Blood, Sweat, and Tears! Let's Play Castlevania: Dracula X!

We've climbed back up to the castle, so it's time to keep moving!

Opus 13 (This is such an oddball, jazzy tune. I love it!)



We start out, once again, with an enemy that can take potshots at us from above. Much worse than that, we have our first crows. Birds are bad enough in your average Castlevania, due to their unpredictable swoops, tendency to hover out of reach, and frequent appearances around bottomless pits. Here (and in Rondo), they retain all of those lovely qualities, but also don't have the decency to die after successfully hitting you like their predecessors. These things need to be taken out as soon as they appear. Fortunately, this introduction isn't around any pits.




We make it up to a very nice courtyard. Unfortunately, we don't have much time to enjoy the scenery, because we're assaulted by another extremely obnoxious enemy.

Giant bats fly straight across the screen at different altitudes with Flea Men in tow. They drop the Flea Men as they get close to you, who proceed to do their usual thing (that is, scurrying back and forth, hopping at dramatically different heights). The trick here is to pay no mind to any airborne foes, only keeping an eye on Flea Men that are dropping. Get just close enough to whip them as they land. Don't try to run away from Flea Men dropped behind you, but also don't go back for anything they drop. Just constantly move forward, stopping only to whip any Flea Man that touches down.

Enemy/Scenario Tracking Time! The whole "Flea Men dropped by aerial enemies in the courtyard" is a series staple, showing up in Castlevania 1, 3, and Super 4 (my memory's hazy on Chronicles, and I haven't played Vampire Killer). In all of those cases, though, it was harpies doing the airlifting. Rondo of Blood changed things up, with Flea Men riding on the harpies' backs and having them function as flying, homing enemies.

The giant bats showed up in Rondo's final full stage, pursuing Richter across a crumbling bridge. THAT was a reference to the original Castlevania's final stage, and Super 4 had a less threatening version. They occasionally carried swords in Rondo, but that's it.



Huh, barrels but no skele-apes?




Ah yes, here's the crows in their natural habitat. There's still no instant death present, which is merciful, but they can undo a lot of progress and make this ascent really annoying.

The crumbling blocks are interesting. They don't use Rondo assets, and they have multiple, detailed, crumbling states. Should you destroy the path upward and fall down, you can transition back to the previous area, then come forward again to reset the room.



Now for a scenario that should be very familiar to Rondo players. The portraits are new, though, and I like the creepiness they add.



No, it's okay guys. I didn't want to come down anyway.




What you see is what you get with these guys. They're huge, take a lot of abuse, and have incredible reach. Fortunately, they wait several seconds in between attacks and don't move beyond slight shuffling when not lunging. Just engage with extreme caution and don't get greedy about getting hits in.



I like the detail of the daggers bouncing off (and again, the sound effects upon impact fit just right).



We get some candle meat before running into a very unpleasant scenario upstairs. This is a good time to note that, unlike many other Castlevanias, resetting a room includes any meat within, so you can jockey back and forth until you have full health (and to get 1000 points per meat, if you have the pressing need to farm points. Not to mention the patience).

After getting out of that tight squeeze with three spear guards, we have to deal with one from across a ledge (with a ghost there to cause more problems). Like many times before, the biggest threat is the temptation to speed things along by jumping across and fighting close-up. It can work, but you need to have great reflexes, and still may just get robbed.



All of our climbing has taken us to the top of the castle wall. Die, stupid bird!



Ugh, and this is exactly where you do NOT want to see crows. The last several platforms in this stretch crumble, and also host candles with assorted sub-weapons. They're fairly generous, as crumbling platforms go, so be sure to look before you leap off.

Oh, I like how we see the wall beneath each platform around the ax armor. That's something the series has always been great at.




BOSS: Werewolf

Attacks: Sliding, energy balls, pinballing around the room, shockwave punch.

The werewolf is the first boss we've encountered that's pretty much identical to its Rondo incarnation, though the detailed castle backdrop is new.




This boss calls Street Fighter to mind more than a horror monster. He can take you by surprise at close range with energy balls and a slide attack. From a distance, he likes to hang out on the walls or ceiling, out of reach of most attacks. Then he'll launch into a massive leap (sometimes bouncing around the room with no regard to gravity).

I've never been able to get a good handle on this fight here, in Rondo, or in Dracula X Chronicles, usually brute forcing my way through (heck, that's even true in Symphony). From what I can tell, it almost seems preferable to stay close the wolf. He can cover so much ground with his jumps and slides, and will often sail right over you (or can easily be jumped over). When I keep my distance, I usually misjudge which way to dodge. I often do that close up, too, but at least I can get hits of my own in. He also has nowhere to hide from Item Crashes, so that's not a bad move.




The werewolf has one of the flashiest spite attacks and deaths, and Dracula X retains them, as well as his dramatic entrance (he's still missing some frames of animation, but I certainly wouldn't notice without looking up the sprites).

Really? With everything else the western versions censored, they kept nude werewolf intact?

Things are definitely getting tougher now that we've hit the second half of our journey. This stage can get frustrating, but the only part where I feel it's truly unpleasant is the final room before the boss. The Flea Man bombardment is pretty much mandatory, and I like seeing them change up the delivery. The one corridor is lifted straight from Rondo, but the addition of spear guards there makes a lot of sense. Their ability to attack above, below, and shield ranged weapons across gaps make them extremely formidable in an area like this. The boss is well animated and has a nice variety of abilities.

Above all, I really like how this stage looks. It sells a dedicated climb up the castle, the courtyard is gorgeous with the dark pines, statues, and barrels for flavor, the paintings add to the corridor of pain, the detailing on the castle walls is nice, and even the werewolf's room has a lot to look at.

Next Time: I don't think this game is realistic enough. We need to add some brown.

I forgot how the Rondo sprites of the werewolf's silhouette do not at all match the scale of that structure he's supposedly standing on in the background. Either he's gigantic and shrinks on the way to the foreground, or Dracula's into model ruins.

And something I never noticed at all before is that they messed up the coloring on the crows.


See the out-of-place tan pixels on otherwise black and gray tones? This seems more like a mistake than a style choice.


Now I'm wondering if they bothered to draw little purple underpants on him for the Wii U version like they did for the PSP and Wii versions of Rondo.

