Castlevania: Rondo of Blood

Lore & Background

Rondo of Blood is the seventh main installment of the Castlevania video game series. The story is set in 1792 and centers on Richter Belmont, a 19-year-old descendant of Simon Belmont, who wields the whip 'Vampire Killer'. After his beloved Annette is kidnapped by Dracula's servant Shaft, Richter enters Dracula's castle to rescue her and other captive women, including Maria Renard, the younger sister of Richter's fiancée Annette. The game features nine stages with four alternate routes, and Richter can use a whip as his main weapon along with six sub-weapons: axe, dagger, bible, pocket watch, cross, and holy water. Maria, once rescued, becomes a playable character who attacks with doves and sub-weapons based on Chinese mythology symbols, and she can perform a double jump and a special attack called 'Guardian Knuckle'.

Reader's Guide

Rondo of Blood is significant for bridging the linear gameplay of earlier Castlevania titles with the exploration-focused design of later entries. Its untimed stages with multiple endings influenced subsequent games, and the Item Crash ability was reused in later Castlevania titles. The game's direct sequel, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997), reused many of its monsters. Rondo of Blood was remade for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as Castlevania: Dracula X (1995) and for the PlayStation Portable as Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (2007). The original game was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Japan in 2008 and in North America and PAL regions in 2010. It was included in the Castlevania Requiem collection for PlayStation 4 in 2018, and is playable on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. In 2021, Limited Run Games announced an English release for the TurboDuo, though it has not yet been released. The game later served as the basis for the Netflix animated series Castlevania: Nocturne (2023–2025).

Did You Know?

• A secret minigame, Akumajyo Dracula Peke, appears as a hidden unlockable in all re-releases of the game.
• The soundtrack was composed by Keizo Nakamura, Akira Souji, Tomoko Sano, and Mikio Saito.
• Maria Renard, a playable character, attacks with doves and sub-weapons based on the four symbols of Chinese mythology.

A 1792 Tale of Love, Vengeance, and a Collapsing Castle

Set in the year 1792 within the fictional Castlevania universe, the story follows nineteen-year-old Richter Belmont, the direct descendant of Simon Belmont and heir to the legendary whip known as the Vampire Killer. His journey ignites when his beloved Annette is snatched by Dracula's servant Shaft, who uses her as bait to lure the young vampire hunter into a deadly trap. Richter presses through the immortal's castle, battling formidable foes including the spirit of Death, a headless knight, and a minotaur. Along the way he liberates several women held captive by Dracula's minions to serve as sustenance: his twelve-year-old orphaned distant relative Maria Renard, a nun named Terra who mistakes Richter for a divine manifestation, Iris the village doctor's daughter, and finally Annette herself. After overcoming Shaft, Richter faces Dracula directly, defeats him, and exposes the vampire to sunlight, causing him to dissolve. The castle then crumbles into the sea as Richter rides away on horseback. The Japanese cast features Jin Horikawa as both Richter and Shaft, while the English dub brings in David Vincent and Tony Oliver in those roles, with Patrick Seitz lending his voice to Dracula.

Untimed Exploration, Dual Protagonists, and the Item Crash

Richter navigates nine stages with four alternate routes, wielding his signature whip alongside one of six selectable sub-weapons: an axe, a dagger, a bible, a pocket watch, a cross, and holy water. The untimed stage design removes any pressure to rush, and certain levels offer more than one ending, which in turn alters the monsters, environment, and final boss encountered in subsequent areas. Pickups like money, hearts, and food are scattered throughout the castle. A standout mechanic is the Item Crash, where a sub-weapon is consumed to unleash a super attack—a system that would be reused in later Castlevania titles. The most memorable addition is Maria Renard, who becomes playable after her rescue. She fights with doves and a unique set of six sub-weapons: a white tiger kitten, dragon whelp, baby phoenix, turtle, egg, and musical notes, the first four drawn from Chinese mythological symbols. Maria is faster, can double-jump, and hits twice as hard as Richter, though she takes significantly more damage per hit. Her special attack, the Guardian Knuckle, summons a ghostly projection dealing heavy damage. A hidden minigame, Akumajyo Dracula Peke, unlocks if the system lacks the required Super System Card and appears as a secret in every re-release.

From a Japanese-Only CD to a Netflix Animated Universe

As the tenth entry in the Castlevania franchise, Rondo of Blood initially reached only Japanese players on the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² system on October 29, 1993, directed by Toru Hagihara. Its influence, however, radiated far beyond that narrow launch. A direct sequel, Symphony of the Night, arrived worldwide in 1997 and reused many of the original's monsters. In 1995, Konami produced a Super Nintendo port titled Dracula X, which—constrained by cartridge limitations—featured entirely new levels and altered gameplay rather than a straight transfer. The PlayStation Portable received Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles in 2007, followed by a Wii Virtual Console release in Japan in April 2008 and in North America and PAL regions in March 2010. The 2018 Castlevania Requiem collection brought both Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night together on PlayStation 4, and the title is also playable on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini. In 2021, Limited Run Games announced a physical English-language release for the TurboDuo, though it has not yet shipped. Perhaps most significantly, the game became the narrative foundation for the Netflix animated series Castlevania: Nocturne, running from 2023 to 2025 as a sequel to the earlier Castlevania series.

Red Book Audio and a Soundtrack That Outlived Its Console

Rondo of Blood leverages the PC Engine's Red Book Audio technology in combination with the system's onboard sound chip, producing a notably richer musical experience than typical console titles of the era. The soundtrack was composed by Keizo Nakamura, Akira Souji, Tomoko Sano, and Mikio Saito. Several tracks from the original—specifically "Overture," "Beginning," and "Opus 13"—found a second life as a pre-order bonus CD for the 2006 Nintendo DS game Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. When Konami Style released the two-disc soundtrack for the Dracula X Chronicles remake on November 8, 2007, it included rearranged versions of "Vampire Killer," "Beginning," "Cemetery," and "Divine Bloodlines," along with a bonus English-language rendition of "Nocturne" from Symphony of the Night. The Chronicles version also introduced an in-game option letting players select tracks from either Rondo of Blood or Symphony of the Night as background music, with the songs discoverable as hidden records within the game.

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