(Originally published to Glitchwave on 7/10/2022)
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Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Genre(s): 2D Platformer
Platforms: TurboGrafx-16
Release Date: October 29, 1993
At what point does a cult classic lose its status as such? When does a hidden gem gleam too brightly to the point where everyone becomes aware of it through its blinding light? The answer to both rhetorical questions can be traced to the legacy of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, the fifth mainline installment in Konami's iconic action-horror franchise. One who is ignorant about this particular game but enlightened about the franchise might even wonder how a Castlevania game could be burrowed deep into the mud of a cult classic status. The franchise's presence on the NES and SNES consoles as a third-party series was monumental, imprinting its legacy on the 2D platformer era with as much impact as any of Nintendo's first-party contemporaries. Upon the franchise's fifth entry, however, someone at Konami ostensibly decided to sever the Nintendo safety net and release Rondo of Blood on the PC Engine (aka the TurboGrafx-16), the Linux of 16-bit consoles. To add another layer to Rondo of Blood's esoteric allure, the game was only available in its native Japan, the prime factor in the game's relegation to obscurity if confining the game to the TurboGrafx-16 wasn't enough. Konami, feeling somewhat remorseful for their bizarre business decisions, dumped an insufficient Rondo of Blood port titled "Castlevania: Dracula X" on eager SNES owners anticipating the next entry. Naturally, these poor westerners were displeased. It seems baffling that Konami would go to great lengths to bite the hand that feeds them, but it seems, in retrospect, that whoever made this decision had the foresight of a Tibetan monk. Thanks to the revelatory creation of the internet, there is not one piece of hidden media from that past that can hide in the shadows. A decade after Rondo of Blood's limited availability, public knowledge of Rondo of Blood's existence grew rapidly enough to where Konami ported the proper version of the game on a smattering of consoles. Nowadays, Castlevania's well-kept secret is now heralded as the pinnacle of the classic Castlevania format. Upon playing Rondo of Blood, I'm convinced that its stellar reputation stems from the long period that fans were clamoring for it rather than its quality.
While its exclusivity to the TurboGrafx-16 alienated many gamers, the decision was most likely based on the alternative console's advanced capabilities. Those lucky few who owned the system were treated to a marvel of presentation on a 16-bit console. Rondo of Blood's idea of conveying an ominous introduction, a series staple for each Castlevania game, is a voice in German whose subtitles are the only thing the player sees in the darkness. Why the man speaks German in a Japanese game set in Romania is unclear, but I digress. The narrator introduces a sinister scene of what looks like a blood sacrifice in a gothic cathedral. A naked girl wrapped in a large cloth for means of both mystique and censorship is centered in the room. One plunge of a blade into her quivering body by one of the menacing-looking soldiers is enough to resurrect the dark, vampiric lord once again as he rises from his coffin. Higher graphical fidelity and a more eruptive sound were the keys to impressing players in opening Super Castlevania IV on a new system, and Rondo of Blood amplifies it to the next level. The block of text that scrolls upward after the tombstone is struck in Super Castlevania IV had to be read by the player. Still, the white text that pops up over the black background in the opening of Rondo of Blood introduces a vital element of video game progress: voice acting. Foreboding German voice narration and the bloody scream of a helpless virgin are less subtle than a gravestone on a misty moor, but it exudes a tense and spooky atmosphere just as effectively. Voice acting and animation aren't merely implemented to introduce the game. Each cutscene throughout the game is fully voiced with the same animation.
Given that I've played and reviewed every mainline Castlevania game up to Rondo of Blood, I understand the magnificence of the animation and voice acting and the scope of progress they both signified. However, plenty of unprecedented leaps in gaming capabilities in the 1990s haven't aged gracefully, and Rondo of Blood cutscenes are a prime example of this. The choppy, languorous animation is as cheesy as the flat, directionless voice acting, which also sounds like the characters are submerged underwater thanks to the primordial sound design. Simply because gaming hit a point where these aspects were feasible doesn't necessarily mean that developers should've jumped on the opportunity at their genesis. Because of how primitive the new technical frills are, Rondo of Blood arguably seems more dated than Super Castlevania IV or any of its 8-bit predecessors. The pixels that the industry made strides in progressing from for so many generations have ironically aged better than any early effort in deviating from them, and Rondo of Blood is a perfect example of this. At least Rondo of Blood's pixel art that Konami have taken years to refine and improve upon is as appealing as they ever were. Color palettes may not be as dazzling as in Super Castlevania IV, but the deeper tones convey a haunting atmosphere more deliberately.
Rondo of Blood is a Castlevania game marked by advancements. Besides the technical aspects, Rondo of Blood supplies the player with a new Belmont at the helm of destroying Dracula. Unlike Trevor Belmont, who was one of Simon's ancestors, Richter Belmont is adversely a descendant of Simon's, existing in a time over a century after his relative's vampire-hunting endeavors. The Belmont litmus test to both see the character's heroic potential and whether or not he fits the likeness of the family is again as uncanny as it was with Trevor. Richter moves with the same sense of resolution, jumps and climbs staircases with the same rigidity, and gets dramatically blown away by anything that strikes him. He also possesses the same weapons as every Belmont before him; namely, the trademark whip used to strip away the flesh of the foul creatures that lurk around Dracula's castle.