I suppose it's rather telling about this game's memorableness that I thought the crumbling platform section was in stage 3 and not this one -- and I could have sworn this stage took place during the day, but I guess I'm getting confused with stage 2.

This game

also I take back what I said about being disappointed in not being able to play all the levels on a single playthrough since these two last stages don't offer much unique you wouldn't get from the best route

I had also forgotten that the setting for the werewolf battle is completely different, now that you've pointed out the disparity in scale. In Rondo, it takes place in a courtyard area in front of a statue, just outside the entrance hall. Here, the outer wall takes you to the other side of the castle, and the fact that you see the majority of the castle from where you are is surprisingly thoughtful considering where you're supposed to be (more thoughtful at times than some of the between-area transitions in Rondo, at least), but, yeah, the scale of the werewolf in the background ruins it.

Who's ready to take on the Clock Tower?



Beginning

I love the range this rendition has, alternating between ominous and energetic.




We have our first red skeletons, who do their usual thing of crumbling upon impact, then reassembling. They're not much of an issue, except to give us something else to worry about while dealing with crows.




Ugh. We have to contend with several birds on our way up, with bone pillars serving to slow us down. Richter's ability to jump on and off stairs gives us a fighting chance, but this is largely down to how cooperative the crows are going to be.



On the next screen, there's an endless stream of platforms going down. If we jump straight up, we can reach the next one in line and easily continue on to the left. To the right, past the spear guard, there's another set of dropping platforms. There's some meat there, but it's really not worth it.



Welcome to the rusty clock tower! We have to constantly keep an eye on what's above, because spear guards are eager to poke down at us.



Bats: Not quite as obnoxious as birds, but they can still do their best to screw up the easiest of climbs. It takes a lot to keep track of your position relative to spear guards and how frequent the bats appear, but at least they're both more predictable and less elusive than crows.




This horizontal stretch comes down to two things: laying into the ghosts as soon as they appear so they don't get a chance to attack, and realizing that if Belmonts fall far enough, they drop into a crouch for a moment before they can move. This can be lethal while navigating the cogs and gears.



We get another vertical clock tower climb before the end. Normally, swapping bats out for Medusa heads only means pain for us. But the lack of spear guards actually makes this quite a bit easier.

It helps that we get a nice supply of candle meat.



Again, Richter seems pretty well equipped for vertical sections. With some room to work with, this is actually a fun bit of platforming.



The pre-boss room gives us a dagger (which, as with earlier boss battles, isn't the lousy choice that previous games would have you believe), and a 1Up.



Here's a rather grim turn of events. Since we failed to rescue Annette, she's crushed to death by a giant skull right before our eyes (in as non-graphic a way as possible, but still. That's one of the more brutal occurrences in the series up to this point).

BOSS: Carmilla

Attacks: Fiery homing eyes, glowing homing eyes, lightning-shooting eyes.




Here's another strange use of Rondo assets. Carmilla showed up as a skull-riding boss fight in Rondo as well, but she and the skull look different here. Her attack pattern is entirely lifted from the boss fight with Shaft. He used two green orbs to pursue Richter, replaced by the skull's eyes here.

I suppose this is more interesting than porting over the same exact boss fight. The clock face is a great boss arena, tying into the overall stage. It looks ominous, especially with the threat of falling off either side, but there's no real need to stray from the center.

Carmilla just floats around aimlessly, quickly shooting to the opposite side when she takes a hit. Landing hits isn't the problem; it's avoiding the eyes long enough to win the fight. The fiery eyes can be knocked away with attacks. The glowing eyes are best dodged by luring them in, then back flipping over them (this usually gives you some free time to assault Carmilla). The lightning is the trickiest, because they cross each other's path quickly and it can be tough to get a read on where it's safe to stand. Item crashes are great for both dealing damage and getting out of a tight spot.



Stay away from the eyes and throw attacks at Carmilla when you can. She'll go down in flames before long.

This stage continues to bring the pain, but it also rewards those who are familiar with how Richter moves. He may not be fast, but he can make vertical progress at a surprising rate. While earlier challenges have often stressed patiently waiting things out, this one encourages steady progress and aggression. I like the change of pace. I'm not crazy about the color scheme, and when you slip up, it feels like the tide immediately turns on you, but it's a good challenge overall.

Next Time: We've reached the final stage...so we're not going to do it right now. No, instead we're going back to the pillars of Stage 3 to take a look at the "correct" path.

God, I forgot just how much this game loves its spear guards. They're fucking everywhere. And irrespective of everything else up to this point, this level just screams 1995 to me visually, especially with the prerendered CGI visuals going on with those cogs.

The boss battle is fantastic, however, and I'm very disappointed that it's only part of the bad route(s) through the game.

Since you mentioned how heavily the game leans on spear guards, I figure now's as good a time as any to mention its lack of enemy variety. Along with the lack of playable Maria, I think this is Dracula X's biggest weakness. By my count, there are 26 different enemy types in the game, plus 10 different bosses (three of them have two phases, for what that's worth). Rondo of Blood, by contrast, has 52 enemies and 16 different bosses. Now, I'm sure you can quibble a bit over what makes a distinct enemy (like the two colors of ax armor or the yellow Medusas that stone you in Rondo), but that's quite a wide margin.

Rondo is renowned for its sprite work and attention to detail, so maybe it's not fair to hold DX up to its standards. But half the enemies? Come on. And it's not just next to Rondo that makes Dracula X look thin. The numbers I got:

Super Castlevania 4 is right up there with Rondo for the most enemy variety in a Classicvania, with 54 different types and 14 bosses.

Bloodlines comes in with 40 ordinary enemies and a healthy 16 bosses.

Chronicles has 41.

Dracula's Curse has 33.

Rebirth has 30.

Simon's Freaking Quest has 29. Only three bosses, but still.

So yeah, Dracula X struggles in this category. There's no real excuse for it, considering that the shining examples are A) the game Dracula X is getting much of its sprite assets from and B) a fellow SNES game.

But now, back to those oh-so-pivotal pillars.



Extreme caution and patience are recommended. I like whipping each Medusa head that appears, then leaping to the next pillar and waiting for a new target before proceeding.



Well, that doesn't make things any easier.

