A few things to point out: 1. When an enemy is frozen using the holy water, he actually can't hurt you, so you can just walk past him without taking any damage. It is especially useful during the final phase of Dracula, as you can completely avoid taking damage in 18:32 by simply walking past him while he's frozen (instead of attacking his head like Ryu does here) You can also use this technique during the hallway with the knights. Just walk past them when they're frozen and they'll disappear when they're off-screen. Although the method shown in the video is great too. 2. 16:19 Correction: If you game over you actually respawn at the start of the stairs (just like when you die regularly), so you won't have to come back to the beginning of the stage and deal with the bats again. So yeah. great video as usual Ryu! Keep up the good work!
Yes! But you don't have to if you let 1st phase appear in the corner for the finishing touch. The 2nd phase won't reach the other corner of the room if you have the water or triple boomerang and impeccable timing.
One thing Ryu missed, that it applies to every level regarding Medusa heads, they fly in the same pattern everytime. So, for instance in Stage 5 (Level 2, screen 2) when you have to platform around them, if you find a safe spot where you are not getting hit by them, that will be a safe spot the entire screen. That was a huge tip that helped me move around them.
What I do is take a few steps back, and they’ll usually fly right over me. I figured their pattern out pretty quick. They’re more of a pain and you’ll want take a few chances on timing jumps when you have to platform through the Medusas like on those small sections on Stage 2.
For Medusa heads, any spot is a safe spot if you're not moving at the moment when the head spawned. If you moved a little, just kneel and you should still be safe.
*Pro Tip for Castlevania 1, 3 and 4:* You can force the Double or Triple Shot item to spawn by killing a certain number of enemies with a single subweapon and then breaking a lamp. The amount of required kills changes between games but it works the same. This is most easily exploited in the hallway before Death, since there are infinite spawning medusa heads and axe armors, allowing you to _always_ get a Triple Shot cross before the boss fight.
Yup. I feel like it was 10 in the first game? If you're using the cross, you can sometimes conserve hearts by tossing a cross behind you, jumping over it when it comes back, and then following it down a hallway. It'll keep going and hitting things as long as you keep it on the screen. :)
You can force Double and Triple powerups on your sub-weapons by simply breaking candles with the sub-weapon. The intended way is to kill enemies with the sub-weapon but who's got time for that? Got a cross? Start breaking candles with it. Got holy water? Break candles with it! You'll have II and III in no time.
The two reasons why most people considered Castlevania to be hard were: The knock back and the jumping behavior. Games people were used to prior to Castlevania didn't have knock back like that (or only a very tiny one) and had air control. E.g. think of Super Mario or Metroid, which pretty much everyone knew to play. Actually games without air control are exceptional rare. Three other annoying game choices were: Sections with endless re-spawning (most people hate the concept), how weapon control (up + fire = secondary fire) conflicts with stair movement and stairs in general, which are badly designed to begin with and can really mess you up. On top of that, nobody who played that game initial expected projectiles to be destructible by your whip (again, hardly any game has destructible projectiles), so people tried to dodge them which is impossible in Castlevania, so they got quickly frustrated.
This video made me think back to calling the 1-900 Nintendo tip phone line, where someone with the game and a binder would talk you through parts of levels.
@@WoollyLukeI remember my dad on the phone for 20 minutes getting tips on how to beat mecha turtle in TMNT. It’s crazy to think that’s a job that literally does not exist anymore as a profession, even horse and buggy drivers still exist
Great guide! I thought Ryu had already done Castlevania NES in the series previously for some reason. It seems like many NES games have one "broken" weapon. Contra has spread shot, Mega Man 2 has Metal Blades, and this has holy water. I have always struggled with this game, but I might give it another try with these tips! There actually is a game patch for this game that alters the jumping to be similar to Mega Man where you can control your jump while in the air.
To be honest I think the stiff jumping gives NES Castlevania games their charm. It's super frustrating but it's so satisfying when you beat the games. I hope Ryu tries to beat CV3 Dracula's Curse. That game is one of the hardest NES games out there especially if you choose the difficult path Alucard and bone dragon level with the water rising where have to beat the bone dragon before you drown.
@@aeter4352 That's fair. I hear you. The stiff controls are part of what makes Castlevania Castlevania. You do learn to get used to it much like the jumping in a game like Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts. It sounds like Ryu will be doing Castlevania III at some point. I've never played it myself, but I have heard it can get really difficult and may be one of (if not) the hardest of the Castlevania games.
If you need even more pro strats to this game, then check out You Can Beat Video Games channel where he does deep dives into the game and their lore and how to beat them as efficiently as possible.
James Banana is the seudonym for Kinuyo Yamashita, she's the music composer for this game bro. After you finished stage 18, it loops again, but the enemies are twice as fast. There are 99 stages, so you have to keep playing it 6 times in a row.
@@BRGKasumi77Main what happens after the sixth play through, I know during the second there's a ton of Medusas and you continue to take 4 damage , do the credits just end then reset?
@@rubenabrego6762 No. after you reached the sixth loop, the game continues, the enemies as fast from the second playthrough and over, also the damage is increased by 4 from the second loop and over, nothing changes.
When I was 16, I beat this game on one life (without dying once). It took me several months to accomplish but I did it. I had the run recorded on VHS at one point but it was lost over the decades. I preferred the cross (I think it's actually supposed to be a boomerang) in most levels to the holy water. But most bosses and the one hallway, the holy water works better. I also thought the hunchbacks were monkeys.
Yeah, the Cross behaves like a boomerang, but the subweapon still is a cross. Though you will find the weapon usually being referred to as a boomerang in English versions of the games and manuals as a form of censorship to religion.
A boomerang doesn't have 4 prongs, nor is an ordinary boomerang associated with vanquishing the undead or purifying the corrupted. It's a cross, a classic religious symbol associated with warding off evil spirits. And for whatever reason, they decided to make it throw and fly like a boomerang.
@@BladeOfLight16 "The number of "wings" [on a boomerang] is often more than 2 as more lift is provided by 3 or 4 wings than by 2." most modern boomerangs are 4 pronged. But pedantry aside, you're right. It's the cross. The other cross is a crucifix. It's not a boomerang.
