Air Date: May 7, 2018
I complete the entire Castlevania game for the Nintendo Entertainment System console without losing a single life from the beginning to the end. I show all of the hidden treasure objects that I am aware of in the stages, with the exception of the first bonus bag on level one. At this point you have to jump over the entrance to the castle at the very beginning to spawn the treasure bag and then leap back over it to claim the prize. I messed up and did not feel like restarting to gain an extra 1,000 points.
For those viewers who wish to skip to a different Level, defined as the interval between bosses, I have included some time stamps below:
During my play through you will see most of the tactics used but I wanted to touch upon a couple decisions which were made along the way. A good place to rack up extra points, as shown in the video, is the stairwell near the first door, where the zombies continuously spawn off of the screen. I take some time to demonstrate the technique with the holy water and then I continue on my merry way.
I like to use axes on the first boss of the game because of its airborne nature. I find that positioning myself below the bat allows for me to land several hits without having to worry about dodging its attacks and prolonging the battle.
The remaining bosses of the game can be owned with the holy water and I try to retain it whenever possible. The medusa simply requires you to stand a couple pages away from it and chuck away.
The mummies of level three are also extremely vulnerable to the holy water as well, which surprises me that no one mentions this tactic. Going into the boss room of level three you must remember not to get the dagger or break the block which contains the meat. I walk to the center of the room in order to spawn the boss music and then quickly jump back up the left side blocks. At this point the mummies cannot hit you and you have the freedom to toss holy water on them from above. The water will freeze the mummies in place and slowly eat away at their life. It is best to time your throws to get both caught at the same time.
In level four, if you can hold onto the holy water from mid level to the boss you will have an easy time. In the final hallway I kill the last two dragon bones hoping that they will drop a double shot, which they do more times than not. Once you get to Frankenstein’s monster all you have to do is stay on the rightmost center platform and span away with the holy water whipping when you are not throwing to keep Igor stunned.
In level five I try to keep the holy water for Death. When you go into his room just move to the left far enough to summon him and immediately jump and start throwing holy water on the upper right platform where he appears. If you are quick and keep this up he will die before even landing, which prevents him from summoning his scythes. I know this is a cheap death but when you have played through this stage and had to fight him with axes, boomerangs, or your own whip, this is just fun payback.
In the last level, I opt for the axe at the beginning just encase any of the bats get out of control. This is replaced by the watch midway throw which helps you in the next section with the flea men. In the beginning of stage 18, I choose to prepare for the final battle by climbing the stairs to the keep’s landing and collect a couple hearts from the candles. Since they give you a generous amount of time on this stage, I refrain from going all the way into Dracula’s room and return to the beginning stairs. From here you can walk down to the previous screen and then return to find the candles back. Collect a couple more hearts and then repeat the process. Generally Dracula’s coffin is a good landmark to not cross to stay safe of spawning the final battle.
Once you get to Dracula I recommend picking up the holy water and then throwing it at his cloak to destroy the fireballs, until you get a double shot. This will be useful for the final battle with his second form. After getting your double shot, begin whipping at his head and leaping over the fireballs, as seen in the video. Constantly moving will help you avoid Dracula teleporting directly on top of you. Throw a couple vials of holy water to stun his second form as he appears. While he is stunned jump up and strike him in the face once. As you land toss another vial of holy water at his feet. Follow up with another strike to his face and toss another holy water upon landing. If you continue this pattern he will not even have the opportunity to attack.
After some punishment Dracula’s second form falls, leaving behind the final orb. After grabbing the final orb, I let the ending play through with its list of parody names.