Castlevania: Dracula X

The legend returns…

JP release: 21st July 1995
NA release: September 1995
EU release: 22nd February 1996
AKA: Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss (Europe) Akumajō Dracula XX (Japan)
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Super Play Magazine Review: 80%
Platforms: SNES
Version Played: SNES

This is essentially a massively downgraded version of Rondo of Blood. Sure, it’s a port of a CD-based game to a tiny 2MB cartridge, but at the same time it also seems to be downgraded in areas that don’t relate to file size at all. The story is pretty much gutted, with only a tiny bit of text when you save characters (for the story, you’ll have to read the manual). You can’t replay stages to find alternative routes or things you’ve missed and, while you can save Maria, you can’t play as her.

Dracula X could have focused on the strengths of Super Castlevania, but it feels like a downgrade from that as well. The jumping mechanics feels more like the NES games and the omni-directional whip would have at least been something, especially as the levels are very different from Rondo and could have been designed around that mechanic, so Dracula X is going backwards in more ways than one.

The levels are also not fun to play. Enemies are placed in really frustrating places (you know, a better whip would balance that…) and the tricks and traps just feel unfair, with the hit detection also being a bit wonky (I’ve never had so much of an issue hitting candles as in this game). The final boss takes this to an extreme. The arena takes place on a bunch of separated platforms with pits. A single hit likely means falling to your doom. But the arena is too large for the screen, so Dracula often teleports where you can’t see him. It’s just bad.

When this originally came out, it was at least a new Castlevania game as Rondo of Blood wasn’t released outside of Japan, but now that Rondo has been released a few times over here, Dracula X is just a bad version of it. It’s still an alright game in the grand scheme of things, just not up to the standards of other Castlevania games.

Fine

It’s not a particularly fast-moving, it doesn’t delight within mere minutes of play, and in many ways it’s a regressive step, considering Castlevania IV appeared in 1991, yet it holds more surprises than the 1995 instalment. But it has plenty of the stuff I look for in a good game.
Tony Mott, Super Play Magazine Issue #35

Remake or remaster?

Rondo of Blood is a better version, so it’s fine just being in a collection.

Official Ways to get the game

Castlevania Dracula X is in the Castlevania Advance Collection