Topic: Castlevania Marathon by Sumac

[Ahasverus]

I agreed with all of your BR review, it's an incredible evolution, a very impressive title for a handeld and probably has the best music in the series. A little gem that needs more love

[Sumac]

Castlevania Video Marathon: Super Castlevania 4 (SNES) (One life run)

Part 1:
Super Castlevania 4 is a special game for me for several reasons. I learned about it back in 2004, when I was studying in computer class. During time between classes we had free access to the internet, so I spend this time to find some games to SNES. Amongst my finds was SCV4. I completed the game in the computer class in a week using keyboard and abusing save states function. Later I wanted to play this on my old computer in 2005, but 1100MHz PC wasn't powerful enough to run any SNES emulator. The only thing that I could is to listen to the game soundtrack, imagining how the game would be in combination with such amazing music. I even had an idea how wonderfull musical could be made just from the score of this game. I had a habit, late at night before going to sleep I launched emulator and just listened to the music. Later I played this game and finally could appreciate its beauty. After recent playthrough I revalued some things and try to make a weighted opinion about this game.

First, graphics. The game have dark and haunting style. It use somewhat realistic style, which make this game all the more darker and eerie, unlike most of the later entries in the series. Characters somewhat lack animation, but its not hampers the experience. Some areas have more than 2-3 layers, but they are usually quite short, though very very beautiful. More often then not, levels have only 2-3 background layers. On the rare occasions Mode 7 used for impressive special effects, but most of them are concentrated in one single level, nearly the Dracula's Castle. While there are not many Mode 7 special effects, the ones that present in the game are quite impressive - Rotating Room and Rotating Corridor and also boss of the level - stone monster Koranot, who shrinks after each strike. The map in the game also uses Mode 7 for zooming in on different parts of it. In general, that is probably the most realistic and scary 2D Castlevania ever.

Music is, undoubtedly, the most impressive part of the game. All tracks have arranged in the same vein, but they don't sound overly similar to each other. Some of the melodies have some dash of jazz in them, others sound like something from epic horror movie with orchestra. SNES hardware was masterfully utilized to create a sound that sounds very similar to the actual orchestra. I don't think that any other pre-CD Castlevania game managed to do that. And even some CD based Castlevania were unable to repeat that. As noted before, the music is part of this game to the even higher degree than usual. Each level in the game is distinct not only because of its visual style, but because of the melody that accompany it. In general, music is a unseperable part of the SCV4 experience. Like in case with practically every CV soundtrack, SCV4's music could be listened without the game as well (it is that good), though in case of this game this is doubly true. Well, I can speak of SCV4 music only in excited tones, since there are simply not any single think that I could find bad about its soundtrack. Most of the tracks are new, though SCV4 started tradition to remix three most prominent melodies, from three NES games in the series. While Vampire Killer and Begining sound very nice, Blood Tears received, probably, the best non-rock remix in the series, that still is unmatched. My favorite song from the game is Waterfalls. 

Levels designed with utmost carefulness. Each area is distinct from the other and every single level has something to offer in terms of unique  experience. Levels themselves carefully balance action parts and platforming. There is always enough of all ingridients, so you'll never will think "when this annoying part with platforms will end" or "when I finally could do something different than just going forward and killing stupid enemies". Most of the levels seamlessly combine platfroming with fighting. Levels itself separated into several areas (some short and some very large), which have distinct style and idea to them. The game has tottaly 11 levels, though the last two are named "Level A" and "Level B" for some reason. Unlike original Castlevania, Simon starts his adventure not in the castle itself, but on the territory before Castle. It is similar to the CV3. After 5 outside levels, Simon finally arrive into Dracula's castle. First five levels are very colourfull and beautiful, though always with some creppy feeling of loneliness. The first level is the Garden separated by the fence, Outer Wall interrior and Stables inhabitated by legendary Mr. Hed. This is beautiful level, though Outer Wall interrior is a bit plain. Second level consists from small travel through the Forest, caves, some abandoned structure and descend alongside the River. This level is unique since it is the only level in the game where you fight boss in the middle of it, not in the end. Third level take place in the Cave inhabitated by golems and bats. This is quite easy level with one of the most beautiful tracks in the game. In the next part of it you climb on top of the Warefall. This is also quite simple segment, though it could be a bit confusing with all moving water in the foreground and background. The last part of the stage, takes place in some ruined city with out old friend Mermen at Simon's tale. Level 4 is basically showcase of different Mode 7 special effects. it includes: Rotating Room, Cylindric Whirling Corridor and boss that shrinks after each hit. In general this level is like special effects fest. Though, the first part not rich in terms of special effects, but it could become one of the most annoying segments in the game, since you need to do several very well timed jumps on the rotating platforms, to escape falling for your doom. Before the boss of the level, you need to go through puzzle like part with moving stones. It is quite easy to navigate, if you know where to go. But during your first visit there, you most likely will end up being crushed by ceiling or spikes. This level has two bosses - giant skull Puwexil, that appears in the middle of it, and aforementioned golem-monster-walking-special-effect - Koranot. After that you will end up in the Level 5. It is very short, have awesome score and doesn't have boss at all. I guess, presence of two bosses in the previous level should had compensated for the lack of any bosses in this area.

