So begins a new series of Octurbo. Figured I might as well start with one of the best acclaimed PCE-CD originals, from one of the most prolific video games series that still sorta exists. Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was released in 1993, but while it looked like a SNES game (like 1995's Dracula X, coincidentally enough. That one was based on this game) it certainly didn't sound like one. The game had Redbook audio, which essentially means the music was encoded like it would be on a regular audio CD that you could, once upon a time, buy from a store without feeling like a 50 year old. Now, I'm plenty fond of the chiptune stuff, but full CD quality Castlevania music is something to behold even now, and it must've seemed insane to hear it in a video game for the first time those twenty plus years ago.
I'm half wondering if I should've left Rondo of Blood for last, partly so I could cover a horror game closer to Halloween and partly because I have to assume that it's all downhill from here. Still, you really ought to start with a showstopper. I'm sure that's how that phrase goes.
Rondo. It's Got What Vampires Crave.
I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that every Turbo/PCE-CD game opens with an anime cutscene. That's a pretty nice shot of a gothic cathedral though.The audio in this scene is German, with Japanese subtitles. Essentially, women are getting sacrificed by cultists led by that bad mother of a priest Shaft. Apparently this is what brings Dracula back.Dracula (or Dracula's essence?) escapes to his eponymous domicile as the German voiceover intones something about fledermaus, and I'm suddenly back in middle-school trying to remember my German words for animals. For the record: a fledermaus, of the play Die Fledermaus, is a bat. Apparently this game has something to do with bats, huh.Welcome to Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo! Oh god, that stupid Run button. All my Octurbo memories are flooding back.Despite Rondo of Blood being one of the last of the "linear" Castlevanias, it's still a bit complex. It uses the branching paths of Dracula III, but expands the concept to include hidden damsels to rescue and alternate bosses to fight. As such, the game saves your progress and lets you retry stages to search for roads less traveled.But first! We have more anime to watch. Richter pores over a map he downloaded from GameFAQs and considers his next move as the excellent theme "Overture", based on the Stage 1 and Richter's own leitmotif "Divine Bloodlines", plays."Dammit, I'm not going to remember where all the heart upgrades are by memory. I need that space to memorize the awesome speech I intend to give Dracula. To hell with this, I'm out. Where'd I leave my headband?"Meanwhile, these colossal beasts are stomping around the nearby towns because terrible things happen to people for no reason when they live this close to Castlevania.Animes are just running for their lives in every direction. Can no-one save this peaceful burg from utter devastation?!Oh yeah, I forgot about that dude.Richter gets kitted out Commando style before charging into the fray. This is already the dumbest and best thing. Did we need to see the special vampire-killing boots he wears? Multiple shots of the headband?And then he just kind of whips some skeletons in cool guy action poses and the intro ends. Honestly, this seems like a much cooler way to start your game. Richter hurries through the night on his wagon while it rains cats and Deaths. I mean, dogs.Nah, I meant Deaths. The Grim Reaper shows up to dissuade us from preventing the resurrection of his master, much like he'll do with Alucard in the sequel. That's a jaunty new pilgrim hat he's sporting there.Richter doesn't feel like getting deterred today, though, and gives that old psychopomp what for.A short cutscene takes over and Grimmy decides to shoot this thing at us. I figured this would be a Ripley/Super Metroid scenario, where he'd leave us half-dead and run off laughing. Nah, I just batted the thing out of the air and Death just kind of flew away dejected.I suspect I might be a little too late to save this town. Most of it appears to be on fire.Now the game begins proper. This first area is fairly gentle: these ape-like skeletons don't move particularly fast, giving us all the time in the world to catch our bearings and figure out what the buttons do. We can also practice stair climbing here, generally the bane of any Castlevania player. Well, them and Medusa Heads. Frequently simultaneously.It's not quite obvious until this point but this is actually one of the towns from Castlevania II (& III), albeit in somewhat poorer shape. I wonder how all those colored crystals and laurels are helping them now?The sub-weapons are still here, of course. I've always liked the axe for its utility and for being able to hit enemies and candles previously out of reach. Not always the best option for bosses though.This is a really good looking game. I mean, maybe Super Castlevania IV just pips it with all its Mode 7 wizardry, but I definitely like the look of this conflagrant 18th century European town.We meet a few of those colossi from the intro, which turn out to be some decidedly bumpy golems. They aren't that much tougher than regular monsters, really, though you do need to jump to damage them.There's a neat parallax shot of Dracula's castle as you run across this screen, and you can spot a winged beast hurrying past you.That winged beast would be the Wyvern, the first boss. Well, the first boss of this path anyway.The boss spends a lot of time at the top of the screen, occasionally breathing fire and swooping down, and its during the parts where he swoops down that you can damage it with the Vampire Killer. Or you can just throw axes at the guy. It's the game teaching you early on that getting a specific sub-weapon and grabbing a bunch of hearts can be a workable solution to any boss, no matter how difficult they may initially seem.Not that this guy is particularly tough even without the axes. The flame breath scatters randomly, making it hard to avoid, but it's a fairly predictable boss fight.Why do I suddenly have a craving for BBQ chicken? Oh right, because BBQ chicken is awesome.Like all Castlevania games prior to this one, an orb trans(sylvania)(vam)pires above your head and you can jump into it while doing a sweet pose.I got the jumping part down, but I got kinda stuck crouching in mid-air. I'll give that one a "6" for style.Stage 2 ought to be familiar, as it's the approach to Castlevania itself. We see two ravens in the