AKUMAJŌ DRACULA XX
( Castlevania: Dracula X ) ( Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss )
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悪魔城ドラキュラXX
©1995 Konami
Release: 1995-07-21 (¥9800)
Cartridge SHVC-ADZJ
Platform game
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Released in America as
CASTLEVANIA DRACULA X
( SNS-ADZE-USA )
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Released in Europe as
CASTLEVANIA VAMPIRE'S KISS
( SNSP-ADZP-EUR )
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Akumajō Dracula XX is a platform game by Konami and is based on
Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo released in 1993 for the PC Engine System.
Dracula has been resurrected once again and the land of Transylvania is at
stake. But this time around he has declared war to the Belmont family - he has kidnapped
Annette and Maria Renard. The prince of darkness hopes that Richter Belmont,
the latest member of the family line, would come in his castle to rescue them. Richter is
a vampire hunter and he is up to the challenge. His girlfriend and her little sister are detained
and he is more than ever determined to bring them back and to rid the world of Dracula for
good. Our vampire killer walks through a series of stages, from a burning village to the deepest
parts of Dracula's castle. He later picks up secondary weapons (axe, holy water, daggers etc...)
to help him in desperate situations and to trigger powerful attacks usually killing
most of the enemies on screen. They however come in limited quantities and hearts scattered
throughout the game can replenish them to some extent. A key is given to Richter later
in the game and can be used to free the poor girls - interestingly, the game can be completed
without rescuing Annette or Maria but this leads to a dramatic ending. Finally the
game features a password system shown to the player at the end of every stage.
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Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo was first released for the
PC Engine System in 1993. Akumajō Dracula XX tested here is
loosely based on Rondo and shares the storyline and various elements.
However, levels have a dramatically different layout and some were completely
redesigned. Akumajō Dracula XX is also a lot more linear and doesn't feature
the open-ended stages and alternate routes of Chi no Rondo.
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Akumajō Dracula XX is a lot more linear than its PC Engine counterpart.
However, the game does actual branch out in some places. In stage 3, there is a room with
2 pillars - jump down between the gap to directly go to stage 4 without saving Annette
or Maria. If you carry on, you must pick up the key before the end of the stage and defeat
the boss. In Stage 4, there is a tinny space next to some buckets - use the key there to save
Maria. At the end of the stage, a door can be opened by the same key which leads to a different
stage 5, the underground lake - this is where Annette is kept prisoner.
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Teaser text from the American version:
The Legend Returns...
Rising up from his eternal sleep, Count Dracula is back again to
battle the descendants of the great vampire-stalking Belmont
family of the Castlevania series. He has summoned his
dark minions - Cerberus, Minaurus, and
the Salamander - to bring a reign
of terror on the land.
Grab your whip and try to defeat
these dark forces in this new conversion of the hit
Japanese game: DRACULA X. The 7+ stages unfold with
myriad possibilities depending on the choices you make during
the game. This multi-ending, multi-story feature takes you
through many levels of adventure. You must strategically use
magical tomes, mystical power-ups and titanic weapons to
defeat the horrifying bosses and discover secret bonus levels.
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LK
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Add your Pov here !
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P
O
V
s
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The image of Akumajō Dracula XX has been severely tarnished by
Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo. But, thinking about it, this is undoubtedly
fair as the Super Famicom version was initially supposed to be a conversion of
the excellent PC Engine masterpiece. Instead, Konami has turned its attention
to other ways to meet his fans and decided to take a detour. That's not to say that the game
is bad which wouldn't be fair as Konami has certainly nailed high quality production
values. It's just that the game feels rushed - a large portion of enemies has been omitted, the
alternate routes are gone and several areas from Rondo are nowhere to be seen. So here
you have it, for the series die-hard fans, Akumajō Dracula XX can be seen as a
disappointment. For the others, the title is still an excellent (yet hard) platform game
with a rich atmosphere and truly great gameplay.
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