Topic: Castlevania Marathon by Sumac

[Sumac]

Started to play into CDX. It seems it is required to beat Stage 3 and 4 without dying so my mission is quite simplier this time around. However, Reaper and Dracula will give me a lot of problems. Especially the latter.
Right now, I spend a whole hour trying to kill him. It certainly the hardest Dracula battle in classic series. Though, it was easy to finish him off after I picked up a right weapon. Cross-Boumerangs were never such appreciated before!! Yay!!

[Sumac]

Castlevania Video Marathon: Dracula X (SNES) (Complete one life run)

Its finally here!! My last video Castlevania playthrough!! Sadly, review hasn't been written so far. But I will add it in a few days, I hope.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Cross-Boomerangs are pretty great in DXX.

[Sumac]

I find it rather strange, but CDX is probably the only classic'vania, to my knowledge, where all subweapons could be equally useful. Even Daggers have their own benefits.

[e105beta]

You truly are skilled in the ways of Castlevania.

[Sumac]

You truly are skilled in the ways of Castlevania.

Thank you. 

[Sumac]

My first introduction to the Dracula X had happened at the same time as SCV4, back into the computer classes. I stayed after lessons to play some games on the emulators and Castlevania: Dracula X was among them. I was unable to complete the game, even with the help of the save states. Or more precisely, because of the save states - I made a very ill-timed save in Clocktower, so I couldn't proceed forward with my skills back then. Two years later, I finally completed the game with the help of the save states. Later, I know that it was the port of some awesome japanese Castlevania that never was released in the West and that Dracula X was drastically different from the original version. Now, after playing both games, practically back-to-back, I can finally give some sort of rational judgement on how this games compare to each other. This review could be separated into two parts - description of the Dracula X itself and then, comparision to the Rondo.

While the game is thought to be as Rondo of Blood port, very few things were actually taken from this game. Levels are completely different and none of them were taken from Rondo. Maria is unplayable character, though given that Rondo didn't felt like a Castlevania game at all, when I played as her, I don't consider it to be a big loss. There are only two alternate levels instead of four. Levels themselves are very linear and doesn't feature alternate paths and alternate bosses. The only Rondo-like "secret path" to the alternate level is in the level 3, where if you fall from the column, you end up in the Alternate Level 4. The game has only two prisoners - Anette and Maria, instead of four. The game doesn't have percentage completion. Ending picture changes depending on what and how many characters you have saved. Art in the game is completely different from Rondo and both Maria and Anette has new sprites. Since the game on the cartridge, there are obviously no animated cutscenes and voiced dialogues whatsover. However, there is no loading times either. In general, Dracula X feels and looks very different from Rondo, for a simple port. It's more like a remake or something.

Graphics-wise the game is very beautiful. It doesn't have the same mood as previous SNES entry - Super Castlevania 4, but it neither looks like its source game, at least when it comes to backgrounds. Backgrounds look like they were taken from the cartoon. They are very detailed and colourful. For the first time Castlevania game was basically combined from different sprites - and it's shows. Backgrounds palette is quite subdued and its clashing with palette of sprites that were taken from the Rondo. When it comes to animations, Dracula X backgrounds have little to no animation and because of that most of the levels (though not all of them) look devoid of life and soul. They are very pretty, but ultimately dead. Hilariously its the same complaint that I had about Rondo's levels, though reasons for this were different. When it comes to special effects - Dracula X is pretty much devoid of them either. The only notable use of Mode 7 are the title screen, with zooming out logo and fire on the first level. And that's quite strange, since Dracula X is from the last generation of the SNES titles and some heavy use of Mode 7 is to be expected. Even Item Crushes doesn't use Mode 7. At least they don't look as spectacular as in Rondo of Blood. Character and enemies animations are very good. It's difficult to determine at a glance, but I think all enemies that were ported from Rondo have a full set of animations from that game. However, all of them are slowed down. It will be covered in the gameplay description.

Music in this game was ported from Rondo, few tracks aside. However, Dracula X aded few new tracks - intro theme and awesome tango rendition of the Bloodlines, that used in the credits. Tracks that were ported from Rondo  sounds different, since they use SNES hardware and not prerecorded on CD. I think, Dracula X rendition of those tracks are better than in Rondo, since they are more emphasized and sound more louder and clearer, than in ROB. Tales of the Ghost Ship in particular, sounds almost like a metal track in some moments, instead of some lame disco in the ROB. Bloody Tears and Den also benefited from clearer renditions. The sounds are also loud and sharp. I like the sound of the whip in this game. However, some enemies, lack personal voices, that they had back in Rondo. In general, music and sound is one of the few clearly good points of this game.

