The CastleVania Adventure Walkthrough by "MEGAMUR" Best Originally Written on September 13, 1999 Last Revision: July 1, 2000 One of the most difficult CastleVania games I've played is "CastleVania: The Adventure" for the Game Boy. While the whole CastleVania series is known for it's high difficulty (and sometimes frustration) factor, this game seemed to stand out as being very intolerable. That's why I thought people needed my help. While I may not be an expert at the game, I have been able to finish it within 40 minutes, losing only one life and having ten extra lives at the end. And, I pretty much know every trick and tactic neccessary to beat the game. That's why I wrote this walkthrough. It has very comprehensive, step-by-step instructions and strategies, so be prepared to read alot! Let's get started! STAGE 1 __________________________ 1-7 |_________________________| BOSS 1-6 |_____| 1-5 |__| 1-4 _________|__| 1-3 |___________| 1-2 _______|____| 1-1 |___________| 1-1 Your journey starts in the woods outside of the castle, but that doesn't mean things will be any easier out here than inside the castle. When you start out, don't hit the first candle. If you don't hit it, a 1-up will appear in a candle later in the stage. Head forward, and watch the top of the screen for anything falling down toward you. It's mud, and, when it hits the ground, it forms into a mudman. Mudmen are very slow and only take one hit from any whip or a fireball to destroy them. If one does fall down, stop and let it hit the ground, then duck and hit it with your whip. Continue looking out for those until you get to the next room. The next enemy you'll see is a little guy I call a "creeper". If you hit it with a powered-up chain whip, you'll destroy it. But, if you hit it with a leather whip or a fireball from a full-powered whip, it will fly backwards then jump back at you. Watch out! Fight off these guys, and head up to the next room. 1-2 Next, you'll meet a new foe, the rolling eyeball. These things are pretty quick and are hard to jump over, and, if you get past one, another one is sure to be on it's way! One hit will destroy them, though. Keep heading left, whipping the candles along the way. Right before the rope up to the next room will be two more candles. If you didn't hit the first candle at the beginning of the game like I told you to, a 1-up will be in the first one! The next one will have a cross in it, which will make you invincible for a short period. Go up to the next room. 1-3 Even though you should be invincible now, don't get careless. Head right and deal with the creepers. But, listen out for a squeeking sound. If you hear one, look at the top of the screen for a new enemy, the eagle. It will fly to the left, over top of you, until it reaches the end of the screen, then it will swoop down toward you and attack! If you see one, wait for it to swoop down to your level and whip it, while standing still, when it flies down low enough. Timing is critical in this game since Christopher (the hero of this game) whips a bit slower than his ancestors. Whipping right when the eagle starts swooping downward should nail it. Keep heading right and go up to the next room. 1-4 Climb to the top of the rope, jump off to the left and hit the candle to get a cross to protect you from the rolling eyeballs. Head up to the next room. 1-5 Go right and make sure to hit the second candle. It has another cross in it which will see you through to the next room. 1-6 (SECRET!) Keep climbing up the rope, when you reach the ceiling, keep climbing. You'll go through it, and find a secret room housing four candles, each with valuable items in them, including another 1-up! Collect all the prizes, and climb back down the rope. Then, go left. There aren't many enemies in this room, just a few creepers. They can, sometimes, be difficult to distinguish from the background, though, so be careful. 1-7 If you have a fully-powered, fireball-shooting whip, you can knock out both of the candles at the beginning of the room with fireballs. The one closest to you holds a whip upgrade, while the other holds yet another 1-up! If you don't have a fully powered whip, you can't get the 1-up, but you can still get the whip upgrade by jumping down and whipping it on the way. The next area is dangerous. It's a long stretch where mudmen (those things that dropped down on you at the beginning of the level) and eagles attack. Watch the top of the screen for them, and dispose of them as mentioned before. Next, you'll climb up and have to jump over a wide pit using a series of platforms. Be careful. These platforms fall as soon as you land on them, so jump to the next platform as quickly as possible. Here's an important tip that will be necessary for beating this game. When making jumps, try to get as close to the edge of the platform you're standing on before you jump. Try making it that only one foot is on the platform before you jump. But, don't do that when dealing with falling platforms. You don't have enough time to reach the edge of the platform before it plummets off the screen! The next section deals with thin blocks you must hop across. It also deals with a new foe, the bat. Bats have an erratic flight pattern which makes them difficult to hit. Dispose of them before jumping across the blocks. Be patient while making the jumps. If you fall, you'll have to walk back to the left and start over. There are items in the candles below the blocks, but ignore them. Making it across the