THE BOSSES A - D Adrameleck Found in: Circle of the Moon This particularly nasty goat creature poses the first truly difficult boss battle in Circle of the Moon. His claws will throw out large numbers of projecticles, Akmodan II Found in: Super Castlevania IV, Symphony of the Night Mummies have always made an appearance in the Castlevania series, and this one is no different. Guarding Olrox's old room in the Inverted Castle, Akmodan II will emerge from his tomb. He can extend his bandages to choke his attackers, as well as spread poisonous gas (air tends to become poisonous when circulation is nonexistent for long amount of time...this is especially the case with Egyptian pyramids which have gone for centuries without any fresh air). Akmodan II is also present on the Clock Tower of Castlevania IV. Angel Mummy Found in: Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge The boss of the Plant Castle, the Angel Mummy is a curious creature. Perhaps thought to contain the Queen of the Bone Dragons, two necks will squirm out from it, one with a Skull Dragon and the other with the Queen Bone Dragon, and they will proceed to fire projectiles. The head in the middle, the Medusa, will do nothing but call to its allies. It can't hurt you, neither can you her. It will also transfer the vertebrae, neck bones, from one neck to the other, so if you stay at the back of the screen, only one can be reached at one time. Destroying one of the dragons will set of a chain reaction and destroy the creature, and finally the Medusa. Balore Found in: Aria of Sorrow Balore makes quite an entrance, destroying the Creature Bat that first appears when you enter his room. The major difficulty faced in this battle are his gigantic hands, which will smash Soma to bits unless you're careful. Later in the battle, his one eye will shoot lasers and light the ground with fire. Beezelbub Found in: Symphony of the Night The name Beezelbub today is commonly associated with the Prince of Demons (the devil). However, its original meaning was "Lord of Flies". Beezelbub was a god of the nation of Canaan in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the game, Beezelbub is a GIGANTIC rotting corpse that inhabits the Necromancy Laboratory in the Inverted Castle. Although it cannot attack directly, it can send hoards of HUGE flies around to kill anyone (while also dropping maggots, which you can use the Soul Steal spell on to gain some life.) The only way to kill him, really, is to dismember him piece by piece. Behemoth Found in: Dracula X PC Engine and SNES, Castlevania 64 First appearing in both versions of Dracula X, the Behemoth sneaks up behind you and chases you. Pretty much undestructable in this form, your only option is to run. You'll also find one of these in the N64 games, sleeping at first - but upon completion of the Castle Center, it will awaken and charge at you with ferocity. Big Golem Found in: Aria of Sorrow Like many of the boss in Aria of Sorrow, the Big Golem is merely big, and has little else going for him. He lumbers back and forth, and occasionally vomits rocks. Bone Dragon King Found in: Castlevania 3, Bloodlines, Belmont's Revenge, Haunted Castle First found in the Sunken Temples of Poltergeists in Castlevania 3, the Bone Dragon King is the only Bone Dragon that is not attached to a wall. Flying around the area, parts of its backbone will fall off when hit in the head. When enough damage is taken, it will escape, flooding the area and leaving you to chase after him. It has a similar attack pattern as the second level boss in Haunted Castle, simply flying around the screen. It also makes a handicapped appearance in Bloodlines...he is attached to the wall, although he is much longer and more powerful than the other Bone Dragons in the game. He also shows up in Belmont's Revenge for the Game Boy, as one of the bosses in Dracula's castle. He will zoom through various tubes on the floor and ceiling, trying to dive into Christopher. Bone Golem Found in: Dracula X Duo The Bone Golem is a particularly nasty creation found at the end of the Lake Bridge level in Dracula X Duo. It takes three forms. During the first, the Bone Golem is an eight legged creature with four arms that will punch and shoot a stream of fire. In the second form, its bones will contort to make a flying, winged creature. When this creature is defeated, the final form is a clump of skulls that dashes across the floor. The only way to beat this form is