Rondo of Blood maybe be coming to the NA soon!

[ParanoiaDragon]

It sounds like it's going to make it!  I have a credible source, that said "It is pending approval but the PCE CD version of Akumajou Dracula X Chii no Rondo will be coming out on the North American virtual console as well. It just launched in Japan recently."

This source, known as Portrait of Ruin, has been correct for the past several years on what to expect from the series, I've been reading her info.  I know it seems unlikely that some faceless name on the internet would know anything, but, let's just say she's wrong, 1% of the time. 

As for the game, I already own the original, & the PSP, but, when/if my wife gets me a Wii, I will download that as well.

[nat]

That's good news for the folks who don't feel like spending $80-$100 on the real deal.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Sounds good; does she know if they're going to translate it?

[nat]

If other JP imports released on the US VC are anything to go by, I would surmise the answer is "no."

[GohanX]

This is great news. Not necessarily for myself, but I plan on gifting it to some friends who have heard me talk for years about how excellent the game is.

Funny note - about a month ago, I stated that if Dracula X ever came out for the VC, I wouldn't buy another Duo since the VC is getting a lot of TG16 love.  It came out in Japan, but not here.  I ended up finding a good deal on a new Duo, so naturally right after I receive it we hear that Dracula X may be coming stateside.  Oh well, I love my Duo.

[CosMind]

i would say that its arrival in the states is a guarantee.
the translation is already complete - as it was done for the psp port.  so, it's a trivial amount of work for them to bring it here.  and, they know that they'll easily make back the insignificant amount of money it takes to get it going on vc.

[ParanoiaDragon]

i would say that its arrival in the states is a guarantee.
the translation is already complete - as it was done for the psp port.  so, it's a trivial amount of work for them to bring it here.  and, they know that they'll easily make back the insignificant amount of money it takes to get it going on vc.

Exactly, it's already translated on the PSP, so, no big deal!  I'd ofcoarse love to see them translate other games as well, but, only time will tell.

[Keranu]

Awesome, I'm sure this will attract a ton of attention online once it's out. This would make another thing to mark off the list of things that would never happen.

[CosMind]

Awesome, I'm sure this will attract a ton of attention online once it's out...

for surely.  and, we'll here the collective wail of all those who've been charging 150+ bones for a copy of the original game up to now.  time to watch their prices plummet ;)

[nat]

The prices won't plummet.

If anything, they'll get higher. Case in point: see Super Air Zonk, Dynastic Hero, etc.

[Alt-Nintega]

The prices won't plummet.

If anything, they'll get higher. Case in point: see Super Air Zonk, Dynastic Hero, etc.

*whew* Good thing I bought PCE Dracula X when I could.

[OldRover]

The prices won't plummet.

If anything, they'll get higher. Case in point: see Super Air Zonk, Dynastic Hero, etc.

Possibly, but those games in particular are obscure and not very well received. Dracula X, on the other hand, is immensely popular and that's the only reason for the high price...it's in high demand. Other such games demand a high price due to rarity. Because Dracula X is actually a common game, the price is more likely to fall if released on VC stateside. It seems the price was mostly unaffected by the PSP release, meaning that the market wasn't threatened by it. But a VC release of the original game itself is another ball of wax.

[nat]

You might be right; only time will tell for sure.

But my money is that the value of the "real" game will either not change at all, or it will go up.

We'll find out when it happens, though.

[Keranu]

Yeah I don't really sense a price drop, but we'll find out. I still haven't bought a real copy yet, I wonder if I should buy it before it's out on VC.

[Ceti Alpha]

Yeah I don't really sense a price drop, but we'll find out. I still haven't bought a real copy yet, I wonder if I should buy it before it's out on VC.

I know what you mean Keranu. I'm kicking myself for not getting a copy for $100 when I had the chance. Hell, I've even seen it go on eBay for between $75 - $80. Now the cheapest I can find is $128 or something. 

[Sinistron]

Look at Soldier Blade- that was put out on VC wasn't it?  The game is now MUCH more expensive than it was only a year ago- it's now probably the third most expensive US hucard behind Magical Chase and Bonk III.  Perhaps a fuzzed out emulation only made people want the real deal more.  There'll be no price drop for Drac X. 

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I, too, don't expect any price drops, as the value of the titles released on VC thus far has remained relatively stable, or at least as stable as the TG-16 library as a whole.

I'm kicking myself for not getting a copy for $100 when I had the chance. Hell, I've even seen it go on eBay for between $75 - $80. Now the cheapest I can find is $128 or something. 

Indeed; buying a game at $100 doesn't look so silly when you can sell it a few years later for $150 (note to self: buy Dracula X soon).

[jboypacman]

Awesome if it makes it to the VC so people can see how truly great this game is and am glad i picked up Drac X for my Duo-R when i did now if i SoldierBlade wasnt so pricey i might pick that up too.

[GohanX]

Bump on an old thread...

I recently loaded the Japanese Rondo of Blood VC game on my Wii, and I thought I would post some impressions.  I should note that I have played quite a bit of Dracula X on my PC Engine lately, so it is very fresh in my mind. The Wii is played on a rather good SDTV with component, with a sweet sound system.

The VC conversion is 99% perfect.  Seriously, I was shocked.

Visuals:
The only other TG VC game I have is Super Star Soldier, and I was used to the annoying blur filter.  Surprisingly, the blur filter is gone, the game looks perfect. To the original Duo's credit though, it doesn't look much different than the original system.  In the Genesis, for instance, the games look much, much better than the original system due to a clean component signal.  While the Wii game in component does look better than the PCE game through composite, it's not a huge difference.

Audio:
The sound effects are the same, as best as I can tell.  The music is good, but if you have a really good sound system you can tell that the audio is compressed slightly, giving it less dynamic range.  If the soundtrack wasn't so awesome, you probably wouldn't notice.  The compression is done very well, however, and probably sounds better than bootleg MP3/Cue rips of the game played on the original system.

Controls:

Okay, this is why I will always come back to the PC Engine version.  Now the game controls perfectly, but it's the controllers themselves that are lacking.  The Wiimote is too small to be comfortable, and the classic controller maps the buttons to A and B, which really annoys me.  Luckily, I have a PSX-Gamecube controller adapter that maps the buttons the way I want.  I'd still rather hold the Turbopad.

Misc:

Since it's loaded from flash ram, loading has been eliminated.  I haven't quite gotten to the part where you fight the 4 bosses in a row, I want to see how that goes without the loading interuption.  Also, it eats quite a bit of the Wii's system memory. It weighs in at a hefty 270 blocks, double that of the next largest game. I hate to say it but the game is going to have to sit in the SD card when not being played for me.

Conclusion:

This is the best way of getting this game, in my opinion.  The inevitable US release will cost a measley $9, and this is as good as it gets without playing it on a modded PC Engine system.  Of course, if you already have it on the PC Engine, there isn't much to entice you to buy it unless it actually gets translated for US release. I plan on buying the US version for myself, and gifting it to those less fortunate that do not have a PC Engine.

[Dark Fact]

Great to see that the Wii version of Dracula X: Rondo of Blood plays great! I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for this release.