Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo [rinne] = overhyped game?

[Tatsujin]

many people do claim that Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo is just an overhyped game. needless to say that those specific peeps are not an owner of the game or even owning the system it can be played on.
most of them also prefere a console called SNES/SFC or an other console which can't replay Akumajo Dracula X.

often heared arguments are:
- it came out on a cd-rom which has approx. 200~300 times more capacity than a regular cartridge of that time (-> this implies to those peeps, that it also must be few 100 times better than it is in fact).
- the music is just played from the cd (-> there is nothing to it).
- the colors aren't that nice than on a SNES.
- it doesn't fulfil its high market price (-> peeps are idiots paying such an amount of cash for it).
- it plays to clumsy.
- it's just a game on a 8-Bit console from 1987, hence it can't be a that good game.
- etc.

[ccovell]

It's in demand, hyped, but not OVERhyped.  It's a great game, and is not clumsy at all.  The ONLY thing that disappointed me about Dracula X when I bought it all those years ago was that the music wasn't as brilliant as I had hoped.  My expectations had been raised too high by the compositional quality of Castlevania IV, and the CD quality of Lords of Thunder and Ys III.  Dracula X's music didn't astound me as the 3 above I mentioned did.

[jperryss]

Yes I own original hardware and yes I've played through it on original hardware. Maybe I'd appreciate it more if I had the opportunity to play it back in the day when it was 'fresh'. Don't get me wrong, it's a good game, but it seems the going price is fueled more by demand than lack of supply.

It's no SotN. And yes, I understand that SotN came out years later. Just saying.

Thankfully, I got BOTH of them on the PSP for under $30. 

[awack]

it's just a game on a 8-Bit console from 1987, hence it can't be a that good game.

Castlevania sites Ive been to are some times the opposite, for example when comparing Rondo to the 16 bit cartridge castlevania games you will hear things like (you cant compare rondo to the snes and genesis games because the pc engine duo is a super powerfull cd based system)

it plays to clumsy.

People who are accustomed to the newer castlevania games will certainly make this point but if you want to play the fastest/agile castlevania character of the of the 16 bit era, you will have to play rondo( it will make the game easier)

the colors aren't that nice than on a SNES.

I have noticed it depends on how the person played each game, actual consoles or emulator, those who have played on a console tend to like the pc engine game more, with some of the stages in dracula xx(snes) having too many pastel colors or SCIV with its garish color usage,  on an emulator the complaint Ive heard more than once is that rondo uses very bright or neon like colors,  which isn't fitting for a castlevania game.

many people do claim that Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo is just an overhyped game. needless to say that those specific peeps are not an owner of the game or even owning the system it can be played on.
most of them also prefere a console called SNES/SFC or an other console which can't replay Akumajo Dracula X.

Polls will come up every so often asking what was your first castlevania game, the game that comes up most often in my experience is SCIV(It was my first as well) so theres allot of nostalgia around this game or for nintendo castlevania games in general.

About rondo being over hyped, the number one reason i hear people saying that the game is thought of the best old school castlevania game is because it was never released out side of japan, Bull...., lets take a game mag from recent discusions, GAME FAN, a magazine that will trash a pc engine game if it didn't have enough scrolls....here are some things  they said about rondo.....(the perfect cd game, the reason we all got into gaming in the 1st place, the best konami game, better than any action game on the snes including SCIV), the quality of this game has been recognized from the beginning, of course the quality of any game is subjective and down to the individual.

[jboypacman]

Drac X overhyped? I don't think so its pure classic Castlevania bliss(None of that "Metroid-Vania" business).

I agree with Tats most people who say X is a over-hyped game either don't own or have even played the game outside of maybe emulating it.

But thats just my short thoughts on it.

[ikobo]

No, it isn't. What it IS, is one of the finest games ever made. Happy to help. 

[Turbo D]

I DO NOT KNOW, HUMAN! I haven't read too much hype about it aside from members on here recommending it to others. I personally think that it is a bad-ass game that pwns the Snes versions. If anything, it deserves more hype!

[CrackTiger]

I think that if anything, Dracula X PCE is underappreciated. But I do think that Dracula X SotN is overhyped.

[rag-time4]

I'm le dumb!!! I've had my duo a solid 7-8 years and haven't played this game.... and I love Castlevania!!! Well.... 2-D Castlevania anyway! Could care less about 3-D Castlevania!!

[esteban]

... the game that comes up most often in my experience is SCIV (It was my first as well) so theres allot of nostalgia around this game or for nintendo castlevania games in general.

What?! Crazy!

The first Castlevania should be...... Castlevania.

I'm too old.[/quote]

[NecroPhile]

I voted no.  It's considered by most people (those experienced in Castlevania games anyway) to be one of the best, if not the best, Castlevania game, so what's been over-hyped?  It certainly has its flaws, but that doesn't negate the overall high quality of the game.  Nor does its high price tag.

[spenoza]

This is my favorite Castlevania game of all time, though there are some close competitors (II, III, and IV). Sure the music could have been spookier, but the graphics, animation, and most importantly, the gameplay are really the best among the pre-SoTN Castlevanias.