Gameplay is controversial at best. In general Richter has the same abilities as in Rondo. He can whip only forward, has backflip, and can execute Item Crushes, depending on the weapon that he has in his possesion. However, in Dracula X gameplay was drastically slowed down. And Richter have very different controls and hitbox. Richter walks very slow and somehow reminds me about Terminator stroll. His jumping is very strange and awkward. Basically Richter jumps in a wide arc, that have constant reach. Because of that, you need to precisely calculate each jump, because you can't regulate range of it at all. It could become very uncomfortable during jumping on the small platforms, where you need a lot of precision. You can amend this by changing direction after you pressed "jump" button. Using this method you can execute small range precise jumps. Richter's whip strikes has a lot of weight to them. His backflip is almost useless. Unlike Rondo, this game wasn't constructed with the idea of forcing player to use it (like in batles with Shaft and his Ghost for example). There is only one place in the game, where you certainly need to use backflip to reach the next area. And that's that. Somehow, developers didn't see any neccesity to force player to use this move. On one hand it is a good thing, on the other - bad. It's a good thing, because developers don't need to create artificial obtacles to force player use otherwise useless move. And it's a bad thing, because already useless move becomes completely obsolete. Also his backflip is slower and, I think, lower, then in Rondo. Richter's hitbox is strange. When he is standing - it's quite bigger than he is and because of it in some moments you can be hit by enemies, that don't even touch Richter's sprite, that could be very frustrating. However, when he is crouching - his hitbox is miniscule, so even if enemy or projectile directly touch Ricther's sprite, he will not suffer any damage. It's quite handy during the fights with Axe Knights and Dracula himself, if very odd. Also, his whip has not only "backward hitbox", that allow to destroy enemies, that comes from behind, but also "top hitbox" - its allow to hit enemies during whip strike and before they come in direct range of the whip. In some places its could be used to destroy enemies that located on the higher floors. Finally, there is neat trick that will give you chance to avoid being thrown of the platforms in some cases. If you see projectile or enemy flying your way and you know that there is now way for you to destroy it, just duck. If enemy / projectile hit you, Richter will receive damage, but will not be pushed back. This is very important trick to use in the Dracula's battle. While you ducking, you shouldn't attack, otherwise, you'll be pushed back as if you were standing. Overall, gameplay heavily reminds about Castlevania NES games. Is it a bad thing or a good thing, you can decide for yourself. However, creating such gameplay on purpose after SCV4 and Rondo, I think, it was a strange decision at best. There are no Wallmeat in this game and the only thing that you can find in wall are 1 Ups. Meat hover could be found in generic candles. Sometimes even in the boss rooms. This game uses hearts as an ammo for the subweapons.

There are five subweapons in the game - Holy Water, Cross-Boumerang, Daggers, Axes and Stopwatch. Holy Bible, that was introduced in the Rondo, is absent from this game. Like in Rondo, by pressing special button, player can execute Item Crushes. They are mostly identical to the Rondo's. However, Cross-Boumerang have a very different Item Crush - instead of summoning giant Crosses flying from the ground, Richter throws multiple Boumerangs in the area. Obviously it looks less impressive, and worse yet, it's less powerfull. Oddly, this is the only Castlevania, where the daggers are an effective weapon in the game. They are very fast and very powerfull. What's even more interesting, Axes, Daggers and Cross-Boumerangs are easily interchangable and could be equally useful in different situations. It allows for more tactical approach to the levels. Also, Cross-Boumerangs are ridiculously overpowered in this game, bordering on being an unfair weapon (well, depending on your views about what to consider unfair). After reaching maximum distance from player after throw, Boumerangs hover in the air for several seconds, then return back. Unlike most Castlevanias, they continue to damage enemy during those several seconds. And if player make right calculations, he will be able to give bosses and some enemies tremendious amount of damage using this little feature. It's especially actual during battle with Dracula. There are no multiplyers for the subweapons, but you can throw up to three subweapons one after another, depending on situation. In general, subweapons in this game are very important part of the gameplay, maybe even more so than usual.

Levels has nothing in common with Rondo, when it comes to design. There are very linear and straightforward. Some level design are very similar to the Castlevanias on the Game Boy (The Adventure and Belmont's Revenge). Sometimes, I felt like they were designed by the same people - especially in regular and alternate Stages 4. In general, designers very loved storey levels. Almost every level have area where you need to go up to the "second floor" or vice-versa. Dracula X levels doesn't have alternate paths or alternate bosses. Some levels have something similar to the "pre-boss" rooms from Rondo, however, those areas doesn't have different music. Interanl logic in the some levels is pretty much absent, making this game quite a contrast to the almost all previous games in the series, save for the Game Boy dilogy and Castlevania 3. You can easily find yourself on the ground level, after climbing on the stairs from heavily decorated corrdior, that was supposedly on the second floor of the castle, e.t.c. In general it doesn't distract from gameplay (unless you are very picky), but this constant and often hilarious inconsistences are quite strange. As if developers have created multiple backgrounds without any idea how they should be connected and then combined them into levels. However, the most crazy design "strangeness" coming from the last level. First, as you can see on the map Stage 6 take place in the Clock Tower. The map clearly shows that Castle Keep and Clock Tower doesn't have any connection whatsoever. But when you see map after Stage 6 - it shows that somehow you was transported right in the Castle Keep. Most interesting thing that there is no exit from Clock Tower top, where you defeat Reaper or Witch Annette. SCV4 solved this problem by making exit appear after you defeated the boss. It seems developers of the Dracula X didn't had so much insight to think about it. However, the most strange thing about last level is its background in the first few areas. It uses Dracula's Castle image similar to one you see on the map after every level. Said Dracula's Castle image include...Castle Keep, where Ricther supposed to be during this level. So, he is in the Castle Keep and at the same time can see this location at the background. Okay...? I wonder, how developers could made such ridicolous oversight? Maybe, the didn't knew that level they were working on, was located in the Castle Keep? Or maybe they randomly choosed image for the background? Well, it's another Castlevania mistery, that will go down in ages. In the end, levels reminds about Game Boy dilogy and, yes, NES games. Maybe it was their conscious decision to make Dracula X look and feel like an updated NES title?

Stage 1 is a burning town. It bears some resmeblance to the first level of the Castlevania 3, much like Rondo's first level was a throwback to the Castlevania 2. It probably one of the few levels in the game, that has background animation AND Mode 7 special effects at the same time. Mode 7 used for a background fire, that looks very impressive. This level consists mostly from different type of areas. Some feature a lot of action, others have platforming. In general this Stage is a training course for the young vampire killers and must make player familiar with general gameplay and abilities of his character. In the end you will be chased by Behemoth, who appeared on the second regular Stage in Rondo. Unlike ROB, here he will chase in the open space, but like everything in this game he is much slower and doesn't pose much of the threat. In the final part of the level you will fight one of the few original bosses in this game - Cerberus.