If the Pillars start firing our way, this can get nasty very quickly. With the different trajectories and sheer amount of shots, it pretty much guarantees failure. Luckily, a well-placed ax can tear through the entire stack.



The game continues its habit of surprising generosity (when it comes to things that aren't major concerns in the moment at hand).



The second Pillar and our surrounding platforms are set up in a way that's much harder to hit with one ax. We can take our chances with the lower two skulls and get close (again, crouching helps negate knockback...most of the time).



If there's any time to splurge on item crashes, this is it.



Finally, solid ground! The pressure's off now, right? (Everyone who's played this game laughs bitterly).



We're offered some holy water, which is quite well-suited for the upcoming boss, but our entire journey is pointless if we don't pick up this key. Unsurprisingly, the key opens a couple of doors. Perhaps a bit more unexpected is that it's fairly useful in combat. The basic subweapon input makes Richter swing it in front of him. It's basically an inferior whip, but there's no cost to it.

More importantly, you can perform a heart-free item crash with it as well. Richter leaps high into the air, glowing. The key itself will deal damage while he's suspended in the air, and Richter's invincible until he lands again. It's useful for both offense and defense. We'll need all the help we can get, because we have to defeat this boss and the entirety of the next stage without dying or losing the key.



BOSS: Dullahan
Attacks: Stab, leaping stab, icicle wave, homing head, rock fall.

This beheaded swordsman debuted as a normal enemy in Castlevania 3. They returned in the final stage of Super Castlevania 4, and would make the rounds in Metroidvanias as well. He was promoted to boss in Rondo of Blood, and the fight is identical here.



As with the spear guards, you have to be extremely conscious of spacing. His massive blade blocks daggers, crosses, and axes (making the holy water a decent choice if we didn't need the key in the long run). It also means we can just barely hit him with the Vampire Killer without getting poked. We can't get greedy either, since his stabs have a lot of reach.

If he leaps, we have to make a snap judgment whether we let him sail overhead or if we retreat. We don't want to get cornered, but there may not be time and room to get under him.



He can produce this rather inexplicable wave of icy stalagmites. If there's room, we can simply back off. If we're cornered, we have to climb to the higher platform, which can be a tall order with no notice. This is where the key proves its worth, as we can easily stall out the wave with an item crash.



The best-case scenario is if Dullahan takes a leap and winds up above us. The key crash can just shred away his health. The one thing to watch out for is if he winds up shuffling off the edge and suddenly drops down. That puts us in a very nasty spot.



In a nice bit of detail, Dullahan tosses his head up so he can free his non-sword hand, then bashes the ground with it, initiating that tactic beloved by Castlevania bosses everywhere: rockalanche! We can hide beneath the platforms or use the key crash to phase through the stone. The attack lasts a bit longer than the crash, though, so be mindful of not leaving yourself vulnerable to one last falling rock. If the positioning is right, you can land a lot of hits during this attack.

We also get a glimpse of a side effect of the key crash: Richter's apparently self-conscious about using a locking mechanism so aggressively. The question mark doesn't impact gameplay in any way (and it also flickers like mad, which is why this is the first shot it's shown up in).



He can detach his head for another reason: He sends it homing in on Richter, casting the dreaded Slow curse on him if it connects. The best action here is to lure it as far away from the body as possible, then back flip over it when it approaches. We can get a few hits it when it retreats back to the body.

Dullahan takes a lot of the lessons we've learned from spear guard combat and puts them in boss form. As long as we stay aware of spacing and don't get greedy, it's not so bad. Being restricted to the key may seem like a handicap, but the free invincibility frames and potent vertical attack are actually some welcome advantages.

Dullahan's spite technique is to toss his head into the air, which then explodes into a spread of projectiles.



Then he falls apart into burning, clanging pieces of armor. Note that there is meat toward the left side of the boss room, giving us a chance at a 1Up (or at least more points).



With that, we've earned access to good ol' regular Stage 4, which is...a completely different subterranean passage beneath the castle!



It even shares its stage theme with 4'. On the plus side, it has some unique decor. I approve of the prison cells, with their spiffy design and struggling captives.



Once again, we have the two-tiered stage design to contend with. This time, however, the key helps us out!



This really makes things easier, especially since we can't afford to die at all. There are two things to keep in mind, though: First, only the key itself deals damage, and which side Richter's holding it depends on what direction he's facing when he crashes. Second, bats periodically plague this section, so be sure to time your crashes so you don't come right down on one.



We get a change in background and in hazards. Both the floor spikes and the raising/dropping mechanism will only hurt rather than instantly kill us, but again, one death will ruin this entire endeavor. We need to do our best to keep our health up.



Ax armor, bats, and hazards cutting off our space make that easier said than done. Here, the key crash is more of an option than a get-out-of-danger-free card. With the mobile armor and frequent bats, its lack of horizontal movement can be a liability. Ultimately, it comes down to timing and the situation, and having it in our jumping repertoire is intriguing.



The back flip gets some use as well. It takes precision, but isn't as risky as trying to slip under these spikes.



I can really get behind dilemmas like this. The stakes being so high cast a shadow over this entire stage, but it has a lot of fun, intense setups.



One last bat-plagued spike pit and we're on to the next section!



The closest analogue to this sequence in prior games that I can think of is the pre-boss room in Rondo's Stage 1 (on the hidden path). This one plagues us with a lot of ghosts. Dracula X has crafted some fun vertical sections, and this is another one. In previous Castlevanias, something like this would be an instant-death machine. It IS possible to fall down a bottomless pit here, but you almost have to try for it to happen.



The key crash again adds a new dimension to the scenario. We have a lot more freedom to use it on vertically moving platforms, and with ghosts coming in at all angles, it can be extremely valuable. We can also use it to advance more quickly on the downward-moving platforms. But we also have to be aware of being vulnerable at the end.



We eventually come across a door. Getting inside should take priority over all else.



It's Maria (and awkwardly spaced text)! I could really use your help right now! You sure you don't want to take point for a while?

Alas, after misspelling her sister's name, Maria kicks us back out there. Dracula X could probably benefit even more from a fun Easy Mode character than Rondo did, and the cutting of that feature really hurts. Also, Maria has a slightly different look than her Rondo counterpart, for whatever reason.



