Big Game Matchup THREE

[runinruder]

Two famous games... that have pretty much nothing in common.

I choose Lords.  It has better graphics and cinemas, after all.  But more importantly, Rondo doesn't even stand up well against games in its own series (from its own era, no less), while Lords stands on its own and is distinctive enough to avoid such direct comparisons that might prove unflattering. 

[Necromancer]

I voted Lords of Thunder, but I disagree with everything you posted after the first two sentences.  Dracula X is considered one of the finest in the Castlevania series and easily holds its own against Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania: Bloodlines, or Dracula XX. 

It's a close call between these two gems.  They're both damn fine looking, though I slightly prefer the art style of LoT.  Rondo has more cinemas (even one in German, woo-hoo!), yet I like the rockish tunes of LoT more.  Neither game is terribly difficult, but Rondo has two playable characters and a little exploring to do.  The deciding factor for me: LoT is in English, Dracula X isn't.

[Turbo D]

I love them both, so it was a hard decision. But my love for the shooter and the masterpiece that is lords of thunder won my vote.

[SuperDeadite]

I will vote Dracula X, simply because it was the game that got me into PC-E gaming in the first place.  I had Lords on Sega CD as a kid...

[nat]

I went the Castlevania way here, and I actually have to disagree with runinruder also on his points regarding the game.

For me though really, it's too close a call. As has been indicated, the games have nothing in common. Well, they both come on a CD. Rondo of Blood has a certain 'epic' quality to it that is stronger than the 'epic' you feel with Lords of Thunder. I love both soundtracks to death, probably about equally. Rondo has more exploring to do, though, and lots of secrets and secondary objectives to accomplish. Lords of Thunder lacks this dynamic. About the only dynamic you get in Lords is what order to play the levels in. As for as the language thing, I don't feel this can be fairly used against Rondo. The cinemas are all great, and the opening cinema is one of my favorite video game cinemas of all time. More excellent cinemas = 

Beyond that, I don't feel the graphics in Lords are all that superior to Rondo. Both games have their moments, and I have to say some of the simply awesome-looking bosses in Rondo tip the scales even further in it's favor. The graphics in the second part of the first level, with the multiple layers of burning city are killer as are the huge stone golem-things that slow your roll.

Don't get me wrong, Lords of Thunder would definitely rank in my top 10 Turbo games. But the Castlevania title would rank higher, just a hair.

[awack]

Wow, for me the two best games on the duo but with out question it has to go to rondo, from an artistic stand point the graphics are better and more refined..not that the graphics in lords of thunder are bad infact i think there the best of any shooter that you will find on the duo, genesis or snes,

Special effects, no contest this goes to rondo...think about the Dracula fight in his second form, from the cool line scrolling on the top and bottom of the screen to lightning in the back ground to Dracula shooting his electrical  attack at you all the while giant crosses are flying across the screen from your item crash, theres a reason  konami did not attempt on the snes version, if they did the snes would have unplugged itself from the wall and said to hell with this.

Music, ummm, hmmm, lets see, i dont know this one is close.

Game play, i give it to rondo.

[esteban]

I love Lords, but Rondo gets the vote. As folks have mentioned, there's just more depth / enjoyment to derive from Rondo.

Lords is way too easy.

Take away the gorgeous visuals and you have a well-executed shoot-em-up, but its still a shoot-em-up. Over the years, Rondo has had far more replay value and the ability to be "endearing". Lords is great for a shooter, but it still feels distant (as most shooters do) compared to the connection you feel to the Rondo universe. This is not the fault of Lords, per se, but simply the result of the shoot-em-up genre (shooters tend to be rather impersonal) when compared to a well-done platformer (the fact that Rondo builds upon an existing Castlevania universe is an unfair advantage to Rondo, though).

[Black Tiger]

I'd have to pick Drac X because of the replayability and that as much as I love shooters, I prefer action platformers.

Lords has better quality touched up graphics overall, but as much as it pushes variety, Drac X goes even further and with tons of animation.

Drac X also has at least one unique sampled sound effect per enemy. Both soundtracks are harsh killer.

Both games pass the point of scoring for aesthetics overall. Its not even necessary to compare/contrast since they're both so good.


To me, Drac X is easily the best 'Castlevania' game. Mainly from a gameplay/design standpoint, but I also feel that the aesthetics are as good as anything in the series.

[Joe Redifer]

Lords of Thunder is good, but can be beaten the first time it is played by anyone over the age of 5 (Sega CD one is even easier).  Dracula X lasts quite a while if you want to get 100%.  Dracula X is better. 

[Keranu]

I voted Lords since I never heavily got into Dracula X like a lot of Turbo fans. Lords impressed the hell outta me the first time I played it and it's still a really fun experience to this day. Also I'm not really a Casltevania person.

[Joe Redifer]

How dare you.

[esteban]

How dare you.

Indeed.

Keranu, just think of Rondo as JJ & Jeff meet the Munsters (Kato & Ken Daimakaimura Chan). I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

[Turbo D]

I'm with kerano on this one, its all about LoT 

[Keranu]

Indeed.

Keranu, just think of Rondo as JJ & Jeff meet the Munsters (Kato & Ken Daimakaimura Chan). I guarantee you'll enjoy it.

That would be pretty rad, but I never said I didn't enjoy it. I just never put as much attention into it to love it as much as others do. It's one of those many games that I would play more if I actually owned it, but I haven't gotten around to buying it yet (came close numerous times!). Either way, I couldn't see myself enjoying it more than Lords .

[nat]

Either way, I couldn't see myself enjoying it more than Lords .

You'd be surprised. My favorite genre is the shooter genre, but Rondo of Blood is quite excellent.

As you can see, it's clearly mopping the floor with Lords in this here matchup.