Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[Alex79]

Will Dracula X count for this show, too?

[ratsoalbion]

We'll probably cover it off in this pod rather than give it a separate show, but it's not the same game.

[Alex79]

Hmm, just looked in to it, I think the PSP version on Dracula X Chronicles is my best bet to play Rondo, although that's a remake as well. I guess I could just emulate the original.

[Pconpi]

I'm playing through it on Castlevania Requiem on PS5, has both Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood. Pretty bare bones package but Rondo has played fine for me.

[ratsoalbion]

Yes, that's how I'm playing too.

[Mr Ixolite]

Hmm, just looked in to it, I think the PSP version on Dracula X Chronicles is my best bet to play Rondo, although that's a remake as well. I guess I could just emulate the original.

I'm almost certain that Dracula X Chronicle includes the original version of Rondo as a hidden unlockable, so the PSP route should definetely be possible

[Alex79]

Yeah I read that, I'll give it a go, I think it's probably the only Castlevania game I've never played at all so should be fun. I wish the game was unlocked from a menu though, you have to find some candlestick in the remake to smash and then it unlocks! Same for SOTN.

[Tolkien]

After Castlevania IV, I was truly hoping for a new one to come out for Super Nintendo. One day, while browsing a foreign magazine about video games in Japan, I saw some screenshots of Castlevania Rondo of Blood and it blew my mind. It looked great but it was coming out for a console called pc-engine that I had never heard of before. Nintendo and Sega, Super nintendo and Megadrive, what the hell was a pc-engine? And yet the graphics were fantastic. And the game was not a cartridge! It was a CD!

Then, like year and a half after that, the miracle: Konami was going to release a port of Rondo for Snes odly titled "Vampire's Kiss". But that was kind of the same game right? right? we all thought that.

Castlevania IV was just a marvel. Vampire's Kiss a disgusting joke.

But I did not play the "real" original Castlevania Rondo Of Blood until 5 years ago when I get a Pc-Engine Duo-R for my retro collection. So I played all other games of the series and this is the last I completed. And now, I understand the gap between ClasicVania and the IgaVanias.

This videogame was the pivotal point for the ones that come after. The graphis look very polished and beautiful for the time. There are some effects that blew my mind knowing this was released back in 1993. Like the spinning picture boss fight effect, the cutscenes with voice actors, and wonderfuly animated sprites. So charming, and well done that those've been used to this day in 8 other later games of the series that I can count.

The highlighs for this game:
Richter is one of the best Belmonts if not THE best.
It's a sequel to Castlevania 2 and prequel to Symphony of the Night.
Gameplay is back to roots, hence some sections are harder than it should. I must say I did not get why they changed the onmidirectional whip controls from SuperCastlevania IV and we never had that again.
Graphics are awesome, colorful palete and well done animated sprites.
Music is just perfect. There are themes that become iconic like Divine Bloodlines, Requiem, Cross a Fear, Illusionary dance and many others later arranged by Michiru Yamane for Symphony of the Night.

An absolute must for any Castlevania lover.

[Alex79]

Don't think I'm going to get far with this one, can't even beat the second level boss

[ratsoalbion]

This has a boss rush of some of the original game's bosses on stage 6 (of 9). Harsh!

[Mr Ixolite]

Don't think I'm going to get far with this one, can't even beat the second level boss

As a last resort, theres another playable character you can unlock in the second level that makes things far more manageable, as they're capable of sliding, double jumping, and has two short range projectile attacks instead of a whip

[AndrewElmore]

Hoping I find the time to come back and write some more here before the recording, but I want to at least state that after many years of very careful deliberation, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is my favorite 2D action game, period. I determined that to be the case for myself at some point at least a decade ago, and it's held through countless attempts at personal re-evaluation since. Leon's described the concept of an "epic shelf" (apologies if the idea was incepted by a different contributor originally! I leave it to Leon to assign credit where due if necessary) of all time personal "best of the best of the best" games at the top of the top tier. Rondo of Blood is one of those games for me without question, hesitation, or even a moment's consideration. That internal conflict has already been held and re-held, with Rondo yet to be defeated.

[Mr Ixolite]

Note: Sorry if this runs a bit long, but such is always the case when Cane And Rinse covers one of my favorite games of all time, I'll try cutting it down before the weekend.


