Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse -- Stage 9, Alucard (2/2)

Ah yes, you'll notice that I chopped out all the preceding events that bring our heroes up to the final block of the stage, hopefully you won't feel too left out or neglected if I try to keep things more focused on the boss rather than the stage itself, which I think got a rather fair representation last time.

The Doppelganger, which itself will become something of a lesser recurring boss for the series, is exactly what it sounds like...an evil duplication of your player character.

It's just as fast and moves in exactly the same ways your characters can, except it inflicts a base of four points of damage no matter what it does to hit you...this includes walking in to you, regular attacks, and subweapon attacks...and this also means it will be doing more damage to Syfa and Grant.

The thing is...well, kinda stupid when it comes to jumping. Sometimes it will do it all right, sometimes it won't...and just as the player must jump precisely to reach a platform two blocks away and two blocks up, if the Doppelganger jumps too soon, it's going to fall and miss the upper platform. It doesn't actually have any higher pathfinding sense besides "move left if the player is to the left, move right if the player is to the right, and attack if the distance is short enough" leading to the humorous, but otherwise (usually) useless scenario of it sitting below you and attacking while you just watch from your perch above it.

If it's mimicking Trevor, it will be equipped with the longest chain whip and will use the Double Shot Cross subweapon against you (in some pretty neat colors, too!).

If it's mimicking Grant, it will have all his mobility and speed, but I believe he will only use Daggers against you, but I'm not sure...as Grant has never actually been my character of choice for this fight.

If it's mimicking Alucard, as you can see here, it will fire his wimpy little fireballs...except they too will inflict four points of damage per hit...and as such, I would highly discourage Alucard's use here.

If it's mimicking Syfa, it comes equipped with the fire subweapon...which actually makes for a funny and one-sided matchup, because the Cross powerup you pick up in the flowing-water room means that Syfa can use lightning...and the Doppelganger will have his pathfinding issues, and as such will simply stand beneath you as you fire them from the high ground and wipe him out. It's more than slightly sad, actually.

Anyway, all that sounds pretty menacing if you ask me...except the poor thing has a serious weakness, and you probably already noticed it in the previous video. It must compulsively copy your current character, so if you swap, it will swap, with all the same general rules as for you...like vanishing projectiles of the former character and continuing a jump where the old character's left off.

Only the Doppelganger doesn't get a courtesy pause like the player does when swapping out...and you're allowed to walk through it while it stands there reconstituting itself, making it a rather simple matter of sniping it while it fails to jump properly and switching your character if he actually makes it.

Now, it gets much more challenging for Trevor by himself, and honestly that comes down to filling the walking and jumping space that the Doppelganger will be using with your own Double Shot Crosses and at least trying to jump over him when he makes it to the upper platform, although for me this rarely actually works.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

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

[xXLameassXx]

lolololol. the short whip AND you dont go and pick up the cross?

watch this vid to learn how to NOT do this level/boss

[YuuGiJoou]

I did explain that I'm aware of the Cross, but it's entirely unnecessary unless you're playing as Trevor by himself, because the Doppelganger won't be able to act while it's morphing.

The short chain whip is just as powerful as the long one, and the reach isn't an issue in this case either.

Thanks for your totally positive feedback, though.

[xXLameassXx]

@YuuGiJoou

so dont get it so you dont have it for the next level.

thats thought out well.

[YuuGiJoou]

I wouldn't use the Cross for the final stage; I prefer the Axe.

[jeffbrister2004]

those flying ravens cause nothing but problems. their the worst enemies that die with one hit. besides maybe the gargoyles....

[YuuGiJoou]

I'm always caught unable to decide which of the two enemy types is more annoying...and it's always changing depending on whichever one I happen to be dealing with at the moment.

I think that I'd give the title of "worst" enemy to the bird-brains, because they tend to seem that much more "random" in their decision as to how exactly they want to attack, whereas gargoyles can be completely predicted, even if they are immensely irritating...which is all the worse when you KNOW you'll get hit.

[YuuGiJoou]

Interestingly, every boss screams that way...although the Doppelganger does enjoy the theatrics of rapidly changing between its forms and writhing in its fiery death throes.

Most bosses aren't nearly that complex, so I had a lot of extra room to talk about stuff that would definitely not be apparent from just this video alone.

[WhiteKhakis]

What a violent death! He even screamed in agony! That must've been so cool for folks at the time.

Neat read on the boss, too.