When I was in 6th grade I got to where I could finish it on one life every time using the cross for bosses and only the whip everywhere that wasn't a boss.
Against the cookie monster, you can stay crouched in front of him before he jumps and he will do a high jump, allowing you to pass under him without taking damage. You have to crouch early though, if you do it at the last moment he will already have commited to doing a low jump.
As a huge Metroidvania fan, I feel guilty for not having played any Castlevania games. This one in particular has always intimidated me, hoping this video will give the courage to try it!
Its not too bad with a little layout memorization, aside from frankenstein,dracula and especially the reaper. The grim reaper was my first real roadblock for a while. You have unlimited continues too so that helps. Its not a real long game. Good one to save state on an emulator and return in spurts until you break through. Second one is very easy gameplay wise, but very cryptic without a guide. Third is the hardest of the NES games. A great starting Castlevania is Rondo Of Blood for the Turbo Duo, if you can emulate it. Quite easy for the series but alot of fun.
Cv2 is the first game to have the "Metroidvania" formula, but some consider it to be kind of a stinker. It is very cryptic, and after all of the annoying parts of the game, you can just walk right past the final boss! I like it though, it was a very ambitious game.
@@superluigi8539 Nice. Im assuming through a Castlevania collection or something similiar. Those have been big lately. I have an emulation focused machine and have cleared most of the 2D castlevania games on that machine. Theres a few of the Symphony of the night style games on the GBA that I never really worked on, but seem great. There was also one very sluggish GB Castlevania that I dont think Ive completed yet.
@@superluigi8539 Yea. Its cool what they tried to do. Enjoyed it as a kid, with the music, the changing time of day but could hardly get anywhere back then. It was memorable for being so mysterious. Later I used a guide and the game was a joke, gameplay wise. I think you can walk right past several of the bosses, ha ha.
I usually preferred the cross (especially with the triple modifier) to the holy water myself. Though back in the day I always called the cross the boomerang due to how it flies out and back. haha. Also because there's already a cross item in the game that kills everything on the screen. :P EDIT: Ok, you gave some love to the cross too. I wrote this before you mentioned it. lol
Back in the day, Nintendo usually tried to distance itself from religious iconography in the West, so they usually referred to the cross and holy water as "boomerang" and "fire bombs". You can pretty much use the terms interchangeably. In Bloodlines, the Genesis game, Konami even subbed out the cross for an actual crescent-shaped boomerang for some reason.
Thank you Ryu !!! For inspiring me to finally call this one beat , watched your video and said "screw it!! I'm gettn this one done". I was very close but stuck at death for a few months, but after years, I finally did it , the Cookie Monster is finito !!!!
Simons quest had so much potential and is still a good game. Its not even the cryptic nature that stinks but alot of dead space, poor or no bosses, brutal jumping, the constant text from day to night etc. Id love to see a legit remake
I usually find it hard to stick with NES games for more than a few hours. I guess I just don't hold any emotional connection to it. I grew up playing the SNES. Love that system.
Something else on the mummies boss fight which I found useful was that you could jump back up to the entrance way once you started the boss fight (if you didn't break the wall to get the pot roast) and just camp them out from there. It's also even easier to beat with the cross, since it will do damage to them on every frame if you hit both of them at the same time with it. Also, for the death boss fight, something I have seen people claim is that the scythes positions are random outside of the start, which is completely untrue. The scythes will always spawn in the same relative positions to Simon that they do at the start of the fight (so down and to the right, directly above, and up and to the left of Simon as seen at 14:14 when they spawn mid-jump), but after the first volley, if they would spawn fully outside of the screen then they will loop back around before spawning. So for example if the scythe that normally spawns up and to the left would spawn offscreen to the left, then it will instead loop back around and spawn on the right side of the screen, as seen at 14:18. If they would spawn halfway offscreen then they just don't spawn at all during that volley. This means that with the correct movement, (which is very hard) you can control where the crosses are at all times, which can make for a very fun challenge if your doing a whip-only no-upgrades run and want to try beating every boss (or the whole game for that matter) without doing damage to anything except bosses (so no killing enemies, no destroying torches, no getting hit by birds/bats, no destroying axes or scythes, etc) since it turns the Death Boss into a kind of puzzle game where your trying to figure out where you should be standing so you can manipulate the positions of the scythes to open up windows where you can do damage to the boss without hitting them which I find really satisfying to pull off. Lastly, something I found helpful when facing the hunchbacks is that if you are looking right at them and duck around 1 block infront of them while they are looking at you, they seem to always do a large hop. This is both very helpful for casual playthrough and also lets you pull off a lot of really cool strategies like getting through the entire area at 9:44 without killing anything by bunching all the hunchbacks up and repeatedly forcing them to do a full jump as you move forwards which is (once again) very satisfying to pull off. Edit: Oh also that same strategy used for the hunchbacks can be used when facing the Cookie Monster (Dracula Phase 2) where you just duck in front of him after he does a large jump and he will (almost always) do a large jump, which can be used to put the boss in an infinite loop where he can't hurt you while you just slowly chip him down by hitting him as he is landing and then forcing another full jump. Hopefully this advice is helpful, cheers.
Castlevania 2 has it's charm is basically unplayable without a guide the translation was garbage and makes no sense at all. There are good translation patches like bisqwit's Re-translation which even adds an in-game map if you want it. I think Bloody Tears is the best part of the game. It could have been so much better with challenging unskippable bosses at every mansion and a non-cheesable Dracula. I do love the RPG style of it.
I just realised that Vampire Survivors is packed with reworked Castlevenia Assets :D Like, the holy water, the ham, the chandliers, Even the mobs, THE WEAPONS. How did i not noticed that man??
The game's only 1UP pickup is hidden 1/3 of the way through Stage 13, at the end of the upper level, right before the stairs that lead to the red skeletons. On the upper level, hold right at the wall until the hidden 1UP appears, and then haul ass down to it before it disappears. At the end of the red skeleton section, there's a wall meat hidden in the left side of the raised ground blocks before the door. To those who main the triple cross weapon, the US version of the game often freezes if three crosses are onscreen with too many other sprites; I've had the game lock up many times this way, including at bosses, so now I only play the JP version since I often use triple cross on Drac's final phase (and the post-boss point calculations happen faster in this version too).
