Castlevania Chronicles

Before I started my Review Series on the Castlevania Franchise I didn't even knew this game existed. Chronicles is a port of an obscure Castlevania game for the Sharp X68000 home computer. It came out 2 years after IV and was only released in Japan. This Playstation Port/Remake of the original was the first time we got to play this entry overseas. And honestly they could've just kept in Japan without us missing out.

Chronicles is a weird remake/homage to the first game while also incorporating aspects of all the other titles. The idea of a Castlevania All-Stars esque game sounds really neat on paper but Chronicles doesn't really nail this premise. And to be honest, I'm not even sure if this was the original Idea. I think this is one of the main problems I have with it. There's no unique identity making this a substantial sequel. I'd describe it as a Castlevania fever dream in which random ideas invade the original title.

Another thing is that I'm not sure who are we paying? Simon, Trevor? No explanation is found in game, it starts of with a corny pre-rendered PS1 cutscene that just sets the tone but doesn't really explain any of the story. It's obvious we gotta kill Dracula but I'm used to at least read a 3 line flavour text. I mean I don't care about story in videogames anyways if the gameplay checks out.

Our hero handles pretty much like Simon in the first game with a few additions: We can whip down und diagonally down but oddly enough we can't whip upwards. So we have half of the handling of IV and I kinda dig it. It makes combat a bit more flexible but not too trivial. Mid air control of jumps is back as well which is not that big of a deal as there's not that much jumping going on anyways. 2 more things that completely fucked me up: Remember how in the first game everything pushed you half a screen back when you got hit? Well now it just stops your momentum entirely mid air which kills you waaay more often as there is no possibility to be pushed back onto the platform of origin. 2nd Thing: You are soooooo slow on stairs now it's unbearable. It honestly feels like the devs forgot to speed it up.

Gameplay is solid but where Chronicles fucks up is in the leveldesign. I can't really put it to words but all levels feel kinda empty and off. First off all: this game looks way worse than IV. Everything feels lifeless and just put together in a level editor. It doesn't have this handcrafted feel of IV. Most of the time they introduce a new enemy and plop it down everywhere. It really seems like the levels I designed as a kid. They have a few screens that are very detailed and seem well crafted but in between you'll see dull backgrounds and uninspired sprite work.

Some levels are literal copies of stages from earlier titles but they seem so lifeless. I don't know how they manged to butcher these classics. Talking about butcher: Sometimes this game is tone deaf to the themes of Castlevania. The death stage remake was turned into this gruesome butcher hall with dead bloody bodies. I don't mind gore but this obvious nod human focused violence doesn't really fit to the series in my opinion. Also the fact that there are sprites of living people locked up in cages and cells kinda defeats the point of the foreign ancient abandoned castle that Castlevania is supposed to be. Small anime dolls that fly at you and ninja maids as enemies also seem wildly out of place. The part where you encounter the dolls is strange in general as it is a super colourful childish aesthetic all of the sudden and you're not sure how you ended up here. Some might argue that's what makes it scary but I'd say it's a bit silly.

Overall all the other stages recycled ideas and themes we've already seen, in a less interesting way. You'd run through the levels in a few tries as nothing here is really challenging or demanding. The bosses are laughably easy too. Spam sub weapons and your whip and you're done in less than a minute. BTW there's a new sub "weapon": The herb. It's actually great and probably the best addition to the series this game made. It uses hearts to heal you and I wish the series would explore more utilitarian subs like this in the future as well. This healing sub is another reason why this game is rather easy. The only thing that will cause some trouble are a few undodgeable stage hazards and some way too precise jumps. Also these cogs that just lay around in that one stage and cause damage for no reason can straight up fuck off. Like who thought this was a good Idea?

I beat Dracula on my 4th try as he is exactly the same boss as in the original and I was rewarded with another crappy rendered cutscene showing the crumbling castle. Beautiful. So summing up. This game is really average but not offensively bad. It feels like a cheap arcade game or like a modern Castlevania for the Iphone. The soundtrack is ok as well but doesn't really fit too the game at all and the whole package seems like a rushed after thought. It's nice that we got this game in the west through this I guess but I'd rather have them make a proper Castlevania. 2 years after IV seems like a great premise but it ends up falling flat. Even back then this must've felt a bit wonky compared to IV. Bloodlines came out the same year and now I'm rather excited to see what Konami had in store for us on the MegaDrive!