Super Castlevania IV - The OST

Here it is: every musical track from Super Castlevania IV.

PrinceWatercress plays Super Castlevania IV - Part 4 of 4

It's time for the inner sanctums of Dracula's castle...get ready!

Stage A

Welcome to the clock tower.

The gears don't push you around; they move you back and forth, and by standing on them, you can tell which direction they spin. There are other gear platforms that you can walk on the top of, and they will eventually carry you into a pit if you don't jump off.

On the vertical sections, pay attention to where you're going, and watch for where enemies are. If you can, take advantage of enemies ahead of time by fighting them from a distance, even if they're above you.

It is possible to swing back and forth on the hooks in the third section and de-spawn the sword skeleton.

In the second vertical section, stay to the left to take out the Ax Armor on the first moving hook section if you have the Cross, otherwise, stay to the right and get on the platform below the Ax Armor to take the Ax Armor out. From there, head to the right at the top for health. On the second moving hook section, stay to the left to take out the Bone Dragon. If you're forced to use your whip, be very careful.

The boss here is a mummy. Watch where it teleports, and use the "whip wiggle" and your sub-weapons to take out the wrapping it throws at you. Also, whatever you do, don't let this thing corner you and keep as far away as possible.

Stage B

Remember the trick you used to destroy the books and flying Minotaurs in Stage 7? Use it for the headless swordsmen at the beginning.

In the second section, go to the right and don't stop when you get on the bridge. Keep going and get on the stairs to avoid all the bats. If you jump and strike down and to the right while in mid-air, you can get all the hearts from all the candles while crossing the bridge. Just don't stand still or you're a goner.

After this, you'll have to climb up a ton of staircases that fall down as you cross while avoiding a gear that rises up the towers as it moves back and forth. If this gear hits you, it will kill you. If you need to climb up multiple staircases, keep holding Up while moving forwards.

After a certain point, there will be platforms rising up. Be careful as you use these things to go up; there are spiked ceilings that will instantly kill you, especially at the end.

After this, there is a boss rush. The first enemy you face is Slogra. When he comes down and stops flashing, hit him, then move away in the opposite direction immediately. Slogra's attacks are very hard to avoid, and it is not uncommon to lose a bunch of lives to this guy. The Cross is really useful if you have it, as it will allow you to strike Slogra twice as long as you duck down on the voyage back and it also allows you to concentrate more on keeping distance between you and Slogra. Also, for such a hard fight with this guy, it's kinda weird that he was never a boss again after this and became a weak boss/normal enemy starting from Symphony of the Night onward and never becomes such a major threat again until Curse of Darkness. Talk about a burial.

Once you beat Slogra, you'll be able to fully heal up with all the candles if you hit them all. You'll then take on Gaibon, who is known to team up with Slogra on the games. (Sadly, he usually gets the same treatment as Slogra.) Keep your distance, especially when he drops down, so you can avoid his three-way shot. At half health, Slogra turns from blue to red, and he can also shoot fireballs at you from mid-air. Once again, keep your distance at all times while fighting. Eventually, you'll take him down as well.

After that, you can get one more chicken leg and a few hearts before facing Death. Keep all the way to the left and strike him with the whip, so you can strike the scythes he throws at the same time. When he moves all the way to the right and falls down, get close to him for a few hits, then move away when he starts slowly dragging you towards him so you can get away and jump over the scythe when it flies away. If you can get enough distance for a hit or two (which you probably will), hit him, then start moving away before you take contact damage. Eventually, he'll stop dragging you towards him, and his attack will repeat. In this case, stand in the middle, hold Y, then move the D-Pad while holding Y to use the "whip wiggle" to take out all the scythes. From there, he does the "sucking you in" thing while throwing the scythe around in a circle...and you'll know what to do there.

After you beat Death, you'll be able to go up some stairs and face Dracula. Before you take the final stairs, move to the left and jump. You'll land on an invisible platform. Jump to the left again, and go all the way to the left. You'll completely refill your health, get 99 hearts, get the Cross, get the Double Shot and get the Triple Shot. Even if you have all these things, though, this battle can still be difficult. From here, hold Up as you go right to go up some stairs, and when you stop climbing up stairs, tap Right, then jump right to get back to the stairs. Go up, hit the candles for health and hearts (assuming you didn't get the secret stuff), then keep going left to face Dracula. Like past battles, Dracula's weak spot is his head. Also, since you have the Cross and the Triple Shot (assuming you found the secret item stash from earlier), make sure you always have three Crosses in the air at the same level as where Dracula's head will be.

