Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles

Together… At Last!

JP release: 8th November 2007
NA release: 23rd October 2007
EU release: 15th February 2008
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
IGN Review: 8/10
Platforms: PSP
Version Played: PSP

As a full package, the Dracula X Chronicles has a ton of great stuff: a completely new remake of Rondo of Blood, a port of the original game and a new port of Symphony of the Night with new features. All on a handheld system, which is extremely impressive. It’s just a shame that each game in the package comes with its own caveats.

If you bought the game to play one of the original games, you’ll still need to play the remake (which I wasn’t fond of) for a bit to unlock them, as they’re now items hidden on stages. You’ll find Symphony of the Night on Stage 2 and Rondo of Blood on Stage 4.

These are both ports, with Rondo of Blood being quite buggy. They play in a box with a small selection of backgrounds available to fill the screen. Or, if you’re a complete maniac, you can play the games stretch to fill the entire screen.

Another unlockable is Akoumajou Dracula Peke. This was a minigame that I missed when I played the original Rondo of Blood, if you had the wrong cards setup, the game would boot up this little game where you play as Richter made from balls, hitting a couple of enemies and reaching a screen telling you to restart (or, in this version, press start to quit).

So it’s an odd case where, for the PSP, this is an amazing package, but it’s not the best way to play any of the games included. My favourite thing is that they took the effort to port the Peke minigames – little stuff like that are always wonderful.

Fun

Besides the difficulty and somewhat finicky jumping mechanics, it’s an impressive game with a lot going for it. And if you’re new to the series, this compilation may be even more worth your attention because of its strong components. Just remember the nature of the challenge, because things can get real tricky, real fast.
Ryan Clements, IGN

Remake or remaster?

A full on remaster of the games is needed.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles