How To Beat CastleVania (NES) - mechanics and walkthrough
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- čas přidán 8. 11. 2015
- A few minutes of mechanics, and a full narrated walkthrough with a variety of options.
This won't save you from needing to practice and get familiar with the levels, but hopefully it helps a lot!
Any comments and suggestions welcome, there is pretty much always a better way to do something.
For those curious about the tunes:
StarTropics II: Zoda's Revenge - Introduction
TMNT Tournament Fighters (NES) - Pirate Ship
TMNT III: Manhattan Project: Bridge of Danger
Bucky O'Hare - Green Planet - Hry
Also there is wall meat right before the great hall where is fight death I feel that's pretty important to mention
I noticed I missed it after I uploaded and had finished all the "filming" and editing, so I annotated it...but it doesn't show up on mobile :(
@@FireGuts Or at all now that CZcams has killed annotations.
Before fighting Dracula, you can whip the first six candles, then walk back down the staircase, then back up again, and they'll be back. You can keep hitting these candles for hearts every time you die for unlimited ammo. It takes a while, but it works. In both Dracula's forms, his only weak spot is his head, and in his second form, you can walk through Dracula when he's stunned with the Holy Water. Since they give you a Holy Water at the very last candle in the game every time, you don't need to hold onto it for the entire last level. Hope this helps
This comment is the best thing I’ve read all day
Supah Cole VII This is exactly what I do when I need hearts and/or an upgrade. Keep going up and down the stairs. Also, if you use your weapon to destroy candles instead of the whip you get the II and III faster.
True, just watch the clock.
When you get to Dracula, don't even bother fighting him until you stock up on hearts. Go back down the steps, come back up, and all the candles are back, rinse and repeat. This is extremely tedious and nobody feels like doing it, but if you want to stand any chance against Dracula, you're gonna have to. Dracula might not seem so bad at first, especially after you send his fucking head to the moon. But then... oh-OHHH... MY... GOD. What in the unholy name of ASS is this fuckness? Oh wait, that's not a word? Well, it should be. So you fight the evil... Cookie Monster, your health is never replenished, so this whole thing is like an endurance round. If you took one single hit on Dracula, I say your chances against the Cookie Monster are up a rat's ass.
I'm getting stronger AVGN vibes from this than I would from a Modern day AVGN episode (even if I actually still like some of them)
"Grab all the resources you can cuz you're going to need them" as he passes up ten hearts
Because he doesn't need them but you might will.
Dude I can't express how awesome this vid is. I've been playing off and on since the second grade and beat the game 30 years later after watching this! :D
Jonathan Pressman Same. Just beat it for the first time ever!
"I'm not a masochist."
**Plays Castlevania**
The safe word is *Alucard*.
Lol !!!😭
this game is not that hard. a difficult lineup would be blaster master, tmnt 1, and of course battletoads. that game was really unforgiving and too difficult.
At beginning is pretty difficult but once you completed it you can do it in 15 mins
@@Barbe Got this refference
Because of you I beat this game on the DS without the save feature. And for that I thank you.
Against Dracula's 2nd Evil Cookie Monster form, if he has you pinned near a wall, you can crouch and he will jump extra high, allowing you to walk under without getting hit.
Underrated tip, thank you!
You are now my Castlevania-sensei. Thank you for your hard work. This is awesome!
Came here right after i hit “end” instead of “continue” on the last level of Castlevania.
I LOVE all the little touches and "easter eggs" in this video: acknowledging the "delicious wall meat" trope, the Battletoads pause ditty, the wonderful Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night "Hydro Storm!" picture at the very end... great stuff. And that's on top of a really, really well done video walkthrough that even taught me a trick or two, and I've beaten Castlevania enough that I thought I knew all the little tricks - but I was mistaken. Kudos on a job well done.
I’ve been playing this for 35 years (could never get the Dracula pattern) and finally beat it after watching this video, which my son discovered.
This is really the best walkthrough of this game I've ever seen. It's clear and concise. It's also well thought out. The "how to beat Dracula" part is great and defies the conventional wisdom of just using crucifixes. A+, braj.
Thanks so much for the tips FireGuts. Everything you demonstrated put me on a path that led to my beating Castlevania for the first time ever!
Thank you. Seriously, thank you. I've had this game for over 20 years, and for the longest time I could never get past Stage 12. Picking this game up again after all these years, on my own I finally made it to Death, where I'd routinely get whipped (or sickled, to be precise). With your guide, I actually completed this game. You are an incredible instructor.
This video covers the entirety of Castlevania fairly well. The editing is good and I like the subtleties like the Battle Toads pause music.