When you finally arrive to the Castle, you can feel the change in the atmosphere. While outside territory was generally creepy and haunting, Dracula's Castle is much more scary place. It basically embodies the atmosphere of melancholy, loneliness and emptyness. It is very hard not to shudder, when you walk for the first time in the giant empty halls, which probably were once inhabitated by mupltiple servants and guests. But by the time Simon arrives, everyone are probably already dead and the Castle looks as friendly as robbed and abandoned cemetery. Also, game ups the difficulty. All enemies, that you've encontered before have more lives (you need to strike Skeletons 2 times instead of 1, for example). And the game also introduces more powerfull foes, like Axe Knights. They are actually strangely not as annoying as they were in CV1 (maybe because Simon is much faster then he was in the first game), but still poses a decent challenge. You start you travel through Dracula's Castle in the Entrance Hall, which is appropriately remake of the first level from CV1. However this time it look much bigger and strikes with grandieur and spookiness. This area is quite short. After short walk through the hall you'll end up in probably one of the most legendary areas in the whole game - room with swinging chandelliers. Not only it has one of the best tracks in the game, but it once again showcases abilitites of the SNES hardware and Mode 7. I think, this area was based on sequence from the last level of CV3, where you must  jump onto swinging pendulums. Jumping on the chandelliers is much easier, since you don't need to jump from one chandellier to another and there are no enemies, to suddenly push you to the death. After you made it through this room you'll end up in the large level, where you need to fight different kinds of ghosts - formless ectoplasms, possesed furniture and ghosts of the dancing couples. Axe Knights will join the fry too. After the chandellier room, the most impressive area on this level is a gigantic dancehall, where you must fight bunch of annoying dancing ghosts and possesed tables. Just the whole scale of it overwhelms. The boss of the level is not very impressive, though. The next level is a library and portrait gallery. The library looks awesome, but have A VERY frustrarting part where you need to jump on the flying books. Gallery is quite easy to navigate and this is probably on of the easiest levels in the Castle. After you defeat giant armor, Grakul, Simon, per tradition, falls into dungeon. This level is probably one of the hardest levels in the game, right next to the Clocktower and the last area. It has tonnes of spikes, that momentarily kill you and there are two segments in which you need luck, not skill. The first one located in the middle of the level, where you need to go under falling platforms with spikes. The order in which they fall is random, so depending on your luck you will have either very easy time to get past them or very hard. In the end of the level you need to cross bridge, parts of which randomy dissappears. To add overall excitement, there are spikes on the ceiling that will fall on you as you try to cross it. I still couldn't figure pattern in which platfroms appears, so you best bet is to hope that platforms will appear where you need them or at least will not disappear, while you are standing on them. Sometimes you just need to guess where the next platfrom will appear. The worst thing about this part, is that you couldn't see the whole bridge, so when you try to cross it, you're always into some surprise. After defeating Monster, you'll get to the next level - Treasury. This level is very beatiful and quite hard, though a bit easier then Dungeon, since there are no one-hit-kill spikes everywhere. In general this is very straightforward level. After you'll beat Zapf Bat, you will get to the two final levels of the game. First one - is an obligatory Clocktower level, that uses Bloody Tears remix. It is probably the hardest level in the game. As usual you need to jump on big cogs, use hooks on the chins to travel across bottomless pits, dodge random flying cogs. The hardest part of the level is at the end of it. You need to use hook to pull yourself up to the top of the tower. However, there is random Axe Knight up there. He throws his axe, just when you go up. If you will not be able to dodge it, then you are as good as dead. However, the boss of the Clocktower is pathetically easy. The final level set to the Vampire Killer tune and starts with your descend to the crumbling bridge. The bridge this time, is not only crumbles, but also, somehow, spawns huge amount of bats chasing you. So, turning back is not an option in any way. After you make it through you get to the last part of the level. This time you need to climb up to the top of the tower by using crumbling stairs at first, utilizing your new ability to jump onto the stairs, and then by using flying platforms. Said flying platforms are flying under 45 degree angle and could not only deliver you to the higher platforms, but also to the spikes, that enmasse occupy some ceilings. After you'll made through this downright sadistic, albeit small trip, you finally will reach the last floor of the Castle in which you need to fight four bosses in a row - Slogra, Gaibon, Grim Reaper and Dracula himself.

Game play was certainly improved comparing to previous installments. First, Simon is much faster (though sometimes it could feel like he is too floaty a bit). Second, he is able to strike in all 8 directions. Though in order to strike down you need to jump. This ability is very powerfull and allow to easily dispatch some enemies that stands on higher or lower platforms. There is another new ability - after strike, you can hold attack button and Simon will not pull his whip back. It will stay on the screen and you actually can control it, by moving directional pad. This ability is useful to deflect enemy projectiles, and kill small enemies. Also, Simon can crouch. While it rather slow, it could be a very useful ability in some levels. As usual Simon has access to all subweapons from original Castlevania: Dagger, Axe, Boumerang, Holy Water and Stopwatch. Though in this game subweapons signifigance is lowered slightly, possibly because of Simon's ability to strike in multiple directions and his higher speed. Also, Simon can use his whip to clutch on hooks scattered throughout the levels. It allows him to swing accross the gaps. Though, when Simon is "hooked up" he is very vulnerable - he could use only his subwepaons, but one enemy strike will be enough to make Simon let go of hook and fall to his doom. Happily there are not many sections that gives enemies this advantage, but those that present could be very tiresome. Most of them are concentrated in Clocktower level. Another big progress that this game make regarding controls is Simon's ability to jump on the stairs. Sadly he still couldn't jump FROM stairs. This new ability means that in some situations you could make a small short cut in the level. In order to jump on the stair you need to hold up while jumping. Sometimes it doesn't work for whatever reason. It is especially grating in the last level, where you need to make a series of jumps on the stairs that suspended in the air. Meaning that your only way to access them is to jump on them. As usual, those stairs are suspended over the bottomless pit, so one failed jump and you'll need to start level form the begining. Because in order to use subweapon you now can push "R" button, instead of old "Up + Attack" combination, you can safely use subweapons, while climbing on stairs.

[Sumac]

Part 2:
The game have very many enemies, some of them are from previous CV games, some - completely new. Skeletons, Bone Scimitars, Axe Knights and iconic Medusa Heads make they return. Curiously the game doesn't have another iconic (and probably one of the most annoying enemies from the past games) Hunchbacks / Igors. Instead of them SCV4 uses Gremlins that were used as replacement for the Igors in Japanese version of CV3. I wonder, why they were included in the game instead of Hucnhbacks. Amongst the new enemies game has Walking Knights, that could use they spear to attack Simon on the platforms over them, Dancing Ghosts, Cursed Coffins and Ectoplasms. In general assortment of enemies is very rich and each area has some unique enemies, so you never end fighting the same baddies over and over again.

Bosses in this game are very colourful bunch. Since this game is a remake of the original CV1, all bosses from the first Castlevania ended up in this game in one way or the other. Phantom Bat became Zapf Bat - giant bat-like creature formed from gold coins and jewelry. It combines tactics of Bat-bosses from CV1 and CV3. In the begining it fights like Bat from CV1, and after loosing some amount of life it transforms into three small bats, like the Bat-boss from CV3. Also, interestingly, Zapf Bat is one of the last bosses in the game, though it is not very difficult opponent. The oddest thing about this boss, that it is barely trying to attack you. You will sustain the most damage from attempting to kill it, because after each strike some gold and jewelry, which form the body of the bat, will fly into all directions, damaging you. Medusa, once again with body, appears as a boss of the second level. Like her Haunted Castle version, she attacks with small snakes and, like her CV3-self, could turn player into stone statue. Oddly enough, she appears in the middle of the level and not in the end of it and is very easy to defeat. Mummy, this time under the name Akmodan (play on the name of demon) appears as boss of penultimate stage in the game. This time he is alone, without counterpart, but still uses similar tactic to his previous incarnations. He is throwing his wraps at Simon and closeranged fireballs. Both attacks are quite harmless and in general Akmodan is a very inept boss. Frankenstein's Monster return in the Dungeon level. This time he throw different retorts at player. Some of them act just like Holy Water subweapon, some explodes in the air and showering player with projectiles and some creates Mosnter's double. Double suuposedly have all Monster's abilities, but it very easy to kill him before he starts attacking, so most likely you'll never see him doing anything. Grim Reaper finally returns in slightly upgraded form (he is clad in a blue robe with golden chain on his chest, that makes him somewhat look like ghastly rapper) and with a new tactic. He attacks player by throwing small and fast sickles in his direction and, also, he can launch at player with his scythe (for the first time in the series). His most powerful attack is when he throws his scythe and creates a field that suck played towards him. Player must carefully time his jumps to avoid being crushed by scythe. Actually, as soon as player learn this attack pattern, this Reaper attack will be probably his greatest weakness in the battle. While Reaper control his scythe, he is standing stiil in one place, so you can score at least 6-7 hits on him.