Use the "whip wiggle" to destroy the fireballs at the beginning.

Sometimes, Dracula will spawn two pillars of fire on both sides of himself. Take care not to run into them, and take out the two fire spirits above them as soon as possible, as they will fly around and track you in an attempt to run into you.

When you bring Dracula down to six bars of health, stop hitting him. When that happens, he will start producing small purple energy balls that fly around all over the screen, if you hit them, they shoot bullets all over the screen before turning into chicken legs. Don't strike Dracula until you have full health again.

When Dracula is down to four bars, the room will glow red and purple energy will crackle everywhere. When the music starts again, you'll be on Dracula's second form. Keep throwing those Crosses at Dracula's head, and watch the top of the screen to see where the lighting will strike straight down from above. As long as you have Crosses flying around at the same level as Dracula's head, you'll be able to do some damage and sail to victory and beat one of the greatest Castlevania games in existence. You just beat Super Castlevania IV!

PrinceWatercress plays Super Castlevania IV - Part 3 of 4

We're deep into the castle, and this game isn't going to get any easier.

Stage 7

The Spear Armors have spears, obviously. If you're above them, they will know you're there and stab upwards. It is possible to de-spawn the second one in the first section if you get the candles at the beginning in a certain order. Ditto with the second Ax Armor if you go left towards the candle instead of continuing towards the Ax Armor.

The small ghosts from Stage 1 appear again, and from this stage on, they take three hits to kill with a fully powered-up whip instead of two.

The next section is strictly vertical and contains two new enemies. The first is the flying Minotaur skeleton that fly around much like the Medusa heads, and if you don't destroy them quickly, they'll turn around after going off-screen and fly at you. Holding Y and then holding Down will lay your whip downwards so you can stun them in it and kill them. The books will fly at you as soon as they appear on-screen, but you can kill them like you did the flying Minotaurs.

The green book platforms move around in specific patterns, and once you're able to figure those patterns out, they're easier to deal with. Watch out for the Blood Skeletons.

If you see any pictures of old women moving, strike at the bottom of the picture frame to destroy their hands. The hands don't damage you, but they do stun you and leave you at the mercy of other enemies.

The statues of the gargoyles carrying spheres crumble when you get to close, and if you don't stop moving, the spheres hurt you. The red zombie dog will jump up and knock candles out of the air if you leave it on-screen long enough, but it goes down after one hit.

When you see low spiked ceilings, duck-walk under them. There will be lumps in the floor that will move towards you in an attempt to send your head into the spikes, and if you're standing when this happens, you're going to die.

The red worm will move around, and while you can hurt it, it will eventually go past the top of the screen and disappear, allowing you to get all the candles in the area.

The boss here is a giant suit of armor with an axe. Keep your distance when you attack, and stay away so you don't get hit by the ax. At half health, the giant suit of armor has a sword instead of an ax; you'll also want to keep your distance and jump over the boss in case you get cornered.

After this, you'll drop down into Stage 8.

Stage 8

Everything here is on a global timer, which means everything in the stage moves at the same time regardless of whether it is on the screen or not. As soon as this stage starts, you'd better get a move on.

The spider enemies from Stage 2 return, and you get new versions of the crushing spike platforms from Stage 4. Unlike the Stage 4 variety, however, you can stand on the top and use it to get past some obstacles as well as make certain parts of the stage easier. You'll also get the seaweed enemies again as well as the Peeping Eyes.

The green water damages you for as long as you're in, so stay out of it. Also, the green acid droplets that drop from the ceiling also hurt you. It should also be mentioned that the droplets as well as the water itself used to be blood; it was censored and turned into green, acidic water when the game got a Western release.

The Bone Totems take four hits to kill with a fully powered-up whip instead of three from this point forward.

There are swinging platforms that swing back and forth, and their undersides also have instant-death spikes. As long as you don't get caught up while underneath them and remember to duck-walk when necessary, you'll be fine.

There are double-sided spike blocks that move up and down on tracks in the background; touching those are also insta-kill.

The spears that drop down the ceiling only do so when you get close enough and they do not do that much damage. They only deal damage when they drop down.