blocks is more important. Keep going right and hit the candle. An orb will fall out of it. Pick it up to fight the boss. STAGE 1 BOSS The boss with slowly lumber toward you from the left. It may be slow, but it's very strong, and has a spear that can hit you both high and low. Fireballs simply bounce off it, so, you'll have to attack it directly. Try to just barely get in attacking distance of the thing. Hit it once or twice, then retreat quickly before it attacks. When it corners you on the right side of the screen, use the platforms to jump over it and attack from the other side. When it's defeated, you'll go on to stage 2. STAGE 2 _________________ 2-1 |_________________| 2-2 |__| 2-3 |__| 2-4 |__|_________________________ 2-5 |___________________________| 2-6 |__| 2-7 |__| 2-8 |__| 2-9 |__| 2-10 |__|___ 2-11 |_____| BOSS |__| 2-1 When you start out, you'll see several bats hanging from the ceiling guarding a candle. That candle contains a cross, but, it's not usually a good idea to get it. When you go to the right, the bats will swoop down to attack. Try running past them. You'll probably take damage, but you'd probably take even more damage if you tried to fight them. But, if a bat keeps bugging you and won't get out of your way, kill it. The same goes for the next set of bats up ahead. Next, you'll meet a new enemy that I call a "spitter". Spitters are some of the deadliest enemies in the game. They spit out large, fast moving fireballs that bounce around the room until they go off the screen and, even then, they might still come back. They can also take alot of punishment! You'll have to hit them four times with fireballs or the leather whip, or about two times with a chain whip. Dodge or, if possible, destroy their fireballs and attack them. After you destroy the second one, head toward the next area, but stop before you drop down. An off-screen spitter will shoot a fireball down toward you. Once the fireball leaves the screen, drop down to next area. You now have two choices. Keep heading right and fight a new enemy I call a "nightstalker", or go up the rope and fight a spitter. I usually opt for the spitter since it's easier to kill, and the candles behind it contain some health items, while the nightstalker is tougher to kill, and the candles he guards only have some coins in them. But, if you decide to go and fight the nightstalker, here's how to defeat it. These guys throw fast little hooks at you which fly out, turn around and return to him. You'll know when he's about to attack when he stops walking. If he's standing and he throws one, duck under it, then, when it turns around, jump over it on it's return trip. If he ducks and throws, do the opposite; jump, then duck. Be careful. These hooks take out two bars of health with each hit. Nightstalkers can also take alot of hits. 3 to 5 hits are neccessary to take them down. But, no matter with path you take, you'll eventually end up going down to the next room. 2-2 This room has another deadly spitter in it. Destroy it, and head left onto the falling platform. When it falls, wait until it's low enough, then, jump to the right. Go down to.... 2-3 This area has another set of falling platforms in it with a candle suspended above one. Ignore the candle. If you hit it, it will slow you down, and cause you to miss your jump. When you make it across, go down. 2-4 Two spitters reside here. Deal with them as normal, and go down to the next room. 2-5 This area can be difficult if you're not careful. It consists of a long stretch of bridges will rolling eyeballs rolling across them. Now, this, normally, wouldn't be much of a problem, except for the fact that the eyes are highly explosive. If you destroy one, they'll leave a large hole in the bridge. To deal with the eyes, jump over the ones heading toward you, and attack the ones that come from behind. Be careful, though. The eyes are difficult to jump over sometimes. Timing is everything. When you're back on solid ground, attack them as usual, and head down to the next room. 2-6 This room has three falling platforms that bridge a gap over to a small ledge with a candle on it. Hop across the ledges, trying to get as close to the edge of the platform as possible before jumping again. If you make it, a 1-up awaits you in the candle. If not, head down the rope on the right side of the room. Don't go down the left one. It will just lead you to a series of rooms that eventually loop back to that room. The right way is the right way. 2-7 The next room has to bats in it, two candles, and two ropes. Get rid of the bats, and go down and get the items in the candles. The left one has a coin, the right one houses a cross. Take the left rope. The right rope will just drop you back down into the same room. This time, the right way is not the right way. 2-8 (SECRET!) With your newfound invincibility, stand on the big stair in the middle of the room, and wait for an eye to roll over to you. Destroy the eyeball when it lands on the center stair. The explosion it causes will break a hole in the floor. There's an invisible rope in it. Fall down into the hole and grab onto it. Climb down into the room below and collect the prizes! Then, climb down into the room below. If you skip the secret area (for some reason), just head down to the next room. Both paths lead to... 2-9 A small room with a single spitter in it. Go down and destroy it, then go down to the next room. 2-10 Even though this empty room looks suspicous, I haven't found anything of