Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse -- Stage 5, Alucard (3/3)

So you chose the high road after all...and somehow that still places you underground, whereas the low road would have taken you outside, although whether or not this would have been a preferable venue is up to the player's own personal judgment and preferences.

Personally, I see it as already being halfway invested in THIS stage, having already beaten a boss and being able to continue a mere one block consisting of only one room and one additional boss before progressing to a Stage 6 that I find at least slightly preferable to the one that you get if you skip out on the rest of Stage 5.

Interestingly, this section of Stage 5 actually features an inversion of the neat new gimmick introduced in the first segment of the stage. Instead of droplets falling and dissolving blocks, this time it's blocks falling and adding themselves to the stage! It's a very neat gimmick for this era of games and a rather nice touch of variety...but I will curse it for its very existence several stages from now when they take things a bit further than I am inclined appreciate from the player's perspective, no matter how much I respect if from a design standpoint.

Something of an aside (I seem to have lots of those), Alucard's height...he definitely is a head taller than Trevor...but it seems that his head offers nothing in terms of his hitbox...his face is literally touching spikes as soon as he enters this room and walks under them, but to no actual harm. "Interesting" doesn't even begin to describe it. Funny, if you consider that his head is the only vunerability he had as a boss and of course the only vulnerability Dracula has in humanoid form.

Another strange quirk with Alucard is that he cannot attack while he's standing on the stairs. I suppose it's a small price to pay, but it does make me wonder what it is he seems to think he's doing with his hands while it's his feet that keep him anchored to the stairs. Maybe it's because there's not enough room for him to do his little cape flourish

This part of the stage's boss may seem like a mere rematch with the first stage's boss...but there's a clear difference that becomes apparent as soon as you strike him. Add to that the fact that he will constantly advance upon the player's position...making him impossible to dodge in extreme close quarters combat, since his own jump tends to complicate the idea of jumping over him from higher ground a proposition that's dubious at best when it comes to actually trying to put such a strategy in motion.

I'll be the first one to admit that I probly didn't deserve to beat the guy...I only somehow managed to "trick" his AI into standing still and trying to hit me while being just slightly out of range and the projectiles just happened to swing back around at the same height and distance he happened to be. That said, I'll still accept the generosity of an honorable opponent and move right along to get out of that place while the getting is still good.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Castlevania
• III
• Konami
• NES
• 1990
• Trevor
• Belmont
• Adrian
• Alucard
• Fahrenheit
• Tepes
• Dracula
• Vampire
• Killer

[YuuGiJoou]

Thanks!

I play a lot of games and try to show some of them to other people because I like them a lot, so I figure it's only fair that I explain as much about why I like them as possible in exchange for the possibility that somebody would want to watch the videos I post.

I'm always glad to hear when somebody enjoys them.

[onomix99]

I love this game. I love how you also have a nice description of each video.