Stage 2 is begining of the battle in the castle. It start with token collapsing bridge sequence, during which you'll be assaulted by Mermen and continous into fight in the Entrance Hall, that bear resemblance to the previous incarnations of this level in name only. It really looks very different. Then you go up in the corridor where, you will make yourself familliar with the new enemies in the game - Spear Knights. If you pass them, all you need to do is to kill two Peeping Eyes and two skeleton creatures to reach boss of the stage - Phantom Bat.

Stage 3 is a middle of the castle. It features different types of obstacles, including little ride on the platforms over the water. This sequence probably was inpired by Rondo's alternate Stage 5. In the end you need to go through very long and very hard area, where you need to jump from one column to another. Annoying Medusa Heads, Bone Towers and Skeletons, that have tendence to jump in your face, when you don't expect them, will try to do everything to throw you off the columns. The thing is, you will not die, if they succeed. You'll just end up in the alternate Stage 4. However, if you aim to receive the best ending possible, you'll need to pick up the only key in this game, that is located in the area after columns. It means, that no matter what you should get to the end of the columns room, otherwise only restarting game will give you another chance to receive best ending. Boss of this level is Dullahan.

Stage 4 is an underground area. If you reach area with the key in the previous level, then let it be know, that this is where your real challenge starts. Like in Rondo, if you pick up the key, it will occupy place of the subweapon. In order to save Maria and Annette you need to defeat Dullahan and go through the whole Stage 4 without loosing the key i.e. without dieing or exchanging key to regular subweapon. Basically you'll be quite handicapped, since subweapon is very important in this game. In general Stage 4 feels very similar to the levels from Game Boy Castlevanias. The mlost frustrating part of the level is the room with multiple presses. After that you'll end up in the area with elevating platforms and annoying Ghosts. In this room you can save Maria. Note: after you save her, your lifebar will be completely restored. In the next long room you need to make it through Red Skeletons and mutiple Fleamen. Fleamen are pretty stupid in this game and sometimes they have tendency to jump outside the screen. In some cases game can "forget" about their existence and they will disappear. However, most of the time, they will continue their annoying existence and will wait when you try to procced forward, to suddenly pounce on you. In the "pre-boss" room in this level you can get into alternate Stage 5. If you do it, you'll skip boss fight with Minotaur.

Alternate Stage 4, looks pretty much like regular Stage 4. It features mutiple mud pits with Mudmen and Bats. Boss of the level is the newcomer - Necromancer, that bear some resemblance to dark priest Shaft, who was responsible for Dracula's revival in Rondo. And who completely absent from this game for whatever reason.

Stage 5 is another castle area with a lot of jumping. This is the only area with big green Sword Armors in the game. And middle of the level resemble next to the last level of Rondo in its general idea. Boss of the level is Werewolf.

Alternate Stage 5 is a flooded city. It heavily reminds about Atlantis Stage from Bloodlines and Sunken City from Castlevania 3 (that was probably an inspiration for this level) and, alongside Clock Tower, it is the most animated level in the whole game. Since you don't need key anymore, you can finally take normal subweapons. Since you, most likely, haven't died prior to this level (otherwise you will not be able to reach it), you will have 99 hearts, meaning that you can spam subweapons to your heart's content. This stage is chock full of platforming, starting from the begining of the level, where you need to constantly defend yourself from Mermen, Water Skulls and finally Bone Dragon. In one of the areas, you'll need to escape from slowly flooding spiked corridors, while enemies try to stop you. This part once again is quite similar to the Atlantis Stage. To amke things easier you can take inviciblity potion from the first candle in the second floor - it'll allow you to take down one of the Bone Dragons. After that area you can save Annette. Next room after flooded corridor, looks like a one-screen room without enemies. However, it have a secret. There is little waterfall in the bottom left corner of the room. Destroy with three strikes and the water will go away. After that you gain access to the secret room in the bottom of the room, where Annette is held prisoner. Note: giving location of the room with Annette it looks like it should have been flooded, alongside the whole bottom area of the stage. Somehow, she has stayed alive. Magic!! Final Part of the level reminds about Waterway from the Castlevania 3, however, it is much more easy. Boss of the level is Sea Dragon.

Stage 6 is a Clock Tower. It is probably the most animated Clock Tower in the classic'vania series right next to Akumajou Dracula 68k's one. However, this one doesn't look right random assortment of the gears whirling in the background. It have whole clock mechanisms animated, making it not only one of the most beautiful Clock Towers in the series, but also the one that does make the most sense. In short, it is a sight of pure beauty. The level itself is what you traditionally expect from Clock Tower level in Castlevania - it's hard, have a lot of platforming and feature A LOT of Medusa Heads. Bosses of the level are Grim Reaper or Witch Annette, that appears, if you didn't saved her in the past level.

Stage 7 is a Castle Keep. It's rather short and easy. The very end of the level, reminds about Castlevania 3, however, instead of giant pendulums you must jump on simple platforms. As expected, final boss of the level is Dracula himself.

Most of the enemies in this game have been taken from Rondo in its entirety. However, most of them become more dangerous, because of the Richter has bigger hitbox in this game. Also, all enemies were slowed down. Annoying Spear Knights, that were nothing special back in the Rondo, heavily featured in this game, making them almost Dracula's heavy foot soliers equivalent, instead of usual Axe Knights. Those purple bastards occupy almost every level in the game and mkore often than not, have very good strategic postions, from which they can give player a lot of headache.

[Sumac]

Bosses were mostly taken from Rondo, except for three newcomers, one of them which could be considered "newcomer" only in relative meaning of the word. Boss of the first level is Cerberus and his one of the aforementioned newcomers. He will jump next to the player and after being hit, he spew fireball into Ricther's direction. He is quite easy to defeat, however, sometimes he is prone to break out of his pattern and randomly dash forward, that could give player some troubles. The best weapon to defeat him is an Axe.

