_______________________________________________________________________________ Blitz Knight Stunt Present: ________ ,-' ______`-. ,' ,-' `-.`. / ,' `.\ , ,'/ ,'. / / _ /| | | _ . _ ',' _ / / ,' `._ __,'/_/ |_ | | ,-'\ ,'/ / ,' ,' `._ |\,' `. /`. ,' `._ | | / |`. ,' / _,' `. _|| | / |\ \ \ \ \ \ / |`. ,' | ,'| | | | / |`. ,' | | | | | | | (,-. | | | | | | \ \ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \,-. \ | | | | | |,',' | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \ \ | | | | ) || | | | | ,' | | / / | | | | | | | | | | | | | | \ \ | |,' |_ /\_/ / | | | | \ `._, \ './ / | |,' |_ | | | | | | | |,' |_ \ `.'._,'\_/'.__,'/ './ './ `.__/ `._,' '._,'\_/ './ './ './ '._,'\_/ `. `-.______,-',' `-.________,-' _ _ | | ___ __ _ ___ _ __ __| |___ | | / _ \/ _` |/ _ \ '_ \ / _` / __| | |__| __/ (_| | __/ | | | (_| \__ \ |_____\___|\__, |\___|_| |_|\__,_|___/ |___/ FAQ/WALKTHROUGH Authored by: Bkstunt Contact: Email: Faqs @ Bkstunt . Com Facebook: Facebook.com/Bkstunt Website: Bkstunt.com ============================================================================== - TABLE OF CONTENTS - ============================================================================== Note: Press Ctrl+F and enter in the code to skip to that section. THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU PLAY - Introduction.......................................................[CL-INT] - Controls...........................................................[CL-CON] - Game Basics and Tips...............................................[CL-GBT] WALKTHROUGH - Stage 1: The Graveyard.......................................[CL01] - Stage 2: Castle Halls........................................[CL02] - Stage 3: Clock Tower.........................................[CL03] - Stage 4: Castle Keep.........................................[CL04] - Stage 5: Inner Den Part 1....................................[CL05] - Bonus Stage: The Dungeon.....................................[CL06] - Stage 5: Inner Den Part 2....................................[CL07] - Credits............................................................[CL-CRE] ============================================================================== Introduction ===================================================================[CL-INT]=== Hello everyone, Bkstunt here with a FAQ of Castlevania Legends, the LAST GameBoy Castlevania game ever released. Castlevania Legends also happens to have been RETCONNED by IGA, as it didn't fit in the timeline that he envisioned for the series as a whole. It also has the distinction of being the first (and only) Castlevania game to FEATURE a female protagonist: Sonia Belmont. So why a guide? Well, frankly the guides that are out there AREN'T very good. There's an incomplete guide that looks good but it's, well... incomplete. Plus, those that know me KNOW I love me some Castlevania, so why not? A guide on a GameBoy game shouldn't take me THAT long... Anyways, I hope you enjoy the guide! ~ Bkstunt ========== FOLLOW ME! ========== Want to talk about some games!? Maybe throw out some ideas for what YOU want to see me write about next? I made a facebook account for just that reason! You can 'Like' me at: ==================== Facebook.com/Bkstunt ==================== I also have a website you can visit to see what other guides I've written, as well as see upcoming projects. I've also written a TON of reviews that will go up there (You want to play GOOD games, right?!). =========== Bkstunt.com =========== So between those two sites, come on over and say 'Hi!' sometime. ========= Donations ========= First of all, let me say that my primary motivation for writing guides is, and always will be, for the gamer. However, as I've learned by writing just a few guides on new games, it can hit your pocket book! I wish they'd give me these games so I could crank out great guides, but they don't! Ah, maybe one day! Until then, if you've found this guide helpful please consider donating to help me offset my costs. You can donate to my paypal account below: ======= PAYPAL: ======= Paypal ID: Gregorio31 @ Gmail . Com Hey, it's WAY better than paying $20 for a guide, right? Even the smallest amount will be appreciated. ======= AMAZON: ======= ALTERNATELY, if you shop at Amazon.com (who doesn't?!) you can ALSO help me out by shopping through me! It doesn't cost you a SINGLE CENT either, which is kick-ass. All you do is visit my webpage's donation page below: ========================== Bkstunt.com/donations.html ========================== Once you are there, you can click on the AMAZON link at the top and shop as normal. 