Modern Games Struggle to Surpass Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

[TechnologicalMF]

Around two years ago, for the first time I played and beat Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. The game has been stuck in my head ever since and for the longest time I've had just these small realizations over my playthroughs about what makes the game so good.
Often times you will read on forums about how good it is, but you don't really see a lot of elaboration on the more nuanced game design choices that make it so good.

I had to pour it all out into a video to show why I believe this game is a masterpiece to this day, I hope fellow retro game enjoyers like it!

 

[mortuz]

Without Rondo of Blood, we wouldn't had Symphony of the Night.
It deserves the respect.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

Without Rondo of Blood, we wouldn't had Symphony of the Night.
It deserves the respect.

Exactly, big reason why I made this video. It is a little saddening how you have all these countless deep dives and other videos about it, but Rondo has barely anything. Its a big reason why I didn't really mention the other series, I wanted this to be completely about making this game shine.

 

[qw90700]

For me why this game is awesome is because of it's a very improved classical Castlevania. I mean it has great graphics, great animation quality, change in gameplay as in how your character can move and all without really ruining the identity of the series, I like its level designs and all. In a way this and Super Castlevania 4 are "how a Castlevania game should be" examples to build new games upon these ideas to improve the series.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

For me why this game is awesome is because of it's a very improved classical Castlevania. I mean it has great graphics, great animation quality, change in gameplay as in how your character can move and all without really ruining the identity of the series, I like its level designs and all. In a way this and Super Castlevania 4 are "how a Castlevania game should be" examples to build new games upon these ideas to improve the series.

Haha yeah. You might be saddened to hear that I do talk a little poorly in the vid about Super Castlevania IV.
It is my least favorite but I get why it has a lot of fans, its just that I feel Rondo fine tuned and evolved a lot of the more classicvania concepts better.

 

[qw90700]

Haha yeah. You might be saddened to hear that I do talk a little poorly in the vid about Super Castlevania IV.
It is my least favorite but I get why it has a lot of fans, its just that I feel Rondo fine tuned and evolved a lot of the more classicvania concepts better.

Well while the Rondo appeals the fans in general why Super Castlevania 4 like is naturally its decent combat due to the 8-directional attacking feature and even hanging with your whip to jump farther to progress which it adds taste to platforming. Other than this even without these whip features it would be liked for its soundtrack and cool levels. But I guess at first glance its graphics and overall level designs seem dull to people. So when the game is like this it's no rocket science lots of people would prefer the Rondo instead. In end every game in this series has their own way to make me like them.

 

[CaptainMuskrat]

Rondo is one of the most overrated retro games I've played, It's abrasively difficult and obnoxious. It saddens me that we never got a true sequel to Castlevania IV to this day.

 

[Deleted member 881671]

The game is great and also the pioneer of other Castlevania games.

 

[bjork]

Rondo is great, and I think we've all got that one old game that we feel this way about. Imagine if you'd played Rondo when it was brand new and had to feel this way for decades, heh.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Rondo's so good dude. Probably my favourite game of all time and a big reason I decided to dive into the PC Engine library.

Rondo is one of the most overrated retro games I've played, It's abrasively difficult and obnoxious. It saddens me that we never got a true sequel to Castlevania IV to this day.

"game is bad because too hard" always gets a chuckle out of me.
Also SCV4 is easily my least favourite out of the Classicvanias.

 

[Eridler]

Without Rondo of Blood, we wouldn't had Symphony of the Night.
It deserves the respect.

Rondo and Symphony were essentially made by the same person—and it wasn’t Iga.
Maybe this is a bit of a hot take, but I think the Igavanias are a little overrated. Aria is ok, but everything after that… let’s just say they don’t have the same atmosphere, and in some places they feel downright odd. The awful art style (dos, por) doesn’t help either.

I’d say the best classic Castlevania is Rondo, and the best Metroidvania is Symphony.

