Castlevania 64 Speedrunning Info (Carrie):
Forest of Silence: -After the first cutscene when the first skeletons appear hold the control stick towards the gate (up-right with the initial camera?), run a little bit in that direction (to about in between the two closest skeletons), then do two full height jumps and do a tap jump and tap b so that you shoot uncharged energy orbs at the top of the third jump, then do another full jump followed by a tap jumpt + shoot uncharged orb, and finally do a last jump and melee attack the gate for the last hit (provided the two energy orbs hit).
-After the first hit on the first boss try to stand in front on him on the right so that the two skeletons run into his running path and take damage from him. Right before he starts running you can go over to the other side (where the skeletons are initially) in order to make them stay in his path longer, but it's easier to stay where you are and kill the skeletons with orbs.
-After the third hit on the first boss, he can either do a long run over to the gate and then back to the cliff, or he can run straigth for the cliff (saving maybe 5 seconds). Where he runs seems to depend on your position when he starts running. I haven't experimented too much with it, but it seems to work pretty consistently if you're standing by the wall on the opposite side of him, somewhere between right across from him and as far back as towards the gate as the rock (not on the rock). It's fastest to stand right across from him since you can hit him as early as possible after he moves to the cliff, but sometimes you want to go back to pick up drops.
-For the first boss a general tip is to not move in close as soon as he reaches his destination as he'll usually start running around in a small circle for a bit and stops at a sligthly different position than usual (important for the third hit as it messes up the manipulation of his route). Even if he doesn't he'll be more likely to attack you, instead of spawning skeletons that you can farm.
-After he's finished use first person view to counteract the boss view and look for drops (all skeletons that are still alive instantly dies after the boss is finished)
-After the gap after the first boss jump on the rock and from there over the fallen tree.
-Kill the bats by the second boss before activating the battle (one fully charged orb should kill both), since a power up can speed up the fight, and getting holy water/red jewels as drops is always good. It's also hard to kill them during the fight and they will probably mess up the fight for you. Also pick up the drops after the fight has started to avoid waiting for the bats to fall to the ground (the boss takes a bit of time to appear anyway).
-For the fight I like to run towards him jump and shoot a fully charged orb when I'm right next to him on my way up, so that the orb has no chance of targeting the skeletons and after shooting him I continue upwards and over him so landing at a safe distance away for his following attack. Repeat until he's dead.
-The boss always drops a power up so wait until it appears if you don't get green before that, otherwise jump across the gap as soon as the platform rises.
-When you get back to where the road splits in two, right as you get around the right corner shooting a fully charged orb will often kill the skeleton who is always standing where the gate is, and if he drops someting usefull it doesn't take much time to stop and pick it up since you'll see it from a distance.
-For the midair jump sequence break, you want to start by jumping onto the slope in such a way that you go over the little seam on the slope so that you slide more towards the other side than back to where you jumped from. To do that try to jump right fairly close to the slope, though if you're too close the slope might clip your jump before you reach max height. For the timing on the midair jump it's better to be a bit early and take a bit of fall damage (wasting some time), than to go too late and die. If you now that you're going to take fall damage try to land right next to the lever as you may grab the ledge on the lever post and avoid damage (and time loss). If you're confident that you won't take damage aim for right in front of the lever.
-Once you climb up after pulling the lever release a fully charged orb which should kill a skeleton between the two torches, then go for the holywater if you don't already have it. If you have 15 red jewels just run past the next torch, and if the skeleton droped red jewels pick them up if you want, it waste a bit of time, but less than destroying the torch. I usually skip both if I have 15 already, but if you want to be safe then getting them doesn't waste that much time. Either way if you have less than 15 at this point you definitely want to get 15 here if you can, however don't stop to kill enemies in order to reach 15 as there is still one place in castle center to get more jewels before the dragon head boss without wasting too much time (you can also get them during the fight if you run out, though you risk picking up a knife drop).
-After passing the werewolf there is a gateway with four bats on it. These bats lag the game heavily so try to take them out with one or two charged orbs while jumping past without stopping (you need to throw the first orb at the right time in order to get it to target the bats, while still having time to throw another before you're too far away, in case the first doesn't kill all (it usually kills three)). I believe you want to throw the first orb during the jump where you reach the gateway (it's hard for me to know from just remebering while typing this, but I will try to take note of it the next time I do it and then update this).