Considering Richter has centuries of fellow Belmonts to use as inspiration, one would think he'd be the most advanced vampire slayer in comparison. Unfortunately, Richter might be a testament to the saying that talent skips a few generations. Richter's fighting prowess recalls the limits of past Belmonts on the NES. He can execute a backflip, but when does this ever come in handy? More importantly, the player cannot whip in several different directions as Richter, for it has been restricted to the horizontal axis once again. Using the secondary weapons is also relegated to the combination of pressing up on the D-pad and the attack button simultaneously. The capabilities of what a Castlevania protagonist could do on a controller for a 16-bit system were already made apparent from Super Castlevania IV. Still, Rondo of Blood chooses to stray backward to a more humble control scheme. This decision was most likely due to the common criticism that Simon's versatility with his whip mitigated the use of secondary weapons. While I'm in the camp that prefers the more flexible range, these complaints are at least understandable as I never found myself seldom using the secondary weapons in Super Castlevania IV. However, relegating the secondary weapon trigger to how it was in the NES titles takes the series a step backward. Was the Turbo-Grafix controller not as multifaceted as a SNES controller and couldn't supply the secondary weapon with its own trigger? Regardless, I feel this point of regression indicates Rondo of Blood's questionable quality. A new feature that Rondo of Blood implements is a special attack with the secondary items. After accumulating a certain amount of hearts, pressing a single button will unleash a special move that coincides with whatever secondary weapon Richter carries. It's a clever idea that encourages using the items, but it's faulty in execution. I found the special attacks to be more flashy than practical, like putting a bushel of oranges in a juicer just to squeeze out a couple of drops.
More so, Rondo of Blood is more difficult than Super Castlevania IV. It's not as relentlessly ball-busting as two out of the three NES games due to featuring a save function, but the gameplay is much harder to hurdle over than the franchise's previous 16-bit outing. One might think it's due to reconverting to the rigid controls from the NES days, but this is merely a fraction of what makes Rondo of Blood's difficulty more appalling. That's right, appalling. Apparently, somewhere on the shadier side of the Belmont family tree lies a trait even more recessive than being blown back by any colliding physical force. This unfortunate gene is not given an invincibility frame; a requisite video game feature that assures the error of taking damage won't punish the player too harshly by providing a brief moment of invulnerability so they can prop themselves back on track. Richter ostensibly has the genetic makeup of a hemophiliac as inbreeding between his Belmont ancestors has given him too many flawed quirks. Not only does Richter stumble dramatically when hit, but his health bar can plummet quickly in a matter of seconds due to not having a merciful window. Groups of Medusa Heads will bat Richter around like a pinball machine, and getting too close to enemies will always be the imminent death for the player. Invincibility windows are paramount to fair game design, and any game without them is objectively flawed. Still, their absence in a close-combat series like Castlevania makes their omission all the more vexing for the player.
The level design in Rondo of Blood is much less linear than in Super Castlevania IV. The older of the two 16-bit Castlevanias was a loyal remake of the first Castlevania, and a non-linear level progression would've proved to be too ambitious for an early NES game. It was, however, proven in the third entry on the same system that experimenting with linearity was possible on the NES, and Rondo of Blood continues where Castlevania III left off. However, Rondo of Blood's experimentation leads the player down different directions of Dracula's castle than Castlevania III did. Instead of choosing paths at a crossroads between levels, Rondo of Blood implores the player to wander off the beaten path of any given level on the direct course. With the save system in consideration, I'd argue that Rondo of Blood should have adopted Castlevania III's method of nonlinearity to facilitate multiple playthroughs. As it is, Rondo of Blood's methods of revisiting levels with a stage select feature is a competent way of fostering exploration.
If the player doesn't take the time to meticulously explore the vicinity, one of the primary objectives will be incomplete. Unlike his forefathers, Richter's mission to defeat Dracula isn't because he's a noble warrior. Richter needed some motivation to carry on his family's legacy as Dracula holds four captured maidens all over his estate, one of them being Richter's fiance. These ill-fated damsels are located in secret corners of the castle which can only be accessed off the beaten path. Once they are found, an animated cutscene plays, and the girls commend Richter for their heroic deeds. The reward for rescuing these girls is practically nothing, and it does not affect the course for the rest of the game. Still, it's confusing why the developers would relegate their roles as optional fetch quests considering their precedence in the story. I think rescuing all four of them should have unlocked the full ending of the game, adding an additional layer of incentive to play the game meticulously. Concepts like "true endings" may have been too radical an idea for the 16-bit era, but hindsight is always 20/20.
