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Konami has officially announced today that the PlayStation 4 is receiving a set of classic games from Castlevania, Symphony of the Night and Rondo of Blood. The collection is released on October 26th. You probably know Symphony of Night. It's one of the best 2D games of all time and has helped define the Metroidvania genre with its RPG influences and non-linear world.
But if you have never played Rondo of Blood, you should be excited now.
The mechanisms of Rondo of Blood are not as ambitious as Symphony of Night, its direct continuation. He plays more like the classic Castlevania games of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. The levels are linear and your character is not used to RPG mechanisms like experience points and equipment. But when it comes to Castlevania's traditional games, Rondo of Blood could be the best. It has some of the best animations and sprite backgrounds of its time, its bosses are exciting and memorable, and the soundtrack is energetic.
So why did not you ever play it? This is because Rondo of Blood came out only in Japan. And even then, it came out on the relatively obscure PC Engine CD console. The system had an American equivalent, the TurboGrafx-CD, but it struggled to compete with Genesis and Super Nintendo, even with its superior hardware. Konami did not bother to bring Rondo of Blood to the TurboGrafx-CD.
Instead, Konami remade Rondo of Blood for Super Nintendo as Castlevania: Dracula X. This version has a similar storyline and used many of the same artistic assets as Rondo of Blood, but she rethought levels and plays differently. It's really a different game from Rondo of Blood, and it's not better. It was released in the United States in 1995, late in the life of the SNES, making it a rare and expensive cartridge to hunt down now.
Our first chance to play Rondo of Blood came when Konami redid it, this time more faithfully, with Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP in 2007. This remake replaces the original sprites by 3D polygons. It does not seem as crisp or charming as the original, but Dracula X Chronicles also comes with a PC Engine CD version port. So, if you do not feel the 2.5D aesthetic, you can just play the original. Wii owners will also be able to play Rondo of Blood in 2008, when Nintendo added it to the Virtual Console service.
These days, few people have a PSP or Wii on hand. Even if you still have a Wii, the Wii Shop Channel will be closed on January 30th. You will not be able to buy this version of Rondo of Blood from the virtual console.
That's why I am excited about this new collection for PlayStation 4. This will be an easy way to access one of the best games of Castlevania. Well, two of the best. And that will introduce Rondo of Blood to many more people.
I just wish the collection was released for Switch. The portability of the console makes it the perfect place for retro games. Maybe Konami will wear it in the future, but you think publishers would realize now that these projects would benefit from the launch of Switch.
The RetroBeat is a weekly column that examines the past of the game, delves into the classics, discovers new retro titles or examines the seniority of the favorites and their design techniques in today's market and experiments. If you have retro-themed projects or scoops that you would like to send, please contact me.
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