value in it. Go down to... 2-11 This room has two nightstalkers. Dispose of the first one, and get the item inside the first candle. Get the item out of the second candle as well. When you see the next candle, don't hit it yet. Get rid of the second nightstalker and safely collect the remaining items. Climb down to the next room and get ready to fight! STAGE 2 BOSS This "boss" actually consists of a bunch of small, extremely fast enemies that jump out at you from holes in the wall. Fireballs will really help in this battle. But, if you don't have them, you can still beat these things. They only take one hit to defeat, but, if one slips past you, the whole situation can get out of control! You can see these enemies before they jump out, and you may want to pause to see where they are so you can plan out where to attack from. The enemies that appear in the holes in the center, left and lower-right of the screen can be destroyed before they even pop out. But, the ones that appear in the hole at the top of the screen must be destroyed *after* they pop out. To attack the others, simply go up to the hole they're in and whip them. To attack the one at the top of the room, stand a bit to the left of the hole on the lower-right corner of the room. Face toward it, and attack when it jumps down to you. If you have fireballs, stay in that spot for the entire battle. That way, you can easily attack the creatures in the holes in the center of the screen, the top of it, and the right side, and shoot the creature on the left side. If you don't have fireballs, stay in the center of the screen and move into position to attack when one appears. Kill twenty of them, and it's off to stage 3. Yippee.... STAGE 3 ______ BOSS |_____| 3-2 |__|______________________ 3-1 C |______________________ _ | 3-1 B | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | _______________________| _ | 3-1 A |_________________________| 3-1 A I sometimes wonder if this was an early version of the "Tower of Execution" from CastleVania 64? It looks like a tower, and it's easy to get executed in if you're not careful. Anyway, this stage only consists of 3 rooms, but the first one is so big, I've divided it into three sections. You start out in a room with spikes lining the top of it. It looks frightening, and it is! Climb up the set of brick stairs. When you reach the end of the top one, you'll see two candles in front of you. The first one you can hit from there. As for the one further away, you'll have to knock it out with fireballs. Don't jump to it. You'll spear your head on the intso-killing spikes if you do. If you have the fireballs and you can knock it out, a 1-up will be yours! Go right, and don't slow down, because the ceiling's caving in! Keep heading right, and you'll see a giant screw. Destroy it, and the ceiling will go back up to where it belongs...then, it'll come back down again! Keep going right, then look for an indent in the ceiling. Duck down inside of it. The spikes will start coming down on your head...then retract again. Quickly, go right and destroy the second screw. The ceiling will go back up again and stop. But, as soon as you go right, it'll come back down again! Don't dawdle, or you'll be crushed! Keep going right until you see another section where the spiked ceiling is indented. Duck there, and wait for the ceiling to retract. When the path is clear again, move quickly and destroy the next screw before the ceiling comes down again! When you destroy that screw, the ceiling will go up again, and stay there. You can hit the next two candles you see. Although it looks dangerous to jump up and hit the second one, it's safe. Jump across some falling platforms, grab on to that first rope you see and hold on tight, because you're in for a wild ride! 3-1 B You thought spikes coming down from the ceiling was bad? Now, they're coming up from below! This is just about the toughest area in the game because of all of the nasty jumps. Plus, if you die on the way to the top, you'll have to start all the way at the beginning of this section! Get ready! First, head upward and jump right over to the other rope. Wait to do this until the spikes touch the very end of the rope you're on. Climb up that rope and jump over to the ledge on the left. On it, you'll meet an enemy I just call a "worm". If you hit one with your chain whip, you'll destroy it, but, if you hit one with your leather whip or fireballs, it will roll away from you, and, if it hits a wall, it'll come rolling back at high speeds! Hit it again to destroy it, or jump over it. Head left up to the next rope. Climb up it, go right and deal with another worm, then go up the next rope. Climb it up as high as you can, then, jump to the left across the falling platforms. When you make it across, jump up to the rope on the right. Climb it as high as you can, then, jump to the rope to the left. Climb it up, go right, dealing with any worms that might be in the way, then climb up the next rope. This next jump's tricky. Climb the rope up until the spikes touch the very bottom of the rope you're on, then, jump over to the left. You should just barely clear the gap. Quickly, head left to the next rope. You'll have to jump to it, because the spikes will get you before you reach the rope if you just stay on the ground. Climb up quickly, head right, and deal with the worms. Go all the way to the right, then jump up to the next rope. Climb that up until the spikes touch the end of it, then jump left over to the