I watched your Friday the 13th video a few months ago and it really helped me get through that game. I had never beaten it without GameGenie before then.
I just got through this game for the first time thanks to this video. Thanks for making it! Honestly wish there were more guides like this out there.
Highly informative and showed me some optimal plays I had never considered in Stage 16 or 17. Thank you for sharing this!
Keep posting more How To Beat CastleVania guides man! It has been years since you've posted and i'm looking forward to your content.
Thank you so much! I cannot believe that after 29 years I just finished this game...still enjoying the fabulous end credits...! ^^
This was one really excellent video guide. Reminded me of the old NES Tips videos that Sly used to make, mixed in with a bit of Aqualance but with some nice editing and visualisations.
I really hope you'll make more of these in the future, cause they are pretty awesome. I have to try some of this stuff out next time I play Castlevania.
+Captain N Hey I really appreciate it. I'd like to put together some more in the future but they're really time intensive to make and work/life makes it hard to put the time into it. Maybe a few months down the road I can start work on another.
Good luck on CastleVania, it's not as hard as it seems!
FireGuts, I'd really really love to see more of these! You did a really wonderful job man. I'm 36 and I still own my NES copies of all 3 castlevania games. Good Stuff.
I'm a long-time old school NES gamer, and I'm happy to say that I learned a lot from this video. Thank you!!!
Hey, just coming back to this video- your guide has helped me beat my first Castlevania, and well... long story short I am now with most of them beaten, and I'm so invested, I'm currently working on a fan project 🙏🙏 Thanks a lot for sparking the interest in me!
That's amazing 👏 good luck on your project!
Thanks to your tutorial I managed to beat CastleVania after 30 years! I gave up a long time ago, but started watching this and figured I could do it, and I did!
Much Thanks
Very nice walkthrough. Thanks for showing the alternate boss strategies. Been playing this game for nearly 30 years on and off, and still haven't beaten it.
Also, very cool on that 1-Up at 19:35.
With this guide I was finally able to clock it after 20+ years. Thank you so much!
I just finished the game using this guide, great walkthrough!
About 30 years later and I've finally beat this, after never getting any further than 3rd level as a kid. But honestly I save scummed my way through on the 30th anniversary PS4 version. I can't imagine getting good enough to beat it without cheap saves all over but I know it can be done. Maybe I'll try that one in another 30 years.
amazing to realize that after all this years you can still learn things about your favorite games. i did not have a clue that you could have free lives in castlevania. gj on the guide how to play it.
Damns bro. This is the best guide ever! Thank you for teaching us the mechanics of the game you the real MVP!
I finally managed to beat this game on my NES Classic. So thanks for uploading this guide! Something I just wanted to add was when you're fighting Dracula's first and second forms (but mainly the first), it's important to stay on the move to make it easier to hit him and make it harder for him to hit you. I also didn't realize this until later on in the fight, but Dracula's demon form follows the same rules as his human form. Anyways, great guide. You could have been a game councilor for Nintendo back in the day.
This was well put together (editing and tips). I enjoyed the breakdown on proper whip spacing; especially with the tip of fighting The Creature (aka Frank). I've been beating this game for a good while now and I'm still learning new stuff! Very cool! I would like to see how you approached Castlevania 3.
Man, this is the best explanation and walkthrough of Castlevania that I've ever seen. It's like I'm in my best friend's basement and his older brother just came down to help us beat it.
As a speedrunner of this game, I appreciate the info here! Thanks man, do more videos like this one for old games!!
I consider myself to be a long-time ultra master at this game, and I actually learned a couple things from this walkthrough. Would really like to see a FireGuts walkthrough on the 2nd quest/hard mode. Best video on CZcams for this game, congratulations.
More helpful than nintendo power
No.
@@F255123 yes
“Grab the Guts! Fire Guts!”
Of all the “infamously difficult NES games” ie: Castlevania Trilogy, Ninja Gaiden Trilogy, Zelda 2, Battletoads, Silver Surfer, etc. I find this one the easiest of the bunch, hands down. It’s one of my favourites but it’s very doable. Great video!
Awesome playthrough and great tips along the way! I'm sure you could make plenty more great videos like this
This is such a great video! So helpful. I finally feel like I might be able to beat this game now
Thank you so much for this guide, it really helps. An additional tip : Before dracula's fight, you can go down the stairs to respawn the candles and stack up on hearts.
Damn bro. You been on CZcams for 14 years. That's dedication. This is a good walkthrough. I plan on using it for my playthrough of Castlevania on the Nvidia Shield TV. So I'll be able to utilize the save feature. Makes it easier, not like in the old days👴
Thank you for this guide! Couldn't have done it without you!
