Greetings everyone, hope you’re all doing well, and welcome to my Retro Review for, Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood! I’m not sure if this is common knowledge or not, but sometimes certain parts of the world will get access to a game that is only available in that particular region. So if you don’t happen to live there you might not ever know about it’s existence at all. In most cases there’s a good reason these games don’t receive a worldwide release. Either it wasn’t very good and the developers knew it wouldn’t sell, or the content is specific to that region and other countries wouldn’t understand what it was about. In this case neither of these things are true, and I can’t for the life of me figure out why this game got so overlooked for so long.
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Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood is a platform-adventure game developed by Konami, and features the same 2-d side-scrolling style as all the other classic Castlevania games that came out prior to Symphony Of The Night. Originally released in 1993 for the PC Engine, or TurboGrafx-16 as it was known in America, this was a Japan only exclusive. A port of the game was made for the Super Nintendo in 1995 called, Castlevania: Dracula X, but it was an inferior, watered down version that was poorly received. For whatever reason the rest of the world never got to play Rondo Of Blood, until it was finally released on the Wii Virtual Console in 2010. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself it’s now available on PS4 as part of the Castlevania Requiem collection.
This is a unique Catlevania experience in many ways, and it’s a real shame it didn’t get a worldwide release back in 1993. Most people never got to play this game, some have never even heard of it, so unfortunately it never got the notoriety that it should have. You play as Richter Belmont, a direct descendant to Simon, who’s on a mission to rescue his beloved Annette. Of course this leads him to Dracula’s castle where she’s being held. Annette isn’t the only person imprisoned at the castle though. There are also three other girls to find and rescue throughout your playthrough of the game. Maria, an orphaned 12 year old girl, Terra, a nun who’s been captured, and Iris, the daughter of the village doctor. Rescuing them is completely optional though, as they are hidden throughout the castle, and you can easily miss where they are.
The game consists of a prologue, followed by eight separate stages, with a boss battle at the end of each one. However, some of the stages have branching paths, and a secret exit that will allow you to access alternative stages. There’s a total of four hidden stages, bringing the total number from nine, to thirteen. In order to rescue all the girls you’ll need to gain access to these hidden areas, and find their specific location within. This gives the game a very high replay value, plus it rewards the player for exploring off the beaten path.
Richter uses a whip for his main weapon, and controls very much like protagonists from earlier games in the series. You can also find various sub weapons such as the, knife, axe, cross, stop watch, holy water, and holy bible. Richter can also perform a back step, a back flip, and can turn his whip into a fire whip. This makes him a little more complex to use, but also very versatile once you understand how it all works.
In stage two, the Main Hall, there’s a hidden key in one of the candles. If you find this and jump down a pit to the lower part of the level, you will find where Maria is being held captive, and will be able to rescue her. This is very important, because Maria is another playable character in the game, and the only other one besides Richter. Once you save her you can then choose between the two of them for the rest of the game.
Just like all classic Castlevania games Rondo Of Blood can be pretty unforgiving in terms of difficulty, but I found the enemies to be slightly more aggressive than previous entries in the series. Plus when you factor in all the alternate routes, and hidden areas, you’d better be up for the challenge before jumping into this game. Playing as Richter requires you to make use of all his abilities in order to be successful, but playing as Maria makes things a bit easier. Her main weapon is her doves that shoot out two at a time. This attack has more reach than Richter’s whip, and will take down enemies a lot faster. She also has powerful sub weapons, the ability to scurry across the ground very quickly, and can perform a double jump at any time. Basically, if you’re having trouble playing as Richter, Maria is there as an easy mode option.
When I first got to play Rondo Of Blood I immediately noticed how good everything looked. It’s like a much more detailed, polished version of a classic Castlevania. As you make your way through the game's thirteen levels you'll find yourself in the woods, in a small village, a chapel, a cemetery, an old stone bridge, and even a ghost ship. There are also animated cut scenes with dialog that play at certain points. And I have to admit, this might feature the best music from any game in the series. It seems like a lot of extra effort was put in to the development of this entry. It maintains everything that made the old games so great, while also adding in lots of new little details and mechanics that bridge the gap between the retro, and more modern age of the franchise. This just makes it all the more heartbreaking that it remained a Japan only exclusive for so long.
As a long time fan of everything Castlevania I was shocked by how great this game was. I thought the fact that it never received a worldwide release probably meant it just wasn’t that good. After playing it for many hours now I have to say it’s definitely one of the best in the entire series. Not only does it have solid gameplay, but it gives you some extra mechanics, and another character to play as. The amount of variety, from the enemies and bosses, to the level design, is incredible. Rescuing all the girls from Dracula’s Castle, plus finding all the alternate routes and hidden stages, will keep you coming back to the game again and again. There’s a lot more to this than just a straight forward run through the stages, and if you’re a fan of the series I highly recommend picking it up. I’m going to give Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood a grade of…………………….
A
Thank you for checking out my Retro Review of Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood, I hope you enjoyed it!
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