Daily Dracula X - Secret Belmont Technique! Backflip

I couldn’t quite fit this organically into the stage posts as I had expected, so I’m throwing a little appendix in here along with the Stage 1 post.

Behold the backflip

To perform a backflip with Richter, hold down to crouch and press the jump button twice, quickly. Richter should launch up and flip backwards.

“Why wouldn’t I just jump that way?” one might reasonably ask. The backflip move has a special property that a regular jump does not: namely, you’re invincible during the middle part of the jump.

Think of the backflip like a dodge roll in modern action games like Elden Ring or Monster Hunter; if you can visualize the enemy’s attack coming, then you can react, timing your dodge at just the right moment to go through it.

This game’s backflip takes a moment to set up, but it’s very useful once you’re accustomed to it. During certain bosses, it’s the only way to survive an attack.

However, it’s not an all-powerful evasive move. You’re vaulting over the enemy, not necessarily moving through them. Unlike the modern dodge roll, it’s not very useful as a panic button.

High-jumping with backflips

The backflip has one more use: its height. Though it’s not much compared to Maria’s double jump, Richter can use the backflip to get a little more height on his jump than normal.

To do this, hold down, and then press jump twice, with a slight delay between the presses. You’ll notice that the flip only “starts” at the second button press, so if you’re a little late, Richter will jump higher. This can come in handy on some of the more difficult stage layouts to come, and even allow Richter to skip some of the tough stuff.

Tomorrow we’ll be talking about the first alternate route through Stage 1, a weird little study in misdirection. See you next time, vampire killers!