CORBIE'S GAME BLOG

Not many games will put a dent in your wallet like Dracula X for the PC Engine will. I bought this game back when it was first released in Japan for my US Turbo Duo system and it set me back $70, which I thought at the time was a little expensive. Now all these years later, I'm glad I bit the bullet and bought the game as it now goes for anywhere between $150-$200 on ebay, not to mention what it might go for if someone actually still had a brand new shrinkwrapped copy of the game. Yikes! I remember at the time being worried if the game was going to actually play on my US Turbo Duo system since the game was from Japan, but the day it came in, I popped it in my Duo and I don't think I actually saw daylight again for another 3 days.

There is just so much to love about Dracula X on the PC Engine. From the orchestrated CD-quality soundtrack, to the many cut scenes the game features, it just takes everything great about the Castlevania games before it and upgrades it for the cd format. The Turbo Duo may not have gotten many of the popular third party games of the 16-bit era, but the ones it did get were pretty damn good. Dracula X is a little on the difficult side, but the game is just so good from start to finish that any Castlevania fan owes it to themselves to find a way to play through this game, at least once. And for those of us that were smart enough to grab this game back when it was still under $70, we already know what a terrific bargain we got. : )

Tomorrow: "My Agonizing Pursuit of Neo Geo"