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When I started a Castlevania series playthrough years ago I didn’t know Rondo of Blood existed. Eventually I picked up from internet chatter that it was supposedly the “secret best game in the series”, a sort of “hipsters choice”. And when I used an emulator for a console I’d barely heard of to boot up a Japanese rom that leads with an inexplicably german cartoon intro about a Romanian vampire hunter, it felt like the gaming equivalent of having come across an obscure bootleg VHS movie from a yard sale.

The first impression is strong as the game leads with a dramatic prologue which gives way to the rocking sound of “Divine Bloodlines” and sumptuous spritework. You quickly face off against monsters that could’ve served as bosses in prior games, and it feels like the Rondo mission statement was to be a beginning to end thrill ride. And for my money it succeeds.

While Richter is less capable than super Castlevania IV’s Simon with his super dangly whip, he feels the opposite courtesy of his cool item crashes, his cool backflip, and the next level audiovisual presentation surrounding him. Everything is just a bit cooler now, like the bosses that try one last ditch effort to kill you before they dramatically expire. This is the game where you fight Death at the top of a wrecked pirate ships where he eventually swaps his stylish new robes for a ragged cloak as he gets serious, and eventually gets beheaded by his own scythe and its just, so cool.

It's not just the spectacle that makes Rondo special, but also its elaborate approach to the classic, linear Castlevania design.
To wit, Rondo is not the first Castlevania to feature branching paths or recruitable characters, but rather than presenting these up front on the critical path, Rondo hides them away. You need to poke at the corners of Rondos levels, find keys to cages, maybe even solve small puzzles, but get rewarded with chunks of More Game rather than hearts or subweapons. I still remember the thrill when I casually whipped a wall in level 1 in search of wallmeat, only to be greeted with an entirely new area and boss to fight. Delightfully, this is the case for most levels in the game. It even features multiple endings, a trope more associated with the MetroidVania era of the franchise, which this game sows a lot of seeds for.

Facilitating the exploration Is the fact that you can freely choose stages and characters from the main menu, a modern convenience that absolutely wasn’t a given at the time. If you miss Maria or one of the maidens you don’t have to replay the whole game from scratch.

Rondo is simply all vampire killer no filler, the mirror sheen polished version of the series original template. It’s the ultimate rendition of what about it had appealed to me to begin with, a colorfully gothic rock opera rollercoaster featuring the MVPs of the universal monsters. And for that reason it is my favorite Castlevania.

5½ years ago I found myself in a maternity ward, watching the newest Smash Ultimate reveals during a rare moments rest. When I saw that Simon Belmonts was to be added to Super Smash Bros my heart soared, but the reveal that Richter would join him made me squeal with glee, and I’ve proceed to use him to smack many a Fire Emblem character off the stage with a well-timed whip. I did not expect that when booting up that weird emulator all those years earlier.



(My only complaint is that Draculas very cool-looking second form is a bit of a pushover. This would be somewhat remedied in the PSP port by the addition of a third and harder form; said games murkier polygon-based art didn’t really appeal to me, but I guess you can’t have it all.)



3 word review: Original Recipe Perfected

[psychohype]

There's a strong case to be made that Rondo of Blood is the pinnacle of the entire Castlevania franchise. It's hard for me to point to anything the game does wrong or out of step in building from the foundation of the original NES trilogy. I can hardly think of a game that exudes more confidence than this one, an attitude perfectly encapsulated in the character of Richter Belmont, who arrives on the scene in the opening montage, takes one steely look at the opposition, and starts cracking skulls.

The sprites are gorgeous, the level design is impeccable, and the music is quite possibly my favorite in the series. It's one of three Castlevania soundtracks I just had to grab on vinyl when the opportunity came, the other two being Dracula's Curse and Symphony of the Night.

The game is certainly challenging, especially if you decide to continue through the whole game as Richter. But it's a surmountable challenge, one that can definitely be met with a little time and patience. The boss battles are another standout in this regard, particularly the late-game boss rush that is Stage 6. And if you can get to the point where you can clear all the levels from start to finish on one credit, it's an awesome feeling.

So, yes, it's a great game. The fact that Konami managed to squeeze in an entirely separate set of secret levels on top of the main path just blows my mind! That, my friends, is true replay value.

It's hard to imagine another Castlevania game will ever achieve this level of polish or inventiveness, or be filled with so many hidden quirks and surprises. If I had known about or had access to this game as a kid, it's entirely possible my spirit would have evaporated from my body and gone straight to heaven.

Better late than never. I'm just glad the game was eventually released in North America. And if you have a PS4 or a PS5, the Castlevania Requiem collection is a great way to give this masterpiece a go.