Castlevania Chronicles

Written by John Scalzo  on November 12, 2001

Review: Suck me beautiful!

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Gather round, young and old, and let Senor Old School take you back in time. Back to the year 1993. And we're going to Japan, where we're picking up a copy of the game Akumajo Dracula. Akumajo Dracula was released only in Japan for the X68000 computer system. And along with Rondo of Blood, are the only Castlevania games never to see American shores.
That's where Castlvania Chronicles comes in. Chronicles is a newly enhanced port of Akumajo Dracula, now available in America. But ya know, actually no, we're going farther back than 1993. We're going back to 1987, the days of G.I. Joes and Monster Squads, because Akumajo Dracula was actually an enhanced port of the original Castlevania released for the NES way back in those swingin' 80s. So it's a port of a port of a really old game.

There's no mistaking Chronicles for Symphony of the Night or even Circle of the Moon for that matter. Castlevania Chronicles is pure old school, 2D, side scrolling Castlevania (Senor Old School says "the way it should be"). You are vampire hunter Simon Belmont, the last descendent in the long line of Belmont vampire hunters. It is your destiny to destroy the dark prince. Armed only with your whip, you venture into the eight levels of Dracula's castle (which include two new levels not in the original Castlevania but in Akumajo Dracula) to slay the dark lord. That's about the extent of the story in Castlevania. The true story is that you must travel through a gruelingly difficult game where the undead must be destroyed by your whip. There's no exploration in Castlevania Chronicles, just a straight forward trek into the heart of Drac's castle as you climb stairs, jump from platform to platform and gather a familiar selection of special weapons like Axes, Daggers, Holy Water, and Crosses to help in your quest. And controlling Simon in this quest is just perfect in Chronicles. The scheme is easy to pick up (as all old school games are) and the PS controller responds perfectly to your commands.

The graphics to Castlevania Chronicles do look a little dated, but I prefer to put a positive spin on it. Castlevania Chronicles is the best the original Castlevania will ever look. Going back to my old NES cart, the differences are astounding. Sure this is a strictly 2D sprite filled affair, but they look sharp on the PSOne. There are even a few nifty little background effects that try to bring this game into, well, 1996 at least. Chronicles may not use the latest in technological achievements, but it certainly has a spooky atmosphere. The one graphical complaint I have about Chronicles though is the size of the screen. The screen size is higher than a standard TV, so either your stats or floor gets cut off. This can be adjusted, but you still have to deal with one or the other being off screen. Thankfully, Konami has included a "Trim" mode that fixes this problem. And in a nice touch, the only way to turn it on is through the Extra Options menu that you access by inputting the famous Konami Code (Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, Circle, X) at the title screen. Although why this wasn't an option without the code is beyond me. And it sure would have been nice to be able to save those Extra Options to the memory card instead of inputting the code in every time too.

The sound is your standard set of music and sound effects from the classic monster games. In fact, going back to my dusted off NES again reveals a lot of the same sound effects and music had managed to survive in Chronicles. It was a welcome trip down memory lane. However most gamers nowdays want their souped up graphics and sounds, so Konami did not disappoint. They've included an "Arrange Mode" in Chronicles that gives new character designs to Simon and Dracula (courtesy of Ayami Kojima of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night fame). There is also remixed background music. It gives the game a much more orchestral score. I'm really having trouble deciding which set of music I prefer more. And finally, and definitely most importantly, the Arrange Mode has a difficulty control. This is a godsend because the Medusa is just as hard as I remember her to be (I will resist the "she's topless" jokes). In fact this whole game is hard. This is another "the way it should be" moment.

Like any good remake, Chronicles includes a bunch of nice extras in addition to the Arrange Mode. There is an interview with IGA (I swear to god that is his name and no joke in the world could do justice to it), the producer of Castlevania. It's nice to watch once, but it's more or less a "I want to thank everyone that helped me" interview. It doesn't give away any insights into Castlevania or IGA, but he does hint that Rondo of Blood will probably be the next remake. And would it have killed him to wear a black shirt? Wearing a white shirt as I'm trying to read white subtitles is harder than the game. There is also a gallery of Ayami Kojima artwork. It's fairly cool looking stuff. I also really liked the CG rendition of the Castlevania opening cut scene (play the Original Mode and see what I mean). It really sets the mood to the game. And finally, in another nice touch, Castlevania Chronicles is a limited edition. Konami has promised that only 30,000 copies will be produced, making Castlevania Chronicles a very hard game to find by the end of the year. However, there is still very little replay value in Castlevania Chronicles and in true nitpicking fashion there's even some slowdown as the game loads up new sections of the levels. My NES game didn't have that!