One of these four maidens is also Rondo of Blood's secondary protagonist. Tossing a key into the lock of an underground door in the second main level will uncover a ritual conducted on a blonde girl in a pink dress. Upon interrupting this incantation, the blonde girl will float down into Richter's loving arms and thank him kindly. Her name is Maria Renard, a giddy young girl from a fellow vampire-hunting family. She is offended at Richter's laughing condescension when she insists on aiding him in his quest, but the player will know not to judge Maria by her appearance. By stating her role as a secondary protagonist, I don't mean in the narrative. Saving Maria will unlock Rondo of Blood's only other playable character. Subtracting the number of playable characters from Castlevania IIIs three may seem disappointing, but Maria's inclusion is more than enough. Maria's tactics are completely different than any Belmont's, adding additional frills to her moveset. She can double jump, and slide on the ground like Mega Man, and her base attack is two doves whose trajectory is the same as Richter's whip with the added perk of doing damage on reentry like a boomerang. Her secondary weapons are all various animal friends like a cat, tortoise, dragon, and parrot that cover as many bases as the usual ax, holy water, etc. Richter should wipe that smug grin off his face because Maria is far better at eliminating vampiric threats than he or anyone else in his family. What better tool to use against the legions of the damned than purity and chastity? In fact, Maria seems to be TOO good with some criticizing playing as her making the game far too easy. Maria's defense is lower than Richter's, but the player will ideally never get hit due to the higher damage output of her doves. Her sweetness, frilliness, and sickeningly cute demeanor lead me to believe that she's Konami's attempt to cater to girls to a transparent degree. If Castlevania was missing a much-needed demographic, it's the little sisters of Japanese Turbo-Grafix owners. Even the roasts Richter consumes in the cracked-out walls shift into sugary foods like parfaits and birthday cake when playing as Maria. Do girls not need protein in their diets? Maria is a market decision as condescending towards young women as Richter is, but I'd be lying if I didn't find myself playing as her most of the time.
If unlocking a makeshift easy mode and a few hidden cutscenes don't tickle your curiosity, I still beseech everyone to go the extra lengths to search every path this game offers. The secret paths add much-needed variety to the typical climb from the base of the grounds to the tip of Dracula's peak. The secret routes run the gamut of different foregrounds ranging from jungles, and watery wharves, to temples with flowing water streaming through the foundation. One alternate route is a level in the daylight of all things. Each level might not be as creative and stylized as the individual levels from Castlevania IV, but the variation provided here is fresh air upon the fifth trek up this godforsaken building. The secret routes will also lead to some eclectic boss fights. Among the series standards like The Grim Reaper and a boss gauntlet that revisits each boss from the first game in order, Rondo of Blood adds a smattering of high-stakes bosses from other mythical horror sources. For example, the secret path will have Richter and Maria fighting a serpent that slithers along a bridge over water, a pile of skeletons that take the shape of many forms, a naked banshee riding a giant skull, etc. The dark wizard Shaft takes the peculiar role of acting as Dracula's right-hand man, demoting the Grim Reaper for the sake of variety. The final fight against Dracula is surprisingly the bout I expected from Super Castlevania IV because it's the fight from the first game with more impressive graphical flair. The ending will differ depending on whether the player finishes Dracula with either Richter or Maria. Still, either will result in Dracula's demise with his tower crumbling on the horizon as usual.
If Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was released in its full glory to the western world back in 1993, the 16-bit wars would've reached a point of bloody mayhem that Sega, the prime instigators of this capitalistic battle, would've stayed out of. Those few who owned the niche Turbo-Grafix-16 system would've been treated to a hallmark game on the system that made Nintendo fans all the more covetous, given that it's an entry to a series that stands as a reason to have kept purchasing Nintendo's consoles way back when. Alas, this is merely a case of alternative history, for Rondo of Blood's adulation is in retrospect after so many years. The appeal of finally being able to play Castlevania's well-kept secret has caused a rise in the game's placement among the rest of the titles in the series, which I always thought was unjust. I've always thought that Super Castlevania IV was the superior 16-bit Castlevania game, and those who favor Rondo of Blood criticize Super Castlevania IV just as fervently. I now see that both camps have substantial arguments for their respective opinions. Super Castlevania IV is a more orthodox Castlevania game whose mission was to refine the first game with the advancements of the SNES, as was the initiative for many sequels on the console. On the other hand, I admire Rondo of Blood's greater ambition in progressing the series. I still stand by my stance that Super Castlevania IV is the better game because it's much fairer to the player. That was a vital aspect of Super Castlevania IV's evolution not seen in Rondo of Blood. I suppose I can be thankful that westerners finally got to experience Richter Belmont in his finest form on a worthy entry in the series rather than that god-awful port of this game that we initially received on the SNES.
(Originally published to Glitchwave on 7/10/2022)
Category: Port
Platforms: SNES
Release Date: July 21, 1995
Me: Mom, can we have Castlevania: Rondo of Blood?Mom: We have Rondo of Blood at home...
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood at home:
God, I'm such a hack.
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