Difference between revisions of "Castlevania: Bloodlines"

From Sega Retro

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==Promotional material==
 
==Promotional material==
 
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File:CastlevaniaBloodlines MD US PrintAdvert.jpg|US print advert
 
 
File:CastlevaniaTNG MD FR PrintAdvert.jpg|FR print advert
 
File:CastlevaniaTNG MD FR PrintAdvert.jpg|FR print advert
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
 
{{gallery
 
{{gallery
{{gallery
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|{{galleryPrintAd
 +
|GamePro US 057.pdf|gamepro|57|89
 +
}}
 
|{{GalleryPrintAd
 
|{{GalleryPrintAd
 
|SegaMagazine UK 02.pdf|segamaguk|2|15
 
|SegaMagazine UK 02.pdf|segamaguk|2|15

Revision as of 06:28, 30 July 2016

n/a

CastlevaniaBloodlines title.png

Castlevania: Bloodlines
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Konami
Developer:
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥7,8007,800 T-95043
Sega Mega Drive
US
T-95076
Sega Mega Drive
EU
T-95076-50
Sega Mega Drive
AU

Castlevania: Bloodlines, known as Vampire Killer (バンパイアキラー) in Japan, is an entry in the Castlevania series, and the first of two games to reach Sega systems. Bloodlines was the subject of much debate at the time, as even though it has a considerable amount of violence and many depictions of blood, Sega's Videogame Rating Council only gave the game a "GA", the lowest rating possible. This affected the European release, which was heavily censored and renamed Castlevania: The New Generation, and the Australian release kept the name while remaining identical to the American release in content. The game was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive.

Bloodlines takes place in 1917 and does not feature the Belmont clan featured in previous games. It is also the first game not to take place exclusively within in Romania.

Compared to other Castlevania games, Bloodlines was faster and more dynamic, e.g. it's possible to jump onto stairs. Weapons can be powered up, which also exchanges the equipped subweapon (axe, boomerang,...) into a smartbomb.

Like most Konami games on the Sega Mega Drive, Bloodlines has become rather expensive.

Gameplay

Playable Characters

{{{imagewidths}}} John Morris (Johnny Morris in the Japanese version)
Whip user
{{{imagewidths}}} Eric Lecarde
Spear user

Stages

Castlevania MD Stage1.png Stage 1 - Ruins of the Castle Dracula, Romania
Castlevania MD Stage2.png Stage 2 - Atlantis Shrine, Greece
Castlevania MD Stage3.png Stage 3 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
Castlevania MD Stage4.png Stage 4 - The Munitions Factory, Germany
Castlevania MD Stage5.png Stage 5 - Versailles Palace, France
Castlevania MD Stage6.png Stage 6 - The Castle Proserpina, England

Trivia

  • The game utilizes a region lockout mechanism, but it can be disabled by holding down the A button during startup. Note that this doesn't affect the title screen and graphics modifications (so it's not possible to turn a censored PAL version into an uncensored NTSC-J or NTSC-U version)

Gallery

Magazine articles

Main article: Castlevania: Bloodlines/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in GamePro (US) #57: "April 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Magazine (UK) #2: "February 1994" (1994-01-10)
also published in:
  • Mega (UK) #19: "April 1994" (1994-03-17)[2]
  • Mega (UK) #20: "May 1994" (1994-04-21)[3]
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Video Games (DE) #1994-06: "6/94" (1994-05-25)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Mega Sega (ES) #11: "xxxx 1994" (1994-xx-xx)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
82 №30, p92/93
80 №56, p46/47[4]
70 №15, p48/49
86 №29, p112/113/114
91 №20, p22-25
82 №18, p43
83 №26
90 №16, pX2-X7[5]
92 №40, p68/69/70/71
86 №2, p91/92[6]
70 №52, p38/39
84 №30, p60/61
87 №25, p11
Sega Mega Drive
83
Based on
13 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) NTSC-U
70
[7]
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) PAL
60
[8]
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) NTSC-J
40
[9]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
63
[10]
Console Mania (IT) PAL
91
[11]
Consoles + (FR)
82
[12]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
83
[13]
Digitiser (UK)
83
[14]
Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U
91
[15]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
83
[16]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
70
[17]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 7 (RU)
70
[18]
Game Players (US) NTSC-U
88
[19]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
80
[4]
Gamers (DE)
73
[20]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
70
[21]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
78
[22]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
72
[23]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
70
[24]
Hyper (AU) PAL
79
[25]
Joypad (FR) PAL
86
[26]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
78
[27]
Max Overload! (UK) PAL
72
[28]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)
91
[29]
Mega (UK) PAL
82
[30]
Megablast (DE) PAL
80
[31]
MegaTech (UK) PAL
83
[32]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
90
[5]
Player One (FR)
92
[33]
Power Up! (UK)
78
[34]
Power Unlimited (NL)
74
[35]
Score (CZ)
75
[36]
Secret Service (PL)
70
[37]
Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
86
[38]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
70
[39]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
84
[40]
Sega Zone (UK) PAL
85
[41]
Sega Force (SE)
88
[42]
Sega Mega Drive Review (RU)
84
[43]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
74
[44]
Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL
87
[45]
The Zone (AU)The Zone (AU)
82
[46]
Todo Sega (ES)
85
[47]
Tricks (RU)
74
[48]
Tricks 16 bit (RU) NTSC-U
84
[49]
Tricks 16 bit (RU) PAL
80
[50]
Video Games (DE) PAL
85
[51]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
80
[52]
Sega Mega Drive
79
Based on
48 reviews

