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Castlevania: Dracula X (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, 1995)
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While the Rondo of Blood certainly evaded those of us outside of Japan, it's Super Famicom re-imagining, under the title of Dracula XX, did find its way back to the English-speaking folks a world away. Although XX shares a few elements of the PC-Engine classic, those familiar in any way to the original version are sure to give this a cynical and critical eye unlike those who merely stumbled onto its existence at the local rental store or, later, online. Castlevania Dracula X (NA release), and Castlevania Vampire's Kiss (PAL region) retain many animations and enemies from the original, but very little in terms of other design elements: the stages are quite long at times, sometimes frenetically arranged, and the difficulty level can be obscene without practice (with a final boss that tries patience). that said,it's still not a particularly frustrating game once the player acclimates themselves to the controls and enemy patterns. The difficulty is still below Bloodlines in terms of traps, but above Castlevania IV, if only by a few notches. Two maidens to save, as opposed to the original's four. No Maria to play. The inability to retry without resetting or inserting passwords if you fail to clear a certain area without falling into a path-inducing pit. These are only a handful of things that take the game backwards from the intended greatness. While the designs are sometimes decent, the actual stages are quite static, and lack any sort of flair. In fact, a few stages are ripped, layout-wise, from other Castlevania games, giving it a somewhat dull aesthetic. But there's this charm - this classic old-school build to the game that is difficult to describe, and even with its cheap enemies, traps, surprise attacks, and numerous pitfalls... there's still the semblance of something greater. While this may not be able to rebuff much of its criticism for understandable reasons, it can hold its own as a good and purely functional Castlevania game. The samples are cleaner than its PCE counterpart as well, so what little voice and sound effects there are, they sound clean enough. Even the music is fairly good, with most all tracks rearrangements of the original redbook audio from the original game. So, the game has some good things going for it, but the player will be the one to really decide if it's worth playing, let alone owning. The NA version fetches a price, yet the Japanese version yields a more reasonable fee. As a collector of Castlevania games, I now own both NTSC versions, and it must be said that the Japanese version is only slightly superior, and it would be a much better bargain to go for it if you intend to actually play it instead of the NA version, unless you are a collector.Read full review
It amazes me how uninformed people are about this game, it's NOT a port to the TG-16/PC engine game, it's a sequel, hence the Japanese title Dracula XX. The levels are all new, but the majority of the weapons and enemies are taken directly from the TG-16 game. Looking at the other 16-bit Castlevanias (CV 4, TG-16 DracX, Castlevania Chronicles, Bloodlines for Genesis), Dracula X for the SNES has taken one step forward and two steps back. Castlevania 4 let you whip in any direction, that feature is missing here (and missing in all the other games, actually). Bloodlines had exceptionally fast paced action and multiple characters, but these features aren't present here, either. And the TG-16 game was longer and had a bit more meat to it. This game feels more old-school than those others, the control and difficulty of combat feel a lot like the Chronicles/X68000 game. The graphics here are solid, but nothing special, they are a bit bland in some areas. The sound is good as well, though not near the best of what the series has to offer. The control is a throwback to the NES games, slow but precise, you'll need to be on-target with your attacks to avoid damage from incoming enemies. One bonus to the control is the ability to do a backflip with a well-timed button press. This move is essential to avoiding certain attacks, and comes in handy to the advanced player in normal situations too, so learn it well. One odd thing about this game is that your recovery time after being hit is almost nonexistent, meaning that if you're surrounded by enemies, you'll bounce around like a pinball, taking damage the whole way. I'm not sure I like this feature, but it keeps you on your toes. The overall difficulty is high, this one's a lot tougher than CV 4. Like the TG-16 game (and Richter in SotN), each item has a special and powerful "crash" move, for the knife the item crash causes you to fire knives in a continual stream for a few seconds, for the holy water the crash floods the screen with burning rain, damaging all enemies on screen. The crash moves, while powerful, use up a lot of hearts, so they are only occasionally useful. So is this game fun? Yes, it is, and it's worth playing for any Castlevania fan, you just need to forget that you've played better games that were released before it. The boss fights are memorable, and the hidden levels help compensate for the game's relative shortness. Non-Castlevania fans might want to steer clear of it, though, the difficulty could be a turn-off and there are better games in which to start Vampire-hunting in the Castlevania universe. But if you're looking for a challenge, mosey on down to Transylvania, and bring your morning star with you.Read full review
this game is a rare find, that is why is costs $40-60 cartridge alone and 100+ complete in box. my advice to first time snes-castlevania players, get castlevania 4 instead it will be cheaper and it is a much better and far less frustrating game. dracula x is a challenge and at times frustrating one, i did beat the game twice but it is very difficult. the burning town on stage one lets you know right away that this game is no easy task. stage two the main hall is even tougher yet. stage three is where you will start to pull your hair out with the pillars and the medusa heads knocking you to an alternate level 4 where you don't want to be and if you get by that stage you will go to regular level 5 which is extremely difficult with the purple spear guards, they are tougher than some of the lower level bosses in castlevania four. if you are lucky not to fall to alternate level 4 from the pillars in level three you get a key, but since you have a this key you can't have a weapon and you will have to beat the boss who is no easy task with just your whip. if you beat him you will go to regular level four with the key. but if you die one time you will lose the key. if you are lucky enough to keep the key you can save maria and find the secret door to alternate level five. then you will be in for a treat where you play in a wonderful water filled lost city of atlantis. this is my favorite stage in the game. castlevania creators always did well with water stages. (this gamne, castlevania's 3 and 4.) the obligatory clock tower follows and if you save annette in level five (i won't tell you where she is) you will face off against an extremely difficult grim reaper at the top of the tower and if you are lucky enough to beat him and i was lucky just one time, the other time i beat the alternate boss, you head to stage seven and fight dracula on a set on pillers no less, making stage three seem like an almost nice memory. you can wait him out in his first form, by hitting him in the head with the ax as he comes close to you, and you can elimate the first form without losing energy but this takes a long time. his second form the demon form he can knock you off the piller to your death with a single blazing fireball. the ending if you are lucky enough to beat dracula is disppointing whether you rescue both girls or not. castlevania dracula x is really not worth all the money you have to shell out for the game collectable or not. it was a great accomplishment to beat such a tough game but in the end not really worth it. i actually considered quitting the game because level 5 the one with the spear guards was so difficult. one way to get through it is to keep getting that porkchop downstairs, if you keep getting nailed by the spear guards but this again takes such a long time. other than that avoid this level like the plague save the maria and go to the water stage. but a better thing to do is avoid this game and get castlevania 4 and super punch out!! as well you get two better games for the price of this one.Read full review
This is the game for those of you who aren't fond of the anime look of the PCE Dracula X. The graphics (especially the background details inside the levels) are very good and each level looks creepy and gritty, it is a different art style than the more colorful Super Castlevania IV. The music is AWESOME! It's the same music from the japanese PC engine Dracula X, and it sounds very nice on the SNES. You should be aware though, that the gameplay controls are a step backwards from Super Castlevania IV; you can't whip in eight directions, and the character doesn't move very fast on screen. This makes the game control very similar to the NES titles, but that's not a bad thing at all if you like a challenge! All Castlevania fans should be proud to have this in their collection!Read full review
Only problem with this games is the price. It is best to buy a repro or digital release and save yourself some $. I don't know of ANY retro game that is worth $150-200 truly. If you like the old school NES Castlevania games then this one is for you! It controls exactly the same as those games with updated graphics. This is also not simply a port of Rondo of Blood but rather it's own game so people comparing them are not accurate.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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