Castlevania Symphony of the Night - Xbox Live Arcade Walkthrough

Darkhugh's Den's Guide to Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight
(a.k.a. Castlevania: The Bloodletting)
==============================================================
Game TM and Copyright 1997 Konami of America and Konami of Japan
Strategy Guide Copyright 1997 Hugh Sterbakov
Last updated 6/13/97 3:30pm PST
Text FAQ Version 1.1 (Updated 6/29/97)
This is a text copy of the full Dracula X guide located at:
http://members.aol.com/HughSterb/reviews/drac/castlev.htm
which contains full maps, item pictures, and is updated more
frequently than this guide.
Part 1
Introduction
About Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight
Spells/Special Moves
Saving
Common Sticking Points
Merchant Item List
Complete Item List
Retain Initial Weapons
Part 2
Beaten the Game Yet?
Super Companions
Play as Richter Belmont
Richter's Special Moves
Other Name Codes
Game Shark Codes
Part 3
Translations
The Monster Dictionary
Part 4
Frequently Asked Questions
Part 5
Rare Items
Main inventory chart and descriptions
Part 6
Armor, Cape, and jewelry chart and descriptions
Part 7
CD Information
Part 8
Assignments
Contribute to the Page
-----------------
|    Part 1     |
-----------------
Introduction
------------
I'm a video game reviewer and big fan of the Castlevania franchise.  Of
course, when the import of the new Castlevania game became available, I had
to have a copy right away, despite the fact that I can't read Japanese.  I
thought I'd throw together a guide to getting through the game, since it'll
be useful for others with the import and those that get the US version when
it's released.
In the last week of April, the official US release date was delayed until
October 1. Unfortunate, certainly, but I do highly recommend the Japanese
version, for several reasons.  The Japanese version includes a music CD with
some of the greatest video game music ever composed, lifted from all the
games in the Castlevania franchise, and a beautiful book of the production
artwork from Nocturne/Bloodletting (or Symphony of the Night, another possible
US title). Inclusion of these items in the US version hasn't been affirmed or
denied, but it's highly unlikely, given US practical and normal standards
(video gaming is a much more serious, and adult, prospect in Japan, and these
items appeal to the Japanese consumer more). Finally, the Japanese version is
available now (check the rec.games.video.sony newsgroup to buy it), and, with
the help of this strategy guide, extremely playable even for the Japanese
illiterate (like myself).  Be advised, however, Americans need a mod chip for
their PlayStation or they have to use the swap method to be able to play this
game. DON'T E-mail me about this... check out this Swap Method FAQ.
Konami has been hemming and hawing regarding a Saturn version of Nocturne.
As of late April, the Saturn version was scheduled for release on 10/1 as well,
but, shortly after, they decided not to do it.  Far as I'm concerned, it's
still up in the air.  There's a Nintendo 64 Castlevania coming, as well:
Video was shown at the Tokyo Toy Show.  Looks to be a Mario 64-ish take on
Castlevania, and is currently titled "Dracula 3-D." Meanwhile, the domestic
PSX version of the game we're here to talk about has been called "Castlevania
V," "Castlevania X," "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night," "Castlevania: The
Bloodletting," and "Castlevania: Nocturne in the Moonlight." I took a gamble
and registered "Bloodletting" with the search engines.
Back to the matter at hand:  I don't want to ruin the game for anyone, but
this site has gotten way too large to think about designing so that you can
only access certain parts in a certain order. I implore you to only use this
guide as you find extremely necessary, at least until you've beaten the game.
The only one you'll be cheating is yourself, of the enjoyment of playing this
fantastic game (which, granted, may be a bit too easy... and this strategy
guide may make it WAY too easy).
PLEASE read this ENTIRE document BEFORE E-mailing me with questions.  For
purchse information on the import, check the rec.games.video.sony newsgroup.
A half dozen different people are selling it there. Again, October 1 is now
the official release date for the US version.
About Nocturne in the Moonlight
-------------------------------
This latest Castlevania adventure has been compared to Metroid:  The castle
is one, big, non-linear world that you can explore at random.  You'll find
certain instruments that will allow you to get into new areas of the game,
dozens of weapons and power-up trinkets and secret areas galore.
