Castlevania: Dracula X

Castlevania: Dracula X is a port of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game is known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula XX (悪魔城ドラキュラXX), and in Europe under the title Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss. The original version of the game was previously released only in Japan for the PC Engine. Despite being labeled as a port, the contents of the game were drastically altered from the original. Castlevania: Dracula X is considered to take place in a different universe than the official Castlevania timeline.

Characters




Descendant of Simon Belmont and renowned vampire exterminator. Age 19 years. Has a strong sense of justice and unwavering will.



Richter's girlfriend. Age 17 years. Was kindapped by Dracula and is imprisoned somewhere within his evil castle.





Younger sister of Annette. Was kidnapped along with Annette, and is imprisoned somewhere within Dracula's castle.
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 * Propietor of the evil castle and origin of all wickedness in the world. Believed to be about 800 years old. Cruel and heartless, he at the same time possesses refinement and grace that would be expected only of nobility.

Comparison with Rondo
When the Super NES Dracula X was first announced, Castlevania fans were excited to see that the popular Japanese PC Engine game make it to Super NES and be released internationally. However, gamers were disappointed to see that the game was very different from Rondo of Blood. This turned out to be one of the biggest disappointments in the entire series. The levels were completely different (yet still contained many sprites, enemies, bosses and elements from the PC Engine game), The non-linear gameplay was toned down dramatically (instead of four alternate levels, as in Rondo of Blood, Dracula X features only two) and even the difficulty was increased. While Maria can be still be saved on Stage 4, she was unplayable and demoted to just another damsel in distress, in the remake, thus making Richter the only playable character in this game. It is also said to be one of the toughest and most frustrating Castlevania action games.

There were a few things thought by many fans to be better than the original Rondo of Blood. Often cited are changes to the music tracks, better graphics for the background flames in Stage 1, and increased difficulty in the final Dracula battle, which was far too easy in the original version.

For unknown reasons, the Super NES remake was made radically different. It has been speculated that this was due to differences between NEC and Konami. Also, the official artwork used for the original Japanese release and for the PAL reigon releases is in a completely different style. However, the North American release still uses the artwork from the original PCE version for unknown reasons.

Related Products

 * Holy Bible Guide - A Japanese guide to this game
 * Castlevania: Rondo of Blood - This game is considered a non-canon sequel to Rondo of Blood in Japan, and a remake in North America
 * Super Castlevania IV - Dracula X is sometimes called "Castlevania V" and considered a sequel to this game
 * Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - To Americans unfamiliar with Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night was originally considered a sequel to this game.