This is the perfect tutorial. I thoroughly enjoyed your style and format. The LOL Fuck You from the bat was gold. Subscribed! Hope to see more of these.
Great video , and thanks for the tips . Now I can hopefully beat this game . Haven’t played in about 28-29 years .
Excellent guide! I'm stuck in Death's stage, this will help me a lot
Good luck! Don't forget the wall meat hidden in the far right side of the second floor, in the second-last room before Death. I forgot about it until I'd long-finished "filming" so it's only annotated...
Death is quite easy, just before Death goes to battle, throw some holy water in the top right part where he appears, the flame will stuck him and you will continue to throw more holy water. 8 bottles and he's done.
Deaths stage is the easiest in my opinion
@@FireGuts: i was gonna bring that up
Im stuck on mummy stage
Just beat it first time. So happy with this. Thanks.
Please! Make more videos like this one! Loved the Friday 13th and Zelda as well! You method is really a blast!
Thank you so much for the tips on Dracula. I’ve been trying to beat this game without the game genie for the past 30 years!
I already beat Castlevania twice, but I like this video concept. Very informative and helpful.
This video is great and comes to me with great timing. Just downloaded the anniversary collection on my PS4, and I'm currently on level 3. I'll keep these bits in mind
There's a pot roast I forgot to mention to the right of the last stairs before Death, that'll help!
@@FireGuts thanks
Awesome walkthrough. Game is a beast.
Beat this game tonight for the first time. Did it on an original cartridge on a real NES - so 100% legit, no save state shenanigans. This video was immensely helpful! Thank you!
Can't get more satisfying than that!
Best walkthrough period
Fantastic walkthrough!! Thank you
I never played this game before (or any CV game) and right away I looked up how to use sub-weapons, then everything was going great until level 4. I got my ass handed to me multiple times on my way to the boss, then I gave up. I later found out online that the red goblin thing couldn't be killed, so all this time, I never actually hit the boss! Still couldn't beat it and that's where I found you! Holy Water strat worked like a charm and I haven't watched the video past that since I want to try as much as possible on my own.
GREAT VIDEO! I learned a lot. A couple tricks I have learned elswhere. 1) You can do the bat trick to avoid going downstairs on stage 02. You can also use it to skip some areas of the Grim Reaper stages, using bones instead of bat. 2) If you whip the giant bats quickly on stage 16 they wont fly at you. 3) If you hit Dracula and get hit by him at the same time he takes a massive amount of damage. If you are lucky and good, You can use the boomeramg (its a boomerang, not a cross btw, there is an actual cross in the game!)and time it right you can kill him fast then get the holy water with a good chance of getting a II for Cookie Monster.
That was impressive, thank you for a great video.
Here are a few alternate strats from a former speedrunner of this game. While these are speedrun strats, they are incredibly safe and very easy to learn (well one of them isn't but its marked accordingly) and ultimately make a complete joke of some of the hardest rooms in the game.
1. Stage 2 in the room with the death traps, instead of triggering the bat before the ladder, do so under the the first bone pillar. Do so by jumping, then jump again immediately to get hit by the bat. This will push Simon's Y Position on the same height as the bone pillar and thus the platform it is on. Use the invincibility frames to turn right, jump, and go straight through the second bone pillar.
2. Stage 3. Get the cross instead of staying with holy water. To do this grab the axe in the second room right before the door to the 2nd area. Then use the axe in the first screen of area 2 on the heart that is to the left of the platforms leading up to screen two to get the cross (see the video for reference.) This will make the 3rd area very safe. Use the cross extensively on bone pillars fireballs and to crowd control the two jumping bone skeletons (this should result in at least a double block.)
When you get to the mummies, instead of staying center screen go all the way right and let the two mummies walk to the middle. Don't be afraid if the mummy on the right turns right and hits you, it will turn back left immediately afterward (grab the wall meat to make sure you have more than 3 health.) When they are overlapping (they only need to be overlapping they don't have to be directly on the same X position) throw a single cross and it will immediately kill both mummies due to a glitch in how the cross works. Don't be afraid to use your cross leading up to the boss. If timed correctly you only need one heart for the boss.
3. Stage 4, Grab the stopwatch and activate it mid-air when jumping onto the first platform. If a bat spawns during the 5 seconds the stopwatch is active you'll be able to just jump over him. Get the holy water where the video shows in the caverns. The trick is to hit as many enemies with your sub weapon as possible. 8 - 10 hits with a sub weapon will spawn a double and another 8 - 10 will spawn a triple. You only need a double for Frankenstein's monster if you throw a holy water, whip twice, then throw another and repeat. It's also a really quick kill and super easy to do.