The reason why this game is remembered as being so difficult is that before the Internet, most people didn’t *know* about the Holy Water. I remember in my circles, everyone avoided it and thought it was a bad drop. The Boomerang was considered top tier and then the Axe. Many, many people gave up at Frankenstein and never made it further. Seeing the stage after was a big deal. At a family reunion in my 20s, I remember telling my cousins that the holy water was the best drop and they didn’t believe me. We all gathered around my grandma’s TV and I showed them. My mother got pissed off after I nuked the Reaper and walked out. It was a fun time for all of us to revisit it.
Before I even went to put the cart in the system I looked up this specific video just to see if you did indeed do a guide for this game, and by luck you have. Got my ass thoroughly hammered by this game for a good three hours but the tips certainly helped. If nothing else it psyched me up to finally beat this game like a big boy for the first time. I like how you don't talk about every strat and cheese this game has to offer, just what you know from experience. It's very layman
I would use the stopwatch the first 2 levels, go to holy water until level 6, then stopwatch again until Dracula, then back to crosses and upgrade to level 3 by farming with the cross.
There was actually a hidden wall chicken at 11:23, not sure if you missed it intentionally. I advise trying out stages 14-15 with the Axe and save it for Death. The Axe has the perk of flying over the Axe Knights’ shields and hitting them on their heads, which can kill them quickly (1-3 hits). I’d say the Axe is more useful against Death’s sickles than the Cross as the trajectory will destroy projectiles that spawn right above you. Lastly, here’s a helpful tip about Dracula’s second form: if he is stunned by Holy Water, you can walk through him without getting hurt as long as he is still stunned.
I make sure I have the triple shot holy water and the boss always appears at the right hand side of the screen. As soon as the boss fight starts, throw holy water and you'll stun lock Death with it. 😎👍💪🎮🏆
@8:32 What you want to do is NOT get the pot roast and just get back on the platform and spam holy water from there. They can't hit you from that position.
You did a pretty good guide to Castlevania. You and You Can Beat Video Games should find a game to make a guide together, as he too also makes great guides go retro games.
I would have mentioned that in stages 1,2,3 & 5 you can get lots of points by throwing holy water or boomerangs on multiple enemies and get up to 20 extra lives which you will probably need if you want to complete the game for a second time
Hey man been a while how ya doin ,You might remember me from talking to you on one of your live streams ,Good to see you doin more vids that aren't Mario maker been waiting to see it ,hope you do more multiplayer vids I'm sure others would like to see it Otherwise it's important to do what you like and I've noticed people like to complain or talk shit but your so cool about it don't take no crap from anyone man I know what it's like to have to deal with aholes
In the section around 6:55, and any other with stairs and flying enemies, another thing to keep in mind is that if you're climbing the stairs and you get hit, you won't get knocked back, so it can be a saving grace in some areas.
I highly recommend doing a "Debunking the Difficulty" video on Castlevania for MSX2 sometime, if you can. Despite having no continues or ability to earn extra lives, I actually find it easier than Castlevania on NES due to the simple fact that it's balanced more for smart playing through the use of its expanded inventory, as opposed to twitch reflexes -- even if you suck as a gamer, you can beat Castlevania on MSX2 simply by knowing where to find white bibles (and avoid black bibles), knowing where the merchants are, and making good use of the hourglass, holy water, and wood shield. It requires a very different mindset from its NES counterpart, and almost certainly multiple playthroughs, getting a little bit farther each time as you familiarize yourself with each stage, but clearing it feels really rewarding as a result (even if the ending sucks!). If you ever do try it, though, READ THE MANUAL FIRST. I can't stress this enough. MSX2 Castlevania (officially called Vampire Killer for its release in the UK and other European territories) is NOT an intuitive game, and a lot of the mechanics in it were NEVER reused in any other Castlevania game, so it's not something you can just jump into and figure out along the way. It's very much its own thing, and that's what I love about it -- it's one of my absolute favorite Castlevania games, and I will die on that hill. ;)
Tip: When you're going up the stairs to fight Dracula, you can hit the candles and collect some hearts (don't go all the way into the throne room), then go back down the stairs to the bottom screen, backup the stairs again and the candles reset and you can keep getting more hearts! Rinse and Repeat until you have enough for throwing Boomerang/Holy Water! Enjoy!
Love it! Just wanted to point out- The pot roast isn’t a dev power up, it’s listed in the manual as “hidden in the background” and appears with “secret whip stroke”.
If you lose your holy water before you face Death in the 5th area you are all but doomed. Whip upgrades are based on heart count. 5 for the first 10 for the second. So as long as you are smashing candles and not using your hearts you get the whip upgrades quickly.
@@tsimon8374 It's possible. But honestly the best advice you can get is to restart the stage if you lose your Holy Water. The fight with Death is one of the reasons people think this game is so difficult. Beating Death without Holy Water is harder then defeating Dracula.
@@stacychamness9077 Yeah the Axe Knight hallway is the real killer. Ryu made that look easy with The Cross but it's anything but easy. Then Death starts spawning in sickles right where your standing from angles you can't consistently destroy them from. Death is a real tough fight in Castlevania. Many of my friends in school never made it past Death.
Although I have some nostalgia for the first Castlevania; the one I have the most nostalgia is Castlevania III, considered the most difficult of the original 3 NES games (and the first I actually managed to finish as a kid). Dang! Just remembering that game in my mind puts me in a nostalgic mood.
I just started wstching your vids. So far I'm really enjoying seeing you whip through (no pun intended) the games i played as a teenager. A couple things with this one though: That weapon you used to beat Madusa was not a cross. It's a boomerang. The cross is the one use weapon that eliminates all the enemies on the current screen. It makes the little siren noise when you grab it. Also, not sure if you are aware, but there are several treasures you missed throughout your playthrough. Hidden in bricks or that appear when you step in a certain place. Helpful for points/ extra lives. Obviously, you don't need extra lives 😂 but a useful nugget for your viewers. Maybe another playthrough where you show all of them? Just a suggestion. Either way, I did enjoy the vid. 👍
Yeah, I'm terrible at games and I made it to level 4 (I can't remember if I beat it) the first time I played it. The janky jumps were what got me when it came to the pits, but other than that, I actually did fairly well despite being bad at games.
