The best of the 2D ClassicVania style. Bangin' soundtrack. Richter is awesome. Love the old anime cutscenes. Love the branching paths. Elder God tier and one of my all time favorite games.
All killer no filler. Perfectly paced action game, incredible soundtrack-- best in series.
its the best one anyone whos says its castlevania 4 is regarded
easily one of the best games ive ever played, the only nitpick here is the questionably designed optional bonus stage... which has opus 13 playing so really who cares. this game just constantly keeps shit interesting, it's better than the best of cv1/3, and it has absolutely none of the low points.
The most replayable game in existence. Everyday I wake up, think about Rondo of Blood, and have to conjure up the strength of a Greek god to avoid playing it all over again.
An absolutely superb action platform that has aged gracefully.
My favourite castlevania game, hands down.
My favourite castlevania game, hands down.
i really wanted to like this game but man it is just not my thing, it goes against a lot of things i think of as "fun game design" and often feels like im fighting the controls more than im fighting enemies in the game, the soundtrack is amazing and the presentation is pretty good but thats really it as far as positives for it go imo
Other than some issues with the UI, this is fun stuff. Definitely what IV should've been.
Banging music, cool graphics, and a fun storyline. Both Maria and Richter are fun to play and both have great designs. The problem is the game is super unforgiving to play as Richter, outside of his super abilities, Richter basically plays like an NES Castlevania protag, which can feel really jarring if you played Super Castlevania 4 before this
H aha beaten by little girl
Its a bit rough in a few ways, but this is the ultimate classicvania game. personally i enjoy 1 a bit more, but this game was a blast to play and such a challenge too. Nothing ever felt cheap though, all my deaths were my fault and I had to learn and improve.
dracula looks like the count from sesame street
From soundtrack to set design and art direction, Rondo of Blood is the only game that nails kitschy gothic theatrics. Every character is feels like a google translate bot recreating what they think a vampire world looks like, and it's absolutely beautiful.
Good Game
Rondo of Blood is pinnacle classic Castlevania, it brings everything that made the original great and expanded onto it, the musical soundtrack is top notch, the gameplay is very fair towards the player, even when you think you die most of the time its actually a 2nd way through the level. Overall it's a very enjoyable experience and something absolutely worth playing.
It's pretty messed up Konami to make the best 2D sidescroller a Japanese exclusive on the PC-Engine CD for like a decade+
Wow, a castlevania game , you can do a back flip !!!!!!
ITS ME FRANKEN- BUSINESS FRANKENSTEIN
backflip into a pit
This is what every pure action platformer strives to be
A dazzling game in every sense of the word. From the intro that gets your blood pumping, to the opening scene, and all the gameplay in between. This is considered the best of the original-style Castlevania games for good reason.
replayed it as maria renard and yeah this game is the best
So, after playing Dracula X, I thought that the best move would be to keep trying to track down a way to play the original Rondo of Blood, and not the ugly looking PSP version of it. Fortunately, Castlevania Requiem on the PS4 gave me the opportunity to do this, allowing me to be able to compare Dracula X with this and finally get some perspective into why one of them is so praised while the other is left by the wayside. Honestly, gotta say that after playing this one, I’m totally with anyone who would consider Dracula X a genuinely bad game if they’ve already played this, because the difference is absolutely night and day. While the mediocre SNES game felt like a botched attempt to be a game full of homages to previous entries, ultimately feeling derivative and bland for the most part, this one feels like a true love letter to everything that made those games good, and a whole lot more.
Immediately upon starting this up, it was already clear that there was some serious ambition behind this game, with dramatic cutscenes that while admittedly painfully cheesy to say the least, immediately gave the game some unique charm not seen in any previous entry. This is complemented by a much more energetic, uplifting soundtrack for the most part compared to the previous ones that felt far more atmospheric, but both of them work quite well, with me honestly personally preferring a lot of this one. Immediately the game feels as if it’s recontextualising old, classic parts of past games through its opening level, with scenery and layout that is a direct reference to the towns in Simon’s Quest, with the second level then throwing the player into something quite similar to Castlevania 1’s opening level. This works here for a number of reasons when compared to poor attempts at similar things in past games due to how well a lot of these ideas have been recontextualised, with Richter moving similarly to Simon, but with a bit more fluidity in his movements and the ability to backflip, something that’s able to come in handy at many points for those willing to be a bit gutsier with their offensive approach. Subweapons also feel useful in this game, which is the first time they really have in the series for quite a while, with the addition of item crashes giving more potential options to be able to get out of tough situations, something which I personally found myself using quite often for various purposes, from using them as a quick screen clear for when things got overwhelming, to getting a ton of extra damage on a boss, to even using the starting invincibility frames to avoid death. What makes this even better is how just like everything else in this game, the presentation of these special moves is absolutely top notch, making you feel truly powerful as you unleash these monstrous attacks.