top corner discussing between themselves what an ear-pulling contest has to do with anything.Birds remain a consistent pain in the neck as they flap around you on random tangents, making them hard to hit with the decidedly horizontally-inclined whip. I'd rather not waste an axe either, since there's a lot of birds to get through. Just one of those things you need to practice.I have to wonder why they let the drawbridge down for every determined do-gooder that comes along. Or, come to think of it, install all those save point rooms. I suspect Dracula's failing is his overconfidence. We're firmly entrenched in classic Castlevania territory, as the Welcome Zombies march out to greet us.One of the late-game bosses gets a little impatient and decides to charge us here and now. He seems to take damage from the whip, but it's a better idea to just run to the other side of the room, away from the rampaging behemoth.Apparently this guy's already having a bad day. Just saying, you might want to stop before you run into the- Oh, well, never mind. I guess I won't have to check it for secret alcoves now.While running from the monstrosity, I picked up this key. It acts as a sub-weapon but doesn't actually do anything (you can still hit enemies with it though, which makes me wonder if someone hasn't tried to fight a boss this way).I discard the key for something slightly more useful, this Cross of Coronado. It works as a boomerang, letting you hit enemies twice. It also has a pretty sweet Item Crash.Ah, Wall Chicken. Where would the Belmont clan be without you? We've even added you to our coat of arms. "Three roasted chickens on plates, on a field of red."More classic Castlevania monsters, living in the pool beneath the entryway as always. I appreciate that they stay a murky blue/green color before turning bright orange after jumping out of the water. Kinda like lobsters.Ah. So this locked door is probably where that key goes. The key I left behind for the Cross of Coronado. Well, I lost today, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.I forgot to demonstrate the Item Crash earlier, but it's essentially a big showy super move you can do when trapped in a corner. Eats through hearts like no-one's business, so it's best as a reserve thing. Each sub-weapon has its own variation.I admit, I did spend a few minutes trying to get up here after grabbing that chicken. Turns out you can just go around. Of course, the key's no longer here.The music changes ominously while passing through this room. The game throws you a bone and gives you the holy water, which works well for the next boss.Talking of bones, what is that vaguely lupine shape in the background?That would be the Werewolf. Pro-tip: don't stand in the center of the screen, because that's where he lands.I didn't catch him flipping and somersaulting around because I was too busy trying to stay alive, but Wolfie's one of those bosses you pray that you can get trapped into a pattern, because it's a tough battle of attrition otherwise. He's just too fast for you to predict what he'll do reliably. The little naked dude he turns into before dying seems a bit gratuitous.No fancy mid-air orb catching this time. I've seen enough balls flapping in the wind for one night.Speaking of Wolfman nards, I should probably wrap this up and put it away. We've seen enough of what Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is about.
Before we wrap up, however, here's a few bonuses:
In 1992, when the Turbo-Duo was released, the RAM that was used to run CD games was also increased. This resulted in the "Super System Card", which older TurboGrafx-CD systems would need in order to play newer games, sort of like that Expansion Pak for the N64. Because Rondo of Blood came out after 1992 it was one of those games that required the upgrade, usually referred to as "SuperCD" games on their box art to prevent people from buying games their older systems couldn't play.If you tried to run Rondo of Blood on a TurboGrafx-CD without that Super System Card, you'd get this little practical joke. Richter is a super-deformed blob man who looks like something out of an early Treasure game.The only enemies are these ridiculous triangular purple goons.After about 30 seconds, you'd reach this screen where the poster behind you informed you that you needed the Super System Card in order to play the real game (either that or the Super CD-ROM2 system, which came with the Super System Card built-in). But wait, who is that heroine bouncing alongside Richter?Well, if you weren't an idiot like me and actually kept the key, you could unlock that door we saw earlier and intrude on this awkward scene.Trapped inside the forcefield is Maria Renard, sister of Annette, and would-be demon hunter. A petite blonde vampire slayer? Now I've seen everything.Richter rescues her from Shaft, the purple-robed fellow we saw earlier. He manages to catch her without her sprite changing, which is impressive.Yes, Japan, I'm sure that's how twelve year olds are built. Good grief.Anyway, Maria refuses to leave her sister in the lurch, and so promises to help Richter out whether he wants her to or not.And now she's a permanent second character. You can quit the game at any point (it saves automatically after each stage, don't forget) and switch over to Maria for a change of pace.As you might expect from a tiny 12-year-old girl, she's considerably more powerful than Richter.Her default attack is sending out a pair of doves, which (like Richter's Cross sub-weapon) hits twice as they fly out and return to Maria's hand. Though Maria has less health and gets knocked back a lot further, her increased damage output makes the exchange worth it. A glass cannon, in so many words. She has her own set of sub-weapons too with different behaviors, which means double the number of tactical options for bosses.Also her wall chickens are wall sundaes. Cute!
And that's Rondo of Blood, or at least the first half of it. Well, the first quarter if you don't count all those alternate paths. There's a lot more to the game than meets the floating eye, it seems.
One of the new things I'm doing with this season of Octurbo is adding a few links to the game's music, if it stands out. In most cases it will. The redbook audio element of CD-based gaming is what a lot of developers jumped on when considering ways to take advantage of the new format, and so a lot more thought and money went into producing soundtracks.
Here's a smattering of tracks from the few stages I played of Rondo of Blood. It's mostly classic Castlevania music that has been dolled up to the nines:
