My favorite game in the series due to it's art style being so close to the look of anime I am nostalgic for; Same could be said for the Music, secrets, gameplay and graphics. It isn't the most open in the series but the secrets and alternate pathing make up for it but, it can be quite unforgiving sometimes. Not to say that the whole series is like that but, to me after playing them all again; This feels the most unforgiving.
My introduction to this game was in 2018, through a speedrunner and it resparked my interest in the series as a whole. I'd heard of it around when I started collecting but never looked at it; Only Symphony of the Night, because that was the console I was collecting at the time.
I really like Richter's design in this game, this feels less like a trench coat than his other appearences but I can't describe it. His Symphony of the Night Design gives off pirate vibes, which I also like but, this one has a look I prefer that I cannot explain with a word I like (I can't think of one...)
Richter Belmont - The most powerful of the Belmont family, a lineage of Vampire Hunters tasked with killing Dracula when he is resurrected with their family heirloom the "Vampire Killer" a whip with magic properties. He has a relationship with Annette.
Maria Renard - A 12-year old Vampire Hunter freed by Richter from Shaft. She gains animal assistance to defeat monsters.
Dracula - Resurrected again. He's conducting an army of the undead and wrecking havoc from his castle.
Annette - Richter's girlfriend who is being held along with other prisioners by Dracula.
Shaft - A dark priest and the man who resurrected Dracula.
Back-flip - By pressing jump again in the air Richter can preform a back-flip, a simple evasion move.
Moon-walk - Hold the attack button to make Richter moon walk, allows easier setup of backflips.
Dove - As she cannot use the Vampire Killer, she uses animals; These are launched almost the same length as the whip and two can be sent out.
Double Jump - A second in-air jump; Allows whole sections that would take Richter forever to be skipped.
Cart Wheel - By pressing down diagonally in a direction and jump, Maria will cartwheel in that direction; This is the fastest movement option.
Slide - Similar to the cartwheel but without selecting a direction, Maria will slide flailing her arms in the direction she is currently facing.
Item Crash - Once you get enough hearts, you can preform a special move. The amount of hearts varies from item to item.
Item Swapping - If you grab a sub-weapon and you do not want it, you last equipped item will still be on the ground for pick up.
Desperation Attacks - Bosses will attempt to kill you as they're dying with a special attack.
Axe - An axe that's thrown at an arc.
A large circle of Axes surrond Richter and fly out in every direction.
Bible - A Bible spirals around Richter.
(I forget :P Expect an update)
Cross - Richter throws out a cross bommerang.
A large cross is launched from Richter.
Dagger - Richter throws a barrage of daggers foreward.
A large circle of Axes surrond Richter and fly out in every direction.
Flame Whip - The Vampire Killer casts out flames.
*This is the item crash if you do not have a sub-weapon.
Holy Water - A bottle of Holy Water is thrown at the ground, bursting into flames.
A storm of Holy Water rains down from the sky damaging everything on screen.
Stopwatch - Richter freezes all enemies on screen for a few seconds.
A large circle of Axes surrond Richter and fly out in every direction.
Cat - A cat jumps from Maria and runs foreward hitting multiple times.
Turtle - A shell covers Maria protecting her from some attacks at the cost of speed.
A giant shell flys above Maria damaging everything.
Cardinal - A birds fly in inter"CARDINAL" directions from Maria.
A Burning Phoenix rises above Maria...
Dragon - A large dragon swoops foreward from Maria, inflicting a ton of damage.
Song Book - Maria sings.
Maria sings a longer song.
Egg - I forget what this one does...
Death (Prologue) - A fairly simple fight, Richter has to make Death drop his scythe. Try to bait his throws before whipping him to avoid being hit.
Wyvern - To those that are uninitiated, this is basically a dragon without arms. Don't think this means it can't grab you! It has two attacks, Grabbing you with it's feet and breathing fire. When it's going to swoop in for a grab just walk away from it. When it's going to breath fire walk behind it. Very easy boss, I like to use the axes here because the arc reaches it. There is no cool last ditch attack it just dies.
