 Stash Rock! Castlevania Dracula X, also known as Castlevania Vampire's Kiss in Europe, is kind of an oddity in the Super Nintendo library. It went from being very underappreciated in its initial run, to being very overappreciated as its value skyrocketed on eBay, but I think it's back to being a bit underappreciated again. Some people hate on this game because it's not a sequel to Super Castlevania 4. The graphics and artistic style are very impressive, but it kind of gives off a cartoony sort of vibe, and the game is strangely bright and colorful for a Castlevania game. The music, while again very impressive and well done, has kind of an upbeat arcade style to it. Some tracks sound like they belong in Street Fighter 2 or King of Fighters or something, but Dracula X was never intended to be a follow-up to Super Castlevania 4. That's not its purpose. It's more of a true sequel to Castlevania 3 for the NES, whereas Super Castlevania 4 was more like putting the series on steroids. To take it a bit further, I think the developers saw Super Castlevania 4 as more of an opportunity because it's not really a direct sequel to Castlevania 3 in terms of gameplay because they had the chance to do something more and they did. The gameplay of Dracula X falls much more in line with the NES titles, so if you really like those games, then you gotta play Dracula X. Richter isn't nearly as powerful as Simon was in Super Castlevania 4. We're back to whipping in just two directions. Some people saw this as a step backward, but it's not necessarily, it's just representing a different experience and a different challenge. Speaking of challenge, Dracula X falls in line with traditional NES values, which means it's way more challenging, way more. This game is hard as hell, with maybe the most comical final boss battle ever. I mean, I have no chance in hell here, this is absurd. But you know what? I remember saying those exact words when playing the NES titles, so I gotta give credit where credit is due on that point. It does represent a different experience apart from the comparatively easier Super Castlevania 4 while staying true to the Castlevania universe. It reminds me of the differences between the Mega Man X series and Mega Man 7. I have to be careful though because I don't want to oversell Dracula X, it's pretty good. The level design is okay, again the visuals and sound are really cool, but personally I'd still rather play Super Castlevania 4. But I'm just saying the greatness of that game has led some people to dismiss Dracula X entirely, and that's not right. It's not a classic, but it's perfectly fine. While Dracula X inherits the NES titles difficulty, it also has another NES trope, which is that this game is really short. Back in the day, Nintendo games were usually pretty short, because, well they had to be, thanks to technological limits at the time, so they made up for a lack of length by making games really freaking hard. Dracula X is what I'd call NES hard, but it only has 7 levels, that's a major bummer. If you're paying an arm and a leg for this game on eBay, I hope you realize you're only paying for 7 levels. Speaking of which, I also have to point out that Dracula X is an excellent example of a game that's North American release is wildly overpriced. But the Super Famicom version, Akuma Joe Dracula XX, is pretty much the same game but like $100 cheaper. So if you really need a copy of this game, that's the route to go. It should be noted for clarity's sake that Castlevania Dracula X is not to be confused with Castlevania Rondo of Blood, which came out for the PC Engine nearly two years previous. Dracula X has a totally different level design and art style, and they're not the same game. But anyway, does Dracula X live up to the Castlevania lineage? Sort of, yeah, it's decent enough. Like I said, it brings back NES levels of difficulty and stays true to the original Castlevania gameplay. Just don't expect this to be a follow-up to Super Castlevania IV.