RondoRecomp

RondoRecomp

Static recompilation of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (PC Engine Super CD-ROM²) into a native PC application.

Supported Platforms

Currently Windows, Linux x86 (Steam Deck).

If you want support for a different platform and want to contribute, please feel free to put in a pull request to add that support in.

Issues

If you have any bugs to report or issues, please use the issues tab to request what's happening. Include as much info as you can. "Game won't work for me" with no info will be closed.

Game Versions Supported

RondoRecomp works with four releases of Rondo of Blood:

PC Engine disc images (a .cue file plus its track files: .bin, .img, .iso and/or .wav; zipped, 7z'd or in a folder), or a .chd made with chdman

• The original Japanese release, Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM².
• The English fan translation of that disc. Both the 2012 version and the 2024 redump-style version work.

Virtual Console releases (you supply the console key, which the game doesn't include)

• The Wii .wad, either the USA or the European release. It's the untranslated Japanese game, so it installs as the Japanese disc. If you've already installed it in Dolphin, no key is needed.
• The Wii U title (WUP). This is Konami's English translation, so it installs as the English disc.

If you install one Japanese source and one English source, the Language option in the game switches between them. RetroAchievements counts both as the same game.

All the discs share the same track layout and boot sector. The CD audio is found by its exact position on the disc, so a disc image with a different track layout won't work. Other versions, such as the PSP's Dracula X Chronicles or the PS4's Castlevania Requiem, aren't supported.

Features

• Rewinding up to 30 min that works like the Konami Castlevania collections
• Compatible with the original PC Engine version, English patched, Wii, and Wii U versions
• Full suite of video options including filters and screen effects
• Save stating
• Cheats
• Super Castlevania IV moves (Gameplay page): 8-way whipping and dove throwing, and a limp whip, after Pizzano's Super Rondo of Blood hack (RondoRecomp's own version)
• RetroAchievements
• Portable mode: tick Portable in Setup (or make a user folder next to rondo.exe or the AppImage) and options, saves and states are kept there

Analysis tools

Requires Python 3.10+.

python tools/survey_disc.py   <game.cue>   # track layout, IPL header, data-track comparison
python tools/explore_boot.py  <game.cue>   # boot program: BIOS calls, loader → work/boot.asm
python tools/list_overlays.py <game.cue>   # every overlay group the main loader can load
python tools/explore_main.py  <game.cue>   # resident code map (bank-aware) → work/main.asm

Findings so far: docs/findings.md.

Status

• Static recompiler: Setup recompiles the game's code from the player's disc into C and builds a native rondo.exe with a bundled Zig compiler. On a 20,000-frame run through Stage 0, 99.3% of CPU cycles run natively; 402,593 native chunk executions were checked against the interpreter with no differences. See docs/recompiler.md.
• Runtime: HuC6280 interpreter (253/256 opcodes pass every SingleStepTests case), PC Engine video, sound (PSG effects, ADPCM voices, CD audio), backup RAM saves, save states, rewind, and the System Card functions the game uses, reimplemented in C (no BIOS needed).
• A gothic start screen (a candlelit town at night under a pale moon) and menus in arched gold-and-umber frames with blackletter titles, with controller, keyboard and mouse.
• An in-game menu (F1 / Back): video modes for 4K, 16:9 and ultrawide screens (4:3 with blurred sides, square pixels, stretch, integer scaling, sharp filtering), cinematic skipping, cheats (infinite health, hearts, lives), modern controller layout with sub-weapon / Item Crash / backflip buttons, rebindable controls (keys of your own to move, such as WASD, alongside the arrows), and a Japanese option (with your Japanese disc).
• The original Japanese disc and the English translation, installed side by side (the Japanese story text uses a bundled public-domain kanji font in place of the System Card's).
• Richter's run from Symphony of the Night (hold LB), and Maria cheats (unlocked; play as her from the Prologue on). See docs/runtime.md.
• RetroAchievements: achievements, leaderboards and hardcore mode through RetroAchievements' own client library (rcheevos), for both discs. RetroAchievements hasn't recognised Rondo Recomp for hardcore yet. Until it does, its server records unlocks as softcore, doesn't keep leaderboard entries, and shows a "Warning: Unknown Emulator" notice when the game starts. The game then says "softcore only".
• Windows and Linux (x86-64, glibc 2.35 or newer: the Steam Deck, Ubuntu 22.04, Debian 12, Fedora 36, Arch and later).
• Setup takes the disc image zipped, as a 7z, unzipped or as a .chd (MAME's compressed CD format, which the game reads as it is: about half the space; see docs/distribution.md), or the Virtual Console releases: the Wii's .wad (the Japanese game) and the Wii U's title (WUP, the English translation), with the console key the player supplies, or a .wad installed in Dolphin. See docs/distribution.md.
• Updates from the game itself: the start screen says when a new release is out, and its Updates page downloads it (a few MB on Windows, the new AppImage on Linux), checks it, installs it, rebuilds the game and restarts it. See docs/distribution.md.

For players

Download the release (RondoRecomp-<version>-windows-x64.zip, or RondoRecomp-<version>-x86_64.AppImage for Linux and the Steam Deck), run RondoRecomp Setup (on Linux, the AppImage), choose your own disc image (zipped, or the folder it is unzipped in) or Virtual Console release, then click Play. On the Steam Deck, add the AppImage to Steam as a non-Steam game. See docs/PLAYER_README.txt and docs/distribution.md.

Layout

• runtime/cpu/ HuC6280 interpreter and shared instruction semantics
• runtime/pce/ PC Engine system, video, disc (cue sheets, and .chd images read in place), backup RAM, System Card replacement
• runtime/recomp/ native-code dispatch and verification
• tests/ conformance test runners
• tools/pce/ platform code: disc access, HuC6280 decoder, System Card table, banked code explorer
• tools/rondo/ game-specific formats (overlay loader)
• tools/setup/ Setup (command line and window): zip, 7z and .chd import, disc check, recompile, build with zig cc
• tools/recomp/ code generator and capture script
• tools/frontend/ windowed frontend (SDL3)
• docs/ notes
• work/ local output and test data (ignored)