Cv1/level1

Level Details

Game	Castlevania
Level sections	Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3
Level name	1
Previous level	None
Next level	Level 2

Contents

[Show/Hide] Stage 01

Simple

Recommended to newcomers

If two or three zombies spawn clumped up together, take a damage boost.

• Jumping into the gate as shown is faster. This is because as soon as Simon touches the castle entrance, the game automatically moves him at a slower speed, so you want to jump to preserve normal speed.
• Right at the start of the castle, there could be one, two or three zombie spawning next to each other. If it's only one, you can simply jump over it and whip the one trailing a bit behind it, if there is one. If there's two or three zombies grouped up together, you might want to take a damage boost on one of them.
• Get the first whip upgrade from one of the high candles. Try to not get it from one of the low candles, especially if close to a zombie since it'll make timing your subsequent jump difficult.
  • Try to hold off on collecting the final whip upgrade, as having the short whip will make Cave Skip in level 4 easier.
• On the second wave on zombies, there will never be two zombies next to each other. Feel free to jump and whip on landing for these guys.
• Don't be afraid to start climbing the staircase to avoid taking knockback from a zombie behind it.

Stopwatch Manipulation (Optimal)

Money Bag dropping from the first Zombie, advancing the item chart.

• The optimal frame to jump into the gate is the one shown in the video, where Simon turns around for a very brief moment before going into the castle.
• Aim to get the Stopwatch off the first zombie. Break the first candle to get the whip upgrade, then jump and whip the zombie on landing. Whipping to get the Stopwatch is a 1-frame window.
  • Pay attention if there's two or more zombies at the start, as the additional zombie will also generate a Money Bag if the Stopwatch drops and it'll advance the item chart to Slot 2 (this would be the Holy Water but it gets turned into a money bag due to the Important Item Rule). This needs to be taken into consideration later for a more optimal Level 3.
• If you successfully got the stopwatch already, go through the second wave of zombies as shown in the video to make it less likely to collect additional item drops.

Jump visual cue for second wave

• Jump when Simon's front foot overlaps this spot in the background pillar.

If you don't have a Stopwatch by the second wave, use this strat:

• You should aim to get the stopwatch on these two zombies showcased. The exact timing of the whips to get the stopwatch depends on how much time has already been lost whipping previous zombies: the more time has been lost, the earlier your whip will have to be to get the stopwatch.
  • If the first zombie in this wave doesn't spawn, you should delay the whip on the second zombie by a lot.

Alternate Watch Manip Strats

• This watch manipulation is a lot more complex as the actions are different from pattern to pattern, but it can always avoid a second item drop from happening in this stage, and some people may find the timing a little less awkward on some of these patterns.
• In order, the patterns shown are the Space Zombies (one zombie, a space, one zombie), the Couple (two zombies), the Triplet (three zombies), the Triplet with heart drops, and the Solo pattern (one unusable zombie and no more trailing zombies).
  • On the Solo pattern, you will have to get the Stopwatch on the second wave. It is recommended to lose a few frames before the second wave with a stutter to help with the timing.
  • Remember that if you don't get the Stopwatch on the first wave, you will have to adjust the whip timing for second wave depending on exactly how many frames have been lost whipping these first zombies. Usually, the Space zombies will lose fewer frames and demand a later timing, while the Couple and Triplet will lose more and demand an earlier timing.

TAS Framerule

https://clips.twitch.tv/SwissPlumpAnteaterDendiFace-PgXOHhKl-4LZtjPW

• As of the date of this writing (April 27th 2021), this framerule has only been hit once in real time. To hit it, it is required to only whip a single zombie on the earliest possible frame, get the stopwatch off of it, pray that there's no zombies coming from the back of the stairs at the end, and get an optimal Stairs Grab. The chances of this happening are obviously extremely unlikely, and actively attempting this kind of strategy makes consistency greatly suffer. As such, it is not recommended to try to hit this framerule.

[Show/Hide] Stage 02

Easier Bat Boost

Recommended to newcomers

This is the pixel you need to stay at to manipulate an item drop. You can use Simon's front foot in relation to the bricks in the background as a visual cue.

• Stand on a pixel perfect location. This will force the bat to force an item as soon as it hits Simon. If no other item drops have occurred yet, this item will be a Stopwatch.
  • If you fail the Stopwatch manipulation or you get another item drop, it's recommended to not retry it and continue with the setup instead. Fall back on the backup Axe strats for stage 03 if you leave this stage without a Stopwatch.
    • If you happen to have collected a Stopwatch from stage 01 already, you should stand on a pixel left or right of this one to avoid getting another item drop. Taking the knockback is not necessary to perform the bat boost, but it will allow you to execute this pseudo-buffer strat.
• As soon as Simon lands back on his feet from the knockback, whip while still in the crouched position and start holding right. Perform the jump and the other whip stall where shown in the video to manipulate the bat's Y position and be able to boost over.