Of course, presentation and homages would be nothing without good design to back this up, and this game has absolutely amazing design across the board to the point where I never felt as if the game was unfair, despite some gruelling challenges along the way. This is another game where once again, much of its challenge comes less from an individual ruthless section that requires near inhuman precision to complete, and instead acts as an endurance test, constantly keeping the player on their toes through increasingly challenging situations while never simply overwhelming the player, making progression consistently exciting and satisfying to make your way through each location, bringing back the magic of discovery that Dracula X had completely lost. I feel like the part of the game that exemplifies the game’s fair, but difficult approach to difficulty, along with its identity as partially a love letter to the series, is the battle against the dark priest Shaft. As the player walks into the boss room, they are immediately greeted to a remixed version of the original Castlevania’s boss theme, before Shaft then puts the player through a gauntlet of the original game’s first 4 fights, one after the other. On their own, each of these prove to be relatively simple to take down, but having to beat all 4 in a row ends up proving to be one of the game’s hardest moments. While this could easily be seen as cheap fanservice and nostalgia baiting, what sets this apart is how it’s executed in such a way where it stands extremely strong even without considering the context involved, each fight being designed rather well, giving the player ample opportunities to attack and dodge while all feeling extremely distinct and worthwhile to fight, and ends up serving as the highlight of the entire game, something which only feels amplified once the context is added.
Now so far I’ve been mostly talking to this as if it’s structured like any old Castlevania game, but where it really shines is in its ambition in some respects I haven’t talked about. For one, I went through a second playthrough of the game as the other character, Maria, who further demonstrates the game’s somewhat more reasonable approach to difficulty by essentially acting as an easy mode, giving the player a lot of additional mobility options, such as a dodge roll and double jump, along with providing them with a much more powerful arsenal than Richter, at the cost of taking double damage. What I really love about this is how distinctive Maria feels, all the way down to having her own cutscenes for each key scene in the game, making her feel like a properly thought out addition to the game rather than a mere afterthought.
The other aspect that really stands out about this is how the early stages are designed to be absolutely full of little secrets and diverging paths, some simply leading to alternate ways to get through the level, and others leading to entirely new boss fights and stages, each of them also with their own unique elements to it, giving the game a lot of replayability without making one route feel like the clear option, with both being similarly balanced for the most part, along with being very fun, overcoming the glaring issue with Castlevania III’s multiple paths. Many of these stages also have their own special aspects to them that make them stand out extremely clearly, some big examples including the chase with the behemoth in the opening stage, and a fast paced ride down a large waterfall while trying to stop enemies from knocking you off your piece of driftwood. The amount of detail in each of these stages surpasses anything from prior games without it even being something close, and it really brings the game up to the point where I could see myself replaying the game for a 3rd time and still have a largely fresh experience due to the amount of other paths there were within some of these stages, even if they lead to the same destination.
Overall, there’s really little doubt in my mind that this is easily my favourite of the classic Castlevania games, being a remarkable love letter to the series up to this point without sacrificing any quality as a game standing on its own. The amount of depth and variety to the level design, combined with the absolutely stellar presentation made the game an absolute joy to play from start to finish, without any moments that really dip in quality, making it that if I were to replay the game, that there’d be no moments of dread in having to go through certain parts again, something that even the excellent Super Castlevania IV doesn’t completely succeed in. Ultimately, everything about this game is expertly crafted, and good enough to make me almost retrospectively dislike Dracula X a whole lot more for capturing almost none of what made this game so good.
Immediately upon starting this up, it was already clear that there was some serious ambition behind this game, with dramatic cutscenes that while admittedly painfully cheesy to say the least, immediately gave the game some unique charm not seen in any previous entry. This is complemented by a much more energetic, uplifting soundtrack for the most part compared to the previous ones that felt far more atmospheric, but both of them work quite well, with me honestly personally preferring a lot of this one. Immediately the game feels as if it’s recontextualising old, classic parts of past games through its opening level, with scenery and layout that is a direct reference to the towns in Simon’s Quest, with the second level then throwing the player into something quite similar to Castlevania 1’s opening level. This works here for a number of reasons when compared to poor attempts at similar things in past games due to how well a lot of these ideas have been recontextualised, with Richter moving similarly to Simon, but with a bit more fluidity in his movements and the ability to backflip, something that’s able to come in handy at many points for those willing to be a bit gutsier with their offensive approach. Subweapons also feel useful in this game, which is the first time they really have in the series for quite a while, with the addition of item crashes giving more potential options to be able to get out of tough situations, something which I personally found myself using quite often for various purposes, from using them as a quick screen clear for when things got overwhelming, to getting a ton of extra damage on a boss, to even using the starting invincibility frames to avoid death. What makes this even better is how just like everything else in this game, the presentation of these special moves is absolutely top notch, making you feel truly powerful as you unleash these monstrous attacks.
