Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles Review

By Mathew Kumar Published 3 January, 2008

Good cross.

Version tested: PSP

Here are the two most important pieces of information you could possibly receive if you're planning on picking up Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles:

Play through the game to level 3' (you can do so by dropping into the first hole you find on level 2 and progressing through the level to fight the alternate boss.) In level 3', head through the level (heading up all stairs) until you find a skeletal snake. Kill it and destroy the hanging plant nearby, probably by using a subweapon, and then jump on the new platform to traverse the section on the upper level. When you get to the end, you should find a tombstone that contains an item which will unlock Symphony of the Night.

Play through the game to level 4. Progress through the level (heading up all stairs) until you reach a section with six skulls in a tower. Destroy them, and when you reach the wall further on, destroy it to find a bomb. Set it off with a whip-crack and do a bit of platforming in the revealed section to get to the upper level. When you get to the end, you should find a candle that contains an item which will unlock the original version of Rondo of Blood.

Voila! You've now unlocked the two thirds of the game that the developers have seen fit to hide in an unnecessary and obscure fashion! Huzzah!

God, Grant Me Strength

'Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles' Screenshot 1

This is exactly where you need to go to unlock Symphony of the Night. Kill the skeleton snake, attack that plant, head along the platforms.

Now that unpleasantness is out of the way, time for the actual introduction to the review.

As the prequel to Symphony of the Night never released outside of Japan, Rondo of Blood has gained a near-mythical status, particularly as it was released on a system that was never very popular outside of Japan anyway (the PC Engine) and then received an incredibly inferior port to the Super Nintendo that was released internationally.

Well, series führer Koji Igarashii (who was only nominally involved in the creation of the original) decided to update and port the title to PSP, and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles is the result: a 2.5D remake of Castlevania's "holy grail" that includes the PC Engine original and Symphony of the Night as (gnngh) unlockables.

An Evil Prayer Summons Darkness

'Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles' Screenshot 2

Similarly, you want to stand on that button and head up here to get to the area which will unlock the original Rondo of Blood.

I'll be completely honest. As a big fan of the Castlevania series, I've played through the PC Engine original, and while in many fans eyes it's the perfect fusion of the brutal, old-school NES Castlevania titles and the Metroid-esque direction "IGA" has taken the franchise, I think that's a load of old twaddle. Main character Richter Belmont is as limited as Simon Belmont, crawling along like he's cacked his pants and completely unable to react swiftly to anything (his one special move, the backflip, is practically useless) and the game is simply too rigid in its rote-learning based design to be rewarding at all, especially when it comes to the punishingly hard bosses.

If there's one saving grace to the original title, it's the ability to unlock Maria, a second playable character who, by virtue of her quick attack and double jump, makes the game bearable enough that you might actually enjoy discovering the innovative aspects of the title, such as alternate routes through the levels.

A Nightmare Reborn

'Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles' Screenshot 3

It's more apparent in the original, but swathes of Rondo of Blood pay tribute to the NES titles, such as this, a town similar to those in Simon’s Quest.

Although some changes have been made for the remake, such as new sections and a ludicrously tough third form for Dracula, for the most part the Dracula X Chronicles is the same game as Rondo of Blood, right down to requirements including pixel-perfect jumps (much harder in 3D, especially when they usually require that your character be hanging off the edge of platforms to be able to reach the next) and frustratingly difficult set-pieces. This is the kind of game that will happily drop you down a bottomless pit (and lose you a life) if you forget to hold a diagonal when walking up or down some stairs. God only knows how unbearable that is on a fat PSP.

There's something oddly compelling about the complete package, however. The remake features some great new art (from Symphony of the Night character designer Ayami Kojima) there's always the original PC Engine version if you really don't like it, and the version of Symphony of the Night that's included is the best available, with re-written and recorded dialogue (so no "a miserable pile of secrets!" for better or worse) extra familiars and even the ability to play as Maria. For completionists, it's far better than the downloadable version available at the PlayStation Store.

You can even play through any of the games with Japanese or English voices. Now that's attention to detail.

Bloodlines

This is really a release made for, and by, Castlevania fans. If you don't think much of the series, this isn't going to change your mind. I wouldn't think much of it either if it only included the remake, but the tip-top ports of the original Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night bump the score up a couple of marks easily.

7 / 10

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About Mathew Kumar

Read more articles from Mathew by visiting the Mathew Kumar archive page.

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Comments (22) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • mikew1985 #1 4 years ago

    well that sounds like an awful design decision...

  • NickNack #2 4 years ago

    I played Synphony of the night on 360, and after all the praise I was expecting something a lot better than I got. It's ok but Super Metroid kills it stone dead.
    Edited by 1 at 03/01/08 @ 09:03

  • NickNack #3 4 years ago

    Excuse my spelling I just got out of bed...

  • mikew1985 #4 4 years ago

    yeah i have to say i didn't really enjoy the demo but then again I think its probably the kind of game that requires a bit of time ala the DS castlevania's which i thoroughly enjoyed(as well as the GBA version which name escapes me, something "moon";)

  • Kryon #5 4 years ago

    Why does it have to be 3D? I'd MUCH prefer beautifully drawn 2D backdrops than really quite poor 3D ones :(

  • erp #6 4 years ago

    Bizarre.

    EDIT: although on second thoughts it's actually quite refreshing for a developer to include hidden content that's genuinely worth discovering.
    Edited by 1 at 03/01/08 @ 09:16

  • lambtron #7 4 years ago

    I'm with Kryon on this one.

