Castlevania Chronicles/Akumajou Dracula (PS1, 2001)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8/7.5* Control-7.5 Challenge-8/7* Story-5
Level Design-7/7.5* Frustration-8.5/7* Fun-7/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Arranged mode (Normal)
+
One alternate path through some levels
Great mid-air control when jumping
Shorter knockback (minor movement delay when landing though)
One hidden NPC who hands out items (similar to the roulette wheel boss at the end of Bloodlines)
Attack diagonally downwards and straight downwards while jumping
Pretty nice intro and decent outro cutscene
Pretty impressive OST (FM (OPM+sampler) ver.)
Nice visual touches here and there (a lot of minor animations in the backgrounds and sometimes changing level architecture like the falling stalactites turning into platforms in level 2 for example)
Very good variation
Some large and detailed sprites
New healing item (replaces the current sub weapon, consumes hearts when used)
Good bosses overall (level 3 - magician, medusa - best medusa in the series?, the werewolf except her first phase is pretty cheap without the cross or axe)
Some hidden items
Some very good enemy AI (most of these were re-used in later games), a couple of mini-bosses, unlockable hard mode/second loop (bats are much faster, some enemies do more damage?), smart bombs (can't keep them for later use though), a save feature is included in this version (have to lose all lives to use it, restart at the level you died on when loading, one slot per game), this version includes an interview with Koji Igarashi
Arranged mode:
Difficulty options and the difficulty is lower and more balanced by default (three levels, number of lives per continue; most enemies are slower and do less damage, the raft segment and glass mini-boss are less intense, etc.)
Rearranged redbook OST (mixed bag though - sometimes very cheesy and doesn't fit as well overall)
New Simon and Dracula sprites (Simon looks kinda like a symphony of the night char, Dracula looks different - not worse but not better either)
Time attack mode and ranking (haven't checked them out)
+/-
Includes CG versions of the original's intro and outro cutscenes (looks pretty dated and doesn't add anything more to the story but the rearranged music is pretty good, for some reason the intro plays before selecting original or arranged mode)
Sub weapons are still mapped to up+attack and you can't change it
Can't move backwards to the previous sub area of a level
Faster attack speed than usual? (not so for sub weapons though)
Minor movement delay after falling too far
The first level is pretty much identical to the one in CV1 (so are a few other short segments though most are remixed a bit) - this game is also about twice as long as CV1 if you play well
Off screen enemy respawning
Time limits in the levels (generally not an issue)
Hidden chicken/health is more rare here
Unlimited continues
Lose all ammo/hearts after beating a level
Somewhat forgiving hit detection overall
Dracula is kind of easy here
Unskippable map cutscenes (short though)
No dodge or block moves
Can't move while crouching, dropped items disappear after a few seconds, some gore
Arranged mode:
No knockback when hit (!)
SotN-style explosions when killing enemies (looks a bit out of place)
Even Hard is a bit easier than Normal in the original mode
The difficulty balancing veers a bit more towards tweaking the damage stats than tweaking memorization heavy segments
-
Quite far to the previous checkpoint at times
Some control issues (no jump height control and they're quite high (as well as vertically focused similar to Contra) by default, can't jump onto or off of stairs, can't change direction during an attack, fall straight down after walking off a ledge - fast fall speed as well, can't cancel an attack by moving or jumping, can't attack diagonally upwards or straight upwards - would make some sub weapons less useful though, sometimes have to duck to pick up an item - certain torch items which land half inside the ground sort)
No weapon inventory (even regular enemies can randomly drop one that you don't want, some segments are a lot harder with the wrong weapon)
No branching paths between levels
Trial & error (two near pixel perfect jumps in the final level, post-death attack by the frankenstein's monster mini-boss, sloppy hit detection on the roof spikes above the level 3 floor trap, clock tower traps, odd switch "puzzle" in the ice segment of level 3, for example in the recreated first level there are continuously spawning monkeys in the wall where chicken used to be (the chicked is to the left instead), raft part, item locations)
Annoying continuous beep sfx when there's 45 or less seconds left on the timer (doesn't happen often but still)
Some of the music referencing previous tracks are done in an unfitting style (jazz, new jack swing)
Simon looks a bit worse than in SCV IV
Short loading before a boss appears (1-2 seconds)
Some visual effects look a bit dated or incomplete and the overall art direction isn't as consistent as in SCV IV or even Bloodlines
Sometimes uneven difficulty (hard raft part at the end of level 2 followed by a somewhat easy boss, the two near pixel perfect jumps, easy Death with the cross)
Somewhat underwhelming feedback when damaging most regular enemies
Arranged mode:
Doesn't loop and you can't access very hard/extreme mode in it
The map cutscenes a bit worse (CG again)
Starts off a bit too easy
Notes:
-The original X68000 game is from 1993
Level Design-7/7.5* Frustration-8.5/7* Fun-7/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-7.5
*Arranged mode (Normal)
+
One alternate path through some levels
Great mid-air control when jumping
Shorter knockback (minor movement delay when landing though)
One hidden NPC who hands out items (similar to the roulette wheel boss at the end of Bloodlines)
Attack diagonally downwards and straight downwards while jumping
Pretty nice intro and decent outro cutscene
Pretty impressive OST (FM (OPM+sampler) ver.)
