PrinceWatercress plays Master of Darkness (SMS) - Part 5 of 5

We find out what Count Massen was up to all along: summoning Dracula. Too bad Dracula is easy in this game.

Round 5: In The Wake Of Dracula

Round 5, Stage 1

This maze loops in on itself vertically, and if you're good with how Dr. Social controls, you can memorize what's in every white mask and get the power-ups you want.

At the beginning of this area, go all the way to the right and go down the stairs in the first two floors. On the third floor, go all the way to the left and go down the stairs there. The mask to your right will contain stakes; take them. Above the stairs to the left is even more stakes; take those, too. From there, go all the way to the left, destroy the mask that is high up for even more stakes, then destroy the blocks blocking the narrow pit in the lower-left corner. Drop down and hold Right on the Control Pad as you go. The center-right mask contains a potion, the center-left mask contains more stakes and the upper mask contains a dagger that's meant to troll you. If you want to restore the masks, drop down the pit to the left, as it will keep taking you to this room every time. Head to the right, and you'll face Count Massen one more time. He will tell you that you are in Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania and the only way out is to die.

To beat Massen, jump onto the small wooden platforms and throw stakes at him while avoiding Massen's blue fireballs and the pikes that jut in and out of the floor. If you can get close enough and hit him with your ax, do it. After a short battle, Massen will go down. When you beat him, go all the way to the left. When the screen flashes white, hold Left to ensure you go all the way to the left. Bats will rise from below the floor from left to right, then Count Dracula will show up. He will split into four, then Dracula and his clones will keep moving to the left in mid-air and occasionally send a circle of bats at you.

Stay to the left, jump straight up and throw a stake so that you hit him in the legs. As long as you don't hit the bats that fly around or the real Count Dracula, you'll be fine. You'll eventually be able to defeat Dracula and beat this game once and for all.

As for how the game ends, Dr. Social heads into the nearest town, meets Jonathan Harker - one of the main protagonists from Bram Stoker's Dracula - and gets directions back to a now-peaceful England in one of the most chill cop-outs and deus ex machinas I've ever seen. The game concludes by saying that Dracula may strike again one day.