AKUMAJOU DRACULA X: CHI NO RONDO

(CASTLEVANIA: RONDO OF BLOOD)

DEVELOPER: Konami YEAR RELEASED: 1993 GENRE: Platformer

n When the PC Engine Mini was first announced and the inclusion of Cd-based games wasn’t yet confirmed, there was a sense of anxiety in the Retro Gamer office. “What will we do,” we asked ourselves, “if it doesn’t have Castlevania?” Thankfully, Konami didn’t let us down. That all might sound a little dramatic, but this really is the crown jewel in the PC Engine Mini’s software line-up. It’s got the three key things you want from a centrepiece game in a retro collection – it’s recognisable due to its series, it’s desirable due to being hard to get in its original form (expect to pay over £100), and it’s a superb game that still holds up fantastically today. Rondo Of Blood comes from the old school of Castlevania design, the era of linear stages and temporary power-ups, rather than the open maps and Rpg-style upgrades that were introduced by

Symphony Of The Night. Arguably, this is the best game in that style, even with stiff competition from the likes of Castlevania III, Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Bloodlines. While it doesn’t introduce any enormous innovations, every aspect of the game represents Castlevania at its most refined. The level design is exquisite, and you can’t see everything in a single run thanks to the four hidden stages. The boss encounters are superb, not least because of the way Konami raises the tension with little introductory scenes. The graphics are excellent, with backgrounds that make clever use of the PC Engine hardware to produce a parallax effect and some enormous, highly detailed enemy sprites, and the audio is great whether it’s coming from the CD or the PC Engine’s sound chip. While the game is available elsewhere now, thanks to the likes of the Dracula X Collection on PSP and the more recent digital bundle with Symphony Of The Night, this is still easily a reason to pick up a PC Engine Mini on its own – it’s that good.