-directional whipping, and the classic sub weapon command. I'm really surprised no other game used it. It was a great addition. Portrait brought it back in a limited capacity, but that was it.

[X]

This game was a win for me. I've never even heard of this game 'till I randomly picked up a copy at a game shop in Vancouver BC. This game is in essence taking CV1 and combining it with SCV4. The result is an updated CV1 with two extra levels, great graphics and Simon's theme to boot! Playing this was a nice getaway from the Metroidvanias that were cropping up as of late. And it was also a chance to play a game that hed never seen the light of day in North America except on an emulator (which I never got to work  ).

[Thunderbrand]

I was so excited for this game when it came out I actually modded my PSX and pre-ordered the JAP version since it was released long before the US version. I got the US version later so I have both copies. I still play it every now & then. So many classic CV moments in the game---the post above about climbing down the clock tower then crossing the collapsing bridge with the bats chasing you was awesome. I also loved the big statue crying the bloody tears in the level that was like level 2 from the original CV. Great boss battles throughout the game too---the werewolf at the top of the clock tower was a bitch!

[darkwzrd4]

It was a decent classicvania.  My favorite stage was the one in which you are going up a tower while being harassed by marionettes clowns and bats that pop up from the chests that make up most of the platforms.  Plus, that song, "the tower of dolls", is awesome.

[cmdood]

I'm stuck on the level with Medusa as the boss
I don't mind all that much though because its more time i get to listen to bloody tears! Brilliant game in my opinion though! Difficult yes, but fun!

[VladCT]

If you watched markyjoe's LP then you'll know that the Medusa battle is one of the very few instances where the Knife is very useful.

[JR]

I loved this one. I remember seeing it at a local game store, in flawless condition, for 30 bucks. I'm not sure what the going rate is for this game, but I was kind of surprised. I remember going home and playing both modes back-to-back. I really like the charm of the original X68000 version, especially the sound, as previously mentioned here. Though I always thought the area leading up to the castle keep seemed almost out of place in some odd way (but the place catching on fire was pretty cool).

I played the original mode not too long ago, since I've been running through the "old-school" titles for a while now. (I most recently played Simon's Quest again, and in my rush to get the best ending, never upgraded past the chain whip...had no idea you could actually do that!)

[Patashnik]

just started playing this recently and just cleared the clock tower stage ( not too hard a stage but the penultimate screen before the boss can really chip away at your hit points if your not careful, *shudder* the wanton cogs impeccable with timing...). Had to fine tune my timing with the werewolf throwing parts of the clock before I could even think of engaging properly... oh well.. onto the floating corridor =).