Boss of the second level, is the only classic boss from the original Castlevania, that appear in this game, is a Phantom Bat. He was lifted from Shaft's boss rush in the sixth level of Rondo, however, his tactic is completely different. Normally, Bat will fly all over the screen trying to hit player. He is seemingly unable to shot fireballs like in Rondo. After being hit, Bat will separate into swarm of little bats that will fly strictly in line, one after the other. Usually those lines have wavelike pattern, so player must carefully observe, where and how exactly those little bats fly after Phantom Bat have dissipated. They could corner player, and since Richter has little amount of invicibility time, they can drain a lot of life from him. Also, Phantom Bat is one of the few bosses in the game, that has a post-death attack, like almost every boss in Rondo had. In case of Bat, after his demise, he will burn and sent several little bats in different directions. There are easy to avoid.

Boss of the level Three is Dullahan. He is probably one of the few bosses, who was heavily affected by slowdown of the gameplay. While his tactic is fairly similar to one that he used in the Rondo, all his attacks has siginificant delay and ut very easy to see what he will do in the next moment. Besides, his room is twice as bigger as in Rondo, so player have a lot of opportunity to escape from being cornered. Also, there is Meat in the room, so you can restore your life during the battle itself. While all of this make this boss easier, he is certainly not a pushover. All his attacks are capable of the big damage, so little mistake, could cost a lot in this fight. Like in the Rondo, he has a post-death attack.

Boss of the regular level 4 is the Minotaur. If you aim to complete the game with the best ending, most likely you will always skip this battle. Like in case of Dullahan, Minotaur is pretty much slowdowned version of his Rondo-self in this game. All his attack come with delay and the room have more place to maneveurs. However, its not even neccesary. The thing is that Minotaur will attack you only if you come close to him. So, all you need to do is to saty on the opposite side of the room and wait when he will appear on the other side. Come to him, hit, and run back in the opposite side of the room. After being hit Minotaur will fly back, so all you need to do is to wait, when he will come back into your vision. Rinse and repeat. IUnlike Rondo he doesn't post-death attack for some reason.

Alternate Stage 4 boss is another newcomer - Necromancer. He resembles Shaft or rather Shaft's Ghost in its visage, being ominous dark figure in purple cape, however, he use completely different tactic rather than Dracula's priest. Also, he is the only boss in this game that have two lifebars, besides the Dracula. Even Reaper has only one lifebar, but two forms. As expected, Necromancer have two different tactics for different lifebars. When he has first lifebar, he will shot Cursed Projectiles into Richter and summon Skeletons in masse. Cursed Projectiles will give Ricther "cursed status" during which he become very slow and almost defenseless. That besides the fact, that sometimes, this status deal double damage. It hard to avoid Necromancer's projectiles with this game controls and physics, so you need to realy in this battle on the Cross-Boumerangs. After his first lifebar is depleted, Necromancer will change his tactic. He will summon flying tombstones, that will circle around him and sometimes fly into player's direction and summon Mudmen. As was the case with the first stage of this battle, your main hope is to spam Boumerangs a lot.

Stage 5 boss is the Werewolf. His pretty much the same as in Rondo, but slower. It makes him harder, since he delay all his attacks and its hard to figure out what he will do in the next minute. Like some other bosses he has post-eath attack - the same as in Rondo.

Alternate Stage 5 boos is Sea Dragon. Former boss of the first level in Rondo received much needed elevation in status. He fights pretty much like in Rondo, but now has two attacks, where he slithers along the floor and his jumping across the screen in very chaotic pattern. Your best bet to use Axes a lot. If you have enough hearts, you can be sure that sooner or later Axe will hit the boss.

Stage 6 has two bosses. Who you will fight depends from the fact, if you had saved Annette earlier in the game. If didn't save her, she will transform into boss version of herself - "Witch Annette". If you have saved her, you will fight Grim Reaper instead.

Witch Annette is pretty interesting boss, since she is kind of combination of three different bosses, one of them even not from Castlevania series. To begin with general idea of her appearance heavily resembles Carmilla from Rondo - woman on the flying skull. The skull itself looks a whole lot like some boss from one of Konami's shoot'em ups. And finally her attacka are completely identical to the ones, used by Shaft in his boss battle in Rondo. However, instead of random flying orbs, Witch Annette uses eyeballs of her non-conventional transport. And that another parallel to the aforementioned shmup boss, who also uses his eyeballs for attacking player...Cross-references - ahoy!! Anyhow, while her attacks are identical to Shaft's there are a bit different, when it comes to certain little details. In her first attack, Witch Annette put Eyeballs on fire and they will chase Richter across the screen. It should be noted, that fight take place on the top of the Clock Tower, in front of the clock face and platform is quite small - only screen long, so boss can simply push Richter towards the abyss to finish this fight. Unlike, Shaft's version of attack, Eyeballs only loosely follow player, giving neccesary breathing space and time to reflect their attacks. Her second attacks is Shaft's third - Eyeballs surround themselves with force field and chase player in pair. Once again they only loosely followe player and Richter could escape them wihtpout relying onto backflip. Annette's final attack is the most dangerous attacks of both her and Shaft. Eyeballs will fly over the platform and shoot lightining straight down. Unlike Shaft's version of attack, in this game this attack comes out slowly and Eyeballs shoot lightining longer. Also, they are prone to change they position quite fast and most of the time player will be clamped between two lightining strikes, leading to inevitable damage. Your best bet in this battle is to rely on the ever trusted Cross-Boumerangs.

Reaper's boss fight is pretty much identical to his fight in Rondo. During the first stage of the battle Reaper will fly across the screen, stalking player and summoning sickles all over the place. It is very important, that unlike Rondo, Reaper actually can deal amage, when you touch him. More than that he causes "curse status" which in situation, when you ae surrounded by multiple flying projectiles aimed at you is a very bad thing, to say the least. In general this battle could be easy or very hard - it's all depends on AI mood and amount of sickles that he will summon. If he summon a lot, you are most likely a dead meat, because while you trying to avoid or destory sickles there is very big chance that you will into Reaper himself. Your best subweapon choice for this battle is the Dagger. Sometimes you can combo up to four strikes in a row, with whip and then Daggers if your position is right. Also, since Dagger is a very fast weapon, it'll allow to succesfully keep Reaper at bay most of the time.

