Castlevania: Symphony of the Night has long stood tall among the most revered games of
all time.
Upon its release in 1997, fans were greeted by a familiar - yet unfamiliar - scene.
A whip-wielding descendant of the Belmont clan, having scaled the clock tower, now marches
on Count Dracula’s throne room to vanquish the vampire lord once more.
But who was Richter Belmont?
And this final battle… which game was it from?
The answer to these questions lies in a 1993 Japan-only release called Akumajo Dracula
X: Chi no Rondo - commonly known in the western world as Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
For those who were aware of its existence, Rondo was long coveted for its reputation
as one of the best - if not THE best - in the series.
Since then, Rondo has received a handful of worldwide releases on other platforms.
These two games have continued to be intrinsically intertwined, yet they could also hardly be
more different - among the finest representatives from two distinct branches of Castlevania
gameplay.
The most recent Castlevania compilation - Castlevania Requiem on the PlayStation 4 - may offer many
fans their first experience with either title.
What is it about these games that make them worth revisiting today?
Let’s take a look at the original versions, along with their various ports, remakes, and
official emulations.
[MUSIC: Principle by Matt McCheskey]
[MUSIC]
Rondo of Blood was released in Japan in 1993 for the PC Engine CD system add-on, further
enhanced by requiring the Super System Card to run the game, resulting in one of the most
technically impressive titles on the console.
The western version of the PC Engine hardware, the TurboGrafx-16, did not sell nearly as
well as its popular Japanese counterpart, which probably played a role in Konami not
releasing the game in North America.
Rondo of Blood is in many ways a tribute to the NES era of Castlevania, featuring familiar
backgrounds, callbacks to old level designs, redbook audio remixes, and even a boss rush
comprised of bosses from the original game.
But instead of feeling derivative, the game’s carefully paced design, many branching paths
that can lead to totally different levels, and extravagant attention to detail creates
the feeling of a wholly original game taking place in a cohesive universe, rather than
being nostalgic for nostalgia’s sake.
Konami’s team had really figured out what makes Castlevania work, and it’s obvious
they put a lot of heart into the project.
Rondo of Blood takes place in 1792 and stars Richter Belmont alongside Maria Renard, a
little girl from another vampire hunter family who can attack with the help of various animals.
Players looking for the classical hardcore Castlevania challenge can play as Richter,
who controls similarly to his forefathers on the NES.
If things get a bit too tough, Maria can be unlocked by bringing a key to her cell in
the second full level.
Maria offers a more agile and diverse moveset that inarguably makes the game considerably
easier, but not so much as to make the challenge entirely non-trivial.
Maria’s battle style may seem a bit unusual for classic Castlevania, but her double jump,
slide, and quick attacks make for a real good time.
While official PC Engine video output options are limited to RF or composite, depending
on the model, a number of RGB mods and modless RGB options exist for obtaining pristine analog
output for use with RGB-compatible CRTs or HDMI upscalers such as the OSSC or Framemeister.[a]
Currently, the only mod-free solution for higher quality video output on original hardware
that also allows for the playing of CD games is the Super SD System 3 by Terraonion, an
all-in-one flash media launcher and video output solution.
Unfortunately this does prevent you from connecting a real CD add-on for using an original game
disc - although due to Rondo of Blood’s high import cost, many may not object to this
approach.
Richter Belmont was in fact brought to western markets with Castlevania: Dracula X for the
Super Nintendo in 1995.
Also known as Castlevania: Vampire’s Kiss in PAL regions, this late 16-bit generation
release was not met with a great deal of enthusiasm, however.
Relatively low sales and low production resulted in what is today one of the more rare and
expensive Super Nintendo cartridges.
Despite being sought after by collectors, Dracula X is widely considered to be a far
inferior game compared to Rondo of Blood.
