It's about time.
Oh, 1987. Not only did it bring us some good music, but it also brought us the English-language port to the first game of one of the greatest series of all time: Castlevania.
The first game takes place in 1691 and centers on Simon Belmont entering Castlevania to destroy Count Dracula. That's pretty much the gist of it, really.
Stages 1-3
The torches here contain power-ups. To get them, strike at them with your whip. There are quite a few things you can get out of them:
Hearts are used to power-up your sub-weapons, which you can use by holding Up on the Control Pad and pressing B. Different sub-weapons consume a different amount of hearts. Small hearts are worth just one heart, big ones are worth five.
Chain whips are power-ups for your whip. You can get up to two before your whip is fully powered-up. The first makes your leather whip a more powerful chain whip, while the second makes the whip even longer.
Money bags give you points.
Crucifix necklaces destroy all enemies currently on the screen.
Here are the sub-weapons:
Knives can be thrown straight ahead until it either goes off-screen or hits an enemy.
Holy Water is thrown to the ground and cause a small flame to burn where it was thrown for a second or tow, burning any enemy it touches. Despite the fact that it doesn't seem that useful at the beginning of the game, it becomes very useful later on, making it worth getting and keeping as soon as possible.
Stopwatches stop all enemies for a few seconds.
Axes can be thrown into the air to take care of enemies above you.
Boomerangs extend to the other side of the screen before they come back.
Don't forget: enemies can drop sub-weapons at random.
With that out of the way, let's get down to business.
The zombies just move towards you. The black panthers will leap at you before running in the other direction. The bats will fly at you.
Once you go through the door, you'll have to go down a bit and go down the stairs to the left. The wall to the right has a pork chop that refills your health.
When you go down the stairs, watch out for the fishmen as they can knock you into the water and, if you're in the worst possible spot, to your death.
There is a platform at the bottom of the screen below the stairs leading back up on the other side. If you break the blocks above it and stand there for a few seconds, you'll get a flashing, hidden money bag worth a ton of points.
When you make it to the end, you'll meet a giant bat. It will come at you, but if you back off a bit and use the whip, you should be fine. The axe works very well against it. One of the blocks near the exit door may contain a square with the Roman numeral "II" on it. If you pick it up, you can have two of your sub-weapon on the screen at any given time. There is also a "III" as well, which allows you to have three of your sub-weapon on the screen at any given time. The more you use your sub-weapon, the more quickly these icons will show up. If you collect another weapon or die, you lose that ability and you'll have to hunt for it all over again, so be careful.
After beating the giant bat, you'll get a crystal. Pick it up and you'll restore your health and head over to the next set of stages.
Stages 4-6
The living armor just patrols the platform it stands on. You'll also see more bats, and they'll wait on the ceiling until you come close enough to warrant them coming after you.
Stages 4-6 is where the platforming elements of the game come in. Remember that once you jump, you won't be able to change your direction or control your jump while in mid-air. This can be a killer if you're dealing with enemies as you jump. As mentioned before, if you run into or are hit by an enemy, you get knocked back. This is worse with the platforming elements of the game, as you just might be sent down a pit if you're unfortunate enough to get hit in mid-air in the wrong place or time.
The Medusa heads are widely considered to be one of the most annoying video game enemies of all time, due to their sine wave movement pattern and the cheapness that is involved with it in certain areas.
The candle leading up the stairs at the end of the first section of Stage 5 gives you a Double Shot or Triple Shot if you don't have either item.
One of the blocks to the left of the door at the beginning of Stage 6 contains a Pork Chop if you need it.
The crushers at the beginning of Stage 6 are instant death! Thankfully, you can duck under the second one. For the rest, you'll have to run by them as they rise up to the ceiling.
Another new enemy: the Dragon Skull Cannons. These things will shoot fireballs at you from one of their skulls, as the two skulls face a different direction. Just hit it a few times with the whip while targeting the one that's spitting fire at you, and you'll be able to take out the fireballs and the cannon. If your whip is at maximum strength, they take six hits to kill. Talk about a steeper learning curve.
Sometimes tiny ghosts that fly around the screen will materialize. They go down after a few strikes from the whip.
The boss here is a giant Medusa head. The Holy Water is the best sub-weapon for this fight, as the fire from the Holy Water can freeze the boss in place. The more hearts you have, the better. It's pretty easy, too. Just get in range, then Holy Water, whip, whip, Holy Water, whip, whip, Holy Water, whip, whip, repeat until dead. Even though the first boss is easier to beat with the Axe, you're better off just keeping the Holy Water the entire game as it's so overpowered.
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