Nice visual touches here and there (a lot of minor animations in the backgrounds and sometimes changing level architecture like the falling stalactites turning into platforms in level 2 for example)
Very good variation
Some large and detailed sprites
New healing item (replaces the current sub weapon, consumes hearts when used)
Good bosses overall (level 3 - magician, medusa - best medusa in the series?, the werewolf except her first phase is pretty cheap without the cross or axe)
Some hidden items
Some very good enemy AI (most of these were re-used in later games), a couple of mini-bosses, unlockable hard mode/second loop (bats are much faster, some enemies do more damage?), smart bombs (can't keep them for later use though), a save feature is included in this version (have to lose all lives to use it, restart at the level you died on when loading, one slot per game), this version includes an interview with Koji Igarashi
Arranged mode:
Difficulty options and the difficulty is lower and more balanced by default (three levels, number of lives per continue; most enemies are slower and do less damage, the raft segment and glass mini-boss are less intense, etc.)
Rearranged redbook OST (mixed bag though - sometimes very cheesy and doesn't fit as well overall)
New Simon and Dracula sprites (Simon looks kinda like a symphony of the night char, Dracula looks different - not worse but not better either)
Time attack mode and ranking (haven't checked them out)
+/-
Includes CG versions of the original's intro and outro cutscenes (looks pretty dated and doesn't add anything more to the story but the rearranged music is pretty good, for some reason the intro plays before selecting original or arranged mode)
Sub weapons are still mapped to up+attack and you can't change it
Can't move backwards to the previous sub area of a level
Faster attack speed than usual? (not so for sub weapons though)
Minor movement delay after falling too far
The first level is pretty much identical to the one in CV1 (so are a few other short segments though most are remixed a bit) - this game is also about twice as long as CV1 if you play well
Off screen enemy respawning
Time limits in the levels (generally not an issue)
Hidden chicken/health is more rare here
Unlimited continues
Lose all ammo/hearts after beating a level
Somewhat forgiving hit detection overall
Dracula is kind of easy here
Unskippable map cutscenes (short though)
No dodge or block moves
Can't move while crouching, dropped items disappear after a few seconds, some gore
Arranged mode:
No knockback when hit (!)
SotN-style explosions when killing enemies (looks a bit out of place)
Even Hard is a bit easier than Normal in the original mode
The difficulty balancing veers a bit more towards tweaking the damage stats than tweaking memorization heavy segments
-
Quite far to the previous checkpoint at times
Some control issues (no jump height control and they're quite high (as well as vertically focused similar to Contra) by default, can't jump onto or off of stairs, can't change direction during an attack, fall straight down after walking off a ledge - fast fall speed as well, can't cancel an attack by moving or jumping, can't attack diagonally upwards or straight upwards - would make some sub weapons less useful though, sometimes have to duck to pick up an item - certain torch items which land half inside the ground sort)
No weapon inventory (even regular enemies can randomly drop one that you don't want, some segments are a lot harder with the wrong weapon)
No branching paths between levels
Trial & error (two near pixel perfect jumps in the final level, post-death attack by the frankenstein's monster mini-boss, sloppy hit detection on the roof spikes above the level 3 floor trap, clock tower traps, odd switch "puzzle" in the ice segment of level 3, for example in the recreated first level there are continuously spawning monkeys in the wall where chicken used to be (the chicked is to the left instead), raft part, item locations)
Annoying continuous beep sfx when there's 45 or less seconds left on the timer (doesn't happen often but still)
Some of the music referencing previous tracks are done in an unfitting style (jazz, new jack swing)
Simon looks a bit worse than in SCV IV
Short loading before a boss appears (1-2 seconds)
Some visual effects look a bit dated or incomplete and the overall art direction isn't as consistent as in SCV IV or even Bloodlines
Sometimes uneven difficulty (hard raft part at the end of level 2 followed by a somewhat easy boss, the two near pixel perfect jumps, easy Death with the cross)
Somewhat underwhelming feedback when damaging most regular enemies
Arranged mode:
Doesn't loop and you can't access very hard/extreme mode in it
The map cutscenes a bit worse (CG again)
Starts off a bit too easy
Notes:
-The original X68000 game is from 1993