Early Boost (Stopwatch)

• The first bat will spawn on the second frame of the room. Thus, by activating the Stopwatch on the first frame of control, it's possible to delay its spawn and make the boost with the first bat. This saves ~4 seconds.
  • While the bat will spawn on the second frame of the room, its visual model will spawn on the third frame. This means that if the Stopwatch is used on the second frame, it will look like the bat is not present, while in reality it has already spawned in the top right. It's not possible to boost over using this bat spawn.
    • By holding left+up and pushing B at the start of the room, it's possible to tell early if the Stopwatch has been activated on the first or second frame. If Simon keeps facing right after the activation, it means that it was done on the first frame, while if Simon faces left, that means it was done on the second frame, making the boost impossible. Switch to right ASAP after activating the Stopwatch (in the middle of the whip animation).
• Perform the whip stalls and the jump where shown in the video to manipulate the bat's Y position in order to boost over.
  • You can jump over the big heart if you intend on resetting for a missed crit in in stage 03, otherwise feel free to take it. The jump does not help manipulate the bat's Y position so you can skip it if you want to pick up the big heart.

Optimal Early Boost (Stopwatch)

• Same principle as the other Early Boost method shown above, but the movements are slightly different so that an additional framerule may be saved. This is significantly more difficult.
• Two grounded whip stalls are made and then one on jump landing to lose a few more frames. The timing for this whip is a bit specific. Whip too early and you will break the candle, potentially getting a heart drop, and the bat will likely spawn too low. Whip too late, ad the bat will likely spawn too high.
  • This landing whip can also be replaced with a simple stutter.
• Jump immediately as soon as you drop off the block. The earlier, the lower the bat will spawn and usually the easier the boost will be.
• You can do small stutter before jumping in for the boost to make it a little easier to hit the back of the bat and boost forward. As long as the stutter is kept tiny, you will still make the framerule.
  • One side effect of doing this stutter is that it increases the chances of getting the bat to drop an item after boosting, which will advance the item chart.

Backups

Manual Bat Boost

• To be used if the standard bat boost fails.
• Walking off the ledge and going back up seems to increase the chances of getting a higher bat spawn, which makes the boost easier.
• Wait at the ledge, then as soon as you see the bat appear on screen go back a little, then jump forward.

[Show/Hide] Stage 03/Bat Boss

Simple Crit attempt + backup Stopwatch kill

Recommended to newcomers

Successful Crit, killing the bat in a single whip strike.

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• The boss pattern is dependent on how many frames have elapsed since the start of this room (so to clarify, this excludes stage 01 and stage 02). This means that by always holding right, and performing consistent actions, it's possible to always get the same pattern on the boss.
• To achieve this, got through the room taking special care to never let go of right, take the invincibility potion, and simply walk off the big ledge, taking a clunk. This will consistently lose exactly 18 frames, providing a good pattern on the boss.
• Once you're at the boss, position Simon on the middle step. Once the bat starts to move, move to the top step and wait. When the bat approaches you, there is a 1-frame window where you can whip and kill the boss in one hit. This is known as the Critical Hit Glitch
  • A general visual cue designed for people running on original console with a low display monitor (CRT or low delay LCD) in mind is depicted in this picture. This changes from person to person depending on reaction time and input delay, so experiment with your visual cue and try to create your own line a little earlier or later if you feel like it works better.
  • Some people count the number of wing flaps from the bat as a visual cue (Needs amounts).
    • If you fail the crit, there's an easy way to tell if you were late or early. If you were late, Simon will hit the boss for 2 bars of HP, and a red sparkle will appear around the bat, indicating a hit. If you were early, SImon will not hit the boss instead and it will stay at full health.
• As a backup, activate the stopwatch and kill the bat there. You need to press either up+B on the same frame, or B 1 frame after pressing up, to avoid climbing the step.
• The simplest way to grab the end-stage orb is to let it fall on Simon. You might be tempted to jump towards the orb to collect it sooner, but you risk losing time that way. Read here if you're interested in the full details.

Simple Stopwatch kill

• This is an easier alternative to the Stopwatch kill with the Crit attempt listed above. This will require 10 hearts, grab the big heart from the candle as shown in the video if you still need hearts.
• Perform the same movements to manipulate the boss to swoop down, but as soon as it gets close to Simon, instead of attempting the Crit, activate the stopwatch and fully climb the stairs. Then turn around and start whipping down the bat. Activate the Stopwatch a second time as soon as it runs out.