It’s a sort of reimagining of Richter’s PC Engine adventure, occupying the same place
in the series timeline, but playing out as an entirely distinct game of its own, featuring
original level design but many recycled sprites, and completely new backgrounds with debatably
less character.[b] The flame effect in the opening level definitely gets your attention,
but aside from a few bright spots, Dracula X for the SNES feels like a product of little
passion by its team.
The lack of a playable Maria and fewer branching paths makes for a less remarkable game that
earns more of its difficulty from unpolished design than genuine challenge.
Even compared to Dracula X’s SNES predecessor, the ambitious Super Castlevania IV from early
in the system’s life, there’s just not a lot of anything interesting going on here.
Castlevania fans should absolutely give it a try, but other than providing Nintendo fans
with a rough facsimile of the Richter Belmont experience, it does little else to justify
its existence.
And then came the watershed moment in the Castlevania series history.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
It’s nearly impossible for a popular series to so drastically change its firmly established
core gameplay and be so universally praised in the process of doing so.
Yet that is exactly what the Castlevania team and assistant director Koji Igarashi managed
to accomplish.
What would have been a bottomless pit in any other Castlevania now becomes another room
to explore.
Revisit a difficult enemy after you’ve reached a higher level and upgraded your equipment
to have a fighting chance.
A nonlinear interconnected castle that serves as essentially one gigantic level, along with
RPG elements completely change what Castlevania is, but for most players that seemed to not
matter because it just works so well.
While Rondo of Blood was the encapsulation of the series’ past greatness, Symphony
of the Night was the start of something new and exciting.
It was satisfying in a fresh new way for longtime fans, while also making the series radically
more accessible.
[Game Audio]
The plot and game visuals closely follow Rondo of Blood - it is after all, part of the Dracula
X sub-series in Japan.
The story picks up 4 years after the end of Rondo, with the demon castle reappearing much
sooner than expected, and Dracula’s son Alucard setting out to destroy his father.
Symphony’s nonlinear design and particular control mechanics lend itself toward progressing
through the game in unexpected ways.
Some additional PlayStation version footage in this episode was provided by CarcinogenSDA,
who recorded an impressive all bosses, all relics run while taking no damage.
Symphony of the Night’s enduring popularity has been further bolstered in recent years
by its reputation as an entertaining speed run game.
In the years following Symphony of the Night’s release, the Castlevania series would try
on various other forms, but eventually the main series releases became dominated by this
style of gameplay - called IGAvania for producer Koji Igarashi, but more popularly dubbed as
“Metroidvania,” owing to the world design’s obvious similarities to the sprawling maps
of the Metroid series.
On PlayStation hardware, Symphony of the Night can be output with pristine RGB video.
When using backwards compatibility on PlayStation 2, component cables are also an option if
your equipment is compatible with 240p over component.[c] As for PlayStation 3, more on
that a bit later.
These three titles make up the Dracula X trinity.
But this is not the end.
Numerous versions on other platforms have sought to bring Richter Belmont and Alucard
to new audiences, but where do they succeed, and where do they stumble?
[Midroll Break]
While Symphony of the Night was designed specifically for the Sony PlayStation, Konami’s Nagoya
team ported the game over to the Sega Saturn for a 1998 release only in Japan.
On paper, this sounds like an enviable version, with a number of exclusive perks, but there
are also some very major problems.
Perhaps the most notable addition to this port is the ability to play as an adult Maria
who has a completely unique moveset and soundtrack.
However, unlike Maria’s mode in Rondo of Blood... this isn’t quite an easy mode.
While Richter Mode must be unlocked in the PlayStation version, both Maria and Richter
are playable from the start on Saturn which makes for a great way to jump in for those
who have already played the PlayStation version.
In addition, a few new areas were added to the castle, with new bosses and music.
One such area can be accessed pretty early on, and honestly the high experience rate
here kind of breaks the game.
Despite these bonuses, the Saturn port is widely regarded as being a disappointment,
with the game not being properly optimized to take full advantage of the Saturn’s powerful
2D hardware.
Extreme slowdown and an absence of transparency effects just scratch the surface.