I have good news and bad news. Rescuing Maria completely refills our health. Unfortunately, we still need to reach the end of this stage without dying if we want the good ending.



Getting out of this room is the biggest threat to that mission. When transitioning from the left set of moving platforms to the right, final one, there's a candle containing a rosary. If we can successfully snag it, the room is a breeze. If not, we need some great timing and a level head.



Blood skeletons, flea men, and uneven terrain make up the last of our opposition. If you managed to get through the last section with a reasonable amount of health, this should be pretty smooth sailing. Just take on the flea men one at a time and everything should be fine. Incidentally, some flea men drop down from stalactites, and I appreciate the use of the surroundings.



This room is a beautiful sight. The no-death demands of the game are finally over. If we use the key on the door, we go straight to Stage 5'.

If you happened to lose the key or are staging some kind of formal protest against the game, you can head left to face a boss and go to Stage 5. Since it's the only place where we can fight this particular boss, let's take a look.



The pre-boss room hands us an ax. Personally, I'll take the free invincibility frames of the key.




BOSS: Minotaur
Attacks: Ax swing, bull charge, stone breath, stone throw.

The minotaur probably had the coolest entrance and death animation in all of Rondo, so it's a shame to lose them both, though the busted cage is a nice touch. Otherwise, it's a pretty fun fight. It's similar to Dullahan, with a massive blade weapon/shield that deflects subweapons and gives it excellent reach. It seems to have slightly more variety, though, throwing more at us, but giving us more opportunities to exploit.

We have to keep our distance when it's rearing back to swing or spray us with stone breath. When it's set to charge, we need to get to high ground, time a jump or back flip very well, or use the key crash (we can abuse it a bit while it's stuck in the wall afterward).



When it scoops into the ground and flings rocks at us, we can either dodge between them or use the key crash. I like this better than Dullahan's (and most bosses in other games) version of the attack, since we can follow the rocks' trajectory and it's not totally random. (Side note: it's even cooler in Rondo, where it actually alters the terrain).



Despite the animations that didn't make the jump from Rondo, this version of the minotaur has a pose that it never uses in its debut. Weird.



One of the blocks gives way to meat.



Upon defeat, it simply fades into flames.

It's a shame that you're tasked with the unreasonable goal of getting through this stage with one life and the key, because it's fun, varied, and intense. We constantly have to adjust to new hazards, but nothing that feels like a total cheap shot (except, again, for the handicap placed on us). It does seem designed to encourage key crashing for survival, so that's something. But we finally have that design choice behind us, and we can move on.

Next Time: We attempt to rescue Annet(te).

There's also one of the hidden paths in Stage 4, where you're assaulted by flying skele-worms.

Whoa! How have I never been to that room before?



It took some hard work, but we've earned passage into Stage 5'!

Picture of the Ghost Ship

This tune originated in an aquatic stage, so it fits the Atlantean trappings here pretty nicely.




Speaking of which, I adore this stage's visuals. The assorted ancient architecture, the flowing water, the cool colors...it comes together beautifully. This really calls Castlevania 3's Sunken City stage to mind, and it seems to be a strong inspiration for Symphony of the Night's waterlogged caverns. The trip to Athens in Bloodlines also shares similar structures, bone dragons, mermen, and flooding/receding tides.

We're well acquainted with mermen at this point. Falling to our deaths still isn't as large of a concern as it is in other Castlevanias, but we still have to beware of their penchant for suddenly sliding into us.

We also have to deal with these water skulls. These showed up in Rondo's final proper stage. Oddly, a completely different-looking constantly spawning skull enemy appeared in Rondo's ship stage, the source of the music.

The skulls are slow, just about anything kills them, and we get an ample visual warning that they're appearing. Their primary concern is that their presence urges us to move forward. A patient approach will overcome most of the challenge in this game, and the skulls try to make us work against our best interest.



Yikes, there's a lot going on here. Bone Dragons make their requisite Atlantean stage appearance. There's no shame in just crashing through all this mayhem. We're offered an ax early on (since we're guaranteed to enter the stage without a subweapon), and it's probably the best choice for the duration of the level.



Next, we have to make a careful descent with mermen jumping up to greet us.



Okay, now this is devious, but it's the kind of challenge I can get behind (maybe I'm still flooded with relief at no longer worrying about a single death ruining the run). We have to land precisely on the moving platform, then adjust so we won't get skewered. The candle near the spikes contains an invincibility potion, and it breaks Castlevania tradition by actually being useful. We won't have to worry about foes or spikes as we're carried over.




This is a fun little ascent. We get a choice in how to make our way up, and we again run into trouble if we try to rush (getting Richter's head impaled on spikes). We also get easy access to a cross, which is a decent choice for what lies ahead.



This room begins to flood as soon as we enter it. Richter seems to move faster by jumping forward, so with the rising tide, it's extremely tempting to do so, and a perfectly valid option on the first floor. Once we hit the second, we'll be jumping straight into spikes. We can clearly see them from the bottom, but the water may take up our attention until we first take a hit (I know it did for me).



The game continues to find subtle ways to save time and trouble with back flipping.



With a pressing time limit and no room to jump, I'd recommend either crashing this Bone Dragon or sneaking past it (taking a hit if necessary).



The water never actually reaches this point, something I didn't realize until after I crashed this second Bone Dragon. It's still not a bad idea with a blood skeleton constantly hassling us and spikes impeding our jumps. I'd rather pay with hearts than damage.

We can simply take the stairs out of the next room with no resistance, but my Metroid sense is tingling!



Striking this a few times will halt the water flow, draining the room and allowing us to descend.



Head to the bottom left and we find...



Richter, my love! I knew you would rescue me! But be very careful, the Count grows more powerful by the minute!

Annette is certainly in an excitable mood. I love the image of Richter walking in, her springing up and trying to talk, and him immediately turning and walking out while her dialogue's still up. I mean, it happens with Maria too, but at least she pretty much tells him his princess is in another castle.



As with Maria, we get our health topped off. We can climb to the top of this room with no resistance. From this point on, it's just straightforward platforming ahead of us.



There's one final stretch before the boss. It's mostly just skulls, mermen, and an occasional shift in terrain. This stage doesn't have a "proper" pre-boss area, but this relatively easy room provides us meat and a nice selection of subweapons.



