Originally released October 29, 1993, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood is one of the last old-school Castlevania games that follows conventional stage progression. However, the game is also considered a transition into modern Castlevania games with its multiple stage paths and endings, (not so) secret playable character, and a new feature similar to magic spells called "item crush." The game was never released outside of Japan, despite positive reviews from fans and critics alike, which has resulted in the game costing around 100 dollars in Ebay auctions.
Category Note: A Richter-only run is considered a separate category because going out of the way to collect Maria is faster.
Maria single-segment with deaths: 0:23:31 by Nicholas Hoppe.
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Author's comments:
Speed Run Rules:
* any% Completion
* Completed using both Richter and Maria
* Takes damage to save time
* Suffers a death to save time
* Uses resets to save time
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is one of the last, and possibly one of the best, old-school style Castlevania games. This game is also a direct prequel to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (aka Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku). This game was originally released on the PC-Engine (aka TurboGrafix-16), but only in Japan. It received an excellent port over to the Virtual Console (again, only in Japan). Meanwhile, the US got it included with Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP, but the emulation wasn't very well done, especially in audio timing. This run was performed using the Virtual Console release.
This run only completes what's necessary to beat Dracula in the fastest time. I save Maria as she's faster to beat the rest of the game with, unless you're a TAS player and can use the key to the extreme.
0% - 22% Completion
* (0%) Stage 0: Prologue
Prologue is a very simple stage that simply sets the mood. Richter has a quick skirmish with Death. This went exactly to plan. Also, moonwalking!
* (4%) Stage 1: Dinner of Flames (Bloodlines)
The first section can be a bit of a pain, since the skeleton's spawning is slightly random. It is possible to jump over them, but it takes perfect timing - it's considerably less risky to whip them. I take the axe over the dagger as I need it for the boss, along with other parts in this level. I messed up the jump off of the stairs in one section, but otherwise no problems at all.
* Boss: Wyvern
Boss fight goes nearly to plan. He went into his dive earlier then usual, but I got him killed as he was shooting his flames. However, I ended up causing a little extra lag in order to avoid the No Damage bonus.
* (12%) Stage 2: God, Grant Me Strength (Vampire Killer)
Since I have over 20 hearts, I can use the axe twice - once for the skeleton and once to get my Dagger power-up (and for humor, kill both crows up top). Once I go across the drawbridge, I have to face zombie spawns, which sometimes work my way, and sometimes not. Fortunately, they didn't appear too badly in the major lag section. I had a bad spawn near the gaps after Behemoth appears, but fortunately, not bad enough to knock me in. I used the Behemoth right before it died to get blasted up to the top ledge. It doesn't save much time, but it does take my life down a bunch, which saves some time at the end of the level during the scoring.
I save Maria (cutscene not skippable), grab the Holy Water (in an area reminiscent of the original Castlevania, Stage 3) and head over to fight the boss.
* Boss: Werewolf
This boss can be an absolute pain in the ass. Hydrostorm didn't work as well as it could have, since I used it with him in the upper left corner instead of the upper right, plus he made some unexpected moves that caused me to take a couple of hits. I wasn't quite in fight to survive mode, but pretty damn close.
Once Stage 3 loads, the game has saved my progress, so I can reset the game.
Richter's Score: 15,020, 10 Credits
22% - 64% Completion
Upon returning to the save screen, I can switch to Maria and continue with Stage 3. I switch because Maria is considerably faster, and Guardian Fist can do some major damage to enemies.
* (22%) Stage 3: The Vengeful King of Bloodshed (Bloody Tears)
Unlike the 100% run, if you're using Maria it's faster to fight Dogether (Stage 3' boss) and go through Stage 4' then it is to fight Minotaur and go through Stage 4. The time to fight either boss is about the same, but Stage 4' is about 30 seconds faster then 4 due to it's mostly flat horizontal nature. Getting the invincibility item where I did was completely unexpected, but greatly appreciated. Though that one skeleton was a completely stupid bastard.