Oh, and I never liked Castlevania IV. It’s probably my least favorite game in the series. If you want a great remake of the first game, check out Castlevania Chronicles. It’s miles better—and also one of the toughest in the franchise.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

Rondo is great, and I think we've all got that one old game that we feel this way about. Imagine if you'd played Rondo when it was brand new and had to feel this way for decades, heh.

Yeah, retro gaming in general is very fascinating to me because I'm a zoomer and it has this very mysterious gap.
Like, for people that lived through that era you experienced it first hand to but to someone of my generation it has this atmosphere that fascinates me a lot and drives me to look into formulating my thoughts and making content. I'm not trying to paraphrase "old good new bad" stuff obviously every generation has ups and downs, but I just get more enjoyment out of this more heavily arcade oriented era, which is why I go on Fightcade often. Rondo has very arcade influenced design.

Rondo's so good dude. Probably my favourite game of all time and a big reason I decided to dive into the PC Engine library.

Hey this would be a great time to ask do you have some recommendations for the PC Engine library? I actually haven't explored a lot beyond Rondo! I have played some of the newer Ys games and that is one I would love to explore especially because of the awesome stuff, but have some other stuff to tell me about?

Oh, and I never liked Castlevania IV. It’s probably my least favorite game in the series. If you want a great remake of the first game, check out Castlevania Chronicles. It’s miles better—and also one of the toughest in the franchise.

I actually have some footage of me doing some no hits in the first few stages of Chronicles but on Arrange Mode haha! Awesome game too, do you prefer the Sharp X68000 mode or arrange yourself?

 

[bjork]

Yeah, retro gaming in general is very fascinating to me because I'm a zoomer and it has this very mysterious gap.
Like, for people that lived through that era you experienced it first hand to but to someone of my generation it has this atmosphere that fascinates me a lot and drives me to look into formulating my thoughts and making content. I'm not trying to paraphrase "old good new bad" stuff obviously every generation has ups and downs, but I just get more enjoyment out of this more heavily arcade oriented era, which is why I go on Fightcade often. Rondo has very arcade influenced design.

This is something I try and keep in mind here, since I grew up alongside games and have seen it all when it was new. So my perspective is a little different than... I'd say most of the users here, if I had to guess. But that doesn't make their take wrong, nor mine. Just different. For me, I'm still waiting for a game to hook me the way Sid Meier's Pirates! did in 1987, heh. Hasn't happened, not even the remakes, but some games have definitely landed very well with me and that's always great.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Yeah, retro gaming in general is very fascinating to me because I'm a zoomer and it has this very mysterious gap.
Like, for people that lived through that era you experienced it first hand to but to someone of my generation it has this atmosphere that fascinates me a lot and drives me to look into formulating my thoughts and making content. I'm not trying to paraphrase "old good new bad" stuff obviously every generation has ups and downs, but I just get more enjoyment out of this more heavily arcade oriented era, which is why I go on Fightcade often. Rondo has very arcade influenced design.

Hey this would be a great time to ask do you have some recommendations for the PC Engine library? I actually haven't explored a lot beyond Rondo! I have played some of the newer Ys games and that is one I would love to explore especially because of the awesome stuff, but have some other stuff to tell me about?

I'm in a similar boat. I'm too old to be called a zoomer but too young to have any nostalgia for 8 & 16 bit games. Just something I discovered through my family's hand me downs and it's stuck with me ever since. Over time I've just built a preference for older games.

I started really diving into the Library near the end of last year and have been slowing try games out and building a list of potential games I'd want to try and finish. I have each labelled with a genre so if you're looking for more games like Rondo check out some of the Platformer/ Action Platformer ones (though keep in mind I can read a bit of Japanese, so that may influence if a game is considered "playable" to you or not). I also took a lot of suggestions from this forum if you want to check that out as well. Also the PC Engine version of Ys 1&2 is the best imo.