You can earn sub-weapon upgrades by killing multiple monsters with them. Hitting things with a single throw of a sub-weapon 2, 3 or 4 times increases your odds of a candle dropping an upgrade (instead of what it would drop by default). So hit 2 or 4 things with one sub-weapon, repeat this once or three times, then hit a candle or two. I love the way the game rewards you for killing well 😈 Sub-weapon upgrades make you super powerful, especially vs bosses. Also, candles count as something to hit, so line up that axe, holy water, or cross with a monster and a candle or two, and boom.
As a kid these games are rough simply because our lack of understanding and aptitude. We weren't or at least most of us looking for patterns and paying attention to detail. We were just making the same mistakes and trying to hit and not be hit.
First 2 bosses are vulnerable to the Stopwatch, so you can stick to that as well. It also greatly helps with medusa heads since you can pause them while making all the jumps. 3rd level gives you Holy Water at the start, so it works as a nice transition.
Like many original NES games, the difficulty comes from dying and losing the god weapon. This is combined with the inherent difficulty of a linear game, which is caused by the fact that your limit point is always your least practiced point.
You can't even concentrate on attacking them because you're too busy dodging Medusas! But you can't dodge the Medusas because you're too busy dodging the axes! But you can't dodge the axes because you're tryin' to hit the knight! BUT YOU CAN'T HIT THE KNIGHT BECAUSE THE GAME'S DRIVIN' YA FUCKIN' CRAZY! It's like a test. It's a test... to the SHIT. - AVGN
The first boss is really quite easy with the axe too, especially if you have a double or triple axe. The "hunchbacks" are officially called "flea men" I believe. A lot of people refer to the "cross" as the "boomerang."
I like this. Nicely executed. Clean run. One thing I would have liked to have seen you mention was that you can run through things while they’re under the holy water. Nicely done tho
Don’t ask me how I did it, but I somehow managed to beat this game as a kid. Could you do a Debunking the Difficulty for Kid Icarus? That game is whooping my butt and I need help! Thanks Ryu for all you do…
I beat it at 12 years old when it was released in 1987. Also beat Kid Icarus (that little SOB) Beat all the games. Probably took a few years off my young life through anger and frustration....but I/we (cause you usually played beside a friend and shared continues) did it. Cause that was all we could do at the time.
It’s Draculas own fault for keeping holy water in his throne room.
He's just a fan of fair play.
It's the hubris every time
Keep your enemy closer you know what I'm sayin'
A few things to point out:
1. When an enemy is frozen using the holy water, he actually can't hurt you, so you can just walk past him without taking any damage. It is especially useful during the final phase of Dracula, as you can completely avoid taking damage in 18:32 by simply walking past him while he's frozen (instead of attacking his head like Ryu does here)
You can also use this technique during the hallway with the knights. Just walk past them when they're frozen and they'll disappear when they're off-screen. Although the method shown in the video is great too.
2. 16:19 Correction: If you game over you actually respawn at the start of the stairs (just like when you die regularly), so you won't have to come back to the beginning of the stage and deal with the bats again.
So yeah. great video as usual Ryu! Keep up the good work!
Crap. I didn’t know frozen enemies couldn’t hurt you. I beat Dracula’s final form without that knowledge. But thanks anyways.
For the last boss I’ve heard that if Dracula’s second form gets you cornered you should kneel before him and he jumps higher so you can get under him.
I thought you were going to say kneel before him and pledge him your allegiance
It does work. It's really weird, idk how anyone was sposed to figure it out naturally, but it works and it's a life saver.
Yes! But you don't have to if you let 1st phase appear in the corner for the finishing touch. The 2nd phase won't reach the other corner of the room if you have the water or triple boomerang and impeccable timing.
One thing Ryu missed, that it applies to every level regarding Medusa heads, they fly in the same pattern everytime. So, for instance in Stage 5 (Level 2, screen 2) when you have to platform around them, if you find a safe spot where you are not getting hit by them, that will be a safe spot the entire screen. That was a huge tip that helped me move around them.
Yeah, watch the arc and just keep walking. Then just make sure you don't turn around or they'll come from both directions.
Castlevania 2 now!
What I do is take a few steps back, and they’ll usually fly right over me. I figured their pattern out pretty quick. They’re more of a pain and you’ll want take a few chances on timing jumps when you have to platform through the Medusas like on those small sections on Stage 2.
For Medusa heads, any spot is a safe spot if you're not moving at the moment when the head spawned. If you moved a little, just kneel and you should still be safe.
"Just don't die" strat of the century
*Pro Tip for Castlevania 1, 3 and 4:*
You can force the Double or Triple Shot item to spawn by killing a certain number of enemies with a single subweapon and then breaking a lamp.
The amount of required kills changes between games but it works the same.
This is most easily exploited in the hallway before Death, since there are infinite spawning medusa heads and axe armors, allowing you to _always_ get a Triple Shot cross before the boss fight.
Yup. I feel like it was 10 in the first game? If you're using the cross, you can sometimes conserve hearts by tossing a cross behind you, jumping over it when it comes back, and then following it down a hallway. It'll keep going and hitting things as long as you keep it on the screen. :)
Yes I used that technique for the vampire/Cookie Monster lol at the end ✌️
Holy water for both of those bosses. This is the way
Castlevania 2 now!
It's better to get the triple boomerangs before going into the hallway
Stage 3 boss - don’t break the meat block. Just stand up top and lob holy waters between the mummies and stun lock them in place until they’re dead.
You’re like a Disney tour guide for video games. It’s fantastic. I love it.
“You’re gonna wanna farm as many hearts as possible, that’s gonna apply to every level in the game.”
Immediately walks past a falling heart. 😂
Like 50 times. 😕
"YOU're gonna wanna farm". You suck at the game, not him. He doesn't need it. 🤣🤣
That had to have been deliberate.
That snap into the finger gun after Medusa was hysterical! 😂😂😂❤
Can you explain that one for my friend? Was he poking fun at someone who struggled with that boss or something?
