Castlevania: Dracula X Review by The Successor

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ack in 1993, one of the greatest games in the Castlevania series was released on the PC Engine. It had everything action gamers of the day pined for. Brilliant graphics, heavenly music that broke boundaries and a large adventure spanning several alternate paths abound with secrets and tightly designed stages. Dracula X: Rondo of Blood; it quickly achieved status as one of the best the PC Engine had to offer.

There was but one problem.
The game only came out in Japan.

Needless to say, that made for many a blue Castlevania fan. However, prayers were seemingly answered. News spread that Dracula X was coming to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and would be released around the globe. Gamers licked their chops in anticipation of sinking their teeth into what many were saying was the best Castlevania yet.

Dreams were crushed when they chomped down on something that . . . was not Rondo of Blood.

What they got was Castlevania: Dracula X. It stars the cobalt-clad hero of Rondo, Richter Belmont, and has the same premise – rescuing Richter's girlfriend, Annette, from the clutches of Count Dracula. It has the same enemies and bosses as Rondo, and even the same music compositions.
Despite borrowing these integral elements, Konami managed to pull off a game that is severely lacking in comparison. Dracula X faced brutal backlash from gamers and critics at the time of its release. Ever since, it has bore the reputation of being a Bizarro Rondo of Blood; a Frankenstein-like monster built from pieces of Rondo that turned out a retarded, misshapen failure.

Dracula X does almost everything worse than Rondo of Blood, and it leaves out several great aspects the PC Engine title featured. This is the heart of its critical condemnation. People wanted a port, but issues involving the PC Engine's company, NEC, prevented Konami from fulfilling that desire. Instead, players got a modest remix. Disillusioned, the masses lashed out at the game for not being what they expected.

Now that it's been well over a decade since the whole thing, and with Rondo of Blood not only released outside Japan, but faithfully remade, there is no longer any reason to look at Dracula X as a missed opportunity at Rondo. It should not be judged as a consolation prize, or as an inferior Rondo of Blood. It should be looked at for what it really is – just another Castlevania game being itself, even if others, and even Konami, will tell you it's a different edition of Rondo.

Some hate this game in a bigoted manner. These sorts have enmity toward it because it's not Rondo. They don't give it a fair chance because there is supposedly a superior version they'd sooner spend their time with. What needs to be realized is there is no other version of this game. Dracula X is an entirely different title offering its own experiences that can't be had elsewhere. Detesting it on grounds that Rondo of Blood is better is quite foolish, because Rondo of Blood is better than a lot of Castlevania games.

On the other hand, similarities between the two games are undeniable, and Dracula X is overall a much weaker effort than Rondo. That, however, does not mean this title has no worth. Dracula X has its lows, but it also has its highs, and the different spin it puts on Rondo's elements is worthy of experiencing and consideration.

Though not often elaborated on, one of the most striking divergences is the overall artistic direction. The promotional artwork is reminiscent of heavily inked mid ‘90s American comic book art. It isn't as spirited or vivacious as the art used in Rondo, which isn't a problem, but it doesn't fit this game.

The brightly colored graphics and bouncy music don't compliment the more glowering tone of the art. All of Rondo's attributes were in harmony. Looking at the art and in-game visuals, and listening to music tracks like "Opus 13" and "Cross a Fear," it's not hard to tell a conscious direction was taken. Here, the developers seemingly took elements from Rondo, got some art, and slapped them together without deliberation.

Not only does the art cause an unflattering clashing of styles, some of it is just bad. Maria has a Little Orphan Annie appearance, complete with afro-like hairstyle and oversized forehead. The prologue and especially the ending sequence show rather unsightly scenes that make the game feel a bit tacky.
Annette is the one aspect that turned out better. Instead of appearing as the lavender haired anime girl, she has a much more natural and pleasing look. Dracula isn't as overstated as before. He has a more serious appearance, but loses the remarkable flair his Rondo of Blood self exuded.

That's one of the big things about Dracula X. It takes many, many components of Rondo of Blood, yet startlingly manages to feel almost nothing like it beyond the base exterior. Rondo radiated a very distinct and agreeable personality. Dracula X is like a stale piece of bread in comparison, which is truthfully the most disappointing thing about it.

The game is fairly soulless. It has flashes of character here and there, but for the most part is devoid of heart. Vague, yes, but vitally important. To put it in comparable terms, one is like eating an Italian woman's lovingly prepared spaghetti with chunky homemade sauce. The other is the equivalent of eating the stuff from a can of Chef Boyardee, in which the noodles are featureless and the sauce is red colored water.
Both are spaghetti, but one makes the other seem phony.