Advanced Crit (Optimal)

• The boss pattern is dependent on how many frames have elapsed since the start of this room (so to clarify, this excludes stage 01 and stage 02). If you never release right through this room, the only spot that has time variance is the whip cancel off the big ledge. Depending on exactly how good the whip cancel is, a different amount of frames will be lost and the boss will have a different pattern. You will have to be able to tell exactly how many frames have been lost and perform different movements to make the bat swoop down quickly. The following videos illustrate what to do on every relevant scenario. If you lose more than 3 frames (or do some other kind of mistake), just do the same movement that the 2-frame and the 3-frame videos do and patiently wait for the bat to swoop down (it will likely take a lot longer).
• Breaking the candle that contains the invincibility potion can cause some lag, so you can skip it and get away with it most of the time. But there are certain zombie patterns that will hit you if you don't get the potion, so do this at your own risk.
• By jumping from a specific spot on the platform, you can have a chance at destroying the candle that cointains the Axe. If you jump from this spot, you can use this candle as an aid in telling what kind of whip cancel you just got: if you don't destroy the candle or clunk, it means the whip landing lost you no less than 2 frames. If you do destroy the candle, you will only have to recognize between a 1-frame landing and a 0-frame landing.
  • If you do use this axe candle as a visual cue, it is recommended that you pick up the invincibility potion, as breaking the candle without being invincible has a chance of causing some lag as well, and it will make it harder to tell what kind of whip landing you just got.
    • If you want to be fully optimal, you should skip both the invincibility potion and the axe candle by jumping from as far out as possible on the platform. This also means you can jump, whip too early and get a clunk, without having the Axe drop on Simon during the clunk.
• Read here for information on how to grab the end-stage orb optimally.

3-frame pattern

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• Wait on the middle step, wait for the bat to move, then move to the top step and go for the crit.

2-frame pattern

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• Same movement as the 3-frame pattern. Wait on the middle step, wait for the bat to move, then move to the top step and go for the crit. This saves about 0.5s over the 3-frame pattern, as the boss will swoop down more quickly.

1-frame pattern

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• Wait on the top step right from the start and go for the crit. This crit is exactly same speed as the 2-frame pattern, down to the frame.

0-frame pattern (TASCrit) (Fastest!)

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

If you fail the backward jump, strike a bit later.

• This is the fastest possible kill, it saves a little over 0.4s over the 2-frame and the 1-frame patterns (26 frames at most).
• To do this setup, climb two steps of the stairs and then go immediately down. Make sure that every movement so far is buffered. At this point, wait a split second and aim to do a backward jump up the top platform. There is a 4-frame window to perform a backward jump and get a usable swoop from the boss. Immediately start going down a step (buffer this action as well) and go for the crit.
  • If you jump up to the top platform too early, the bat will swoop down too high and it won't hit Simon. If you jump too late, it will move from its original position, making the rest of the setup not work (there is a backup for this, check the Backups section below).
  • The last 2 frames of the 4-frame window on the backward jump will require you to whip 1 frame later, shifting your visual cue slightly. In other words, if you jump to the top platform later rather than sooner, you will have to whip 1 frame later.
  • If you fail to get a backward jump (you start facing right during the jump instead), you will have to whip a bit later.
  • There is no good backup if you miss the Crit, so it's recommended to only go for this if you intend on resetting after missing it.

Clunk pattern

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• Getting a clunk just provides the 0-frame pattern. Refer to the above section for instructions.

Backups

Rare Double Zombie pattern

• Rarely, two zombies will spawn at the start of the room. If this happens, take knockback from the zombie on the back, then perform a jump-clunk off the platform to get the same pattern that the Simple Stopwatch Kills and the 2-frame landing from the Advanced section get from the boss.

Late jump on TASCrit

Whip when the bat's middle crosses this line.

• If you jump too late on the top platform during a TASCrit attempt, the bat will move slightly from its original position and won't swoop down for a while. To get him to move quickly, go down two steps and then move back up one step. This will allow you to go for a Crit, and it loses about 1 second over the standard TASCrit. The crit has a similar visual cue to the 2-frame pattern.

Axe strats

• This is recommended to be used as a backup if the stopwatch manipulation failed in stage 02, though it can be used in alternative to the stopwatch kills and some people may find this more simple.
  • Keep in mind that not having the stopwatch for level 2 will make it slower and more difficult.
• The number of frames that have elapsed since the start of the room doesn't really matter with this strat.
• Make sure you have enough hearts for this kill, you can break the candle shown in the video for an extra Big Heart if you need it.
• Position Simon against the bottom platform to the right and wait. There's a breakable block that contains a Double Shot there, you can break this in advance but wait until the boss has moved down before walking in to collect it.
• As soon as you've collected the Double Shot, simply fire off Axes from safety until the boss is dead.