to whip it then jump on top of it and get to the other side. Camilla Fernandez Found in: Castlevania 64 Some sort of cousin of Carrie's, this vampiric desecration, brought to life by Actrise, summons legions of homing orbs to attack. She also posses a circular turqoise blast from her wand, which will freeze you. Castlevania 3 Zombie Trio Found in: Symphony of the Night Dracula didn't forget about Alucard's companions way back when, so these zombie impersonators were created to haunt him. Trevor mainly attacks with his whip, bone boomerang and holy water, while Grant will just climb on the ceiling and throw daggers. Sypha hovers in the air (which she never had the power to do in Castlevania 3) and shoot fire, ice, and even lightning when she's damaged enough. Even though all three zombies attack at the same time, they generally aren't too powerful compared to the rest of the Inverted Castle (they are found in the Reverce Coliseum.) Cerberus Found in: Dracula X SNES and Duo, Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon Fast and agile, the Gatekeeper of the Lower Depths can pounce on its prey and rip its throat out without seconds warning. When encountered in Symphony of the Night, the background suitably flames up to simulate the actual experience of being in the Underworld. Each of the three heads will shoot out differently colored fireballs, both straight forward and at an upward angle in case you try to attack from above. Your best defense is your Holy Water. In Dracula X, the Cerebus can also leap into the air and spit fireballs on to the ground. Once in contact with the floor, it will burn up everything in its path, unless dodged. In Circle of the Moon, this is first boss you'll face, and attacks with lighting, fire, and occasionally timed charges. Due to crazy localization issues, it's known in the Dracula X manual as "Keruberosu". Cloaked Sorceror Found in: Dracula X SNES Guarding the cave in Dracula X, the mysterious Cloaked Sorcerer has a variety of nasty spells. He can call skeletons from the ground, and fire energy blots (some will slow Richter down.) When enough damage has been taken, he changes form...he will surround himself with tombstones that circle around him. These can also be thrown out Richter. He also will summon Mudmen from the ground instead of skeletons. The Creature See: Frankenstein's Monster Creaking Skull See: Giant Skeleton Creature Bat Found in: Castlevania Legends This mutated bat-thing is the first level boss. Guarding the bats to Castlevania, he is an agile little bugger with fireball shooting capabilities (and a predictable pattern, much like most Castlevania baddies.) Cyclops Found in: Castlevania 3, Harmony of Dissonance The Castlevania 3 Cyclops is one-eyed one horned giant purple Trevor eater if your not careful. Slow-witted and rather stupid, Cyclops tends to be very muscular and also brandish stone mallets most of the time. They are also very fierce, charging at enemies with very little warning. Obviously, the weak spot for the Cyclops is its most well known feature, its eye. Cyclops also has the power to turn people to stone, but only when severely injured. This is how Sypha the Vampire Hunter was captured, and put on display in one of the Cyclops dens. Also appearing Harmony of Dissonance, the Cyclops here also wields a hammer and is a bit faster, but doesn't have too many interesting attacks. The Dancing Spectres Found in: Super Castlevania 4 Although this duo looks like a pair of ghosts dancing harmlessly, it is nothing but an illusion. The two dancing specters are actually an undead spirit whose form is used to confuse attackers. Flickering in and out of visibility, it is often hard to hit them. They also have the tendency to shoot out a barrage of poisonous foils, light swords. Their names are (ha!) Paula Aghoul, and Fred Askare. Dark Side Found in: Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge Perhaps thought to be the Dark Side of Sypha, this malevolent wizard controls a gigantic storm cloud. He will transport around the screen, but before he fully materializes, he will take the form of a crystal. This is the time to attack. Once the Dark Side does appear, he cannot be harmed and will command the storm cloud to fire lightning that will send shock waves a short distance on the ground. Darkwing Bat Found in: Symphony of the Night Perhaps one of the most sickeningly simple bosses in the entire game. Found in the Inverted Clock Tower, the