The PlayStation version runs at 256 pixels wide, a mode that the Saturn simply doesn’t
have.
To fit the Saturn’s minimum horizontal resolution of 320 pixels, the game’s pixel art was
pre-scaled, resulting in a jagged image that mangles every object and background in the
game.
[d]
The Saturn version is also marred by a 480i resolution in the pause menu, resulting in
a switch from the 240p gameplay resolution that causes a significant delay in image re-sync
when connected to digital upscalers.
This becomes especially problematic because in this version you can only access the castle
map through the pause menu, rendering the game virtually unplayable unless you’re
using a CRT.
The Japanese Saturn port of Symphony has become quite an expensive collector’s item, so
steer clear unless you simply must own every version of the game… or if you’re prepping
for a good old fashioned Saturn vs. PS1 argument.
It wouldn’t be until 2007 - a decade after Symphony of the Night’s initial release
- that a trio of new versions would appear to celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary.
First came an Xbox Live Arcade release for download on the Xbox 360 handled by Digital
Eclipse, which is considered notable for increasing the Xbox Live Arcade file size limit.
It is pretty unique and not bad at all for what it is - a highly desired PlayStation
game emulated on an Xbox console, released in the early years of the HD generation.
That said, it is absolutely not perfect.
The game defaults to an “Enhanced” mode that resembles a typical emulator smoothing
filter, which we prefer to turn off.[e] This leaves the pixels sharp, but not quite uniform.
With the screen sizing option, it’s very difficult - perhaps impossible - to dial in
an integer scale for even pixel sizing and perfectly smooth scrolling.
And unfortunately there is no way to turn off the nasty pillar box border… unless
you switch to a 4:3 analog output, which hey, it’s not 240p but at least it fills the
screen correctly.
There is some input lag and you might notice the occasional visual quirk.
This version is in fact backwards compatible on Xbox One, although with no particular enhancements.
The Xbox 360 release is far from the best way to play Symphony of the Night, but for
many people it could be the most accessible version, and for them, it should serve as
a perfectly acceptable means of experiencing one of the PlayStation’s most legendary
titles.[f]
The PlayStation Store for PlayStation 3 offers a wealth of “PSone Classics” to download
for reasonable prices, and Symphony of the Night was released for sale on the service
in the summer of 2007.
This is the original release running with the PS3’s tried and true PS1 emulation.
While PSone Classic downloads present with a slightly soft appearance, the original aspect
ratio and artwork is represented respectfully, and some may even prefer the smoother look
compared to razor sharp pixels.[g] As with any emulated solution, you should expect some
input lag, but the degree to which this is noticeable depends on your television and
your own sensitivity to lag.
Even though Sony stopped including PS2 backwards compatibility on PS3 systems in 2008, don’t
forget that all PlayStation 3 consoles run PS1 discs through emulation - even the so-called
“super slim” models.
This is interesting because certain PS1 discs, for reasons unknown to us, run on PS3 with
ultra-sharp graphics in comparison to their downloaded counterparts.
Symphony of the Night is one such disc.
At a glance, this may seem really cool, but the tradeoff is that this results in uneven
pixel sizing,[h] which may cause shimmering issues as the screen scrolls.
The smoothing function in the system menu is your only option for fixing this, although
it’s rather blurry.
One last curiosity when playing Symphony of the Night on PS3 - notice that while running
the disc version, a dither pattern surrounds what is otherwise a very cool bloom effect
as the moon in this area passes behind objects in the foreground.
This glitch manifests with backwards compatibility on PS2 consoles as well, but the effect does
render correctly when playing the PSone Classic download, making it overall the more accurate
way to play on a PlayStation 3 console.[i]
Of course, many PSone Classic downloads can also be played on PlayStation Portable, PlayStation
Vita, and PlayStation TV when approved for compatibility.
Luckily, Symphony of the Night plays on all three.
When using the original PS1 vertical resolution on a PSP screen, the game window appears quite
small.