Of course, you control Alucard, last seen in Castlevania III:  Dracula's
Curse.  Alucard has at his disposal many weapons, armor, capes, trinkets and
spells.  This guide is for people who have the game and are stuck, however,
so I'll just dispense with the intro and move right into the strategy guide.
Spells
------
These are all the spells I've been able to find.  Once you use a spell, it's
listed in your spell book (once you obtain the first item, see Item List). If
you get to a certain point and haven't found a spell, you can buy the spell
book from the merchant.  Save your money... use them from here.
R: Right, L: Left, U: Up, D: Down, T: Toward
R, L, U, D, square:
A mist attack travels around the screen and hits your enemies. MP: 5
U, D, DT, T, square:
Dracula's signature 3-ball flame.  Hold up while he's casting the spell to
shoot the two lava balls instead.  MP: 15
L, LU, U, UR, R, square:
Alucard becomes red for a moment, during which he absorbs the energy from
the enemies he attacks. MP: 10
L, R, RD, D, DL, L, R, square:
Powerful burst that drains the energy from your enemies and draws it into
you.  This will also destroy walls.  MP: 50
U, japanese character, UR, R, RD, D, square:
MP: 20 The Japanese character seems to mean "hold." If you hold the "U" for
a few seconds, then do the rest, this spell creates four spirits to attack
your enemies.
Thanks to Eddy for helping me out with these.
As the Wolf: D, LD, square:
Lunging bite. Thanks to Sebastian for this one.
As the Bat: Hold X, U, UL, L, DL, D, DR, R, release X:
The bat goes shooting across the screen, attacking everything. Thanks to
Ben.  This is seen onscreen with question marks (?) before and after the spell.
With the Sword companion: D,DF,F,UF,U hold for 2 sec, D+square:
the sword will get close to the screen, say something, spin then damage all
enemies on screen. Thanks to Joel.
With the Staff Weapon: square + circle + triangle:
According to Erik:  The staff weapon (power 35, if i remember correctly) can
be used to cast spells when equiped with a shield. just press the two attack
buttons and the backdash button at the same time. Different shield combinations
give different spells.. some are protection.. some raise attributes.. and i've
found two that do damage.. one notable one (so far) would be the skull
shield. it casts a spell that takes off about a third of magic off my bar and
casts a laser beam that does multiple 100+ damages. Thanks Erik!
With the Shield Rod: Square and Circle (with Shield Rod and any Shield equipped)
Unleash a variety of spells, depending on which shield you've equipped. See
Page 7 of the web guide for more information on shields and a picture of the
Shield Rod.
Special Moves
-------------
Down, Up, Jump:
The "Shoe" item enables this super jump.  This can be done repeatedly to "fly."
Down, Toward, square:
This will activate special spells with many of the weapons, including lightning
bolts, sword throwing and teleportation. Thanks to everybody who told me about
all this stuff.
Back, Toward, square:
According to PM, most two-handed weapons allow this special stroke that makes
Alucard charge with the weapon, causing extra damage.
Jump, DT + jump again:
Alucard does an attacking kick. Victor thinks you need an item to get this to
work (perhaps that's the winged card).
With the Blue Wand:
Square and Circle unleash a variety of spells, depending on which shield you've
equipped. Thanks to Ben for this one.
Press and hold L1,L2,R1 R2 and with them held, press SELECT and START together:
The game will reset itself at the title screen and is a whole lot quicker than
reboot. Thanks to James.
Saving
------
A helpful hint for those non-Japanese speaking import players:  In the save
area, select the right option, then push UP and select the left option, and
you'll be given two new options, one that ends with a 1 and one that ends
with a 2.  This enables you to save the game to a new file on either memory
card, rather than rewriting.
I was actually asked in an E-mail where the save rooms are.  This is clearly
getting out of hand... people are asking me questions before they've even
played the game.  In any case, you'll see rooms with a large ball, really the
only polygon image in the entire game, spinning around.  Stand under this ball
and push up, you'll get the save option.  Press square to save the game over
your current one on your memory card.
