Super Castlevania 4 on Super Nintendo - The Bosses

Level 1 Boss: The Skeleton Knight Rowdain

As the first boss, this skeleton knight equipped with his spear should not worry you. In his first phase (half of his health points), he will be on his skeleton horse, which you must hit in the head. Watch out, the horse spits fireballs. For the second half of his life, he stands up, and if you hit him fast enough, you won't even see how he attacks. He also pitifully pretends to die while he still has one health point left... Nice try...

Level 2 Mid-boss: Medusa

Medusa, the queen of the Gorgons, isn't really a problem. In fact, she is located in the middle of the level. If you have the boomerang, use it and her health will decrease very quickly. With the whip, you need to be a bit more attentive. When a snake from her hair lunges at you, analyze its trajectory so you don't get hit, and try to kill it quickly when it touches the ground (or jump over it as it moves in a straight line toward you). She also throws a "petrification ring." Duck to avoid it.

Level 3 Boss: The 2-headed Hydra (Orphic vipers)

Once again, this boss is not very difficult. It has 2 attacks. Before launching them, the head that is about to shoot stops for a brief moment. The first attack is a kind of flame-thrower coming from the mouth with a reduced range. The other attack is a shot of 3 orbs in 3 directions (basically straight ahead and at 45° up and down). The 2 middle blocks are a rather good position to fight them, but don't hesitate to go down one level if necessary, as you can be pushed into the hole from this platform. The 3-orb shot might force you to do so. On the other hand, this position has the advantage of keeping you away from headbutts and normally from the "flame-thrower" attack.

Level 4 mid-boss: The giant skull (Puweyxil)

If you have the boomerang (the cross), use it as much as possible. Otherwise, with every whip strike on the skull, make one (or more) strike(s) in the air to break the things falling on you. Puweyxil (official name from the manual) can also throw cloud-like objects, stick out its tongue, jump towards you... Many of these things you won't even see if you throw plenty of boomerangs, in which case you'll need to whip upward effectively to avoid getting hit. If you are using the whip, try to stay at a good distance to hit it with the tip of the whip. This will give you time to back off when it sticks out its tongue. I recommend staying in the starting area. Generally, it tries to jump on you, stops for a moment on the platform above, and you can hit it while breaking the falling objects. Its health will then decrease very quickly.

Level 4 Boss: The Giant Stone Golem (Koranot)

This boss paces back and forth in the room without ever reaching the edge. When you hit him, he jumps vertically. Stay on the left side of the room. However, he cannot jump if he has just done so, so when he touches the ground again, you can hit him a few times before he starts again. Apart from touching you, he has 2 attacks that drain your health.

• The first one arrives at the same time as him: a few stones falling from the ceiling. You will need to position yourself correctly to avoid them. This attack occurs quite regularly.
• For the second one, he throws a stone at you. He aims at you, so if you are moving to the left, you won't get hit because the stone will fall behind you.

If you have the boomerang, start by giving him a whip strike. When he lands, throw the 3 boomerangs. Do the same on his next jump, and he shouldn't last long. With the whip, you have to be a bit more careful about his attacks; not getting hit at all won't be easy or might be a bit random (at least I haven't found a reliable technique). You should defeat him without much trouble by hitting him hard when his back is turned and more moderately when he moves towards you, so you can avoid his second attack in addition to the first. Be careful because Koranot decreases in size as you hit him, but in return, he gets faster and faster.

Level 6 Boss: The Dancers

These 2 dancers have a fairly simple strategy: they move towards you. To escape them, you will have to wait for them at the bottom and then go up (or vice versa). While fleeing, remember to hit them. They can throw 3 foils at you or dash horizontally to your side of the screen, one pointing their foil horizontally and the other vertically. The 3 foils can be broken with whip strikes, while the horizontal attack must be avoided. As is often the case, with boomerangs and some brute force, it goes smoothly.

Level 7 Boss: The Giant with the Axe (Lord Grakul)

This boss is surely dead too since he was in a display case when you arrived. At the beginning of the fight, Lord Grakul, as the English speakers call him, has a huge axe that he can use in 2 ways. If you are close to him, he will strike the ground (and you with it if you don't move away). This will cause 2 small flames to shoot out from either side of the impact. Watch out because these flames climb along the side walls before leaving the screen. If you are further away, he will throw his axe. If you are on the lower part, crouch down. Otherwise, jump over it towards the lower part and crouch (it stays on the edge for a long time before returning and you won't be able to dodge it just by jumping). After dealing a lot of hits to him, the axe explodes into small pieces and Lord Grakul continues the fight with a sword. With this one, he still has as much (if not more) range, so back up when he prepares. Keep hitting him until he explodes.

