Castlevania Chronicles is a Great PS1 Game

Castlevania Chronicles was a late release on the PS1. Konami released the game in 2001, and it is a remake of the first game. It is fun that they did this, especially since the game is quite good.

This is not a game that I played as a kid. I might’ve seen it in stores back then, but I don’t really remember. There were so many games that seemed to appear on the shelves in every store I went into back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Even when I went to other parts of the country, I kept seeing the same games. That is a story for another time.

While the PS1 game was released in 2001, Castlevania Chronicles was originally released in 1993. It was made for another system, and then Konami released it on the PS1. There are quite a few differences between these two versions. The PS1 version is an update from the 1993 game, with the ability to revert back to how the game was.

I’m looking forward to this game because I missed it when it was released. That’s really the only reason I’m interested. I do think it is a little cheap that Konami didn’t add the three NES games or do remakes of those games. Anyway, let’s see what Castlevania Chronicles has to offer.

TLDR: Good graphics, fun gameplay, and a nice update to the NES game.

Narrative

I don’t think the story is all that different from the first game. Konami added in some more visual storytelling in this game, but at its core this is the same story. This isn’t a big deal since it is a remake of the first game.

The manual tells the story of Christopher Belmont stopping Dracula before the events of this game. It brings up how Dracula gains new powers each time he is resurrected, which is interesting and explains why things are a little weird in the latter games. This took place 100 years prior to this game.

In Castlevania Chronicles, you play as Simon Belmont. You have to defeat Dracula, who was resurrected after a black mass and human sacrifice. I don’t remember if the first game went into this much detail about what happened. The whole game takes place in Dracula’s castle, just like the first NES game.

Overall, the story isn’t too different from the NES game. I don’t really mind this because it is a good story. You get the impression that this cycle has been going on for a while, and as we know, it would continue for several more games. It isn’t amazing, but it gets the job done.

Gameplay

The gameplay is pretty solid. It does feel like I’m playing the first game, for better or worse. There are two game modes, so you have some options on how you want to play the game. Castlevania Chronicles is a nice update to the first game in the series.

You can play the original game with updated graphics, or you can play the Arranged Mode. The second mode has some additional features, which make the game play differently from the first version. It isn’t drastically different from the NES game, but it is different enough.

It does have the usual stiffness that you’ll find in the early Castlevania games. This is a holdover from the NES game, which was probably carried over to the 1993 release and then to the PS1. It makes the game a little frustrating at times, but not overly so. I didn’t have any issues jumping, attacking, or using the secondary items.

There are some improvements to this game. You can whip in more directions, which is a huge step up from the previous game. Not everything is exactly like the NES game, as some of the levels are a little different. It still gives you the familiarity of the first game without being a carbon copy.

You can save your progress instead of using a password system. All the items from the first game are here, which is nice to see. I didn’t notice anything new, but it has been a while since I’ve played the first game.

Overall, the gameplay is very good. If you like the NES games, then you’ll probably like this one. If you’re a fan of the SNES, Genesis, or Symphony of the Night, then you might be a little disappointed. It would’ve been nice if Konami had updated the controls a little.

Visuals

Castlevania Chronicles has very good graphics. There are some things that I think could’ve been better, but those are fairly minor. Character sprites are big and well detailed, the stages look good, and the game has great animations.

There is an opening cutscene, which looks very good for the time. A lot of the PS1 remakes and remasters added stuff like this. It adds something more to the game and looks much better than having text. Even though the graphics are dated, I still enjoy looking at them when they pop up, especially here because they look like an older movie.

I don’t think the graphics are as good as they could be. Simon doesn’t look all that great because he is nearly one shade of brown. His clothes, skin, and hair are all brown. Something like this was fine on the NES, but I’d expect to see more on the PS1.

The animations are really good, and the sprites are larger and more detailed than the NES games. There are also more colors in this game, depending on which mode you choose. You can tell that this is a port of a PC game from 1993.

I don’t have anything bad to say about the graphics. Overall, they’re quite good! It looks to be on par with the SNES and Genesis games, but not as good as Symphony of the Night. For a remake of the first game, it looks better than that game by enhancing the creepy atmosphere.

Reviews for Castlevania Chronicles at the Time

Castlevania Chronicles received good reviews at the time of its release. I didn’t see a negative review of the game from 2001, which doesn’t mean they aren’t out there; it just means I didn’t see them. Many of the reviews weren’t archived very well, so I had to turn to MobyGames for some of these.

IGN gave the game a 7.8/10. This is kind of a weird review. Not because it is bad or anything. It just comes across like a Castlevania fan reviewing the game. Nothing wrong with that at all, and he does point out some of the faults in the game, but is overall positive about what is here.

PSX Nation gave the game an 80/100. This is a rambling review that makes mine look brief. The biggest point of contention was the graphics. The reviewer called them “disappointing.” The reviewer goes to great lengths to explain their score, and it sounds like they were struggling to review a game that was basically 8 years old at the time.

GameSpot gave the game a 6.1/10. The reviewer compared this game to the Castlevania games on the SNES and PS1. They said that “you’ll be disappointed by the dated graphics, static gameplay, and lack of replay value.”

I didn’t see anything in these reviews that I didn’t expect to see. They like the gameplay and thought the graphics were dated. It is always interesting to see the different responses to the graphics in these games. None of these reviews trashed the game, which is always nice to see.

8.5/10. I like this version more than the NES game. Castlevania Chronicles is a fun game, and it has an extra game mode for people who want something new. The graphics are good, gameplay is frustrating at times, and it has enough to make it stand out in a good way from the NES game.

Pros

• Good graphics
• I really like the cutscenes
• The controls are okay
• I like having two options to play

Cons

• It has the same issues as the first game
• Can be frustrating

Conclusion

If you picked up this game expecting something like Symphony of the Night, then I can see how you might be disappointed. While there were a bunch of collections and remakes of NES, SNES, and Genesis games being released around this time, that wasn’t what people were expecting. Not everyone was following video game news around this time.

I can only assume that Konami believed that everyone had moved on from the previous consoles and wanted to introduce this game to a wider audience. It isn’t a bad idea. I can only speak for myself, but I was getting into retro game collecting around this time, so I didn’t really pay attention to this. I had the NES game, so I probably didn’t see a reason to upgrade.

As I played this, it made me wish that Konami had done a collection of the NES trilogy of games. Other companies, like SquareSoft, had done things like this on the PS1. This is me speaking in retrospect, and I’m not sure if I would’ve cared about a collection back in the early 2000s.

It does make me wish there was an official remaster of Simon’s Quest. That game is a lot of fun, even if it is a bit of a mess. Having a cleaned-up version of the game would be nice.

The Castlevania games have always been fun for me. I tend to gravitate to the 2D games in the series, which might play a part in why I like this game. Castlevania Chronicles is just a fun game, and I’m glad I got the chance to play it.

If you liked this post, check out some of my other Castlevania posts. Such as Simon’s Quest or the First NES Game.