Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

aka: Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo
Moby ID: 16246
TurboGrafx CD Specs
Conversion (official)

Description official description

Count Dracula, the evil Transylvanian vampire lord, is resurrected in the year 1792, a century after the brave vampire hunter Simon Belmont vanquished him. His demonic servant Shaft is sent to nearby village to kill men, abduct women, and set the village on fire. Richter Belmont, Simon's descendant, swears to free the women, among which is his fiancee Annette. He takes the Vampire Killer, a powerful whip he inherited from his ancestor, and enters the castle, hoping to put an end to the Dark Lord's reign.

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is, like its predecessors in the series, an action platformer. Richter is trying to reach the end of each stage, defeating evil creatures on the way with his whip and traditional sub-weapons (throwing axes, daggers, holy crosses, etc.). He can also perform powerful "item crash" attacks with his sub-weapons. In comparison with the previous entry in the series, Super Castlevania IV, the game lacks the eight-directional whipping. As with most Castlevania games the levels consist of platforming challenges which require good timing and reactions. At the end of each stage Richter will face a powerful boss.

The kidnapped women are hidden in the castle and to find them Richter needs to uncover hidden exits which may lead to alternative levels and bosses. One of such hidden areas unlocks a second player character: Maria Renard, Annette's sister. She is weaker than Richter but has a greater agility and her own abilities such as sliding and double jumping, which allow her to find even more alternative paths. She also has her own special attacks with unique sub-weapons.

Spellings

  • 悪魔城ドラキュラX・血の輪廻 - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (TurboGrafx CD version)

54 People (29 developers, 25 thanks) · View all

Richter Belmont (リヒター・ベルモンド)
Maria Renard (マリア・ラーネット)
Anette (アネット)
Tera (テラ)
Iris (イリス)
Count Dracula (ドラキュラ伯爵)
Narrator
Producer
Character Design
Program
Sound Staff
Voice Staff
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 91% (based on 15 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 43 ratings with 2 reviews)

Good plat-former with the best music!

The Good
Simply, the music and the gameplay. The music is totally awesome, each stage has a soundtrack of it's own. Gameplay: Timing is really important, just like in other Castlevania series. Nearly all of the levels have an alternate exit with an alternate Boss, providing much to unlock.

The Bad
Said things are that the levels can be nearly too hard, especially some of the bosses (death is a good example). Also the boss battle music is always the same (good) tune, but if you die often.

The Bottom Line
If you like challenging games, or good music, or you are simply a Castlevania fan, this one is a very good choice. But be warned, it's hard, real hard.

TurboGrafx CD · by Shorai (21) · 2005

Get a Dolby or THX Home Theater to Play this Game!

The Good
First thing that will blow a gamer way is the music. It really sounds like a concert. No kidding. Konami went balls-to-the-walls on the music and sound, and it's so good, it's worth listening to in the car on the drive to work. WOW! Then the graphics rival anything that the sequel on PlayStation has done. The SNES version of Dracula X looks like crap compared to the graphics on this version. The control is dead-on for a Castlevania game (though why the same controls don't work on the SNES version is a mystery to me). And the ability to play as Maria is a plus. Also, an anime intro! Yes, and true anime intro! Lastly, a big postive is the CD is SCRATCH RESISTANT!! Yes, I just played the game again after "losing" it at the bottom of a tub that was full of other CDs and many sharp things, and not one scratch is on the disc! AMAZINZG!! Fingerprints galore, though.

The Bad
What is up with the cheap hits? And Dracula is easier than a cheerleader in high school! What is up with that? I don't understand it at all. To reverse the situation, why is Dracula on the SNES version harder than the Great Wall of China? It doesn't strike too well of a counterbalance with me by that regards.

Surprisingly, there really isn't too many negatives and practice makes perfect.

The Bottom Line
Some useless trivia from rumors I've heard about this game:

If Snatcher had sold well on Sega CD, this game was going to be ported over almost intact, and maybe even contain a 32X version on the same disc with special levels and such.

If played backwards (how?), Latin prayers are supposed to be heard on the disc. I doubt that this can be, because I've never been able to play a CD backwards like a record or tape, which is true backwards.

Anyways, back to seriousness (with me?), I ORDER anybody who owns a Turbo Duo, PC Engine, or TG-16 to OBTAIN this game and play it. THAT'S AN ORDER!

As far as Castlevania goes . . . this puts Super Castlevania IV to shame, and is a good complement to Bloodlines on Genesis. If I had to name the best Castlevania games, it's this one, the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night, Genesis' Bloodlines, Castlevania III, the original Castlevania, and one of the GBA games. I haven't been impressed with the others in the bunch. This one is impressive.

As for a case study of how to make a game . . . this is it!!

TurboGrafx CD · by Fake Spam (85) · 2007

Trivia

Audio track message

Additionally, there is a little message from Richter and Maria if you try to play the CD in an audio CD player (on the first track, anyway - the rest of the tracks are data and music.) You see, almost all PC Engine games contained a message stating that you shouldn't put this CD in a regular CD-player, because the data tracks could blow out your speakers (on really old CD players, data tracks sound like loud static.) These were normally read in a rather mundane and polite manner, so some games had fun with them. In this little bit, Maria warns Richter about this particular danger. When Richter questions how she knows this, he discovers that she was just reading off a piece of paper or something to that extent. As a quick note, Oniichan (what Maria calls Richter in the message) means "big brother" in Japanese, and is a pretty common term. It doesn't quite come out right in English.

Censored content

In the original release of the game, after defeating the werewolf boss, the werewolf would return to his human form completely nude. This was changed in the later releases of the game (PSP through Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles and Wii rerelease) that now a piece of loincloth has been added.

Japanese intro translation

The PC Engine Super CD-ROM version, only released in Japan, had a spoken intro in German. Here is its original text and a translation to English:

German:

In der guten alten Zeit lebten die Menschen noch ruhig und in Frieden.

Niemand glaubte, dass es in Zukunft zu einer Bedrohung kommen würde.

Auf der Schattenseite des Friedens und des Wachstums gab und gibt es aber auch immer das Böse.

Die Menschen beginnen, das Wachstum abzulehnen und bezeichnen den Frieden als Degeneration.

Wir haben uns hier versammelt, um die Mächte der Finsternis mit unserem verfluchten Blut zu rufen.

Wir wollen, dass sie die Welt regieren.

Wir erwarten lächelnd den Niedergang der Welt.

Nach einhundert Jahren ist der Böse wieder auferstanden.

Er kann sich in eine Fledermaus, einen Wolf und Nebel verwandeln.

Er liebt die Nacht.

Er schlürft das Blut von jungen Frauen und lebt ewig.

Der Burgherr des Teufelsschlosses. Der Herr des Bösen.

Graf Drakula ist auferstanden.

Translation:

During the good old times, men still lived in tranquillity and peace.

No one believed there would be a threat in the future.

On the dark side of peace and growth, however, there was and will always be evil.

Men begin to reject growth and call peace degeneration.

We are gathered here to call upon the forces of darkness through our cursed blood.

We wish for them to rule the world.

With a smile we await the downfall of the world.

After a hundred years the Evil One has risen again.

He can turn into a bat, a wolf and mist.

He loves the night.

He sips the blood of young women and lives eternally.

Lord of the devil's castle. Lord of evil.

Count Dracula has risen again.

Mini game

If you didn't insert a System Card before start playing, a little mini-game can be played.

References

Look closely at the beginning of Stage 4'. Way in the background, you'll see in a tiny figure with a billowing cape.

Secrets

Get a key and use the item crash. Richter will jump up and yell like he normally does, but will then fall to the ground with a question mark over his head, not knowing what the hell to do.

Title

The Rondo part of the title is written with Chinese characters (kanji) "輪廻" in the Japanese version. These are usually pronounced rinne; this word is a transliteration of the Chinese lunhui, which, in turn, is a translation of samsara, a Sanskrit word referring to the circle of reincarnations in Buddhism, as opposed to nirvana. A rondo, however, is a musical form in which the main theme repeats itself several times during the course of a movement. It can be therefore seen as the musical equivalent of the philosophical term.

Awards

  • EGM
    • 1995 Buyer's Guide - Best Action Game (Japanese)

Additional information contributed by CaptainCanuck and Little Yoda

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 16246
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Shorai.

Wii added by gamewarrior.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Alaka, Игги Друге, Joel Joslin, Patrick Bregger.

Game added January 16, 2005. Last modified March 27, 2024.