Luckily, the PSP offers surprisingly robust scaling capabilities, which can be accessed
by hitting the PlayStation button after launching a PS1 title.
In addition to a few presets, an impressive custom sizing tool allows you to adjust the
overscan area, centering, and fine-tune the aspect ratio to your liking.
The amazing part is that the scaling engine is such that the game maintains a crisp appearance
no matter how you scale it, with no obvious unevenness or scaling artifacts.
Symphony of the Night gets a top-notch showing on the PSP screen here.
Later PSP hardware revisions support video output, with a rather cool hidden trick for
PSone Classics.
If you set the system to interlaced output, then boot a PSone Classic, you’ll get an
authentic 240p resolution, just as if you were playing on a real PS1, and it won’t
be small in the screen like normal PSP gameplay output.
This is an ideal signal for upscalers or CRTs, and is not possible on PS3.
It’s not quite as sharp as PS1 hardware, and there’s a bit of added dither on the
PSP video output,[j] but when using a CRT, these issues aren’t very visible.
Playing in 240p with analog cables on a CRT via a PSP is one of the most authentic-feeling
methods for playing Symphony of the Night if you no longer have a PS1 or PS2.
PlayStation Vita offers nearly the same scaling options as PSP.
With bilinear filtering turned off, pixels do indeed look quite crisp on the Vita screen,
however this is not necessarily a great fit for Symphony due to its 256 wide horizontal
resolution not matching up with the horizontal sizing, resulting in… you guessed it, uneven
scaling.
Bilinear filtering solves this issue, though it feels blurrier to me than I’d prefer.
Custom sizing is available here as well, but the forced touchscreen controls for setting
it feel imprecise.
The Vita’s settings are more flattering to 320 pixel wide games - a majority of the
PS1 library - but the results for Symphony are acceptable enough.
The Vita’s microconsole counterpart, the PlayStation TV, is a bit limited when it comes
to PSone playback.
PSone games cannot run with the system set to 1080i, only 720p or 480p.
Unfortunately there are no video options to speak of here and and I find the softer image
to be less pleasing than PSone Classics on PS3.[k] The aspect ratio is also a touch skinnier
than it’s supposed to be.
We understand that Custom Firmware may offer additional options for PS1 games on PSTV,
but that’s a bit beyond our scope for this episode.
The final release of 2007 for Symphony of the Night hit in October in the form of The
Dracula X Chronicles for PSP.
The main draw here of course is a full 3D remake of Rondo of Blood - the game’s first
official release outside Japan.
By finding hidden items in this main mode, the original Rondo and Symphony can be unlocked.
Remember that PSP video output normally does not take up very much of the screen.
This can be circumvented with upscalers or some TV settings if available.
In this case, we’ve scaled the image in editing to simulate what it could look like
in an ideal scenario.
This version of Symphony is no simple rip of the PS1 disc and certainly offers some
items of interest for fans.
The text is re-translated and voice over is performed by new actors.
[Game Audio]
It’s a pretty hard sell given the beloved infamy of the original dialogue.
Maria Mode is back from the Saturn release, although she has to be unlocked after clearing
the game and plays more like in Rondo of Blood compared to her Saturn incarnation.
However, some things are just a bit off, such as the sound effects, and vertical scrolling
looks poor no matter which display mode is chosen - both sizes are pretty blurry.
It simply does not look as good as the PSone Classic version on the PSP screen, and the
240p video output trick is not possible in Dracula X Chronicles, which is too bad because
the new features are certainly intriguing.[l]
This would be the final release of Symphony of the Night for over a decade.
It was now time for Rondo of Blood to shine.
[Music]
Despite being completely remade with with polygonal graphics and redone music, the PSP
Dracula X Chronicles version of Rondo is very firmly based on the PC Engine original.
While I haven’t played each version of Rondo enough times to hone in on what specific alterations
may exist, level design, enemy behavior, and controls are accurate enough to serve as a
suitable replacement for the original experience.