3A) While this takes some practice, if you turn left immediately before the first bird dropping fleamen spawns, you can make it so that all birds will spawn behind you. The first bird will still spawn in front of you so jump right and throw a holy water. Simply keep going right, when flea men get close jump and throw a holy water. They will walk right into it making it very safe not only for damage, but also guarantees that any unwanted sub weapons spawn behind you. This is not an easy trick at all, but if you can get it down, makes this room very easy. I speed ran this game for around 6 - 8 months and only got this trick maybe 15% of the time.
4. Stage 5, second area. Line up under the platform directly underneath the stair case and jump when the flea man does to be pushed on top of the above platform. Immediately grab the stair case, walk left then grab the second ladder into the next room. You'll take 4 damage, but you can avoid both the axe men this way with the invincibility from the flea man hit.
5. Next. In the room leading up Grim, a little known trick, when an enemy with multiple hits is hit with the holy water, their hit box turns off for the duration the fire is on screen. You can walk straight through both axemen in this room by jumping left and throwing a holy water stunning them with it, which means that you'll never need to stop moving, thus always avoiding the medusa heads. It makes this room one of the easiest in the game.
Lastly, how getting double and triple power ups work. While there are secret ones in the levels, the idea is to use the sub weapon to hit enemies, enemy projectiles, and candles. 8 - 10 hits with the weapon will yield a double and another 8 to 10 will yield a triple. This actually works in CV3 and CV4 as well.
Very well done video. Thanks for sharing!
The TMNT Tournament Fighters music at 1:28 was an excellent call.
August 16, 2017...I killed Death for the very first time, & I first played this game when I was 11 yrs old back in 1990
Thank you kind Sir! I wanted to mention another tip, if you hit candles with a weapon every 10th one you get a 2 or 3 block. This game is kicking my ass but I love the challenge!
Just found your channel. Love it.
Just beat the game this morning. Thanks for the lessons, dude :D
Very informative! Good video.
Awesome! This is now my Castlevania bible!
Awesome guide, and still the best on youtube! Many new people have tried to make guides for this game, but your is still the best. But I want to add a few important tips and comments:
1. The infamous medusa head "clusterf*ck" hall. I have tried a million times to do it like you showed, but I simply cannot. What I have found out through like a million deaths is that you don't even have to kill the knights if you have holy water. Jump A BIT BEFORE the first column, throw it and you can just pass through the stunned knight without any damage. With t,he second knight jump from within the column. You can even simply jump over the knights, but this demands some skill.
2. The damn dracula. It is simply impossible to beat him just relying on the guide, you have to get the feel, the tempo of the battle for yourself. He does have a pattern, but it is too hard to discern, your best bet is your intuition. After like an hour I would simply KNOW where he would appear, without even thinking. Move in the direction that has the most space, hit him, he will most likely spawn from the other side, move there, hit him. When he spawns on top of you, he usually does this around his coffin, closer to the centre, so be mindful of this, do not mingle there for too long. Also, when moving past the coffin, I feel like you can cheese him to spawn there by stuttering for part of a second and moving further. Get the feel of his movement and you will soon have him under control. The cookie monster form is easy as pie, while Vlad transforms just move to the side of the room that is less occupied and interrupt his movement with holy water. You should most times have enough space before he reaches you. Good luck!
Such a great video. Wish you'd do more.
thank you, ive never cried after beating a game
I just love this kind of videos☆☆☆
This was very helpful. I’m not ashamed to admit I played the Switch version, so I was able to save where I can. I just wanted to experience it a bit first hand. Was going to just skip this version and play Super Castlevania IV version, but I am glad I went through with it. Thanks
Hey it took me ages to beat this without savestates. Glad you went through it either way.
Great video! Really helpful :D
Great video amazing guide thanks 👍
There is a way to force II and III subweapon multipliers to drop.
After destroying 10 enemies and/or candles with your subweapon, a multiplier will always drop.
So use that subweapon liberally and you'll see them much more often.
I don't speak English anymore just watching your video I learned, thanks friend. hi to brazil.; you very ninja playing
Very helpful, thanks man.
The music in level 3 is just awesome!
Best guide on the internet! Thanks.
Thanks!
Great video man
You are a genius.
Thank you.
Thank you again.
Couple of things to add: If things go wrong on Frankenstein, I find that kneeling on the furthest block away of the floating platform right in front of him and whipping like crazy will give you a damn good chance of killing him before he or his buddy is a problem. The flea man will likely be locked down for most of the fight and when he does get loose, he'll likely jump way over your head giving you enough time to finish off Frank. Also, don't go into the Dracula fight empty-handed - you can walk back down the stairway and farm hearts.
