Dracula ~Castlevania Chronicle~ Original Soundtrack

This CD is the soundtrack of a remade X68000 Dracula game, now released on the PlayStation as "Castlevania Chronicles". Since you can play both the remade version and the original, both versions of the OST are present on the CD.

At first I was disappointed at the new arranged versions. They seemed very non-Castlevania, and a lot of them were techno flavoured, some even trance-like. But after a few listens I really started to like what I heard. The tracks were indeed different, but as music they were still very good. The arranger, Sota Fujimori, really deserves credit for this great, albeit strange, work.

What is the original OST like, then? Well, pretty much standard Dracula/Castlevania music. Which means great melody, and both catchy and good at setting the mood of the game. I would say that this OST really isn't that great when compared to other CV scores, but it still is several steps above the ordinary "platform game" music. I especially like "Thrashard In The Cave", both the original version (rock) and the arranged (techno/trance).

This release is actually a two-CD set - the second disc is an arrange disc. The complete OST is redone two more times, now using two kinds of MIDI synths. This isn't especially bad music, but it's not so good, either. I can't help but thinking that the CD would have been better off (and cheaper) without the second disc. All in all, in two CDs we get a total of four versions of the same score! It's a sure receipt for annoying repetitiveness, and I could sure have done fine with just the two game versions.

This is, like all CV music, a great purchase, and especially the first arrangements by Fujimori are great. But don't say I didn't warn you about that second disc!