-If you're fast you want to use the moon card when you're crossing the gap after the bats (It's very rare to get to Rosa too early when using it there, and it nice to use there since you don't have to worry about it while taking care of the bats. When you're new start by using the card right at the start of the final boss battle (this will make the boss a bit easier and faster too), then when you start getting to Rosa early, use the card right after pulling the final lever, before finally moving the use of the card to the gap when you're consistently fast enough.
-Unless you use the card right at the boss, charge an orb before 19:00 and hold it until you can use it for the first hit on the boss. You do this because the damage on your orb is decided when you start charging it and your attack gets weaker as it gets closer to midnight (card fast forwards to 18:00). Therefore if you charge the orb right after using the card it is stronger than if you charge it when the boss appears. The difference in orb strength is significant because when its close enough to midnight, each phase of the boss will take two hits, but if you charged the orb early you can do the first phase with only one orb (which is faster and easier). This is why using the card right before the boss makes the fight faster, since you use one hit for (I think?) all phases, however if you're good, then you will be way too early for Rosa, and waste a lot more time waiting.
-For the final boss use this strat: From the video description: Unload the motorskellies by runing all the way to the boss right away. You need to stand close to the boss and jump and shoot him right as he starts moving. You can time it by looking at his hands and head. The first time he starts running he does it when he has his hands as far down as he moves them, and after every hit he starts moving once he's finished shaking his head.
One thing I don't mention in the description of the video is that your position relative to the boss right before he starts running is important, so take note of exactly where I stand in the video.
-Lastly, the ending cutscene won't start if you're stand at the tip of the cliff (the little part than sticks out from the otherwise straight line), so make sure you're not standing there, waiting for the cutscene to start.
Castle Wall: -When climbing the first tower, at the beginning up to the first gap (excluding the really small one where the ground is broken), crossing the gap is easier if you get there fast, and you should try to jump as late as possible from the green platform. It's also important that you hold the control stick correctly when jumping, so that you move in the excact same direction as you are facing, because that can increase your horizontal speed, and therefore also jumping length, quite a bit, making the jump easier.
-The second gap shouldn't be a problem. Right before, or during, the third gap you want to shoot a charged orb in order to kill the two bats in the tower. Sometimes that orb kill only the first, and sometimes it kills both (you can hear how many dies, I think it's more likely that both die if you shoot the orb while jumping across the third gap), if it only kill the first you should charge up another orb and shoot it in mid air during the jump across the fourth gap.
-When jumping across the third gap try to aim for the right side, but make sure all of Carrie is in front of the ledge (sometimes you won't grab the ledge here if you don't hit this spot). After crossing the third gap there is a guillotine right after which will usually kill you if you try to run under it, so instead jump around where it falls.
-The fourth gap is a bit long, but not as bad as the first or the third, but throwing the orb while doing it can be a bit stressful. After this gap there are three bats right in front of the door leading to the boss. This is where you can try to get more red jewels if you don't already have 15, since a fully charged orb usually kills all three right away, giving quick drops. If you already have 15 red jewels just jump past them.
-For the dragon head boss you want to start of by jumping on top of the area with the door. There is a torch with a chicken in up there, which it doesn't waste time to get since the boss is invulnerable at the start of the fight. However the real reason to go up there is to get a better view of the boss area. From there try to jump of so that you land fairly straigth to the right of the boss. You want to land just outside the area where the boss can physically hit you. Now crouch and turn towards the head closest to you, it should shoot a fireball straigth at you, let it hit you as it will turn you towards the boss at a good angle, then wait until the other head comes close to the one that hit you and throw holy water twice right after each other. Let the holy water do some damage, then hopefully both heads enter the second phase. Wait until the burning animation is over before throwing more holy water (even if only one head burns), if none of the heads burn by the time the holy water stops damaging throw another (this is pretty rare). After one or both heads have entered the second phase continue to throw holy water, but if you think you're going to get hit during the animation, wait until after you get hit before throwing the next holy water as the hit can cancel the holy water and it will still use up red jewels (you should be able to tell fairly well when you'll get hit after practicing and using this strat for a while). Once you've thrown holy water twice after both heads entered the second phase (three times after the first one burned, if one goes first), start picking up jewels while you wait for the boss to die. I like to get 30-35 jewels here, don't get more than 45-50 as you'll max out. After getting the jewels pick up a cross, pull the lever and get the 50 red jewels from the breakable pillar base (or whatever it is). If you crouch while picking them up it's less likely that you'll get hit by the two skeletons before you can run away, and I believe crouching makes the pick up animation faster as well (not someting that usually usefull since you usually only pick up one thing at one place, not several at once).