[SignOfZeta]

I voted May Be. If you like the "real" Dracula games (ie: not a foppish version of Metroid) then this is the best game in the series, easily, and there will never be another like it. I own it, and the hardware, and I love it. I've had it for something like 15 years, so it was more in vouge at the time, but even now if someone were to play through all the CV games (again, not the ones with flying and turning into a poison/acid cloud that kills everything without even pressing a button let alone aiming, etc) then they'd also see this as the high point.

At the same time there are other platformers I like more. Yoshi's Island (which can be had for $20 thanks to the large supply) and Megaman 7 come to mind.

[Digi.k]

It's in demand, hyped, but not OVERhyped.  It's a great game, and is not clumsy at all.  The ONLY thing that disappointed me about Dracula X when I bought it all those years ago was that the music wasn't as brilliant as I had hoped.  My expectations had been raised too high by the compositional quality of Castlevania IV, and the CD quality of Lords of Thunder and Ys III.  Dracula X's music didn't astound me as the 3 above I mentioned did.

I think this came out after the superfamicom version of Castlevania IV which blew me away.. I was a little dissappointed with the music too and since it went back to the old skool type of gameplay but Maria was an awesome character

[CrackTiger]

- it doesn't fulfil its high market price (-> peeps are idiots paying such an amount of cash for it).

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

[jperryss]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

$100-150? Really? The cheapest I've seen it is $95 and that doesn't include shipping from Japan.

[CrackTiger]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

$100-150? Really? The cheapest I've seen it is $95 and that doesn't include shipping from Japan.

Shipping from japan is generally $3 - $5.

[nectarsis]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

$100-150? Really? The cheapest I've seen it is $95 and that doesn't include shipping from Japan.

a number of peeps have gotten it for well under $95, one as low as $60 complete sans spine.

[Joe Redifer]

I bought Dracula X for about $70 or so when it was brand new directly from Game Fan Magazine (I think it was called Die Hard or something, like the battery).

[jperryss]

a number of peeps have gotten it for well under $95, one as low as $60 complete sans spine.

Please tell me where so I can buy one for that much! 

Seriously though, I've been building up the collection and planned on getting it eventually (this and probably the PCE version of Magical Chase) but I've been ignoring these two because of the ridiculous prices on eBay.

[CrackTiger]

I bought Dracula X for about $70 or so when it was brand new directly from Game Fan Magazine (I think it was called Die Hard or something, like the battery).

Die Hard Game Club.

I ordered most of my PC Engine games from Japan Video Games and a store in Toronto or Ontario. It could've just been the Canadian affiliate, but I used to call the number in the magazine ads. I remember that the store was supposed to be in a mall. They also offered 6-button pad mods to make them work on a TG-16 (pre-Turbo Duo).

[SignOfZeta]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

$100-150? Really? The cheapest I've seen it is $95 and that doesn't include shipping from Japan.

In the States the lowest I ever saw it for was $78 (in a Die Hard ad running in the back of EGM in 1993 or so). If you are lucky you can get it for that price now if you don't care about shrink wrap, obi, etc. $100 is more realistic though. Considering that most games lose %90 of their value in 5 years though that's still pretty good.

I actually traded a copy of Motor Toon GP (JP) for mine. Motor Toon was $80 new at the time, now goes for about $3, so that tells you how that sort of thing goes.

[spenoza]

I bought my copy in Japan summer of '94 (back when I had a US TG + CD-ROM system and a Kisado) on a high school exchange trip. I went to Japan specifically looking for it and couldn't find it in any of the larger stores, but I found it in a smaller store in a train station. I think I paid 5500 - 5700 yen, if I recall.

[FraGMarE]

It's hard to overhype a game that is quite possibly the best platformer on its respective system and likely the best Castlevania game of the 16-bit era (and in some people's opinion the best CV game ever - I dunno about that).  The graphics are top notch, they pull off just about every known hardware trick they could get away with, the soundtrack is legendary, the level design is fluid and varied, the control is tight and responsive and the overall presentation is really kind of awe inspiring.  It deserves the hype.

[NecroPhile]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

Indeed.  Especially when one considers that Dracula X will be worth about the same (or a bit more) in five years, whereas the Wii/PS3/360 games will be worth maybe $20.

[Ceti Alpha]

It sells today for about as much as I bought it for back when it came out. It seems like a much better value than a couple average Wii, PS3 or 360 games.

$100-150? Really? The cheapest I've seen it is $95 and that doesn't include shipping from Japan.

In the States the lowest I ever saw it for was $78 (in a Die Hard ad running in the back of EGM in 1993 or so). If you are lucky you can get it for that price now if you don't care about shrink wrap, obi, etc. $100 is more realistic though. Considering that most games lose %90 of their value in 5 years though that's still pretty good.

I actually traded a copy of Motor Toon GP (JP) for mine. Motor Toon was $80 new at the time, now goes for about $3, so that tells you how that sort of thing goes.

I actually paid exactly $78 for it last year and it was shipped with bubble wrap. I saw it up on eBay and didn't hesitate.

[kitkit.com]

No way! Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo is not overhyped!!!!

Did people who criticized the game spend their time playing through the game (100% complete)?

