Admit it, you'll likely buy this collection for Symphony of the Night.

And no one would probably blame you for it. While I'm not gonna dispute whether or not Symphony of the Night was one of the best Castlevania games (It is), I am going to say that the other games on this disk are worth playing as well.  Those games are the original and remake versions of Rondo of Blood, a game that until now, has never been released in the US.  Well, at least not complete, anyway...a bastardized version called Dracula X was released on Super Nintendo; it wasn't bad or anything, just not quite as good as Rondo of Blood.

I won't spend a lot of time talking about Symphony of the Night. Chances are you've played it, and know what to expect. It's nearly identical to the original Playstation version, with a few minor details. First, the dialogue has been re-written, and re-voiced. Some of you may not like that, and prefered the old dialogue in all of its cornyness. The option for the Japanese language track is included as well. Also, something that was excusive to the Sega Saturn version of the game has been put in. After you finish the game, you can play through as Maria, which is kind of cool. The only thing I would take off points for is that it does not display in full screen; there is a border around the screen. The original version of Rondo of Blood is like this as well.

Rondo of Blood was actually the selling point for me, as I'd never played it before and heard good things about the original, and now could play both a remake and the original side by side for comparision.  I'll talk about the original first. It was originally released in Japan on the Turbo CD.  It plays more like the older Castlevania games not like the newer “Metroidvania” games, such as Symphony of the Night or Dawn of Sorrow. If I had to compare it to one of the other games, I'd say it's most like Castlevania 3. There is more than one playable character, and there are different paths you can take to get to Dracula. You must first rescue the other character before you can play her, though.

The two characters are Richter Belmont and Maria Renard. The two play very differently from each other. Richter is pretty much your standard Belmont, armed with the vampire killer whip. Maria is pretty odd. She uses animals as weapons; her standard attack launches birds at your enemies. Richter is slower, does a bit more damage, and has decent defence. Maria is quick and can double jump (which is extremely handy) but can't take much abuse.

The only real difference that I could see between the original and the remake versions were obviously the visuals. The original was a 2D sprite based game. It still looked really good, and has aged fairly well. The remake got a really nice 3D makeover. Even with the change it still feels like the original game.  Also it goes without saying that all cutscenes are redone with CGI movies.

Both Rondo and Symphony have some really nice music. Then again, I could say that about pretty much every game in the series. Still, these two games have many memorable pieces, including a remix of my favorite, Bloody Tears, which was the daylight theme from Castlevania 2. Also, while there really isn't much voicework in either game, it is still well done in both English and Japanese. A definite step up from the old Symphony localization. Though, like I said, not everyone would agree with me on that.

These are two very good entries in the Castlevania series. There is no reason any fan of the series should not own this collection. It's a Greatest Hits title now as well, so it would only set you back $20. I paid full price for it and still think it was worth it. So definitely pick this game up.

	System:	Sony PSP
	Genre:	Action
	Experience:	Finished all three games

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