When you see the two Bone Dragons in the second section, take out the first one with your whip, then spawn the second one, hit the candle that is on top of where the first one was, then use the cross necklace you get to destroy the second one.

On the block bridge, move slowly to the right. On the third bat, start moving. The fourth bat will hit you, but if you keep holding right on the D-Pad, you'll still be able to cross to the other side before the bridge completely falls out from under you.

In the vertical section, there are stairways with red sections. If you attack these sections with the whip, they will break apart and the resulting debris that scatters will hurt you if it touches you. Watch out for those double-sided spike blocks.

After the vertical section, duck-walk to get past the spike blocks, and take care of the skeleton before grabbing the brown jug. You can get past the swinging spike platform without a problem after that.

At the platform before the second set of spike blocks, walk off the edge to the right when the first block is all the way up. The candle between the first two blocks in this set contains a dagger, so don't hastily hit it if you don't want one. Duck-walk to get past all of the spikes that jut out of the ceiling, and use the whip wiggle to hit candles if you need hearts, health and points.

After that, there will be platforms that disappear and re-appear. Keep a watchful eye on them and pay attention to when each individual blocks fades in and out of the screen so you don't fall into the pit. These blocks are all on a global timer, meaning they are fading in and out regardless of whether they are on the screen or not, making this part feel very random every time you get here. Sometimes you can strike it lucky and rush through this; other times you'll have to exercise the utmost patience. It's even worse when you realize that there are blades that drop down from the ceiling in this section as well. 

The boss here is a Frankenstein's Monster that throws beakers. Some of them create a short wall of flame around where the beaker lands; others split into a five-way shot when they go all the way up. He also can send out a doppleganger that goes down in one hit unlike the real one, a la Shredder from the TMNT games.

Stage 9

Be careful with your jumping, and watch out for enemies. This is especially true of skeletons; they may be waiting for you as you're about to land on a platform while jumping over a pit.

Jump over cracks in the floor; while they don't hurt you and they don't create bottomless pits when stepped on, they can take you by surprise.

The gold platforms on chains immediately crumble under your weight. The hard-to-reach lead mostly to hearts, particularly of the big variety, but not much else.

The gold pit is much like the water; you can sink into it and die if you stand in one spot for too long.

At the part where the blocks are falling you will want to advance quickly but carefully; you don't want to get hit by a blocks and knocked into insta-kill spikes.

The holes in the cave walls in the background that suck in air will drag you towards them and stick you in place until they stop sucking in air, but at least you can still defend yourself with your whip.

The vertical section before the end is a source of a lot of points; every candle except for any that contain health contains money, and even the skeletons - which are all gold in this stage and will throw bones at you - will drop money when killed. There's even a Bone Dragon near the end of this section, and if you kill it, it will turn into a bunch of money bags. Don't get greedy; if you drop down to the bottom of the screen, you can die even if you drop to an area where you know floor exists.

The boss here is a giant bat made of gold. Whenever you strike it, it drops gold that can do damage to you on its way down. Be sure you are directly under the bat when you strike it so this doesn't become a problem. At half health, this bat splits into three smaller bats that drop coins downwards and fly all over the screen. Keep your distance when hitting them, and remember that they all share a health bar. If you have the cross, you can do multiple hits. It won't be long until you enter Stage A.

CGR Undertow reviews Super Castlevania IV

It's time for yet another review from the late, great CGR Undertow!

PrinceWatercress plays Super Castlevania IV - Part 2 of 4

In this entry, we make it into the castle. It's not gonna get any easier.

Stage 4

The green platforms are just like the wooden platforms in Stage 1; if you jump on them, they will spin around and send you downwards. If you have to deal with multiple green platforms at once, you'll have to keep jumping as soon as you land to ensure you don't get sent plummeting to your doom.

New enemies include enemies that come out of walls when you get too close as well as skeletons that hang upside down from walls and ceilings.

The mini-boss here is a giant skull that tries to jump on you and touch you with its tongue. When you hit it, debris falls from the ceiling. You want to get one hit in, then move, and keep doing that with each successful hit. If you have the Cross (especially with the triple shot), you can get some hits in and concentrate more on striking the debris away with your whip.

In the next section, strike upwards at the hook and hold on until the room slowly stops rotating. When you have floor to stand on again, stand there and strike at or avoid the flying medusa heads. If any manage to move past you, don't focus on them; instead, focus on the next one coming at you. When the room starts moving again, whip onto the hook and swing onto the floor that materializes when it is done appearing. Head to the left. You're done with this section.

