Glitches and Fun Facts
Richter the Tease: As opposed to other, more-easily-defined consoles of the time, the Turbo-Grafx and its PC-Engine counterpart were a mess of upgrades and add-ons. Convincing consumers to continue investing in such expansion required tantalizing software like Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, which was one of the titles that utilized the Super System Card 3.0. Konami threw a bone to System Card 2.0 users by allowing them to boot up the game and play a short demo stage as featuring cartoon versions of Rondo's main hero and its environment; clearing the stage earns the player a message urging he or she to buy the 3.0 card upgrade or graduate to the Turbo-Duo, which has the card built in. In short: Boot up the game CD using System Card 2.0 to experience a short but distinct flavor of Rondo.
Unhappy Valentine: This is perhaps an unintended programming event. First, head to Stage 3, the Chapel, and deplete all of your hearts until you're down to "15" (or build up toward this total), the number required for Richter to execute his flame-whip attack. Now make your way to the third level, to the area where featured are giant candles. Find the Giant Fleaman and allow it to grab onto Richter, at which point it will steal not a sub-weapon but an actual big heart! (Contributed by Belmontvlad.)
Balls to the Wall: More a strange glitch is Richter's propensity to become stuck in the floor in Stage 4, the Dungeon. If inescapable doom is your thing, you can try it out: On the stage's third floor is a series of spiked balls swinging from chains. If when Richter is near death he is struck by the final one in sequence, this by jumping into it from the left, he'll start his next life entrenched in the ground right at the check point found two floors higher. (Contributed by Belmontvlad.)
Showstopping Number: Watching one of these new-age divas bolt out a tune and then celebrate by tossing herself into a fiery pit? It's not just what one would call society's "wishful thinking" - it's the means for this glitch, as discovered by Amar Youkai. Here's how it's done: Select to play as Maria on the game's seventh stage, the Clock Tower, and find yourself a music-book sub-weapon. Usher Maria into a near-death scenario (short on energy and within one hit of being killed), pull off an item-crash, and then proceed to incur death upon our hero with a sure kill (jumping into a spike trap, for example). Upon resuming action, any striking of an enemy will cause the game's music to cease; to restore things to normal, pull off the very same item-crash.