next rope. Jump left off the rope to a ledge, then up to the next rope. Keep going up. Don't jump over to the ledge on the right. Keep climbing up. Climb as high as you can, then, jump to the thin block to the right. Then, jump over to the next block, and up the falling platforms. I used to have trouble with this area. I used to jump before the screen scrolled up enough. Then, I would jump, hit my head on the ceiling, and fall to an untimely death. Don't make the same mistake. There are several sections where you must jump from block to block like this one, so make sure that the screen has scrolled up a good amount before you jump. Also, remember to take your time with the thin blocks. Don't rush, or you'll end up dead. Go to the very edge of the blocks before you jump. Once you've cleared that area, climb up the rope on the right. Go up it until you think you're high up enough to make the jump, then jump left to the thin block. Once again, I urge you to take your time with the thin blocks. Even though it doesn't look like a long distance from that thin block to that ledge over to the left, if you jump without being prepared, it's all over. Jump left over to the platform and deal with the worm. Go up the rope on the left. Climb up as high as you can, then, jump right from block to block. Once again, make sure the screen has scrolled up enough. Keep going. Climb up the rope on the right. Climb it as high as you can, then hop across the three falling platforms to the left. Once you've cleared them, hop up to the next rope. Climb up as high as possible (like usual) and hop across the three thin blocks to the right. Once you clear them, go right, then, take the rope up. Congratulations! You've made it to the continue point! But, don't think it's over yet. You've got one more area to go! 3-1 C Unlike the last area which required you to have much skill to overcome the dangers, this area's a race against time! A giant wall of spikes is heading toward you from the right. Move quickly, but stay calm! Jump left over to solid ground using the ropes you start on. A word of note. Ignore the candles! Getting them will simply slow you down. You'll come to zigzag sections that require you to go left, down, right, down and left again. When you fall down to a lower level, quickly turn in the opposite direction. There's also sections where you must jump from rope to rope. Climb almost all the way to the top of the ropes before jumping to the next ones. Take your time jumping from block to block, make sure to dispose of the worms and mudmen in your way, and use all of the jumping strategies you've learned up to now, and you'll eventually make it to the next room! You've almost completed stage 3! 3-2 (SECRET!) Climbing up the rope from area 3-1 C, about halfway up it, jump over to the right. You should go through the wall and into the secret area (with prizes you deserve in it!). Then, take the rope up to the room above. If you skip the secret and keep climbing up, either way, you'll end up going to the same room as if you went through the secret room. STAGE 3 BOSS Climb up and jump off to the right. Head right, go into the big room, hit the candle, and grab the orb. Get ready to fight! A bat monster will appear. If you have a fully-powered whip, you can make easy work of it. The boss will fly about the room and, every once in a while, will land on the ground. That's your point of attack. When you hit it, it will fly back up. It then becomes unpredictable. It will either float back down to ground level, land on the ledge on the left side of the room, or attack. If it starts to float back down, just get out of the way. If it stands on the ledge on the upper-left corner of the screen, just wait for it to come back down. If it hovers in the air and stays still, it will swoop down to attack. Stand under it, and it will swoop down to the opposite side of the room. Keep attacking it when it comes to your level, and it'll be gone in no time. Now, it's on to the final leg of your journey, stage 4.... STAGE 4 ___ ___ 4-11 |__| | 4-12 ________|__| 4-10 |__| | 4-13 |__________| 4-9 |__| | 4-14 |__| 4-8 ___|__| | BOSS |__| 4-7 |_____| | 4-6 |__| | 4-5 |__| | 4-4 __ _|__| | 4-3 |______|____ | 4-2 ___________|__________| | 4-1 |_____________________| | 4-1 This level is the end of the line for all players. Either you finish the game, or lose all of your lives. But, don't lose faith. Victory is almost yours! You start out in a long hallway with suits of knight armor in the background. Be careful. These are actually real knights! As you wander down the hallway, they'll walk out, and attack with their spears. You can notice when they appear if one of the suits of knight armor darken and you hear a small rumbling noise. They can be dangerous just because they have the element of surprise. Two hits from the leather whip or from fireballs, or one hit from the chain whip will destroy it. Once you clear the hallway of knight armor, you'll face a nightstalker. Duck to avoid it's hook, then attack it from a lower platform. Once you get past him, the only thing that stands between you and the next room is... the boss of level one! Beat it just as you did before. It seems weaker than last time, though (thankfully). Just make sure you kill it quickly. If you go too far to the left and kill it, you may scroll another one onto the screen! After it's defeated, go up to the next room. 4-2 This room consists of a long hallway with four spitters in it. Take your time here, because