While the old boss received major upgrades (in some cases) the new bosses aren't shabby either. Among them are such interesting creatures as Puwexil - mosntrous skull with long tongue, Sir Grakula - animated armor, that most likely was a prototype for the different types of armor-enemies in the SOTN. Water Dragons from CV3 make them comeback under the new name - Orphic Vipers. Though this time they are significantly easier than in CV3. Also, there is a special boss - Koranot, basically a giant stone golem, that most likely was created to showcase power of the Mode 7. During the battle, he will shrink after each succesfull strike and after his lifebar will be completely depleted, he will grow up...and then fly away with funny roar. Among the least notable bosses there are skeleton knight Rowdain that is very easy to defeat and Dancing Specters - there also very easy to beat and their tactics is nothing special. Though among all the newcomers two of them stand out the most. Those two are of course fan favorites - Slogra and Gaibon, enigmatic and monstrous Reaper's minions. They appear in the end of the final level in Contra-like boss rush, where you need to defeat three bosses in a row before you'll fight Dracula himself. Slogra is a bird-like skeleton creature with giant ugly beak. Initially he fights with his spear, that he could use to stab Simon or lauch exploding fireballs. Later, he loses it and attack player with simple charge attack during which he try to strike Simon with his beak. I find him to be the hardest boss of all four opponents in the boss rush. Gaibon is awesomely looking blue demon. He fly around the screen, sometimes lands and spew several fireballs at the player. At the same time spikes fall from the ceiling. This attack is quite easy to avoid, if you jump on the platform near the wall of the room. Like Slogra, he changes his tactic after he looses some part of lifebar. He change his colour to orange and begin to spew several fireballs downward in qucik succesion. Its funny, but this attack is much easier to avoid, than his first one. Those two bosses became mainstay in the series, appearing in several games, though most of the time not as bosses and their SCV4 incarnations are probably the most dangerous forms they ever had.

Curiously, Dracula in this game have only one form though, if you think about it, this game could have been a perfect opportunity to demostrate new hardware power, by creating some awesome transforming sequence for Dracula and making some crazy special effects for his monster form. Sadly, for whatever reason Konami didn't used this opportunity, so Dracula has only one form in this game, though two different faces, that possibly constitutes as two separate forms. In his first "form" Dracula use his classic tactic from Castlevania 1, though with a twist. If you try to jump over fireball, it will blew up and separate itself into three small unavoidable projectiles. So, you need to strike fireball, separate it into two small projectiles and only then jump over it. It actually much easier to do, than to describe. After Dracula loses 4 points from his lifebar, he'll attack Simon with very very annoying projectiles, that chaotically flies across the room. The best way to kill it - is too use Simon's whip swinging ability. While those little projectiles are annoying and dangerous, after you destroy them, they will leave a chicken leg that you can use to restore some of your life. Then Drcaula will attack by creating two fire pillars which form some sort of fire ghosts on top of them. This attacks is based on his CV3 first form attack. Those two fire spirits will homing onto Simon throughout the whole room. While they go down after one strike, they have an annoying tendency to fall into general direction of the player, like kamikazes. It makes them hard to avoid and you need specifically calculate their position to kill them, so they will not fall on your head. After loosing even more lives, Dracula once again attack Simon with little annoying projectiles and then, literally, change his face and tactic once more. His final attack is as simple as deadly. He wll still randomly teleport across the room, but this time he will summon four lighting bolts, that will strike in column like pattern. Player must accurately move himself between two lighting bolts to escape damage. The hardest part about it, it that lighting bolts appear every time in a new place, so its impossible to calculate where they will appear next time, so you must be constantly cautious. Considering that you still need to strike Drcaula, this part of the fight could become quite hectic and dangerous. As always, the best way to deal with ancient vampire, is to have enough patience and carefully observe your surroundings. In this case just look at the ceiling, after each time, when Dracula appears and step out of harm's way.

Difficulty in this game is carefully administered in different parts. First five levels are quite easy, but then game ups the difiiculty in the next two levels. Then, game become more difficult in the next two levels, and become even more difficult in the last two levels. In the levels themselves difficulty could be all over the place. You can encounter very easy part and then very hard in quick succesion. It makes the game somewhat hectic, but more interesting at the same time.

In general, the game is one of the best games in the series. There is really hard to find some negative points about it. Gameplay is at its best and the most comfortable in the series. Visual presentation is astounding and level design is essentially perfect. Music-wise the game is probably defines how the game should convey the feeling of lonelinees and melancholy and also shows what wonders hardware could do in the right hands. Maybe gameplay is not as varied as in Castlevania 3, that had different routes and playable characters. But given that CV3, in my opinion, became somewhat victim of its scale, I find that SCV4 is probably is in perfect balance between quality and quantity. Considering it was the first Castlevania game on the SNES hardware, I glad that Konami decided to make more linear and simple game, than trying to impress people with something that could easily overwhelm developers and result in not very satisfying experince. The only thing that bugs me about this game, is an annoying bug (ha-ha), when some enemies literally create doubles, if being left out of the screen for several seconds. It could make your life harder on some occasions, but this is the minor thing. Besides it occurs in a very few instances and could be easily avoided. Another thing that saddens me a bit - is quite unimpressive ending of the game. I mean credits with action shots from the game is interesting and all, but the actual ending is just not that striking, considering the scale of the game. This not much of the problem, since it doesn't affect most important part of the game - gameplay, but, when you have something so good as SCV4, you want it to be perfect in everything, from moody start to the ending. On all other accounts SCV4, for me, is a perfect Castlevania, that mixes masterfull level design, wonderfull atmosphere, brilliant soundtrack and nice gameplay into perfect combination. The perfect Castlevania.

[Sumac]

Finally made a video with one life playthrough of Akumajou Dracula (68000). Due to the fact that my usual recording setup (that I've used for the last two games) said "Fuck you", I was forced to use another recording program. Though said program could only write 11 minute long videos, after that it crashes. During the playthrough I've recorded several levels, than stopped to save video. Than I recorded some more levels and stopped to save another video. Now I have 5 separate videos. I try to edit them in one big file, so it will not be needed to upload this playthrough in several parts.

This game actually was quite hard. Not hard a CV3, but still.

[Sinful]

This game actually was quite hard. Not hard a CV3, but still.

Yeah, not as hard as part 3? Hmm, cool.

[Sumac]

Castlevania Video Marathon: Akumajou Dracula (Sharp X68000) (One life run) Part 1

(click to show/hide)

Castlevania Video Marathon: Akumajou Dracula (Sharp X68000) (One life run) Part 2
Castlevania Video Marathon: Akumajou Dracula (Sharp X68000) (One life run) Part 3
Castlevania Video Marathon: Akumajou Dracula (Sharp X68000) (One life run) Part 4
Castlevania Video Marathon: Akumajou Dracula (Sharp X68000) (One life run) Part 5

Finally, I've managed to get rid of this game. My two attempts (that took me almost the whole night) to convert five parts of the video into one video file uterly failed, so I opted for the last possibility - to upload all five parts separately. I know, its uncomfortable to jump form one video to the other, but that's the best that I could do in this situation. I hope it will not be repeated with the last three games. Now for the review:

You know, it's funny how much faith Konami put into idea that you can recreate the same game over and over. I wonder why they were so hesitating to create some actually new story for the Castlevania game. Not that it really would changed anything, aside from bits in the Manual and, maybe prologue in the game itself. Anyway, one way or the other, Konami decided to remade Simon adventures yet again, for the third time, right after another "remake" - wonderfull SCV4. I learned about this game, thanks to the Castlevania Dungeon. Like with many other games in the series, I didn't even have an idea that Castlevania graced with its presence some obscure japanese computer. In general I didn't expected much from this game and when I played it for the first time, 3 years ago, I thought that its just a nice game, but nothing special. So, what have changed after recent playthrough?

