DRACULA'S SHADOW V 2.0 PC Clone of Castlevania FAQ by Christopher Lee Boger leslumens@yahoo.com The Goblin's Domain (FAQ Home) http://darken.0catch.com/goblin/ggdomain.htm This Document was written in and is best viewed in Word Pad. Other text viewers may cause strange things to happen to the table appearance. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAMERS INFO AND LEGAL TYPE STUFF: This document is based upon the 2.0 version of the game, and any other previous or later version may differ somewhat from the version covered. You may distribute this document freely. The key here is *FREE*. You may not use this document in *any* way, shape, or form which you gain any sort of goods, money, or services from it's posting. Peripheral income from ads on a website, things of that nature... fine.. but don't post this on you 'elite' site where users must pay to enter... or put it in a gaming magazine because you're too lazy to play the game yourself. You get the point. The document must remain unaltered, save for personal addendums which must be *CLEARLY* marked as such. I would generally discourage addendums, instead asking that any such thing be sent to me so I might test and officially add it to the document in all the locations I have personally posted it. I usually play games late at night, and I may have made some errors here and there. If you find one, send me an e-mail and I'll correct it and give you credit. No warranty expressed or implied, not responsible for damages to you, your computer, or anything else. This Document is Copyright Christopher Lee Boger ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS I. WHAT IS IT? II. HOW DO I INSTALL IT? III. HOW DO I PLAY IT? IV. CHARACTERS V. INFORMATION DROP ITEMS WHIPS SPECIAL WEAPONS RELICS SPECIAL ITEMS ENEMIES TRAPS POTION MAKING VI. TIPS AND HINTS GENERAL TIPS VAGUE HINTS STRONG HINTS OUTRIGHT ANSWERS VII. WALKTHROUGH VIII. BOSSES FROST DARK EYEBALL BURIED DRAGBONES FREDDIE CANDLEMAN POSSESSED GOLEM GRIM REAPER GUARDIAN VAMPIRE BAT BELMONT SHADE DRACULA IX. CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I. WHAT IS IT? Dracula's Shadow is a homebrew game which incorporates gameplay very similar to Castlevania games. It is closest in gameplay to Castlevania II, Simon's Quest. It incorporates many features introduced in later games, and has better graphics and all new remixed music! There are a few bugs here and there, hopefully they'll be ironed out in later releases, but overall it's a great game with old school Castlevania flavor! If you like Castlevania, you'll like Dracula's Shadow! Here's the homepage of the game with some screenshots..... http://members.tripod.com/~archimede77/main.htm And here's a link to the page to download the Zip of the game http://www.castlevania.nzone.it/ http://www.castlevania.nzone.it/download/ds20.zip (I only put the direct link to the zip because the site is a little hard to navigate) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ II. HOW DO I INSTALL IT? Installing the game is simple. Download the Zip, create a folder for it, and unzip the download into the directory. Then find the file Dracula'sShadowWin (or Dracula'sShadowDos) and run it. The game should automatically detect your soundcard, joysticks, and everything else for you. It perfectly detected everything on my system. If it doesn't, there are informational files (readme.txt and handbook.txt) in the zip file which will help you out. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ III. HOW DO I PLAY IT? Read the readme and handbook files in the zip for gameplay instructions, as well as how to modify the keys. If you've every played Castlevania, everything should be pretty familiar if you're playing with a joystick/gamepad. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IV. CHARACTERS Sebastian Belmont: Descendant of the Belmont family of Vampire Hunters that has countered Dracula's evil for centuries. Sebastian weilds the Vampire Killer whip, a sacred weapon that breaks the power of evil beings. Melissa Schneider: Descendant of another family of Vampire Hunters destined to fight the forces of evil. Melissa also weilds the Vampire Killer whip and can move forward while kneeling by knee walking. Igor: Igor is a descendant of the Vlad family. He is opposed to the dark legacy of his line. Little more is known about this man with a blurred soul. Igor tosses out three balls of energy before him. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ V. INFORMATION This section will detail a lot of information about the game, without spoiling the storyline for you. If you're stuck and don't want spoilers, refer to the Hints and Tips section first. If that fails, find the section of the Full Walkthrough you're stuck in and it will get you through. It's making my head hurt trying to calculate the HITs LOL... so I may have messed those up, do feel free to correct me on these. ++++++++++++ +DROP ITEMS+ ++++++++++++ These are the items which may be dropped by monsters when destroyed by your characters. Small Heart: Grants you two Heart Points to purchase items or use special weapons. Half Heart: Grants you four Heart Points to purchase items or use special weapons. Big Heart: Grants you six Heart Points to purchase items or use special weapons. Pork Chop: Restores your life bar by a small amount and grants you ten Heart Points to purchase items or use special weapons. Gold Heart: Used for item crashes. Appears next to your Heart Points. If one Gold Heart is flashing, you may do a level-1 crash for that item. +++++++++ + WHIPS + +++++++++ The primary weapon of Sebastian and Melissa is the whip. Following are the whips you can obtain in the game and their strengths. HITs are based upon the lowest damage dealt by weapons... that means the Leather Whip and the Holy Water. Leather Whip: You start the game with this. It has a short reach and does 1 HIT per strike. Thorn Whip: Can be purchased at Rakes for 150 Hearts. This whip has the same reach as the Leather whip, but does 2 HITs per strike. Chain Whip: Can be purchased at Myrne for 180 Hearts. This whip has the same reach as the previous whips, but does 8 HITs per strike. Snake Whip: Can be purchased at a town in the Phantom's Realm for 150 Hearts. It has the same reach as the previous whips, and does 4 HITs per strike. Morning Star Whip: Can be purchased at Kainesu for 200 Hearts. It has a longer reach than the previous whips, and does 16 HITs per strike. Flame Whip: Can be purchased at Soba for 220 Hearts. It has the same long reach as the Morning Star Whip, and does 32 HITs per strike. Light Whip: The ultimate whip in the game. It can be purchased at Fleva for 250 Hearts. It has the same long reach as the Morning Star Whip and does 64 HITs per strike. Note: Igor's primary weapon will do the same HIT damage as whatever whip you have equipped on Sebastian and Melissa. It actually has a longer range, and wider hit area than any whip. +++++++++++++++++ +SPECIAL WEAPONS+ +++++++++++++++++ You can purchase several special weapons in towns, and find others hidden throughout your quest. They all have their own special uses and abilities which will aid you in your quest. You select these from the Special Weapons section of your Inventory screen. HIT= damage of the weapon based on the weakest weapons (Leather Whip/Holy Water) doing 1 HIT COST= in Hearts, to purchase (not use) WHERE?= Where you can purchase it SPECIAL= Notes about how the weapon functions. See Tips and Hints for more 'crash' info. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WEAPON | HIT | COST | WHERE? | SPECIAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Holy Water: | 1 | 50 | Jabline | Breaks blocks to reveal hidden items | | | | Crash 1: There does not appear to be a level-1 crash | | | | for this item. | | | | Crash 2: Deluge- damages enemies on lower area of | | | | screen does not necessarily hit all enemies. | | | | Enemies killed by Deluge drop Pork Chop. | | | | Crash 3: Holy Rain- weakens enemies HIT endurance by | | | | half. Enemies killed while rain falls drop | | | | Pork Chop. Also slows enemies. Dagger: | 2 | 50 | Jabline | Longer range than whip, may hit multiple enemies in | | | | fight. | | | | Crash 1: Dagger Wind- damages all onscreen enemies | | | | directly in front of you. Destroyed enemies | | | | drop Pork Chop. | | | | Crash 2: Dagger Blow- damages all onscreen enemies. | | | | Destroyed enemies drop Pork Chop. | | | | Crash 3: Dagger Storm- Slows onscreen enemies. Enemies | | | | destroyed while the storm lasts will drop | | | | Pork Chop. Silver Knife: | 4 | 100 | Kainesu | Flies the full length of the screen. Will hit every | | | | enemy in it's path. Costs 1 Heart to use. | | | | Crash 1: There does not appear to be a level-1 crash | | | | for this item. | | | | Crash 2: There does not appear to be a level-2 crash | | | | for this item. | | | | Crash 3: Dagger Storm- Slows onscreen enemies. Enemies | | | | Destroyed while the storm lasts drop Pork | | | | Chop. Gold Knife: | 8 | 150 | Fleva | Flies the full length of the screen. When it strikes | | | | an enemy, it will stick in that enemy for about two | | | | seconds, performing 4 HIT strikes to that enemy. This | | | | weapon costs 2 Hearts to use. | | | | Crash 1: There is no known level-1 crash for this item | | | | Crash 2: There is no known level-2 crash for this item | | | | Crash 3: Gold Sheild- Three circling balls of energy | | | | will surround you destroying anything in | | | | their path for a time. Destroyed enemies | | | | drop Pork Chop. Sacred Flame: | 32 | 0 | Hidden | Lasts for about 2 seconds, and will do four strikes | | | | before fading away. Costs 2 Hearts to use. Traps | | | | the enemy until it fades. | | | | Crash 1: Flame Snake- damages all onscreen enemies | | | | directly in front of you. Destroyed enemies | | | | drop Pork Chop. | | | | Crash 2: Rings of Fire- Balls of fire erupt out and | | | | damage all onscreen enemies. Destroyed | | | | enemies drop Pork Chop. | | | | Crash 3: There is no known level-3 crash for this item Laurel: | n/a | 50 | Town | Makes your character temporarily invulnerble to damage | | | Prior to| from anything except instant death (pits and water) | | | Myrne | You can carry up to 8 at a time. | | | | Crash: There are no known crashes for this item. Garlic: | 1/2 | 50 | Soba | Drops at your feet and stays as long as it is visible. | | | | will trap any enemy that wanders into it and continue | | | | to damage them until they are destroyed. | | | | Crash: There are no known crashes for this item. Oak Stake: | 0 | 50 | All | Used to destroy cursed globes protecting the Relics of | | | Mansion | Dracula. | | | | Crash: There are no known crashes for this item. Death Potion: | 1 | 0 | Potion | Used to bypass a barrier in the game. May be used as | | | Makers | weak short range weapon similar to Holy Water. | | | | Crash: There are no known crashes for this item. Spirit Potion: | 1 | 0 | Potion | Used to bypass a barrier in the game. May be used as | | | Makers | a weak short range weapon similar to Holy Water. | | | | Crash: There are no known crashes for this item. Water Potion: | ? | 0 | Potion | Supposed to be in the game, but the receipe found does | | | Makers? | not work. Supposed to let you walk on water. Would | | | | likely function similar to other potions. | | | | Crash: There would likely be no crash for this item. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++++ +RELICS+ ++++++++ Relics are special items found throughout your quest that will aid you in your journeys and allow you to reach new lands. You can select these items from the Relics section of your inventory screen. Dracula's Rib: Necessary quest item. When equipped, will block fireballs and some other harmful projectiles like a sheild. Dracula's Eye: Necessary quest item. When equipped, items hidden behind blocks you can break with Holy Water will be revealed. Dracula's Heart: Necessary quest item. Will unlock passage to new areas of the game when equipped in the right place. Dracula's Nail: Necessary quest item. When equipped, the whip of Sebastian or Melissa will destroy breakable blocks just like Holy Water. Dracula's Ring: Necessary quest item. Will unlock passage to new areas of the game when equipped in the right place. Dracula's Goblet: Necessary quest item. When equipped, the whip of Sebastian or Melissa will fire a fireball from it's tip. This fireball flies the full length of the screen and has the same HIT power as the whip itself. Dracula's Evil Book: Necessary quest item. Monster Encyclopedia: When equipped, enemies hit by any weapon will have their name and an endurance gauge revealed. White Orb: Necessary quest item. When equipped, may reveal hidden 'rafts' and 'elevators'. Blue Orb: Necessary quest item. When equipped, may reveal hidden 'rafts' and 'elevators'. Red Orb: Necessary quest item. When equipped, may reveal hidden 'rafts' and 'elevators'. Can grant passage to a new area of the game when equipped in the right place. +++++++++++++++ +SPECIAL ITEMS+ +++++++++++++++ These are items you must find to complete the game, but which otherwise do not affect gameplay Magic Key: Necessary to complete the game. Found in a graveyard under the right conditions Melissa Cross: Necessary to complete the game. Hidden in a mansion. +++++++++ +ENEMIES+ +++++++++ These are the enemies you will face in the game, and how they attack you Axe Knight: Axe Knights throw their axes at you, the range of which is about half of the screen. These weapons cannot be destroyed with the whip, or blocked with the Rib. You can jump over them, but it is difficult due to the speed at which they fly. The axes return to the Axe Knight like a boomerang when thrown. Axe Knights cannot leave the 'platform' they are on. Bat: Bats fly slowly across the screen moving up and down slightly as they go, making them difficult to hit sometimes. Bear: These creatures move slowly back and forth on the platforms they are on. When struck, if not destroyed in one blow, they will jump up high. After jumping, they will run back and forth quickly. While jumping, or running, these creatures can move from platform to platform. Blob: Blobs hop about the screen in an unpredictable manner. They can take short hops, long jumps, or just sit there. When the blobs are at rest, you must duck to whip them. These creatures can cross gaps to jump from platform to platform. Creeping Creature: These snake-like creatures fall from the sky when you draw near them. they are easily avoided, and will fall harmlessly offscreen if you do so. Cursed Eye: These hovering eyes will home in on you when they appear, moving up or down in order to move into range and attack. Demon: These creatures run back and forth quickly on the platform they are on. Devil: These creatures jump around erratically, spitting fast moving fireballs at you as they go. These fireballs can be blocked with the Rib. While jumping, these creatures can cross gaps to move from platform to platform. Dragon Pillar: These creatures sit in place, firing fireballs at you. These fireballs can be blocked with the rib. Evil Fruit: These creatures fall from the sky in the form of a red drop. When they land, they transform into cloaked creatures carrying staves. They are harmful in both their drop and wraithlike forms. They cannot leave the platform they are on once they have transformed into wraith form. Fishman: Fishmen hop up from water below and then move back and forth on the platforms they are on. They spit fireballs at you as they move back and forth. These fireballs can be blocked by the Rib. After a short amount of time, these creatures will leap off the platform they are on back into the water. While on the platform, these creatures will not cross gaps to other platforms. Flame Thrower: These creatures move back and forth on the platforms they are on, spitting fireballs at you. These fireballs can be blocked by the Rib. These creatures cannot leave the platform they are on. Freddie: These creatures move rapidly in an erratic manner across the platform they are on. Grave Zombie: These creatures move rapidly in an erratic manner across the screen. These creatures will sometimes fade from view, then reappear in other places on the screen. They can even appear with only their upper body sticking out of a platform. In this manner, these creatures can move from platform to platform. These creatures only appear at night. Knight of Revenge: Knights of Revenge will toss scythes at you, the range of which is about half the screen. These weapons cannot be destroyed with the whip, or blocked with the Rib. They can, however, be ducked under. The scythes return to the Knights like boomerangs when thrown. Knights of Revenge cannot leave the 'platform' they are on. Man Eater Flower: These creatures sit in place, spitting fireballs at you. These fireballs can be blocked with the Rib. Medusa-Head: These slowly hovering creatures will home in on your character. They will move up or down as necessary to move into range to attack you. Mudman: These creatures rise up from the mud or swamp they are in, then begin spitting fireballs at you, remaining in place. These fireballs can be blocked with the Rib. Phantom Knight: These creatures move back and forth on the platforms they are on. They cannot leave the platform they are on. Pirate Skull: These creatures move slowly across the screen, moving up and down slightly as they go. Rolling Eye: These creatures roll slowly across the screen. They may roll off plaforms to lower platforms. If unable to continue in a direction, and unable to fall lower, these creatures will change direction when they reach a barrier. Sheilded Skeleton: These creatures move slowly back and forth on the platforms they are on. They cannot leave the platforms they stalk. Skeleton: These creatures move slowly back and forth on the platforms they are on. They cannot leave the platforms they stalk. Skeleton II: These creatures move slowly back and forth on the platforms they are on. If you draw near to them, they will begin jumping and throwing bones which erupt in a fiery burst when they land. These bones can be destroyed by the whip. While jumping, these creatures can move from platform to platform. Skull: These creatures hover slowly about the screen, homing in on you. They will move up or down as necessary to move into range to attack you. Spearman: These creatures move rapidly in an erratic pattern on the platform they are on. They weild three prong spears which they thrust out before them a short distance. These enemies cannot leave the platform they are on. Spider: These creatures move back and forth quickly on the screen, sometimes dropping down on their webs as well. They toss spider webs which damage your characters when they hit. These webs cannot be destroyed with the whip, nor can they be blocked with the Rib. Triple Dragon: These creatures sit in place spitting fireballs at you. These fireballs can be blocked with the rib. Two Heads Creature: These creatures move back and forth in an erratic manner on the platforms they are on, spitting fireballs at you. These fireballs can be blocked with the Rib. These creatures cannot leave the platform they are on. Werewolf: These creatures stalk slowly in an erratic manner on the platforms they are on. When you draw near, they begin hopping erratically about. While hopping, these creatures can move from platform to platform. Wolf: These creatures sit still, waiting for you to draw near. When you are close enough, they spring into action, running across the screen quickly and bounding as they go. Once they have started moving, these creatures can move from platform to platform. Zombie: These creatures move back and forth quickly across the screen. They cannot leave the platform they are on, and only appear at night. Zombie Hand: These hands stick out of the ground, moving up and down slightly. You must duck to whip these creatures. +++++++ +TRAPS+ +++++++ These are found in Mansions, and most often cannot be destroyed. Dealing with them will factor greatly in your negotiating the Mansions, however. Spear Traps: These look much like the spikes that stick out of the walls in the Mansions. These will, however, thrust out from the wall at regular intervals. They cannot be destroyed, but not all of the 'shafts' of the spears are dangerous to you. The spear points *always* damage you. Medusa Plaques: These traps look like a Medusa Head mounted on the wall. They drop snakes which slither across the platforms for quite some distance before fading away. These snakes will change directions if they encounter a barrier before fading away. The snakes cannot be destroyed, but the Medusa Plaques can be. Bloody Paintings: These paintings weep blood which rolls down the walls all the way through the Mansion. When a blood drop reaches a platform you are on, it will burst and send numerous drops flying quickly in all directions. The drops formed by the burst can be blocked with the Rib. The drops are harmful even when sliding down the walls, and cannot be blocked or destroyed while sliding down the walls on the blood trails. The paintings themselves cannot be harmed. Demon Birds: These creatures fly back and forth at the top of the mansion, dropping boulders that bounce down throughout the Mansion. These boulders cannot be blocked or destroyed. The birds themselves can be destroyed, but take a lot of hits to take down, and move quickly. Chained Fireballs: These traps are similar to a large fireball held in place by a rope. They swing in a circular pattern around a central pivot point attatched to a platform. The ropes which hold the fireballs are not harmful. These traps cannot be destroyed or blocked in any way. +++++++++++++++ +POTION MAKING+ +++++++++++++++ The instructions on how to create potions are in the handbook.txt file included in the zip, but you also should be aware that regardless of the quantity of an ingrediant you use in the making of a potion, that ingrediant will vanish from your ingrediant list after the potion creation attempt. You will have to go back to where you found the ingrediant and obtain more in order to use that ingrediant again. Collecting an ingrediant multiple times does not increase your 'stock' of that ingrediant. You always have an unlimited quantity, immediately consumed when you attempt to create a potion. Once a potion has been created, it has infinite uses. You need not make a potion more than once. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VI: TIPS AND HINTS These are tips and hints which will help you out if you are stuck in the game somewhere. I have divided this up into four sections... General Hints, Vague Hints, Strong Hints, and Outright Answers. This way you can choose how much help you want without spoiling the story for you. If you can not find the answer to your questions here, refer to the Walkthrough, the answer is probably there. If I receive a question often enough, it will be added here. First off, some tips and hints that will generally help you throughout the entire game, but won't spoil things for you at all. (A) General Hints ----------------- (1) Gold Hearts may only be used for item crashes when flashing. If you change your equipped special weapon, you may find the number of flashing Gold Hearts changes. (2) Igor cannot perform item crashes. Neither can he use the rib to block fireballs. The special power of Dracula's Nail to break blocks does not work when playing as Igor. Nothing special happens when Dracula's Goblet is equipped either. (3) Time does not pass while inside rooms of towns (church, shop, etc.) or while inside a Mansion. As the endings are triggered by time, this can be important to see certain endings. (4) Enemies take twice as much damage to destroy at night. They also deal twice the amount of damage to your characters. Everything is twice as dangerous at night as during the day. Towns will be filled with Zombies at night, and you will be unable to enter any doorways. (5) You will *always* gain experience from picking up a Pork Chop, even if you are in an area where the monsters are too weak for you to gain experience normally. (6) When in an area where you can gain experience, you receive 1 exp for every 2 hearts you earn. This information can help you time when you want to enter a Boss Battle. (7) Hearts and Experience are *not* saved when you save the game. Remember this if you choose to save and return to your game later. You will start with Zero hearts and exp. (8) Don't worry about the 'tag along' character following behind you. They can vanish or even drop into pits and be fine. They'll show back up soon enough. (9) Toss Holy Water *everywhere*.... especially if an area looks suspicious. There are clues and items hidden throughout the game. SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT (B) Vague Hints --------------- Q: I've got Dracula's Rib, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: A potion might open up new paths for you to travel. Q: I've got Dracula's Heart, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: Something you already carry will open up a new path for you to travel. One of the townsfolk has already given you a hint about how to use it, as have failed adventurers before you. Q: Where do I find the White Herb, Igor, and Dracula's Nail? A: There is a lot to explore past Myrne. Lots of Holy Water might open a path. Q: How do I get the last two Relics? A: A trick you've used before just might work again in a similar place if you do it just a little differently. Q: How do I get across Melissa Lake? I have all the relics and the Melissa Cross. A: One more thing is needed. You might see something new lurking in graveyards if you look hard enough. SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT (C) Strong Hints ---------------- Q: I've got Dracula's Rib, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: The Spirit Potion is the key to reaching new areas of the game. Q: I've got Dracula's Heart, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: Dracula's Heart, used in the right place, will show you possess courage and strength. Q: Where do I find the White Herb, Igor, and Dracula's Nail? A: When it seems you can go no farther past Myrne to the left, Lots of Holy Water will open the path before you. Q: How do I get the last two Relics? A: Perhaps the Ferryman on the Soba River knows new places to travel. Q: How do I get across Melissa Lake? I have all the relics and the Melissa Cross. A: In a graveyard at night, something you possess will allow you to see that which is hidden. SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SPOILER SPACE TO HIDE HINTS YOU DON'T WANT (D) Outright Answers -------------------- Q: I've got Dracula's Rib, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: From the town without a church, left of Jabline, go left and down the first set of stairs you find. Head left, and toss vials of the Spirit Potion at a wall which blocks your path. Q: I've got Dracula's Heart, but now I can't seem to find any new places to go. What do I do now? A: Equip Dracula's Heart, then ride with the Ferryman. He'll show you the way. Q: Where do I find the White Herb, Igor, and Dracula's Nail? A: Head left past Myrne, do not take any stairs. When you reach a point that seems to be a dead end, toss Holy Water at a platform of blocks over a floating block 'raft'. Once the entire platform is destroyed by the Holy Water, you can progress. Q: How do I get the last two Relics? A: Equip Dracula's Ring and ride the Ferry on the Soba River. Q: How do I get across Melissa Lake? I have all the relics and the Melissa Cross. A: You need the Magic Key, found by having Dracula's Eye equipped in the Phantom's Realm graveyard at night. Face down the Belmont Shade, and you shall find that which you need. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VII: THE WALKTHROUGH This walkthrough is designed to get you everything (I know about) in the game, and to defeat Dracula. There are likely multiple endings.... likely based upon the time taken to complete the game as they were in CVII. Following this walkthrough to the letter would likely get you the ending for the longest time taken to reach Dracula. The Tips and Hints section details how you can 'stop the clock' and still attain levels and build hearts without time passing on the game clock. START: ====== Make your way to the right through the "entrance to the game" sequence. Fight weak zombies and bats (though they do move pretty quickly and the bats have the typical annoying CV sine curve flight patterns. You'll see someone at the end of the path... walk up and whip them to talk to them. Select "Yes" to hear the story, or "No" to skip it. When you're done either way you'll appear in the first town of the game, Jabline Town. The first thing you see to your left is a candle with a pulsing glow. Whip this to get an option to save your game. Now walk up and whip people to talk to them and gather some information. If you enter the church and whip the preist, you'll rest and restore all you life bar. (Townspeople say.... relevant...) The haunted building is beyond the lake You will find secrets with holy water Dig the 5th stone in the forest at the right The Ferryman knows some of Dracula's stories Kavel's Spirit is under West Bridge Clues to Dracula's Riddle are at Rakes Graveyard Receipe for Divide Potion Toad 1, Strawberry 1 From where you appear in town, if you go all the way to the right past the church and down the stairs here, you'll see an open doorway. Go inside this and you can purchase the Dagger for 50 hearts. The Dagger flies across the screen a distance somewhere around a quarter of the screen... about two and a half whip lengths. The dagger is actually somewhat stronger than the Leather Whip. It will kill the skeleton monsters nearby at night in one shot, where your whip requires you to take two. Don't forget, you need to hit the Start button to bring up your menu and highlight the dagger in order to use it. In a perfect homage to Castlevania 2, it is a pain in the butt to figure out where your 'cursor' is in the menus at any given moment if there is any section that doesn't have anything selected in it yet LOL Once you leave this room, if you jump across the gap to the left to the slightly lower platform, you can continue left and find another open doorway. (You can also climb down to the lower level.... then walk across and up stairs to get to this doorway if you don't trust your jumping abilities) Inside this room you can purchase the Holy Water for 50 hearts. The holy water flies downward at an angle to land approximately two blocks in front of you. Holy water will sometimes dissolve some blocks and reveal hidden treasures just like the person you may have talked to in town said (and just like it did in CV2) Holy water has the same strength as the Leather Whip you're carrying... in other words... WEAK! I recommend you purchase the Holy Water first off.... then go up to the candle of light in the upper left corner of town and save your game (stopping at the church and healing if you're not at max) and build up some hearts by exiting town to the right and fighting some skeletons. They'll take one whack of your whip in daylight, and two whacks at night. As soon as you can afford it (and it's daylight) go pick up that dagger as well. Both of these special items will come in handy as you make your way through the next parts of the game. Don't forget that after darkness falls.... you can go into the town and fight zombies (two hits at your current strength) as opposed to fighting skeletons. THE WOODS: ========== Exiting town to the right, you enter the woods. The first thing you should do (after killing the skeleton of course) is to throw holy water on the fifth block in this area immediately upon entering. Jump down and grab the book and you'll earn the first 'Presage' which are clues to winning the game. The first one doesn't help you much =P First section: There are nothing but weak skeletons here and nothing else of intrest (besides the first presage mentioned above) in this area. No hard jumps... just head right. Second section: Bats and skeletons, more of the same. Head right. Third section: Skeletons. There are a couple of jumps over water here (water=instant death.... for some reason there has never been a Belmont who could swim) Right at the beginning of this area, toss some Holy Water on the blocks of the second platform up (not the rocky one) you can find the Strawberry ingrediant. That's half of the Divide Potion receipe you were told about by townsfolk at the beginning of the game. Fourth section: The ferryman. Whip him and he'll take you across the lake. Fishmen will jump up out of the water at you as you cross... but if you don't attack and stay behind the ferryman, they'll miss you. OTHER SIDE OF THE LAKE: ======================= First off, I don't recommend you continue on until you've made it to 100 Exp (look at the upper right hand corner of the screen) and been to your first boss battle with the forces of darkness. You'll appreciate the increase in your life bar in the travels to come, trust me. First section after ferryman: More skeletons.. getting monotonous... isn't it? Head right. Second section: Skeletons and Werewolves. You'll see a set of stairs down soon after you enter this screen. Take them. Climb down to the bottom where the 'candle of light' is. Toss some Holy Water on the blocks to the right of it, and you'll obtain your first potion ingrediant 'toad' which is short for Toadstool I believe considering that's what the picture is in your ingrediants list. You can also whip the candle of light and save your game. May as well, you've got nothing to lose. If you choose to make a Divide Potion, you now have both ingrediants. Now back up the stairs and continue right. Near the werewolves, beware of low ceilings. It's hard to tell, but there's a ceiling above you and you can easily mess up this jump and bounce off the ceiling to land on a werewolf below if you're not careful. The jump is actually trickier than I think it should be for this stage/area of the game. Your best bet is to get down to the lower area anyway, because the higher path is blocked after a while and you'd just end up climbing down some stairs to get to the lower area anyway. Past this you'll run into spiders. They toss webs and move around and up and down their weblines very quickly. I wouldn't even make an attempt to take them out if I were you. Just avoid them and kill the land bound critters as you make your way through this area. The spiders seem to throw more webs at night as well as taking more hits to kill... it could just be me, but it seems that way. After this there are a couple of jumps over water. Third Section: Skeletons and bats. You'll want to head up the stairs to the higher parts of the level, because there's a poison marsh down low, and you'll be blocked by impossible jumps eventually trying to go that way anyhow (if you come through this area from the *other* way, you *must* come through the lower area. Fourth Section: Snakes drop down from the trees as you make your way toward the right. They simply fall straight down and off screen. They're easy to avoid, not to difficult to kill during daylight. You're unlikely to get two shots off to kill them at night, however. They're actually called Creeping Creatures. Head up the stairs, because the lower path will be blocked off in a moment. Continue right and keep on killing skeletons (Drac's evil preists are working overtime creating these buggers.. geez...) When you reach the end of the higher path, you'll start encountering blobs. Be careful! Right before you reach the blobs, there is an area where you can fall down a hole and be trapped between the blocks unable to escape! You pretty much have to *try* to fall into this area.... but if you do... it's reset time. There's no escape. Blobs jump around quickly, and seek out your blood heartily. You must be kneeling to hit them when they are at the end of a bounce, and you're unlikely to hit them when they're in mid bounce, so basically try to hit them between bounces. You're likely to get the tar beat out of you learning to fight these buggers. This is where I quit griping about the skeletons.... I'd much rather have to face skeletons... I hate blobs... I hate 'em... Oooops... sorry... A couple of jumps over water and you're through this section. Right before the jumps, toss some holy water on the last brick before the jump. You'll find a message with a potion receipe.... Receipe for spirit potion apple 4 root 2. Fourth Section: There's a signpost here..... 