Manual Story Description

The setting: medieval Transylvania. Several hundred years have passed since legendary hero Simon Belmont defeated the evil Count Dracula and sealed him away for what was supposed to be eternity. The people have long since forgotten about the horror of the undead, thus allowing a few depraved individuals to restore the Prince of Darkness to his former state; sleeping in his coffin by day and preying upon hapless victims by night.

Dracula now plans to get revenge on his old enemy through his descendants by locking Annet, the girlfriend of Belmont's great grandson, Richter, and her sister, Maria, in his dark and gloomy castle.

Once aware of this, Richter takes his ancestor's sacred whip, passed down through the years from father to son, and sets out for Dracula's castle to rescue Annet and Maria, and to seal away the evil Count for good.

Objective/Overview

The directors in charge of the "Castlevania" trademark were unable to port Akumajou Dracula X: Chin no Rondo (Rondo of Blood) from the PC-Engine over to its American counterpart, the Turbo-Grafx CD, because the console was dying a slow death. Due to confusing legal issues, they were also unable to port the title to other 16-bit machines. Therefore, eventually, they decided to work around the issues and supply to the SNES its own iteration of "Dracula X," a unique sampling of Rondo's award-winning formula.

That iteration is Castlevania: Dracula X, which supplies only a portion of Rondo's cast (Maria is not a playable character), thus a downgraded plot (Shaft's involvement is none), and a lower-quality (but very serviceable) soundtrack that's bereft of the full work; though it in return features all-new stage design and a new graphical style, it's still nothing more than a watered-down version of a masterpiece.

Despite its oft-argued-about quality, Konami presents to you classic stage-by-stage gameplay: You must control Richter Belmont through at least seven of the nine stages to reach the castle keep, where Count Dracula awaits your arrival. There exists two alternate endings that you can attain by increasing or decreasing the length of your adventure by one stage; depending on how well you explore stages three and four, you'll either save Maria, Annet or both and receive a good ending, or you'll fail to locate them and receive a bad one. At Richter's command is the usual, more basic Belmont arsenal.

Japanese/European Differences

There are the usual liberal changes and slight name deviations for characters like Maria and Annet. Richter is of course "Richter Belmondo" instead of Belmont. There's more in the way of blood, for Richter when his energy is fully depleted and for the Grim Reaper when it receives damage; also, like as it did in Rondo, the Reaper's head pops off when it's finished off. The Warlock's tombstone projectiles feature crosses instead of faces, which means that the Japanese version did maintain those Rondo tombstone sprites. When the boomerang is uncovered, it resembles more of cross, its true namesake, as it lay on the ground. The pre-title Konami logo screen is missing. And, finally, there is no score tally at the end of each stage. (Thanks to Danny for some of this information.)

The European version, more for continuity purposes, is titled Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss, which abandons the "Dracula X" label. In contrast to the American version, which is meant as an introduction to the Dracula X universe, the European version is presented more as a standard sequel to Super Castlevania IV.

Soundtrack and Credits

Soundtrack
Opening and Ending Themes: 1 - Prologue | 2 - Intro/Map | 3 - Ending | 4 - Credits
Stage Themes: 1 - Opposing Bloodlines | 2 - Road to the Enemy | 3 - Vampire Killer | 4 - Bloody Tears | 5 - Cemetery | 6 - Slash | 7 - Picture of a Ghost Ship | 8 - Beginning | 9 - The Den
Battle Themes: 1 - Dancing in Phantasmic Hell | 2 - Illusionary Dance
Miscellaneous Themes: 1 - Welcome to Hell | 2 - Rescue | 3 - Stage Clear | 4 - Death | 5 - Game Over

Links
Music Files: MP3
Soundtrack Release: Dracula Battle Perfect Selection Vol. 1, Dracula Battle Perfect Selection Vol. 2 and Castlevania Best Music Collections Box
Game Credits: Available

Other Characters

Lesser Enemies: Skeleton, Ape Skeleton, Zombie, Vampire Bat, Fishman, Medusa Head, Fleaman, Ghost, Skeledragon, Blood Skeleton, Pillar of Bones, Axe Knight, Axe Lord, Floating Eye, Panther Skeleton, Spear Guard, Sword Lord, Mutant Bat, Wereskeleton, Behemoth, Paranthropus, Water Skull, Mud Man, Raven, Mud Zombie and Demon Tombstone
Bosses: Cerebrus, Phantom Bat, Dyruahan, Minotaurusu, Cloaked Sorcerer, Lypuston, Water Dragon, Skull Sorceress and the Grim Reaper
Dracula Forms: Dracula and Dracula's Ghost
Supporting Cast: Maria Renard and Annet Renard

Character Lists

Lesser Enemies | Bosses | Dracula Forms | Supporting Cast

Limitations: Richter is more or less a standard Belmont. He's quick and agile, and his jumps can be controlled very well. Even then, he leaps so gracefully that it's often difficult to pinpoint where he's going to land. Though, he's very under control: Mainly, he can jump onto and off of stairs at will without a problem. Weapon-wise, Richter controls traditionally: He can only swing the whip in two directions, and it can't be powered up past its initial chain whip form (except for the temporary flame blast). Richter makes up for this deficiency with his item-crashing ability; using this ability, Richter can add super power to his sub-weapons (at the cost of hearts) to take down stronger enemies in seconds. Finally, Richter has available a backflip maneuver, which is useful when attempting to escape from in-close combat and incoming projectiles.