In the next section, you have a cylindrical background that slowly rotates back and forth. Some of the doorways have pink blobs blocking them, and if those blobs are above you when you get close, they burst into pieces and skeletons will drop down to block your path. The floor does fall down as you progress, but it only falls after you move a certain distance forward, so you're not exactly racing against the clock here.

In the final section, you'll see moving walls that continuously move up. You'll eventually see the same ones over and over again, and you'll eventually see a pattern and a way to move past them all. It is possible to be crushed between the ceiling and the moving platforms, so you'll need to be fast as well as careful. Also, watch for the purple spikes; they're instant death, as always.

The stage also loops vertically, so if you keep going up, you'll eventually be back where you started.  When you see the purple spiked ceilings that come down when you get close. If you do, stand near the columns as they drop down, then move forward as soon as they're out of your way; otherwise, you're going to die no matter what.

When you see the blocks that move upwards rather quickly, wait for them to be completely out of your way, then move to the right and keep going. Do not stop, otherwise, you will die.

The boss here is a giant golem. Keep your distance and strike with your whip. As you strike, blocks will fall from the top of the screen - which you'll want to avoid or strike at - and the boss gets smaller. The boss will also throw rocks at you, and you'll want to stay away from those, as well. Having a sub-weapon works here, since you can focus on everything else as it does a little bit of damage.

Stage 5

You'll start seeing harpies that drop flea men in this stage. Take out the harpies before they drop their flea men; otherwise, you'll have to deal with the flea men, which will jump around everywhere and make themselves harder to hit.

The biggest enemy here is the timer. You don't have a lot of time to get through this stage, so you'd better get a move on if you want to get through this place with one life.

When you make it to the second section, it won't be long until you reach the castle. You'll meet a new enemy here: a skeleton with a whip. Keep your distance, as these guys have as much range as you do.

At the castle, you'll mostly see bats as you make your way up the stairs. By the way, the statues of the women are bare-breasted in the Japanese version; they were covered up when the game came to the West.

Stage 6

The dog at the beginning will get back up and go after you after being struck if you leave it on-screen long enough.

The zombies in yellow will continue to approach you if you don't keep moving.

The Ax Armors will throw axes. They can throw their axes high or low, and they can return to the Ax Armor like boomerangs. They take four hits to kill, and you can also destroy their axes with your whip.

The second section has giant swinging chandeliers in all their Mode 7 glory. Get on the gray slabs at the top, as those act as platforms, and you want to jump from platform to platform when the chandeliers are swinging to the right. Don't forget that you can change the direction of your jump in mid-air unlike other Castlevania games.

The third section starts with much smaller, non-Mode 7 chandeliers that fall from the ceiling when you get too close. After the second one, strike at the floor tiles in mid-air with your whip. You'll find a hidden staircase that leads to a ton of hearts and money as well as a full health power-up and lets you choose every sub-weapon in the game except for the stopwatch. There is also an enemy here that isn't seen anywhere else: an old man and his dog. They don't hurt you, and you can strike both of them, but if one is hurt, the other one disappears with them. If you strike the dog, the old man cries before both of them disappear. You can return to the main level by going back up the stairs, but once you do, you won't be able to return.

The women in the orange dresses fly around you in a circle when you approach them; take them out with the whip as soon as possible.

The flashing balls bounce off the screen at 45-degree angles and stay on-screen until you destroy them.

The men in white will quickly advance towards you, but they can be destroyed with the whip rather easily. They also teleport back to where you are when they reach the end of the screen and come at you again, be ready to hit them when they teleport after running under you.

The gray platforms with the spikes at the bottom are like the green ones from Stage 4; however, there are instant-death spikes on one side which will kill you regardless of whether they are up or down. Better make your jumps count!

The next section has spike pits you'll have to cross over. There are some blocks that will crack and eventually break when you stand on them for long enough, so you'll want to be careful as you jump over the pits on instant death spikes.

The shaking coffins will chase you from behind when you walk past them, but if you jump clear over them, they won't sense you. If they do chase after you, turn around and hit them with your whip.

The red skeletons are called Blood Skeletons. Unlike other skeletons, they pull themselves together after you make them fall apart with your attacks. Don't stick around for too long.

