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Play Rusty on NEO98, a PC-98 emulator online:#

Rusty#

• Title: Rusty (ラスティ)
• Release Year: 1993
• Release Date: July 16, 1993
• Original Platform: NEC PC-98 (also released for MS-DOS and EPSON PC 286/386)
• Developer: C-Lab
• Publisher: C-Lab
• Director / Writer / Programmer: Naoto Niida
• Producer: Masayoshi Koyama
• Composers: Masahiro Kajihara (KAJA), Kenichi Arakawa, Ryu Takami
• Genre: Side-scrolling action platformer
• Perspective: Side view
• Art Style: Anime / Pixel art (16-color, with dithering techniques to maximize the PC-98’s limited palette)
• Retail Price (JP): ¥9,800
• Media: 5.25-inch floppy disks (five-disk set for PC-98)
• Gameplay System: Players control Rustea “Rusty” Sprincul, a whip-wielding vampire huntress, across 10 stages. Eight stages involve finding keys to unlock doors with non-linear exploration and backtracking. Stage 7 is a timed rush section, and Stage 10 is a boss-only finale. Rusty can dash, whip upward, and swing from golden rings using her whip (similar to Super Castlevania IV). Sub-weapons include the Shield (temporary invincibility), Time Slow (Hourglass), Bomber (circular projectiles), and Owl (summons Chappy, a companion owl that attacks enemies). Combining jump + attack triggers a “Mind Slasher” power crash move that varies depending on the active sub-weapon
• Setting: A fictional European countryside inspired by Transylvania. Marquis de Monte-Carlo, an ancient vampire lord and master of Bloodsoon Castle, was sealed away 300 years ago. As the seal weakens, monsters return and young women begin disappearing from villages across the frontier
• Story: Bloody Mary, a vampiress and Queen of Bloodthorne Castle, along with the masked hunter Brian Gateau, are kidnapping women and using their blood to resurrect Monte-Carlo. Implored by the village elder Santos and the villagers, Rusty sets out to rescue the abducted women — including Ryoko, a girl vital to the revival ceremony — and destroy the vampire threat
• Themes: Gothic horror, vampires, monster hunting, rescue
• Playable Character: Rustea “Rusty” Sprincul — a feared vampire huntress armed with a whip and accompanied by her owl companion Chappy
• Key Antagonists: Bloody Mary (vampiress, Queen of Bloodthorne Castle), Brian Gateau (masked hunter serving Bloody Mary), Marquis de Monte-Carlo (ancient vampire lord, final boss with two forms)
• Stage List:
  • Stage 1 — Village at Night (Boss: Thunderclap) — Music: Queen in the Dark Night
  • Stage 2 — Forest, Graveyard & Mausoleum (Boss: Angel Kiss) — Music: Silent Cemetery
  • Stage 3 — Cathedral (Boss: Gateau, first encounter) — Music: Mysterious Chapel
  • Stage 4 — Cathedral Tower (Boss: unnamed) — Music: Dead End
  • Stage 5 — Cavern, two halves (Boss: unnamed) — Music: Earth Hole / Hell’s Strike
  • Stage 6 — Waterway Labyrinth (Boss: unnamed) — Music: Water Gate
  • Stage 7 — Garden Road, timed rush (Boss: Gateau, second encounter) — Music: Red Sunset
  • Stage 8 — Clock Tower, auto-scrolling (Boss: gashadokuro-like skeleton) — Music: Tower of Destiny
  • Stage 9 — Bloodsoon Castle interior (Boss: Gateau, final encounter) — Music: Stone Washer
  • Stage 10 — Final confrontation (Bosses: Bloody Mary, then Monte-Carlo in two forms) — Music: Blood Soon Castle
• Demo: A playable demo (Stages 1–2) was included on the 5.25-inch HD floppy disk bundled with the November 1993 issue of Monthly I/O (月刊I/O), a computer technology magazine published by Kogaku-sha. The demo features an illustration of Rusty and a monologue voice not present in the retail version
• English Fan Translation: Released May 9, 2017 by the ROM hacking group 46 OkuMen (who also translated E.V.O.: The Theory of Evolution for PC-98). No DOS version patch was produced
• Legacy: Widely regarded as a cult classic and one of the best Castlevania-style games on PC-98. Hardcore Gaming 101 called it a gem everyone should play. GamesVillage.it named it among the best Castlevania clones ever made. Notably, Castlevania: Rondo of Blood was released three months after Rusty — and authors of Dracula in Visual Media have speculated possible connections between C-Lab and Konami during development, though this remains unconfirmed. C-Lab is now defunct, making original copies extremely rare. A vinyl soundtrack release (2LP, 33RPM) was produced by Very Ok Vinyl with original PC-98-inspired artwork
• Composer Detail: Masahiro Kajihara (KAJA) is also the creator of the PMD (Professional Music Driver) music engine used by the game — meaning the developer of the sound driver also composed part of the soundtrack
• Sound Chip (PC-98): Yamaha YM2608 (OPNA) — supports the PC-9801-86 soundboard; also includes a YM2203 (OPN) fallback mode for machines without OPNA hardware
• Music Driver: PMD (Professional Music Driver) by Masahiro Kajihara (KAJA), with PPSDRV for PCM samples played via SSG channel