* Boss: Dogether
This boss has a history of pulling off the most beautiful attacks in a successful attempt to kill me, even with full health. However, thanks to a location trick I picked up from the TASers, I can beat him easily with 2 Guardian Fists and taking zero damage. Yes, he is that easy now. And yes, lots of intentional hits at the end to drop my life to 1 point (this boss will not kill me if he's in his final attack, no matter how many times I hit him).
* (30%) Stage 4': The Final Divergence (Slash)
This level is mostly horizontal rolling along. Nothing much to see here.
* Boss: Dullahan
I can't attack right away when he appears, as it takes several seconds for him to become vulnerable. After that, it's just a matter of continually slapping him with Guardian Fist for the win. I take an intentionaly hit during his desperation move to avoid the No Damage bonus.
* (38%) Stage 5: Toward the Tower of the Final Showdown (Ghost Ship Painting)
There are a lot of tricky timing issues in this level, primarily in the painting section. If you touch the painting when it's active, it's INSTANT DEATH. Two Guardian Fists take it out, and the timing at the door was a little off (the floor has to be at a certain height, or the game won't let me progress until it raises/lowers to that height). I did use Suzaku on the red glowing sword quite nicely.
* Boss: Death
The spawning of his reapers is annoying in every single game he's in. This one is ultra annoying because it's possible to get knocked off of the mast and into the waters below (his scythe swings in the 2nd form can also knock you off in 1 hit, no matter where you are on the mast). For the most part, I rely on Seiryu to do my damage. As a note, if you get hit by the green skulls between phases, he will repeat the attack, thus why I dodge them.
INSERT UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENE
* (46%) Stage 6: Undying Melody (Former Room)
This level is simple - fight 5 bosses back to back. You get one healing item after the 3rd one. Though something as simple as this got screwed up a bit by getting the wrong power. Oops.
* Boss 1: Darkwing Bat
Fairly clean, though not as smooth as I wanted.
* Boss 2: Medusa
She fell too quickly to scream.
* Boss 3: Mummy
Perfect boss fight.
* Boss 4: Frankenstein's Monster
Also perfect.
* Boss 5: Shaft
I wasn't as lucky with my fight here as I wanted. The biggest issue was he went right - away from Maria during the first hit. The best battling always happens when he jumps left. This caused a delay and allowed him to get an attack off, but he still fell pretty quick.
* (50%) Stage 7: Believe in the Dawn (Den)
For those that have only played the remake, this is the original music, one of the few pieces completely removed. I did get a bit unlucky with the bat spawns on the bridge - a perfect bridge area would be free of all bats, and I got stuck with TWO spawns. The rest of the stage went fairly well. Near the end, the enemies mostly cooperated. The Skeleton Cats didn't cause too much interference, as they both were on the same side when I dropped in and attacked.
* Boss: Shaft's Ghost
For those that haven't played the remake, this fight would be COMPLETELY different on this type of run. Since I didn't rescue Iris or Tera (and thus was not able to save Annette), I'd get a completely different boss - L. Demon. L. Demon is Annette turned into a vampire and I think is a MUCH harder fight to do then Shaft's Ghost. However, this isn't the remake, so I get the easy boss fight. And I mean
* (58%) Stage 8: The Brink of Death (Poison Mind)
The stage is simple enough - climb up to the top and fight Dracula.
* Boss: Dracula (DUH!)
The first phase went really well. I got him in 4 rounds, which I consider to be prime. The second phase fell ridicously quick. (The PSP Remake includes a 3rd form, if you've saved Iris, Tera, and Annette.)
And thus with this fight, the game is over. The damsels all die a mysterious death and Maria takes her kitty and goes home. The End?
Maria's Score: 48,890, 4 Credits
Grand Score: 63,910, 14 Credits.
I hope you enjoyed this quicker (and better ending?) run. As like the 100% run, I'm including subtitles for your enjoyment. Hopefully they won't crash SMPlayer this time like the 100% run originally did. Granted that was the player's fault, but still. Something to laugh about, right?