You can avoid the hands that come out of the background by duck-walking under them. If they do nab you, the nearby flickering skeleton will become corporeal and try to strike you; thankfully, you can strike first with your whip.

To get past the roulette of coffins, just strike them all with your whip. The tables will chase after you when you pass by; if you have any sub-weapons, you can destroy the tables before then. The dancing couples will come out from the bottom of the screen and fly around as long as they are on the screen; take them out as soon as you see them before continuing on.

Strike the wall at the end of the sixth section to get a 1-Up.

The boss here is Fred Ascare and Paula Abghoul (Those are their official canon names; I'm not kidding.) Stay away from them as they move around the room and watch out for the swords that they send at you. Having the cross works wonders, as you can get a few hits on them and do a ton of damage. It won't be long before you complete this stage.

PrinceWatercress plays Super Castlevania IV - Part 1 of 4

Every one hundred years the forces of good mysteriously start to weaken. Thus, the power of Dracula starts to revive itself. His power grows stronger and stronger every one hundred years.

Dracula has revived many times. However, his sinister actions have been consistently thwarted by the Belmont family.

It's been one hundred years since the last confrontation between Dracula and the Belmont family. But now the serenity of Transylvania is being threatened by destructive forces.

One a dark and eerie night Dracula rose from his grave to unleash his destructive power over the countryside.

Once again Simon Belmont is called upon to destroy Dracula. With only his whip and courage he sets out to restore peace to Transylvania.

The game is officially a remake of the first Castlevania game, but what a remake it is. So much so, it ended up on the Super NES Classic.

After you put in your name, you'll set off for Dracula's castle.

Stage 1

You move with the Control Pad. Down-Left and Down-Right allow you to do a duck walk. B lets you jump. Y lets you attack with the whip, and you can attack in eight directions (down is only available in mid-air) in conjunction with the Control Pad. R allows you to use your sub-weapon, assuming you have enough hearts.

By whipping candles, you'll find pick-ups such as hearts, sub-weapons and gray things that look like a cross wrapped in a ribbon. That last one is a power-up for your whip, and after finding two of those things, your whip will be fully powered-up.

Small hearts are worth one heart; big heats are worth five hearts.

Moving diagonally with the D-Pad near stairs allows you to walk up and down stairways. If you hold Down and B, you can jump straight down off stairs. Unlike in past games, you can also walk backwards on stairs by carefully rolling your thumb on the Control Pad in such a way as to allow yourself to face one direction and walk in the other.

The dagger is a throwing weapon that is thrown straight forward.

Once you get past the front gate - complete with the drawbridge being pulled back - you'll be on the castle grounds. If you see a door in the fence, you can press Up to go in and out. This will help you get past some bottomless pits.

You'll also meet your first enemies: skeletons that will throw their bones into the air and bats that will fly forward.

The chicken leg refills one-third of the life bar. Money bags will give you points. Points are useful; you'll get your first extra life at 20,000 points, then you'll get one every subsequent 50,000 points after that. (20K, 70K, 120K, etc.)

The Cross is actually a boomerang, and it is the best weapon in the game. When you throw it, it travels to the other end of the screen and takes out anything in its path.

The bone pillars will spit fireballs at you, but you can destroy the fireballs with your whip.

The ax is thrown upwards when used and can do damage to things far above you.

If you find a pork chop in the wall, you'll be able to refill all your health.

The brown water jug makes you temporarily invincible.

The cross necklace destroys all enemies currently on the screen.

The hooks with the flying bat on them can be used to let you swing around on the whip. Hold Y to grab hold and keep a hold on it. Use Left and Right on the Control Pad to swing, and use Up and Down to control how far up or down you are hanging off the hook.

The guy who reaches his hand out from behind the wall will club you if you get too close. You can hit his hand to get rid of him, though.

By holding Y and moving the Control Pad in all sorts of directions, you can swing the whip around for some very weak hits. It can take care of some weak enemies in a few hits in case they get way too close.

The Roman numeral II is a sub-weapon multiplier (known by other players as "the double-shot"). Pick it up, and you'll be able to have two of your current sub-weapon on screen at a time as opposed to just one. If you die or pick up another sub-weapon, however, you'll lose it.

Also, make it a habit to strike at walls, especially in very small areas within stages. You may find wall meat, sub-weapon multipliers and even extra lives.