Castlevania: Bloodlines

Mega Drive, US
CastleVaniaBloodlines MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Castlevania md us cart.jpg
Cart
Castlevania Bloodlines MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US (cardboard)

Castlevania md us cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
CastleVaniaBloodlines MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
CastlevaniaTNG MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Castlevania Bloodlines MD EU Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, JP
CastlevaniaBloodlines MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
VampireKiller MD JP CartTop.jpg
VampireKiller MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Vampirekiller md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, SE (Rental)

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 fb1ea6df
MD5 0f04fc1b5bf8c9a887abcf14ce96b0cd
SHA-1 4809cf80ced70e77bc7479bb652a9d9fe22ce7e6
1MB 1994-03 Cartridge (US)
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 4dd4e4a5
MD5 10d2e8576380e5c22d8771f470747c98
SHA-1 61aabb1053f090fb6c13968c86170357c5df4eba
1MB 1994-03 Cartridge (EU)
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 91b57d2b
MD5 3453bcc79345872034845cc5a7a1b15f
SHA-1 3e709bd27577056abbbd6735021eaffd90caa140
1MB 1994-03 Cartridge (JP)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 84cd103a
MD5 b7ab3ef9d51d2ed9228deaad0203adce
SHA-1 8c4004c0d8cbe211ffa3919fd609653221a0078b
1MB 1993-12 Page

References

  1. File:GamePro US 053.pdf, page 253
  2. Mega, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-17), page 92
  3. Mega, "May 1994" (UK; 1994-04-21), page 92
  4. 4.0 4.1 File:GamePro US 056.pdf, page 48 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:GamePro US 056.pdf_p48" defined multiple times with different content
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:MMS16 CastlevaniaReview.pdf, page 2 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MMS16 CastlevaniaReview.pdf_p2" defined multiple times with different content
  6. File:SegaMagazine UK 02.pdf, page 91
  7. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 43
  8. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 44
  9. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 326
  10. Beep! MegaDrive, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-08), page 19
  11. Console Mania, "Marzo 1994" (IT; 1994-0x-xx), page 54
  12. Consoles +, "Mars 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 92
  13. Computer & Video Games, "February 1994" (UK; 1994-01-15), page 62
  14. Digitiser (UK) (1994-03-21)
  15. Electronic Games (1992-1995), "May 1994" (US; 1994-04-21), page 79
  16. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "February 1994" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 38
  17. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 300
  18. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 7, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 64
  19. Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 2 February 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 60
  20. Gamers, "März/April 1994" (DE; 1994-03-04), page 18
  21. GamesMaster, "March 1994" (UK; 1994-02-17), page 48
  22. Game Informer, "March/April 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 10
  23. Game Informer, "August 1998" (US; 1998-0x-xx), page 66
  24. Hippon Super, "April 1994" (JP; 1994-03-03), page 61
  25. Hyper, "February 1994" (AU; 199x-xx-xx), page 46
  26. Joypad, "Mars 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 112
  27. MAN!AC, "04/94" (DE; 1994-03-09), page 50
  28. Max Overload!, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-22), page 34
  29. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-xx-xx), page 22
  30. Mega, "March 1994" (UK; 1994-02-17), page 43
  31. Megablast, "2/94" (DE; 1994-03-30), page 32
  32. MegaTech, "February 1994" (UK; 1994-01-20), page 18
  33. Player One, "Mars 1994" (FR; 1994-0x-xx), page 68
  34. Power Up!, "Saturday, April 02, 1994" (UK; 1994-04-02), page 1
  35. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 2, Nummer 4, April 1994" (NL; 1994-03-23), page 36
  36. Score, "Červen 1994" (CZ; 1994-06-01), page 60
  37. Secret Service, "Październik 1996" (PL; 1996-10-01), page 72
  38. Sega Magazine, "February 1994" (UK; 1994-01-10), page 92
  39. Sega Power, "March 1994" (UK; 1994-02-03), page 38
  40. Sega Pro, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-02-24), page 60
  41. Sega Zone, "March 1994" (UK; 1994-02-24), page 46
  42. Sega Force, "3/94" (SE; 1994-03-29), page 8
  43. Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 31
  44. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  45. Sonic the Comic, "May 13th 1994" (UK; 1994-04-30), page 11
  46. The Zone (AU)The Zone (AU) "Season 1, episode 3" (1994-05-14, ) (+17:44)
  47. Todo Sega, "Marzo 1994" (ES; 1994-0x-xx), page 54
  48. Tricks, "2/95" (RU; 1995-xx-xx), page 18
  49. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 9
  50. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 51
  51. Video Games, "5/94" (DE; 1994-04-27), page 99
  52. VideoGames, "March 1994" (US; 1994-0x-xx), page 67



John Morris sprite Castlevania games for Sega systems
Sega Mega Drive
Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994) | Super Castlevania IV‎ (unreleased)
Sega 32X
Castlevania: The Bloodletting (unreleased)
Sega Saturn
Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku (1998) | Castlevania: The Bloodletting (unreleased)
Sega Dreamcast
Castlevania Resurrection (unreleased)