Here's a couple of free tips. Hit candles with your subweapon if you hit ten of them you get a double or triple shot of espresso. With Dragons, bone pillars or axe men you hit them once or twice with perfume and you get the dubbs or tripps. Dubbs or Tripps, heh ,unintentional intentional self reference. When facing Dracula deek him out by constantly moving with a quick movement in the opposite direction. Stay within the length of his coffin, don't corner yourself at the edges of the room. For his ghost if you want to get under him stay as close as you can and duck he will high jump.
Shit man, I've been trying to finish this damn game since the late 80s and I never made it past Death. After watching this I may have to purchase it for the umpteenth time and give the last part a shot. I love how the old games are so simple in their strategy but can really kick your ass if you don't know them. Cool video and the pause music was a fantastic touch lol.
YAAAY I beat Castlevania today!! Thanks dude!! Timing was a bit different on Dracula though (since my version is PAL). I managed nonetheless. subbed too!
Thanks, mate! Glad I could help :3
Very good guide. I didnt really need this anymore when i watched it cuz i can beat it consistently quickly, but there was time when i would have used this gladly. one thing i think you should explain is forcing double and triple shot. it's based on how many times you have hit an enemy with that weapon. i think it is ten hits then the next small heart candle will be the upgrade
Thanks! I beat most of the game but got stuck at Dracula. I couldn’t figure out how to beat him but this video helps a lot!
Brilliant. Thank you!
Best video guide I've seen on CZcams! Start a Patreon and I'll throw money at you! :D
Me too! 101 for everything N-E-S -Hard!
thumbs up, like your video, cause it is something i wanted to do also since a long time. you've forgotten one part that makes the first two stages even more easy.the giant bat and medusa are most easy with using the stop-watch.
Best help ever! Thanks, you👨🏼🎤! found that in level 7, when ignoring the medusas at the end if wait half a sec,before skeleton💀 it won't hit u.
Love this video.
This is really a great video and it explains so many things that I know and use but can't explain to other people so clearly all of the time. However, this stuff about the holy water is funny to me because I can consistently beat this game every time I play it in very little time at this point of my life but I never really care about getting holy water or not (or really the other subweapons either except for eventually the dracula battle when I find that the boomerang is good for the 1st form and the holy water helps with the 2nd form, however they toy with you by putting the holy water in that candle that the boomerangs will eventually cause to prematurely reveal the holy water). I don't really see the big advantage of holy water except the medusa battle. All of the other situations I can think of are easily solved using any subweapon or just kicking some ass.
25:47 That bone passed right through Simon.
i know the last one was from 2 years ago, but do u plan on doing more of these? this is really well made, and u explaining mechanics and stuff from nes games is really enterteining to watch ^^
I actually have just started working on the idea of one today, so in a few weeks I should have another out. That said, there aren't that many old, hard games that I can make easier for people and these take a while to make. You can thank a pandemic for giving me some free time, haha.
You certainly don't need to know the locations of sub-weapon-upgrades. Destroying projectiles, enemies and candles with sub-weapons will make them spawn fairly quickly whenever you need them. And if you chain kills together, for example, throwing one boomerang and hitting multiple enemies with the same use of that sub-weapon, you can potentially grind lives since the score multiplies. There's also a hidden critical hit-mechanic (or rather a -glitch?) but it happens mostly accidentally if ever when you're playing normally.
8:04 playing this game for 10 hears, never knew about that II there.
That guide it's fucking awesome, Pause " battletoads pause theme"
If I'm not mistaken, the upgrades for the weapon comes more frequent the more you using it.
Like the whip. It usual get upgraded pretty quick, because it's your standard weapon.
But the subweapon works in the same way. The more you using them, the faster you will gain your dubble or triple throw.
How ever... Those dubble/triple throw can only appear in specific candles, so if you have used your weapon enough to earn an upgrade, you will be rewarded with one.
But if not, it will skip till the next one, just like a checkpoint sort of.
Then we also have the bonus upgrades, no matter what. As long you have a subweapon, you will get one automatically, and still wont effect the process how frequent you have used it.
So if you are near a bonus upgrade, and hit the next candle with possible upgrade, you can get two upgrades almost immediately after each other.
And I just beat Dracula and the Cookie Monster!!! Wooooooooo!!!!!! All thanks to this awesome video! Now if I could learn how to beat Ghosts n Goblins
Fun fact. Some Medusa’s move in a sine function while others move in the cosine function