    2D > 3D in this case.

  • 7creature #8 4 years ago

    Well, I certainly like it. And graphic-wise it is quite pretty (and yes, I actually prefer 2D to 3D otherwise, especially on PSP).

    It has nice intro, btw :-)

    A bit of heresy - I would like to see SotN recreated in this "3D" (i.e. new graphic, native 16:9, etc.).

    One thing I fear is SotN though - hopefully D-pad will survive thousands of "Soul steals" intact...

  • mikew1985 #9 4 years ago

    @ erp

    But surely the point of this game is that its a collection of two great games, yet to play either as originally intended and to get the content you have paid for you have to go through a relatively obscure series of events.

    If any non-hardcore gamer picks this up they'll probably never uncover this content.

    Although on second thoughts this is probably one solely for the hardcore. Still it seems a pointless design decision.
    Edited by 1 at 03/01/08 @ 09:34

  • smurphs #10 4 years ago

    Thanks for the tip on unlocking SOTN! I battled my way through to level 3 then gave up, no time for rote-learning any more unfortunately. The diagonal isn't that much of a problem with stairs though - if you jump into the stairs and hold up you land on the stairwell. Keep hold of up to ascend, easy-peasy.

    It's high time they did a new 2d castlevania on PSP though, that would be truly scrumptious.

  • drumbaby #11 4 years ago

    Oh cool. I had forgotten about 'vania PSP...getting this.

  • Kazzahdrane #12 4 years ago

    Looks interesting, I'd probably pick it up if I had a PSP. Now they can get back to the new DS title in the series, which if it's better than Portrait of Ruin will be *really* good :-)

  • mikew1985 #13 4 years ago

    "Circle of the Moon" that was the first GBA one, classic!

  • aine #14 4 years ago

    ah but the dialogue in symphony of the night is actually worse than the original - they didn't re-translate from the japanese or anything, all they did was take the english dialogue from the ps1 version and rewrite it to make it much blander, then give it to the same crappy voice actors to re-record it.

  • 7creature #15 4 years ago

    Since you can (finally) play in Japanese, it really doesn't matter. Yeah, those silly "dialogues" were entertaining, but enough is enough.

    Richter with his "なに" is still terribly funny in DXC. Oh, and Richter & Maria dialogue - golden.
    Edited by 1 at 03/01/08 @ 16:47

  • erp #16 4 years ago

    @ mikew1985

    Is that actually the point of the game though? I mean, is it really meant to be a compilation? (As opposed to a new installment that just happens to have the old games as secrets.) I genuinely wasn't aware of that, although I admit I haven't exactly been following the game closely.

  • Kon #17 4 years ago

    "ah but the dialogue in symphony of the night is actually worse than the original - they didn't re-translate from the japanese or anything, all they did was take the english dialogue from the ps1 version and rewrite it to make it much blander, then give it to the same crappy voice actors to re-record it."

    Humm, no. I forget where exactly I saw it (gametrailers maybe) but Koji Igarashi himself made it clear in an interview that he over viewed the new translation, so it wasn't some ethereal "they" that was in charge of the it. Also, the voice actors aren't the same ones that did the original's voice work, that much should be quite obvious if you play both versions now.

  • retr0gamer #18 4 years ago

    Aren't we being a little too harsh on the utterly fantastic Rondo of Blood?

  • spitfire1945 #19 4 years ago

    We are arsh on Rondo of Blood because it has aged like a marine turtle, as those concept of game (harsh and unforgettable) are dying out.
    Even Contra 4 on the DS, as hard as it could be, gives you a better control style.

    The only good thing on this UMD is Symphony of the night, yet again anyone who has played the latest outing on the DS will feel it as a step backward.

    Give it a go just if you are a Castlevania die-hard lover, but be prepared to get frustrated more from the controls than the game itself.

    Oh, one last note: older PSP that suffer bad from color tearing will make the experience even worse as some things literally blurs onto the background... go figure!!!
    Edited by 1 at 03/01/08 @ 15:16

  • aine #20 4 years ago

    Humm, no. I forget where exactly I saw it (gametrailers maybe) but Koji Igarashi himself made it clear in an interview that he over viewed the new translation, so it wasn't some ethereal "they" that was in charge of the it. Also, the voice actors aren't the same ones that did the original's voice work, that much should be quite obvious if you play both versions now.

    i think he was just talking about the translation of Rondo of Blood... I've definitely read somewhere that SOTN's translation is just an edited version of the PS1 one with the more memorable lines removed. Could be wrong on the voice actors though, I haven't played the PSP version yet.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #21 4 years ago

    SOTN runs like treacle on this release.

  • Feanor #22 4 years ago

    Great review - explained clearly why I wouldn't enjoy this game, even though I can undertsand how perfect it would be for other gamers.

  • aerisdead #23 4 years ago

    You think so, Rev?

    It takes forever to load, but seemed to run fine for me. Admittedly I can't think of any sections I played that would have particularly "pushed" the PSP (a lot of sprites, or anything) but it's definitely my preferred version with the new translation, etc.

  • VMerken #24 4 years ago

    A release made for, and by, Castlevania fans? Challenging? Art by Kojima? My, this definitely goes into the collection then =).

    It is a bit disappointing though, I must admit, that Richter does not have the fancy moves he had in Symphony of the Night. Oh well, the backflip might still come in handy here and there, I guess.