The biggest difference of course, are the 3D visuals versus the sprite-based original.
One disappointment for me is that the atmospheric lead-ups to many boss fights have now been
replaced with generic cutscenes.
One of my favorite things about the original version of Rondo are the special flourishes
unique to various gameplay scenes, such as the beast crashing through the castle wall.
It’s not as speedy and doesn’t have the same impact when these moments are replaced
with a cutscene.
This version also runs at half the framerate - 30 frames per second as opposed to 60 - although
for a slow-scrolling game like Castlevania, it feels OK to me.[m] This remake is certainly
a bit divisive, but in spite of its drawbacks I actually kinda like it and I think it’s
fun having different visual takes on Richter and Maria’s adventure.
When it comes to playing this version as a download on PlayStation Vita, well, the Vita
does a pretty incredible job of rendering PSP graphics due to a simple 2x scale for
the PSP resolution to fill the Vita resolution.
It’s an excellent alternative to playing on a real PSP.
Unfortunately Dracula X Chronicles is not approved for compatibility with PlayStation
TV, and PSP games on PSTV tend to be overly blurry anyway, although both issues can be
circumvented with custom firmware.
The original version of Rondo contained in The Dracula X Chronicles suffers from the
same issues as its Symphony version - forced borders and imprecise scaling no matter which
screen size mode you use.
Interestingly, a title screen was created in the style of the old Castlevania logo...
English subtitles display for the German language opening…
[Game Audio]
And an English dub now plays over the original PC Engine cutscenes instead of Japanese.
[Game Audio]
This isn’t necessarily a terrible way to play Rondo, but it is probably the least desirable
version overall.[n]
Case in point: in 2010 Konami brought the PC Engine version of Rondo to the Wii Virtual
Console as an import title for North America and Europe.
Actually, it was the last PC Engine or TurboGrafx Wii release in those regions.
When the Wii system is set for 480i, most Wii Virtual Console titles will output in
their original 240p resolution, which is ideal for playing on a CRT or for the best image
when using an upscaling device.
Earlier PC Engine titles on the Virtual Console do not work this way, and as a result are
quite blurry, but luckily Rondo managed to avoid this fate.[o]
However, this overall improved presentation is not a straight upgrade.
Uneven horizontal sizing results in the dreaded scrolling shimmer, which is not an issue on
other Virtual Console platforms.
This scaling problem seems to also be shared by other later TurboGrafx and PC Engine releases
on the Wii.
The Wii release does have a few edits in common with the PSP release: the German intro is
re-voiced for some reason, but is still German.
[Game Audio]
There are also one or two small visual tweaks, but the Wii release is otherwise largely unaltered,
including the original Japanese cutscenes with no subtitles.
[Game Audio]
One area where emulation can improve upon the original hardware is of course load times
- my PC Engine CD unit and game disc seem to be in good shape, but there can still be
a bit of an extended wait before the battle against Shaft.
Thankfully, disruptive loads like this in the middle of a gameplay scene are generally
uncommon.[p]
Despite some lag caused by the emulation, if 240p output is a big deal to you, this
is one of the more authentic-feeling ways to play Rondo without access to a PC Engine
or TurboGrafx.
Although unfortunately, due to the closure of the Wii Shop Channel, legally obtaining
this release is no longer possible.
While the Super Nintendo Dracula X skipped the Wii, Konami did bring it to the Wii U.
We’re generally pretty happy with how SNES games are handled by the Wii U Virtual Console,
with decent scaling and a correct aspect ratio.
The color, brightness levels, and soft but sharp-enough image are somewhat similar to
the characteristics of a standard non-1CHIP SNES console.[q] I was disappointed to notice
a frame blending effect on the SNES Wii U Virtual Console while editing my recordings…
although this is probably an anti-epilepsy measure of sorts and to be fair I never noticed
while playing the game.
In addition, Dracula X was later released as a Virtual Console title for NEW 3DS systems,
as Super Nintendo emulation is only available on the NEW line of systems.