-When falling down the hole to the bottom of the Castle Wall agian, make sure you hit fall in such a way that you hit the wall below, and as you fall (while in the air) spam R a few times (maybe 3-4) and the camera should be a lot better when you go to pick up the key.
-In the second tower when you get to the area with four rotating platforms right next to each other jump on the first and the third (never the second or fourth) as these will only turn after you have touched them while the other two are on a timer. For the broken staircase right after jump at the right time to avoid having to grab the ledge. For the two rotating platforms right after don't risk it, wait until you're sure you'll make it (usually it turns right after you commit if you just go for it, however sometimes you'll be able to see that you'll make it even if you go right away, (you'll see that the first platform turns the right way), if you don't then don't go). At the small jumps at the end jump on the right side to avoid getting hit by the fireball from the dragon head.
-After getting to the top of the second tower skip the cutscene and do two full jumps towards the exit (you can also do three small jumps, but it's a bit risky, and can put in an awkward position), then run of the platform on the far right side, close to the wall. From there do a far jump towards the hole, you should land close to the edge of the platform right above. Set up a z-slide air jump almost right at the edge and do a backjump in the air. Now you should be on the bottom floor with the camera stuck on the floor above, but it's not hard to make it to the end of the level even with the messed up camera, you'll get a feel for that with a bit of practice. You can do the spamming of R in the air here as well to fix the camera, but it's not really necessary and for it to work you have to angle your z-slide more away from the wall (usually it would be parallel), so that the backwards air jump hits the fall, allowing you to change the camera. This means better camera, but slower than doing it perfectly without it, since you'll land slightly farther from the exit and use a very small amount of time to adjust the angle. Not much difference though.
Villa: -For the first two dogs you want to use melee attacks to save red jewels, since the third appears after a certain amount of time. With melee attakcs you should have just enough time to kill the first two and then position yourself before the third appears. It takes 6 melee hits to kill one dog. Start with the one that appears at the right side of the gate and chain 6 melee attacks that hit the dog further towards the right side. After it's dead run a bit left and try to hit the other one before it hits you. Chain together 6 melee attacks on this one too, and then position yourself between the first two pillars on the right of the gate (a bit more towards the one furthest from the gate). The third dog should jump down right in front of you. You want to hit it twice with the cross and once with a charged orb. I prefer to use the orb first since the dog can't run away from it if you shoot it right as it lands. Then I throw a cross as soon as possible after. The cross can hit twice, so that you only use 5 jewels, but if it only hits once, then just throw another. Make sure you're facing the dog when you throw, or it might miss.
-When the gate opens follow the left part of the gate, and position yourself next to the opened gate, almost as far into the next area as you can be while still having the opened gate right next to you. A dog will land rigth in front of you, shoot it with a charged orb as soon as it lands, then throw a cross imediately after. Now the other dog will try to hit you with its fire attack, so run a bit down right to avoid it, turn towards the dogs again and throw another cross. Now at least one dog should be dead, if there's still one left then use crosses until it dies. Pick up the holy water and go up to the far left corner where the final dog jumps in. Kill it by chaining melee hits. I like to start by using a charged orb right as it lands and then go over to melee attacks, but if the orb is timed wrong it won't hit, and it will be harder to start the chaining melee attacks.
-You can skip the final three dogs which saves around 14 seconds, but it's really hard to do:
-For the vampire skip it's a lot easier if you move slightly further into the room and turn your camera before doing it. It can be done without turning the camera as well, but it's harder. If you turn the camera you should do a low jump (tap A) onto the lower part of the railing on the left side of the staircase and from there curve a full jump (go straight forward first and then go right about midway through), so that you land back on the staircase at the end of the jump. If you want to do it without turning the camera watch this video: Hold straight left and do a full jump right in between the two lines on the carpet, then for the second jump hold up right the entire jump. After the skip run up the left staircase. Now you can jump from in between the second part of the staircase and the third part, up to the top closer to the door, but if you jump right in front of the railing there is a chance that your jump will get clipped and you'll fall down and have to do the skip again. If you try to prevent this by jumping earlier you'll probably have to grab the ledge to make it (probably slower than going around). You can also jump way earlier and land on the railing and then jump again from there, but landing on the railing can be hard (this is the fastest method).