you never know when a spitter's fireball make just come blazing your way! Dispose of them, and head up to the next room. 4-3 This room has two more spitters in it. The first one you meet is attached to the ceiling. Destroy it, or walk past it. Go right a little ways, and go up the rope. You now have two choices. You can either go right and exit the room, or go left and see what awaits you in the upper path. I usually skip going left. Even though there's a crystal in the candle over there that powers up your whip, I usually end up getting hit by the spitter's fireballs, and lose it, anyway. And, besides, you'll eventually have to head right, anyway. Climb up the rope as high as you can, jump right over to the falling platform (the candle underneath it doesn't really have anything of value), then, jump right again over to the other ledge. You should just barely make it. Climb up to the next room. 4-4 This looks like another section of stage 3! Not only are the floors, ceilings, and walls covered with spikes that are fatal to the touch, but even the underside of the floating platforms have spikes on them! This room is tricky. Climb up to the top of the rope. Wait until the two platforms are situated so that the horizontally-moving (left to right) platform is close to you, and the vertically-moving (up and down) platform is at the bottom of the screen. Jump left to the horizontally-moving platform. Ride it left until it's directly above the vertically-moving platform, then jump straight up.You only have one shot at this, so try to do it right the first time! You should fall down onto the vertically-moving platform. It will then take you up to the higher area where you can jump off to the left, land on the ledge and exit the room. But, don't jump too late, or the platform will plow you right up into the spiked ceiling! Don't jump to early, either, or the spikes on the left wall will nail ya'! Go up to the next room. 4-5 This room is similar to the last one. There are three platforms that constantly move up and down. As usual, climb to the top of the rope, and jump off right to the platform when it's low enough. Then, jump to the next platform when it, and the platform you're on, lines up. Continue doing this, jump to the rope on the right side of the room, and climb it up to the next room. 4-6 This room is identical to the last one, except that you have to go left this time. Use the same strategy as you used in the last room, and climb up to the next one. 4-7 This room is a continue point, so, if you die after you reach this area, you won't have to go throught those spike rooms again! This room consists of a hallway with two nightstalkers in it. Dispose of the first one as normal and collect the item in the first candle. When you see the second candle, don't jump up to get it, or you'll get hit by the second nightstalker's hook. Defeat it, then collect the item in the second candle. Go up to the next room. 4-8 I have a knack for dying stupidly in this room (and that's why I lost that one life in that great game of this I played that I told you about). This room has three small platforms suspended above a spike floor with a spitter at the left side of the room. Be careful when navigating these platforms. I didn't used to be, and the spitter's fireballs hit me, and knocked me into the spikes below. Don't make the same mistake! Carefully cross the room and either kill the spitter, or simply jump over it, grab onto the rope above it, and climb to the room above. 4-9 (SECRET!) You enter this room with a nightstalker to the right. He'll immediately throw a hook at you, which you can try to avoid by quickly jumping to solid ground, ducking under it, and then jumping over it when it comes back, or just sit there and take a hit (which is okay because a secret room is nearby!). Kill the thing and climb up the rope on the right side of the room. Don't climb up to the next room yet, though. Climb about halfway up it, then jump off left. You should land on an invisible ledge. Then, search for an invisible rope. When you find it, climb up to the room above. Then, jump off to the left and hit the candles on the way down. Believe me, you'll need every item in this room! Climb back down, go right onto the rope, and climb up to the next room. 4-10 It's hard not to take a hit in this room. This room consists of another area you must navigate that is covered with spikes. But, this time, the spikes shoot out at you, and you must use them as ledges to climb up so you can get to the next room! When you first enter the room, stay on the rope and examine the pattern that the spikes shoot out at. Once you think you've got it down, use them to climb up to the exit. While the spikes that shoot out *do* hurt alot, they don't kill you instantly, but, all of the other spikes in the room do! Also, the candle at the top of the room contains a whip power-up crystal, but, it's not worth risking your life for it. Head up to the next room. 4-11 This room can cause you to lose a lot of energy units. It's similar to the last room, but it throws you right into the fray! Unlike the last room where you could hang around and watch the spikes' patterns, if you do that in this one, you'll get speared! The first one shoots out to the right, as well as the second one. The third one shoots out to the left, then the next one shoots out to the right, then the last one shoots out to the left, but the last three spikes shoot out increasingly faster! Don't expect to get out of this one unscathed! When you reach the top, hop left over to the rope, and head down to the next room. 4-12 This room has two spikes that shoot out simultaneously. The top one shoots out to the left, the other one shoots out to the right. They both also do so very quickly. When both of the spikes are extended, hop over to the top one, walk right, and don't stop. When they retract, you should fall to the right. Keep going right, and you should fall down just in time to avoid them. Climb down to the room below. 