4% of what you buy will then be sent to me. Please be sure to send me an email so I can thank you personally as well! Or just send me an email to say "Thanks!" Every one of those I read makes my day! ~ Bk ============================================================================== Controls ===================================================================[CL-CON]=== Here are the controls for the game. Now, normally I put in some ASCII of the controller or something, but since this is a GameBoy game I think a brief description will do. (-NOTE-) Controls are taken from the game's manual. Directional Button: For moving and crouching, and for moving the cursor. A Button: For jumping and for entering selections. B Button: For attacking. Start Button: For pausing/continuing and for skipping conversations. Select Button: For displaying a window. A Button + Down Direction: For sliding down a rope. A Button + B Button: For using the Burning Mode. Up Direction + B Button: For using a Soul Weapon. Down Direction + Left or Right Direction: For moving in a crouch. A + B + Start + Select Buttons: For resetting. ============================================================================== Game Basics and Tips ===================================================================[CL-GBT]=== Here are some of the basics to playing the game, as well as tips. This section is actually necessary as it also explains Sonia's special attacks ahead of time, as well as what the heck "Burning Mode" is. o When you start a New Game you'll have to choose between two different modes to play: - Standard Mode: Players start in a normal state, with a normal whip. - Light Mode: Players start equipped with a whip increased by two levels of power. o Each stage has a TIME LIMIT! Don't dilly-dally! o You have lives in this game, as well as a health bar. Lose all your health and you lose a life (duh). Run out of time and you lose a life. Jump down a pit, lose a life. When you lose a life, you'll have to start from the beginning of the current stage. If you lose ALL of your lives, you'll be asked if you wan to continue. Select yes to start playing again on the current stage (which is really nice of them to do). o The game also features a PASSWORD system. If you select NOT to continue the game after losing all your lives, you will be given a password you can put in at the title screen to continue at any time. o About BURNING MODE (Pressing A + B): During this mode, the player is invincible, the player's status being raised to twice the normal level. However, this mode can only be invoked once per life in every stage. Further, this mode lasts for a limited time shown on the burning gauge. So, you are obviously going to want to use this mode on TOUGHER enemies... like STAGE BOSSES. I would honestly save it until then! o SOUL WEAPONS: As you play, Sonia will gather and collect Soul Weapons (she will get them as a reward for defeating bosses), which act like your sub-weapons. Each Soul Weapon costs a certain amount of hearts to use. Below are all of the Soul Weapons, what they do, and how much they cost. - WIND: Stops enemy movement and attacks in all scenes except the area boss and stage boss battles. Cost: 5 hearts per use. - ICE: Restores the player's entire life gauge. Cost: 20 hearts per use. - FLAME: A flash attack effective against all enemies but area and stage bosses. Cost: 5 hearts per use. - SAINT: Sends a wave in front of the player. Cannot be fired consecutively. Cost: 1 heart per use. - MAGIC: Destroys an enemy other than the area and stage bosses and nullifies the enemy's attack. Cost: 5 hearts per use. o Normal Items: When whipping a candle (or other areas of the stage) certain items may appear. Here is what they are and what they do: - HEARTS: Increases the number of hearts you have. - MEAT: Restores half of your life gauge. - CRYSTALS: Raises the power of your whip one level. The whip can be raised a maximum of two levels. - 1UP: Increases your remaining lives by one. o Since you can die in just about any screen and lose your whips upgrades, I WON'T be listing WHERE to find the power-up crystals, as their location is random based on WHEN and WHERE you need them. SO, I'll only be listing candles with FOOD, or SPECIAL ITEMS. o Special Items: These items are collectable items that you need to have to get the BEST ending in the game. They are listed below. Follow the walkthrough to actually FIND them. You can hit select to see which ones you have. This small list is useful to see WHAT they are (in case you want to do a quick CTRL + F search). - AXE (Stage 1) - STOP WATCH (Stage 2) - DAGGER (Stage 3) - HOLY WATER (Stage 4) - CROSS (Bonus Stage) o THE VAST MAJORITY of the candles in this game contain hearts, just so you know. o If all you care about is beating the game, choose LIGHT MODE. If you want a challenge, choose STANDARD MODE. o This game has the MEGAMAN enemy structure. In other words, enemies SPAWN in certain spots, and you can kill them, move away, and come back and BAM!, they are there again! Be