You can force Double and Triple powerups on your sub-weapons by simply breaking candles with the sub-weapon. The intended way is to kill enemies with the sub-weapon but who's got time for that? Got a cross? Start breaking candles with it. Got holy water? Break candles with it! You'll have II and III in no time.
Original Castlevania(tm) played by original Ryu(tm). Perfection. And kudos to James Banana for one of the best game soundtracks ever composed.
James Banana is the pseudonym for Kinuyo Yamashita, she was a member of Konami Club and she is the composer for this game bro.
The two reasons why most people considered Castlevania to be hard were: The knock back and the jumping behavior. Games people were used to prior to Castlevania didn't have knock back like that (or only a very tiny one) and had air control. E.g. think of Super Mario or Metroid, which pretty much everyone knew to play. Actually games without air control are exceptional rare. Three other annoying game choices were: Sections with endless re-spawning (most people hate the concept), how weapon control (up + fire = secondary fire) conflicts with stair movement and stairs in general, which are badly designed to begin with and can really mess you up. On top of that, nobody who played that game initial expected projectiles to be destructible by your whip (again, hardly any game has destructible projectiles), so people tried to dodge them which is impossible in Castlevania, so they got quickly frustrated.
genuinely my fav youtube series man, plz do these more!! love u ryu
This video made me think back to calling the 1-900 Nintendo tip phone line, where someone with the game and a binder would talk you through parts of levels.
I wasted so much money getting that advice back in the 90’s 😅
@@WoollyLukeI remember my dad on the phone for 20 minutes getting tips on how to beat mecha turtle in TMNT. It’s crazy to think that’s a job that literally does not exist anymore as a profession, even horse and buggy drivers still exist
Great guide! I thought Ryu had already done Castlevania NES in the series previously for some reason. It seems like many NES games have one "broken" weapon. Contra has spread shot, Mega Man 2 has Metal Blades, and this has holy water. I have always struggled with this game, but I might give it another try with these tips!
There actually is a game patch for this game that alters the jumping to be similar to Mega Man where you can control your jump while in the air.
To be honest I think the stiff jumping gives NES Castlevania games their charm. It's super frustrating but it's so satisfying when you beat the games. I hope Ryu tries to beat CV3 Dracula's Curse. That game is one of the hardest NES games out there especially if you choose the difficult path Alucard and bone dragon level with the water rising where have to beat the bone dragon before you drown.
@@aeter4352 That's fair. I hear you. The stiff controls are part of what makes Castlevania Castlevania. You do learn to get used to it much like the jumping in a game like Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts.
It sounds like Ryu will be doing Castlevania III at some point. I've never played it myself, but I have heard it can get really difficult and may be one of (if not) the hardest of the Castlevania games.
If you need even more pro strats to this game, then check out You Can Beat Video Games channel where he does deep dives into the game and their lore and how to beat them as efficiently as possible.
@@frozenburst64 Nice! I'll check it out! Thanks! There are actually plenty of NES games I always found difficult, but wanted to try and complete.
I thought so too some reason! Went back and he did stream a playthrough, but it wasn't a debunk guide.
Can we get a Simons Quest Debunking the Difficulty?? That games music also slaps!
Fun fact: Those hunchback enemies in stage 3 are called Fleamen.
One additional pro tips: You can farm subweapon upgrades faster by destroying 10 things (including candles) with them.
James Banana is the seudonym for Kinuyo Yamashita, she's the music composer for this game bro. After you finished stage 18, it loops again, but the enemies are twice as fast. There are 99 stages, so you have to keep playing it 6 times in a row.
You taught me afew interesting things today!
@@superluigi8539 gee thanks 👍
Huh, I didn't know the loops changed things.
I thought the game stayed the same.
Might have to go for that 99 stage clear now.
lol :P
@@BRGKasumi77Main what happens after the sixth play through, I know during the second there's a ton of Medusas and you continue to take 4 damage , do the credits just end then reset?
@@rubenabrego6762 No. after you reached the sixth loop, the game continues, the enemies as fast from the second playthrough and over, also the damage is increased by 4 from the second loop and over, nothing changes.
You do actually get a checkpoint right before Dracula, and if you game over you still start from there.
When I was 16, I beat this game on one life (without dying once). It took me several months to accomplish but I did it. I had the run recorded on VHS at one point but it was lost over the decades. I preferred the cross (I think it's actually supposed to be a boomerang) in most levels to the holy water. But most bosses and the one hallway, the holy water works better. I also thought the hunchbacks were monkeys.
Yeah, the Cross behaves like a boomerang, but the subweapon still is a cross. Though you will find the weapon usually being referred to as a boomerang in English versions of the games and manuals as a form of censorship to religion.
A boomerang doesn't have 4 prongs, nor is an ordinary boomerang associated with vanquishing the undead or purifying the corrupted. It's a cross, a classic religious symbol associated with warding off evil spirits. And for whatever reason, they decided to make it throw and fly like a boomerang.
@@BladeOfLight16 "The number of "wings" [on a boomerang] is often more than 2 as more lift is provided by 3 or 4 wings than by 2." most modern boomerangs are 4 pronged.
But pedantry aside, you're right. It's the cross. The other cross is a crucifix. It's not a boomerang.
When I was in 6th grade I got to where I could finish it on one life every time using the cross for bosses and only the whip everywhere that wasn't a boss.
Against the cookie monster, you can stay crouched in front of him before he jumps and he will do a high jump, allowing you to pass under him without taking damage. You have to crouch early though, if you do it at the last moment he will already have commited to doing a low jump.
What I always did against Dracula's second form, when he corners you, is to just throw a holy water and run through him while he is stunned.
You can also just noodle around back and forth really fast and he'll do a high jump 100% of the time
As a huge Metroidvania fan, I feel guilty for not having played any Castlevania games. This one in particular has always intimidated me, hoping this video will give the courage to try it!
Its not too bad with a little layout memorization, aside from frankenstein,dracula and especially the reaper. The grim reaper was my first real roadblock for a while. You have unlimited continues too so that helps. Its not a real long game. Good one to save state on an emulator and return in spurts until you break through. Second one is very easy gameplay wise, but very cryptic without a guide. Third is the hardest of the NES games. A great starting Castlevania is Rondo Of Blood for the Turbo Duo, if you can emulate it. Quite easy for the series but alot of fun.