First, graphics and visual part. In general game looks a whole lot like something that you can find on Sega Genesis. It's bright, but not yet cartoonish. However, I think, that AK68K is actually more colourful and beautiful, than games on Genesis console. Backgrounds are meticulously detailed. It is especially evident in the places like Laboratory (Level 7) and final level. In the Lab you can see different bookcases and you can cleartly see what's inside of them - books, some devices, retorts e.t.c. Final level feature some very impressive weapons collection on the walls. While colours are bright and less moody, then in SCV4, backgrounds are downright awesome. Also, some areas not only very detailed, but also have wonderfull animation all over the place. Clocktower looks busy with activity even more so than usual. In terms of special effects, game doesn't have much to offer. Looks like there were no Mode 7-like thing, so no zooming and rotating sprites for you here. However amount of detalization on the levels and animation quality easily compensate for the lack of FX. Characters have good fluid animation, though Simon once again have awkwardly animated walk, a bit similar to his Haunted Castle incarnation.

Music is a letdown after SCV4, but that was pretty much to be expected. It seems Sharp X68000 could produce only MIDI-like sound, so the whole soundtrack arranged in electronique key. However, the melodies themselves are outstanding. Tower of Dolls and Etude for the Killer are certainly deserved to be rated among the best Castlevania tracks. Creatures of the Depths and Goddamned Bathead are also very nice. Tower of Gears is approproately maddening and annoying (in a good way) for the crazy Clocktower level. Moon Fight is also nice track, though, I think is doesn't stand out really much - it's sounds too disco. As usual some tracks from the past games received remixes. Vampire Killer became a lot more interesting in this version since the were some parts added to the base melody, but Bloody Tears is a bit shallow sounding, especially after SCV4. Surprisingly Begining is not in this game, though Simon's Theme is in. Like Bloody Tears, it suffered from unimpressive MIDI arrangement. Overall soundtrack is good, but severely sufferes from the arrangements. It was rectified in the rerelease of the game on PS1 several years later, where all tracks received, so much needed facelift. As for AK68K there are not one, but three versions of the soundtrack in the game. Each for different type of sound card or something. Generally they sound similar, though there are some differences between version here and there.

Gameplay in general adheres to the classical, pre-SCV4 standard. Simon could whip only forward and downward while jumping. He couldn't crouch, there are no special hooks for clutching on them with the whip. Also, Simon couldn't jump on the stairs. After SCV4 such limitations are certainly frustrating, though there are few good things about gameplay. Simon has certain weight to him, so its easy to manipulate him during jumping. Also, he strikes much faster, so he can easily deal with multiple opponents in close combat (something that was impossible even in SCV4). His hitbox is very small (finally) and it allows to escape damage in the situations where it was inevitable in the past games. Hitbox of the whip is quite big (like in CV1) and it stays on the screen for some time after strike. Coupled with Simon's ability to whip fast it allows to deal swiftly with the enemies. However Simon's walking and especially climbing speed are low. It could create some problems, when you need to escape from small fast enemies like Medusa Heads. Subweapons once again assgned to the "Up + Attack" combination and once again it creates a problem when you want to use subweapon on the stairs. All subweapons from CV1 are present here, and there is a new "subweapon" - Laurel. Actually it is not technically a subweapon. Laurel allow you to restore you lives whenever you want. However it cost a lot of hearts and you can't carry any "normal" subweapon with you, when you have it. So, the choice is up to you - have Laurel to restore you lifebar whenever you like, or be more effective vampire hunter, by carrying another weapon in your arsenal. Laurel could be found in one candle in the game, and rarely enemies will drop it after their destruction. But in general it is very hard to find.

Level design is more action oriented than in SCV4 and more similar to the previous games in the series. Whereas SCV4 combined platfroming and action parts into one solid package, AK68K separates its levels in action parts, where you encounter multiple enemies and platforming parts, where you main objective is just to get to the end of the section and enemies serves little more than destraction. It's not bad though. Some of the levels are generally more platforming oriented than others (like Clocktower level).

Most of the levels are inspired in someway, by the levels from original Castlevania, SCV4 and sometimes even Haunted Castle. First level is a solid recreation of the first level of the Castlevania 1. Entrance hall once again has windows (that were absent in the SCV4 version of the level) and it started an odd tradition by putting Peeping Eye enemy behind said windows. In the middle of the level there is Mermen infested basement. It is more straightforward than in CV1 and there are much more Mermen. Second level seemingly based on the begining of the level 4 from Castlevania and Caves from SCV4. It has two different paths and hidden merchant with horn, who can give you whatever subweapon or object whatever you want. Even Laurel. In the final part of this level Simon must ride a wooden platform to the top of the vertical chamber. The problem here is that said platform shatters along the way, and there are multiple Mermen that try to shot Simon from the platform with their projectiles. I think this part is too hard for just the second level of the game. Though given penchant of developers for the difficulty, I shudder at the thought of how this part would be designed, if it was set in one of the final levels. Begining of the level three, surprisingly, based on the second part of the level 4 from Castlevania and somewhat on the first level from the Haunted Castle. You once again find yourself being bombarded by Hunchback-troopers. In the middle of the level there is Swamp slightly similar to the middle part of the SCV4 second level. And in the end Simon arrives to the Ice Cave (?). What exactly Ice Cave doing in the basement of the Dracula's Castle is anyone's guess. Level 4 somewhat based on the level 2 from Castlevania. It has similar colour scheme and several parts closely repeating level design from the NES hit. In the begining it has an awesome giant statue of Athena that crying with bloody tears that shapeshift into Red Skeletons. Now guess what track is playing on this level? However, the final part of the stage looks like a remake of the first level from CV3 - giant chapel with stained glass windows.       