careful! ============================================================================== Game Start! ============================================================================== It was the middle ages in Transylvania. One man came into possession of an evil power, and the prince of Darkness was born. Before long, this being had used his new-found supernatural powers and the magic powers of his followers to spread his plague of darkness and despair throughout the European continent. He was Count Dracula. Even to mention the name of this Prince of Darkness was to cast fear into the hearts of the people in the land, who were powerless to do anything save voice their concern. However, at about the same time a baby girl possessing special powers was born to a family living in a remote area of the country. "Your powers are meant for a higher purpose and not only for yourself," she was often reminded as she was growing up. The plot of this girl's fate began to develop one night in her seventeenth year when she met up with the young enigmatic Alucard, who was on a journey to search for the father that had deserted him. The young girl's name was Sonia Belmont, and she was the first of the vampire hunters in the Belmont family to become legendary. ============================================================================== Stage 1: The Graveyard =====================================================================[CL01]=== Well, here we are with our heroine, Sonia Belmont. Listen to the music here (a version of bloody tears, one of the best Castlevania songs ever). Go whip the candless to power up your whip. You will run into ghosts here, so take them out (they are easy kills). Some bats will be up ahead, and they are ANNOYING! They come down slowly and it's a pain to line up hits against them. You can either make them come down one at a time and kill them or run past all three of them while killing ghosts and deal with them like that. Up ahead is some worms. Stand off to the left and make them drop, then kill them as they drop. Continue to the door. In this next area continue forward and a spirit will float to you. They are big, easy targets. There's a pit here too with another spirit, so whip it as you jump. Continue on to find another pit and worms. There's a rope here, and the candle up above has some MEAT for you. Go down. Down here, kill the spirit to the left and continue. You'll meet zombies here who DON'T go down with a single fireball. Continue to the left until you reach a path split where you can either go DOWN or to the LEFT. FYI, the higher candle has MEAT in it if you need it. The path to the LEFT should be taken FIRST, as it has a 1-UP icon in a candle at the end (plus its really short!). Go down afterwards. You'll see a bat on either side down here. Kill them or slide down the rope. Down further kill the worm on the right and go through the door. This next area has some bats at the start, but spirits and ghosts further in (which are easy, making this an easy area). Continue on to the next door. In this next area DO NOT hit the "CANDLE". It's not really a candle, more like dynamite. It springs a TRAP on you, so skip it. Continue to the right and kill some zombies and spirits until you reach another path split where we can either go UP or RIGHT. Go to the RIGHT first for a SPECIAL ITEM (we need to collect FIVE of these Special Items to get the best ending in the game). You will have to dodge some pits but the path is pretty safe. Just watch out for those damn bats on the ceiling. The candle at the VERY end of the path houses the special item: an .: AXE :.! Go back now and head UP. Be careful of the armored knight here (I didn't mention him earlier, did I? Duck to avoid the spear! Having fireballs is REALLY nice here...). Once you are on the rope and head up a screen jump to the left asap to avoid the falling knight. Take out the enemies here and grab the MIDDLE candle for some MEAT. Head up a screen and kill the bat. Ignore the knights and go through the door. In here do NOT HIT THE DYNAMITE. Go to the next screen and start heading up. Easier typed then done as armored knights, bats, and spirits make it hard, but power through them as the very top candle has some MEAT in it for you. Head through the right door. This next screen is short but has some annoying bats and armored knights at the end before going through another door. Head through this screen and go UP once you hit the rope. On the next screen go to the top of the rope and hit the candle for MEAT if you need it and then continue right. You'll come to a bridge area. We're getting close now, just watch your jumps. Head through the door to face this stage's boss! - Boss: Creatures Bat This THING (Creatures Bat is a good name) is annoying simply because he likes to FLY everywhere. But, he's not that tough and even has a simple