Finally got a PC Engine! Gimme some game recommendations

got the full set-up, OG model with Turbo Everdrive, RGB expansion board and HD Retrovision cable. Ready for some primo PC Engine gaming. Now I just need some game recommendations so I don't just replay Rondo for the 100th time 😅 I know the console has a fantastic library but not really sure...

retrogametalk.com

PC Engine Game List of Ultimate Power

docs.google.com

 

[TechnologicalMF]

I'm in a similar boat. I'm too old to be called a zoomer but too young to have any nostalgia for 8 & 16 bit games. Just something I discovered through my family's hand me downs and it's stuck with me ever since. Over time I've just built a preference for older games.

A lot of times people say its merely nostalgia or other excuses, but I really think its quite simple. Each era of gaming had trends and minds that heavily influenced how it pivoted.

It is completely possible to prefer the very arcade influenced eras which favored shorter experiences with hours and hours of mechanical depth as well as other philosophies present in that era, it has nothing to do with nostalgia but different trends and philosophies.

Also that PC Engine looks awesome dude! Very well kept. I'll make sure to take a look at the games in the thread

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

A lot of times people say its merely nostalgia or other excuses, but I really think its quite simple. Each era of gaming had trends and minds that heavily influenced how it pivoted.

It is completely possible to prefer the very arcade influenced eras which favored shorter experiences with hours and hours of mechanical depth as well as other philosophies present in that era, it has nothing to do with nostalgia but different trends and philosophies.

Also that PC Engine looks awesome dude! Very well kept. I'll make sure to take a look at the games in the thread

this tweet sums up a lot of interactions I've had over the years on the internet talking about games. People here have been pretty cool though, nice to find a place with people that have similar interests as you.

Also thanks. It's a bit of a crap shoot if some of these old machines with white plastic casing have yellowed or not. The ones that haven't tend to go for more but I got lucky finding one for a good price. I could have gotten one of the grey units but I really like how the white one looks.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Rondo's great, but nothing beats Vampire Killer for me. It perfected classic style Castlevania.

 

[CaptainMuskrat]

"game is bad because too hard" always gets a chuckle out of me.
Also SCV4 is easily my least favourite out of the Classicvanias.

I play lots of difficult games, Rondo of Blood is just plain dickish. It disrespects me, and my time.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

I play lots of difficult games, Rondo of Blood is just plain dickish. It disrespects me, and my time.

Do you have some specific examples where you feel the game was plain dickish?
The one moment that I think is a little bs but still fair is the bat bridge on Stage 7. I feel that the other stages in either of the routes are pretty fair

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

I play lots of difficult games, Rondo of Blood is just plain dickish. It disrespects me, and my time.

I can't think Rondo as hard... Most of the more dangerous pits, end up being "fake" as in they're alternate routes or paths to the multiple secrets, the knock-back is less pronounced than say Castlevania 3, Richter is far more agile than Simon/Trevor and Maria make the platforming almost a joke.
If you were talking about the Dracula X snes "port" I would understand it.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

Rondo is one of the easier Classicvanias, especially if you play as Maria. She's absolutely busted in that game. The Death fight is kind of tough if you don't know how to do it the first time but that's about it.

Dracula X is contender for hardest game in the series.

 

[bjork]

Dracula X is contender for hardest game in the series.

What is generally considered the toughest? X and III?

 

[Dyne]

Whats the best way to play Rondo these days?
Is it just emulating PC Engine, or is there an updated version that is generally preferred?

 

[TruxtonTatsujin TruxtonTatsujin]

What is generally considered the toughest? X and III?

Depends who you ask, they're fairly close. I would say X is tougher but it might just be because I've played it less. It's also worth noting that the US version of III is harder than the Japanese one.

Whats the best way to play Rondo these days?
Is it just emulating PC Engine, or is there an updated version that is generally preferred?

If you have a PS4 the Symphony/Rondo buddle is pretty alright. It's not any better than just emulating the PC Engine version though.

 

[TechnologicalMF]

Whats the best way to play Rondo these days?
Is it just emulating PC Engine, or is there an updated version that is generally preferred?

I like emulating with the shader I have in the vid the most, CRT Royale, all via RetroArch.

I'm not aware if the port for PS4 is completely perfect or has some delays and stuff myself as it has never really interested me.