Overall, a fantastic package, with one of the games being among my top 5 favourite of all time.

Symphony Of The Night is a great here as the PSX version, with some changes here and there, most notably different voice acting - which while technically better in terms of delivery, lacks the charm of the original, cheesy one.

A big addition is the option to play as Maria once you finish the game once.

The fantastic OST, expansive castle and fluid gameplay still shine.

Full disclosure: I couldn't get far in Rondo of Blood. An attempt was made, but the game was far too frustrating. I may try again one day, but no promises.

On the other hand, I had a blast scouring Symphony of the Night for all it offered. It had its trickier moments without being unfair, plenty of secrets and upgrades to find, and quite possibly the world's greatest JoJo reference (and I'm not talking about the Stone Mask). And of course I can't go without mentioning the absolute banger of a soundtrack - fitting for a game with Symphony in the title.

Castlevania is one of the most influential gaming series. Devil May Cry, Dark Souls, Rogue Legacy, and countless more all have high amounts of Dracula’s blood running in their veins. Although that well of blood has run a bit dry from Castlevania itself, failing to reveal its pale vampire skin since 2014’s critically panned Lords of Shadow 2. CASTLEVANIA: REQUIEM is not a new game but a remastered bundle of the rare Rondo of Blood and classic Symphony of the Night. While it serves as a good reminder of Castlevania’s legendary status, it’s also a bland, superfluous port of two old games that offers almost nothing new.

Read the full review here: https://www.gamerevolution.com/review/450499-castlevania-requiem-review-not-a-worthy-re-vamp

Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
A tough as nails old school Castlevania that is regarded as one of the best that also was my first time playing a game in the series. Holy hell was this hard, 8 levels only but it really pushed my skills to get better. It was certainly a change from the type of games I normally play and I'm glad for that; I felt a little like Goku in Dragonball training to get better and better against each stronger opponent and thrilling at the opportunity to be better (although I did get annoyed at some cheap moments). Special shout out to Maria Renard who is an alt playable character to the main Richter and saved me for level 7. I might have gone insane trying to beat that as Richter. Very keen to take on the acclaimed sequel, Symphony of the Night, but...maybe after a break or three. Special thanks to John for asking me to have a crack at the game and for cheerleading.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Symphony of the is a great game. It's just as good as Rondo of Blood but in different ways. Rondo is much harder and beating it felt like much more of an achievement, but SoTN also was a lot more FUN. SoTN is where the vania part of Medroidvania comes from and I really had a blast exploring Dracula's castle and unlocking all the new weapons and rooms. The game looks and sounds beautiful (in particular I was a huge fan of the after-image that follows Alucard around). Though it can be easily broken (even by a novice like me) it's still enormous fun to play and search every nook and cranny; the PS4 achievements really help this! The story is also a good one as far as these types of games go and having played its immediate predecessor gave this game a lot more weight and heft which I appreciated. I may not return to this series for quite some time but I'm very glad I got to experience Symphony of the Night, a rightful classic. Definitely a crucial piece of gaming history and I can see how it's influence looms large even to this day.

So this was a first playthrough for both games for me and boy were they both fantastic games but I will talk about both games very quickly.

SOTN - 9/10: So SOTN was honestly a long time in coming for me. I have started this game up COUNTLESS of times but each and every time I never finished it but I wanted to change that this time around. And boy am I glad because that was truly a masterfully crafted experience from start to end and it truly makes you understand WHY it is one of the greatest games created.

Rondo of blood - 8/10: This game was tough as hell but very fulfilling once you finish it. Don't have much to say on this game I just had a good time playing through it.

Overall a fantastic bundle of games.

These are the PSP ports of Rondo of Blood and Symphony of the Night that came bundled with Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles on the PSP. Supposedly, they run on the PS4's own PSP emulator, which is why this collection never got ported anywhere else: because it isn't actually a port.

It's also why it's pretty barebones, with no extras, save states, rewinds... It doesn't even include Dracula X Chronicles itself. It at least has trophy support, and the trophy list for SotN showcases a lot of nifty stuff about the game. It also, surprisingly, has no input lag that I could notice: everything runs pretty smoothly and responsively.

Well, there is one huge issue, which is that moves that rely on d-pad button sequences, such as Alucard's spells and most of the special moves for characters in both games are incredibly hard to pull off in this version, apparently due to a change on how inputs are handled that requires extreme precision and timing. This changes how the games are played: spells are now an unreliable mechanic, moving around with the bat is sluggish, and Richter mode in SoTN is infuriating.

I'd say if you get it on a sale, and you're aware of the aforementioned issue, it's worth it for SotN alone. But I do think the collection could have been done better.