pattern to exploit. When he's in the air flapping his wings really fast that means he's ABOUT to dive-bomb you. Walk/Jump away from him, leaving yourself room to do so. He'll then move across the screen and float down into whipping range where you can get 2-3 hits in on him and repeat. Activate burning mode and use it to lay the smackdown on him. After it is gone, use your knowledge of his pattern to finish him off. After the fight you'll be rewarded with your first magic orb, which contains: WIND: Stops enemy movement and attacks in all scenes except the area boss and stage boss battles. Cost: 5 hearts per use. This ability is SUPER useful as it PAUSES enemy movement. This makes dealing with overhead or awkward-to-hit enemies MUCH easier. Time to go to the next stage. ============================================================================== Stage 2: Castle Halls =====================================================================[CL02]=== Ok, remember to use your time-stop ability whenever you need it. Especially if you have the hearts to do so (I had 99 hearts at this point). Head to the right and you'll find a NEW enemy: the skull. This thing acts JUST LIKE the ghosts in MARIO. Look at it and it won't do anything. Turn away and it'll come at you. Use this knowledge to take him out safely. Head forwards and kill some more and you'll see another new enemy: the bone pillar. These things fire off fireballs at you, making it hard to dodge (either duck them or destroy the fire they spit). Keep going to the end of the screen and through FIVE small screens (each with an enemy in them). The last screen has a IGOR in it (who is a small man that moves around fastly). Thankfully he doesn't jump around unless you get VERY CLOSE to him. Continue on to the door. You'll deal with more Igor's and bats here. At the end is another skull. You can backtrack UNDER the walkway to get some MEAT from the last candle if you wish. Continue to the end and climb the rope. Head UP here (use a time stop to pause the bats) and you'll reach a split. Do we go UP or RIGHT? The answer my friends is UP (to get another SPECIAL item). Head up and you'll deal with a SKULL. The candle BETWEEN the ropes have some MEAT (the lower one) and a 1-UP (the higher one). You need to whip them and jump towards them FAST, catching the other rope on the way down. At the VERY TOP of this room, in the highest candle, is the .: STOP WATCH :.. Head back down now and go right. The bridge in this next room FALLS as you go, but it's really slow. Continue through the door. Kill the enemeis in this library-looking area until you reach another split. The right path has some enemies and some MEAT in a candle but it's hard to reach. Go down when you're ready. After a few screens you'll see a door to the right but the ceiling and floor are covered in spikes! Go down again and you'll see a HUGE knight. He walks around down here and will occasionally dash at you with his sword, so be careful. We NEED to kill him though, so pause time and take him out. Go back up the rope and you'll see the spikes are gone, so you can go through the door! The candles on the right have hearts guarded by an Igor, so head down. You will see another spike-traped door, so go down AGAIN go another HUGE knight. Yep, take him out and head up through the door. This next area is pretty basic but be careful of the pits. The last candle here before the door has some MEAT in it! Continue through the next area until you reach a dead-end. Hit the candle to spawn the next boss! - Boss: Death Dragon This guy is HUGE! I also like the "intro" to this boss. The Death Dragon will stick to the right of the screen and spit fireballs at you. He'll also make chunks of the ceiling come crashing down at you. You're going to want to aim for his head (duh!) while ducking the HIGH fireballs and jumping the LOW fireballs. For the ceiling you're just going to have to pay attention, but try your best NOT to get stuck in the far left corner. Burning mode will help you out a TON here, obviously. Use it to make the fight a TON easier and finish off the Death Dragon if there is anything left. After the fight you'll be rewarded with another magic orb, which contains probably the most BROKEN ability in the game: ICE: Restores the player's entire life gauge. Cost: 20 hearts per use. That's right, we can now FULLY heal our life gauge for 20 hearts! Bwahah! Time to go to the next stage. ============================================================================== Stage 3: Clock Tower =====================================================================[CL03]=== (-NOTE-) To CHANGE your SOUL WEAPON, press select. You can PICK which one you want to use here. Ok, we're in the clock tower now. There will be lots of annoying bats and clock-like chains, as well as a lot of vertical rooms. Start