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Top 5 hardest Castlevania Death battles
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If there’s one thing you can expect from a game that pits you against hordes of the undead, it’s grotesque and challenging boss fights. The Castlevania series is notorious for this, as well as its recycled monster roster, none of which is as iconic as the Grim Reaper himself. Death is encountered in every game and continuously makes your life difficult. Whether it be the tiny heat-seeking sickles or the ever growing scythe of doom, Death never runs out of ways to beat you down. So what better way to acknowledge this aggravating, evil floating pile o’ bones than to point out the most memorable ways he’s acquired your very soul?
Honorable Mention: Symphony of the Night (Saturn, PSX)
What’s he do?
Death makes his appearance in a cave beset by complete darkness, not a tower. His first form involves floating around sending his infamous flying sickles at your throat. Additional attacks include dual-energy balls and a skull attack that’s nearly impossible to dodge. Other than that, the fight is actually pretty self-explanatory. Granted, he does have a second, weird skull demon form but you can pretty much sneeze and kill it.
Why’d he make the list?
The reason why is mainly because of his first phase and old-school play factor. The unavoidable skull attack is a pain and his little sickles flying around can make it difficult to dodge other incoming attacks. Also remember that SOTN was the first Castlevania game to embrace the Metroidvania style of play. Back then experiencing the bosses was a much different endeavor than it is in games of the present. Granted, by the time you reach Death in SOTN you’ll be more than powerful enough to send him back to the abyss.
5) Order of Ecclesia (Nintendo DS)
What’s he do?
Greeting you from the lovely clock tower, Death gets aggressive on the balcony with quite a view of the moon to set the mood. For some reason this version of Death is enamored with scythes of all sizes. Remember the little scythes from SOTN? They’re here of course, along with enormous horse-shoe ones. You can dodge them with some practice; but whatever you do just don’t let them touch you. To make matters even more enticing, every once and a while Death decides to shoot a bazillion tiny scythes out of his dilapidated hands. He’ll also do the occasional melee whack but his worst move (and not in a good way) is a wheel of skull fireballs that expand outward at an accelerated rate. Can you avoid it? Sure, but more than likely you’ll be in the corner screaming and pleading like a Japanese kid in a Pokemon shop, just not quite as happy.
Why’d he make the list?
This Death is much tougher than SOTN’s could ever hope to be. His fireballs and scythe cannons really make it difficult to bounce back, especially if you have no way to heal yourself. It’ll take a lot of practice before you grasp the patterns, but once you do this battle is winnable.
4) Portrait of Ruin (Nintendo DS).jpg)
What’s he do?
You’ll find death in the clocktower, again. Oh, and guess what he uses. That’s right, the little spinney scythes are back and more annoying than ever. However, Death in this game has actually been revamped. It looks as though he’s taken a visit to the gym a few times and with that comes a bundle of surprises. New to his repertoire, Death has constructed a chain-wall for his ravenous scythe to bounce off of. Not only must you avoid the vicious strikes of a scythe gone off the deep-end, but the mini piss-off scythes are also hitting you at the same time. Someone also made the call to give Death two forms he can switch into at anytime all whilst beating on you with melee attacks from hell. His normal blue form is susceptible to magic abilities while the white form is weak to physical attacks. Oh, and if you get him to the lower threshold of health Death busts out chains that latch onto one of your characters which renders them helpless. If your partner doesn’t free you within a short amount of time, well, prepare to be torn asunder.
Why’d he make the list?
Two-words: Chain and Scythe. The ability to continuously bounce off of an ever moving wall makes it very tough to get a handle on things. Switching forms isn’t so much of a big deal, but the big damage this Death doles out has serious repercussions on the psyche.
3) Dawn of Sorrow (Nintendo DS).jpg)
What’s he do?
Pulling a fast-one on the community, Death emerges from… underground? Yes, well he also contains some of the flashiest moves of all his brethren including an instant kill. His first form or phase is a series of melee attacks and circular bursts of tiny scythes. It doesn’t accomplish much, until he creates clones of himself which all fire vertical lightning to ruin your day. But once you venture past that, Death gets serious and changes into his red lightning outfit. Here is where you get to experience the insta-gib move and relentless melee attacks. Death sometimes vanishes and then materializes in a blink of an eye which is when he hits you for considerable amounts. He also throws his scythe which creates further resentment. During this time he’ll sometimes fire off four shots of some blue material that will leave you a little perplexed. It’s then when four giant multi-eyed skulls appear on the sides of your screen and chomp you into bits. Very cool looking, and very dangerous.
Why'd he make the list?
It’s a tough fight. Death’s double forms really mix up the moves and can make for a confusing time. He makes the battle aggravating with his constant stealth attacks and his insta-kill move is not as easy to dodge as Portrait of Ruin’s. Like anything, it can be overcome by practice and a little memorization, but it still doesn’t make the fight easy.
2) Super Castlevania IV (SNES)
What’s he do?
Death comes quick and it comes often. Such is the case of Super Castlevania IV’s Death, who also resides in a tower. He may not possess a diverse move-set, but really he doesn’t need one. For some reason this version of Death possesses vacuum power coupled with very, very angry scythes. Constantly he’ll attempt to pull you into him as he flings his scythe, which makes its way around to behead any chance of completing the game. But during all this, Death floats above you propelling lightning fast mini-scythes toward your location occasionally dipping down to try and hook you. It looks easy, it’s not.
Why’d he make the list?
Each hit from lovely Death takes a chunk of life away, meaning you are extremely limited in mistakes. Like anything, learn the patterns and timing or suffer a horrific death. His vacuum spinning scythe combo requires exact timing and the mini-scythes don’t help matters. Simply put, this boss is freakin’ hard.
1) Castlevania (NES)
What’s he do?
Just floats around shooting the little scythes and sometimes runs into you. If only life were so easy right? He’s in a tower too.
Why’d he make the list?
Keeping it simple for the classic era, Konami endowed Death with power so compelling it actually made people shut off their consoles. Each hit does catastrophic damage and brings tears to the eyes. This version of death represents the difficulty curve of the old-generation.
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