Castlevania (NES) [60FPS]: Stage 4 (Whip Only, No Damage)

A playthrough of the 4th stage from Castlevania (NES) using only the whip and without taking damage. Aside from Sub-weapons, Invisibility Potions and Rosaries are also avoided.
-- More info below --
Probably the hardest stage in the game to do a perfect run on, mainly due to RNG. The first part of the stage (the cave area) is really easy once you know the optimal way to get through it, but once you get back to the surface, it starts to become difficult. After walking for a little bit, you’ll run into Eagles that drop Hunchbacks. As long as you immediately take out every Hunchback when they reach the ground, you should be fine. Be careful though, because the Hunchbacks can drop items that you might pick up by accident. After surviving the onslaught of Hunchbacks, you’ll reach the first Bone Dragon. These enemies are the main reason as to why this stage is hard to do a perfect run on. They move up and down, shoot fireballs at your current position and, depending on your luck, can be either easy or hard to take down. They telegraph their fireball attack by opening their mouths, so that’s your cue to attack/dodge. Always stay as far away from the Bone Dragons as possible to the point where you are just close enough to still reach them with your whip. This will also give you enough time to react to their attacks and makes them shoot their fireballs at a more favorable angle. Beyond the door after the first Bone Dragon are two more Bone Dragons (the boss is right after the final one). For each one of these, I’ve found good places to position Simon:
- 1st Bone Dragon: In between the broken pillar and the long pillar (the pillars to the left of the green part at the top of the screen) and then slightly to the left.
- 2nd Bone Dragon: In between the two candles in front of the Bone Dragon and then slightly to the left.
- 3rd Bone Dragon: In between the two blocks right after the last candle before the Bone Dragon.
Similarly, I’ve also found good strategies to deal with their attacks:
- 1st Bone Dragon: When he’s high up in the air, it’s best to jump so his fireballs go over you. If a fireball is coming for you while you’re on the ground, you can still jump over it if you’re quick enough. You can attack him while he’s high up, but he’s at his most vulnerable when he’s low to the ground, at which point you can land multiple hits on him.
- 2nd Bone Dragon: Attack him while standing when’s he’s face to face with/higher up than Simon, but attack him while crouching when he goes lower.
- 3rd Bone Dragon: Same as the 2nd Bone Dragon.
Just follow these tips and hope you don’t take damage because of back luck (such as unlucky movement patterns from the Bone Dragons and fireballs with angles that are really hard to hit/dodge).
The boss of this stage, Frankenstein’s Monster and Igor, is one of the hardest bosses in the game, mainly because of Igor (the Hunchback). He jumps around the entire screen, shooting fireballs after every single jump. Meanwhile, Frankenstein’s Monster simply moves around (usually away from you), though he can damage you on contact. In order to beat them, you have to damage Frankenstein’s Monster, since Igor only gets momentarily stunned when you hit him. The trick is to focus on hitting Frankenstein’s Monster for most of the fight, but when Igor gets to the center of the screen, you have to use that opportunity to stun him and walk through him to safely get to the other side of the screen (if Frankenstein’s Monster is in the way, just keep stunning Igor until Frankenstein’s Monster gets out of the way again). Alternate between these two and you should be able to take him down without too much trouble.
Hope you enjoy!

[@ojama2508]

Perfect run! With whip only this game becomes simply a nightmare, i fell you ahah

[@Joki_]

Tell me about it, haha. The first three stages were a cakewalk, but the last three stages (mostly 4 and 5) took a lot of time, especially since I had to spend a lot of time to figure out how to even get through those stages without taking damage in the first place.

[@ojama2508]

@@Joki_ yeah sure, the first stages are easy also without "extra weapons" and "no hit", maybe the last two bone dragons before Frankenstein are difficult in a run with "no hit" cuz the small room to avoid the fireballs
But after that, the last two are so difficult with this challenge for the entire sections