by heading up and dealing with bats and spirits (freeze them if you wish) to head up a screen. You'll see a CHAIN LIZARD here. He likes to use the chains to come after you, but is pretty easy to avoid. Head up again to a door on the right. Head upwards some more and deal with more annoying bats, a lizard, and an Igor. Before going up, be sure to take the RIGHT chain, as up on the next screen a lizard comes down at you. Jump to the right and take care of him! Continue up watching out for lizards, but be sure to get the top right candle for some MEAT before heading left to face... - Mid Boss: Flying Dragon This guy isn't that big of a deal, and I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T use burning mode here (Save it for the real boss). The dragon basically just flies to one side of the screen or the other, then spits out three small fireballs down at you. You can EASILY walk underneath the dragon to avoid the attack, and then attack him when he moves to the other side and comes down. He paces back and forth, so be careful and you can kill him without a scratch! After the fight a chain will fall down so you can continue up. Head up and you'll see a split IN the room. Take the LEFT side to reach another room (be careful of the lizard spitting fire on the right). Head up some more and you will see another path split: UP or LEFT. Head left FIRST. Make your way to the left killing the enemies until you reach another SPLIT: UP or LEFT. Now if you go left you'll end up being in a TRAP ROOM, wich is pointless, but the first candle down that path DOES have some MEAT. Grab that if you wish then head UP. Up here are some annoying bats and lizards. Take the right path but be extra careful of running into the spikes. Not far up is the ceiling (and an annoying spirit that comes from nowhere). The RIGHT candle up here has some MEAT while the left candle has the famous .: DAGGER :.. Grab it then head down to the screen below, then head right to where you made your first path split decision so we can head UP. Make sure to take the RIGHT chain before going up. Jump off the chain to the right and kill the lizard. You'll have to use a moving gear to the left to continue to the left, just be careful and time your jump right to avoid the spikes. Before jumping up on the next chain, jump up and make a lizard come down so you can clear the way to the door. In the next room wait for the bone pillar to fire, then jump down and kill it and the bat. Start heading up kiling a lizard. At the next set of chains a lizard will come down. I like to jump up to see him, then pause time so I can crawl past him and to the right so I can kill him easier. Continue up to the next screen. Up here the path splits to the LEFT and RIGHT again. You'll have to deal with spirits and bats. Head up the LEFT path if you want to get a 1-UP from the highest candle, then go up the RIGHT path to the next door. In here, kill the lizard and the bone pillar and head up. In the next screen you'll have to head up again, using the gears to get higher. Just be careful of random spirit enemies appearing. Head up one more screen to a room with an Igor and some spirits, but before going UP make sure you heal yourself. - Boss: Grim Reaper This boss may be the saddest "Death" bosses in Castlevania history. What he does is appear on one side of the room, then bounces to the other side. With each swing of his scythe a smaller scythe appears and bounces around the room. However, you can literally stand in the middle of the room and whip him while jumping. PLUS, each scythe he spawns can be destroyed with a single whip swing. I defeated him without taking any damage and while NOT using burning mode, so I'm sure you'll have no problem! After the fight you'll be rewarded with another magic orb, which contains: FLAME: A flash attack effective against all enemies but area and stage bosses. Cost: 5 hearts per use. The flame attack hits EVERYTHING on the screen as if you hit it once... meaning it will AUTOMATICALLY KILL EVERY BAT or SPIRIT on the screen, which is CRAZY useful! Time to go to the next stage! ============================================================================== Stage 4: Castle Keep =====================================================================[CL04]=== Head to the left here to find a new enemy: the spider. This guy takes a couple of hits to down. Head forwards to see three bats, a GREAT place to try out Soul Flame and see what it does. There's now a pit of spikes with chains moving back and forth. Be careful of taking the first chain though, as a big knight lurks on a platform to the left. You can soften him up from the right, then ride over and stop time to take care of him. Continue to the left and head up at the end. Head to the left and kill the spider. A wave will appear along the ground. This is a