Hm, thanks for putting some perspective to my own hype I've been building up for this.  If I knew for sure the original was coming to the VC I'd probably pass on the remake (I already have SotN on 360), but because I'm impatient and have doubts that Bloodlines (that's the Genesis one, right?) will ever make it on the VC, I'll still pick this up soon.

That's a little disappointing to hear... but do give a complete review once you've played it further. Are you playing with the video out? Also, I guess having SOTN is really an awesome bonus, but it is technically a bonus, so as long as it's not horribly botched I can't imagine taking off points (so to speak) for what is intended to be a bonus and not part of the reason you purchase the game (which is Dracula X

cheers,

-avatar!

You too! definitely tell us more once you've gotten further into the game
I was SO looking forward to this! Recently however I've been knee deep in alligators and haven't had much time for any gaming... but come the end of the semester I'll have time to chill a little and hopefully play some Drac X, assuming it's worth the price of admission (oh I hope so)!!

cheers,

-avatar!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXb02uRMyZA

Well, I can't say this was the long-awaited Konami Battle "Bloodlines" I was hoping for. Actually, I thought it kinda paled compared to the original. But then again, on another video, the version of "Beginning" was pretty good. Anyone who gets to where "Bloody Tears" or "Den" plays (final area, I think), please report.

I'm surprised how few enemies there seems to be early on. In those NES Castlevanias, the areas are crawling with life leechers.

So far, the stage themes have either been good or great. Nothing really disappointing for me, but so far I've only gone through the "normal" route, so I can't comment on the "rear side" themes yet.

I really like the remix of "Bloodlines" (as heard in the video GX posted), but "Vampire Killer" is just okay; been there, done that about a hundred times. "Bloody Tears" rocks pretty hard, but has some cheesy synth that I really like, and "Painting of a Phantom Ship" was really enjoyable. The remix of "Beginning" was my favorite by far, with a different take on the tune than a straight forward arrangement... I can't wait to get the OST so I can crank this one. Also, stage 7 has a rockin' remix of "Moon Fight" that I totally did not expect.

While I've only heard less than 1/2 of the songs so far, I'm going to say the arranger(s) did a good job so far. I wouldn't say it's "better" than the classic DCDX OST, but it's an enjoyable compliment. I'm going to take the rear path this afternoon and see how the music is down there.

I saw an ad for this game in Game Informer recently.  It mentions that the Belmont family as "Beaumont."  Is that what is in the instruction manual or box cover?  It's odd to do a name change for something so fundamental.

I liked "I Am The Wind." I used hate it with passion but after listening to it more, grew on me more. I think what makes it special is that is does come out of nowhere and is something you'd never expect from a game whose soundtrack reflects the romantic, gothic origins of Castlevania. It's a nice song, albeit's cheese factor.

Someone also said that the song is actually a "treat," a down-tempo, relaxing pop-jazz vocal for completing such hard(ghost)ship.

I played a little more today and I gotta say "Slash" (er, "Op.13") absolutely rules with its steady beat and Spanish guitar. Definitely a great arrangement. I want this OST right now.

An embarrassing mistake that, as far as I know, has only appeared in the ad.  It's spelled correctly in-game and in its packaging.

I just unlocked Maria for the remake, as well as SOTN and the original Rondo.  Regarding the original Rondo, I think it runs generally well.  There are a few hiccups here and there, particularly on the sound front (it does go in and out at times, like when entering a new area and new BGM begins), but the emulation speed looks to be up to par.  The PC-Engine music score is well compressed, and still sounds really good - though you can tell some of the sound effects have been slightly changed.  Not necessarily for the worse, at least to me...... just different.

SOTN looks and sounds great, too.  With the exception of one fairly long load-up at the start, the rest of the game runs just as speedy as the PSOne original.  There are screen ratio options, but as with the original Rondo, I always choose the normal, small screen setting.  I'm used to my games sharp in resolution, even if means a sacrifice in screen real estate. 

And Maria is just as fun to play in the remake as the original.  Hell, I'll never go back to stiff ol' Richter at this point. ;p

I put a solid four hours into this Wednesday night, and I love it.  This is how Castlevania is supposed to be.  I haven't had this much fun with a Castlevania game since Castlevania Chronicles came out for PSX.  It's really great, and was well worth buying a PSP to play.  The minor technical flaws are easy to overlook when you're enjoying the tight gameplay, huge amounts of hidden things (far more than any other regular CV game), and the pure fun that is Maria.  Add Japanese voice overs, the ability to select stages to replay, videos of how to beat bossess, and even a bizarre option that lets you reassign music to any stage, and this game is fully loaded.  Highly recommended.

