Daily Dracula X - Stage 2' - Breaking Through The Front

(I Hate Taking The Long Way Around)

The game refers to alternate stages with an apostrophe, like [Stage 2’]. Probably from the mathematical prime symbol, this apostrophe is frequently read as “Dash” in Japanese media. It signifies that Stage 2’ is an alternate Stage 2.¹

Despite the title of this stage for Richter— Maria’s seems more correct— in this stage we appear to cross a long bridge leading into the castle.

Things are getting a little more spicy here, throwing a lot of fast-flying enemies at Richter while frequently pulling out the ground from under him. If you haven’t learned Castlevania’s life lesson yet, it’s that patience wins the day. Especially when it comes to friggin’ bats.

Music: Cross A Fear

One of the new songs written for Rondo of Blood. This series specializes in quick little earworms, just a little bit spooky but mostly catchy. This one’s a real showcase for the synths.²

Scene 1/2

This entire stage is a walk down one bridge, and the first two scenes are pretty much the same. You need to look out for the crumbling bridge and the tight jumps while dealing with enemies, so take it slow.

I should point out something very important about jumping in Castlevania: if you get hit while you’re in the air, you’ll get knocked in the opposite direction from which you were hit. Most often this leads down a pit to your death, so make sure you’re in the clear when you jump.

You start the stage with a skeleton knight coming at you. Always keep these guys at the very edge of your whip’s range, and move back when they move in on you. Keep pulling back, and they’ll keep letting you hit them. Or they’ll jump into a pit, which is fine by us.

You’re going to run into an old Castlevania favorite on this bridge in the from of stacked dragon skulls. These guys look to the left, look to the right, and if they see you they belch flame at you. In this level you can take care of them by just walking up and whipping as fast as you can, prioritizing the head that’s facing you. They won’t get the chance to fire.

The stand-out enemy in this stage is definitely the gargoyle, who sometimes— but not always!— bursts out of the stone gargoyle statues that dot the bridge. He’s very slippery, so don’t try and chase him down: throw axes and hope he runs into them. Sometimes he’ll dodge the axe and walk into your whip, which, well, great. This gimmick creates anticipation as you walk down the bridge, jumping towards a surprise attack… or maybe nothing.

Scene 3

After the stairs and the bone bridge, the form of the bridge changes somewhat. The “bumpy” pattern makes it difficult to hit the skull spiders who skitter around at your feet. Again, the axe will take care of them with minimum mess when your whip can’t reach them.

Other than that and the odd skeleton knight, this is a pretty quiet area. Note the transition from day to night as you walk down this last stretch of the bridge. This game was crafted with a lot of love, so take in the details.

Boss: Werewolf

If you take the normal path through Stage 2’, you get the same boss as Stage 2. See the previous post to find out about him.

Tomorrow we’ll be covering the tricky alternate path for Stage 2’. See you on the river, vampire killers!

1. A well-known video game example is Street Fighter II’, pronounced Street Fighter II Dash, to which “Champion Edition” was added in the US version. As a kid, I had no idea why that apostrophe was there.

2. Can I bring up Dracula Battle here? Is that okay? The “Battle” CDs by the Naoto Shibata Project are awesome metal arrange CDs of themes from various Konami games. I first heard Cross A Fear via this arrangement.