Well, I guess it can't be totally painless.



Just a bit further and we reach...



BOSS: Sea Serpent
Attacks: Diving, coiling around the bridge (in two different ways), fire breath.



The serpent was the hidden boss in Rondo's Stage 1. At first glance, the fight is identical, but there are a few strange differences.

First of all, the serpent has been altered visually. The head doesn't look quite the same, and it's a brighter orange rather than the pale pink of Rondo. It's also "built" a little differently. Both are clearly made up of segmented parts, and there are visible gaps in both versions. That's a common conceit with long, flexible sprites in games. But while the segments appear the same other than color, the SNES serpent has fewer of them, they're smaller, and the gaps between them are larger. I imagine there were limitations with onscreen sprites, but I feel like I've seen more complex creatures on the SNES before.

We also miss out on the spiffy intro it had in Rondo, where we could see it silently surface far in the distance before submerging and suddenly leaping at us. I'm a sucker for the "just have the monster chilling in plain view" ploy, and I'm sorry to miss it here. On the plus side, the waterlogged coliseum-like structure we fight in is pretty cool, giving the illusion of vast space. And the trick with depth perception as the serpent dives over and wraps around the bridge are nifty in both versions.



On to the actual fight. The serpent can dive in massive arcs of different angles, starting behind the bridge then splashing down in front of it. We can land hits on its head if we're quick, but have to stay away from its body as it moves out of the background.

It can also come at us from either side of the screen, curling around the bridge. It does this in a couple different ways, and it can be really hard to process what's going on and get into a safe position in time, let alone land any hits. I've only seen it do one of the two wrapping patterns in Rondo, and it really throws me off.




Here's where things really differ from the Rondo version. In both, the serpent will come straight out of the water and attack with a breath weapon. In Rondo, it's a burst of water. Here, it's a spray of fireballs, which bounce at various, odd trajectories. As you can see in the shots above, it's also out of reach, save for the ax and item crashes. In Rondo, you could jump and hit it with anything. Between the more dangerous attack and its positioning, it's not nearly as ripe of an opportunity here.

At first I just thought it was a slight tweak to make things harder, and avoid having to animate the splashing water that the Rondo version spits. And that may be true, but it also makes this fight a mashup between Rondo's serpent and its other Stage 1 boss, the wyvern. Well, at least in gameplay. The wyvern's whole deal was hovering out of reach of most attacks, with a fireball attack identical to this one, right down to the scattering flames.

That's...pretty cool, in my opinion. It's unfortunate that the serpent isn't as aesthetically pleasing as its source, but I like how just a little alteration changes the complexion of the battle. It attacks in very distinct waves, giving us a breather in between each one, but we still have to be very aware of its movements and prepared to adjust. It doesn't do a lot of damage, but opportunities to hit it are scarce, and we usually only get them if we're on the ball.



Oh yeah, it has a delightfully gross spite attack.

This stage is probably the highlight of Dracula X. It isn't blatantly ripped from Rondo, and while it's had precedent in the series, it's not an overused backdrop either. The terrain is constantly changing, and the stage winds in all directions before we're done. Annette is hidden in a sneaky, but intuitive location, and we don't need to drag a key with us to reach her (in fact, this stage is very generous about giving us suitable subweapons). The platforming is challenging, but fair. The boss is one of Rondo's better ones, and remixed a bit to keep us on our toes. And it looks gorgeous throughout.

Next Time: The Clock Tower of Untimely Death.

My favorite detail here is how Annette was holding her breath for, like, days here.

I remember this being the most tolerable stage in the game, too. It's a shame it's gated behind all that nonsense with the key.

Yeah, this level is easily the highlight of the game, but then any callback to Bloodlines is welcome for me.

Before we return to Stage 6, a little quirk I just learned about:



If we reach the serpent without busting up the drain/rescuing Annette, the boss arena is flooded. This is just an aesthetic thing, but I appreciate the detail.

Most of Stage 6 is identical, regardless of who we do or don't rescue.




Here's a quick demonstration of something I skipped the last time through this stage. We can sneak under the spear guard, cross a few more columns of blocks, and get some meat. I'd prefer to simply take the safe passage to the next room, but if you want to get past a spear guard twice (or fight it), plus deal with bats and a bottomless pits, that's your perogative.

The rest of the trip is the same until we reach the boss room. With no helpless victims to squash, Carmilla's just not in the mood. Instead, we have to contend with:



Oh boy.

BOSS: Death
Attacks: Sickle spam, slow curse on contact.



Death starts out much like his Rondo counterpart (and much like his typical battle plan): he floats aimlessly around the arena, spawning sickles anywhere onscreen. They proceed to make beelines for Richter.

Like Richter in the western versions, Death sweats profusely on impact. In all fairness, it's not like the blood in the uncensored versions/Rondo made any sense.

Two key differences make this fight a good deal tougher than the Rondo version. First, the clock tower is considerably less spacious than the ship from the earlier game. Secondly, Death himself was harmless at this point in Rondo, while here he deals damage, knockback, and a nice dose of slow curse, which we REALLY don't need when under bombardment.

The threat of instant death can be avoided by staying near the center, but Death seems to enjoy hanging out on the edges of the screen. We can refuse to rise to the bait, but that means longer periods where we have to avoid damage without getting to retaliate. Pick your poison.

Castlevania veterans know what to expect out of this kind of fight. At the very least, both Death and the sickles are clearly visible before they can hit Richter. It's just a matter of staying aware of every possible threat at once. The cross is great for scoring multiple hits against Death and providing some anti-sickle coverage. The dagger provided in the pre-boss room is also a thoroughly decent choice. Death isn't incredibly fast, but he tends to drift just out of the cross's reach if you're not fully concentrating, while the dagger's speed and range can guarantee hits (and also pick him off while he's hovering at a distance). It's still weird to advocate so much dagger usage.



When he's below half health, Death changes tactics. His technique of bombarding Richter with giant skulls from the background didn't make the leap from Rondo. It was a pointless interlude, so I'm not too sad about that. What is unfortunate is that he now changes wardrobe offscreen. His transformation in Rondo is one of the coolest sprite animations around, and it's a shame to lose it.

