Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse -- Stage 6, Syfa (1/2)

White Dragons or otherwise, levels from this point on are apparently just in a different class from the first half of the game's selection of possibilities when it comes to this game's stages.

That said, among all the Stage 6 choices, this one is the one that somehow seems to be "that one level" for me, and I'm finding myself unable to determine exactly why that is.

The primary stage gimmick can't be the cause, because while it's annoying to constantly shuffle position from the constant draw of the water and seemingly limitless Mermen that come with it. It can't be the enemies, because they're all old news by this point. The boss is rather frustrating, I suppose, because you really can't count on your life bar to do you much good if you end up tossed into the drink instead.

There's definitely something at work here...something sinister that doesn't want to see me progress through this route. With the exception of the very first set of lives I spent here, I can't exactly say I was playing any worse than usual, although clearly that would have to be the case if I can't explain by any other factor that would cause such difficulty.

Oh, and you'll notice that the subweapon I promised finally shows up in this stage in rather greater abundance than usual. Where Trevor finds Holy Water, Syfa will receive a blue book of ice magic! Basically any enemy that touches the expanding shell of ice projectiles radiating from the player will be frozen solid.

The best part is that the icy state makes any attack that strikes them lethal, because they shatter completely on impact! Very fun, definitely worth the cost of a heart per use, and the destruction of frozen enemies is somehow extremely satisfying...maybe it's the squishy wizard Syfa getting revenge for all the times the baddies decided that it was cool to bully the less physically fit adventurers.

Unfortunately, it doesn't deal any damage, and as such is completely ineffective against bosses. You didn't think you could freeze a boss and shatter it with a single blow, did you? Syfa's magic is insanely strong, but it's not a total game breaker.

I'm also afraid that for some reason, prior to this filming...I had no idea that the ice magic could freeze the stage gimmick. Not that it's particularly useful to do so, since Syfa will be stuck inside until you jump your way out, it's just really neat to look at is all.

While things are frozen, you can't switch your character, which leads me to believe that THIS is the real reason why Syfa is so blue all the time. It's not easy being blue in a world filled with such woes as palette limitations, you know.

At the end, you'll notice a condensed string of concentrated failure brought on by this, the "that stage" among Stage 6 variants, apparently. I'm still not sure why that is, but I'm more than willing to share them. Maybe you'll get a cheap laugh out of them like I do.

Category:

Gaming

Tags:

• Castlevania
• III
• Konami
• NES
• 1990
• Trevor
• Belmont
• Syfa
• Sypha
• Belnades
• Dracula
• Vampire
• Killer

[YuuGiJoou]

Yeah, it's mostly a hazard of older games, where the most "advanced" means of showing that somebody is taking damage is to alternate between being visible and invisible so quickly that they appear to be translucent...but YouTube doesn't exactly update frames quickly enough for that, so after uploading them, the effect is basically lost.

Syfa's ice magic is omnidirectional...there is no "away," since the projectiles are fired in an overhead arc from three to nine o'clock from player perspective.

[Overhazard]

Oh, okay. So you can still see your character. No wonder it looked like you never had a problem with it. I thought it was that you've played this game so much that you could tell where Trevor, Grant, Syfa, or Alucard could be while invisible.

I noticed that sometimes, Syfa fired AWAY from the enemy and still froze them anyway. The best example in this video is that guy about halfway through the stage who throws axes at you.

[YuuGiJoou]

The Ice spell only freezes enemies that the projectiles touch...or that happen to be standing in water that happens to be struck by them.

The "disappearing" is just because YouTube doesn't show the alternating frames of the flashing player invulnerability, either making them appear to be invisible or completely visible. Is that what you're talking about?

(Stop pointing out my dependency upon that contemptible wiki! I'm like a recovering tropaholic, all right? ^_^)

[Overhazard]

Wow, does the ice spell freeze all on-screen enemies? It also looks like the fact that your character disappears can become a big pain.

(Also, is the phrase "squishy wizard/scientist" really all that prevalent? Or did you take it from TV Tropes again?)