Common Sticking Points
----------------------
These numbered problems correspond to a map at:
http://members.aol.com/HughSterb/reviews/drac/castlev.htm
1. Blue Doors and Bug: First and foremost, there's a bug in the import Dracula
X: A door that makes the game crash when you enter from a specific side. If
you encounter this problem, don't worry.  You'll be able to enter the room
later from the other side, and the bug will disappear.  I imagine it will be
fixed in the US version.  Meanwhile, at the same point on the map, and in
other areas, there are blue doors that block your progress.  You can't pass
through these until you obtain a blue pendant from the merchant.  It's the
first item on his list.
2.The Merchant: The merchant's extremely confusing, especially for those of us
who don't speak Japanese.  Here's what I've been able to figure out, from his
main menu:
1. Allows you to buy items.  The item you're considering appears on his
table.
2. Allows you to buy (and sell) rings.
3. Instructions for fighting bosses.  Kind of a waste of money, I never
found any to be real problems.
4. The Monster Dictionary.  For a complete translation, check Page 5.
5. This is a series of selections that leads to Japanese dialogue.  Not
available until later in the game.  Thanks to Jeff, who tells me that a
Japanese associate of his told him this is "Free Conversation" with
some of the voice stars of the game.
6. Leave
(see the Merchant's Item List later in the list)
3. Wolf Transform: In order to obtain the wolf transform from inside the
elevator shaft, hit the mechanical object a few rows above you, then return
and the shaft will open. As the wolf, a double-forward will make you dash,
and you can jump higher on stairs.  Later, the triangle button will allow you
to swim.  For spell moves using the wolf, see the spells section.
4. Bat Transform: This is where the bat transform is located, through a grate.
You can't obtain it until you find the mist (see #18... but try to find it
yourself first!).
5. Falling Bridges/Difficult Stairs: This is a tough leap to make before the
bridges fall out from under you.  The wolf has a fast dash (which seems to
work when you press twice in the same direction). You'll need to use it,
combined with his jump, to make it across the bridge.  On the second part,
jump just as you're about to cross the bridge, then again as soon as you
land. The wolf's jump will also enable you to get up the high stairs in the
room with the gears.  When running up steps, for whatever reason, the wolf
can jump extra high.
6. Gears: There's a door with a gate over it that seems impassable in this
room.  You'll need to his all the gears on the wall in this and the previous
room, and you'll hear them "clunk" when you hit them.  Keep hitting each one
until you hear them "clink" instead of "clunk."  You'll hear the difference.
Once they've all "clinked," return to the door and the gate will be raised.
7. Wooden Bridges: The skeleton guys throw flaming barrels at you.  Maneuver
so that they explode over the wooden bridge and it'll collapse, offering you
passage to the area below. The skeleton guys won't appear until you hit a
switch all the way west (left) of that corridor.
8. Room of Darkness: You'll need to either use the mist to get through this
room or the bat's sonar (that's what that weird stuff the bat shoots is). At
the other end, you'll be able to turn on a light and you'll see the spikes.
This leads to a purple armor, the "spikebuster" armor, which allows you to
walk across spikes.
9. Hidden Area: I strongly recommend you keep the fairy on at all times (she's
one of the book items you receive), as she points out hidden areas to you,
like this one. Break through the ground and drop down to find a lake. The
first time I got there, I found a huge, impassable door.  Later, when I
returned, the boatman was there and he opened the door for me.  This leads
to...
10. Moving in Water: The snorkel is located here, and it'll allow you to move
underwater without getting hurt.
11. The Clock: There are six passages out from the clock room, only two of
which are accessible at first. Once you can get that high, either with the
bat or double-jump, you can open the upper left statue by striking it.  The
upper right can be opened with the stopwatch weapon, which is always very
easily found to the right or left screens.  The final area can only be
accessed when you're wearing both rings from Maria (they both have the same
name), found in the "Nightmare" and in area 13.
12. Corridor of Spikes: You can't get through here until you have the
spikebuster armor.  It's very important to do this before you beat the game.
13. Ring from Maria: You'll need this second ring from Maria, in addition to
the one from the Nightmare, to wear in the clock room to gain access to the
final battle.
14. Hidden Area: Use the demon by activating one of your spell books, and
he'll push this button to move that wall for you.  Special thanks to Goh Woon
for help with this.
15. Hidden Area: This secret area, in the ceiling of the coliseum, was pointed
out to me by Mike K.  The 50-point spell, an axe or the super mist will all
break through the wall. Thanks again! Sorry for all the confusion regarding
this area... everything should make sense now.