After you deplete half of his lifebar, Reaper will transform in his second form. This battle is still resemble its Rondo counterpart, but different in that you have even less space to maneveurs. However, unlike Rondo, Reaper scythe attack will not push Richter back significantly, thus not giving boss chance to kill you in one hit. Your best tactic is to wait on the edge of the platform, when Reaper will be a bit further than number "6" on the clock face. Wait until he will execute his double scythe attacks, then hit him and immediately step back. Reaper's scythe strike deal a lot of damage and has further reach than it looks like, so it's very important to stay away from him if there is probability that he will strike. Also, you shouldn't continously attack Reaper, because it will push him to the edge of the platform. When this happens, like in Rondo, Reaper will make a jumping attack that deal A LOT of damage, so you better avoid it at any cost possible. In general, what you need in this battle, is a lot patience and at least half of your lifebar just in case. Reaper still can summon sickles and sometimes can summon up to three of them. When this happens try avoid as much sickles as possible, but if you see that you calmped between possible Reaper scythe attack and sickle, you'd better take some damage from the sickle and continue fight, rather then being killed by Reaper's strike. Also, don't use subweapon on the Reaper during this stage. If you do, Reaper will shot some homing projectiles at you and you will have another problem to deal with.

And finally Dracula himself. This battle is complete opposite of Rondo's Dracula battle. It is hard. Very hard. To the point, where one single strike could decide the whole battle...for you. Unlike all other battles with Dracula in the series, this one happens on the row of columns of different height. Dracula will randomly appear on one of those columns and shoot fireballs or Hellfire attack. If you positioned yourself incorrectly, single attack will be enough to kill you. In general this battle is very tedious and nerve wrenching, since you never know, where Dracula will appear and, most of the time, you will not know what attack he will use. I can give only general tips for this battle. Choose one screen wide-range and observe it. Don't chase Dracula all over the battlefield - it is useless, since he is teleporting randomly and there is no general pattern. Most likely you'll end up eating fireballs in your face or jumping on the platform, where Dracula has landed, and that will push you into the pit. So, choose one-screen range row of columns and wait. Remember how you should attack Dracula, when he appear on every column. And how you should evade his attacks, if you can't. As an always, memory is more important than reflexes here, so keep remembering. If you see that Dracula will use Hellfire and you are on the next column to him, duck and allow attack hit you. Otherwise, most likely it will push you back. Loosing some part of the lifebar is better than loosing life alltogether. Besides, there is a Meat in the lone candle in the left part of the screen. The best weapon for this battle - is Cross-Boumerang. Axe is probably more effective and fast, but you'll need Boumerangs for the second part of the battle with Bloodsucker.

After you deplete Dracula's lifebar, he will turn into giant blue demon. You'd better to finish Dracula first form, somewhere in the corner, so you'll have the whole screen to escape from him, otherwise, he will easily corner you. Demon Dracula has only two attacks, but given the circumstances they are equally dangerous. First, Demon will shoot fireballs at Richter. There are deal big damage and obviously can push Richter into the pit. This is where Boumerangs comes to help. Try to throw at Demon's hand or a bit lower, so they will destroy fireballs as soon as they appear. Demon's second attack is thunder wave, that covers half of the screen. Try to avoid it at any cost. After throwing fireballs and thunder wave, Demon will fly to the next column, so you pretty much limited in time how fast you can kill him, because if you be slow, he will drive you in the corner. And this is why the best weapon for this battle are Boumerangs. With their ability to deal multiple damage over time this battle, most likely end, before you will notice that. Ending is not very impressive, though.

Now, as promised Rondo and Dracula X little comparision chart:
1) Graphics: both games are beatiful, but backgrounds looks more detailed in Dracula X. However, in both games most of the levels are quite soulless and boring. Tie.
2) Sound: I like CDX renditions of the music better than Rondo's. And it has awesome tango version of Bloodlines. Point to CDX.
3) Gameplay: Rondo is much better in that regard. While CDX recalls a lot of nostalgia about NES titles, in general, controls in this game are very jarrting. Point to ROB.
4) Level structure: While at times disjointed, Dracula X levels offer more variety and challenge. Rondo's levels, meanwhile have alternate paths and alternate bosses. Tie.
5) Boss battles: In both games boss battles are fun and interesting. As always CDX offers more challenge, while Rondo provides more variety. Tie.
6) Difficulty: In general both games are quite hard. Rondo have some very frustrating moments, and CDX pretty much consist out of them, including "one-hit-you-dead" Dracula battle and "no-subweapon-for-the-best-ending" challenge. So, CDX take this point....however, I am not giving a point for this parameter. So, N/A.