NEW enemy, the GIANT WORM. Stop right before the wave and he'll pop up, giving you a chance to kill him. Continue left to the door. You'll see a SPLIT in the path where you can either go UP or LEFT. Just FORGET about the upper path, it SUCKS. All that is up there is a bunch of trap candles that spawn enemies with some MEAT at the end (not worth it!). Go left, killing the huge knight. The upper path here has some MEAT in a candle at the end if you want it. You'll also encounter a NEW enemy: the SPIKE THROWER. It chucks spikes at you constantly until you get out of range or kill it. Continue to the left to face... - Mid Boss: Medusa Yet ANOTHER easy boss. You can literall just duck in the lower right-hand corner and she will never hit you. She moves back and forth, jumping and swinging a sword. Get in the safe zone and keep whipping and you'll win with ease. After the battle her head will fly off! Is this the beginning of the hated Medusa Head enemies!? Ha! Continue through the door. The lower path here (the one you DON'T want to jump under) has a 1-UP at the end, while you want to take the upper path and kill the two huge knights to continue. You'll face more spike pits here with more spike throwers, so be careful. Take a spike hit before stepping on the floor spikes! Continue to the left using the moving chains. There's another huge knight at the end, who is SUPER dangerous since there are spikes to the right, so pause time to kill him safely and make your way to the end and head up. Proceed upwards killing bats and spiders to find another door. There's a SPLIT in this room: either go UP or through a door to the LEFT. We want to go up for a SPECIAL ITEM. Head up the right path to go up, then on the next screen you'll see a TON of DYNAMITE CANDLES! DO NOT HIT THEM and continue up! Up on the next screen you'll have to go up further (use your FLAME attack to kill all of the annoying bats) and head to the top of this area to find the .: HOLY WATER :. SPECIAL ITEM in the upper left candle. Grab it and head back down so you can take the left path now. Make your way to the left killing the giant worms. Go up when you can and take out the huge knights and spike thrower and make your way to the end to enter a room where you will face: - Boss: Alucard And now we will take on Alucard, who as you can tell already knows Sonia. In fact, its basically implied that they are LOVERS... OOOOO! Anyway, this fight is Alucard's way of testing you, but we are WAY stronger than him! Time to show him that! Alucard has three moves during this fight. His first move is similar to the big knight's move in that he'll dash towards you with his sword. You're going to want to be far to the right and ducking to ensure you don't get hit. For his second move, he'll lift his cape and shoot fireballs at you (a classic vampire move it seems). You're going to want to jump the fireballs and keep whipping him, but you CAN just destroy the fireballs as well. His third move is merely designed to get him to the other side of the room, and he'll turn into a bat and fly to the other side of the room only to come back down and renew his attack. Burning Mode turns this fight into a joke, so by all means use it. You can probably even end the fight with burning mode alone. If not, have Soul Ice ready to heal yourself and whip your way to victory. After the fight you'll be rewarded with another magic orb, which contains: SAINT: Sends a wave in front of the player. Cannot be fired consecutively. Cost: 1 heart per use. The saint move is VERY CHEAP to use... but doesn't do much more than your fireball attack does. It DOES have its uses in certain upcoming boss battles though, so it's not entirely worthless. Time to go to the next stage! ============================================================================== Stage 5: Inner Den Part 1 =====================================================================[CL05]=== You'll be in a cave now. Head forwards and you'll soon meet the MERMAN. These guys love to jump out of pits, bounce around, and spit fire at you. Continue to the right killing bats and being careful at pits for Mermen. You'll reach a door soon. In here you'll have a choice to make: go DOWN or to the RIGHT. Well, the right is a LONG path that leads to MEAT, so screw that and head DOWN to find another path to the right. Take that one. This next screen is short but has several Mermen in it and shows you that water MOVES you. Lovely. Head through the door and be careful of the bats. Go down the rope and be careful of the bat to the right. God Damned Bats!!! Keep heading right and take the upper path when you can (the candles on the lower path have nothing for you). In the next room prepare to face: - Mid Boss: Minotaur Ok, time to fight a Minotaur! This guy may look intimidating, but all he'll ever do is jump around