One question for whoever knows: When you pause the game, there is a second score called "Credits" that sits next to your number of lives.  You always have infinite continues, so I'm not sure what this number means.  Anyone know?

Also, two notes:
-I agree with Angela about not being able to change the SFX/Music mixing in the Chronicles version since it's a bit hard to hear the new arrangements.
-As a veteran SNES Dracula X player, I was really surprised to discover how much easier the PC Engine version is when compared with the ball-busting SNES game.

So how's the SOTN music anyway? Is it exactly the same, or perhaps like FFT where it's the same but less 'full'? (I've bene playing FFT so I haven't gotten a chance to try CV yet...)

-Joshua

Game looks great, a definite purchase at some point.  Does anyone have the audio ripped yet?

*update*  I kind soul posted what he has so far.  I am guessing you have to 'earn' the soundtest in the game?

http://www.purpleguppy.net/music/dracu-lax/

Ok, now that I've played it...

The new music so far is great. Perfectly CV. The game itself looks great as well, though I was expecting a bit more 3d-ness ala Klonoa, not a fully 2d sidescroller with 3d graphics.

SOTN sounds basically the same, though even at full volume, there's less oomph than listening to a CD has. I like the new dub, even if the old one was hilarious. There's a new glitch -- it's VERY easy too. Backdash out of the room where you encounter Death right as you enter it. You keep Alucard's equips. Yeah, makes the game a cinch

-Joshua

I beat all the games and I couldn't imagine better spent $30, I would even pay $60 for this amazing collection.
it's as awesome bundle as orange box on 360.
games were a little bit on the easy side, but I'm gonna probably beat them all again, there are plenty of secrets to discover, music rocks hard and I'm probably gonna buy psp slim so I could enjoy these games even more with better d-pad and video out option.
probably the best PSP title ever to date.

Let's calm down and not forget these gems:

Lumines
Loco Roco
(and since we're including remakes)
Valkyrie Profile Lenneth
Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness

let's not forget Lumines 2
DJ MAX Portable
DJ MAX Portable 2
Gunpey
E3
Parappa the Rapper

I'm just saying, this is a incredible value and such awesome package for a mere thirty clams, not to mention pure nostalgic trip.

I have Lumines on the 360 and wouldn't rank it high on a list of puzzle games.  And E4 (Every Extend Extra Extreme or whatever the 360 name for it) wasn't even fun.  To each their own though...

Lumines is definitely better suited for a portable, if that makes sense. I don't think I would have chalked up so many hours on Picross DS if it was on a console.

I'll second that, though it's really not much of an achievement.

Not a lot of love at Game Informer for this review...

Bottom Line: 7 (out of 10)

Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles: 

A Gamer Scorned:

I wanted to like the Dracula X Chronicles.  I really do - Castlevania is easily one of my favorite series of all time, and this remake of a TurboGrafx 16 game that never came out in the U.S. is a fanboy dream.  But I've grown up, and old-schoool punishing platforming can't hold my intrest anymore. You want to know why they don't make games like this anymore?  Because design has evolved, and having your will crushed by arbitrarily high difficulty levels isn't fun anymore.

As a reinvited version of a 16-bit game, this looks quite nice on the PSP's sharp display, but it plays like nobody's greased the machinery since its original 1993 release.  Richter and Maria walk obnoxiously slowly and don't have so much as a back-dash (Which you may remember from Symphony of the Night) to avoid attacks with.  Coupled with as unforgiving of a health meter as you've ever seen, the sheer amount of repetition involved in learning the stages is brutal.  Of course, since you only have three lives before restarting at the beginning of the stage, you'll have plenty of time to practice the easy parts before dying repeatedly on the later bits. 

That said, you've somehow been able to retain your love of high-difficulty side-scrolling action, you'll love this.  This isn't quite as inventive in its level design and boss fights as Super Castlevania IV, but it's an absolutely solid title with marginally branching level paths and two characters to choose from.  Plus if your skills are up to the task, you can unlock the original version as well as the full version of Symphony of the Night (we asked Konami, and were told that there is no secret code to unlock that superior title, unfortunately) ---ADAM

My thoughts on this review:

I haven't played the game yet, but you can bet I will, at some point.  I wonder if he would have scored the 'Castlevania Chronicles' PSX remake equally low.  That title certainly suffers from some of the critiques he mentions, but it's classic Castlevania, come on.  I am not a fan of unnecesarily difficult games...I think Contra Shattered Soldier suffers from this...I don't remember the original PC Engine Dracula X being terribly difficult.  Did they up the difficulty on the remake?