In general, games are quite equal. While Rondo wins with amount of content, CDX wins with providing interesting challenge. I'd say those games are centered around very different core ideas (experiment versus old school), so I don't see neccesity to pit them versus each other to the death. Both games have its strong and weak points. Hoever, one thing that I should note, that Dracula X doesn't feel tedious like Rondo did for me at some points. While traning for the two weeks, to make a one life playthrough, I wasn't tired to play through the game over and over. While, after the same amount of time, I pretty much hated Rondo's first few levels. Where CDX is really succeds - its in not making itself tedious and boring. Stages consist from mutiple short parts, often with radically different design, so you wouldn't be tired by seeing the same level over and over. Also, the fact that you need constantly fight with enemies and controls, gives this game not only challenge, but some energy as well. Overall, Dracula X is very odd entry in the series. It's pretty hails to ideals of the NES era Castlevanias, while all elements from Rondo more or less acts as an afterthough to the whole design. It seems as if developers wanted to create their own Castlevania, but were tasked to make port of the Rondo. So, they constructed their own game from the bits and pieces of the PC Engine, while cutting off everything thay didn't fit into they idea of how this game should be. I think, that's how it could be because Dracula X is simply to different from Rondo, to be a mere victim of technical limitations. It doesn't explain why developers needed to completely change all the levels in the game or why controls were butchered like that. I don't believe, that they were bunch of untalented hacks and that SNES wasn't capable of the better controls, not after SCV4. It seems like all the choices that were made during development were conscious and dictated by desire to create Castlevania in their own vision. Well, if that was what they aimed for, then they certainly had a big success. I refuse to consider this game as a port of the Rondo of Blood. Simply it's too different from Rondo and too many things. However, if one asks me what do I think about this game as port of the Rondo, I'll answer that it is a very bad port that has nothing to do with original game. However, it is a good game in its own right.

[Sumac]

Well, the second part of this project is finished.
Continuation will follow later.

[Chernabogue]

Very nice job and interesting review, I learned a few things.

[Sumac]

Very nice job and interesting review, I learned a few things.

Thank you. 

[Sumac]

Soon.

(click to show/hide)

New review is coming.

[Sumac]

And finally SOTN review is finished. It consists from five chapters, Prologue and Epilogue. I'll take a brake until tomorrow and make final fixes and improvements to the text and then maybe I'll be able to publsh it here in a few days.
I hope no-one will find this text offending? 

[Sumac]

And here it is - my review of the Symphony of the Night. I hope, no matter your opinion on the game is, you will enjoy it.

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WARNING!! This review contains my personal opinion on the game. If you don't like it, OK, but remember: everyone has right to think differently from each other.
Thank you. Peace and respect.

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Prologue.

For the first time, I've learnt about Symphony of the Night from the preview of another Castlevania title: Lament of Innocence. It was mentioned in the magazine as supposedly the greatest game in the series. I attempted to find more information about that title and stumbled upon LOI official site, where the official timeline was published. Back then it listed only games after SOTN, including Circle of the Moon...But that a legend for another time. Anyway for some time I forgot about this game and was concentrated on playing Castlevania games on SNES, Game Boy and Genesis. Eventually I decided to play Symphony after I’ve read many praises of this game on several Castlevania forums. And in 2007 I finally acquired this game and attempted to play in it...

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night review by Sumac.
Part 1: how I played Symphony for the first time or how I learnt not to trust fans praises.

Back in 2006, when internet connection was finally established in my home, one of my major goals was to find as much information as possible about my favorite game series, including Castlevania. Through this, I've learnt about the fact, that Castlevania was much more than just few games on the SNES and Genesis and that new games in the series were still being produced. I briefly played some of “metroidvanias”, but they felt alien and different to me. So, for quite a time I decided to abandon this series. The only "new" title, with which I felt right at home, was Castlevania 64. Atmospheric similarity to the Super Castlevania 4, wasn't the only reason for this. Year later, in 2007, I decided to give "metroidvanias" another try, especially after I found few Castlevania forums. In these places many people praised Symphony of the Night as the "definitive Castlevania title", citing such reasons as: "best graphics, awesome music, wonderful gameplay, good voice acting, exceptional atmosphere and deep and involving storyline". Back then, I was rather naive, and honestly believed, that majority of the people, couldn't be very off the mark. So, after some brief pause, I decided to play Symphony of the Night and see the supposedly best game in the series.

The beginning with unimpressive CGI video didn’t impress me that much. However as soon as it’s ended I was immediately thrown into the Castle Keep. It was brimming with atmosphere. Wonderful colorful graphics, awesome 3D background and moving clouds. Smoothly animated sprites and general moving atmosphere...everything was AWESOME with a capital letter A. I honestly believed, for that one particular moment, that it indeed was the best Castlevania ever...
 
After running around the Castle Keep and getting used to controls, I finally entered Dracula's chamber. There I was quite surprised with...strange voice acting. I wasn't expecting very much in this department, but this was...something different. I decided: "OK, so voice acting is shit, but even the best games can allow themselves to have few minor flaws". With that in mind I fought Dracula and got into the main game.

As soon as the main part of the game started, I immediately noted, that it wasn't as dynamic as Prologue. The game became a but more slow. A little note: I was already familiar with how "metroidvania" mechanics worked, since I played Circle of the Moon before. Back then, COTM didn't impress me and I abandoned game without any remorse. The beginning of the SOTN was atmospheric, but a little lacking in the difficulty department. I mean, it wasn't even remotely close to the difficulty of the past titles. Even after loosing "Alucard type" equipment, I still ran through the castle full speed, meeting generally weak opposition. The bosses, while graphically impressive, weren’t really difficult at all. It was a minor thing, but strange nevertheless. In my mind, the best Castlevania was supposed to present challenge. But well, I assumed it was only the beginning of the game, and, besides, there always was a so-called "inverted castle", whatever it was. Another thing was strange - lack of storyline. Infamous dialogue in the prologue aside, there was no character interactions and that was rather contrasting with the statements about how this game had "deep and involving storyline". As with the past "strangeness" I assumed, said storyline will appear in the latter part of the game as well.

So, I was continuing my playthrough. After getting to the first dialogue with Maria, I thought: "Finally!! This is where story starts!!” However, the more I played, the less hope I had that "deep storyline" will be presented in the first castle. Really: random, somewhat generic dialogues here and there are not what I consider "deep storyline". It's not even in the "good storyline" league.

By the end of the first castle my feelings were rather in turmoil. On one hand, the game was indeed beautiful and had an awesome soundtrack. On the other, it was a far cry from how it was described by fans of the series. The game wasn't difficult, and the storyline was rather...generic. Gameplay was enjoyable, but felt a bit stale, since no real opposition was present. All my hopes were for "inverted castle". And I have paid for that dearly...

