Really getting very hard now. I did manage to completed all of Level 8, and then (with much cursing) Level 9, but now I’m on Level A (hexadecimal level numbers FTW!) and it has become too hard again. Grr. I can manage the first bit, then the bridge (Run Forrest! Run!), but it’s the bit with the spinny spikey thing that chases you up the level that I’m stuck on. I just can’t seem to get half the staircases to …
Yes, I’m back. I’ve had a week away from games, and I have returned anew. Or something. Time to get in and complete some of those games I’m very nearly there with. Like this one! Sadly, I didn’t manage to progress much further. I got as far as 8-2, on bit with seemingly random spikes that come out from the platform above, and are impossible to predict or dodge. So I died. A lot. Rubbish. And I’m so close as …
And now I’m on Level 8. Well, Stage 8, or whatever they call them, anyway. The boss at the end of stages 6 and 7 were not especially difficult. Well, the one on 6 (some ghost dancers) was tricky, but each time you died you could pick up a replacement life, so it didn’t actually matter. I got to the boss at the end of Stage 7 with no spare lives, but luckily managed to kill him on my first …
It turned out the spinny room was solved by just holding on for longer, as a platform eventually appeared. I’d obviously just got impatient and tried something else. I got to the boss at the end of the level (Death wasn’t it, it seems), who was a big golum thing that shrank every time he was hit. Thankfully, he was really easy, as I didn’t have much health (and no energy) when I got to him. So Level 6, and …
Decided to try and level up a few times before attempting Death again, and also found some Chain Mail (which was better than my armour at the time), and realised that equipping two Cursed Rings would boost my strength and defense hugely (although my luck would drop – not important for a boss fight though, I don’t think). I also found a HP Max upgrade too, which would help. It still took me five or so goes to kill Death, …
Got through the level I was on without too many problems this time. I’m not keen on the Indiana Jones style whip swinging, however, as I tend to let go at the wrong time and die. The end of level boss was a two headed dragon. Like the two headed dragon in Circle of the Moon. Sort of. A bit. With the aid of my axes, I killed it without even getting hit, on my first go, which was good. …
Aha! I think the rivers of acid bit was the wrong route to take, as I found another way to go today, into some sort of warehouse or something. And there, so my dismay, I found Irritating and Unnecessary Gaming Cliche #2 – crate puzzles. GAH! How many games must people RUIN with crate puzzles? And why are they always actually crates? Surely other things could be used instead? Broken Sword 3 and Lost in Blue both had game-almost-breaking crate …
Just a short go. I got through a large section of the next level, up to what seemed like “almost the end”, only to lose all my lives falling through holes. You see, rather than land on the platform below (which I’d been standing on moments before), the screen doesn’t scroll down again and you die. Bah.
Well, I wasn’t going to buy this until after I’d done all three GBA Castlevania games, but it seems I did. Oh well. It’s pretty good. Better than I remember it (which is good), but not really as good as recent 2D outing in the series. Anyway. I’ve killed two bosses, and I’m now on level 3-1. I think.
Dragons SLAIN! Hurrah! I found a pattern I could stick to that made them much easier to kill and dodge, and so they were soon dead. And then it was off on another wander around the castle opening areas I couldn’t previously get to, since I can now push big crates out of the way. Found some more HP/MP/heart upgrades, and then wandered into an area full of Ice Armour baddies and some sort of acid water. Eurgh.
Spent ages trying to get through the moths-and-triffids area, and found it pretty hard going. Retreated instead, and worked my way around areas of the castle trying to find new areas (which I didn’t really manage), and secret rooms leading to power-ups (of which I found loads). My heart, HP and MP maximum levels were then somewhat higher than previously, allowing me to get through the moths to another save point. I then wandered around to bump my level up …
After what seemed like ages, I finally found another boss – a giant ram’s head thing that threw ghost faces and stuff at me. He was really easy to kill though, as I had my magic fireballs-that-spin-round-me on (which killed most of the projectiles before they hit me), leaving me to just jump-whip his head over and over. Once dead, I could hit a switch which I think has now made new pathways available elsewhere on the map. No new …
I’ve just realised that this game has an ID in my games database of “1337”. Hilarious. Anyway, I’ve now opened up what seems to be a huge portion of the map. I’m getting very lost still, trying every dead end with each new power-up I get. My most recent one is wall-jump, and with it I’ve got into an area full of were-bears and hippo things and all sorts of baddies that take loads of hits. I’ve found three teleporters …
I killed the puma boss thing without much difficulty on my first attempt today. I’d levelled up a few times first, however, and had picked up some better armour and a couple of cards (which when combined gave me a magic power that made my whip do more damage), all of which helped a lot. I then wandered round for a while trying to find where I needed to go next, which turned out to be pretty obvious as it …
Since I’m limited to handheld consoles at the moment (I’m at relatives for Christmas), I’m using this opportunity to actually start some games I’ve had for a while but not touched yet. See also Contact on the DS from earlier today. Anyway. Since I have all three GBA Castlevania games, this is the one to start with. When it came out, people complained it was virtually impossible to play on the non-lit-screen original GBA. No such problems with the super-bright …