Besides the promotional art, there are other things that make Dracula X feel this way, like the graphics.
Sometimes Dracula X's visuals stand tall and other times they fall flat on their face. One of the worst drawbacks is the odd color palette. The backgrounds have a strangely washed out pastel look that comes across as artificial more than it does add distinctive character.

Dracula X almost does a complete 180 from the degradation of Super Castlevania IV's murky, overgrown, and dilapidated environments. This time around, the landscapes are bright and clean – even the caves.

There isn't much charm in Dracula X's visual style. Had the palette been several shades darker, and the backgrounds given more presence, it would have helped a great deal. Harmony of Dissonance is a bright game, but it plays with its luster, giving us trippy environments, and incongruously managing to be a psychologically dark experience with dazzling colors. Dracula X has no such depth, no such panache. It's just bright and ungainly. Also, many sprites have been downgraded from their PC Engine counterparts, including Richter Belmont, who adopts a choppy walking animation.

Aside from the intro and ending, it's never ugly. The problem isn't ugliness; it is blandness - being void of flavor and feeling.

While that is an overarching setback throughout the game, it would be unjust to bypass the visual triumphs. Dracula X does a number of things better than Rondo of Blood, and has instances when it outshines Super Castlevania IV. If we were to put either game's Clock Towers beside Dracula X's, they would be disgraced. Dracula X has other attractive high points, like a beautiful, glistening Atlantis Shrine partially buried in crystalline water. The first stage is a burning village similar to Rondo's, but is leaps beyond in some ways. Incredible blurring and "water effects" are used on the raging flames in the background, creating a somewhat dreamlike sensation, which is as arresting as the best any of the other 16-bit Castlevania games have to offer.
On the whole, Dracula X's graphics aren't nearly as satisfying as Castlevania IV's or Rondo of Blood's, but every now and then they outperform both of them.

One of the big things many don't like about Dracula X is the difficulty. It knows how to try one's patience. Spear Guards are placed in such a way as to give tons of grief. Axe Armors, Ravens, crushing traps, and staircases are huge obstacles, because a simple hit from an enemy, like a bat, could easily begin a progression that tears half your health away due to nearly non-existent recovery time.
When Richter is hit, he's knocked back and the player momentarily loses control of him. This happens in many Castlevania games, but usually when characters are knocked back, they're invulnerable for a comfortable period so players may reestablish control. In Dracula X, Richter is given about a millisecond to recover, so enemies can keep pounding away without allowing players a chance to get their bearings and do something about it.

One good thing about Dracula X's vicious difficulty is that Item Crashes are essential. Rondo introduced a feature that allowed special attacks for each sub-weapon, which demanded a great cost of hearts. While occasionally useful, and fun to play around with, some attacks were a bit overpowered, and hardly needed to complete the game. Here, they're almost a necessity. If players find themselves in a tough situation -- and they will -- they can always bank on an Item Crash to get them out of a fix. This also means keeping a watchful eye on the heart meter.

There's great consequential platforming, meaning that one slight miscalculation may cost a life. It sometimes goes even beyond just losing lives. In a few select instances, if you fall off a set of really high pillars just once, you will not receive the elusive best ending. You have the choice of carrying a key through an extremely perilous stage. Die once and the key disappears forever, ultimately resulting in the bittersweet ending. The key takes the place of your sub-weapon, so you don't even have that to aid you. Given the merciless difficulty, this is rather extreme, and it's a safe estimation that most players won't see the best ending without cheating somehow. It is a reward for the elite, which is pretty cool in a way, pretty depressing in another. If the other endings weren't so miserable and unfulfilling it would seem fairer.

Just beating the game, period, is hard enough. The final battle with Count Dracula is another occurrence of Dracula X surpassing Rondo of Blood. Rondo of Blood's confrontation with the Count was unexciting and easy. Dracula X must have realized this, because the challenge is boosted considerably. Dracula's signature moves remain, but the battle is spiced up by perilous terrain.

The Count's throne is highly elevated in a grand chamber. Richter and Dracula's epic duel takes place far above ground on a set of raised pillars. One hit and Richter may fall several stories, and there are two forms of Dracula to contend with. It's a really difficult fight, but very satisfying. It is one of the most memorable and creative battles in the series.

Dracula X can be especially exasperating at times, but there are cheaper games people are willing to play and praise. The NES Ninja Gaiden titles come to mind, with their absurdly regenerating enemies. Anyone who can stomach something like that shouldn't have any problem, but the high levels of frustration this game can cause will be a turn off for many. Only those who really want to beat it will.