[Sumac]

Continue:
Level 5 is a Clocktower, seemingly combining elements from all past incarnations of this location and adding some new twists to it. The most prominent new element is probably falling gears, that you can whip to make them roll faster and change directions. Swinging pendulum from CV3 also returns. Level 6 have in the begining collapsing bridge, this time made much more harder by presence of annoying Medusa Heads. In order to complete the sequence you need to costantly jump and whip, since you never know when the next Medusa Head will appear. The next part of the stage is a giant tower of dolls. Here you will be attacked by clowns, balloons, glowing bats and one of the most annoying enemies in the game - homing dools. Said dolls not only being first characters in the game, that feature real voice acting (not random grunts and roars), but they also know how to dodge Simon's attack, which makes them one the hardest enemies in the game to deal with. In the final part of the level you must go through the short corridor with two Axe Armors and tonnes of falling mirrors. There are a whole lot of different mirrors on the wall and practically every single one of them, aside from the biggest ones, will try to fall on the Simon's head. Level 7 is a remake of the level 5 from Castlevania. Some sections even feature the same level design as in original game. However this stage has something else that make it stand out in the game: copious amount of gore. In the begining you will find a lot of skeletons and prisoners in the cells. It's nothing big. But in the middle of the level there are naked, sometimes, dismembered bodies hanging on the hooks and lying around on the tables. Designers certainly get out of they way to make this location looks like a real bloody laboratory of crazy scintiest. In the end you will go through the portrait gallery, that this time feature actual portraits (some quite disturbing, like picture with humans literally being part of the white canvas). One of the most interesting parts about this level is a final part in the gallery that starts...in the middle of the sunny field. It's quite surprising, when you get to that part for the first time. Minute later, however, you'll discover that "field" is just a big picture. Level 8 features Dracula personal quarters and armory, filled with different armors. In the second part of the level you must cross ruined bridge, while dodging Phantom bats (this area is based on the first part of the level 6 of the Castlevania). The last part of the level is set in the Dracula quarters, but this time you fight not different armors, but Ninja Maid and Panthers. Said Ninja Maid could transform into ugly flying ghosts. After that you get to the Castle Keep, which made in the traditional style, resembling versions from CV1 and SCV4 at the same time. Dracula's chamber, for the first time features giant throne on which Dracula himself resides.

Enemies mostly taking from previous games, however, as it was customary for the Castlevania back then, almost all of them received new looks. Bats, Medusa Heads, Mermen, Hunchbacks, Axe Armors, Panthers, Skeletons - all of them are present in the game. Axe Armors are barely a threat this time - they could be destroyed from the single strike, if you be lucky enough to hit them, when they low their shields. Also, their axes have a very low speed. Tree Demons in the level 3 were taken from Haunted Castle and Peeping Eyes - from SCV4, though in this game they received their "classic" look with long tails. Among newcomers there are different types of armors that quard Dracula's quarters. There are several versions of them armed with halberds, crossbows, flails and swords. In the second part of the quarters there are mutiple maids waiting for the Simon to appear. This enemy will not appear in the series until Aria of Sorrow, where they have received completely new look and abilities.

Some of the bosses in this game, as expected, were taken from Castlevania 1. Phantom Bat returns as boss of the first level and as simple enemy in the last one. After each succesfull hit, Bat will divide into multiple small bats. It seems Phantom Bats in the last level can't do this. Medusa appears as the boss of the level 4, which appropriately somewhat based on the level 2 of Castlevania. It is probably the hardest version of this boss ever. This Medusa relies not on her snakes, but on her own melee attacks (once again for the first time in the series). She was appropriately nicknamed as "Kung Fu Medusa" in one of the comments on the YouTube. To defeat her you'd better have boumerangs or Laurel. Surprisingly, Mummy is not in this game, nor as boss, nor as simple enemy. Frankenstein's Monster relagated to the simple enemy status in the middle of the level 7. Interestingly he appears approximately in the same place, where you could found electric equipment in the level 5 of original Castlevania. Reaper once again gain status as the last boss before Dracula. He looks close to his appearance in original Castlevania, save for the colour of his robe - it is brown instead of purple. He is actually easy to defeat (if you have Cross-boumerangs), though he has few new attacks. Now, besides throwing sycles all over the screen, he also can throw his scythe at Simon (like in SCV4, though this time its actually chase Simon across the screen). Then Reaper will personally follow Simon to attack him with scythe and finally he would create a black hole, throwing multiple homing skulls at the time.

Other bosses came from the past games mostly, except for Skeleton Dragon - boss of the Level 2. Sorcerer - boss of the level 3, is seemingly inspired by wizard boss from Belmont's Revenge. He summons different types of magical  weaponry, like flying sabres, ice columns, flying wolf heads (that drain Simon's hearts) and giant fire breathing demon. During Demon summon, Sorcerer is invincible. She-Wolf is the boss of the Level 5. It is quite interesting to note, that while original Castlevania was tribute to cult monsters from horror movies, one of said cult monsters - Werewolf, was never ever present in any Castlevania game. Up until this one. Probably She-Wolf presence was the reason for the Mummy absence in the game. Traded one cult monster for another, so to speak. She-Wolf is probably one of the most dangerous bosses in the game. She is fast, her AI is smart enough to make her dodge Simon's attacks all the time and duck and avoid his projectiles. Her main method of attack is to throw pieces of the background (giant Clocktower) at the Simon. Later in the battle she begin to throw numbers from the dial plate. And finally she weaponize herself with one of the clock hands. In general, it is quite difficult, hectic, but also, very impressive and interesting fight. Doppelganger makes his return as the boss of the sixth level. This time he appears from the mirror and looks like lizard in Simon's garb. He can do whatever Simon can do and he could use whatever subweapon player has at the moment. There is one way to not let him use subweapons - just lose all your hearts in the level. This boss could be hard or could be easy, depending on your speed and reaction. Also, he has a taunt that he uses after defeating Simon.

Dracula appears in his chamber on the throne, drinking a glass of blood. This later become one of the many Castlevania semi-traditions. He has two forms. In the first, he generally mimics his own tactic from Castlevania 1. He teleports across the chamber and throws firebals at Simon. However, in this version, Dracula throws fireballs much faster. In the begining of the battle he throws 3 fireballs, but later, after loosing half of his lifebar, he begin to throw 5 firebals at a time. It is not easy to kill them, and your main hope is to find appropriate distation from Dracula to destroy his fireballs each time, when he attacks. Like in SCV4 Dracula here has two faces. He uses second face after loosing half of his life. His second form is that of the giant demon / dragon. Unlike Dragon from CV1, this one can shoot firebals in the continous stream, jump and shot multiple fireballs bombing the ground and he has melee claw attack. He certainly not easy to defeat this time. However, he could be more or less easily defeated by using any subweapon that could stun him, like Holy Water or Boumerangs (with X2 multiplyer). In general this version of Dracula is probably the hardest in the classic games.

One of the main problems with this game is diffculty. Usually I am not objecting to it, because back in the begining and middle of the 90s it was usual for the games to be hard for various reasons, like neccesity to keep players playing them for some time or because they were converted from arcade machines e.t.c. Castlevania was one of the flagships of the dificult games back in the 16-bit era. However, unlike many others games at the time, usually Castlevania relied on the clever level design and enemy placement to make the games harder. Certain limitations of the player abilites and hard game physics, also made games more difficult to beat. The hardest game in the series so far was CV3 and CVA (but that was hard mostly because of different problems plaguing game engine). It seems developers of AK86K decided to make this game "the king of the hardest CV games". Already in the second level there is a very hard sequence where you need to keep yourself on the small platform, which becomes smaller with the time and there are multiple Mermen that shot at you. One random shot and you're doomed. To top that, sometimes Mermen shoot their projectiles on different height. So player could be easily thrown off the platform after random hit at the feet.
The boss of the level also, potentially, could kill you in one strike.