this room. He'll start off on the raised platform and jump towards you, ending up in the pit. He'll then jump towards the ledge that you are on. The most important thing to note in this fight is how HIGH he jumps each time, which gives you time to make an escape! To defeat him you must know what you are doing movement-wise. When he is in the pit NEAR you he'll jump up high. THAT is when you want to walk off your ledge down into the pit. Now he'll jump up high into the pit, so YOU just need to jump back to the initial ledge. Do this while whipping him and you're golden! With the mid-boss dead, head through the door and then through the opening on the right. THIS area will be... hmm, abandoned? Well, not quite, just keep following me. Go back and head UP, staying on the right-hand side until you see an opening to the right. Take it and on this screen, go down to the lower platform (The upper path has some meat at the end, but it's kinda worthless if you are FOLLOWING the guide). (-NOTE-) Now, if you CARE about getting the best ending, proceed with what I'm about to do. If not, skip the next section and proceed with beating the game. Ok, now that you're on the lower platform, DROP DOWN to the lower screen. This goes against ALL video game rules, but oh well. Stay in the middle of the screen to see a DYNAMITE CANDLE. Hit it and drop again, which will lead you to the BONUS stage... ============================================================================== Bonus Stage: The Dungeon =====================================================================[CL06]=== Ok, time for us to tackle the bonus stage and find the last collectible item. Head forwards and watch out for bats, worms, and mermen. There are also spike pits here too so be careful. Take the rope downwards. Don't go down to far: let the zombie drop to the left and take the upper path. There are TWO knights out here you should watch out for. Continue to the right and go down a rope. Continue onwards to the right watching out for more knights and ghosts and you will reach a door. Move forwards into the room and you'll be TRAPPED! Ghosts will come in from the left and right while you can't move. Just be sure to kill them before they reach you and you'll be ok. Climb up the rope You'll see a knight coming at you from the left, so kill him fast. Go up to a split where you can either go UP or RIGHT. Go thorugh the right opening. Continue to the right taking the lower path to reach the end area (guarded by a knight and a bat). The upper candle here has a 1-UP in it while the other candle has the .: CROSS :. in it. And NOW you have all FIVE COLLECTIBLE SUB-WEAPONS! Head back to the previous room. Head up now and you'll see another split: UP or RIGHT. Up has some meat past quite a few enemies if you NEED it (it's hard to get to) otherwise head right. Avoid the pits and kill the bats to reach a door. Head forwards in this area (ignore the short upper path unless you need hearts) and you will reach a dead end. Hit the candle at the end and pick up the crystal to face: - Boss: Executioner Hey, this guy looks threatening! He carries a HUGE axe too! The most important thing about this fight is the area you fight it in. You of course noticed the pit here, but there are multiple platforms spanning it. What the Executioner does is hop from platform to platform while swinging his axe. Once he gets to the end of the room, he'll turn around and do it again. You can actually get past him without getting hit by utilizing the EDGE of the "ground" platforms on each end since they stick out a ways (thank god) and let him drop down past you while you jump outwards. Of course you could just use good-old Burning Mode to win this fight outright as the Executioner will just STAND there and take your hits. Otherwise, you're going to have to run a lot and get in whips when you can, using the ledges to avoid the Executioner. After the fight you'll be rewarded with another magic orb, which contains: - MAGIC: Destroys an enemy other than the area and stage bosses and nullifies the enemy's attack. Cost: 5 hearts per use. Soul Magic basically destroys all the enemies on the screen... and for only FIVE hearts! As you can imagine, it is VERY powerful, and somewhat broken! Time to go to the next stage! ============================================================================== Stage 5: Inner Den Part 2 =====================================================================[CL07]=== Ok, if you are coming into this stage from the last one we are placed DIRECTLY AFTER BEATING THE MID BOSS. Which means that we want to start off by heading UP. You're going to want to take the SECOND exit to the right here unless you want to head all the way up for the meat up there (which since you just started the stage you PROBABLY don't need). Head right past the pit where we