Despite porting nearly every other PSP game to a major home console, Konami has let this penultimate version of a Castlevania classic languish on the now defunct handheld.Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (originally released in Japan as Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo) was released for the PC Engine in 1993. This version of the game featured a 2.5D remake of Rondo, along with the original PC Engine version, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on a single disc. Rondo of Blood was re-released once more in 2007 as the Dracula X Chronicles for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The sharper guitar sounds from Dracula X call to mind countless afternoons spent playing the game as a rental from our local video store desperately trying to make my way through this particularly difficult game. While I ultimately enjoy the experience of playing Rondo of Blood over Dracula X, I can still appreciate the music from the Super Nintendo version.
This led to new versions of every song on the soundtrack, including the aforementioned Opposing Bloodlines: Without Red Book Audio for sampling purposes, many songs had to be reworked to exclusively utilize the inherent samples and instrumentation of the Super Nintendo. In addition to the gameplay and design changes in Dracula X, the audio had to be configured to make use of the Super Nintendo’s sound hardware. Levels were redesigned, certain pathways were altered, cutscenes were removed, and the unlockable second character became a non-playable character to be rescued. Titled Castlevania: Dracula X, this game featured similar graphics and level design to Rondo, but technological differences between the PC Engine and the Super Nintendo led to some drastic changes between the games. Two years later, Konami would release an alternate version of Rondo of Blood to the Super Nintendo. This meant that the game’s soundtrack could feature CD-level sampling along with the PC Engine’s onboard soundchip, leading to higher musical quality in songs like Opposing Bloodlines: In addition to the changes in gameplay, Rondo of Blood was the first Castlevania title to make use of Red Book Audio. This game was a massive upgrade from previous entries in the series featuring anime-style cutscenes, hidden and branching level pathways, multiple endings, and an unlockable second character.
This year, we will take a look at another song from the Castlevania series that made its debut in two very different versions of a particular title.Ĭastlevania: Rondo of Blood was released on the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² System in Japan in October of 1993. In the past, we used the Prelude track from Castlevania III to highlight the differences in audio and sound chips between the Famicom and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
0 kommentar(er)