Death Phase 2
Attacks: Sickle summon, scythe slash, subweapon counter, jumping slash.



Death completely changes fighting styles at this point, succumbing to gravity and wielding a massive scythe. The sickle rate slows dramatically, and he'll only summon one at a time, if that. But we have to be a lot more worried about spacing. Death will inch slowly forward, unleashing a massive swing with only an instant of warning. It's fast, has great reach, and can knock us off the tower if we're not careful.



He's also gotten more defensive, blocking projectiles and retaliating with these little spark things. Subweapons can still damage him, but it's really not worth the result.

The plan here is to whip him while as far away as possible when he leaves an opening (usually right after a swipe). This will back him up, and from here, we have to be ready to react fast. He may simply start inching forward again, or he may swipe, both of which offer a great opportunity to hit him again. What you really want to watch out for...



...is his spinning slash, where he'll dive diagonally forward, swinging the scythe in a massive circle. This usually leaves us with very little room to work with, and it's good to get an idea of exactly how far his swipes reach, because we'll probably need to back up to the ledge to be safe. I don't think he's ever completely screwed me over, but there have been times when I had to attack the moment he landed in order to get some breathing room.




Once his health is depleted, Death throws his scythe into the air. It comes down, hits him, and...makes him burn and fade away (it decapitates him in certain regions, much like Rondo).

This fight is certainly worthy of being the penultimate battle of the game. It demands constant awareness of the entire battlefield, and we need a very good idea of how Death moves and operates. This is just the kind of classic, brutal slugfest you come to expect with Death boss fights.

Incidentally, I've heard multiple times when discussing Castlevania that "Death is usually/always in the clock tower." That seems like an exaggeration, since (to my knowledge), he's found there in Legends, Aria, Ecclesia, 64, and Adventure Rebirth. I guess that's more than any other single location. In any case, this is the first instance of pairing a notoriously nasty location with a nasty boss.

Next Time: We storm the keep!

Similar to the issue with the werewolf, Death is supposed to be far in the background in the first two shots here, but the clock face is right behind you... They left out his form-change animation, but we can tell it's not because they were worried about this.

But the next stage has my favorite example of how they just did not care with this game.

Portrait of Ruin had him in the clock tower as well.

Hey guys! Who's ready to go kill a vampire?



...Okay, for the most part, DracX has actually done a good job of presenting its castle and surrounding grounds as one cohesive, connecting location (previously seen boss/background proportion issues notwithstanding). It's a shame that they do something this ridiculous on the home stretch.

Yeah, what we're seeing in the background is the bulk of the castle copy-pasted (and slightly enlarged) from the map screen. Which isn't even such a terrible thing in a memory-starved medium, but the perspective here is baffling. We're ostensibly approaching from the clock tower, as seen on the far right of the first shot. Yet the view of the castle doesn't match that. Maybe it's not all supposed to be arranged in a line and it's a quirk of viewing a 3D location on a 2D plane? But even in that case, our destination is awfully far away, with no obvious castle architecture connecting us to it. As we'll see, this final stage is quite short, so I don't know exactly where we are or how we're getting there. "Castle is a creature of chaos" and all that?

This is all pretty picky, but Castlevania's generally good at maintaining some consistency as you traverse its locations. This goes all the way back to the original, as Parish details in his Anatomy coverage. And again, this game is mostly good about that. It just really likes calling attention to its blunders.

Speaking of which: I neglected to mention this back in the Dullahan fight, but when it first materializes, you can briefly see a tile pattern across its waist (it was too quick for me to capture). This is because in Rondo, there's a line of blocks in the background architecture, and it materializes in front of them. The blocks aren't in the DracX boss room, but they ripped the sprite straight over with no modification, so there you go!

Den (or Nest, sometimes)

For our big finale, we have a mashup of some signature Castlevania tunes. Rondo used this for its final stage as well (that is, its final stage that was more than just a boss fight). In both cases, I think it's a nifty idea on its own, but the fact that we spend a good chunk of the game listening to remixes of Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, and Beginning dampens it. These are great versions of those tunes (and Den is yet another one that sounds great on the SNES), but devoting four stages to three nostalgic remixes (okay, so there's a bit of Stalker and some other stuff in there too), just seems to be overdoing it.

Heck, the series was already revisiting old sights by Simon's Quest, and it was reusing old tunes by Dracula's Curse. It's not like Rondo was some special "return to the roots"...the series had never really left. Heck, there were five games covering Simon's first foray into Castlevania by the time Rondo came out, including Chronicles in the same year and Super 4 two years prior. By simply depicting different events, Rondo was a wild departure for the series (in relative terms), which just makes it seem silly that it spends so much music waxing nostalgic.

Alright, that's too many words on what is technically a different game. Rondo has some awesome music, and in my experience, it made a great jump to the SNES. On to the actual stage!



Man, playing this game is just an emotional roller coaster. I can't stay mad at it about the whole castle/map thing when you have a cool background view like this. The questionable castle is obscured, letting us take in that lovely twilight mountain range and ominous full moon. A six-skull Bone Pillar serves as a striking sentinel. It's nothing we can't handle, but it feels like an appropriate barrier to signify our breach into the inner sanctum.



Mere pairs of Bone Pillars put up less resistance, especially with the "three strikes and they're out" setup when we face them on flat ground. To a Belmont less adept with stairs, the upper one would be a threat, but we can easily hop onto its level before it can really get going.



The next room has two candles we can't reach with our dagger and a Bone Dragon. This is definitely a high-threat enemy fitting for the final stage, except...there's no reason to fight it. It may take a bit of skillful timing to reach the stairs, but the worst-case scenario should be taking one hit.



Another isolated enemy. The only real danger here is if you forget how these guys work (since they're extremely rare and only found back in Stage 2). We're actually most vulnerable right where we come in, because it launches a spray of bones into the air. For a one-enemy setup, I like this. It makes us react quickly (either dropping down, then out of range, or retreating back up the stairs if things turn sour) and use past experiences that may not be so memorable.



We have one last platforming challenge, and of course, one last set of spear guards. Again, I like this game's vertical sequences (as well as the stained-glass windows!). This seems overwhelming at first (especially when the Medusa heads start flying in), but it's very manageable. As long as we keep moving, we can stay ahead of the Medusa heads and out of the way of the guards until we get into position to fight. There's also a rosary in one of the lower candles, letting us wipe out the first spear guards we see.