We consider 3DS Virtual Console to also be quite solid overall, with the system’s 240
pixel vertical resolution being a perfect fit for SNES games, and the screen even has
a sort of scanline appearance when 2D is off.
By default, a horizontal interpolation effect is used to stretch the game to a 4:3 aspect
ratio, and it’s a pretty good implementation considering the screen’s low resolution.
If you simply must have crisper pixels, Pixel Perfect mode removes the aspect ratio correction,
but it’s technically a bit too skinny.[r]
Dracula X from the Super Nintendo may have not been the game people really wanted, but
at least it’s there to try out.
But now after a long hiatus, Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night have a new release
- available for the first time in 4K.
Castlevania Requiem was released on October 26, 2018 for PlayStation 4, 8 years after
Rondo on the Wii Virtual Console and 11 years after Symphony of the Night’s most recent
appearance.
While we don’t want to make firm claims about the exact technology driving these versions,
the Requiem compilation is widely believed to be based on The Dracula X Chronicles, sadly
minus the 3D remake.
This is plausible, seeing as hackers have presented evidence that a handful of PS4 releases
that appear to be HD remasters are in fact PSP versions with extra features hooked in
over an emulation layer.
If Sony’s PSP emulator is at work here, that would also explain the strange decision
to not release Requiem on Xbox One, Switch, or PC.
A quick and dirty approach to running these games on PS4 could be the cause of various
rough edges such as sound issues and saving and loading stutters.
Although the lack of slowdown when the Life Up item appears after a boss in Symphony does
suggest extra performance headroom.[s] But performance is not necessarily improved across
the board - check out this persistent screen tear in the first area of the burning town
in Rondo.
This would totally ruin the game if it were visible on every screen.
Or how about how the laggy background rendering visible in this scene where the mast position
moves out of sync when scrolling vertically.
That’s not parallax..
This also occurs on the PSP release, but not on original hardware or the Wii Virtual Console
emulation, lending further credibility to the notion that Requiem is closely built around
Dracula X Chronicles.[t] In other respects, this is not necessarily a bad thing, if you
like the PSP’s English dubs, or are interested in some of the PSP additions to Symphony.
Some will surely call this the definitive edition.
Requiem does offer several additional graphical settings that Dracula X Chronicles does not…
yet essentially none of the new features are implemented correctly - not even close.
The optional scanline overlay is nothing more than a basic layer over the entire screen
- even over the borders - and unbelievably, it doesn’t even line up correctly with the
game’s pixel grid, regardless of which of the two screen size modes are chosen![u] There’s
also a simulated interlacing effect, which nevermind that that shouldn’t even exist
for 240p games, the way the flicker is implemented isn’t even like real interlacing.
And there’s the obligatory Smoothing feature which, well, that’s not to my taste anyway,
so I’ll let you judge the quality of it for yourself.[v] The good news is that you
can, at least, turn off the borders, unlike the PSP release.
Even with the overall sense that accuracy wasn’t a top priority here, we’ve nonetheless
found that these versions of Rondo and Symphony to play just fine, and they actually look
very very good as long as you don’t use the botched graphics settings.
Seeing as both games are designed at 256 pixels wide, they were intended to be stretched by
CRT televisions just a little bit to fill a 4:3 aspect - in other words, pixels should
be a bit wider than they are tall, and that’s exactly what we’ve got here.
Looking at a standard PS4 running in 1080p, Rondo looks just fantastic whether you use
“Normal” or “Full” sizing.
Interpolation is subtly engaged on both axes to soften pixel edges just enough to keep
the overall impression sharp, while maintaining the appearance of pixel uniformity and a correct
aspect.
Check out how it compares to our gold standard of the Open Source Scan Converter, performing
a comparable 4x scale on an RGB-modded PC Engine.
“Full” mode fills the screen’s vertical space and seems to have no trade-offs in terms
of sharpness or pixel integrity, leading us to believe there’s not much of any compelling
reason to ever use the smaller picture.