Serpent - The secret boss of level one. He is quite annoying to deal with because you have to know if he's on the background or foreground layer; I like to save my axes from earlier to use against him. He has multiple attacks.
Coiling the bridge, where you'll need to jump over his body as he moves across.
Two leaps, one foreground to back and one background to foreground.
His final attack starts off similar to a leap but he stays and charges his breath, my advise is to time a jump just right or run away from it; It's range is limited.
Desperation Attack: The serpent rises out of the water like a tornado right under you. I am terible at dodging this attack I'll keep you posted.
Werewolf - This bastard is the boss of level two and his pattern is annoyingly unpredictable to me. I've gotten better at fighting him, I find it best to throw a ton of holy water at his feet and avoid him closing the distance with his slide attack. When he starts clinging to the walls, wait for him to launch at you and whip him or avoid it outright if you don't want to risk missing.
Once he gets low enough health, he'll start bouncing around the screen. The best spot to stand when he does this is the left side of the screen where the wall is shadowed out; Then line the right edge of Richter with the "LEFT" pillar in the background. Pray you have enough holy water to kick his ass or attempt to whip it.
Desperation Attack: Thankfully this attack is really lame, after you kill him he's going to slam the ground and light will fly up around him; Just jump.
Minotaur - Battle-axe wielding Minotaur; I like to use the Cross here, throw it as soon as he enters for a cheap shot to get a three hit combo on him really early he always enters the same way so you should be safe doing this. When not charging an attack. the cross cannot hit him. His attacks include;
Poking with the axe, it's best to just move away when you see him pull his axe back; Feel free to toss as many Crosses as your hands will let you.
Leaping Strike - He'll jump in a perfect arc towards the players position. Attempt to jump over him before he can get off the ground or run under him.
Sneeze - The dude sneezes on you, turning you to stone. When his head pulls back just run away. If you get turned to stone he gets a confirmed free hit before you can move.
He reaches down and throws multiple bricks at you. Do your best to avoid them, the farther you are from him the easier they are to avoid.
His health is really low, he now is going to charge you; Get to higher ground.
Desperation Attack: The Minotaur does a legit shoryuken; The right side of the arena has a staue, if you stand on it's lap he cannot touch you.
Dullahan - Lance wielding headless dude, stand back and throw holy water at him. His attacks include; A ground pound that can be avoided by going back to the door. A jump attack that can be avoided from stepping away from the door and a piercing attack you'll never see if you stand at the door. Start the fight whipping as much as you can, staying out of range of the aforementioned pirecing attack when he starts the animation. After awhile he will throw his head at you, just wait for it to get close and backflip over it. The arena is the same on both sides so just go to the opposite side if you need to. His other attack, he throws his head up and it spins around. Rocks begin to fall from the ceilling, which are avoided if you go under any platform. If you have holy water and are in range, throw them.
Desperation Attack: He throws his head upwards one last time and fires balls of light in a circle, just jump over them or walk away if you can.
Sword Thing - A bunch of swords start flying around the room, just attack the main sword to end the "fight" early.
Painting - You might have noticed the weird painting on the wall is now moving, do not let it touch you; Either combo it really fast or do what I do and go all the way right then, stand behind the second pillar from the door (the one right after the steps) and just whip/jump whip him when he zooms by. You are out of range and can be lazy, take your time this is the safest mini-boss if you're in this spot.
Death - The trickiest boss in the every game of the series; He flys around, Small scythes spawn in. It's a mess to keep track of. I do not have a Richter strategy but I do have a strategy for playing as Maria I learned from a speedrunner. The idea is to use her dragon companion to damage him as much as you can and use the birds for covering the smaller scythes. When you get to the next phase of the fight just spam him with every possible bird or dragon you can till he dies. Maria is way to easy to win with.
Shaft (First Encounter) - Dracula's servant, he constructs his Dark Army. This is a boss rush consisting of; A Vampire Bat, Medusa, The Mummy, and Frankenstien's Monster. Followed by himself.