-After skipping the cutscene with vincent move a little bit towards the exit before talking to him. This will make it so the camera is turned towards the exit after the conversation.
-For the vampire before the archives throw two holy waters then move a bit away from the wall and shoot a charged orb. Usually the holy waters will be enough to kill him, but use the orb just in case.
-After getting the garden maze key, when you return to the hallway kill the glass knight on your way to the next door, if you do it right he should die right in front of the door before you get there.This enemy has a high chance of dropping a large red jewel, pick it up if you get it then go through the door.
-For the first of the two bosses the current best strat is to charge an orb and release it when the health bar of the boss is done filling, then right after hold R and throw one holy water then do a back jump and throw 2-3 more holy waters and hopefully he dies. The start of the fight is RNG based. This strat works best if he goes to your left at the start. If he goes to the right it can still work. Sometimes he just jumps to the ceiling right away, in this case don't throw any holy water. A general tip for the entire fight is to jump and shoot a charged orb if you think he's going to jump to the ceiling, as this can knock him out of the air, instead of you having to wait for him to come down. You can find a harder, but less RNG dependant strat for this boss in this video:
-For the second boss read this from the description of the video: The second boss is easier. At the start tap left and throw a holy water (if you throw the holy water too early it will take red jewels without actually use the holy water). Afterwards jump over her while holding left. You need to land a little bit away from her so that she starts crawling. If your position after jumping over her is correct she will crawl counter clockwise (it's possible to do if she crawls clockwise to, but you'll usually be to close to her if she does that). After landing turn up-right and throw the second holy water, and turn counter clockwise while throwing and throw the other holy waters approximately at each diagonal. This part requires some practise, but is not hard once you get used to it. Even if you completely miss with one holy water it's still possible, with a little luck with how the holy waters hit, to kill her before she turns into mist. It's even possible to kill her with only 3 holy waters if you're really lucky. Killing her with 3 happens very rarely, but 4 is almost as common as 5.
-A general tip for the second boss is that if she mists she will spawn 5 bats before being vulnerable again, so get close to the wall and hold R so that you auto target the bats as they spawn. When they spawn shoot an uncharged orb at each of them and be ready to hit the boss again after the fifth bat.
Underground Waterway: -For the boss skip here you need to jump around the trigger and grab the ledge on the other side. I like to jump from right before the vertical black line on the "bridge" as you can see in this video: You need to jump at a good angle so that you don't have to curve the jump to much to reach the other side. Curving the jump will make the distance you have to jump shorter, but it will also reduce the length of you jump. Try to curve as little as possible, and do it at the end of the jump. Optimally you want a straigth jump at the right angle as this will get you closer to the waterfall switch. A good way to do this is to position yourself right, and then hold up-left on the controll stick and jump as late as possible, then if necessary switch to holding straight up near the end of the jump to curve it. I don't have a specific spot where I possition myself for this, I just try to start at a spot that will make me run of the bridge at the black line if I hold up-left.
-If you trigger the boss fight make sure you kill the two blue lizard men before going over to the switch as often at least one of them will not follow you there and you'll have to go back to kill him. The red guy will always run straight to the switch.
-When you get to the tiny "bridges" at the end of the level, for the first two start with a jump onto the middle of the bridge and from there do another jump to the other side, this way those two shouldn't be a problem. The last one is harder since it's longer and you have to go in a straight line (instead of jumping onto it at an angle, like you do with the other two).
-For the waterfall skip look at the wall and you'll se a black line near the ground. Hold straight up so that you will hit the wall at about where the black line starts, then when you reach the black line do a full jump into the waterfall and keep holding straight. Let the waterfall push you until you reach the edge of the ground under the waterfall, then do another full jump while holding up-left. If you did it right you should land on the other side without having to grab the ledge.
Castle Center: -For the first fight, against 3 vampires, there will always be a bat girl vampire (mist vampire without the misting). Focus on killing that vampire first, since if she spawns bats they'll attract your orbs. At the start of the fight she'll move over to the left of the door, around the corner, throw a holy water towards her.
-When going through the gate after the fight go to the left side of it before you press c-right. This is particularily important for this gate, but Carrie walks to a certain position before open a door which is different for different doors, so try to learn where she will open the door from for every door in the run and try to put yourself in that position before pressing c-right. That way you will have less time where Carrie is automatically walking to the side before opening a door, which can save quite a few seconds if you do it for every door in the run.
-When you get to the staircase in the room after the elevator room, do two full jumps up the staircase and then turn around and do another full jump in the other direction over the fence at the top of the staircase. The first time you come here you'll probably want the red jewel in the suit of armor, so turn around to the left to get closer to it, while if you come here and you're not going to get the jewel then turn around to the right to get closer to the door. When getting the red jewel try to grab it from slightly left of straight in front of the suit of armor, and then do a sidewards jump to the left to the door.
-When going through the lizard room on the way up jump along the right side of the lockers, but not to close to them as you might grab onto the lockers. Keep going until you reach the corner oposite to the door, and from there head to the door. If any lizards are still alive use holy water on them to quickly kill them.
-For the next fight with two vampires, at the start of the fight move slightly right then turn forwards again and throw a holy water. It should aim on the vampire that is right in front of you when you enter the room and hopefully the other one will run into the holy water as well.
-For the glitch to get to the other side of the nitro room, you have two options. The gate clip is a lot easier and no risk, but slightly slower. For the gate clip get onto the ledge in front of the gate and hold up-left and slide into the corner. If you clip then change to holding straight down to make sure you clip out on the right side and then either jump or wiggle your way of the ledge to make sure you don't clip back through. For the other glitch watch this video: When getting onto the crates you want to have high horizontal speed and reach the corner at the top of your jump. Once on top of the crates walk over to the left side of the window like square and hold up-right then jump when you reach the right side of the square.
-When carrying the nitro through the obstacle course if you want to take the shortcut at the start, switch to action view when you load the room, then when your walking on the tiny ledge along the wall switch it back to normal view. When you reach the shortcut run across the gap at a slight angle and then over to the right onto the main part of the walkway.
-For the cog skip you need to get the right angle and then just run into the cog until it reaches the right point. The angle should be somewhat to the left of straight into the corner made up by the cog and the wall.
-When you get back to the starting area of the level and you're going to the bull room to place the nitro, the motorskelly can kill you easily, so throw a charged orb on the right of the pillar and then run around on the left side of the pillar. The orb will make the motorskelly unable to turn.
-When fighting the two vampires in the mandragora room run slightly forward and throw a holy water on the first vampire, then throw a charged orb at the second vampire and charge up another which you kill her with. You don't want to kill the second vampire with holy water since it will lag and the text while you're picking up the mandragora will pause the death animation so the lag lasts during the text.
-When fighting the two vampire in the room before the nitro wall on your way back down, throw a holy water right away then jump away from the door to get a better overview.
-When going through the lizard room on your way down, jump almost all the way to the first locker on the left side (which is the right side when you're coming up), then turn around and jump to the corner and then turn around once again and go through the room, the lizards should all be gone.
-After the lizard room full jump two times towards the staircase and you should just barely get over the fence, then backwards jump down the staircase (easy) and sidewards jump left down the other staircase (hard).
-Again, when fighting the three vampires on the bottom floor kill the bat girl first.
-For the bull fight jump over to the left side of the bull near the back legs and throw two holy waters, then I do 7 jumps towards the entrance then one towards the left of the screen. The bull should then miss the head butt and you should stand a bit away from him on his right. After the head butt he will lower his head agian, right as he starts lowering his head run closer to the back legs and spam 4 holy waters and hopefully his back legs will blow up. Otherwise try to snipe him with holy water by cutting him of while he's running and if that fails too then wait until the next time he stops. When his legs blow up spam holy waters until his head melts (should be 3 holy waters), Turn around and enter first person view to reduce lag, and when he becomes vulnerable again throw another two holy waters and lag reduce again (his body should melt while you're turned away). Finally finish him off with two more holy waters and jump towards the door.
-For the final boss, jump around her while throwing charged orbs, and after she does her three, 1 at a time orange orbs, crouch right next to her and keep throwing charged orbs until she's done.
-When in the elevator jump when about half of Carrie is behind the wall, then after the loading zone, wait a little bit, then jump up to the ledge.
Tower of Science: -The first part of this level is very RNG based, however there are some thing you can do to make it safer. At the start wait until the first box comes out, then jump across and then on the second box spawn if you went past the first quickly you can just keep going, otherwise wait until the second box comes out. For any of the electric lines either wait until it reaches it's lowest point and jump over it, or wait until it pretends to shoot (it'll light up and then not shoot), then just jump, since it won't shoot again for a little while after that. Once you start going for really fast times, you can go for tap jumps or z-slide air jumps under the electric lines when they are high up, and grab the ledge on the other side. The tap jump works for either 3/4 or all and z-slide works for 2/4 or 3/4, the tap jumps are a little bit faster.
-If you land right in front of the elevator run onto it instead of jumping onto it.
-Before entering the room with the first key, you can usually kill the turret right outside with a charged orb, which should reduce lag a tiny bit and prevent it from shooting you later. Before entering the long hallway on the way to the second key there is a turret right outside the door which you can kill with a holy water to make the death jump easier.
-After getting the second key do a back jump to the door and if you do it right you should turn around really fast and can exit right away.
-For the death jump, as soon as you come out of the door look at the right of the screen. If the turret on the right side of the screen is still visible when you're completely through the door it will turn towards you and you should do the safe way where you go over to the glass box thing and do a more straight jump across and grab the ledge. If it isn't visible then the turret will turn the other way (clockwise) and then it's safe enough to go for the no ledge strat, where you jump to the platform the turret is on and then continue from there which saves quite a few seconds. You can still get trolled by the turret on the wall, but it doesn't happen that often. I think Cosmo said he always sees the turret, if that's the case you can see which way it turns and proceed acordingly.
-When climbing up the small platforms there is one platform that is notorious for Carrie not grabbing the ledge. To prevent that be far away from the wall and jump really late. Even if you fail to grab the ledge you should be saved by the invisible ledge below.
Tower of Sorcery: -When you start going upwards there are three floating platforms in a row. When jumping off the first of these you sometimes get stuck in the air or fall straight down, either way you die. To reduce the chance of this happening try to jump off the platform on the outside of one of the corners closest to the next platform (as opposed to jumping off right in front of the next platform).
-When jumping off the last of those platforms jump a bit diagonally left to get closer to where you want to go after you climb up. Make sure you don't jump too far left though as you won't grab the ledge if you do so.
-When climbing up the flat stone platforms, from the third last one a tap jump will make it to the last, and then you'll be able to jump again faster from the second last (which is the jump where you grab the ledge and climb to the top).
-When you get to the area with a lot of disappearing platforms jump onto the first platform on the right. From here you want to go really fast, there will be one platform in front of you to the left and one right in front of you ont the right side. When the left one has almost disappeared you want to jump towards where the right one should be, it should appear again while you're in the air. Climb onto it and then jump over to the left one and then back to the last one on the right. From where the save point is there are four disappearing platforms in front of eachother. You want to land on the last one right as it's appearing which is why you need to be fast on the earlier part, so that you can make it and have time to time it right. If you land on the fourth right before it appears you can from there jump down to the yellow area and then immediately jump onto the first platform towards the switch. Climb up fast and quickly jump to the next. If you land on the fourth platform before the yellow area too late you won't have enough time to make the cycle and the first platform on the way to the switch will disappear while you're still on it (if you go for it, so don't).
-For the flat floating platforms near the end, practice jumping up them while only turning the camera while you're climbing up a ledge. Jump onto the first one on the right side, climb up and then you should run left and jump (you won't be able to see the platform you're aiming for). When you grab the next platform climb up while turning the camera. From there try to aim at the right side of the platforms where you have to grab the ledge in order to get a good camera for the next one. Once you get to the top either use c-up to turn the camera toward the last two platforms or make sure the enemy is between you and the platforms then press R.
Room of Clocks: -For Actrise use the strat in this video: It works the same in both LoD and CV64. From the video description: At the start of the fight run away form Actrise to stop her from putting up her crystal shield (the important thing is that you're not too close to her and that you're not going towards her, going in a circle around her is fine). Shoot her once from a distance, after she get's hit she will always put up her shield so find one of the small crystals and either jump and shoot above it to hit her or break the crystal first then hit her. Right after she get's hit run away again to stop the shield. Repeat until she's dead. If her shield consists of only large crystal just break one, hit her and run away again.
