~B
Richter Time-Trial FAQ
June 16, 2000
WonderLlama (WonderLlama_@hotmail.com)
Updates
July 5, 2000 - This is the first version.
Contents
1) What is this FAQ about?
2) Techniques to practice
3) Routes
4) Step by step walkthrough
5) Copyright notice
=======================What is this FAQ about?=========================
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a very fun game. But most
players have to admit, playing as Alucard isn't very hard. After
playing this game far too many times, I looked for ways to make the
game more challenging. My first try was to limit Alucard; I did things
like not getting the Cube of Zoe, not using spells, and only using
fists. While lots of fun, (I highly recommend it) it doesn't make for
a very interesting FAQ.
Another challenge I came up with was to beat the game as fast as
possible with Richter. This means you don't have time to gather all
the life max ups, and you don't have time to save the game. There is
also the challenge of coming up with the fastest route and the fastest
ways to beat each monster. Plus there's the thrill of knowing that
every second counts, and every mistake will count against you.
This FAQ is dedicated solely to beating the game quickly with
Richter. I will not discuss Alucard, nor other aspects of Richter.
There are plenty of other FAQ's for such purposes. My personal record
is 12 minutes, 40 seconds. The way I calculate my time is to actually
save in the save point before Shaft, and then proceed to beat him.
This always takes me 40 seconds (this part is easy, and I timed it
several times with a watch). I then look at the time in my save game
and add 40 seconds. I actually lose about 10 seconds by saving here,
and I never get hit by Shaft (he takes one Hydro Storm), so my best
time really should be about 12:30.
If you can beat my time, or even find other routes that produce
fairly fast times, I would love to hear about it, especially the
methods you use to get fast times.
=======================================================================
=======================Techniques to Practice==========================
Sliding/Slide-Jumping:
By ducking and pressing jump, Richter slides across the floor.
Press jump again and he does a long, low jump kick. These moves are
very important, because they are the fastest means of travel Richter
has. You should practice sliding in several areas to get used to the
distance. Also practice the timing to get him to do several slides
back to back. Practice executing the slide-jump as well. It is useful
because it does twice as much damage as the slide, and if you slide
into and enemy and don't kill it, it knocks you back. You should use
this move to kill the wargs at the beginning, as it is much faster than
stopping to whip them. You can also slide jump to land on door ledges,
which saves a little time, but be careful. If you touch the ledge, you
will get stuck in place for a little while. Practice the distance you
need to land on the ledge.
Flying:
Press down, up, jump to do an uppercut. If you hold up/forward
during this move, you go much farther to the side. Press up, do a
5/8ths circle to down/forward, and push attack to do a blade dash.
Practice both these moves until you can do them nearly every time.
Personally, I find it much easier to uppercut by jumping and then doing
it in the air; this also gets to just the right height to land on many
ledges. Practice using the uppercut to get to the ceiling, and then
blade dashing across the room, using another uppercut if you drop too
low. I can't get this technique to work every time, but I save a lot
of time when it works.
Blade Dash:
If you can't kill an enemy quickly, it may be better to just
blade dash through him and keep going. I'm terrible at blade dashing
on the ground, but it's a good technique to learn.
Running:
Dashing is usually faster, but on uneven ground or in areas with
many weak monsters, running is better. Forward, Forward is the
traditional method, but I find Back, Forward works, and is more
reliable.
Fall recovery:
Anytime you fall too far, Richter will crouch to the ground.
This costs you time. The moment you hit the ground, you should either
jump again, or slide. Either one stops you from crouching, just decide
which is more useful in each situation.
=======================================================================
===============================Routes==================================
Since Richter doesn't need to collect items, there are several
routes he can take through the game. I have a favorite route, which I
believe is the fastest. I won't list any other routes unless someone
else convinces me there's a faster one.
The first choice you have is right after the room with Death in
Alucard's game. Instead of going along Alucard's route, uppercut up to
the top of the room and head right through the room with Cthullu. This
path leads to the clock tower. From there, head right to the outer
wall, then straight up to the top. Head left across the top of every
room and enter the reverse castle. Retrace your steps back to the
clock tower. You're done.