16. Hidden Area: Thanks to Ed for pointing out this secret area.  Just hit the
ground with an advanced weapon to drop down.  The fairy may point it out to
you, but be careful because there are TWO secret areas right next to each
other (I missed the second one).
17. Double Jump: Because people just don't want to do anything for themselves,
I'm having to go back and point out even the most blatant items.  There's a
blue pendant here which grants you the double-jump.
18. Mist Transform: Well, here's the location of the mist item. Most people
managed to find this on their own.
19. Hidden Area: Okay... many people are having problems.  Check out the map
on the web page.  Look at the hidden area 19.  The room that you enter it from
has four entrances, right?  Upper left, where you come from when you start the
game, lower right, which is a blocked wall until later, and upper right (forget
the passage in the ceiling for now). When you *first* enter, from the upper left,
you'll come across a big rock.  If you hit the rock, you get a turkey.  However,
once you become more powerful, you can keep going through that rock to create a
passageway all the way through. NOW... if you turn into a wolf and run through
this rock, a passageway on the lower left wall *should* open up.  That's how I
did it.  Other people have E-Mailed saying it doesn't work, other people have
said it worked after 20 tries, other people say they had to use the bat, or the
wolf one way and the bat back.  I don't know... it's the same as the whole
playing as Richter thing... it works for some people and doesn't work for others.
More info as it's available.
Merchant's Item List
--------------------
by Ken Lee
Item Name                    Price             Effects/Notes
Blue Pendant: `Open Door'    $500              Allows you to Open all the Blue
*Important *                              Doors
Potion                       $800              Restores HP
Serum                        $200              Cures Poison
Uncurse                      $200              Eliminates `Curse' status
Hammer                       $200              Cures Petrification (with Fairy
activated)
Magic Missile                $300              1 time use
Knife                        $300              1 time use
Boomerang #                                    1 time use
Magical Ticket               $500              Teleport back to the Merchant
(cool shortcut)
Sabre                        $1500             weapon
Mace                         $2000             weapon
Damascus Sword               $4000             weapon
Leather Shield               $400
Iron Shield                  $3980
Velvet Hat                   $400              defense
Leather Hat                  $1000             defense
Circlet                      $4000             defense
Iron Breastplate             $1500
`Steel' Breastplate          $4000
Diamond Breastplate          $12,000
Reversable Cape              $2000
Elven Robe                   $3000             Helps hide in forest
`Order Made' (System)        $30,000           For System Menu, can `pick
colors'
Medal                        $3000             Adds +1 to Offense And Defense
MAP of the Castle            $103              * Definitely a must buy ^_^ *
Pearl Ring #
Magician's Book - "Dark                        Spell
Metamorphosis" #
"Summon Spirit" #                              Spell
"Hellfire" #                                   Spell
Duplicator #                 $500,000          Makes one-of-a-kind items
limitless. Not available until
you beat the final villan.
# These items become available later on, after you progress further in the
game.
Please note: This is the order that they are in the first time you see the
Merchant; some items after they are bought will `disappear' and thus the
Order of the items might be `thrown off' a little. Also, please excuse the
rough translations of these items. Enjoy.
Thanks again, Ken!
Finally, several people have pointed out that you get an increase life item
by doing the super jump under the merchant: D, U, jump.
Complete Item List
------------------
by Locke
Here's a complete list of all the items (as in 'Got an Item' items; i.e.
abilities) read it from top to bottom (first is top left, second is top
right, etc.)
Soul of Bat
Enables you to turn into a bat (press r1 button)
Fire of Bat
Enables you to fire fireballs when you are a bat (press attack
button)
Echo of Bat
Enables you to send sonar waves when you are a bat (press
triangle button)
Crazy Echo
Makes the bat's sonar wave longer
Soul of Wolf
Enables you to turn into a wolf (press r2 button)
Power of Wolf
Enables you to run faster (tap right or left twice and hold
down) Using this method you can break walls by crashing into them
Skill of Wolf
Enables you to swim when you are a wolf. (hold triangle button
and press left or right)
Mist
Enables you to turn into mist (press l1 button)
Power of mist
Enables you to stay mist for as long as you like
Gas Cloud
Instead of turning into mist you will turn into a yellow gas cloud
that damages enemies.
