Castlevania Rondo of Blood/YMMV


 * Anticlimax Boss: Some consider Dracula's One-Winged Angel from the first game to be this, since all it does is jump around and breathe fire at you (in other Castlevania games, it would at least fire projectiles while jumping!) . The Vampire's Kiss version is completely averted, as he fights you over several Bottomless Pits that he tries to knock you into.
 * Awesome Music: Many, and many that are also remixes of other Castlevania themes, but a note should go to Illusionary Dance/Dance of Illusions, which was first used here and has becomes Dracula's Leitmotif ever since.
 * The best part of Dracula X Chronicles is that you can set any song in the game, either original or unlockable, to play in any stage or fight you want, with the exception of the fight with Dracula. Who doesn't like the idea of using "Bloody Tears" as the boss theme, or using the previously unused remix of "Cross Your Heart" as a stage-theme?
 * Complete Monster: Shaft, an evil priest who is responsible for the bloody resurrection of Dracula and the kidnapping of the Distressed Damsel below to sacrifice for the vampire lord.
 * Funny Moments: The use of keys as weapons / Item Crashes, followed by a question mark from your character. Doubles as a Moment of Awesome if you manage to defeat Dracula ONLY using it as described above.
 * "Die, Monster! You don't belong to this world!" This quote has been repeatedly used for jokes.
 * Magnum Opus: This is often a candidate for defining game of the series, and Toru Hagihara as well.
 * Nightmare Fuel: Maria's death animation where she falls to the ground, turns gray, and rots away counts.
 * Then her game over screen is followed by game over being spelled in text similar to those on alphabet refrigerator magnets and bordered by flowers.
 * Older Than They Think: Despite most claims that Dawn of Sorrow was the first to use anime style drawings, it was in fact Rondo that used them first, if only for the cutscenes
 * The Bible subweapon is usable for the first time in this game. However some hackers found a sprite for it in the original NES game.
 * Porting Disaster: Dracula X Chronicles had the original PC Engine game hidden, but there were issues with the looping and synchronization of the music and voice acting. Averted in the Virtual Console version (which is a straight emulation of the original), although someone's probably complaining about changing the German narrator in the prologue.
 * Tear Jerker: If you fail to save Annette, she will turn into a vampire and will not think twice about killing you.
 * It's kind of undermined by how apathetic Richter's voice actor sounds in Chronicles.
 * The PC Engine version of Divine Bloodlines implies this to the background of the first Stage, along with the titles "Dinner of Flames" and "Birthplace of Tragedy".