found the bonus stage in and you'll come to a section where HUGE knights patrol ledges above you and you can simply walk underneath while killing Giant Worms until you get to a door. Head upwards now and watch out for the knights as they can LUNGE towards the ropes you are using and enter the exit to the right. Head to the right where you'll see pits with HUGE knights in them and a bat up above. You're of course going to want to either hit and run or send fireballs at their head. There's quite a few pits here too, so battle through them all (or use your soul magic to skip this section for 20 hearts) until you see a path going onwards, up, AND down. Well, the right path leads to a dead end, and going DOWN leads to some MEAT. UP leads to the final boss, so go down and get that meat, then climb upwards and proceed forward to face: - Boss: Dracula Form 1 Time to tackle the Prince of Darkness, Dracula himself. Dracula has two forms in this battle, but we're only focusing on the first form here (the second form is down below). Dracula retains his human form for the first half of the fight, and will teleport around the room. After he teleports each time, he will raise his cloak and make fireballs spit out at you. FIVE fireballs will spit out towards you. One will go straight, two will cluster together and go down at a 45 degree angle and the other two will cluster together and go up at a 45 degree angle. This attack is VERY hard to dodge if you're close to him, given it's shotgun-like spread. You CAN, however, stand directly beneath or above him safely. Also, the fireballs WON'T let your whip's fireball go through. Honestly, for this first form I would recommend using your BURNING MODE and using it, which will utterly overwhelm him and leave you in pristine condition for the second form. Also, let me point out the ORDER in which he teleports so you have some sort of "heads up" on what he's going to do. This is especially handy if you're not going to use burning mode for this form. Let me also point out that the SAINT MAGIC CAN go through Drac's fireballs, giving you a NICE way to hit him from range. Dracula Form 1 Teleporting order: *6 *4 *2 *5 *3 *1 (-NOTE-) Once he is done with 6 he will go back to 1 and re-do his teleporting order. - Boss: Dracula Form 2 It seems Dracula was only toying with you! Since you are a worthy foe, you'll now get to see his TRUE form. Dracula is HUGE in this form, taking up most of the background, but it's mostly all just for show. His "body" looks like it has a bunch of souls trapped in it or something, but what you REALLY need to be worried about is the HEAD. Like the first form, this head will teleport around the arena and will shoot out fireballs after teleporting, but instead of FIVE fireballs he will shoot out EIGHT: one in each direction (up, down, left, right) and one in each directional direction. Personally, I think THIS attack is easier to dodge since it has bigger gaps between fireballs... well, if you are in the WAY of his attack anyways.. With no burning mode (I already used mine), we're going to have to do some dodging. Be EXTRA careful of the gaps in the floor (which appeared out of nowhere) and do your best to dodge his shots. Note that your whip's fireballs will be blocked by HIS fireballs, but if you have the hearts for it you can always use SAINT MAGIC. Also, you're going to want to use SOUL ICE whenever you get low on health: Don't be conservative here, this is the last fight! In fact, with enough hearts you could throw defense to the wind and just take the hits. Take notice of his teleporting pattern below and use it to your advantage to take down Dracula for good! I would personally recommend hanging out on the right side to avoid MOST of the forms... Dracula Form 2 Teleporting order: *3 *4 *1 *5 *6 *2 (-NOTE-) Once he is done with 6 he will go back to 1 and re-do his teleporting order. Once you have defeated Dracula some more dialog will occur (naturally) and then you'll see the ending scenes of the game (no point in me spoiling these!). The animation of Sonia here is pretty cool. Also, if you've collected ALL FIVE of the COLLECTIBLE SUB-WEAPONS, you'll see an additional ending scene telling you a bit about Sonia's future (which I would call "Getting the Best Ending"). And so... Congratulations on defeating Castlevania Legends! ============================================================================== Credits ===================================================================[CL-CRE]=== Thanks to my friends (Domz, Zylicyde) for the ASCii artwork. Thanks to Konami for the Castlevania series, even if Castlevania Legends isn't considered to be "canon". Most of all, thanks to my family: My wife, for giving me the time. Thanks a ton baby! My daughter, for being who you are! My whirlwind of destruction! Never stop being you! ~ Fin