The Holy Water burns in place when thrown onto the ground, and the flame will destroy any enemy that comes into contact with it for as long as that flame is on-screen.

Be careful when going through the third section. Walk past the seaweed enemies that stick to the ceiling, and duck down and whip the horse heads that fly at you when you see them.

The stopwatch stops time for a few seconds.

The Medusa heads go up and down as they fly at you. If you stay in place as soon as you see them, they won't hurt you.

The wooden planks between solid platforms will flip your around and send you tumbling down if you jump on them...so be careful. They will have a different appearance in later stages, but they act the same way.

The small grey ghosts go down in just a few hits.

The boss here is a skeleton on a skeleton horse. Strike the head of the horse to destroy it, then attack the lancer with your whip and sub-weapon. Keep your distance, and watch out for the easily-telegraphed diving attack whenever the lancer does it. Once you beat the boss, you'll get an orb to pick up along with a ton of bonus points for all the hearts and time you have left.

Stage 2

Watch out for the purple zombie hands. They can grab you, and while they won't hurt you, they will keep you in place. Bush monsters will walk back and forth, and spiders will move up and down on their web as they spit baby spiders at you.

You'll see spikes after you make your way down a slope. Spikes will kill you instantly if you land in them.

The hedgehogs that slowly move back and forth and roll into a ball every so often go down in a few hits.

Near the end of the first section, you'll see zombies. They're slow, and they go down rather easily.

In the second section, there will be brown water. If you fall into it, keep jumping or else you will fall in and die.

The crows will dive at you if you get too close. The frogs will keep jumping at you. These two enemies and the bats are the best enemies to use the "whip wiggle" (holding Y and moving your thumb around the Control Pad) against.

The Roman numeral III (also known as the "triple shot") lets you have three of your current sub-weapon on the screen at once. Again, if you die or pick up another sub-weapon, you'll lose it and you'll have to work your way back up to it all over again.

The mid-boss is a Medusa. If you have the Boomerang and the triple shot, duck down and keep throwing Crosses to the right from the far-left side of the screen. Otherwise, whip it in the head, whip the snakes and jump over the projectiles to avoid being turned to stone.

The third section has a current of water pushing you slowly forward. If you hear a rushing sound, that means the direction the current moves has reversed. Also, watch out for flying bat-men (and hit them with your whip) as well as red spikes that are both in the floor and in the background, as the spikes kill you instantly. Also, the green hands that fly up and down as they fly at you go down in one hit. There is also a candle carefully hidden in a column in the foreground that gives you a 1-Up if you somehow manage to hit it.

There's no boss here, so once you're through the third section, it's on to Stage 3.

Stage 3

Be careful with your jumps at the start so you don't fall in spikes.

The rock men split in two after enough damage, then split in two again after even more hits. Once they've shrunken down and divided twice, a few more hits will take them down for good.

There is a wall to the left that can be broken as soon as you start going down; you can find a whole meat there.

When you see the shaking pillars, wait for them to drop before moving ahead.

In the second section, you'll be climbing your way up. There will be some seaweed enemies (that were also seen in the middle of Stage 2) that will get in your way, as well as some green hedgehog-like balls that travel around platforms that cannot be destroyed. Also, the metal bat hooks - now gold - make a return appearance here, and you'll have to let go as you swing towards the direction you want to go to move forward.

In the third section, you'll meet some old friends: fishmen that jump out of the water and spit at you, Peeping Eyes that fly around you and cry drops of blood that are damaging to the touch and the Bone Dragon, which is stuck to a wall and moves up and down as it tries to spit fireballs at you. The Bone Dragons drop a ton of small hearts when destroyed. Also, watch out for column segments falling from the sky and blocks that crack and break under your weight.

You've probably already noticed that if you get hit, you get knocked back, and sometimes that knockback can send you into a pit or instant-death spikes. If you're on stairs however, you're just stunned in place for a few seconds.

The skeleton knights will try to hit you with a sword. Keep your distance.

The boss here is a two-headed dragon. The cross is the best weapon to use, as you can hit the dragon heads from a distance; otherwise, you'll have to get close, get a hit in and move away every so often. The dragons have a three-way fireball shot, but if you're fighting with the cross from all the way to the right, you can easily avoid it. Be careful grabbing the crystal orb when you've beaten the boss; dying is still possible.