Category: Switch

Completed Portrait of Ruin.

I usually prefer two handed swords in Castlevania games for their reach, overhead pattern and damage. But in this installment I ended up using Heaven Sword most of the game, switching to Flame Whip and Vampire Slayer at later stages.
After beating the four paintings, you just have a set of bosses left. First, there’s optional Memory of the Whip, which is Richter from Super Castlevania. He can kill you in 5-6 hits, his whip is super quick and has a very good range. I ended up stocking on potions and just kiting him at a range. He basically runs into your weapon, and then you can backdash. With his whip, I just overpowered Brauner, not messing with all his painting magic. It’s impressive technologically how he draws a pattern on a canvas, then the same pattern covers the screen damaging you, but I don’t have patience for this shit.

Then there’s the Dracula and Death duo. Honestly, I think that’s one of the thoughtests bosses I had to face in Castlevania games. Death hovers above Dracula making it difficult to jump over him, hits you while you try to dodge the usual fireballs, can be hit only in double jump, and generally, a pain in the ass. Then there are some Dracula attacks that simply one-shot you.
I’m not sure if it’s the necessity of double jumps, or just the intensity of this fight, but I felt that the controls were very sluggish, like there’s a lag every time I press a button. Maybe it’s the Dominus Collection, or just me. At least the game itself didn’t lag, like the Order of Eclessia when I played it on the original console.
Or maybe the developers intended that you’d attempt this fight only after finishing all the quests. But with the quests such as “kill 1500 enemies with the Javelin skill”, no, thank you very much.
If it wasn’t for the two inverted paintings, and the frustrating final fight, I’d say the game was fantastic. But all in all – I’m not sure.

Of course there’s a False Ending, it’s Castlevania after all. Path to the True Ending in this game is slightly more obvious than in others, though. Or maybe I just played enough Castlevania’s by this point.
First, you obtain the spell the cures vampirism, and you even get to practice it on the monk shopkeeper. And then during battle with Loretta and her sister, you just distract them long enough to cast it.

I also beat them to get the False Ending. They aren’t hard. Funny thing is, the spell is called “Sanctuary”, so it’s not very obvious from its name that it cures vampirism. And I picked it up completely by chance, not evening remembering where.
By that time, I think developers ran out of budget, since they just dump 4 paintings (portals) on you, go and clear those, then come back.

Death boss was the first that gave me a real pause. The spinning scythe homes on you, and the horizontal swipe has a lead: if Death starts telegraphing and you jump, it still can follow you and hit in mid air. It’s also not very clear what the boss is resistant to when it switches colors. But by wasting a few potions, I managed to beat it.

I forgot how much I love the witches design in Castlevania. The fact that there’s a cat familiar sitting on her broom, and then when she’s defeated, she turns into a cat with a witch hat, with the familiar still sitting on her back. So much detail and love.

I tried to play it many years ago, I think still on original NDS.
The two character mechanic is fun. Second character can take out the smaller annoying enemies or cast spells as you fight.
What I didn’t remember is that the game was leaning heavily into 3D backgrounds. Or maybe I simply didn’t notice on the tiny screen.
The theme of this game is paintings. So besides the usual Dracula Castle, we also have painted worlds we enter, each the size of castle itself. There is European city, Egypt, and so on.
I was enjoying the game until Nation of Fools painting. Castlevania can get quite confusing by itself. With the world at 90 degrees, it becomes simply annoying.
Legion, the ball of bodies, makes a comeback. Waste not, want not. It was giving me a lot of trouble until I discovered Heaven’s sword that wasted it in seconds.

Stella was also lots of trouble for me in her second phase, until I got the Nebula whip that, unlike most whips is Castlevania, actually aims.
Also, I just love this entrance sequence: