Daily Dracula X - Stage 2: O God, Grant Me Strength

As a cyclical, generational story, the Castlevania series is quite fond of homaging itself.1 This stage is in large part a remake of the first stage of the original Castlevania with a few surprises waiting, including a new playable character who we’ll discuss more in depth tomorrow.

Music: Vampire Killer

The first stage theme from the original game, and kind of the series theme song. A reprise for the song as well as the stage design. Also the name of the Belmont family whip, passed down over the generations.2

Scene 1

Dracula’s courtyard is deceptively clear of obstacles… except for those damn crows. Throughout the game, crows practically melt into the background, until they attack you. If you pick up the knife early in the stage, you’ll have a much easier time with them. Knives are basically specialized to deal with crows and other flying enemies: they’re fast and their flight path is wide. They’re less useful against almost all other enemies because they don’t hit as hard as your whip does.

Inch forwards, and the moment you see a crow peek onto the right side of the screen, jump and throw your knives to take them out instantly. This way you don’t have to deal with any of their diving and dodging.

Otherwise, it’ll take a patient and calm hand to wait for them to swoop down at just the right moment to whip or knife them.

Belmont Technique! Jumping back attack

Here’s a trick that’s helpful against the crows and many other enemies in this game. You can change your direction in mid-air, but not very much, which makes this movement trick possible.

Jump in one direction, then immediately face the other way and attack. This allows you to attack while escaping, something you’re going to want to do a lot in this game.

This technique, present in many Castlevania games, is probably the inspiration for Richter’s backflip.

Key Enemy: Axe Knight

Symphony players will recognize this guy guarding the drawbridge right away; he’s one of many enemies from Rondo of Blood who return for the sequel. The axe knight throws his axes high and low. At first it seems like you need to simply dodge the axes in the direction that they’re thrown… but surprise, they’re actually boomerang axes that come back and hit you. The magic of video games!

So you need to destroy the axes as they come out, crouching or standing according to their direction. As you do this, push forward, whipping repeatedly, and eventually the knight will die. You’ll be seeing a lot of this fellow, and you’ll need to stay on your toes every time you fight him.

Scene 2

A walk through the main hall of Dracula’s castle. Lightning and bats outside, simple-minded zombies within. Like the first stage, there are some staircases to mix things up, but you don’t actually need to use them.

We meet an enemy I’m going to call Eyeball Dude for the first time here. This fellow settles into the stage with his eye closed, and floats around in annoying patterns once he opens it. If you leave him alone he’ll hit you, so whip him the moment he opens his eye. Then jump whip, and he’ll fly into it.

Scene 3

That last sequence was pretty quiet, and up until now this has all been note-for-note the same as the original Castlevania. So you might not expect a monstrous beast to crash through the wall behind you and give chase. We need to run away from this guy— as fast as a Belmont can, anyway— while hopping pits and avoiding zombies.

Extremely important here is the fifth candle in the room, which contains the key we need to rescue Maria Renard and unlock her as a playable character later. You do not want to miss Maria!

The trick of the key is that it replaces whatever sub-weapon you’re holding and cannot be used as a weapon itself.3 So for the time you’re holding it, you have to stick it out with just your whip.

Scene 4

Don’t think that flimsy door was going to keep you safe: the beast bursts through and will kill you here unless you escape to higher ground.

As he limps towards his death, we realize the poor beast only has the top half of his body intact as the rest of him falls apart and explodes. Farewell, buddy.

This has been grueling, so there’s a little bit of meat hidden in the wall of this room. You can’t cross this gap; it’s just too far to jump. I wonder if anyone *could* cross that gap? Better not think about it. Let’s go downstairs.

Scene 5

And back to scenes straight out of the original Castlevania, the merman-infested grotto. Mermen will pop up from below, slide around, and maybe even throw a fireball or two at you. Move fast, because they won’t stop coming, and kill them where you can. Maria’s cell is on the far right; just “use” the key like you would a sub-weapon to get in.

Rescuing Maria Renard

If you haven’t rescued Maria yet, there’s a brief animated cutscene introducing the character. From this point on you’ll be able to play as the little vampire hunter.

I will continue to note that the PC Engine had a reputation as the console for anime nerds. Maria’s style clash— along with that of the rest of the girls Richter saves— probably isn’t a random decision, but an appeal to the target niche.

The main thing you need to know about Maria is that despite Richter’s suspicion, she’s actually stronger and faster than him. Despite her slightly lower amount of life, Maria is effectively an easy mode for the whole game. That’s why it’s so important for you to save her ASAP; to save yourself frustration later.

We’ll talk about her more tomorrow, but for the sake of this project I’ll mostly continue to use Richter.

Scene 4a

Climb the stairs and you’ll find yourself on the other side of that gap you couldn’t cross, but which Maria can. Maria’s double jump allows her to easily traverse areas Richter struggles with or simply can’t access. She can even skip some areas outright, including the aforementioned gap in Scene 4.

As is demonstrated in the video, you can stand in just the right position on the stairs to jump to the right, hit the door, and leave as quickly as you came.

Boss prep

A simple boss break room with no frills, like most of them. Here you’ll want to pick up the holy water, particularly if you have a lot of hearts ready. Like last time, the holy water Item Crash will make this fight trivial.

Boss: Werewolf

A small and mobile opponent, you’ll have to anticipate his movements and strike him when he lands, or as he passes you, rather than chasing him down.

The werewolf likes to climb on the walls and even the ceiling of this room, way out of your reach. So instead, once he jumps up there, pop the item crash and make it rain. He’ll take damage throughout, making your job much easier.

This is another boss who takes a final stab at you: he’ll make a dive bomb attack into the middle of the stage before disappearing permanently.

Tomorrow we’ll jump out of the game for a moment to discuss Rondo’s other playable character, Maria Renard. A jokey, cutesy parody character, Maria clashes stylistically with Rondo and, in the hands of a smart player, also completely dominates the game. Check in tomorrow to find out how, vampire killers!