4-13 This is the last stretch of your quest before the final confrontation with Dracula himself. And, just getting to him will be tough! Remember at the beginning of this level with the boss of stage 1 at the end of the first room, and how I said you could scroll another one onto the screen if you're not careful? Well, it's the same thing all over again...times 3! You'll have to fight three of these beasts in a row, without taking any breaks and with only a few health items to help you out. And, thanks to room 4-11, you probably only have a leather whip now. You have two choices here. If your health is very low, you'll have to fight these things and hope you live, but, if you're in good shape (and you don't mind losing whatever whip you may have), you can use a little trick to sneak past them. Let one come very close to you and face away from it. When it attacks you, you'll get hit backwards into it and be invincible for almost a second. In that time, run past it. This will allow you to get past them all and only take three hits! Whatever way you do it, you'll eventually have to head to... 4-14 This is the absolute *LAST* chance you'll get to power up before your final battle, so don't miss it! Land on the falling platform on the right side of the room, and jump left as the platform falls so you'll land on the ledge with the three candles on it. Here, you'll find a health item, a whip power-up, and a coin. Take all of the items and head down to the room below. STAGE 4 BOSS Drop down carefully, hit the candle, and grab the orb. Dracula appears.... The room you fight in consists of 12 platforms, but you'll only need to use 7. You'll start the battle on the ledge that the candle was above. Dracula will appear on a platform to the left of it. Dracula attacks by shooting out little things that come out in an "X" formation, then, he shoots them out in in a semi-cross formation (minus shooting one below him) then shoots them out in an "X" formation again, then the cross formation again, then the "X" formation once more before teleporting somewhere else in the room. When Drac appears on that platform to the left, get to the very left edge of the platform you're on, duck down to avoid the "X" shot, then jump up and hit him when he fires out the cross shot, then duck under the "X" shot again. Continue until he warps to the right side of the room. Use the same strategy while standing on the right edge of the platform. When he fires out the third "X" shot, he'll warp to the top of the room. Don't try to hit him there. From where you were before he warped, drop down to the lower ledge on the right, then jump over to the ledge in the lowest-right corner of the screen. Go near the right edge of the platform. All of his shots will miss you. Then, he'll warp down to where you started. Stay on that ledge and all his shots should miss you (as long as you're pretty close to the right edge of that platform). Then, he'll warp back to where he was when the battle started, and repeat the entire process. Keep repeating your strategy until he's defeated. Congratulations! You beat Drac and won the game!.... Yeah, right. FINAL BOSS When Dracula's first form is defeated, he'll transform into a giant bat which flies back and forth very quickly across the top of the screen. Climb up onto that platform that Dracula appeared on when you first started the first battle. This will be your base of attack. Jump up and hit the bat when he flies toward you. Keep in mind that Christopher is a bit on the slow side, and the bat's a bit on the quick side, so attack earlier than you normally would. For instance, jump up and attack when the bat's flying toward you and is almost in the middle of the screen. If you're too slow, the bat will hit you. If you're brave, you can try hitting it again as it flies away from you, but you risk jumping right into the bat. Every once in a while, the bat will pause and spit out four smaller bats. These bats are quite damaging, so I suggest you try to kill them if they're near you. Destroy them by standing or ducking and whipping them when they're in range. If you managed to keep your chain whip all the way until now, it will make the battle much easier. If you keep up this strategy, stay calm, have patience and have excellent timing, you'll finally beat Drac! Now, just sit back, watch the credits, let your heart rate return to normal, and just be proud of yourself. You did it. And Translyvania is safe once again...until Dracula returns, and you, once again, will be called into action for the next CastleVania Adventure! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While my strategies are good, they're not fool-proof. I suggest you try making some strategies of your own that fit your own style if mine don't work for you. Well, good luck, and thanks for reading! Send questions or comments to: megamur@hotmail.com Copyright 1999, 2000 Randall "MEGAMUR" Best All CastleVania-related characters/games/etc. are property of Konami Inc.