Level 8 Boss: Frankenstein (The Creature)

This boss needs no introduction and is inspired by Frankenstein's creature from Mary Shelley's book (or rather James Whale's film). He walks very slowly and throws all sorts of magic potions at you. I've counted 3:

• A pink one which, when it explodes on the ground, burns everything around it over a relatively large distance (climb onto a block).
• A gray one that creates another Frankenstein who is invincible for a short time and then dies in one hit.
• A green one that splits in the air into 5 small balls that fall to the ground and burn when they touch it (the hardest to avoid).

Spamming the boomerang will take care of him in an instant. Otherwise, hit him with the whip as much as you can; he's a fairly simple monster.

Level 9 Boss: The Golden Bat

For once, the boomerang won't be very useful at the beginning because this boss rarely descends lower than your maximum jump height. You'll need to strike in the air with the whip to hit it, keeping in mind that each time, 2 pieces of gold fly off from both sides of its body and can hit you. Due to technical constraints, when you strike again, the 4 gold pieces disappear to make way for 4 new ones. In short, if you strike fast enough, they won't be able to reach you. In any case, stand directly underneath and only strike vertically; if you strike diagonally, it means you are in the path of these gold pieces. At some point, it stops moving and charges at you. This isn't always possible to avoid depending on where it starts and where you are. Eventually, the large bat explodes and leaves 4 small ones in its place. Now, the boomerang becomes useful again because the small ones behave the same way as the large one when struck but fly lower. Moreover, they won't charge at you but will fire small golden orbs vertically. It's difficult not to get hit if you don't kill them with the boomerang because they are sturdy and there's a lot to dodge while attacking them.

Level A Boss: The Mummy

This mummy isn't very original since it shoots... bandages (or fireballs). The boomerang is more useful than ever. The mummy teleports from one platform to another, and if it appears in the bottom left, you can finish it off very quickly with the boomerang (see video). Otherwise, you have to hit it and avoid the bandages, which can also be destroyed, but it's not very easy because you have to aim well (depending on the distance, strike standing or crouching). And when it's close to you, you have to strike at the right moment (at a certain distance, crouching is enough). Be careful because the bandages can, of course, push you into the void. With each teleportation, the mummy can "change weapons" and start shooting flames in a much more random way than the bandages. When it appears in the middle, go to the left and strike diagonally (up-right). This position is quite safe since if you get hit, normally, you won't fall into the void. Be careful, however, not to fall on your own because Simon can move forward a bit between each whip strike. If the mummy appears on the right, you can hit it a lot or play more defensively with a held strike that will hit it and then stop a bandage (if it shoots bandages). If it shoots fireballs, try to hit it as many times as possible.

The 1st Boss of the Dungeon: Slogra

This boss isn't very difficult, but a bit annoying and repetitive. The best way is to stand against a mini pillar, crouch down and hit him. When he flies away, go towards the other pillar, then turn around and hit while crouching. Repeat until you have broken his spear. In the second part, do roughly the same, except you need to stop at the pillar, crouch and hit, then move to the other one as soon as you've hit him.

The 2nd Boss of the Dungeon: Gaibon

After a few candles to recover your strength, you are now facing Gaibon in a superb room. In the background, the moon lights up the night and this sort of blue dragon makes a crashing entrance while screaming. Despite his impressive appearance, Gaibon is surely the simplest of the 4 bosses. By staying at the bottom, you can easily control him with the whip. At first, he fires from time to time without appearing to really aim. His second attack is a bit more dangerous. He pauses briefly in the air and then plunges vertically to the ground, making the room shake. Sharp pieces of the ceiling then fall on you while he simultaneously fires a horizontal ball at you. You'll need good reflexes and perhaps a bit of luck to avoid everything. After emptying half of his health, he turns red and falls to the ground. He gets up very quickly for the second part of the fight. There, not really a problem because his attack is quite easy to avoid. He descends to a fairly low level, freezes, then fires. If you move away, the shots will pass behind you. Between each attack, quite a bit of time passes during which you can hit him, for example, with upward whip strikes delivered from the bottom of the room while jumping.

The 3rd Boss of the Dungeon: Death

After a small corridor filled with candles, you find yourself in a large room where Death appears. Death can be quite annoying, and a defensive technique can prove effective. When it is in the air going back and forth and throwing sickles, defending consists of sticking to the left platform, turning to the right and raising your arm with the whip hanging down. Obviously, you must try to hit it between two sickles when it passes over you. Not very fast, but devilishly effective. When it comes down to the right, you can hit it a lot with your whip while moving to the left when you get too close. You will have to jump over the first scythe and go under the second. Ideally, you should be facing it and stuck to the platform when it catches the second scythe, so if you don't want to get hit, don't hit it too much for the second scythe but go left quickly. Once against the platform, put your arm back in the air looking to the right and start over from the beginning. Once Death is defeated, a few platforms appear and you finally cross a corridor in which the candles light up one by one as you pass.