[Tatsujin]

honestly i think, those poor souls never had the chance to play through the game at all. some of 'em not even touched it once i guess.

[jperryss]

Did people who criticized the game spend their time playing through the game (100% complete)? 

If you played straight through the game (without finding any of the 'side' stages or characters) and didn't like it, playing through a second time isn't gonna make you suddenly love the game.

As I said in my other post, I thought it was OK but not amazing. Definitely better than the SNES 'version' and I would like to have it in my collection eventually.

I imagine if CV4 was the first CV game you ever played, you definitely wouldn't appreciate Rondo (or CV1, 2, or 3 for that matter). I grew up on CV and I think I've played through every 2D 'non-Metroidvania' CV game, and probably in pretty close to the order they were released (except Rondo which I didn't get to play until many years later). Bloodlines was the only one I disliked enough to probably never play again. I play through CV1 and CV3 at least once a year.

[Tatsujin]

I also grew up with CV and of course i've played CV4 before DracX. i think that's the way of most of us here. nevertheless, DracX is perfectionism in almost every thinkable aspects and sets more landmarks then any other games at that time did.

-style
-atmosphere
-presentation
-ideas/concept
-playfun (discoverings, alternate ways etc.)
-dimension
-well-thought-out
-graphic exhaustment
-accoustics
-etc.

if i really have to judge any game with an 100% rate, probably only this one would be left over.

[kitkit.com]

If you played straight through the game (without finding any of the 'side' stages or characters) and didn't like it, playing through a second time isn't gonna make you suddenly love the game.

I take a different view. There are games that I didn't like at first, but started liking/loving it after I give them more time. 

As I said in my other post, I thought it was OK but not amazing. Definitely better than the SNES 'version' and I would like to have it in my collection eventually.

I imagine if CV4 was the first CV game you ever played, you definitely wouldn't appreciate Rondo (or CV1, 2, or 3 for that matter). I grew up on CV and I think I've played through every 2D 'non-Metroidvania' CV game, and probably in pretty close to the order they were released (except Rondo which I didn't get to play until many years later). Bloodlines was the only one I disliked enough to probably never play again. I play through CV1 and CV3 at least once a year.

Your assumption is incorrect. I played through CV1 & CV3 during the NES era; played through CV4 in 1992 and CVX (SNES) in 1995. Not until 2000, did I play Dracula X - chi no rondo (purchase the game with Duo R at the same time). To me, Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo is so amazing that I was playing the game for 3 straight days non-stop to get it 100% complete.  The music & atmosphere are simply awesome.

[termis]

I was never a huge Castlevania fan, but Rondo is certainly a damn good game.

[jperryss]

I take a different view. There are games that I didn't like at first, but started liking/loving it after I give them more time. 

Understood, I was the same way with Splash Lake. But generally if you play through an entire game, you probably already like it at least a little bit, right? If you hated it, you wouldn't play through it again to find all the extra stuff.

Your assumption is incorrect. I played through CV1 & CV3 during the NES era; played through CV4 in 1992 and CVX (SNES) in 1995. Not until 2000, did I play Dracula X - chi no rondo (purchase the game with Duo R at the same time). To me, Akumajo Dracula X - chi no rondo is so amazing that I was playing the game for 3 straight days non-stop to get it 100% complete.  The music & atmosphere are simply awesome.

Actually I said "if CV4 was the first CV game you ever played". I fully acknowledge that was speculation on my part (and hey, I've been proven wrong MANY times) but since you played CV1 and CV3 in the NES era, CV4 was not the first CV game you played. So you aren't the exception you thought you were. 

[SignOfZeta]

I can't remember which I played first, CVIV, or Drac X. I can say though honestly that I don't like CVIV very much at all. I prefer CV1 or the X68K version to CVIV. I prefer Drac X to any of them.

[Tatsujin]

if someone doesn't like Dracula X, he/she probably also dislike 99.9781% of all other games ever produced. or at least any platformers.

[shubibiman]

I got my copy of DX back in 1996 (and paid no more than 40$ for it) and it was one of my first CD games (got my SGX in 1991 and my DUO in 1995) : I was impressed at the time and I'm still impressed now. The last time I played the game (last year), I found hidden passages that I didn't know before (even though I had played through the game a trillion times 100% complete)! I think I won't discover any other hidden places now but I really think this game is not overhyped. Nice graphics, nice animations, amazing musics, hidden places and bonuses, it has EVERYTHING you would expect from a game.

[boogiecat]

I've got my copy last week on Play-Asia.com its great man!!

[jperryss]

I've got my copy last week on Play-Asia.com its great man!!

You know $160 is a stupid-high price when even eBay sellers are not asking that much.

But I know you're a Play-Asia shill, so here you go.  eBay

Also, if you're gonna pretend to NOT be a shill, you might wanna take that link out of your signature in every message board you register on. I noticed you changed your sig on DigitPress after getting called out. You're not fooling anyone.

[Ceti Alpha]

Well, the Rondo vs. Symphony of the Night comparison in the SNES vs. Genny vs. PCE thread has made it abundantly clear that Drac X is certainly not over-hyped.