Ascend a little further, and we find passages to the left and to the right. Here's where things get interesting.



Heading left leads to a dead end. We see platforms, a ledge, and an Ax Armor (couldn't end the game without one more of those, right?), but no way to reach them.



Heading right loops back into the Bone Dragon room, granting us access to the upper ledge. We're not in as good a position to sneak past our foe, but the candles provide a cross and meat. Since candles and their contents will respawn when we leave and re-enter a room, we can repeatedly come back for this meat, using the rosary to ease the vertical climb. If we fail to progress further and get beaten up in the process (that will become clearer in a moment), we can loop back to regain our health. It's not totally free; we have to get past some sturdy enemies and a bit of a climb, but it's a very sporting offer for the final stage.



We have to climb higher. By now, we should have an idea of where we can stand to stay out of the guards' reach. Poking around on this safe ledge reveals one last 1Up.



Once again, getting impatient will just result in a head full of spikes. Constant, steady progress is the key.



There's more meat here, but fighting a spear guard from across a gap with a spiky ceiling and Medusa heads may not be worth the trouble.

The two floating platforms move back and forth together, so we can only jump left from one to the other as they're moving right. We not only have to reach the platform, but then get past the Ax Armor while being bombarded by Medusa heads. Item crashes don't really help here, since all but the dagger send Richter leaping straight up, which would drop him from the platform. The dagger would keep us anchored, but we'd need to land at least three lashes to remove the shield first. Naturally, if we slip, we have to retreat back until we pop out halfway up the vertical room.



The trick lies in the lone candle above the floating platforms. It contains an invincibility potion. With a perfectly executed jump-and-whip, we can punch our ticket to Dracula. This has to be some sort of record for the invincibility potion being useful.



That sure is satisfying!



With that, we reach the pre-boss room. We get a nice amount of hearts, plus the dagger, holy water, cross, and ax. This is also a checkpoint, but only for deaths. If we Game Over, we have to play the stage from the start. Here's where the game's giving nature with extra lives actually has an impact. I'm typically in double digits or close to it when I get here. Of course, the only legitimate methods of playing this are owning a SNES and the cart, or downloading it on the WiiU, which offers saves states, and there's no shame in using them here. This fight's brutal.

First, a quick recap of Stage 7. It's a surprisingly brief affair, the challenge boiling down to two rooms. Considering we need to play through all of it to reach Drac again if we run out of lives, I'm okay with that. It's unusual for a Castlevania stage, actually encouraging us to loop through previously visited rooms.

I like it. There are some really tough platforming stunts, but only a handful of them. The hidden meat and loops tell me that they don't want to drain players' lives, they just want them to show their skills. Once you've proven that you know what you're doing, the game lets you move on. It also generously rewards players who seek out hard-to-get (either due to being heavily guarded, requiring tricky jumps, or figuring out how to get to a higher ledge) candles, and it's nice to see the rosary and potion get some more mileage.

Next Time: We take on the man himself!

Here it is: this entire game perfectly encapsulated in a single moment. You can actually see the staircase you're ostensibly climbing in the background as you climb it. They really, truly did not care.

No need to get up! You can just die, monster! You don't belong...whoa, whoa whoa! Drac...you may need to call someone. This place is a mess. Where's most of your floor?

Dance of Illusions (or some combination of those root words).

Finally, a Castlevania song that's been played to death that started in Rondo! I like the "punch" this one has, especially with those synthy drums.

Anyway...




FINAL BOSS: Dracula
Attacks: Teleportation, fireball spread, meteors, fighting above a bottomless pit, ceaseless laughing.

I find it interesting how they take the exact same pattern as Rondo's Dracula and a little terrain change completely alters the fight. I mean, lots of Dracula fights involve teleporting and fireballs, but the patterns and techniques (for both parties) usually differ.

Anyway, this battle takes place atop several platforms of different heights. Dracula teleports around, shooting a spread of three fireballs. They're destructible, but I have a hard time making any use of that. It's usually best to just jump over them. Meanwhile, he's vulnerable in the head, but only for a very brief window.

After every three or four fireballs, he'll throw out a pair of meteors, one high, one low. They move quite a bit faster, and are especially dangerous if he's offscreen when shooting them.



There's a candle with some delicious meat toward the left side of the arena. I never worry too much about preserving it, though I'll obviously grab it if necessary. Falling is a far greater concern than death by damage.



I've gotta say, I like Dracula's smoky teleport a lot more than his neon light teleport from other 16-bit Castlevanias.

So, the battle plan: I like to stand on the third platform from the left. It lets me see the five leftmost platforms (about half the battlefield) and it has the high ground over the two nearest platforms, making it easy to jump fireballs and hit Dracula's head. It also offers a nice vantage point to jump and throw the cross should he appear at one of the further points. Most of the crosses should be saved for phase 2, but if he appears too far away to whip, that's a prime opportunity to land two or even three hits with the cross.

I think the main problem is how much this fight can drag. I mean, it's not cool to instantly die from one mistake, but I think some players just get distraught with the principle and it throws them off their game. You have a reasonable warning and both room and time to react whenever Dracula appears. Plus, doing this fight on perfectly safe ground in Rondo is just incredibly dull and toothless. Ideally, I think it would be some hazardous substance in between uneven platforms rather than an outright bottomless pit.

Either way, what gets me most is how each of your attacks does so little damage, you have such a small window (both time and size), and Dracula's happy to laugh at his own jokes offscreen. Not only does that stall things out, but that's the one time when attacks can be hard to predict, since meteors or fireballs can suddenly come flying in at different heights. The battle can really wear you down and lead to impatience and mistakes.



He will eventually succumb, but we all know Dracula won't call it quits without a transformation, right?




Dracula, Phase 2
Attacks: Endlessly advancing, fireballs, energy wave.

The second phase also echoes Rondo in function. They're both massive beasts, both advance with fluttering hops, they shoot fireballs downward, and they shoot an energy wave forward. This Speedo-clad demon is quite a visual departure from Rondo's beast mode, and he shoots fire from his hands, rather than mouth. Again, the terrain makes a huge difference. I've never attempted to slip under this guy, and I don't know how difficult it is.

