History YMMV / CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood

** The Dracula fight here is generally considered one of the easiest in the series, his attacks being slow and easy to dodge, and his second form being one giant hitbox that can easily be obliterated with a few crosses.

* AntiClimaxBoss: While playing as Maria makes the game a bit easier in general, ''both'' of Dracula's forms are rendered a complete joke with her; she can simply duck under the fireballs in the first form and slide under the jumps of the second, making it trivial to avoid all damage.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: At the same time, however, ''Rondo of Blood'' also gets caught in a rough spot with some fans. Its NoExportForYou status until later re-releases meant it didn't quite create the nostalgic zeal in the West that the 8-bit entries or the Igavania titles had, and for those entering the franchise fresh, it got a HypeBacklash from certain audiences. Some contest that it wasn't as innovative as past entries like ''III'' and relied heavily on reusing elements of the first game, especially once you hit Dracula's castle which goes full on LegacyBossBattle as a BossBonanza at one point. Others will argue that the presentation upgrade and polished level design are the two things that make the game stand out, which keeps it from being all that interesting on its own; with every 2D game reusing a ''lot'' of the same assets established here, it made ''Rondo'' less inherently amazing as a result.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/{{Castlevania}} Many]], and many that are also remixes of other ''Castlevania'' themes, but a note should go to "[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Illusionary Dance/Dance of Illusions]]", which was first used here and has becomes Dracula's {{Leitmotif}} ever since.

* AntiClimaxBoss:
** Some consider Dracula's OneWingedAngel 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 ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX Dracula X / Vampire's Kiss]]'' version averts this, as he fights you over several BottomlessPits that he tries to knock you into.
** [[spoiler:Averted in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The Dracula X Chronicles]]'' VideoGameRemake, where Dracula then goes into a [[BishonenLine third form]] [[TrueFinalBoss if you rescued Annette]]]].
** Also, while playing as Maria makes the game a bit easier in general, ''both'' of Dracula's forms are rendered a complete joke with her; she can simply duck under the fireballs in the first form and slide under the jumps of the second, making it trivial to avoid all damage.

* PortingDisaster: A mild example: ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles The 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 [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks someone's probably complaining about changing the German narrator in the prologue]].

** Believe it or not, the audio for the cutscenes sound different between the PSP release and the original PC Engine version. This is most notable during the Annette's Fate cutscene where Shaft in the PC Engine version teleports into the chamber, while in the PSP release he walks in unnoticed. The music in each of rescue cutscenes are also different depending on the platform; the PC Engine music uses a clavicord for the scenes where Tera and Iris are rescued, carried over into Maria rescuing Annette, while the PSP music offers a mix of both flute and piano.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: At the same time, however, ''Rondo of Blood'' also gets caught in a rough spot with some fans. Its NoExportForYou status until later re-releases meant it didn't quite create the nostalgic zeal in the West that the 8-bit entries or the Igavania titles had, and for those entering the franchise fresh, it got a HypeBacklash from certain audiences. It created a lot of enemy and graphical assets that would be reused for every 2D game afterwards, jumpstarted a real narrative in the series and set the grounds for ''Symphony'', but some contest that it wasn't as innovative as past entries like ''III'' and relied heavily on reusing elements of the first game, especially once you hit Dracula's castle which goes full on LegacyBossBattle as a BossBonanza at one point.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: At the same time, however, ''Rondo of Blood'' also gets caught in a rough spot with some fans. Its NoExportForYou status until later re-releases meant it didn't quite create the nostalgic zeal in the West that the 8-bit entries or the Igavania titles had, and for those entering the franchise fresh, it got a HypeBacklash from certain audiences. It created a lot of enemy and graphical assets that would be reused for every 2D game afterwards, jumpstarted a real narrative in the series and set the grounds for ''Symphony'', but some contest that it wasn't as innovative as past entries like ''III'' and relied heavily on reusing elements of the first game, especially once you hit Dracula's castle which goes full on LegacyBossBattle as a BossRush at one point.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: From a gameplay standpoint, Maria. She either makes the game more fun or [[ItsEasySoItSucks too easy]].

* {{Moe}}: Maria.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Some consider Dracula's OneWingedAngel 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!)

* NightmareFuel:
** Maria's death animation where she falls to the ground, turns gray, and rots away counts.
** Then her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXR88X1zta0&feature=related game over screen]] is followed by [[MoodWhiplash game over being spelled in text similar to those on alphabet refrigerator magnets and bordered by flowers.]]
** Stage 3' has BottomlessPits with disembodied hands. Fall into one, and you get to hear your character scream as they get pulled in.
** Despite the game's fairly bright atmosphere and 90's anime style, the first scene you see is of a human sacrifice, and if that weren't enough, Dracula's first appearance is just a black shadow where you can only see his eyes.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/{{Castlevania}} Many]], and many that are also remixes of other Castlevania themes, but a note should go to "[[SpellMyNameWithAnS Illusionary Dance/Dance of Illusions]]", which was first used here and has becomes Dracula's {{Leitmotif}} ever since.

* {{Woolseyism}}: Believe it or not, the audio for the cutscenes sound different between the PSP release and the original PC Engine version. This is most notable during the Annette's Fate cutscene where Shaft in the PC Engine version teleports into the chamber, while in the PSP release he walks in unnoticed. The music in each of rescue cutscenes are also different depending on the platform; the PC Engine music uses a clavicord for the scenes where Tera and Iris are rescued, carried over into Maria rescuing Annette, while the PSP music offers a mix of both flute and piano.

** The rest of the level is not as bad but you are almost guaranteed to take some hits in the opening part of Stage 7, where you have to traverse a collapsing bridge while avoiding giant bats, which are either hovering in your path or flying in from behind you, and some are carrying longswords which make them even harder to dodge.

* MemeticBadass: Maria being [[GameBreaker brokenly]] [[LethalJokeCharacter stronger]] than Richter has led to this in Japan. Her casually saying "I'm okay" is [[JapaneseWritingSystem spelled]] ''"[[BadassBoast I'm a weapon of mass destruction]]"'' to serve as the name of the [[Main/MemeticMutation meme]]. Theories like Shaft targeting her first for being a far greater threat are par for the course.

** Stage 4' (alternate) is pretty hard due to the frogs that are really hard to hit, a river rafting section where one hit can send you into a bottomless pit, and ever spawning skeletons if you decide to go the other way.