You’d think just doing it right like this would be standard, but this sort of ideal
scaling is not to be taken for granted with retro re-releases.
Both the “Normal” and “Full” sizing modes behave differently in Symphony than
they do in Rondo, which doesn’t make much sense.
Interpolation is engaged on both axes in both modes, but again, the impact on overall sharpness
is minimal.
The “Normal” sizing for Symphony is a bit odd… rendering square-shaped pixels,
which as you know, is not correct for a 256 pixel wide game.
“Full” gives us slightly rectangular pixels[w] and what we would consider to be a more proper
aspect ratio, so this is the setting to use.
Luckily, when played on a PS4 Pro, Castlevania Requiem does take advantage of 4K output,
and it is indeed very crisp.
In this configuration, all modes use some interpolation both horizontally and vertically,
so just use larger screen sizing.
While this shouldn’t be a noteworthy perk for this collection, retro compilations and
pixel-based games in general have not been particularly consistent in supporting 4K output
on PS4 Pro, so it’s nice to see it here and it does look good.[x]
Our input lag tests, while hardly scientific, lead us to believe that added latency over
original hardware is around 2 to 3 frames.
For Symphony, this just barely edges out the 360 release.
It’s important to acknowledge that all emulations will have some lag, but if you don’t notice,
don’t worry about it.
One last notable thing to mention is that 3D backgrounds, objects, and rotation effects
in Symphony of the Night render in high res… and it looks pretty neat.
The motion of polygonal objects may appear jerky because of the way points are plotted
in the original coding, so the ultra high resolution doesn’t mask this very well.
It’s hard to say whether it’s better this way, but it’s a pretty cool thing to see
all the same.[y]
Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night are among the most beloved games of the 16 and
32 bit generations, so naturally any new release will be scrutinized from top to bottom - and
we know full well there must be much more to examine here with every version than we’ve
got time to showcase here.
But even through all the slowdown on Saturn, smudgey scaling on PSP, and bargain bin emulation
on PS4, the soul of these games has continued to shine through.
The best re-release for Rondo - we’d say - is the Wii version, while Symphony plays
great and looks great as a PSone Classic on PS3, PSP, and Vita.
And you know, the PS4 Requiem is really sharp.
For us it’s pretty tough to beat the original versions on original hardware, but it’s
important to keep games like these accessible and available.
Each version has its pros and cons, but the for Castlevania fans, the only wrong way to
play Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night, is to not play them at all.
[a]Composite vs. RGB [b]✓ PCE RGB vs. SNES RGB
[c]PS1 RGB vs. PS2 Component [d]Two PS1 vs. Saturn comparisons
[e]360 "Enhanced" ON vs. "Enhanced" OFF [f]PS1 vs. 360
[g]PS1 vs. PS3 [h]PS1 vs. PS3 disc vs. PS3 download
[i]✓ PS1 vs. PS2 vs. PS3 disc vs. PS3 download [j]PS1 vs. PSP
[k]PS3 download vs. PSTV [l]PS1 vs. PSP download vs. PSP DCX
[m]PCE vs. PSP video
PCE dragon vs. PSP dragon
PCE behemoth vs. PSP behemoth
PCE long walk vs. PSP long walk [n]PCE vs. PSP Normal vs. PSP Full
[o]PCE vs. Wii
Dragon's Curse Wii vs. Rondo Wii [p]PCE Load vs. Wii Load
[q]✓ SNES vs. Wii U [r]SNES vs. Wii U vs. 3DS vs. 3DS PP
[s]PS1 vs. PS4 [t]PCE vs. PSP vs. Wii vs. PS4
[u]OSSC scanlines vs. PS4 Normal vs. PS4 Full [v]Smoothing off vs. Smoothing on
[w]SotN Normal vs. SotN Full [x]OSSC 5x vs. 1080p PS4 Rondo vs. 4K PS4
Rondo [y]PS1 vs. PS4 4K