At first, I killed Richter and received the worst ending. I liked the fact that, Castlevania game had a false ending. After brief consulting with World Wide Web, I found out how to get to the second castle. After I defeated Richter, I was positively hyped: "YES!! I'm going to the Inverted Castle!! This is it!! It must be the place where the real challenge lies and where the "involving storyline" will be presented!!" So, after Alucard teleported into the Inverted Castle I breathed a full chest and prepared for awesomeness.........only to find out that Alucard appeared in the exact copy of the Dracula's chamber, which was upside down for some reason. My first reaction was: "Wait...What?! Well, it must be the start of the Inverted Castle, I guess. Ingenious idea, to start a new area with the upside down version of the place you just left. OK, now I leave this upside down Keep and get to the new and awesome places..." When I left the upside down Castle Keep, things didn't start to look brighter to say the least: "Wait...? What the fuck? I mean seriously, it couldn't be true...What kind of drunken monkey will design second part of the game as upside down version of the first part!?! It must some sort of preparing area or something and then there WILL BE new areas..." After 10 minutes of exploration I, obviously, was left in utter horror and confusion. Back then I didn't bother to ask anyone what Inverted Castle exactly was. My imagination pictured it as some sort of Silent Hill-esque creepy and twisted version of the regular castle, with blood dripping from the walls, super powerful monsters in every corner, logical puzzles and a lot of new places to visit. Even in the worst fever dream I couldn't imagine, that "Inverted Castle" meant an "Upside Down Castle".

After accepting the fact that there will not be new places to visit, everything that I believed about this game began to crumble, piece by piece. There were no "deep and involving storyline". There WAS NO any kind of storyline at all in the second castle. There weren't any real pointers on what should I do, either. Enemies were still rather anemic. They attacks were strong, but they were easy to kill just like enemies from the first castle. Bosses (except for the «Zombie Impersonators Trio») were utter garbage. Even Mummies from the first Castlevania were more real threat, than any of them. Without any kind of challenge and goal, gameplay lost its appeal and novelty. I never was a fan of running around the place, just for collecting stuff and points. It's become a shallow experience for the sake of experience itself and I never liked such activities. For the same reason I dislike racing games. My patience was wearing thin. I hoped that game will be able to surprise me, give me something new, something unexpected. New powerful enemies to fight at least...but no...Except for the couple of overpowered knights in the clock corridor, there weren't any enemies, which could give even the slightest taste of the challenge.

Eventually after "battle" (if that puppet kicking could be called battle) with the Mummy, I finally stopped playing. Everything that was praised in this game was a lie. There were no "deep and whatever storyline". There were no lots of awesome atmosphere. Soundtrack was good, but after listening for the same melody for the 4-5 areas, I was somewhat sick of it. I made the last attempt to see, if there was anything worthy in the game. I managed to get to the Reaper, but after I defeated him in a minute without even any danger to myself, all hope for this game was lost. I abandoned it. I have learnt my lesson well, though: never trust anyone else's impression on the game. Only your own experience can decide is the game good or not. Everything else, could be considered, but shouldn't be hold as the truth.

After this first attempt at playing Symphony, I made another one, one year later. It has only proved my early conclusions about it, but with more objectivity and less emotions. Well, after this rather long and “enlightening” story, I finally can go to the real review of the game.
Hm...Maybe I should write it upside down...?

[Sumac]

Part 2: review of the Symphony of the Night or how multiple good concepts thrown together doesn't make a good game.

Chapter 1: Some sarcastic voice acting and other basic stuff.

Story wise this game is a sequel to the Rondo of Blood. It's belongs to the same Dracula X subseries, that is even more obvious, if one reads the Japanese name of the game that is: "Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku". This connection between two titles was lost, when the title was translated into English. Most likely it happened because first "Dracula X" game (Rondo of Blood) was never released in the West in its original form. Westerners received only port of the game for the Super Nintendo, which was almost like a completely different game. I guess, since Dracula X was largely considered inferior port of the Rondo, Konami decided to omit the connection between those games in the West.

There is actually confusion created by strange translation. The Prologue has subtitle Bloodlines, which led many people to connect this game with the Sega Genesis title, which was released in America as "Castlevania Bloodlines". In reality, there is no connection between those two games and in Japanese the subtitle is "Chi No Rondo" (Rondo of Blood) - a game that Prologue stage is recreating.

As for the actual storyline: according to the intro of the main game, it takes in 1797 year, four years after events of the Rondo of Blood (shouldn't it be 5 years, since ROB was in 1792?). Richter mysteriously disappears and Maria went for his search, eventually ending in mysteriously recreated Castle of Dracula. Meanwhile, some vague and mysterious powerful forces awoke Alucard from his slumber. Half-man, half-vampire decided to investigate what evil was responsible for his aborted nap and destroy his father Dracula, if necessary. In the course of his adventure, Alucard will learn that Richter was possessed by Shaft. He freed vampire hunter from villainous control and after the long trip through the Inver...to hell with it...Upside Down Castle, finished Dracula, (not) once and for all. After all that, Maria instantly fell for handsome dhampire, even, if all their interactions lasted approximately 10 minutes in total.

Note: in Japanese version Maria, tells Richter, that her fate is connected with the Alucard's and follows him. So, in original there are seemingly no romantic overtones in the ending. I guess localisators weren’t satisfied with butchering voice acting alone...

Castlevania, almost never was praised for its "deep and involving storylines" and most of the attempts to create them, including this one, ended rather...lacking. But after all, even such level of storytelling, is not bad for the series, where storylines usually could have been described as "vampire hunter goes to kill Dracula".

