Three years after the original Japanese-only Castlevania: Rondo of Blood release on Hudson’s PC-Engine, Europe was finally blessed by the Konami lords with a cursed gift called Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss. You might better know it as Dracula X—the initial Japanese title of Rondo; Akumajō Dracula X—but since I’m in Europe, I’m calling it by its even weirder name. This game has been called out for being a sloppy port of its PC-Engine original. Others claim it’s more of an indirect sequel to Castlevania I-III. After attempting a playthrough, I can safely say it fails at both accounts. What exactly are we left with if it’s neither a proper port nor a Classicvania successor—especially if you take the a clearly superior Castlevania IV into account on the same platform released more than four (!) years earlier? I think Konami must have smelled something financially here given the growing cult status of Rondo of Blood. Perhaps by issuing something similar to it; fans might eat it up. And we do: we eat up anything that bears the Castlevania name. But that doesn’t mean our tummy is satisfied and we’re happy campers. This spearman looks angry (and hit me right in the chest). Yes, Vampire’s Kiss—Ok, all right, perhaps you’re right, Dracula X—shares both assets and mechanics from its inspiration. The intro sequence into the burning village, the chasing monster, the rescuing of innocent maidens (where are the other two?), the branching paths (although less enticing), the music, most of the bosses, some of the level design. But by leaving out the good parts and keeping the bad ones, we’re left with a half-baked product that doesn’t really feel like Castlevania, especially once you start to deconstruct the level design. Combine that with the way Richter handles and the balls-hard (“NES hard”) difficulty not just bordering on the unfair but frequently crossing that border and you’ve bought yourself a frustrating journey. One with excellent music, but still a frustrating one. When Richter is in the air during a jump, he feels light as a feather, but once he comes down, he suddenly remembers he’s carrying a hundred pounds worth of subweapons in his pockets. Given that even Simon in Castlevania IV—again, released four friggin’ years before this—was more nimble than Richter here, I’d dare to say this is a huge misstep. I discovered an alternate path into Stage 4! The best aspect of Rondo of Blood is Maria. No Maria here. The least great aspect of Rondo of Blood is the uneven and very tough difficulty. So why not double down on that, they must have thought. Also, some of the boss sprites just look off, such as Camilla’s skull. Both video game consoles might not be the same, but technically speaking the SNES should be the more capable one, as the first stage with the cool mode-7 burning background sprites clearly show off. The bright graphics in general also threw me off as they made identifying an enemy sprite such as a crow more difficult for me. My Dracula X copy came virtually in the form of a bonus as part of the recent Advance Collection so I can’t complain. It’s far from the main attraction point to buy the collection but I’m glad I got the chance to play it. Yet I might even prefer Castlevania II for the Game Boy to this SNES game where falling into pits and other kinds of cheap deaths seem to be a favourite passtime. Remember that in Europe, this game was released in 1996—the same year as Quake and Duke Nukem 3D. By then I had better things to do than hitting an endless wall with “NES hard” games. These caves are crawling with mud-man.... It does puzzle me that the developers put so much effort into expertly porting over the music from high quality CD-ROM audio to something that the SNES sound chip can handle. The first level that plays Richter’s Theme demonstrates this, where you could even say that the Dracula X version is to be preferred! That’s an incredible achievement. Too bad all the rest didn’t follow suit. There’s not much else to say about this game. There are much better options in the Classicvania subgenre to pick from, and even the same platform has one of the better ones to offer. Yay, more dangerous stairs and crumbling platforms to fall off from, peppered with bats and of course lots of medusa heads... Perhaps replay Super Castlevania IV instead of attempting to let Richter rescue this version of Maria? Verdict: 2/5—Mediocre. Classicvania series  ▹  Castlevania: The Adventure  ○  Super Castlevania IV  ○  Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge  ○  Castlevania Rondo of Blood  ○  Castlevania Dracula X  ○  Castlevania Anniversary Collection  ○ Related games  ▹  Castlevania Advance Collection  ○ By Jefklak on 23 September 2026.  Played on: SNES  Genre: 2D Platformer  Release Year: 1995  Developer: Konami  How long to beat: 3 hrs