Enemy placement also looks like it was aimed to make player's life as hard as possible, at least, if player doesn't have certain subweapons with him. Level design could be quite sadistic sometimes. If enemies are not problem in a given level, then level itself try to make everything possible to  take you out. It is especially evident in the Clocktower. Some enemies and bosses have AI that allow to dodge attacks. Boss battles are fast and furious and most of the time it would be the best decision to kill boss as fast as possible, otherwise your defeat is pretty much guaranteed. The biggest problem with the game difficulty is the amont of damage Simon takes after each hit after Level 2. Each succesfull enemy hit will take 1/4 of the Simon's lifebar, effectively meaning, that Simon could sustain only 4 hits from...anything, be it Axe Armor's Axe, random Skeleton or a falling mirror. Since Wall Meat is pretty scarce in the game, it means players must be extra carefull in the remaining 6 levels of the game. This is downright puzzling, why developers thought it would be a good idea to put player into such limitations.

Despite those problems, AK68K is still good and most of the time enjoyable game. It doesn't have novelty and atmosphere of the SCV4, but it certainly has its own charms of the old-timer. While certain gameplay restrictions are obviously a bad idea and feels like unnecesary adherence to the old times, levels themselves designed very nicely. They are straightforward, but with so much details and, sometimes, creativity put in them, it would be unfair to call them badly designed. Characters animation is very good. Music is also nice, but sufferes from MIDI arrangements, that take away some potential from them. Gameplay is simplistic, yet could be enjoyable, if player will be able to tolerate unfair difficulty in some places of the game. In general it is interesting game and it could have been very good, if it was released some time before SCV4. As it is now, AK68K is somewhat of an artefact from the past. It is interesting, but in the end was not very needed.     

[uzo]

You forgot to link to Part 2.

Herp derp, I'm a retard. It wasn't completely obvious though, since the embedding didn't seem to work right.

[Deathbyknockback]

I friggin love X6800. I also love these playthroughs, because if I tried to do a one life run through any of these games, I would probably need a new TV.

[Sumac]

Finally recorded a One Life Run through the Rondo with Richter through regular stages. Now I need only to make One Life Run with Maria through the alternate stages and Richter's 100% ending.
By the way, I still haven't wrought review for this game. Only small bits and pieces. Seemingly this game is hard to describe...

[The Silverlord]

Loved reading your reviews, Belmont.   Seriously though, really good comments and appreciation of each game. Gutted you didn't like the CVIV ending though, that BGM is one of the series' finest and brings out some emotion in me every time.

Keep running, jumping, and whip-slashing a'through the halls!

[Sumac]

Gutted you didn't like the CVIV ending though, that BGM is one of the series' finest and brings out some emotion in me every time.

Well, the music is good, but I expected something more...interesting on the visual part, than just credits. Given how beautiful intro and the game itself were, I believe, it was a reasonable expectation.

[Sumac]

Castlevania Video Marathon: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine) (Richter one life run)
Castlevania Video Marathon: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine) (Maria one life run) 
Castlevania Video Marathon: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine) (Richter 100% ending + Stage X)       

My first introduction to Rondo of Blood was through the Castlevania: Dracula X of course. When I read description of this game, I've heard that it was inferior port of the some obscure game that was released only in Japan. Obviously, as soon as I had possibility I decided to play this "obscure game" and to see, if it was better than CVDX. When I first played it, I wasn't imprssed that much. Just run of the mill Castlevania, with a few interesting additions here and there. What have changed about my opinion of this game now?

Graphics in this game is good. However palette is a bit monotone in some levels. Some rooms once again consist from square blocks, like in first three games on NES. Backgrounds are sometimes detailed and animation is flawless. Richter have classic Belmont strut, but his climbing-on-stairs animation is awkward. The same thing with Maria. Though her sprite in general looks a bit strange as, if it has no clear outlines. Bosses are big and very detailed. There are not much in the way of special effects (notable special effect is a background during Drcaula's battle).

For the first time Michiru Yamane composed music for the series. While soudtrack is quite disjointed in its feel, all tracks are excellent and memorable. Though some of them don't feel like they should be in the Castlevania game, like Stage 5' music. Classic trio of old tracks (Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears and Begining) received another remixes. Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears were given a decent facelift, while Begining sound somewhat  boring. Out of the new music my absolute favorite is Bloodlines, which received multiple awesome remixes throughout the Castlevania history.

There are toatlly 14 levels, however during one playthrough you can get through only 8 or 9 levels (depending on the character). Some Stages have hidden alternative versions - 2, 3, 4 and 5. Alternate Stage 5 opens only after player defeats Dracula at least once and it doesn't have boss. You can get into alternative stages via some pits and secret passages scattered throughout the regular levels. However, even without ways leading into different stages, regular levels in the game could be completed in several different ways and there are multiple secrets hidden. Usually those alternate ways could be quite obscure. Sometimes specific actions needed to find a secret path - like destroying several bricks in the certain location or push buttons in the right order.

In the gameplay department this game was innovative in many ways. It was the second Castlevania game, where player could receive different endings. However this time deciding factor wasn't the time player spent in the gameworld (actually this game stopped using time limit alltogether). In order to receive good ending player must rescue four maidens in different levels. However, you could save only two or three of them in one run. Oddly enough there is no "bad" ending, just "good" and "the best" endings.

Also, it was the first game in which completion percentage was introduced. In order to obtain 100% player needs to visit all levels in the game, defeat all bosses and save all prisoners. So, basically you need at least two playthroughs to obtain the best ending. However differences between "bad" and "good" endings are minimal. There are also multiple vocied cutscenes. There are not very animated and mostly look like animated comics. Voices are quite, though, Maria, being embodiemant of traditional loli-stereotype, could be a bit annoying. For the second time in the series there are two playable characters to choose from - Richter Belmont and Maria Renard. Like in Castlevania 3, you need to rescue Maria in order to make her playable character. However, you can't change characters during gameplay. You can change characters only after you get to the continue screen. Or you must start game from the menu, where Maria will be available to selection. Then you can start game from any desirable point. It is quite inconvenient way to change characters, since you couldn't quit the game to the Menu screen and either you must to lose all your lives or Reset the game alltogether.

More about personal gameplay. Richter Belmont is a traditional, run-of-the-mill-Belmont. He can whip only forward, but he has plenty of new stuff to compensate for that needless limitation. First he can jump on and off stairs anywhere he wants - ability that should have been included much earlier in the series. Also, he can do a backflip - it is not as usefull as double jump and a bit awkward to use (because you need to stand with your back towards the direction of planned jump), but in certain situations it could come in handy to avoid projectiles and enemies. Looks like some of the enemy projectiles in this game were specially designed to force player to use this move. In terms of control Richter is a bit too floaty. While you can control him during the jump, it could be hard to land exactly where you want to.

Old subweapons made they return, and there is a new subweapon in the game - Bible, that acts like a shield. It is circling around Richter several times. Most powerfull new ability of the Richter is directly linked to his subweapons - it is alled an Item Crash. Whenever your heart counter flashes green, you can execute Item Crash by pressing Select button on the joy-pad. As a result Richter will make a powerfull (usually) screen-wide attack. What exactly attack he will use is determined by the subweapon Richter has at the moment. Holy Water allow to execute Hydro Storm - screen-filling holy rain. Axe allow to create multiple axes circling around the screen. With Bible Item Crash look like multiple crosses coming from the ground. It is very powerful attack, probably one of the strongest Item Crashes in the game. Also it probably the most visually impressive Item Crash. Dagger Item Crash is quite different - it is not visualy impressive as the others and it doesn't fill the screen: Richter just shoot multiple daggers in front of him.

Maria Renard is quite different character from Richter. First, she is a smaller than him, so some attacks, under which Richter must duck, will not harm her at all (i.e. Medusa's stone gaze). She can do double jump, but her control is even more floaty than Richter's. It is very hard to land with her precisely where you want, especially after double jump. This often will lead to stupid deaths during jumping on the small platforms. She is the first character in the series with the ability to slide, however her slide is quite different from what next protagonists will use in the future. She slides on her stomach and not in fighting game manner and, also, doesn't damage enemies on contact. You can repeat slide as fast as you want. She also can do a somersault. Besides, Maria can project her "inner ninja" to deliver multiple slashes at the enemy. Bad thing about this move is the fact that enemy should stand in some distance from Maria. If enemy stays closer or further than that distance, this move won't do any damage to the enemy. Her main weapon are doves, that she throws from her hand. Doves acts like a boumerangs and hit enemy twice: for the first time when they fly towards the enemy and for the second time, when they return back to Maria. One button press allow to throw one dove and two button presses allow to throw two doves in a row. It gives player opportunity to attack several enemies in close succession, or delay second attack. She has completely different subweapons than Richter. Her subweapons are: Cat - it charges at the enemy and hit it two or three times. Dragon - it just flies towards enemy and hit it. It is very powerfull subweapon. Birds - they fly diagonally up from Maria. Turtle - creates a shell around Maria in which she can safely walk amongst the enemies. Like Richter, Maria can execute Item Crashes that fill all or most of the screen, but she needs more hearts in order to do it. Inivicibility period after being hit is very small, so some enemies and bosses could simply corner your character and juggle it until he run out of health.

Visually levels in ROB look very big on the screen. Sadly more often then not they are quite empty. It goes for amount of enemies and animations. Besides, levels often feel devoid of life and soul. While they are beautiful and colourful they simply don't give any lasting impression. They look like they were created after calculation on computer. They served they function and present desired locations, but doesn't do anything beyond that. They are simply big sized levels without anything special. Clocktower for example looks very bland, when being compared to the same location from Akumajou Dracula 68000K released in the same year or Super Castlevania 4. Entrance Hall, that received another remake in this game, looks downright boring, even it's beautiful.

There are 14 levels in this game, including Prologue Stage 0 that is available only for Richter. In this short stage Richter must fight Reaper, while riding on the horse carriage. Reaper will go down after three hits. Stage 1 is very surprsing partial remake of the town from the Castlevania 2. While it looks like Town of Yova (first town in the CV2) it is called in the Town of Aljiba. Sadly you can't actuvate sign to read in which diection you can go. In the end of the level, before door leading out of town ruins there is a split path, that will lead you to the giant flower and battle with Sea Dragon on the bridge. In the final part of the level there is something very similar to the Tower of Piza for some reason. Stage 2 is a reamke of Entrance Hall, complete with Fishmen basement. There are actually two remakes of the Entrance Hall - first part is redesigned, but the final part of the Stage, right before the Werewolf battle, looks like Entrance Hall from Castlevania 1. In the middle of the level you will be chased by the Behemoth, giant horned monster with half of his body missing. It will die automatically. In the Fishmen basement you can find Maria's cell. Key is in the fifth candle in the Behemoth corridor. Stage 2' is the  Sky Bridge and some stone structures in the water. You can find Ferryman here. It is very easy level to complete, especially, if you choose way leading to the alternate boss. Stage 3 is a Chapel. It starts from boring corridor with multiple columns and continues as fullfleshed chapel with altar and giant cross. In the middle of the level you must fight medusa heads and giant Skeleton - Parantropus. In the final part of the level you fight in the big room with giant candles. In the end you can find an elevator, that will take you to Dogether (Stage 3' boss) and big Fleamen, who can still your subweapon. Stage 3' is a cemetery - probably obe of the most beautiful levels in the game. It is filled with different secrets. In the begining of the level you can get under the tombstone on the top of the screen, by moving it away. Under it you can find a secret room with where you can chosse subweapon and receive additional life. In the middle of the level you can save nun Iris. You don't need key to do so - just destroy a wall under the door leading to the nest scetion of the level and go down right next to some brown rubbish on the ground. In the end of the level you'll meet some crazy "mexicans" (at least they look like them). In order to get to the alternate boss, you need to destroy chain on the the second spiked ball in the final part of the level. Stage 4 is some strange undeground. This level is probably suffer the most from the "emptyness". It is very big, but at the same time there is very little enemies or animation. However this level have multiple alternate paths and secrets. In the begining part, you can find a lone Fleamen sitting on the button. If you step on it, hidden path will open. After the chamber, where you need to go up the stairs with Fleamen riding giant balls, you can find another secret location - just go to the place, where said giant balls come from. You'll end up in the chamber where you can receive life. In the final part of the level there is bomb, that will allow you to get to the alternate Stage 5, but it apears only after you complete the game once. Stage 4' is a river. It starts with the short jumping section in which you must beware forgs and ravens. In the second part of the level you can save Tera. To do that you must strike two frog statues: one in the begining of the middle part of the level (near the waterfall with falling rafts) and in the end (near the exit of the section). After that, long beam in the begining of the game will be broken and you can access underground cavern inhabitated with Fishmen. You don't need key to open the door, however you will need a lot of luck to escape this place without loosing a life. In order to get to Carmilla, you should return to the begining of the middle part of the level and jump on the raft. While you riding on the raft you should be wary of raft-riding skeletons. There will be birds with boxes, that can give you some prizes. In the end of the section you will see a brid with the sign. As soon as you see it, you must immediately jump from the raft. In the final part of the level you must get the key to open the grate that lead to the Carmilla's chamber. The hardest part of this task is to avoid bat swarms that flying in short periods one after the other. You can give yourself a breathing space by jumping. After several jumps bats will possibly fly on top of the screen. They key to the grate is in the lone candle over the lake. You must carefully destroy it, while riding a moving platform. If you lose the key for some reason, you must kill yourself and start this sequence from the begining, since without the key, you will not be able to go anywhere from  cave.

To be continued...

[Sumac]

Part 2:

Stage 5 is a Ghost Ship. It is very short. In the middle there are three rooms, where you need to defeat enemies in order to progrees. Your first opponent is the Spectral Sword. It is flying on top of the screen surrouned by different weapon that sometimes fly towards the player. You must destory Spectral Sword to end up with flying weapons. In the next there are three archers. It is very easy to defeat them. And in the final room, there are ginat portrait, that could literally suck in character. In the end of the level you must fight your way through three giant knight with flails, while being swooped by birds rided by hunchbacks at the same time. It is probably one of the hardest places in the game, however boumerangs could make your life significantly easier here. Stage 5' is bascially very hard bonus stage. It consists from multiple parts, that most likely were tacked upon each other to create one long level. This level filled with different platforming segments and is probably the hardest stage in the whole game. Stage 6 is a boss rush that ends up in the battle with Shaft - Dracula's right hand man in this game. Stage 7 is a Clocktower and final part of the Castle inhabitated with powerfull knights, that can take a lot of damage. It starts with collapsing bridge sequence. What differ this version from the others, is that you'll be constantly attacked by giant bats from behind. Some of them will even carry swords with them. Sometimes there are even bats that guard the bridge. To take them down you'll need either two whip strikes or one strike with Axe subweapon. As Maria you can simply slide all the way till the end of the bridge. Just beware of the bats that guard that bridge. Final Stage consist of the famous staircase and battle with Dracula.