After destruction of Dracula player will be treated by the plainly looking CGI clip of Castle falling apart and after aforementioned final dialogue, by the song "I am the wind". I don't like this style, but must say that this song is not horrible, even, if I am not actually sure what it has to do with the game. It's just kind of feels a bit out of place.

Anyway, now for the graphics. It's simply astonishing. SOTN is the most beautiful 2D and technologically advanced Castlevania game to date. Since its closest rivals could be found only on portable consoles, this title, most likely, will be retained by SOTN. Game uses 3D engine, which allows creating smooth animation and special effects of the unprecedented scale. 3D engine allowed creation of some 3D objects on the bakground (Clock Tower in the Prologue / Castle Keep) and some 3D enemies (Books in the library). In fact, all sprites in the game are just textures put on the simple 3D objects. Such technique allowed creating diverse movements, transformations and effects, which would have been almost impossible with the use of the traditional 2D engines. Most striking of them are the movements of Azaghal’s sword and Alucard mist transformation. "Sprites" themselves are very detailed, however, Alucard and Richter still lacking faces. In general, sprites have the same level of detail like in Rondo of Blood, maybe a bit higher. Some enemies were reused from Rondo, but they quantity is rather low.

Quantity of the nicely animated enemies and incredible level of detail compensate for the general lack of animation in the backgrounds. Their quality is similar to that Castlevania Dracula X, but with more vivid and lively colors. Also, since there are no clashing palettes between backgrounds and the game "sprites", game looks much better. Backgrounds are very detailed, presenting very stark contrast to the Rondo of Blood rather empty and lifeless stages. 3D engine allows for casual multilayer backgrounds, making some potentially boring places, more interesting. Color palette is bright, but not overly so. The game doesn't look very cartoonish, but doesn't channel that gloomy atmosphere of the first titles in the series. It is a bit more serious, than Rondo of Blood, though.

Music was composed by Michiru Yamane. It's become her second Castlevania game for which she created soundtrack. The first one was Castlevania Bloodlines. Like graphics, music in this game is undoubtedly one of its strongest points. Like in CVB tracks are widely different from each other, but still have the same interior vibe, making SOTN's OST feel like a single entity. One of the best tracks in the game, in my opinion, are dynamic Wandering Ghosts (Coliseum), beautiful Dracula's Castle (Entrance Hall), glamorous Dance of Pales (Olrox's Quarters), enchanting Requiem for the Gods (Royal Chapel) and Rainbow Cemetery (Catacombs), that could ideally served as melody for the last level, if SOTN had an old school level-by-level progression. While the tracks are awesome, it could have been even better, if exploration nature of the game didn't forced players to hear them over and over. Even the best song could become tiresome, if you listen to it too much. It's partially the case in the First Castle, and twice as truthful, in case of the Second Castle. Obviously not all songs in the soundtrack are awesome, some just good, but in general; Symphony's soundtrack is one of the best in the series, being rivaled only by the Super Castlevania 4 OST, if we look only to the past games. On the final note about soundtrack, I must say, that most of the tracks in the First Castle fit locations to a "T". Not so much in the Upside Down Castle. Though, it's mostly problem with the "game design", rather than with the music.

I must note, that it rather strange to hear complaints about certain new games lacking remixes for the old themes, from the past Castlevanias. Symphony is probably one of the biggest offenders in that regard. There are only TWO reused songs from the past: Dance of Illusions (from Rondo of Blood) and Bloodlines (plays during battle with Richter), that was heavily rearranged, so I doubt it could be considered as "just remix". None of the classic trio of tracks (Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears and Beginning), didn’t make it in the game as well any other tracks from pre-Rondo games.

Sound effects in this game are wonderful. Many enemies have their own voices and grunts. Speaking of voices, Symphony wasn't the first game in the series that had having voice acting (this honor belongs to the Rondo of Blood). But it was the first game which was dubbed for the western realize. And how!! Thanks to its quality, or rather lack of thereof, English dub received some sort of cult status amongst fans, though personally I am not sure, that it should be held as some sort of a sacred cow. Basically it ended up in category "So bad, it's good." Rather dubious achievement, I must say. The dialogues in the game are somewhat stylized, possibly to make them sound archaic or overly poetic. Coupled with bad-to-hilarious voice acting it really creates something...unique. The main protagonist of the game, Alucard sounds somewhat wooden, like he has a bad cold with bunged up nose. Also, sometimes he sounds a lot like main character from Hitman series. I almost expected him to blurt something like "Names are for friends, so I don't need one." or "I need to use a bathroom". Maria sounds arrogant and somewhat cocky. It’s rather hard to connect her SOTN personality with Rondo of Blood's. Librarian, Shaft and Reaper are probably the only characters in the game that sound somewhat decent. Shaft takes the cake though - he has really impressive deep voice. Even low quality of the record, didn't affect him badly. Ferryman sounds like he swallowed a lot of helium + some Prozac. Richter is heroically and facepalmingly cheesy. But the award for the worst voice acting of course goes to the main antagonist of the game - Dracula himself. To quote AVGN "What were they thinking?!". My perception of the Dracula maybe somewhat different from what other people think of him, but I don’t think he should sound like a very bad actor who overacting so much, that your ears couldn't believe it. If anything, he maybe can sound dramatic, but there is difference between being "dramatic" and sounding like "Saturday morning cartoon villain", that in my opinion Dracula, even in Castlevania, shouldn't be. Where was sound director, when they were committing this atrocity of recording? He overacts even the basic stuff...stretching words and changing volume of his voice, when it's not necessary, denying any possible attempt to take this Dracula as serious and tragic character. His final dialogue with Alucard, that probably should sound tragic, was turned into bad comedy, with clichés and Bible quoting, all thanks to “awesome” voice acting abilities of those actors. Happily, port of the game for the PSP removed this horrible atrocity and replaced it with some decent voices and less poetic text, thus fixing this big misunderstanding, which was considered “voice acting”.