Castlevania Chronicles

Castlevania Chronicles: the remake that arrived twenty years too late and with a lot of bad attitude.

Konami had a Japanese game sitting on the shelf for a console that no one outside Japan had ever heard of—the Sharp X68000—and in 2001, it decided the world was ready to discover it. And so Castlevania Chronicles was born: a remake of a remake of the original Castlevania, released just when the PlayStation 2 had already been on the market for a while and the rest of the world wanted something new—not a whip from ’86 with a fresh coat of paint.

You’re back as Simon Belmont, whipping monsters through Dracula’s castle for the umpteenth time in his career. It’s Simon’s fourth fight against the Count, and at this point you start to suspect the guy has a problem managing his free time.

The game offers Original Mode, almost an exact replica of the Japanese version, and Remastered Mode, with redesigned sprites, no classic knockback, and a remixed soundtrack. It’s the difference between ordering your coffee black or with a splash of milk: it’s still the same bitter coffee, but it’s a little less harsh.

The Difficulty of Castlevania Chronicles

This is where the game gets really serious. Several reviews from that era mention frustrating difficulty, especially in the later levels—the kind that makes you rethink your life choices every time a chandelier knocks you down without warning. One critic bluntly states that Chronicles isn’t a good game—neither as a Castlevania title nor as anything else—while others call it a criminally underrated entry in the series. The consensus, basically, is that no one can agree on this one, which says a lot about a game whose appeal lies in making you suffer.