There are many new enemies in the game, however some of the classic ones (Skeletons, Axe Knights, Medusa Heads, Bats, Peeping Eyes, Fleamen (formerly known as Hunchbacks)) returned. As that was the case back then, they received new sprites, however, it is exactly those sprites will be used for the long-long time in the future 2D entries in the series.

Practically all bosses in this game are the new ones. All old bosses from CV1 were given a special appearance during Shaft's boss rush in the Stage 6 and Grim Reaper appears as a boss of the regular Stage 5 - Ghost Ship. I am not sure why he was chosen to be the boss on the Ghost Ship, but whatever. He has two forms - in the first he flies around creating multiple sickles that aimed at the player. In the second form he tries "hands on" approach and try to kill player by slicing him with his scythe. Other bosses include: Wyvern - flying purple dragon that is very easy to defeat; Sea Dragon that could be quite hard boss for the first stage of the game. Bosses of the second stages are Werewolf, who fights very differently from She-Wolf from AK68k and Bone Golem - impressive bone creature who changes his form sduring the battle. Werewolf is hard to defeat, but Bone Golem is very easy. Stages 3 have Minotaur and Dogether as a bosses. Minotaur is generally very straightforward and quite stupid opponend, but Dogether could corner player with his attacks and very easy kill him. However he loses his life very quickly. Bosses of the Stage 4 and Stage 4' are Dullahan and Carmilla. Dullahan is a headless knight and one of the hardest bosses in the game. He has wide range of attacks that allow him to attack player on different distances and is very strong. Carmilla battle have a nice reference to the Castlevania 2 boss "Vampira" (that was inpired by Carmilla's mask). The battle starts with familliar mask from Simon's Quest trasforming into giant skull with naked woman on top of it. On the floor there is Carmilla's servant, Laura, waiting for the player. In the battle Carmilla using a slightly modified tactic from Castlevania 2 - she throws fire tears on the floor that explode in different directions. Laura is running on the floor and, if player accidentally get in her hands, she will immobilize him and drain multiple hearts. After Carmilla's destruction, Laura turns into athletic cat-like creature that chasing player along the room with spin kicks. It's very easy to defeat both Carmilla and Laura. Those two are probably are one of the easiest bosses in the game.

Special mention goes to the new character in the Castlevania series - dark priest Shaft. He serves as a right hand man for the Dracula in this game, probably explaining why Reaper was moved to some Ghost Ship instaed of being Dracula's bodygurad in the Castle itself. In ROB you fight Shaft twice. The first battle is one of the hardest in the game. Before you will Shaft himself he will summon 4 bosses from original Castlevania - Phantom Bat, Medusa, Mummy and Frankenstein's Monster. All of them are very easy to defeat, but four boss battles in a row could be a bit tiresome, so it is very easy to do some stupid mistakes. And you have only one life restoring item, that you'll receive after defeating Mummy. Only after you defeat all four bosses you'll fight with Shaft himself. In the battle old priest uses green glass orbs. He can turn them into literal fireballs that will chase player across the whole room. This is could be hard to avoid. Then Shaft begin to summon lighting from orbs. During this stage of battle you can count only on the luck, since orbs trajectory and speed are random, so sometimes you can easily escape lightining and sometimes it's pretty much impossible to do so. After lightining, Shaft will send his orbs to attack player directly. The best way to avoid them is to jump over them with Richter's backflip or Maria's double jump. All the while Shaft is not standing on one place. After one several strikes he jumps on the other half of the room, so during his boss battle you must run across the room like crazy to strike him and at the same time avoid his "orb attacks". It is very tiresome and fast boss battle. However this is not the end of the old piest. You will fight his ghost as the boss of the very next stage. His tactic is different and a bit simplier than in the first battler. Depending on the side of the room he is in, he will summon skeletal version of Wyvern or skeletal version of the Behemoth (monster that chases player in the Stage 2 - Entrance Hall). Behemoth appears for a short time over the ground, trying to ram the player, but Wyvern has two attacks - both based on its own attacks from boss battle in the first regular Stage of the game. Shaft himself will fly form one side room to the other after every strike. Bats, that flying from the top of the screen, could become the biggest problem in this battle. It is hard to see them and while you chasing Shaft from one corner of the room to the other it is very easy to accientally to touch them and receive damage.

Dracula's battle is unexpectedly easy. I mean it is very easy. More easy than usual. In his first form he acts the same as in most of the games. He throws three fireballs into player. In order to not get hit by them player must strike Dracula precisely at the distance and the moment that will allow to damage Dracula and destroy his fireballs in one hit. It is quite similar to the tactic player need to use in the AK68K, however here it is much easier to execute, since Dracula throws fireballs at the lower speed and they are bigger. Each fourth attack Dracula will throw big balls of dark energy (later in the seres this attack will be known as "Hellfire"). It is easy to avoid and basically gives you a "free hit" on the Dracula's head. After his human form is destroyed, Dracula will transform into giant and awesome looking demon. Sadly his awesome look is the only thing that could give impression to the player, because his tactic is primitive and he doesn't posses any danger at all. Demon has only two attacks - fireballs that fly at the safest trajectory possible and lighting wave, that could be avoided by simply ducking under it. Given how hard some of the bosses in this game, it is quite strange that final boss become such a cakewalk. Looks like SCV4 syndrome strikes again, but at least this time Dracula have second form, though it is pure formality.

In the end this game is downright awesome, when it comes to pure content. Multiple stages with multiple alternative paths and alternative bosses, two playable characters, voiced cutscenes, impressive animation, what possibly more can you desire from a Castlevania game? But there is something...that I find kind of off about this game. For me, it lacks a very important factor - an atmosphere. It feels sometimes disjointed as if multiple ideas were thrown in, but there weren't kind of adapted to be the part of the same picture. The game feels like a puzzle picture created form different pieces. The kind of fit each other enough to not feel too alien, but at the same time they doesn't fit each other for 100%. It's like a playing different games in one. Though, when I was playing as Maria I didn't had a feeling that I was playing in Castlevania game at all. It was like as if I was playing some random Konami game that didn't have to do practically anything with Castlevania. Too modern soundtrack didn't help to create "Castlevaniaish" atmosphere. Maybe this game fell victim of the Castlevania 3 syndrome, being to big and all over the place to concentrate approriately on the atmosphere? But no. While Rondo is a big game, it is certainly much smaller than CV3. It's simply feels like it was being created from different parts. I am not sure what causes this. Maybe game feels to modern? Well, I don't have answer to this. One thing that I can say, while I don't hate this game, but I don't like this game either, it didn't left any lasting impressions on me.

[GuyStarwind]

This question may already be answered but I'm too lazy to look it up. But are you only doing Classicvania's or will you do Metriodvania/3D games too?