=======================================================================
=============================Walkthrough===============================
This walkthrough covers the entire game in nearly move by move
detail. It may be boring to read the entire thing through. If so,
maybe you should just skim to the section you're working on. This is
just the way I play to get my best time. If you can improve on it, let
me know.
Throughout this walkthrough, you will hydro storm a few times,
and collect some hearts. The number of hearts you get is somewhat
random. However, you tend to have enough hearts to hydro storm every
time I tell you to (5 times) and then one more. Use this to bail
yourself out if you get in serious trouble, but remember you only get
one.
Immediately jump up and right, and do two uppercuts while
holding right. Get the life max up and fall. Try to land right in
front of the warg while whipping him. Then slide into the next room.
You will slide all the way across this room, slide-jumping the
wargs. Slide, slide, jump, slide, slide, jump, slide, jump, slide,
jump. The last warg isn't as far away as the rest, that's why you only
slide once. At the end, the timing of the last jump is very difficult,
it should land you on the ledge by the stairs.
The next room is about the same. Slide, jump, slide, slide,
jump, slide jump. Do the same thing to land on the ledge.
In death's room, run then jump. At the peak of the jump,
uppercut to the left to land on the ledge. Get the heart max up
(you'll need it for hydro storms). Do a running jump off the ledge,
then uppercut to the left, but not as hard to the left as you can. You
should jump right through the hole in the floor. Go left.
Run and jump to the left. At the top of the jump, uppercut to
the right to get the life max up. Then run and jump as far as you can
from the ledge, and uppercut to the right. You can make it to the top
ledge in one jump, but it isn't easy. Proceed to the next room.
The second candle in this room has a holy water. Get it, you'll
need it and hydro-storm. Slide across the room until you see Cthullu
(about 4 slides). Pause for just a moment, and he'll jump towards you,
then immediately slide under him. If he hits you once, you probably
won't be able to get past him, so just kill him. Use two uppercuts to
get to the next floor.
This room has ghosts popping out from nowhere. Run through most
of the room avoiding the ghosts. Slide whenever there's enough room.
When you get to the skelerangs, jump and uppercut as straight up as you
can. Land on the top ledge. Slide to the right, but stop in front of
the plate lord. Whip him to death. Exit to the right.
Slide through the table. At all the jumps in this room, you
want to uppercut, then blade dash so you don't fall back down. You can
even clear a few enemies by blade dashing. At the top, whip the two
skeletons, then slide to the next room.
Jump, then uppercut up to the next screen. Blade dash at the
top of your jump so that you land at the top of the stairs. This jump
is hard to time because of the screen changing.
Slide across the clock tower, ignoring the flea men. At the end
of the room, slide jump. If you time it right you can land in the next
room. Run across the big clock, then slide through the next room with
flea men the same way.
There are 4 diplocephaluses and 2 stone roses in the next room.
You want to slide up to each of them and whip them. I recommend
watching the arches at the top to judge the timing. Count the number
of arches between enemies. Slide-jump to land right in front of the
door.
In the outer wall, repeatedly uppercut, aiming for the small
hole in the ceiling. Break the vase, it has a life max up, which you
probably need. Keep running for most of the way up the wall, that way
you will jump high enough. There are a variety of weak enemies along
the way; try to whip each one while you are in the air, as that way you
don't stop running. Once you reach the top of the elevator, uppercut
past the door, ignore the sword lord, head right and up.
At the top of the outer wall, you pass a save point. While
you're learning, I recommend you stop here and save, but later, it
won't be worth the time. Then head left.
Go across the top of the first room. In the big room, uppercut
and blade dash across the top of the room to land on the top ledge.
There is a room at the top right with a lot of life max ups. You can
get them if you need them, but they take a while, so I don't.
You are now in the medusa head area. Run and jump across to the
door on the left. Then uppercut up and left through the next room to
land in the doorway. Just ignore the enemies. In the next room, slide
to the left. You will land on a gear. Slide left off the gear, then
drop down through the rest of the platforms. Try to land just to the
left of the spikes at the bottom, but if you hit them, it's ok. Get
through the door on the left as fast as you can before it's blocked by
medusa heads.
