First time starting up my PC Engine Duo and it works perfectly! Also I was able to capture gameplay footage through the Elgato! :D Yay!
Akumajou Dracula X Chi no Rondo.. that’s what I’ve been playing tonight, and damn this game is good!! :D
I recorded a movie of the intro, it’s awesome! And odd!! There’s a German voiceover, which made me think I had bought the wrong game. Then I realized it was only released in Japan and seeing the japanese subtitles made me come to my senses and understand that this was the way it was supposed to be..
Good thing for me though, since I can’t read kanji fluently but I can understand German! :D
Great intro ^_^ watch it >>
The graphics were stunning, you can really tell that they used the full potential of Super CD-ROM! ;D It’s a big difference from the HU-card games.
You control Richter Belmont, and he has a whip just like Simon and the others, and you collect hearts to use your special weapons, like the knife, axe, holy water etc. The first boss was a fire breathing flying purple dragon-thingy, a step up from the bat ^_^
You still collect orbs after each boss battle at the end of the stage like in the first game:
The second stage was extremely similar to the first stage of the first Castlevania game! You fought ghouls and you were inside the castle and it looked the same! Just better graphics ;D
All of a sudden though I got chased by this giant beast! That freaked me out..
But I got away, and looked back to find that the giant beast had run into a wall.. and lost his head!!? lol, he must have been running really fast for that to happen!
The second boss was a pain in the ass.. I was stuck there for a while, even had to use a continue >-<
However, on one of my attempts in reaching the boss I found a key and went into a looked door to find a girl in need of my rescue! :D This added up to a cutscene:
On the third stage I encountered the seamen, much like the second part of stage one in the first Castlevania. It feels nice to get that feeling of recognition, while still having to find new ways of getting past enemy patterns :)
The sceneries are beautiful, and it really feels like you’re playing a Castlevania game!
Some parts also felt a bit like Symphony of the Night. It wasn’t as linear as previous Castlevania games, yet not as extent as SotN though, you still had the option to go in different directions but still reaching an end of a stage.
Most of the enemies could be recognized from earlier games.
And some appeared in this game that later appeared in future sequels like SotN, AoS, etc. Like this third boss ^_^
I bumped into these guys, the axe-throwing-maniac-knights. The difference between these dirt-colored maniacs compared to the regular axe-throwing-blue-knights is that these ones just charge you repeatedly and it’s super hard to dodge >_< At least the blue ones have a dodge-able pattern… This guy killed me over and over again, and I eventually gave up for tonight.
Thankfully this game has a save function so I can give it another try tomorrow ^_^ I wonder what “Player Change” does though.. it wasn’t there before..
For those of you who don’t have the PC Engine but still would like to try this game out it can be downloaded for the Wii Virtual Console, and there’s also a remake (which also contains the original) on the PSP called The Dracula X Chronicles.
This game is an excellent example of why I hold Konami so dear ^_^
Check out my entire Castlevania Collection here >>
Retro Video Gaming 
Once you save Maria (the 12-year-old girl), you can use that Player Change feature to play as her instead. I think she is a bit weaker (she can get hurt more) than Richter, but she has different weapons (basically magical animal friends she summons) and can double-jump. It’s neat that you can swap between them!
I am glad you are enjoying the game!
oh so that’s why ^_^ I’ll have to try playing as her tomorrow then :D double-jumping FTW ^_^
Excellent! I knew you’d love this game a lot. The PSP version is great, but nothing beats playing this on a big TV with the music and sounds pumping out and scaring the neighbors (or family pet)…
Now you HAVE to get more shmups, as I want to hear your impressions of some of the PC-E’s classics (and not so classics)…
Haha, nothing scares my cats, they’re used to the blips and blops of gaming by now ^_^
I will get more shmups!! :D I have been keeping an eye out for the Download game you recommended ^^ Anything else that’s a must have?
Here you go (shmup suggestions!):
http://www.shmups.com/xenocidefiles/pcengine.html
http://www.shmups.com/xenocidefiles/pcenginecd.html
too many to recommend, but I like the classics (Lords of Thunder, Hellfire S, R-Type Complete CD, Macross 2036) the weird stuff (The Lost Sunheart, Ai Choaniki) and everything in between (that’s affordable, at least)…
Also, with the exception of one of the Darius games (I forget which one) nearly all the PC-Engine CD to Super Famicom games I’ve seen and played are “lesser” versions (cartridge limitations vs bigger CD space among other things)…
Great game. I love Richter, but playing as Maria makes the game a bit more enjoyable at times, considering her ability to double-jump, and thus be able to CONTROL yourself in mid-air! My only two grips related to this game at all, are:
1. CD music aside, I really don’t see how Konami couldn’t have given the SNES a direct port of this game, instead of the watered down “meh” that was “Dracula X”. It’s basically the same game…but not. They were really lazy about that.
2. And speaking of lazy, while I was stoked that they finally released Rondo of Blood on the Wii’s Virtual Console service, I was at the same time immediately disappointed that they didn’t bother translating it at all. Why this bothers me, is because they took the time to translate (to my knowledge) the original version of the game that you can unlock in the PSP remake, so why they couldn’t have just used that, who the hell knows. Kinda the same as “why haven’t they released Bloodlines for Genesis on VC?”
But I digress. Great game, and it led to even greater things with it’s sequel, Symphony of the Night. Though, on a personal note, my favorite CV game will always be Super CV IV on SNES. Gameplay, music, graphics, controls…..that shit is timeless. :-)
My only experience with this game is “Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles” on the PSP, which includes the original TG16/PCE version and the HD remake (including “Symphony of the Night” and “Akumajyo Dracula Peke”), and it’s a BLAST!!
I agree about CV4 as it is one of my favorites, right there with CV3 and, oddly enough, CV2. I really wish CV2 got a good HD remake, although some fans a couple years back did a good job redoing it as a fan-game. I think it is called “CV2 Revamped.”
Anyway, so what is this “Akumajo Dracula Peke” game?
It’s a mini-game that came with “Rondo of Blood” that played only if the user was using the wrong type of System Card on the TG16 CD and/or PE CD system. It’s unlockable in “Dracula X Chronicles” on PSP.
Also, is “CV2 Revamped” any good; especially compared to the original?
Yes, it is good! YouTube it to see some videos of it, I really like the graphical style they used.
I don’t think they bothered to fix the terribly-unhelpful dialogue from the NPCs, but other than that the game is fun to play.
About ten years ago there was a team that was putting together a 3D remake of the game as a fan project under the Japanese title “Accursed Seal X,” but they got a cease-and-desist order from Konami sadly. X_X
PS: I saw you followed my blog – you were the 3,800th follower!
Interesting, I must check out those videos and see for myself (not TOO shocked Konami put a stop to it)…also…WOO-HOO!! 3,800!!! What do I win?!?! J/K!
I don’t know! Hmmmmm, maybe you can help pick what game I do next for my Let’s Play stuff whenever I get that going again! ^.^
Deal. :-D
other good PC Engine titles Star Parodia – Gardius II gen no yobu(?) –
beh. i have to look through pc engine cd again to know whats good, altough mine is broke and needs a new laser (discman DSS 2??). but i havnt meesed with it since the turbro everdrive came out, then the pc engine and turbo grafix took a shit.
going on megadrive and super famicom now.
I have star parodia ^_^
That sucks that the laser is broken, but it can be fixed right?
Mega drive is awesome ^^ I love that the boxes are in hard plastic and therefore usually in better condition! :D SFC boxes are on the other hand usually pretty well kept compared to the PAL and NTSC ones ^^