Castlevania Legends was originally intended to be the origin story of the Belmont clan. The game is about Sonia Belmont in her fight against Dracula. However, this story has been removed from the official time line by IGA.
This run aims for 100% completion by acquiring the 5 "Belmont Treasures" (Axe, Pocket Watch, Dagger, Holy Water, and Cross). Getting all 5 unlocked a special ending, viewable after the credits are completed.
In comparison to the other Castlevanias for the Game Boy, there are several changes in how the game is played:
Sonia is a woman. ZOMG! A FEMALE BELMONT?! UNHEARD OF! (Though she grunts awfully deep...)
There is no scorekeeping, a rarity in the traditional Castlevania style.
Sonia has an ability called "Burning Mode". This makes her temporarily invincible and also increases her horizontal running speed. However, it can only be used once per level/life. Also, when executed, it can not be halted.
When you take damage, your whip power doesn't go down.
You can get up to 5 Soul Powers, which are selectable from a special menu (the last one can be skipped, if you avoid the hidden level).
Super Game Boy mode is supported, and is used in this run.
Since Burning Mode is refilled if you die, I take a purposeful death in Stage 4 so I can use Burning Mode on both Medusa and Alucard.
Because there is no score tally, I do not manage my heart count until the end of the game, where I beat it with 0 hearts left.
This run is brought to you by: Ramen Soup.
Takes damage to save time
Suffers death to save time
Aims for fastest time
Manipulates luck
Genre: Action
Recorded on VBA Recording-20.
NesVideoAgent: Hi! I am a robot. I took a few screenshots
of this movie and placed them here.
Oh! I also replaced the ROM name.
You indicated Castlevania Legends (USA, Europe).gb
I updated it to Castlevania - Legends (U) [S].sgb
Though nothing specific is mentioned by the posters, improvements noted, some found by the author already. Canceling. (Also, NESVideoAgent fails at life.)
Joined: 9/22/2007
Posts: 56
Location: In UR Famicom
Woah! You beat the game in a really awesome manner. Yes vote.
EDIT:But however, I do agree that the points that other people pointed out apply, so I'm leaning to meh.
You stop too many times to kill enemies. Given that you have magic to freeze enemies, instant kill/wound them, give yourself full healing, and every candle holds a heart, there should be no need for this. You pass up a lot of hearts that would cost you no time to get, esp. on the earlier levels.
Using the burning mode on bosses instead of walking probably costs more time than it saves, plus the boss fights are the best part, so why rush them? Furthermore sometimes you finish the boss with burning time left over.
In the room where you have to survive the flame monsters in stage 5b, can't you be nearer to the exit rope (or climbing up it) when they stop coming?
You stop too many times to kill enemies. Given that you have magic to freeze enemies, instant kill/wound them, give yourself full healing, and every candle holds a heart, there should be no need for this. You pass up a lot of hearts that would cost you no time to get, esp. on the earlier levels.
Full Healing costs 20 hearts - way too costly.
Instakill doesn't show up until after the hidden level, and I use it as much as possible.
Freezing only stops time, I still have to kill them.
I only stop whenever taking damage will cost me more time, there are obstacles in the way, or if I don't have the life to take the hit. For instance, the pause at the rope in Stage 1 (before going for the axe) is absolutely necessary, otherwise I take 2-3 hits. I can't jump over the spearman either, due to the direction and positioning. If we were going opposite ways (see the return trip), then I can.
Using the burning mode on bosses instead of walking probably costs more time than it saves, plus the boss fights are the best part, so why rush them? Furthermore sometimes you finish the boss with burning time left over.
The only reason I use it on the bosses I do is because taking damage would be worse (health and time wise) Death can do 3-5 damage per hit (depending on what hits me). Medusa is a nightmare to fight without just sitting in the corner.
In the room where you have to survive the flame monsters in stage 5b, can't you be nearer to the exit rope (or climbing up it) when they stop coming?
No. When you reach the center of the room, you are inhibited from moving left or right. I can only whip, duck, and turn left/right. The stall tactics I use are to manipulate positioning of the flames and I end with the last one on the right, which is where I need to move.
Joined: 6/11/2006
Posts: 818
Location: Arboga, Sweden
I was wondering, at around 8400, what did that bat do, or what did he intend to do which made him lose his life like that?
Also at 10000-isch, wouldn't it have been faster to take damage? Or jump down as early as possible and beat the living hell out of that soldier?
This was when I got bored by the way. This game is tooooo slow :(
Edit: I shall add that I have not voted yet.
Warp wrote:
omg lol this is so fake!!!1 the nes cant produce music like this!
I was wondering, at around 8400, what did that bat do, or what did he intend to do which made him lose his life like that?
Whenever I passed by him, I would always take damage (and be pushed backwards). I noticed on somebody's any% run they could do it, but I'm not sure whether it's caused by them playing in GB mode and me in SGB mode, since there is a playback difference in real hardware that seems to apply on the emulation too.
Also at 10000-isch, wouldn't it have been faster to take damage? Or jump down as early as possible and beat the living hell out of that soldier?
It took longer to go down there and him him twice (since I would be hit for damage twice) then to wait. I also can't jump over him, as I get pushed backwards, as I noted on my last post.
For a more than 26 minutes run, 1500+ re-records was a bit less. I don't think it's perfect, some movement can be optimized.
Actually, I did do a fair amount of hexediting, which has affected the count.
The movie didn't seem all that optimized. I noticed at least one boss where you ended the level with 'burning power' left over - could you not have initiated it earlier and used it to save a few frames?
Also, frankly speaking if you're taking damage to save time the only reason you should end a level at greater than minimum life is because it was not possible to save any time by taking more damage.
If it doesn't take time out of your way to pick up extra hearts, pick them up and use them freely. You even have a method of burning large numbers of hearts if need be - the full heal costs 20 hearts, after all.
It's a good opener run, but I'm willing to bet that a lot of frames could be saved through better run planning and optimization.