When pointing out more flaws of Dracula X, many people cite the controls; particularly a perceived regression from Super Castlevania IV, since you can only whip in one direction, can't control jumps as well, and can't move while crouching. Apparently, the lack of these extraneous features means the controls are bad. Such claims are made by the type that go on about some feature just because it's there, without considering how that feature interacts with such crucial components as level design, enemy placement, other capabilities of the player character, and capabilities of the enemies. It's true; you can't whip in eight directions in Dracula X. Big deal. Super Castlevania IV did not even utilize that feature as well as it should have. Dracula X doesn't add stuff it does not need simply because some other game did.

There are more legitimate things to complain about. Pressing up and the attack button to use sub-weapons is strange, since there are other buttons that are totally unused. That control set up is notorious for being problematic where stairs are involved, so it's odd and dumb that Dracula X doesn't take a cue from Super Castlevania IV, which used one of the shoulder buttons to activate sub-weapons. Furthermore, Richter feels inelegantly weighted down compared to his Rondo counterpart, who controlled tightly and fluidly.

The music of Dracula X is stirring. It is mostly derived from Rondo of Blood; however, Rondo's CD quality audio is lost. This is not inherently a bad thing. While technically of a lower grade, video game synth music is not intrinsically worse than any other form. A tune shot through the NES can be just as enthralling as that of a twenty piece orchestra, or a five piece rock band, or even more so. Of course, back in 1995, when CD quality audio was a comparatively rare treat in video games, many people didn't quite see it this way.

Though Dracula X does respectably at converting the tunes to the Super Nintendo, the music is not as affecting as Rondo of Blood's. Yet, there are some especially noteworthy tracks.
The first stage theme, "Opposing Bloodlines", is slowed down and given a snappier, more forceful vibe. It brings a strong rhythmic groove with its bass, drums, and guitar synths, but doesn't have the swift and airy flow of the original. It has a slightly disco flavor, but carries a heroic and adventurous attribute well suited to the start of the game. It doesn't come off as a lesser version of the original, but is strong enough to stand right beside it.

The same can be said of "Den", which translates very well to the SNES. It's granted a cuter presence, with a bouncy bass rhythm, squealing high pitched sounds, and catchy organ riffs. The best songs are usually the ones that have their own unique characteristics and aren't merely trying their hardest to emulate the PC Engine versions, but develop identities of their own. "Den" winds up sounding less full than the original, but it has a sort of humor that is pleasant. It's interesting that the final stage theme leading directly to Dracula is like this, instead of being epic or direful, as is often the case. It works surprisingly well, especially with Dracula's sickly sweet Béla Lugosi appearance.

Dracula's "Illusionary Dance" clings to its domineering presence and grandeur, and "Vampire Killer" has a delightfully venturesome tone, but others turn out noticeably weaker than their counterparts. "Picture of a Ghost Ship" loses the lively percussion it had. It keeps the beat, but doesn't have the sparkling energy of the PC Engine rendition, and the melody loses its pungency.

The music is not disappointing, but overall it is yet another feature that doesn't match up. However, as is frequently the case, there are some really high points that deserve to be recognized.

This review isn't meant to fight for Dracula X being accepted as an illustrious treasure, because, truthfully, it isn't. Yet, the game is not nearly as bad as many will make it out to be. Much of the ire stems from the western world getting Dracula X instead of Rondo, and Dracula X not filling Rondo's shoes.
Dracula X came out, wasn't what people expected or wanted, nor did it have all the features of the CD based game it's derived from. Certain sub-weapons are missing, some attacks have been altered for the worse, the music is of a lower grade, there are fewer stages, Maria Renard is not playable, the graphics have gone down several notches, there aren't nearly as many secrets within the stages, there are only two maidens to rescue, stages hardly ever have branching paths within them, the cutscenes cannot hope to stand up to Rondo's, and the art has much less character. Much of what was great about Rondo is gone or greatly lessoned. In 1995, this game probably left people desiring Rondo of Blood even more than they had before, since Dracula X was a giant tease.

Despite all that, Dracula X is a decent game. There's fun for those who have the patience for it. It is not in the same class as Rondo of Blood, but there are times when it does a better job. They aren't plentiful or influential enough to tip any great scales or make large differences, but they are there. Instances of cleverer platforming challenges, superior graphics, and heartier sound effects deserve to be acknowledged and higher difficulty for those who want it. Its biggest boon over Rondo is the treacherous showdown with the Count.

Seeing as it was excluded from the Dracula X Chronicles, possibly because of its reputation, Dracula X will probably forever remain an obscure Super Nintendo game, remembered as one of the biggest missed opportunities or disappointments of the Castlevania series. That is a curse of circumstance. Yet, it is its collection of well documented errs that prevent it from being as good as or better than Rondo, so it is far from faultless.

Dracula X is not a particularly momentous finale to the 16-bit era for the Castlevania series, but this game has redeeming value that makes it worth taking for a spin. Give it a fair chance, and if you tried that a while ago, try it again.
Who knows, you might just like it.