This run is Copyright (C) 2009 Nicholas "Sir VG" Hoppe and IMAMYTH Colosseum (http://www.imamyth.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/user/SirVG) and is allowed for downloading and private viewing. Permissions for hosting this run have been granted to Radix and Speed Demos Archive. Public viewing of this run is prohibited without prior permission from the creator. The selling or distribution of this run for profit in any way, shape, or form including (but not limited to) selling on eBay and television for profit is prohibited without prior permission from the author. Video hosting sites (i.e. YouTube, etc) may host this video in part or in full, as long as full permission is granted by the author. Any violation of the above listed may result in legal action. Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is Copyright (C) 1993 Konami.
Sir VG, signing out.
FIN
100% single-segment with deaths: 0:40:10 by Nicholas Hoppe.
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Author's comments:
Speed Run Rules:
Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is one of the last, and possibly one of the best, old-school style Castlevania games. This game is also a direct prequel to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (aka Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku). This game was originally released on the PC-Engine (aka TurboGrafix-16), but only in Japan. It received an excellent port over to the Virtual Console (again, only in Japan). Meanwhile, the US got it included with Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP, but the emulation wasn't very well done, especially in audio timing. This run was performed using the Virtual Console release.
I think, having played the VC and the PSP versions, that if the same run was done on each version, they would have to be listed in separate categories. Not just for the audio timing issues, but the PSP version introduces lag not present in the VC version and removes lag in other places. Also, if a 100% run would be attempted, the reset timings would be different...plus you can't reset at all (without using the home button and getting completely out of the game) during the ending on the PSP version.
This was a run I've wanted to do for several years, but since emulators weren't allowed, I was stuck. But once I managed to get a copy of the Virtual Console version, I rejoiced. It took some time to find a controller I was able to consistently use Maria's Guardian Fist with, which delayed the run for a while longer. Eventually, I found a PS2 controller (plugged in though a GC adapter) to be the best choice. However, I did need to keep a Wiimote handy for resets.
This run completes 100% of the game, by completing all levels, beating all bosses, and saving all of the maidens. I reset the game three times. Two are needed to save time, while the third is only so I can go back to the save selection screen so I can show that I got 100% on my save file.
0% - 22% Completion
Prologue is a very simple stage that simply sets the mood. Richter has a quick skirmish with Death. This went exactly to plan. Also, moonwalking!
The first section can be a bit of a pain, since the skeleton's spawning is slightly random. It is possible to jump over them, but it takes perfect timing - it's considerably less risky to whip them. I take the axe over the dagger as I need it for the boss, along with other parts in this level.
Boss fight goes nearly to plan. I missed one axe when he dived, which means the timing for taking damage without losing time doesn't quite work.
Since I have over 20 hearts, I can use the axe twice - once for the skeleton and once to get my Dagger power-up (and for humor, kill both crows up top). Once I go across the drawbridge, I have to face zombie spawns, which sometimes work my way, and sometimes not. Fortunately, they didn't appear too badly in the major lag section. I had a couple bad spawns near the gaps after Behemoth appears, but fortunately, not bad enough to knock me in. It does put me really close to being gored by Behemoth though!
I save Maria (cutscene not skippable), grab the Holy Water (in an area reminiscent of the original Castlevania, Stage 3) and head over to fight the boss.
This boss can be an absolute pain in the ass. He cooperated fairly well and Hydrostorm finished him quite nicely.
Once Stage 3 loads, the game has saved my progress, so I can reset the game.
Richter's Score: 14,930, 10 Credits
22% - 64% Completion
Upon returning to the save screen, I can switch to Maria and continue with Stage 3. I switch because Maria is considerably faster, and Guardian Fist can do some major damage to enemies.
A nice little shortcut I found saved some time early on (though the one spearman was a bit too close to the edge, costing a little time). The fleamen are absolutely ANNOYING. I took the lower route, which though there are more rooms, there are considerably less obstacles and no mandatory mini-boss fight. During rough testing, the lower route seemed faster to me.
I do a quick curtsey and then quickly defeat him. Guardian Fist is absolutely merciless. Purposeful damage taken at the end to lower my health bar to 1 point (I can't die from after death damage).
This level also features a split route and lots of annoying flea men. I take the lower route as there are a lot more flat sections to dash through. It's also considerably easier to move through, though I screwed up my jumping in the steel ball room a bit, so I had to wait at a one spot.