Run through an uninteresting room.
You are now in a room with sword lords that turn into vandal
swords. Whenever you kill a sword lord, you'll probably need to wait
to kill the vandal sword too. As soon as you can, uppercut up.
There's a sword lord atop a platform. It's better if you can jump over
him and blade dash, but it's easier to just kill him. Jump over one
pit, then fall in the second. Head left and kill the next two sword
lords. Run left and uppercut onto the ledge.
The boss is easy. Just hydro storm once. Get the energy and go
left.
Don't step on the elevator. Just jump and uppercut left to the
ledge (takes one uppercut). Head left. You're now in the last room in
the castle. Uppercut twice across the gap, then slide all the way
across the floor and enter the reverse castle.
Uppercut left. Run across this floor jumping over the little
obstacles. When you fall, jump immediately left, and then uppercut 2
or 3 times to the middle door.
Run, jump and uppercut to the left door (Takes one uppercut).
This is the bomb knight room. Do not get hit by a bomb. They
do way too much damage. Kill the first knight, then uppercut through
the hole in the ceiling. Kill the nights across the top. The fastest
way past the chandeliers is to blade dash though them, but it's much
safer to walk across the top.
The next room is uninteresting, but you need to slide to recover
from falls several times.
The medusa room is tough. Uppercut up and to the left, but
leave a little space between you and the wall or you'll get stuck on
the left. But don't stay too far right or you'll get stuck above the
door. In the next room, slide and drop to the bottom left as best you
can. I usually use my extra hydro storm here. In the third room, you
can just run across the floor.
Uppercut and blade dash through the big room to the door at the
left. Head left through the small room.
You are now at the outer wall. I don't remember the exact
layout of this room, but you generally uppercut upwards, blade dash
through stone skulls (or slide under) and whip jack o' bones. There is
one jack o' bones that you kill with an uppercut to the floor beneath
him. When a jack o bones is above you on a ledge you have to uppercut
to, try to uppercut through the cross he throws as that will give you
the maximum time to kill him before he fires again. Head through the
hole in the ceiling, continue uppercut-jumping through the next room,
and land at the vase on the left which has a life max up, which you
desperately need. If you haven't used your extra hydro storm, then
this room is a good place to use it.
The next room has corpseweeds and skeletons. Run, jump over the
corpseweed, then immediately jump over the square shaped obstacle.
Repeat this pattern until you cross an arch without a corpseweed. The
next one will have a skeleton. You need to whip the skeleton in each
subsequent arch before jumping across the corpseweed.
The next area has spike traps, jack o, bones, and nova
skeletons. The jack o bones will be in depressed areas with spike
traps. Throw holy water to kill these skeletons, then jump into and
out of the pit. Whip the nova skeleton when there is one. At the end
of the room, uppercut the nova skeleton through the floor before
continuing.
You're back to the clock tower, but now you have to deal with
guardians. Hydro storm as soon as you see one, and continue right to
kill the ghurka as well. Then hydro storm one more time to kill the
second guardian.
You should have at least 15 hearts left. If you don't, get more
from the two candles in the clock room. Then uppercut to the right to
land by the save point. (If you don't want to save here and have some
other means of timing yourself, uppercut right up the middle and hold
up. You will immediately use the elevator.)
Once you are out of the elevator, uppercut up the middle of the
room, slide over to the edge, uppercut to the top, and slide to Shaft's
room. When shaft touches his little sphere, hydro storm. Do it any
sooner and you'll miss with part of the storm. One hydro storm will
kill him, so, congratulations, you won. Reset back to the title screen
and see how fast you were.
=======================================================================
==============================Copyright================================
As usual, feel free to do whatever with this FAQ as long as you
don't change it, make money off it, or delete this notice. And it is,
of course, Copyright 2000 Justin Lyon.
I can be contacted with any questions at WonderLlama_@hotmail.com.