Of course, presentation and homages would be nothing without good design to back this up, and this game has absolutely amazing design across the board to the point where I never felt as if the game was unfair, despite some gruelling challenges along the way. This is another game where once again, much of its challenge comes less from an individual ruthless section that requires near inhuman precision to complete, and instead acts as an endurance test, constantly keeping the player on their toes through increasingly challenging situations while never simply overwhelming the player, making progression consistently exciting and satisfying to make your way through each location, bringing back the magic of discovery that Dracula X had completely lost. I feel like the part of the game that exemplifies the game’s fair, but difficult approach to difficulty, along with its identity as partially a love letter to the series, is the battle against the dark priest Shaft. As the player walks into the boss room, they are immediately greeted to a remixed version of the original Castlevania’s boss theme, before Shaft then puts the player through a gauntlet of the original game’s first 4 fights, one after the other. On their own, each of these prove to be relatively simple to take down, but having to beat all 4 in a row ends up proving to be one of the game’s hardest moments. While this could easily be seen as cheap fanservice and nostalgia baiting, what sets this apart is how it’s executed in such a way where it stands extremely strong even without considering the context involved, each fight being designed rather well, giving the player ample opportunities to attack and dodge while all feeling extremely distinct and worthwhile to fight, and ends up serving as the highlight of the entire game, something which only feels amplified once the context is added.
Now so far I’ve been mostly talking to this as if it’s structured like any old Castlevania game, but where it really shines is in its ambition in some respects I haven’t talked about. For one, I went through a second playthrough of the game as the other character, Maria, who further demonstrates the game’s somewhat more reasonable approach to difficulty by essentially acting as an easy mode, giving the player a lot of additional mobility options, such as a dodge roll and double jump, along with providing them with a much more powerful arsenal than Richter, at the cost of taking double damage. What I really love about this is how distinctive Maria feels, all the way down to having her own cutscenes for each key scene in the game, making her feel like a properly thought out addition to the game rather than a mere afterthought.
The other aspect that really stands out about this is how the early stages are designed to be absolutely full of little secrets and diverging paths, some simply leading to alternate ways to get through the level, and others leading to entirely new boss fights and stages, each of them also with their own unique elements to it, giving the game a lot of replayability without making one route feel like the clear option, with both being similarly balanced for the most part, along with being very fun, overcoming the glaring issue with Castlevania III’s multiple paths. Many of these stages also have their own special aspects to them that make them stand out extremely clearly, some big examples including the chase with the behemoth in the opening stage, and a fast paced ride down a large waterfall while trying to stop enemies from knocking you off your piece of driftwood. The amount of detail in each of these stages surpasses anything from prior games without it even being something close, and it really brings the game up to the point where I could see myself replaying the game for a 3rd time and still have a largely fresh experience due to the amount of other paths there were within some of these stages, even if they lead to the same destination.
Overall, there’s really little doubt in my mind that this is easily my favourite of the classic Castlevania games, being a remarkable love letter to the series up to this point without sacrificing any quality as a game standing on its own. The amount of depth and variety to the level design, combined with the absolutely stellar presentation made the game an absolute joy to play from start to finish, without any moments that really dip in quality, making it that if I were to replay the game, that there’d be no moments of dread in having to go through certain parts again, something that even the excellent Super Castlevania IV doesn’t completely succeed in. Ultimately, everything about this game is expertly crafted, and good enough to make me almost retrospectively dislike Dracula X a whole lot more for capturing almost none of what made this game so good.
Más próximo al original que el supuesto remake de super nintendo. Esto es: acción ultra-destilada y un castillo internamente coherente.
El castillo funciona como tiene que funcionar. Con sus desvíos y pasadizos secretos pero sin perder la unidireccionalidad que pide la acción.
La acción es pesada, lenta, contundente. Caminar hacia atrás es la mejor mecánica de toda la saga. Si al principio no parece gran cosa, termina por hacer clic cuando aprendes a esquivar caballeros haciendo backflips.
Después puedes expandir el lore, hacer el anime, o añadir como personaje jugable a una colegiala que lanza palomas, que lo importante ya lo has entendido.
El castillo funciona como tiene que funcionar. Con sus desvíos y pasadizos secretos pero sin perder la unidireccionalidad que pide la acción.
La acción es pesada, lenta, contundente. Caminar hacia atrás es la mejor mecánica de toda la saga. Si al principio no parece gran cosa, termina por hacer clic cuando aprendes a esquivar caballeros haciendo backflips.
Después puedes expandir el lore, hacer el anime, o añadir como personaje jugable a una colegiala que lanza palomas, que lo importante ya lo has entendido.
a nice castlevania game that ISNT stupid hard
Trilha sonora espetacular, gráficos bonitos, direção de arte incrível.
I probably would've liked this way more if I wasn't using Maria.
FAAAASHAAA
The best castlevania game of all time in my opinion and one of my favourite game of all times too. Everything that makes castlevania so fantastic is here in full force and its been improved to absolute peak perfection. The non-linear paths of castlevania 3 are back and are implemented even better here, resulting in a game that doesn't rely anymore on NES tricks to kill you, but rather carefully placed enemies and obstacles to let you use your whip on. The controls are back to their NES days, though they've been tweaked enough that it feels better to control than those games and it improves the experience as a result. And that soundtrack, oh my fucking god that soundtrack. Best castlevania soundtrack of the franchise. With the difficulty being just the right amount of hard and the iconic Richter Belmont and Maria Renard being introduced here, Rondo Of Blood is like a great melody that will be stuck in my head for years to come.
the pinnacle of classic castlevania.