I can't attack right away when he appears, as it takes several seconds for him to become vulnerable. After that, it's just a matter of continually slapping him with Guardian Fist for the win. I took a few hits I wasn't planning on, but it did lower my health score quite a bit, so no perfect health bonus (which costs time).
There are a lot of tricky timing issues in this level, primarily in the painting section. If you touch the painting when it's active, it's INSTANT DEATH (although in one attempt, I was caught, but because my doves were out and did damage fast enough, it died and I was saved). Two Guardian Fists take it out, and the timing at the door was a little off (the floor has to be at a certain height, or the game won't let me progress until it raises/lowers to that height). I did use Suzaku on the red glowing sword quite nicely, but I was actually too far to the right, so the screen couldn't progress.
The spawning of his reapers is annoying in every single game he's in. This one is ultra annoying because it's possible to get knocked off of the mast and into the waters below (his scythe swings in the 2nd form can also knock you off in 1 hit, no matter where you are on the mast). For the most part, I rely on Seiryu to do my damage. As a note, if you get hit by the green skulls between phases, he will repeat the attack, thus why I dodge them.
INSERT UNSKIPPABLE CUTSCENE
This level is simple - fight 5 bosses back to back. You get one healing item after the 3rd one.
Fairly clean. This is one of the best battles I've had against him.
She fell too quickly to scream.
Perfect boss fight.
Also perfect.
While I didn't take any damage here (save for the intentional hit at the end), I didn't get the luck I wanted with him. A perfect fight would be meant he would jump to the left at the first Guardian Fist (to which I could just bounce him back and forth between Guardian Fist attacks and he'd never get an attack off). Luck was not on my side - oh well, he still fell without getting an attack off! As an added note, unlike the remake it IS possible to die from his final attack here!
For those that have only played the remake, this is the original music, one of the few pieces completely removed. I did get a bit unlucky with the bat spawns on the bridge - I got stuck with a spawn right at the end (a perfect bridge area would be free of all bats). The rest of the stage went fairly well, including the pendulums, which I've occasionally messed up.
During my trip, I also save Annette (producing yet another unskippable cutscene). The translation included in the PSP version (the port) is funny for one of Maria's lines. "I'm gonna beat that vampire to a bloody pulp! See you!" Bloody pulp. HAHA.
Near the end, the enemies mostly cooperated. The Skeleton Cats didn't cause too much interference for once - they both were on the same side when I dropped in and attacked.
I intentionally try to make sure Shaft's Ghost is on the left when he's gonna summon a creature. It's considerably easier to dodge Behemoth Undead over Wyvern Undead. It's also easier to keep attacking during that phase. The damage I took was intentional, but I was never planning a perfect set of damage like that! I ended the battle with 1 point left, normally something only possible while taking after battle damage. Now THAT is AWESOME!!!
The stage is simple enough - climb up to the top and fight Dracula.
The first phase went really well. I got him in 4 rounds, which I consider to be prime. The second phase also fell quite quickly. (The PSP Remake includes a 3rd form, if you've saved Iris, Tera, and Annette.)
As soon as the ending cutscene starts, the game has saved my progress, so I can reset.
Maria's Score: 47,230, 6 Credits
64% - 100% Completion
After this reset, all that's left are the alternate stages and saving the last 2 maidens. Again I use Maria as she's faster.
The beginning is a quick walk through the park, but partway though I take the alternate route, leading me to the alternate boss. There may be a faster way to go up the water buckets at the end, but I'm more comfortable doing this.
It's possible to beat him using strictly Guardian Fist in 3 motions (Dive 1, Dive 2, Water Spout), but his spawn points are a bit unpredictable. Plus I can never seem to hit him with Guardian Fist during Water Spout, even if I appear to be dead on...not sure why though. I didn't take him out as fast as I wanted, since I screwed up Guardian Fist on Dive 1.
There is a hidden alternate exit in this level that would take you straight to 3' (via the Oarsman at the bottom of the level - you can reach him via the 2nd area of the level) but that would mean I'd skip the boss, missing 4%. Since this is a 100% run, this route is obviously not acceptable to take.
