Super Castlevania 4 on Super Nintendo - Level 11 : The dungeon

The bridge

The level begins with a fairly simple descent despite enemies having a range large enough. Once a little below the clock tower, it will cross a bridge that collapses followed by many bats. If you do not stop, everything should be fine and you should reach the dungeon entrance safely.

The dungeon

The ascent does not start in the most hospitable way since a huge saw is chasing you. In addition, the stairs collapse. It will therefore be fast enough without taking too risky because there is still a certain margin. In fact, one of the most important things is not to stop on the stairs because if you fall from one of them, you will usually not be able to use it again. After a while, you arrive at a place where platforms fly diagonally and you will have to board and navigate to avoid the peaks of the ceiling. For that jump on the platforms more left but not too much because there are spades completely left. This event comes back a bit later so you could think of getting out of the screen. There, it will walk to the left and not jump (except the first time) to hope not to impale yourself on the ceiling. This past difficulty, you will enter the more classy part of the dungeon for a series of bosses.

The first boss of the Dungeon : Slogra

This boss is not very difficult but a bit boring and repetitive. The best is to stand against a mini pillar, bend down and hit it. When it flies, go to the other pillar and then turn around and hit as you stoop. Repeat until you have broken his spear. In the second part, do pretty much the same except that you have to stop on the pillar, you lower and hit then go on the other as soon as you touch it.

The second boss of the Dungeon : Gaibon

After a few candles to regain strength, here you are facing Gaibon in a beautiful room. In the background, the moon illuminates the night and this kind of Blue Dragon makes a sensational entrance screaming. Despite its impressive appearance, Gaibon is surely the simplest of the 4 bosses. Staying down, we can easily master the whip. At first, he shoots from time to time without seeming to really aim. His second attack is a bit more dangerous. It makes a slight pause in the air and then goes vertically to the ground, making the room shake. Sharp ends of the ceiling then fall on you while he pulls you at the same time a ball horizontally. You will need good reflexes and maybe a little luck to avoid everything. After having emptied half of his life, he turns red and falls to the ground. He gets up very quickly for the second part of the fight. There, not really a problem because his attack is easily avoided. He goes down to a low level and then freezes and shoots. If you move away, the shots will go behind you. Between each attack, there is a lot of time during which you can touch it, for example, with lashes up from the bottom of the room jumping.

The third boss of the Dungeon : Death

After a small corridor filled with candles, you find yourself in a large room where death appears. Death can be quite painful and a defensive technique can be effective. When she is in the air to go back and throwing sickles, defend herself is to stick to the platform on the left, turn to the right and raise your arm with the whip hanging. Obviously, you must try to hit between 2 sickles when it passes over you. Not very fast but devilishly effective. When it goes down to the right, you can hit it a lot with your whip while going to the left when you get too close. It will jump over the first false and pass under the second. Ideally, you'll have to face her and stick to the platform when she catches the second counterfeit so if you do not want to be hit do not hit it too much for the second fake but go quickly to the left. Once against the platform, put your arm in the air looking to the right and start from the beginning. When death is over, some platforms appear and you finally cross a corridor in which the candles light up as you pass.

The grand staircase

As in Castlevania 1 on Nes, it's a big staircase that leads you to Dracula. The developers have provided here a "secret passage" to defeat the boss more easily. To take it, you have to jump into the void to the left instead of taking the stairs that go up. There is an invisible platform from which you can descend thanks to an invisible staircase too (keep going down to the left) to find yourself on a last invisible platform below. If you stick to the edge of the screen, you will get all the equipment you need to beat Dracula in the best conditions. Beware of the return, press right up to the right to take the stairs and jump on visible platforms as soon as the length of your jump allows you to access.

Dracula

Once climbed the grand staircase and crossed the hallway with some useless candles if you took advantage of the little trick. You arrive in a big room. Dracula is not that bad. These attacks are rather predictable since related to its standard of living and not too hard to avoid. At first, his attack hangs just by letting his whip hang in front of either. You can, for example, give him two shots diagonally at the head and then leave the button pressed after the second shot. If you wear the first shot "too late", do not take a chance and do not try the second one.
Once his 4th point of life is lost, Dracula will send you a crazy ball of energy flying in all directions. If you hit her, she will shoot in all directions and will almost always hit you if you are poorly protected. It does, however, drop some hit points and you only lose one so nothing serious.
Then, Dracula launches flames attacks. Two flames will appear in the air. Do not stay underneath since fire columns will appear here. The 2 flames slowly turn into a face of fire and arrive at you once formed. In a whiplash, the faces fall but watch out, they keep their horizontal speeds and can crash on you if they went in your direction. By crashing, they recreate a column of flame. Hit Dracula but prioritize their elimination when they are trained. During this form, you will weaken Dracula fairly quickly. When he has only 5 life left, the music changes, the color also and lightning dot the room. As during the rest of the fight, Dracula briefly appears in different places and then disappears. His only attack is to throw 4 lightning. It will be necessary to position itself quickly not to be touched. Favor this time the attack jumped rather than diagonally because you can hit while placing between two lightning.

Have a look at the end of the game.