I'm still not completely on-board with the control of platformers in the 3'rd dimension (the dang dimension and it's often horrible camera angle management screwed everything up), , though I like FPS games., maybe that's what he's referring to as 'evolved'...That or he simply adores Metrovania's and was disappointed at this classic game.  BTW how many remakes of Symphony do we need?

Question I have for Konami, can we get a great Side Scroller for PS3 and/or 360?  Not a remake..please

I read they actually did. I for one went to far as to use CWCHeat just to open SOTN...but then again, I suck even more than I did when I was young at twitch games.

-Joshua

The original PC Engine Dracula X is infinitely easier than that... thing.  I didn't have the patience at all for Chronicles, but didn't have any problem with Rondo.

I think game was a bit too easy, alternative level 5 was a bit tricky but aside from that very short and quite easy(especially with maria, belmont is a bit stiffer to control but can take more hits).

Just beat SOTN (with the bad ending), and made a recording of the new Yamane ending theme.  It's pleasantly Castlevania, if perhaps a bit generic sounding.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I hear both Golden Dance and Wood Carving Partita in there:

Castlevanix X Chronicles - Ending Theme:
http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc/angie_liu … ic&.view=l

Decent tune. Much better than I expected. And don't you mean "Wood Carving Partita"?

Noted and edited for accuracy - though it's probably a moot point now anyway, since I've deleted the song. o_O

Anyway, it looks like Drac X is finally getting that VC release.  Japan only for now, slated for April:

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/03/dra … .html#more

Should it hit over here, would you bite again?

I don't see why I'd bite again... unless I get rid of the PSP version, but since I only have 3 PSP games that isn't the best idea.  *sigh*

After this and Silent Hill 0 going to the PS2, the moral of the story is probably: don't buy a PSP only for exclusive Konami games.  Thank goodness people will now be able to play Rondo on a screen bigger than the PSP's... the game deserves it.

Haven't seen that mentioned anywhere, do you know when it's due?  Having just finished it on the PSP...it figures...I'll probably check it out though, the PSP was a great 'ride'

Already did, actually:
http://www.amazon.com/Konami-Silent-Hil … 205&sr=1-1

I find it interesting how Drac X and its soundtrack was a rare commodity for so long; now the game will be available on the PSP and Wii VC, and the OST is available as part of the PSP OST bundle. I'm not complaining, though.

Yeah, but the VC release is NO substitute for the PSP version!
The VC release will be the original version. The PSP game comes with the upgraded version (which is awesome), the original, and SOTN! Frankly, there are so many VC games released which are available on compilations, that I kinda feel many VC games such as this release are kinda a rip-off. If all you want is the original release, then yeah you're all set, however if like me you really enjoy the upgraded graphics and sound, and the original version is a great part of the package, then the VC just doesn't cut it. That of course, is my personal opinion

I do agree about playing on the big screen, fortunately the PSP comes with the ability to connect to your TV. Unfortunately, the TV needs to be high-def. Anyway, as it stands, I still think the PSP version is SO much better in just about every way. However, were Konami to port the game to the PS2 or Wii... that would be heavenly!

cheers,

-avatar!

*shrug* I was planning on getting a Wii anyway and I ultimately decided to pass on the PSP altogether, plus I was never impressed by the remake, so yeah...Gladly. Makes my life a lot easier!

Ahh - I should have specified, Castlevania Chronicles is due for PS2, when?

Silent Hill is fun, but not as 'upbeat' as the games I like to play.  I guess it's just too dark for me.

Oops, it's not.  Sorry, looking back at what I said I totally typed that in a way to be misinterpreted.  My "this" was referring to the situation of Dracula X going to VC, not that Castlevania was being ported.

avatar!, it's really more my personal preference for it being on VC.  I don't like the look of the remade version at all, and I've been told repeatedly that there's actually slow down in the port of the original present there.  I AM curious to play SotN on there just to hear the new voice acting, but pretty much everybody I know already owns that game in some form or another.  Plus, portability really doesn't mean much to me now that I'm not riding trains in Japan anymore.