Materialize Cube
Makes pick-ups appear from candles and flames when you hit them
Soul Orb (a.k.a. Candle )
Displays the amount of damage you inflict with each attack
Float Boots (a.k.a. High Jump Boots)
Allows you to jump 5 times higher (press down, up, then jump
button)
Flight Stone (a.k.a. Double Jump Pendant)
Allows you to perform a double jump (press jump button
while in the air)
Holy Symbol (Snorkel)
Prevents water from damaging you.
Book of Enemy Names
Names Records the names of enemies you encounter and displays
them on the screen (This is actually translated as "Fairy Book,"
but, since I designed my map with "Fairy Card" listed as "Fairy
Book," it's just too confusing to actually list this item by
its proper translation)
Unlock Jewel
Unlocks locked doors
Mermaid Statue
Summons the boatman to bring you across the water vein (lower
right hand corner of first castle)
Essence of Bat
Summons a bat to help you fight enemies (listed as "Bat Book" on
my map)
Essence of Ghost
Summons a ghost to help you fight enemies (referred to as "Skull
Book" on my map because the ghost is a flaming skull)
Essence of Fairy
Summons a fairy to heal your health and status and to point out
secret areas
Essence of Little Devil
Summons a devil to help you fight enemies (listed as "Demon Book 1"
on my map)
Essence of Sword
Summons an intelligent sword to help you fight enemies (listed as
"Sword Book" on my map)
Essence of Hafling
Summons a "half" fairy to heal your health and status and to point
out secret areas (listed as "Fairy Book 1" on my map)
Essence of Nose Goblin
Summons a "nose" devil to help you fight enemies (listed as Demon
Book 2 on my map)
Dracula's Heart
Immunity from Curse
Dracula's Tooth
Increases your STR+10
Dracula's Bone
increases your CON+10
Dracula's Ring
increases your INT+10
Dracula's Eye
Increases your LCK+10
Thanks to Shadeless and Davin "The Raven" for contributing to these.
Thanks to everyone who's helped me out with the game, especially the guys on
rec.games.video.sony, Davin "The Raven," "Moi," for some great photos,
Anonymous, Ed, Locke and Ken Lee.
Retain Initial Weapons
----------------------
From Soo Yu Shen:
When you first start the game, there is a way to keep all of your belongings
from being stolen by Shaft. To do this, you need to use the 99 luck name code.
Start the game as usual but in the room after point #19 and before shaft,
there are 3 wolves. Kill all of them and stop at the end of the room. Unequip
some of the items so that only the sword, cape & necklace remain. At this
point, your defense should only be twelve. Turn back & kill the first wolf.
At the second wolf, stop in front of it so that it will lunge at you. If done
correctly, you will 'fly' past shaft & into the next room.
You can't pause & equip back your armor at this point. To resume the game
normally, save your game or go into the next room.
Nick got this bug to work, but warns that you can't, at any point, return to
that room where Death is, or he'll take the stuff. You can go all the way
around and access the entrance through the ground water vein, however.
-----------------
|    Part 2     |
-----------------
Beaten the Game Yet?
--------------------
Don't scroll down if you haven't!!!
If you've beaten the game, fought Richter Belmont (from
Castlevania: Dracula X) and defeated him and seen the end credits, you should
check your score and see how close you are to 100%.
Then sit down... you're only half finished.
That's right, there's a second castle, a duplicate of the first, but it's
upside down and has tougher, stronger enemies.
In order to reach the second castle, you must defeat the orb controlling
Richter Belmont (you didn't think a noble Belmont would really stand in your
way, did you?).  In order to do so, you'll need to wear the two rings Maria
gave you during the adventure, one during the nightmare and one in the upper
left hand corner after the corridor of spikes.  Stand in the clock room and
the bottom floor will open up.  Drop down and meet Maria, she'll give you a
pair of goggles.  Equip them and go fight Richter.  You'll see your true
enemy.
(A full graphical Map of the inverted Castle can be found at the URL at
the top of this document.)
Points of note in the second castle:
1. Level-Raising Opportunity There are some really tough knights in the
corridors to either side of the clock, but they give an INSANE amount of
experience, over 2000 pts. each.  Since there's a save point right around the
corner, this is a quick, easy way to become extremely powerful.  You can
raise 7 levels in 10 minutes.