'Turn Right for Haunted Bridge, Left for Orphic Land' Continue right and you'll reach the entrance to the first mansion. Press up in front of the door to enter. MANSION OF THE RIB: =================== The Spear Knights in here move quickly. The Sheild Bearing Skeletons are harder to kill than their regular variety.... but not by much. Utilize that dagger whenever you can, because it does more damage than your whip at this point. You can take the monsters out in one blow. There's a column of blocks barring your way on the lower level. You'll have to climb some stairs to get past them. If you go down the stairs on the other side and toss some holy water at this column, you can find a clue 'Destroy Dracula's curse with an oak stake'. Make your way to the right. When you reach the stairs, head up them and continue right. You'll go off screen and enter another area. You can either go high or low. There are some obvious fake blocks on the low path, but it's pointless other than to cue you to recognize them, because the low path dead ends. Kill the skeleton and jump up onto the higher path and head right. When you reach the stairs, head up. Take the next two flights of stairs as well, killing skeletons along the way. Remember this spot, because you head right here to find the globe sealing Dracula's rib. Unfortunately, you need an oak stake to break the seal, so you need to head left to find the Stake Merchant. When you've gone as far left as you can, jump onto the blue elevator platform and ride it up to the higher ledge. There's a clue hidden in the walls if you follow the stairs down below this elevator platform. The clue is "Dracula's Rib will protect you from fire"... not exactly a big suprise.. hehe Kill the skeleton and then head right. Head up the stairs to avoid the jumps over the spikes at the bottom. You'll have to face blobs.... but blobs are better than the spikes, believe me. Past the blob, you'll have to make some jumps over spikes and face a Spear Knight. Once you've made it, climb the stairs. Keep climbing upward, then head left and face the blobs. They're paticularly tricky here, because you have to make a jump onto the platform the Spear Knight is standing on to get over to the Stake Merchant. Once you've got past this nightmare, purchase a Stake. You do have 50 hearts don't you? Now backtrack to where I told you to remember the spot.... unfortunately you've got to go through those thrice damned blobs again. Grit your teeth and give it a go. Use your daggers to take the buggers out as much as possible. The farther they are away from you, the better, and the dagger kills 'em in one shot. Once you make it back to the spot, head right and into the alter room. Equip the oak stake and break the globe. Then hop up on the platform and collect Dracula's Rib. Go into your item screen and equip the Rib, it blocks fireballs when you're standing still and not whipping. Don't forget to re-equip your dagger as well. As you turn to leave, toss some holy water on the last brick of the platform the rib was on, you'll find the second presage. Now make your way out of the mansion and back into the wilds of Translyvania, and go right. HAUNTED BRIDGE: =============== You'll face Fishmen jumping from the water in typical Castlevania fashion. They fire *lots* of fireballs *very* quickly.... so make sure you've got the rib equipped and you don't go moving around or whipping while the Fishmen are walking around. Otherwise just head right across the bridge, killing fishmen and skeletons as you go. Next area: Here you find a set of stairs down. This is one of the places where the path diverges. You want to take those stairs down. Kill the rolling eyes along the way and head right into the next area. Cursed Eyes and skeletons assail you. Just keep heading right and jumping the gaps and you'll leave this area to enter the town of Rakes. RAKES: ====== The first door you come to sells the Thorn Whip. It's double the strength of your Leather Whip and costs 100 hearts. Whatever you do, get it. Heal up at the church if you need to and use the candle of light to save your game. The other door besides the church here is the potion maker. When you have the necessary ingrediants and need to make a potion, come here. Townspeople say... relevant Go ahead to reach Kainesu town A sacred potion will let you walk on water Apples grow on high mountains A magic potion can be found here at Rakes A special receipe can be found at Orphic Ditch Once you've got the Thorn Whip, healed up and saved, head back left out of town. You can go right.... but it's currently a dead end and there are some NASTY critters over there. There's a clue over there as well.... but I don't think you can acquire it until you've gotten Drac's Eye. The clue is 'Times ago the ring was kept into the ruined cathedral'. Make your way back through the cursed eyes and skeletons, then the rolling eyes, and back up the stairs. Head right facing down another rolling eye and some more skeletons into the next area. Next Area: Here you'll face floating Skulls and more skeletons. Right when you enter this area, toss some holy water on the bricks that form the first platform you go down onto. You'll get the root ingrediant. Next Area: Here you'll face more floating Skulls and Zombie Hands in the ground. Equip your Holy Water, because you're going to need it in this area. Your whip does as much damage as the dagger now anyhow. Make your way through the first set of Zombie Hands, then up on the platform and deal with the next set of zombie hands, still heading right. Toss the Holy Water on the last block before the raised platform after you've dealt with the hands and it will vanish. Jump down and grab the bag and you'll get the Apple Fruit, a potion ingrediant. Continue right to the cliff at the very end of this area. Get down into the bottom right corner here and once again toss holy water on the last brick. Jump down and get the scroll to see the clue it gives you..... Use a White Crystal to enter Myrne Woods. Now head back to Rakes town. Go to the potion maker and use your receipe to make the Spirit Potion. Heal up and save, then make your way all the way back to Jablane town at the beginning of the game. You should stop and pick up replacements for the potion ingrediants you used up before you leave. Heal up and save in Jablane as well, then start heading left out of town. LOST SPIRITS PATH: ================== First section: If you're traveling through here during the day, you'll face only bats and some harmless spirits. You can walk right through these spirits if you wish, they will not damage you. It may take you a few looks to even spot them, as they blend in with the background. The spirits always turn to face you. If you're coming through at night, you'll have to face some skeletons that take two whacks even with the thorn whip. Since these monsters will give you experience, I suggest staying right in this general vicinity and getting the 150 exp necessary to enter the second boss fight and earn your next level. Second section: Here you'll face medusa heads (actually not too difficult to deal with, unusual for medusa heads in a CV) and more harmless spirits (or skeletons if it's night) You'll have to make some jumps over water, but nothing too terribly hard. At the end of this section, try to get up on the high platforms. If you are ever coming *back* to Jalbine through this section... you *must* be on the high platforms to make it back. Likewise holds true for the following section as well. Third section: Try to stay on the high platforms. Again, if you're coming the other way... you *must* be on the high platforms. At the end is an 'elevator' platform that is the only way up to the high ground coming from the other direction. You'll only face a bat and harmless spirits during the day, and skeletons at night. Fourth section: Stay high again. This area is full of moving platforms. You'll eventually come to a man in green walking around. Whip him to talk to him and he'll give you the Monster Encyclopedia. If you equip this (It's in the section with Dracula's Artifacts... IOW you'll have to give up the Rib's protection to use it) you will see a monsters name when you attack it, as well as a little health gauge that appears near it and depletes as you attack the monsters. Once you've gotten the Encyclopedia, head back up to the high platforms and keep going left through this area. Fifth section: Same Spirit/Skeleton situation, but a fish man appears where you have to jump over the water near the beginning of this area. Get past him and on to the next section. Sixth section: Make your way across the bridge, facing the skeletons (or ignoring the spirits) and some fishmen. Seventh section: Bugger... Blobs! Make your way across this area riding the moving platforms and blocks. Eighth Section: More of the same... just a few bats and skeletons/spirits. Make your way through to reach the next town, finally. TOWN LEFT OF FIRST TOWN: townspeople say..... relevant.... West caves wait to be freed from the curse Use the Magic Laurels to cross cursed lands The tears of Kavel are kept into the Spirit Potion Buy a White Crystal, it could make things more visible Sign: Right for Jalbine, Left for Merne Land The Rib from East covers the Presage under it's light The Candle of Light to save your game is in the upper left corner of town. There's no church here, so if you're in need of healing you're in trouble. Near where you first come in, there's an open doorway at the top of a flight of stairs above you. Here you can purchase Laurels for 50 hearts each. You can carry 8 at a time. Staying on the ground level of town, if you continue onward to the right, you can find another open doorway and here you can purchase a White Crystal for 50 hearts. You're going to need this, so buy it. Once you've got your crystal... and stocked up on a few Laurels if you can afford them, save your game at the candle of light and continue on left into the Myrne Land. MYRNE LAND: =========== First section: More spirits/skeletons, and you'll face some fast moving wolves that are a major pain. You can cheat and kill the first one with holy water. Just move forward, jump and throw. If you're short, move forward a smidgen more and try again. You'll just have to dodge the second one by quickly jumping onto the rocky platform just below it and letting it jump over your head. Second section: Blobs... aaargh! You can either continue left here or go down the stairs and continue left on the lower path. Avoid the stairs for now, and continue left. Make your way through the Blobs and skeletons/spirits to the next section. Third Section: Cross the bridge and fight off the fishmen. Not much else to say, except watch a few tricky jumps here and there. Fourth Section: Make your way through those damn blobs until you reach the edge of a lake. Here, equip your white crystal and a moving platform will be revealed to you. Hop on it and cross the lake. If you toss some holy water on the block right below the raised platform here, you can find a clue.... 'An old legend talked about a potion used to meld rocks'. Continue on right to Myrne Town. MYRNE TOWN: townspeople say.... relevant.... Look for an important message at Time Manor Entrance. Clues to Dracula's Riddle are in front of the Ancient Wall. Dracula's Nail can destroy some rocks. White Herbs can be found around water pits. Sign... Welcome to Myrne Town, west path leads to the secrets land. Clues to Dracula's Riddle are in Time Manor Near the center of town is the church and the Candle of Light. Near the Western edge of town is an open doorway where a man sells the Chain Whip for 180 hearts. You most certainly want that, so get it before you go any farther! Once you've got the whip and saved, head out into the Secrets Land to the West. First section: The enemies you'll face here, Bears, are a pain! When you hit them, they jump really high (sometimes onto other platforms) then start running back and forth full tilt. The best thing to do is to get on the same platform if possible, or one above them, and hit them. Stay out of the way of their high jump, then pelt them with holy water from above somewhere... jumping over them while they're running if necessary. Deal with the Bears and head on to the next section. Once you've got the chain whip, you can kill them with one blow during daylight... *much* easier. Since you can gain experience here, I suggest you hang around and build up until you reach your next boss fight, and thus your next level. I chose to continue farther into the game than it was likely actually planned for above. Now is the time to backtrack to the previous town. Save your game here, then prepare to storm the next mansion, the Palace of Mist. Exit the town left and take the stairs down this time instead of continuing on left this time. Beware the blobs down here, and jump from the high platform instead of going down the stairs and trying to jump the water. The jump is tricky, and you're likely to mess it up. Unfortunately, you'll *have* to make this tricky jump on your return. After that, make your way onto the next screen. Cross this area and the poison swamp. You'll be blocked by a wall of rocks. Equip your spirit potion and throw the bottles at the rocks, it will destroy them and allow you to pass. Watch out for the Man Eater Flower that spits fireballs. This is the first monster you encounter that will drop the big heart just for curiosity's sake. Continue after you've dealt with the plant to the next area, the entrance to the Palace of Mist. PALACE OF MIST: =============== Take out the Sheilded Skeletons and bats that are troubling you, then head up the stairs. Head right and take out the Phantom Knights and bats as you go. When you reach the stairs up, take them. There's another set of stairs up you'll want to take immediately after getting to the top of the first set. Once you're at the top of these, head to the right and into the next area. Palace of Mist 2: Take out the Sheilded Skeleton then toss Holy Water on the wall at the right (you'll see some spike pits behind it). When the blocks break, head on through into this area. Head right, then down the stairs. Jump the gap to the right and climb up the stairs to buy an Oak Stake. Now go back to the gap you jumped and drop down instead. Beware of the Devils at the bottom! Head right once you've dropped. Make your way over, then up the stairs and take out the Phantom Knight. Toss some holy water at the left wall and you'll find the 3rd Presage 'Dracula's Heart will enlight the ferryman at Jabline lake' Now backtrack to where you broke the blocks to get into this area and start descending through the spots where you can drop between the blocks. When you get down to the stairs down, use them. Just keep taking all the stairs down you see, fighting off Sheilded Skeletons as you go, until you reach the bottom where a couple of slime blobs will attack... I hate those damn things.... Deal with them then head right. Skip the stairs up you see and continue on off onto the next screen which is the artifact room. If you go up those stairs to the spike pits, you can break a block on the platform near the Sheilded Skeleton for a clue, 'Soba land has been cursed and the water poisoned'. Final: Use the oak stake and burst the crystal globe to reveal Dracula's Heart. Jump up and grab it, then make your way out of the Palace of Mist, and back to the town to save. Don't forget about that tricky jump at the bottom of the stairs! Save when you get to town, then head back to Jablane at the beginning of the game. Rest up and save here as well. Now make your way back to the Ferryman. Before you get on the boat and talk to the Ferryman, equip Dracula's Heart in your relics section. When you talk to the Ferryman, he'll take you to a different place. PHANTOM'S REALM (after ferryman warp) ===================== The first thing you'll encounter is a long series of jumps over water on single moving blocks. Fortunately, there are no enemies and the jumps aren't too difficult. Just don't get cocky and you should be able to bounce right on through. Phantom's Realm 2: Skulls and Triple Dragons (Dragon Towers) populate this area. There are lots of water jumps and riding platform 'rafts' to contend with. There are some stairs about halfway through the area where you can go down and save your game. Save if you want then continue on to the next area. Phantom's Realm 3: Right at the beginning of this area, toss some Holy Water on the last block before the water jump. You'll find a potion receipe 'Water Potion Moss 4, White Herb 2, Apple 5'. Unfortunately, this receipe doesn't work. Glitch somewhere. Other than that, it's more of the same, just head right on through the area. Phantom's Realm 4: More of the same... but at night creaures called Grave Zombies appear that move quickly and teleport... watch out for them! Phantom's Realm 5: You'll see some stairs down, skip them for just a minute and continue on right. You can find some blocks to break here that reveal the message 'Dracula's Eyeball will wake the undead'. Once you've found that, head back to the stairs and take them. Then head on to the right. Next: More Triple Dragons and some Werewolves for variety. If you break some blocks on the right near the top of the stairs, you can obtain the Moss ingrediant. Falling down the hole where you found the moss is the only way to avoid being hit by the Triple Dragon at the bottom of the stairs. Continue on to the next screen and a town. TOWN AFTER THE FERRYMAN'S WARP ============================== townspeople say....... relevant..... sign... Right for the evil path, left for Soba woods A presage can be found at the Time Manor I heard about a phantom ship on Myrne Pool. Clues to Dracula's Riddle are at Myrne Forest. Specteral Entities are invisible without a crystal The first door you come to is a potion maker. Come here if you need to make a potion while in the general area. Next you'll find a candle of light and a church, then the last door in town sells the Snake Whip. It's weaker than the chain whip, so don't buy it! Rest up and save your game. Now make your way back left and up the stairs you used to head to town. Continue right this time past some more Triple Dragons and werewolves to the Mansion entrance. TIME MANOR: =========== Here you'll face Dragon Pillars (two tall versions of the triple dragons) and Knights of Revenge. Knights of Revenge throw scythes at you, which act like boomerangs, and fly pretty quickly. You can easily duck under these, however. Watch out for spears that shoot out from the walls and look like ordinary spikes you've seen in previous dungeons at first glance.... though they're in positions that make them kind of obvious right at first. They do a *lot* of damage, so try to avoid them. Head all the way to the right, then up the stairs, watching the spears at the top. Keep on going up stairs until you run out, then head left and jump up to reach the next set of stairs. Climb up this flight of stairs and head right into the next screen. Note: If you go up the next flight of stairs and then head left and down a long ways, you can collect the 4th presage.... but I'm going to do that on the way *out* of the mansion, as it's not so far out of the way that way. More Knights of Revenge and bone throwing Skeleton II's. The stairs up don't go anywhere, so skip them. When you get to the stairs down, take both flights and head left. Take the stairs down when you reach them.... as to continue on is a dead end... a *DEAD* end fulla blobs! I hate blobs.... Once you've taken both sets of stairs down, remember this spot! You'll head right here to enter the relic room. For now, you need an Oak Stake though. Drop down the hole onto the blocks. It's hard to avoid getting hit by the spear trap here... but unlike the rest of the traps like this in the Manor, if you don't touch the tip of this one, you don't get hurt. So what you want to do is fall straight down when the spear is extended. It's still not easy to do, so you might want to use some Laurels here... otherwise take your hit and continue on right, avoiding the other spear trap and the Dragon Pillar. Descend one flight of stairs and head left. Jump up on the blocks to reach the Stake Merchant and purchase your stake. Then backtrack to the relic room. I *really* suggest using a Laurel to pass that one unavoidable spear trap, because it's even harder to deal with going up than it was going down! Head into the relic room and break the crystal, then take Dracula's eyeball! Three down, Four to go! If you select Dracula's Eye from your relics list, you'll be able to see the things that are hidden behind blocks that Holy Water will break! That means things like hidden hints, ingrediants, and the Presages will be much easier to locate from now on. Remember that 'Note' earlier? When you reach this spot on the way back out, ascend the stairs I said to skip earler. Make your way left and then just keep descending until you come upon a blob. There are some fake blocks here (the blob will likely make their location obvious) which allow you to continue on. Keep on descending until you reach the last set of stairs before the path forces you to the right. Here, toss holy water at the right wall to reveal a clue 'A receipe is at the second statue of the water hall'. Once you've got it, head down those stairs. Once down the stairs, head right across the spike pits, dealing with another blob and a Dragon Pillar. You'll find the Presage if you toss some holy water at the bricks on the right wall past the Dragon Pillar. Once you've gotten it, head back and jump up in this area, avoiding the spear traps. Once you reach the top and jump off the blocks to the right, you're back on the same path you used to enter the mansion. Finish making your way out and back to town to save. There's an area nearby where you can gain exp, so head right out of town. You'll face a couple of bats here, and a few more difficult jumps on moving platforms over water. After that, a lone fireball spitting Two Heads Creature is the last challenge of this area. Head on to the next section. HORROR GARDENS: =============== The jumps over water here are tricky, so watch it! Make them then climb up to the upper level. There's a path right, but you need a potion to continue that way. You're only here to level up at the moment anyhow. Fight the Evil Fruits and Man Eating Plant right here to build your exp up until you reach 300 and enter the boss fight. Turn on Dracula's eye near the stairs to the top and you should see a message. Use Holy Water to break the block and you'll get the message 'Push for a while with a red crystal the wall at Mystery Cave'. Once you've finished off the Reaper.... what a pud.... head back to town and save again. Now it's time to continue onward. Go back to the Horror Gardens where you were facing the fruits to build your exp. Continue on past them into the next area. Horror Gardens 2: Here you'll face a long series of jumps over water... being harried by Fishmen all the way. Make sure you've got the Rib activated and be *very* careful as the Fishmen 'spawn' spots are perfectly designed to catch you as you jump the gaps. You've got to get off two well timed whip cracks to take them out. I would certainly not advise trying to head through this area at night. Horror Gardens 3: Here you'll face some more water jumps and Man Eating plants. Fortunately the plants are set so that you can stay back at a distance, out of the range they detect you and start spitting fireballs, and toss daggers at them until they croak. Make your way through here to the next area. Horror Gardens 4: Climb up and don't take the paths left or right offscreen! The right one will dump you back into the previous area, and the left ones crashed the game on me! Just climb upwards. You'll face one tricky jump, and then see some more stairs. Here I recommend you use a Laurel. The fast moving wolves and pair of Bad Fruits at the top of the stairs just make this area nearly impossible to escape unscathed otherwise. Once you are past them and at the top of the area, exit to the left. Entrance to Camilla Manor: This is the entrance to Camilla Manor. The place is a nightmare, so let's go onward and come back later, shall we? Horror Gardens 5: Here you'll face more Man Eating Plants and water jumps, then some more Bad Fruits. Nothing really too dangerous. Just take out the plants with the Dagger, and watch out for the Fruits falling at you. Next: You'll face Bears, Bats, and Cursed Eyes here. Head downward on the stairs. The path will split eventually, allowing you to go down on the left or the right side. Choose to go right, because the left side will come to a dead end. On the right, you must fall from a platform at the right edge of the screen to continue onward. This is the only way to get to the bottom of this section. Beware of the stairs, because you can be trying to duck and whip eyes and end up going down the stairs and getting hit instead. Once you've navigated the area to the bottom, exit to the left to the next area. Next: You'll face Freddies and Bears here. There's one spot where you ride a block 'raft' toward a Bear that's dangerous, paticularly at night when it takes two shots to kill the Bear. Next: Here you'll face Zombie Hands, Demons, and Pirate Skulls. Nothing too dangerous, just make your way through the area. Next: Bears and Spiders here. The first Bear is really dangerous (especially at night) because of the position it's in. It's easy to get hit and knocked back off screen to have to try it again. The second Bear can also cross the gap if it jumps (didn't kill it in one blow) so beware of that as well. When you go to make the jumps, beware of the low ceiling, even even though the water below is shallow and won't kill you. Head up the stairs where you'll face more Bears, Cursed Eyes, and Spiders. Left is a dead end (It's right of Rakes... where the water you can't cross is) so head right to the next town of Kainesu. KAINESU: ======== The people here don't say much that's relevant. sign.... Right for Death Lake, Left for Rakes Forest. You'll need attention on the floating trunks my freind went to Camilla M. but never returned Right when you first enter town, you'll see an open doorway with a man walking around in front of it. Talk to him and he'll trade you a Blue Crystal for your White one. Enter the door he's walking in front of and you find a man who sells the Morning Star whip. Get it by all means! The Morning Star is longer than the chain whip, and does about twice the damage! It will make your life a *whole* lot easier. Farther into town you'll find the Church and the Candle of Light. At the other end of town, you'll find another open doorway. Inside this room you can find a person selling the Silver Knife. This is a must-buy as well. The Silver Knife flies the full length of the screen and does about twice as much damage as the dagger. It will hit multiple enemies as it flies across the screen. This is the first Sub Weapon you acquire which consumes hearts when you use it.... fortunately, it only consumes one per toss. Make sure you build up the hearts for the Morning Star and the Silver Knife. Then rest up at the church and save your game. The area to the right of town is a dead end right now, but you can acquire the 6th Presage if you head over there. When you exit town, don't try to jump the water. Instead, jump up onto the block. It looks like it's too high, but you can make the jump. Instead of heading up the stairs, head right and kill the Bear. Then continue on right and toss some Holy Water at the far right wall to find the Presage 'A receipe is near where a Red Crystal will be used' Head back to town and save your game again to preserve the Presage. Then it's time to head back to Camilla Manor. On the way back to the manor, when you reach the area where the path split in two and you had to drop down on the right side, you'll be forced to break a block with Holy Water in order to proceed upwards. Otherwise, the journey back to the manor will be much easier now that you have the Morning Star and the Silver Knife. CAMILLA MANOR: ============== You'll face some Sheilded Skeletons and Phantom Knights, neither of which are much of a threat to you. Shortly thereafter, you'll find out why this place is a nightmare. There are blood trails coming down the walls from high above, and blood drops roll down these trails. When they reach the level you're on, they burst and send blood drops flying everywhere. The Rib will block them... but if they're behind you... or in just the right spot..... or an enemy is creeping up behind you... or if you touch them before they burst.... you get the picture. Dealing with these blood drops is the most dangerous thing about the first section of the Manor. Head all the way right, and then go up the stairs. Once at the top, head left and carefully jump up onto the platform that has spikes sticking out of both sides. It's a tricky jump to avoid taking the big damage from the spikes. Then do the same with the next one. Once past this, if you jump the spike pits to the left, you can toss some Holy Water on the left wall for the hint 'The place is named after the old cathedral' Head up the stairs before the spike pits and head right. Once you're all the way at the right, just before the stairs, you can toss some Holy Water at some more blocks to find the hint 'The secret of this manor is in it's most cursed zone' Head up the stairs.... Great... BLOBS!!! Grit your teeth and fight your way through them. You'll now also see the source of the blood drops.... Paintings weeping blood. You can't 'kill' the paintings, so run past them. Be careful not to run past while they're 'weeping' or you'll get hit. Keep heading left and jump the spike pits, then take out the skeletons and head up the stairs. Head past the paintings, watching for them to weep as before, and take out the Phantom Knights that try feebily to stop you. Then take out the friggin' annoying blob that is not quite so feebily trying to stop you. Continue on right to the next area. Here you'll face fireball spitting Devils. The rib blocks their fireballs. Thankfully, you're done with the blood and paintings for a while. Head right and down the stairs. Keep going right at the bottom of the stairs (the left is a dead end) and take out another skeleton and Devil. Then head down the stairs you find here. Take out the Phantom Knights and Skeletons (Some throw bones, be careful!) and continue left to the stairs. Face down the Devil, then head left to find the Stake Merchant. Purchase your stake (hope you have the 50 hearts! It's going to be hard to earn them if you don't!) and head right back to the stairs that brought you down to this area. Continue past the stairs and onward to the right. Carefully jump the spike pits and head on into the next area. Here, toss your stake and claim the Relic, Dracula's Ring. Now, toss some holy water on the blocks below the platform the Ring was on. When you break one of the blocks, make your way under the platform the Ring was on and toss some more Holy Water at the right wall. When it breaks, continue through. Talk to the man you find here, and he'll exchange his Red Crystal for your Blue one. You now have the final crystal! Now, make your way back through this nightmare Manor to the entrance. Once you're outside, head right and make your way back to the prevous town. Heal up and save here, then head left and up the stairs. Activate Dracula's Eye, and be extra careful of fireballs because you don't have the protection of the Rib. When you reach the graveyard area, you should see a dude and a chick that are sort of intangible. Talk to the dude and he'll reveal a secret entrance. Jump down to where you saw the blocks explode, and press UP to enter the tomb. Here you'll face.... Simon? Who knows... anyway it's a Belmont looking dude LOL He'll give a little speech then start attacking you. He just tosses daggers, but he's hard to see because he's invisible most of the time. Toss your Silver Knife at him and whip to knock him into submission. When you finish him, you'll obtain the Magic Key. This appears in your item screen next to the Whip and is unselectable. Now make a long, long trek back to Myrne Town. Rest up and save at every town along the way. You could have done this next part long ago.... I chose to wait until I had the Morning Star because there are some extremely annoying enemies coming up, and the extra power comes in handy. From Myrne Town, head left. Head past the stairs down where you went to the Palace of Mist. The water in the next screen is not deadly, but flows one direction and will push you if you don't fight the current. Take on the Bears, skipping the stairs down in the middle of the area, and continue onward. Next area: Here you have to contend with those annoying wolves and more Bears, otherwise, nothing of note really. Next area: More wolves to deal with... water jumps and elevator platforms. Fishmen pop up too, but they're of no real consequence. Head on to the next area. Next area: A couple of elevator platforms give you a way over a high block pillar that obstructs the path. You'll come to another such column with no elevators. You can get over it from this direction by jumping onto a block jutting out the side of the column. You'll not be able to return this way, however. Get over the column and continue onward. Use the stairs to get up to the platform and avoid the pit going downward. You'll have to fall down here on the way back, but you want to avoid it for now. Head on to the next area. Next area: Ride the rock rafts, dealing with Fishmen, Bears, and Bats along the way. You'll come to another rock raft with a long platform of blocks above it, but don't get on it yet. Instead, toss Holy Water at the block platform above. Once you've destroyed all the blocks you can from solid ground, you'll have to get on the moving platform and continue to take the blocks out with Holy Water. Get toward the front of the platform, jump and throw the Holy Water while the 'raft' is moving left. You should fall safely back onto the platform. Repeat this until you can get onto the solid ground on the other side and finish taking out all the blocks. The way is now clear to continue onward. Secret House Entrance: This is the entrance to the next mansion, the Secret House. Pass it up and continue onward for now. Next: You'll face Bears and Freddies here, nothing much else to say. Next: Bears and Fishmen here. Jump onto the first platform, then toss Holy Water at the first block across the way. You'll reveal the White Herb ingrediant. Go grab it, and continue on dealing with more Bears and Wolves to the next area. Next: Some Pirate Skulls populate this area, and it dead ends at a cliff face. Break the last low block with Holy Water to reveal the message '. M.G.C .RB W.LL M.K. Y.. .BL. T. W.LK .N W.T.R -Too Faded-' Looks like 'A Magic Orb Will Make You Able To Walk On Water' to me. Now backtrack to the Secret Place. If you decide to go back to town first, you'll have to skip past the section for the Secret Place and find the directions home, as you have to deviate from the path you took to get here somewhat. SECRET PLACE: ============= Right off the bat, go up the stairs and toss Holy Water at the last block on the right to find the 5th Presage 'The one who finds the secret place at Camilla M. will be saved'. Ooops.. we already did that! Oh well =P Now go talk to the guy in orange. He asks you for a destination. E is the floor you're on, and A, B, C, D are floors up. Choose 'C' for now. When you reach the floor, head right into the next area. Floor C: Boulders which roll erratically will be falling down on you, so be careful. Take out the Skeleton and then head up the stairs. Jump down into the area right with the spike pits. Here is the annoying enemy that caused me to save this dungeon for now. Axe Knights toss their axes a long way and there's *no* way to block them. You can't whip them either. With the whip you have now, and the extra life bars, it makes this area easier than if you'd come here earlier in the game. I would advise using some Laurels here, as between the Axe Knights and the deadly spikes, you'll take a beating otherwise. Get past the nightmare, and purchase an Oak Stake Then head back to the elevator and choose floor B. Floor B: Head right, beware the boulders and Axe Knights. Go up the stairs and talk to the dude standing here (Looks like Alucard from CV3) Listen to his story, then say 'yes' when he asks to join in your quest. Igor is now a selectable character. He has a very useful attack, tossing three rings out in a forked pattern... one up at an angle, one down at an angle, and one straight on. They are as strong as your current whip, and they reach farther... as well as hitting in places where it would have been hard to get the whip to hit. It's tremendously valuable against fast jumping enemies like wolves and blobs. He's pretty tall, making him more prone to get hit in places where the other two characters ducking will get them out of range. He also can't use item crashes. Otherwise, he's a great character! His shortcomings are far outweighed by his strengths. Now head back out to the elevator and choose floor A. Floor A: Head right and watch out for the bone throwing Skeleton II's. Then jump up and over the spike platforms. Then head on down the stairs. There's several sets of stairs you can use, and the goal is to get down into the bottom right of the area. Here you can cross over into the Relic room. Toss your Oak Stake and break the globe, then grab Drac's Nail. Now head back up and out to the elevator. If you choose to go to floor D, you can go up and find a clue here. Jump up and over onto the platform, watching out for the deadly and strong birds. These are the critters that drop the boulders. The Birds take three shots to kill, even at your current strength, and hit hard. Once on the platform, jump down and back onto the short platform. Toss some Holy Water on the blocks to the left and you will reveal the clue 'Evil birds used to go from here to Fleva Land' There's an area that opens up in the ceiling right here, but I didn't find a way up there... Anyway, go grab the clue if you want, then exit out of the manor. Now head back toward town. When you get blocked by the column I told you that you wouldn't be able to pass this way earlier, go and fall down the pit below the platform with stairs on both sides. Once down the pit, head right. You'll have to go up and down a bit on stairs and jumps, but eventually you'll reach some stairs up. Take these and you'll be back on the same path you took to reach this area. Once back in town, save your game. You might want to go back to the previous town and stock up on some Laurels if you used a lot recently. It's always good to have lots of Laurels on hand. Head left out of town again. Take the first set of stairs down and make your way to the right past the spiders and make the jump down to the platform at the bottom left. Head into the next area and make your way through it. You'll dead end at a wall. Here, activate the Red Crystal and walk against the wall. You'll pass right through the wall. Once on the other side, toss some Holy Water on the blocks that bar your path and you'll find a potion receipe, 'Death Potion, White Herb 3, Root 7, Moss 3' When you continue on to the left, you'll be warped. You'll end up near where you found the sixth Presage and the town of Kainesu. Head into Kainesu and save your game. Then head back to the previous town. Here, go to the potion maker and make the Death Potion (That's White Herb 3, Root 7, Moss 3) Once you've gotten it, head back out of town right. Make your way across and up to the spot where you turned left to head toward Kainesu. Head right instead to the area where the wall blocked your path before. Talk to the woman here with the Death Potion equipped and the wall will be destroyed. Continue on, taking on a couple of Bad Fruits and a Two Head to reach the next area. Next: Simple, walk over and jump on the Ferryman's boat, then to the next area. SOBA TOWN: ========== sign..... Welcome to Soba Realm My brother lives at Sunset Town You can find a special whip here The evil book will recall Dracula's curse Be careful not to lose your way in the mansion Miracles will occur in Fleva lands Clues to Dracula's Riddle are at Fleva Woods The Fire Whip will increase your power Villagers feel the presence of the evil goblet I saw a strange flame at the evil graveyard The ferryman at the Soba River was born in Myrne land Clues to Dracula's riddle are at the Soba graveyard. Staying on the lower level, the first open doorway you come to sells Garlic for 50 Hearts. The garlic does minimal damage, and falls right at your feet when you use it. It remains on screen as long as you don't leave an area, continuing to damage any enemy that touches it. Near the edge of town, climb up one flight of stairs and go into the open doorway. Here you can purchase the Flame Whip for 220 Hearts. Get it! The Flame Whip is double the damage, you will certainly want that power for what is to come! Climb up one more flight and make your way all the way to the edge of town to find the Candle of Light where you can save your game. There is no church in town, even though there is an additional level higher than the candle where there are many people to talk to. Once you've gotten the Flame Whip, exit town to the Right. The first thing you'll encounter is an entrance to a mansion. Skip it for now and head to the next area. Soba Graveyard: Kill the 1st Zombie Hand, then toss Holy Water on the first higher block. You'll find the clue 'A secret treasure is hidden here'. Jump up and onto this platform and cross it. Then hop down onto the next area. Deal with the Zombie Hand (and Grave Zombie if it's night) then toss Holy Water on the 3rd block from the right of this platform. Jump down and claim the Sacred Flame. The Sacred Flame is thrown a short distance in front of you (shorter than the holy water) and lasts for two seconds. It does about the same amount of damage as the Silver Knife, but will do about 4such hits to a creature trapped in it before it expires. It costs a heart to use. Finally, head over to the right edge of the graveyard and toss Holy Water on the wall at the end. You'll find the clue 'Use the power of Dracula's Ring to get to Fleva'. Now head back to town and save. Now head for the mansion. You can gain experience inside the mansion, but there aren't many good places to do so. Just get the relic and get out! There's a better place later on. VILLA OF BLOOD: =============== Immediately upon entering you'll spot the trap of this dungeon. It looks sort of like a fireball attatched to a rope, rotating in a circle. Fortunately, they move in a predicatable pattern..... and what's more, the ropes don't damage you. So the key to getting past these is to get close and wait for it to go past you. Then get to the center where it's attatched to the blocks. Duck and wait for it to pass overhead and run on past it. Watch out for the critters though, be prepared to turn and whip both directions. The enemies here will all take two whip smacks to defeat. You also need to watch out for the platforms with spikes sticking out of both sides. That being said, take the stairs up, then head right. Just keep going right until you make it into the next area. Villa of Blood 2: There's a fireball spitting Devil right off, so deal with him before you deal with the trap. Also watch out for grey platforms in this area that blend in with the background pretty well. Once you've made it past the trap, you'll have to deal with some bats and a devil. Take them out again before dealing with the next trap. There's another trap right behind this one, so you'll have to do some quick jumping and ducking! Kill the skeletons and head down the stairs. There's another set of stairs right here, but skip them for now and head left. Remember this spot though, as you'll be coming back!!! Deal with the skeletons then take the next set of stairs down. Watch out for the skeleton coming up from behind, then deal with the trap to the left and fall downward. Be careful of a bone throwing Skeleton II at the bottom. Head right and down the next set of stairs. Take the next set of stairs down you find, dealing with the skeleton, and head left again. Take out one more bone thrower and purchase your stake. Now backtrack to where you first started going left in this area (where I told you that you'd be coming back to!) Head down the stairs once you make it back to this area. Deal with the skeletons, then descend again. Deal with another skeleton, then jump across the gap left. Then take the stairs down you find. You'll have to cross some spike pits, then fall down to a lower level. Be careful! There's a trap at the bottom of this fall! Fall, don't jump, and duck immediately. Time it and move left to fall down off this platform. Melissa and her knee walking ability come in handy here, because you can knee walk off the platform in complete safety without having to stand up and risk being hit. Stay kneeling once you're down on the next level and bide your time to continue on left. Hit the stairs, then head right to the Relic room. Toss your stake, claim Dracula's Goblet, and then get the heck outta Dodge! Head back to town and save. If you have the Goblet selected while adventuring, your whip will throw out a fireball every time you crack it. This fireball has all the strength of your current whip, and full screen range! The only trade off is that you lose the Rib, Eye, or whatever you normally use adventuring to use this power. Now head out of town and ride the ferry back to the other side of the lake. Go left into the next area, then immediately turn around and head back. Select Dracula's Ring from your Relic menu and ride the ferry again, this time you'll go to a new place. Kill the Two Head on the other side and continue to the next area. ETERNAL MARSH: ============== Head right, and stay out of the swamp if possible. Bats and Freddies populate this area, and very soon after you enter it, you'll be faced with a very difficult (if not impossible) jump to stay up high and out of the swamp. If you end up in the swamp, you might want to use a laurel or two to get you through with a little less damage. Eternal Marsh 2: Just a few skeletons to deal with here. When you reach a spot with two elevator platforms, jump on the platform on your side. Activate Dracula's Nail from your Relic menu and whip the wall to the right. It will destroy some blocks and allow you to continue on your way. Keep going right to the next area. Eternal Marsh 3: You'll face Skeletons and Rolling Eyes here. Head right and stay on the high platforms. Make your way through to the next area. Eternal Marsh 4: There are some stairs down here, but continue on to the next area. Fleva Town: ============ townsfolk say.... relevant.... The sacred cross has special powers look for a treasure at fleva mansion Dracula's book is the symbol of evil spirits fly on melissa lake clues to dracula's riddle are in fleva mansion clues to dracula's riddle are in fleva woods melissa's cross was lost in the time the fleva mansion is the symbol of fleva evil book In the first open doorway you can purchase the Gold Knife for 150 Hearts. The Gold Knife will fly the length of the screen and costs two hearts to use. It does good damage, and will stick in an enemy doing about three shots of damage before it loses power. In the next open doorway you can purchase the Light Whip for 250 Hearts. The Light Whip is the ultimate whip in the game, and does double the damage of the Flame Whip. By all means, get it! There's no church in this town, so you'll have to depend on item crashes if you want to heal yourself up. You'll want the Light Whip, for sure, and likely the Gold Knife as well. Save once you've acquired them both. You'll notice you've been gaining exp. in this area, so let's level up and head for the next boss fight before you continue on. Once you've beaten the Guardian Vampire Bat, save your game again and it's time to continue adventuring. Head out of town right. You'll see two columns of blocks dead ahead. Toss Holy Water on the second one to find the clue 'the cross will free melissa's soul'. Once you've got this, just deal with the skeletons and stay high. You'll have to face fireball spitting Mudmen if you get down low into the marsh. Next area: Just rolling eyeballs and bats here. It's a straight shot, so just head right to the next area. This is the Mansion entrance to Crystal Castle. Head on in. CRYSTAL CASTLE: =============== You'll see some columns of blocks coming down from the ceiling. Toss Holy Water at the 2nd one to find the 7th Presage 'The one who possess the relics, cross, key, will fly on the lake'. Head up on the stairs, then right. You'll come to some blocks in the floor, with an Axe Knight you should watch out for just beyond them. Holy Water these and you'll find the clue 'A magic wind will take you to the house of darkness'. Once you've got that, head right and jump the gap. Here climb down the stairs and continue on. Carefully jump up on the platform with the spikes sticking out of it and spikes above it, then continue on to the next area. Crystal Castle 2: Watch out for the bone throwing Skeleton II. Head up the stairs and to the right. You'll have stairs going both up and down here. You want to go up for now, but remember this spot, as you'll be coming back here and going down soon enough. Climb up a few flights to where you're facing Blobs and Axe Knights. Deal with the blobs and head right to deal with the Axe Knights. Once you're past them, head up the stairs. Climb up a couple more flights of stairs, dealing with the skeletons, and you should see the green Stake merchant. Get your stake, then head left and up another set of stairs. When you are at the top, go left under the platform with spike pits and a Devil overhead. Toss Holy Water at the left wall and pass through the gap. Talk to the person here and you'll receive the Melissa Cross. Now backtrack through the level to where I told you that you'd be coming back to. Take the stairs down this time, then head right into the next area. This is the Relic Room, so toss your stake and claim the last Relic, The Evil Book. Now get out of the mansion and save your game. Now that you have everything and you've saved, set out from town to the right again. Continue past the mansion entrance to the next area. You'll face a trek over a bridge with all the skeletons and Fishmen you've come to expect on such treks. Deal with them and make your way to the next area. Next area: Here you'll face some skeletons and see some stairs down. If you pass the stairs and continue right, you'll be stopped by a cold wind that won't let you proceed any farther. So head down the stairs and into the next area. DEMON CLOUDS LAND: ================== All you'll face in this first area are some Skeletons and bats. Nothing too dangerous. Just make your way through and into the next area. Demon Clouds Land 2: Another trek over a bridge facing Skeletons and Fishmen. Dash on through to the next area. SUNSET TOWN: ============ sign... right for Melissa lake, left for fleva land otherwise.... nothing of real interest said... Stop at the church and heal up, then save at the candle of light. There's really nothing else to do here. You've probably noticed that you're gaining exp again. Normally, I'd say to stop right here and gain a level before you continue on. The only problem is, there's a glitch in the game and you can't complete the next boss battle against Simon Belmont.... because he never appears. If you do end up in the boss room, you'll find it's three rooms actually. The one you land in, another church-like room if you go right, and a room of nothing but water that leads to instant death to the left. This is the only way out of this glitched boss fight. Now it's time go to on to the final battle. Head right out of Sunset town. You'll be whisked across Melissa lake since you have all the necessary items. Next Area: Here you'll face Flame Throwers and flying skulls. Head up the stairs, then right, then up once again. Then head left to reach the next area. Next area: Here you'll have to deal with Medusa Heads, Skulls, and Zombie hands. Not too much of a problem, just head left to the next area. This is the Mansion Entrance to the Invisible Palace.... Dracula's Abode. If you were to continue left from here, you would eventually be warped back to the spot where the cold wind blew you back near Sunset Town. But our goal is to go take out old Fang Face, so let's go in the mansion. INVISIBLE PALACE: ================= There's only one enemy inside the Palace, and that's Dracula himself. Just head right into the next area. Invisible Palace 2: Head upwards. There are a few tough jumps, but no enemies to take advantage of a poor jump... so just head upwards and into the next area. Here you'll face Dracula! You'll see a flash of lightning, which outlines his form and lets you know where he's going to appear. Get yourself in position, then whip. You don't have to jump, just whip him. It takes a measely two shots to take out Drac's first form. He'll go into a speech, then change forms. Dracula's second form: This one is more difficult. He flies around, up out of your range, and then comes down violently to the floor. It causes bricks to fall from the ceiling, and at the same time he sends out a ring of fireballs. When he hits the ground, crack him with your whip. It won't take more than 3-4 cracks to finish him. Enjoy the ending! You've won! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ VIII: BOSSES ================================== FIRST BOSS BATTLE Level 0, 100 EXP ================================== You are transported to the boss room and must face the Frost Dark Eyeball. The critter is mounted on the right wall and fires out three little eyes that are very fast. two of them fly in an intertwining wave much like bats (but faster) and the third shoots out a short distance from the eye and then returns toward it. The two 'intertwining' eyeball shots fire out in a set pattern. The will slowly reach lower and lower until a certain point... then begin rising up so they're striking higher and higher. Where you first appear in the boss room, you are completely safe. You cannot be hit by the little eyes. Jump up onto the first platform below the eye and wait until the intertwining eye shots are up high. Then start jumping up and tossing daggers at the bugger. Every time you hit it, it will stop it's shots. If you time it right, it'll never get another shot close to you and you'll destroy it. Welcome to Level-1 and a bigger life bar. =================================== SECOND BOSS BATTLE Level 1, 150 EXP =================================== You are transported to the boss room and must face the Buried Dragbones. This is a Dragon Skeleton. It will appear first from the right side of the room... snaking outward to about halfway across the screen and then start firing fireballs at you. You can't block these fireballs with the rib, unfortunately. The pattern I found to work was to take one shot at it as it's snaking outward to full length, then duck immediately while it's firing it's fireballs at you. Once it retracts, get up and head over toward the other side of the screen. Take another shot at it when it snakes outward, then duck again. It doesn't seem to do *too* much damage, and it rarely hits you when you're ducked... especially compared to if you try and jump around and dodge it. You should succeed in killing this evil minion of the count. Welcome to Level-2 and a bigger life bar. ================================ THIRD BOSS BATLE LEVEL 2, 200 EXP ================================ When you are transported to the boss room, you must face Freddie Candleman. This creature simply teleports around the room, throwing fireballs (unblockable) after it's fully materialized. Keep your eyes open, move quickly, and whip the bugger as soon as he appears. You'll prevent him from firing off his fireball and weaken him some. Overall he's not that difficult of a boss.... it's quite possible to never even get hit by him if you get him the first time as soon as you appear. Welcome to Level-3 and a bigger life bar. =================================== FOURTH BOSS BATTLE LEVEL 3, 250 EXP =================================== When you are transported to the boss room, you must face the Possessed Golem. When you hit this creature, it splits in two. Be careful, the splitting halves damage you, and they hit *hard*! Hit the smaller halves and they split as well. Kill off the four small ones and he's finished. You'll have to duck to whip the smallest ones. Because this boss hits so hard, I would advise using Laurels here if you have them to avoid getting the tar beat out of you. Welcome to Level-4 and a bigger life bar. ================================== FIFTH BOSS BATTLE LEVEL 4, 300 EXP ================================== When you are transported to the boss room, you must face the Grim Reaper. Don't fear the Reaper... you knew I hadda say it, didn't you? But it's true. Grimmy is a breeze. The bonehead just circles around the screen, tosses fireballs.... lather... rinse... repeat. Get over on the left side of the screen when he appears. When he fires off the three low flying fireballs, jump them. Then when he gets close, whip him once and jump and whip him again. He'll go down in no time. Death has rarely been cheesier. Welcome to Level-5 and a bigger life bar. ================================== SIXTH BOSS BATTLE LEVEL 5, 350 EXP ================================== When you are transported to the boss room, you must face the Guardian Vampire Bat. The bat has a pretty simple attack pattern. It hovers up high on the screen where you can't hit it, then dives down and tries to hit you. It can be hard to dodge sometimes, though it doesn't seem to do a whole lot of damage really. Once it's dived down, start whipping the blazes out of it. You shouldn't really have a lot of trouble defeating this foe. Welcome to Level-6 and a bigger life bar. ============= BELMONT SHADE ============= When you enter the tomb found by having the Eye equipped in the graveyard of Phantom's Realm, you'll face a shade of a Belmont past. This ghost fades in and out of view, but can be hit while invisible. All he does is move about, throwing daggers and cracking his whip. You can quite easily defeat him with a few tosses of the Silver Knife and some whip cracks. Once you've beaten him, you'll obtain the Magic Key. One of two special items necessary to complete the game. ======= DRACULA ======= Here you'll face Dracula! You'll see a flash of lightning, which outlines his form and lets you know where he's going to appear. Get yourself in position, then whip. You don't have to jump, just whip him. It takes a measely two shots to take out Drac's first form. He'll go into a speech, then change forms. Dracula's second form: This one is more difficult. He flies around, up out of your range, and then comes down violently to the floor. It causes bricks to fall from the ceiling, and at the same time he sends out a ring of fireballs. When he hits the ground, crack him with your whip. It won't take more than 3-4 cracks to finish him. Enjoy the ending! You've won! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IX: CREDITS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Naturally, thanks go to Archimedes for making the game in the first place! Thanks to Konami for the phenomenon that is Castlevania. It's the inspiration for this game, and the place where many of the graphics were ripped to give it that perfect Castlevania feel. http://www.classicgaming.com/castlevania/ The Castlevania Dungeon. It's where I found the game, and it's the best Castlevania site out there! Thanks to my sweety Robin. Without you, I'm nothing ^_^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~