Darkwing Bat has wings many times the size of its actual body. It will flap its wings to create a gust of wind, sending you flying against the back wall. Other than simply flying around, this Bat has no other attacks, and can be killed without much effort. Deathbat Found in: Castlevania Adventure Inhabiting the third level of this Gameboy Adventure, the Death Bat is the reanimated corpse of a gargoyle-like creature. It's beak and prominent rib cage suggests it to probably be yet another, but the first we've ever seen, of the Slogra Dinosaur Knights. With a high pitched squeal (hey, even nice for a Game Boy sound chip!), the Death Bat will make repeated dives toward Christopher before retreating and starting the cycle over. The Death Bat is easily one of the easiest bosses of the game. A fully powered up whip can inflict up to 4 hits with a single hit, as opposed to one, as with the others. Death Dragon Found in: Castlevania Legends The boss of the second level in Legends, this enormous dragon guards the halls (I find it quite curious that it's taken this long for a dragon to show up in a Castlevania game...after all, the Tepes family symbol was a dragon.) Anyway, due to its size, it cannot move, but can shoot fire at various heights and cause bricks to fall from the ceiling. Devil Found in: Harmony of Dissonance The winged Devil flies around the screen and shoots beams at a downward angle. Occasionally it will land and attack with a dehabilitating punch that will curse Juste. Dogether Found in: Dracula X Duo Essentially a very large eye with a mouth, one has to wonder what hellish creature devised the Dogether. Its small mouth can spout out either flames or a three-way green electrical beam. Spouting out various Japanese symbols, a Konami common, as the Spellbook in Symphony does and the Mermaid boss of Parodius stage 2 also does. It can also leviate all around the screen, and teleport at will. The Doppelganger Found in: Castlevania 3, Symphony of the Night, Chronicles Roughly translated from German, Doppelganger means double. In the final castle in Castlevania, Trevor and his companion spirit must face this shape-shifting demon. It will take the form of whatever character you happen to be playing as, and will use their attacks. When as Trevor, it will use the whip and boomerang, as Grant, it will climb walls and throw daggers, and axes. Sypha's clone will shoot out the Staff and Flame Spell. Alucards will shoot out the Balls of Destruction. Only by cunning, smart thinking, and quickly hitting the select button and getting in the hits one by one between changing, can this demon be outwitted. Two Doppelgangers of Alucard will be fought...one in the Outer Wall, the other in the Underground Caverns in the Inverted Castle. Both mimic the attacks and weapons of Alucard (like throwing daggers, swinging sword, using mist to teleport), although the latter one (Doppelganger40) is a bit more advanced, as it can charge the screen in a bat/wolf combo. The Doppelganger of Simon comes out from an enchanted mirror, and has the same set of moves as Simon. Note the cool snake whip though. Death Dragon Found in: Circle of the Moon Another one of the tougher battles in Circle of the Moon, you'll fight two zombie dragons with platforms in the middle. In addition to the usual projectiles, you'll have to deal with them trying to attack with their heads. Make sure to bring an axe or boomerang. Drolta's Mecha-Knight Found in: Castlevania Bloodlines When Elizabeth Bartley was resurrected from her grave, she also gained some of the magic of one who brought her back to life. The Mecha-Knight is essentially a crude robot, constructed of tin, gears, and bones, brought to life through magic. Attacking with a spear in one hand and an axe in the other, he guards the ruins of Dracula's old castle. After taking damages, his limbs will fall off, until he can only kick (much like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.) Dullaron Found in: Dracula X SNES and Duo This is the evil resurrected spirit of a knight who was decapitated in battle. He carries around his head in his arm, which controls the body. Wielding a heavy lance, he can attack with it by causing shock waves across the ground. At times, the head can be thrown up in the air, where it can cast a variety of spells (like causing debris to fall from the ceiling.) The head can also chase after you. Also known as the Dyruahan, in another translation mangling. Onto Page 2...