@@theconsolekiller7113You can get it on ps4 if you have that also.
Cv2 is the first game to have the "Metroidvania" formula, but some consider it to be kind of a stinker. It is very cryptic, and after all of the annoying parts of the game, you can just walk right past the final boss! I like it though, it was a very ambitious game.
@@superluigi8539 Nice. Im assuming through a Castlevania collection or something similiar. Those have been big lately. I have an emulation focused machine and have cleared most of the 2D castlevania games on that machine. Theres a few of the Symphony of the night style games on the GBA that I never really worked on, but seem great. There was also one very sluggish GB Castlevania that I dont think Ive completed yet.
@@superluigi8539 Yea. Its cool what they tried to do. Enjoyed it as a kid, with the music, the changing time of day but could hardly get anywhere back then. It was memorable for being so mysterious. Later I used a guide and the game was a joke, gameplay wise. I think you can walk right past several of the bosses, ha ha.
Surprised you made a debunking the difficulty video for this game thanks ryu.
I usually preferred the cross (especially with the triple modifier) to the holy water myself. Though back in the day I always called the cross the boomerang due to how it flies out and back. haha. Also because there's already a cross item in the game that kills everything on the screen. :P
EDIT: Ok, you gave some love to the cross too. I wrote this before you mentioned it. lol
I had always called it the boomerang cross myself because that's basically what it is.
That it's a Rosary.
Back in the day, Nintendo usually tried to distance itself from religious iconography in the West, so they usually referred to the cross and holy water as "boomerang" and "fire bombs". You can pretty much use the terms interchangeably. In Bloodlines, the Genesis game, Konami even subbed out the cross for an actual crescent-shaped boomerang for some reason.
Thank you Ryu !!! For inspiring me to finally call this one beat , watched your video and said "screw it!! I'm gettn this one done". I was very close but stuck at death for a few months, but after years, I finally did it , the Cookie Monster is finito !!!!
Tripple cross long distance death was my childhood strategy
The challenge was to figure out this without internet or any guides. Just you and some of your friends trying to figure it out...
This series is awesome, keep this stuff coming
Simons quest had so much potential and is still a good game. Its not even the cryptic nature that stinks but alot of dead space, poor or no bosses, brutal jumping, the constant text from day to night etc. Id love to see a legit remake
@@popscola2574 There's a full fan made remake, Castlevania Chronicles 2 Simon's Quest!
I usually find it hard to stick with NES games for more than a few hours. I guess I just don't hold any emotional connection to it. I grew up playing the SNES. Love that system.
Ryu makes me cry. I've spent countless hours as a kid trying to beat this game. And he does it in 10 minutes.
8:00 the building in the back is flipping ryu the bird
Something else on the mummies boss fight which I found useful was that you could jump back up to the entrance way once you started the boss fight (if you didn't break the wall to get the pot roast) and just camp them out from there. It's also even easier to beat with the cross, since it will do damage to them on every frame if you hit both of them at the same time with it.
Also, for the death boss fight, something I have seen people claim is that the scythes positions are random outside of the start, which is completely untrue. The scythes will always spawn in the same relative positions to Simon that they do at the start of the fight (so down and to the right, directly above, and up and to the left of Simon as seen at 14:14 when they spawn mid-jump), but after the first volley, if they would spawn fully outside of the screen then they will loop back around before spawning.
So for example if the scythe that normally spawns up and to the left would spawn offscreen to the left, then it will instead loop back around and spawn on the right side of the screen, as seen at 14:18.
If they would spawn halfway offscreen then they just don't spawn at all during that volley.
This means that with the correct movement, (which is very hard) you can control where the crosses are at all times, which can make for a very fun challenge if your doing a whip-only no-upgrades run and want to try beating every boss (or the whole game for that matter) without doing damage to anything except bosses (so no killing enemies, no destroying torches, no getting hit by birds/bats, no destroying axes or scythes, etc) since it turns the Death Boss into a kind of puzzle game where your trying to figure out where you should be standing so you can manipulate the positions of the scythes to open up windows where you can do damage to the boss without hitting them which I find really satisfying to pull off.
Lastly, something I found helpful when facing the hunchbacks is that if you are looking right at them and duck around 1 block infront of them while they are looking at you, they seem to always do a large hop. This is both very helpful for casual playthrough and also lets you pull off a lot of really cool strategies like getting through the entire area at 9:44 without killing anything by bunching all the hunchbacks up and repeatedly forcing them to do a full jump as you move forwards which is (once again) very satisfying to pull off.
Edit: Oh also that same strategy used for the hunchbacks can be used when facing the Cookie Monster (Dracula Phase 2) where you just duck in front of him after he does a large jump and he will (almost always) do a large jump, which can be used to put the boss in an infinite loop where he can't hurt you while you just slowly chip him down by hitting him as he is landing and then forcing another full jump.
Hopefully this advice is helpful, cheers.
I'm surprised more people don't mention that tactic with the mummies. I always beat it that way as a kid
It's my favorite series on RUclips, for what it's worth , love what you do Brother and makes the week that much more palatable , so thank you 👊
This video was just what I needed, man. Hope you're doing great.
Great stuff, I just subscribed.
Never been able to beat the last boss so cheap
The way he calls it a POT ROAST when it's a PORK CHOP..............THE AUDACITY!!!
I’ve been waiting for this.
Music remixes or reimaginations of C-Vania's game music are usually really awesome.
great vid, i hope you someday do castlevania 3
Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest was always my favorite. If you're looking for some more bangers and awesome gameplay. I highly recommend it.
Castlevania 2 has it's charm is basically unplayable without a guide the translation was garbage and makes no sense at all. There are good translation patches like bisqwit's Re-translation which even adds an in-game map if you want it. I think Bloody Tears is the best part of the game. It could have been so much better with challenging unskippable bosses at every mansion and a non-cheesable Dracula. I do love the RPG style of it.
@@aeter4352 There's a full fan made remake, Castlevania Chronicles 2 Simon's Quest!