Clock Tower: -In the first room you can only start climbing on one side, but get over to the other right away by going across the spinning cylinder. When going across it either run all the way or jump, then run a bit to build up speed (a couple of steps or so), then jump again and repeat. You do this because the spinning stops you completely when you land so you can't just keep jumping. I think the latter is faster, but I'm not sure.
-When you get across, if you were fast enough up there you can jump onto the elevating platform while it's at the top, which allows you to get to the next platform without grabing the ledge.
-After you get the first key, there is a trick you can do, but it's pretty hard and saves maybe 5 second at the most. From the cog right after the key you turn around and jump off it perfectly so that you hit the cog that goes up to the door, as high up as possible. If you did it right you will stick to the side of the cog and ride it up to the door. If you fail you will go through the cog and fall down a bit. On the cog that you jump from there is a shadow on the wall. I try (when I do this, I usually don't) to jump right as I pass the edge of that shadow.
-In the second room, after you get the key, jump from where the key is, over to the door. This jump looks pretty hard, but it's not that bad with practice. Also the dragon hanging from the roof above the key has 1 hp so any attack will kill it. I like to kill it with and uncharged orb as I jump into that alcove.
-When you enter the third room hold down left and spam A, and you'll do a side jump straight down to the key. Remember that you can influence your jump in the air, so if it looks like you won't make it try to hold the control stick towards the platform. You don't enter the room the same way every time so the side jump might be sligthly different from time to time.
-The final jump from the two cogs to the door can be made without grabbing the ledge if you jump from the first cog at just the right time. It's pretty precise, but just make sure you pay attention and attempt it when you get here since there's no reason not to go for it.
-When climbing the stairs up to Dracula jump up one of the sides. Jumping up the middle will often make you stops in the air as if hitting an invisible wall. Jumping on the side prevents this. Though make sure you go back to the center when you reach the door since you open those doors from the middle. However for the final door before Dracula you open it on the side so don't go back to the center for that one.
Castle Keep: -The first Dracula is pretty straight forward, just make sure you jump when shooting orbs since they need to hit straight in his head to do damage. After he's dead hold down left while skipping the cutscenes and jump when you regain control. This jump is really scary because you can't see the stairs below you, but just make sure you jump down left and if necessary switch to straight left during the jump and you should be fine. After the cutscene on the bottom staircase, again hold down left and jump. This one isn't as scary since you can see what's below you.
-For the second Dracula, if your close enough to where he teleports you can get a double hit in. You need to hit this one in the head as well so to get the double hit, jump while shooting the first orb and shoot it as early as possible (he's invulnerable for a short period after teleporting), then charge another as much as you can (if you did a perfect first hit you should be able to charge completely), and shoot it while standing on the ground a little bit away from him. That will make the orb go in a straight line diagonally upwards to his head. If he does one of his special attacks you have much more time to get a second hit in, you can see if he does the ring attack, because he will stretch his arms out to the side. If he does make sure to crouch to avoid the first ring.
-Also for the second Dracula you can use the right and left speakers (using a headset is an advantage) to hear what direction he is teleporting to.
-(NB: Green orb strat, very hard (maybe not fully possible) with orange) For the final boss hold up right and jump at the start of the fight (while charging an orb). He should do his fire attack and you should land to the right of him. Shoot the orb right as you land and charge another. Shoot that one right as he finishes his fire attack. He should do the attack where he drags his hands along the ground next, so jump into the center right under him, then keep charging orbs and shooting them. He will start his explosion and shock wave attack, but don't panic. If you get him below half health before he makes the explosion he will do the attack where he spawns dragons instead which is what he always does once he reaches half health. The attack looks exactly the same as the regular explosion and shock wave attack, however the dragon version won't hit you if you stand perfectly in the center or if you jump right as the shock waves come out. Even if it does hit you it does very little damage and only knocks you over rather than sending you flying. After he has done this attack he will do the explosion and shock wave attack again (since you're still in the center), but if you keep charging and shooting orbs (especially if you didn't get hit by the dragon spawning attack) you should be able to kill him before he can execute the attack again.