In contrast with the first phase, and similar to Rondo's second phase, we can now hit Dracula anytime, anywhere. This phase goes much faster, one way or the other. It's probably easier, but it has an air of frantic desperation to it.

Basically, I advocate the "throw crosses until I win" strategy. I try to aim for his hands, or just below them, and the crosses tend to tear through most of the fireballs he shoots. When I'm not throwing or catching crosses, I'm crouching so any fireballs that do slip through don't kill me. Damage may actually come into play in this phase, but if you bombard Dracula persistently enough, you should win any damage race.

It's a good rule of thumb to keep Dracula far enough so the cross is hitting him when it stops and reverses direction. This is useful because it gives you time to fall back when he advances, and it allows each cross to land multiple hits and shield you from fireballs longer.

The energy wave looks cool, but is blatantly telegraphed and thwarted by crouching. That hasn't changed from Rondo.

It's probably an obvious thing to say, but your best chance to win is your first attempt of a run, when you have hearts accumulated from earlier play. This is why it's useful to use crosses sparingly on the first phase (if you have the time and patience, it's fine to never use them). As long as you have more than 30, you can have three onscreen, which virtually never gives his fireballs a chance to get through and shreds his health very quickly. If you fall below 20 hearts, it's time to start considering an item crash. It will do a lot of damage, because Dracula can't move fast and has a massive hitbox, but if he's still alive and you have no cross, that's a very bad spot to be in. Of course, just being able to throw one cross at a time isn't so great.

I've found the ax makes a decent substitute for the cross, but the latter just seems better for this fight.



So yeah, this phase is going to go fast. Don't do anything stupid after Drac bites it, and that's game!

I don't hate this fight. It has some bite to it, and it's not like losing is too severe of a setback. I'll take it over the US version of Castlevania 3 Dracula any day.

Like I said, I think the first phase could be improved by making him more vulnerable/less apt to stall, and/or swapping out instant death for mere damage. It's definitely frustrating as is.

I thoroughly enjoy the second phase. I love how you can be simultaneously aggressive and defensive. Then there's just this beautiful sensation of "back's against the wall...have to kill him before he kills me...die die die die die!"

Next Time: We'll look at the different endings and I give some final thoughts.

Ending




Dracula will give up the ghost with the same series of images and echoing tune regardless of who we rescued. I like the contrast of lighting in these shots.

Credits

Finally, we get our end credits. The same theme plays for all three possible outcomes. It treads the line between quietly triumphant and melancholic depending on context, so it works quite well.



For failing to rescue both Maria and Annette, we get Richter riding out alone.



Somehow even more depressing, if we rescue Maria and not Annette, we have the two survivors mourning Annette's death by giant skull.

Incidentally, if you reach Stage 4 and decline to rescue Maria, the key won't work on the exit that leads to Stage 5'. So it's impossible to beat the game with only Annette rescued. I guess mourning over a child would be too grim...even though she doesn't make it in one of the three endings anyway...



Finally, we get a bit of levity if we rescue both of them.

And that's Dracula X! It's...not great. There are a lot of missteps, some understandable with their limitations, others are pretty baffling. Did you really need to lose half of Rondo's enemies AND playable Maria (not to mention the Bible subweapon)? I know little about the technical aspects of what's going on "under the hood" with these games, but I feel like there were much more complex SNES games than Dracula X. There's also a major lack of contextual awareness, using assets from Rondo without thought of how they fit in here. Not to mention the apparent unawareness that they had several more buttons to work with. It's almost like they realized this product wouldn't be up to par with Rondo, and threw in the towel in some respects.

Still, I think it's worth checking out for Castlevania fans. It has some of the best vertical platforming in the series, as well as bosses that generally do a good job of working with Richter's mobility. The whole key/pillars/best ending deal is an absurdly poor design choice, but I think it's otherwise a satisfying balance of difficulty. The backgrounds and locations are cool, the music made a great conversion (and the tiny sprinkling of original tunes fit in nicely), and the sound effects are great. I thoroughly enjoy stages 1, 2, 4, 5' and 7, as well as the Necromancer fight and the whole Carmilla/Death setup.

The game seems to run hot and cold, displaying some painfully bad mistakes, then throwing together a surprisingly satisfying setpiece. In the end, I don't think it's nearly as bad as its reputation suggests, but it doesn't really have a positive claim to fame either. It doesn't help that the series had an incredible run leading up to it. Castlevania 3, 4, Chronicles, Rondo, and Bloodlines are all solid in their own right, and each showcase Castlevania's ability to thrive on a different system (heck, you could go a couple years past Dracula X and include Symphony as well). I think a Castlevania at the end of the SNES's life could have been something great. As is, it scratches that Classicvania itch if you've played the earlier titles to death.

That about wraps it up. I figured this would be a quick one from the start. I just thought: I like Castlevania, Talking Time likes Castlevania, and this is one that hasn't been thoroughly discussed.

Next Time: I'm still up for any postmortem discussion on Dracula X. I won't start another LP right away, but I have a few options in mind:

Mega Man: Wily Wars: This would mostly focus on Wily Tower, since MM1-3 have been covered quite extensively on Talking Time. Still, I may do some quick looks at those three to note differences.

Contra: Hard Corps: Lots of fun bosses to show off, and character choices and branching paths provide plenty of opportunity for reader input.

Castlevania 3: A higher quality of Castlevania. I'd be looking at differences between the US and Japanese versions.

Kirby Super Star: I don't know what my exact approach for this one to be, but there are tons of abilities and moves to showcase.

Thanks for reading!

Great LP. Nicely done.

Those are all awesome options. I think I'd lean towards Hard Corps since it's the only one of those I'm unfamiliar with, but you can't go wrong with that list.

Great LP. Thanks for doing it! I'd love to see contra hard corps. Would you be playing the Japanese or American version?

Thanks for this LP of Armor Knights and Switchbacks: The Game.

Thanks for the LP. I'm looking forward to your next one.

I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks, Beta.

Yes. Good stuff. Nicely done. *thumbs up*

I would also like to see Contra : Hard Corps. (Sadly, I think I just now realized the pun in that name.)

Wasn't Red Silvers doing a video LP of Castlevania 3?