@@trevorblue4531 Yeah I've seen it. I prefer the NES style though. This looks more like the metroidvania style games.
trivia: Medusa was the name of the creature in the greek myth. She was a gorgon named Medusa. The flying heads are gorgon heads, not medusa's :)
I just realised that Vampire Survivors is packed with reworked Castlevenia Assets :D Like, the holy water, the ham, the chandliers, Even the mobs, THE WEAPONS. How did i not noticed that man??
One Castlevania game I could never beat thanx for the tips dude
The game's only 1UP pickup is hidden 1/3 of the way through Stage 13, at the end of the upper level, right before the stairs that lead to the red skeletons. On the upper level, hold right at the wall until the hidden 1UP appears, and then haul ass down to it before it disappears.
At the end of the red skeleton section, there's a wall meat hidden in the left side of the raised ground blocks before the door.
To those who main the triple cross weapon, the US version of the game often freezes if three crosses are onscreen with too many other sprites; I've had the game lock up many times this way, including at bosses, so now I only play the JP version since I often use triple cross on Drac's final phase (and the post-boss point calculations happen faster in this version too).
The reason why this game is remembered as being so difficult is that before the Internet, most people didn’t *know* about the Holy Water. I remember in my circles, everyone avoided it and thought it was a bad drop. The Boomerang was considered top tier and then the Axe.
Many, many people gave up at Frankenstein and never made it further. Seeing the stage after was a big deal.
At a family reunion in my 20s, I remember telling my cousins that the holy water was the best drop and they didn’t believe me. We all gathered around my grandma’s TV and I showed them. My mother got pissed off after I nuked the Reaper and walked out. It was a fun time for all of us to revisit it.
Before I even went to put the cart in the system I looked up this specific video just to see if you did indeed do a guide for this game, and by luck you have. Got my ass thoroughly hammered by this game for a good three hours but the tips certainly helped. If nothing else it psyched me up to finally beat this game like a big boy for the first time. I like how you don't talk about every strat and cheese this game has to offer, just what you know from experience. It's very layman
I would use the stopwatch the first 2 levels, go to holy water until level 6, then stopwatch again until Dracula, then back to crosses and upgrade to level 3 by farming with the cross.
You know a game I'd like to see you debunk? Blaster Master for the NES!
There was actually a hidden wall chicken at 11:23, not sure if you missed it intentionally.
I advise trying out stages 14-15 with the Axe and save it for Death. The Axe has the perk of flying over the Axe Knights’ shields and hitting them on their heads, which can kill them quickly (1-3 hits). I’d say the Axe is more useful against Death’s sickles than the Cross as the trajectory will destroy projectiles that spawn right above you.
Lastly, here’s a helpful tip about Dracula’s second form: if he is stunned by Holy Water, you can walk through him without getting hurt as long as he is still stunned.
This game is no joke. Yes it is hard.
I must be going crazy. I thought he already debunked this game
me too!
The most disturbing Mandela Effect indeed.
The Grim Reaper haunted my childhood. I think I beat him once.
I make sure I have the triple shot holy water and the boss always appears at the right hand side of the screen. As soon as the boss fight starts, throw holy water and you'll stun lock Death with it. 😎👍💪🎮🏆
@8:32 What you want to do is NOT get the pot roast and just get back on the platform and spam holy water from there. They can't hit you from that position.
Your commentary is amazing on this! It’s exactly what goes through my head- “stupid skeleton” etc!
8:00 ayo why that tower flippin' us off like that
-You played the greatest role in this story
You did a pretty good guide to Castlevania. You and You Can Beat Video Games should find a game to make a guide together, as he too also makes great guides go retro games.
I would have mentioned that in stages 1,2,3 & 5 you can get lots of points by throwing holy water or boomerangs on multiple enemies and get up to 20 extra lives which you will probably need if you want to complete the game for a second time
Debunking the difficulty... "just don't die." XD
This series is so great, I already know I'm going to love this one before it even starts.
Hey man been a while how ya doin ,You might remember me from talking to you on one of your live streams ,Good to see you doin more vids that aren't Mario maker been waiting to see it ,hope you do more multiplayer vids I'm sure others would like to see it Otherwise it's important to do what you like and I've noticed people like to complain or talk shit but your so cool about it don't take no crap from anyone man I know what it's like to have to deal with aholes
In the section around 6:55, and any other with stairs and flying enemies, another thing to keep in mind is that if you're climbing the stairs and you get hit, you won't get knocked back, so it can be a saving grace in some areas.
I highly recommend doing a "Debunking the Difficulty" video on Castlevania for MSX2 sometime, if you can. Despite having no continues or ability to earn extra lives, I actually find it easier than Castlevania on NES due to the simple fact that it's balanced more for smart playing through the use of its expanded inventory, as opposed to twitch reflexes -- even if you suck as a gamer, you can beat Castlevania on MSX2 simply by knowing where to find white bibles (and avoid black bibles), knowing where the merchants are, and making good use of the hourglass, holy water, and wood shield. It requires a very different mindset from its NES counterpart, and almost certainly multiple playthroughs, getting a little bit farther each time as you familiarize yourself with each stage, but clearing it feels really rewarding as a result (even if the ending sucks!).
If you ever do try it, though, READ THE MANUAL FIRST. I can't stress this enough. MSX2 Castlevania (officially called Vampire Killer for its release in the UK and other European territories) is NOT an intuitive game, and a lot of the mechanics in it were NEVER reused in any other Castlevania game, so it's not something you can just jump into and figure out along the way. It's very much its own thing, and that's what I love about it -- it's one of my absolute favorite Castlevania games, and I will die on that hill. ;)
I love this series, keep it up dude!
"get all hearts possible"
said ryu, totally ignoring one heart on screen 🤣
😂 yeah I noticed that right away
Yeah, you. He doesn't need it lol.
This game kicked my ass when I was young kid, but nowadays I have played it so much that I can beat it while taking moderate amount of damage.
I love this game but I have never beat it.
Stoked to see it debunked!
Three rules for me to beat this game:
1. Get the holy water
2. Get the holy water
3. GET the HOLY WATER
Tip: When you're going up the stairs to fight Dracula, you can hit the candles and collect some hearts (don't go all the way into the throne room), then go back down the stairs to the bottom screen, backup the stairs again and the candles reset and you can keep getting more hearts! Rinse and Repeat until you have enough for throwing Boomerang/Holy Water! Enjoy!