2. Super-Powerful Weapon On my second trip through this corridor, a
werewolf guy dropped the most powerful weapon I've seen in the game thus
far:  A sword that just swipes in a blurry circle, as quickly as you can tap
the button. Keep looking for this one, it's noticeably different from any
other weapon you'll find.
3. How To Reach the Underwater Areas If you're going for a perfect 200%,
you have to go everywhere, but how to reach these high underwater
areas?  Once you find the final Wolf transform, the wolf can swim underwater
by using the triangle button.
4. How to Score Over 200% I've got 200.4%, the highest score I've heard
of.  To do that, I reached every area of the castle and used the magic ticket
(teleport back to the merchant, obtained from the merchant... see Merchant's
Item List) during the fight with Dracula to score that area as well. If you
figure out a way to score more than 200.4%, please let me know.
Super Companions
----------------
According to Rukes Kewl, if you get your companion to level 50, they'll
become much stronger.  The sword, for example, will grow extra blades and
hurt enemies just by touching them.  You can also use the 50+ level sword as
a weapon.
According to Klawinski, once the bat reaches level 50, a second bat will
join you when you're in bat form, so that when you shoot the fire balls, you
have a total of 4 coming at once.
The following information is all from Shou:
Sword: At around level 80, he changes his attack pattern. Instead of
swinging in a circle, he swings his sword like a regular swordsman:  He goes
into the background and then comes out and swings the sword to any enemy
onsight. You can approach an enemy from a far distance and your sword
companion will strike the for heavy damage (about 300+ hp off the bad guys).
At level 99, it takes about 500+ hp off the foes and hits the stronger guys,
or the bosses, twice or three times. Your sword from this companion becomes
the strongest weapon, too (once at level 99).
Both Demons: Once you raise their level to 75-80, they start attacking the
enemies with fire, ice and lighting from their spear. They also have a fourth
attack, which has a long range. i'm not sure which element this is, but i
think it's a better version of the lighting spear (they start using this
attack at about level 85-90). These attacks seem random... depending on what
level they are, they use these attacks more often.
Both Fairies: At around level 75+, they become more useful. For example,
when you're are at an ice area, they'll use the "Defend from Ice" vials right
away, since the enemies will use ice magic.
Bat: There will be 4 bats to help you (when you're in the bat form) at
around level 85 (i'm not sure, but defintely at level 90).
Ghost: At about level 80+, the ghost will start giving you hit points as
he kills the enemies. it seems as if he drains the life force off the enemies
and transfers it to you, although he only gives you 8 hit points at a time
(same as the 50 point magic spell). Ift, if he attacks stronger enemies (for
example, the golden knights, which give a lot of experience (as noted in the
inverted castle section), he will attack them many times, giving you 40-56
hit points.
Once at level 99, they all take a large amount of hp (we're talking about
356 and up) off the enemies and bosses.
Shou also pointed out that he's found a great place to raise the
companions' levels (obviously, since he's gotten them all so high):  the
entrance and adjoining room to the library in the inverted castle.  Clearing
the room of enemies (the lion guys with wolverine claws and pogo stick
corpses, for example) can give your companions 24 experience points at a
time.  Check it out... Shou obviously knows what he's doing with the
companions.
From Chubs:
The room where you can get your little guys up levels is located in the
middle right of the inverted castle. It is the room with the big sword with
shields and spears flying around it. Your guys go up at least a half a level
every time you kill the sword. your little guys do not have to hit it to go
up levels all you must do is kill it with them equiped.
Play as Richter Belmont
-----------------------
That's right!  We're all trying to figure out exactly what point you can
do this, but you seem to need a game saved to your memory card that has you
as far as the final battle in the game, into the middle section of the
inverted castle. You MUST have beaten the final villain and your save game
must say "CLEAR."
PLEASE read the above paragraph BEFORE E-mailing me to ask when you can
play as Richter.  I'm tired of answering this question when it's
RIGHT THERE!!!
You can play as Richter Belmont by entering the name "Richter" on that
same memory card.  The game's format is structured very similar to
Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, this game's direct predecessor (only for the
PC Engine, despite a terrible conversion to the SNES).  Thanks to Ed for
pointing this out to me.
You're a Belmont, and you can whip right or left, or