This boss has 3 phases. Phase 1 went perfectly - two Guardian Fists takes him out. The second phase didn't quite go as well. I expected Guardian Fist to have taken him out, but this time it didn't. I needed an extra Seiryu to finish that part. Phase 3 was excellent.
Usually, I end up needing to switch to Suzaku here, but since I had enough hearts left over after Stage 2', I was able to keep Seiryu. This allows me to beat the skull in 1 hit - and done quite nicely too. I stupidly didn't collect the big heart I was aiming for, but oh well. In this level, I save Tera (who's considerably less creepy here then the remake), bringing on another unskippable cutscene. I had a little trouble around the ball-and-chains, but I managed.
Breaking the 2nd ball-and-chain opens the path to the alternate boss.
This boss has a history of pulling off the most beautiful attacks in a successful attempt to kill me, even with full health. Luckily, this was not one of those times. I easily beat him before he can do too much. And yes, lots of intentional hits at the end to drop my life to 1 point (this boss will not kill me if he's in his final attack, no matter how many times I hit him).
Toads, toads, lots of ugly toads. The puzzle to save Iris is different here compared to the remake (here, I hit two gold toad statues, while in the remake I have to lead a blue toad to a collection of gold toad statues). I use Byakko to hit the 2nd one to save a little time.
Iris is the only maiden who cures your health to full after saving them. Not very beneficial for this run, since after the unskippable cutscene, I immediately commit suicide so I start back at the beginning of the area. This allows me to take the raft ride in order to get to the alternate boss.
Carmilla takes a little bit longer here than the remake to kill - in the remake a well positioned Suzaku Special kills her in 1 round. Here's I just have to rely on the standard attack. Laura is there to be a nuisance and steal hearts. However, once I beat Carmilla, I can change Lauru into her true form. Three standard attacks kill her (when she's vulnerable). Humorously, the chair makes it out of this battle unscathed.
Since I have beaten Dracula, I can progress to Stage 5' (if I hadn't, I would be moving on to Stage 5). The PSP remake actually shows something happening to better explain the situation, while the original version doesn't show anything.
This level is completely different from the remake's Stage 5'. First off, there's no boss at all. Hydra and L. Demon were added just for the remake. A lot of people complained that this level was so "random" and "appeared to be a bunch of stuff thrown together". Me, I'm not bothered by it. The music was also changed in the remake. This level will still kick your ass if you're not careful (to which I have had several great runs crushed by a stupid Stage 5' death).
After clearing, I wind up back in Stage 6, to which I can reset and show off that I've completed 100% of the game!
Maria's Score: 26,960, 4 Credits.
Grand Score: 89,120, 19 Credits.
I hope you enjoyed a bit of history here. The run does end a bit oddly that it doesn't end with a final boss fight (or even a boss fight PERIOD). No ending video, no credits, just a save screen that says 100%. Well, too bad. Go look on YouTube for a video. Or better yet, play the game yourself! This thing is a treat to play. Hopefully someday Konami will be like Capcom (GO ROCKMAN 9!) and make an old school game in this style, instead of the Metroidvania style games that they're currently doing. Oh well. One can dream, right?
Also, I'm working on developing an outtake video of a bunch of silly mistakes I've made and bad luck I faced. I hope you enjoy it. I'm also making a subtitle file for this video, for those who haven't played the PSP port to see their translation, or for those that have and hate seeing all of the spelling errors. "Perhaps two this is my fate"? Or like the misspelling of "savage" when it was used 3 times in 3 consecutive sentences? UGH. NO EXCUSE.
This run is Copyright (C) 2008 Nicholas "Sir VG" Hoppe and is allowed for downloading and private viewing. Permissions for hosting this run have been granted to Radix and Speed Demos Archive. Public viewing of this run is prohibited without prior permission from the creator. The selling or distribution of this run for profit in any way, shape, or form including (but not limited to) selling on eBay and television for profit is prohibited without prior permission from the author. Video hosting sites (i.e. YouTube, etc) may host this video in part or in full, as long as full permission is granted to the author. Any violation of the above listed may result in legal action. Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo is Copyright (C) 1993 Konami.
Sir VG, signing out.
FIN