What's with that unique palette? I'm used to seeing different colors whenever I play this game.
Waiting for your castlevania debunking difficulty playlist ... 🔥🔥 ... Good job ryu ..
Love it! Just wanted to point out- The pot roast isn’t a dev power up, it’s listed in the manual as “hidden in the background” and appears with “secret whip stroke”.
I don't think be intended to imply it was a dev power up, I think he was calling the devs sneaky for hiding power ups and sub upgrades in the walls
Who the hell is James Banana 🤣 Nicely done dude! Keep these videos up!
The time is now, debunk Battletoads NES
Yeah don't think it's very debunkable to be honest. The game is just hard as balls and you have to deal with it.
@@aeter4352 if it's hard it's not debunkable
If you lose your holy water before you face Death in the 5th area you are all but doomed.
Whip upgrades are based on heart count. 5 for the first 10 for the second. So as long as you are smashing candles and not using your hearts you get the whip upgrades quickly.
Lies, he literally died on purpose just so he could show us beating Death without the holy water.
@@tsimon8374 It's possible. But honestly the best advice you can get is to restart the stage if you lose your Holy Water. The fight with Death is one of the reasons people think this game is so difficult. Beating Death without Holy Water is harder then defeating Dracula.
@@the_sixxness Those damn sickles!!
@@stacychamness9077 Yeah the Axe Knight hallway is the real killer. Ryu made that look easy with The Cross but it's anything but easy. Then Death starts spawning in sickles right where your standing from angles you can't consistently destroy them from. Death is a real tough fight in Castlevania. Many of my friends in school never made it past Death.
@@the_sixxness I actually don't know anyone alive who got past Death. 🤔
I love this series!! Feels like when you got stuck with a game and asked your brother to beat it for you while you watched amazed and stuned!
Although I have some nostalgia for the first Castlevania; the one I have the most nostalgia is Castlevania III, considered the most difficult of the original 3 NES games (and the first I actually managed to finish as a kid). Dang! Just remembering that game in my mind puts me in a nostalgic mood.
I just started wstching your vids. So far I'm really enjoying seeing you whip through (no pun intended) the games i played as a teenager. A couple things with this one though: That weapon you used to beat Madusa was not a cross. It's a boomerang. The cross is the one use weapon that eliminates all the enemies on the current screen. It makes the little siren noise when you grab it. Also, not sure if you are aware, but there are several treasures you missed throughout your playthrough. Hidden in bricks or that appear when you step in a certain place. Helpful for points/ extra lives. Obviously, you don't need extra lives 😂 but a useful nugget for your viewers. Maybe another playthrough where you show all of them? Just a suggestion. Either way, I did enjoy the vid. 👍
I wish the cross had maintained that boss-ass “BOOM-BOOM” sound, instead of sounding more like the flittering axe
Yeah, I'm terrible at games and I made it to level 4 (I can't remember if I beat it) the first time I played it. The janky jumps were what got me when it came to the pits, but other than that, I actually did fairly well despite being bad at games.
You can earn sub-weapon upgrades by killing multiple monsters with them. Hitting things with a single throw of a sub-weapon 2, 3 or 4 times increases your odds of a candle dropping an upgrade (instead of what it would drop by default). So hit 2 or 4 things with one sub-weapon, repeat this once or three times, then hit a candle or two.
I love the way the game rewards you for killing well 😈 Sub-weapon upgrades make you super powerful, especially vs bosses. Also, candles count as something to hit, so line up that axe, holy water, or cross with a monster and a candle or two, and boom.
Great video! I always loved this game, especially the music in it!
As a kid these games are rough simply because our lack of understanding and aptitude. We weren't or at least most of us looking for patterns and paying attention to detail. We were just making the same mistakes and trying to hit and not be hit.
I thought he played this already
Maybe it wasn't from debunking
Thanks Ryu for all the great videos !!! 🙂
What is Debunking? A Satisfying Piece of Good Content
First 2 bosses are vulnerable to the Stopwatch, so you can stick to that as well. It also greatly helps with medusa heads since you can pause them while making all the jumps.
3rd level gives you Holy Water at the start, so it works as a nice transition.
Contra 4 on hard mode is crazy. I would love to see Ryu play this one.
Contra 4 isn’t bad, but it really should have been called Contra Tribute because it recycles so much from the earlier games.
Like many original NES games, the difficulty comes from dying and losing the god weapon. This is combined with the inherent difficulty of a linear game, which is caused by the fact that your limit point is always your least practiced point.
Yep the bosses are quite easy if you choose to put aside your curiosity and admiring the graphics to blitzkrieg spam them immediately with sub-weapons
You can't even concentrate on attacking them because you're too busy dodging Medusas! But you can't dodge the Medusas because you're too busy dodging the axes! But you can't dodge the axes because you're tryin' to hit the knight! BUT YOU CAN'T HIT THE KNIGHT BECAUSE THE GAME'S DRIVIN' YA FUCKIN' CRAZY! It's like a test. It's a test... to the SHIT. - AVGN
The first boss is really quite easy with the axe too, especially if you have a double or triple axe. The "hunchbacks" are officially called "flea men" I believe. A lot of people refer to the "cross" as the "boomerang."
I like this. Nicely executed. Clean run. One thing I would have liked to have seen you mention was that you can run through things while they’re under the holy water. Nicely done tho
Stop watch is a huge help in stage 17
Earth Defense Force debunking...that game is brutal.
Don’t ask me how I did it, but I somehow managed to beat this game as a kid. Could you do a Debunking the Difficulty for Kid Icarus? That game is whooping my butt and I need help! Thanks Ryu for all you do…
I don't think it's that debunkable. It's quite a mess and you really have to know where to get certain items.
I beat it at 12 years old when it was released in 1987. Also beat Kid Icarus (that little SOB) Beat all the games. Probably took a few years off my young life through anger and frustration....but I/we (cause you usually played beside a friend and shared continues) did it. Cause that was all we could do at the time.
I am forever AMAZED at the people who speedrun this one!
Just what I needed! ❤