Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Playthrough with Johnny Morris, using the version of the game included on Castlevania Anniversary Collection. This is the Japanese version of Castlevania Bloodlines, and I’m playing this version specifically because I am a wimp. You see, the USA and European versions of this game are quite a bit harder that the Japanese version. They have more enemies, some enemies takes less damage from your attacks, that kind of stuff. It’s like a Streets of Rage 3 situation for a platform game.
I’ll admit I find most of the pre-SotN CV games way too hard, the NES ones in particular I’m hopelessly bad at. I think Simon’s Quest is my ultimate “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” game. I can do two of the GameBoy ones but that’s about it.
I used to have both Bloodlines and New Generation for my Mega Drive, but got rid of them. It wasn’t until I started Vampire Killer it on my Switch that I thought I might be able to do it. Whilst it’s easier than the other versions, to me this game is still hard. I really wanted to do a no death run of it as well, which is tough because there are a lot of easy ways to die in this. It’s also very light on health items, especially towards the end -you’re expected to beat Death, Elizabeth and Dracula with no chances of getting any health back.
The following parts were what I had the most trouble with. First, the Gargoyle boss fight, I can tell you I got knocked off that tower a lot. The room at 34:26 was a nightmare, my brain just could not comprehend it for quite some time, especially with those annoying af Medusa heads flying around. I kept using the item crash constantly because I wasn’t going to take any chances getting hit by one of those things at that point.
Finally, the last three bosses. Death takes a while because he makes you fight weaker versions of three of the previous bosses first. Elizabeth’s first phase is far more dangerous than her second, which is really easy in comparison. Last up is Dracula, who has three forms… well maybe three. His second form in this game might not be him -fans speculate the second form is Drolta Tzuentes, who is the one who put the game’s events into motion.
Anyway, Dracula’s final form isn’t too hard once you know what to do -if you hit him, he’ll try and hit you. He has three attack phases, the first is scythes, so just move away and crouch to avoid those. After a few hits he’ll go red and will try and use fiery blasts every time he gets hit, you’ll need to jump to avoid those. After a few more hits he goes grey and starts jumping around, releasing bones when he gets hit.
Another reason I prefer the Japanese version is that you get the full ending when playing on normal. That scene at the very end where Johnny whips the bats only appears when playing on expert difficult in the other versions.
Some of the enemies and traps were designed by contest winners -there was a contest in Mega Drive Fan magazine where fans could send in their own designs. Some enemies, like the ones seen at 27:37 and 31:48, were some of the winning designs:
segaretro.org/Castlevania:_Bloodlines/Development#Mega_Drive_Fan_contest
Playthrough with Johnny Morris, using the version of the game included on Castlevania Anniversary Collection. This is the Japanese version of Castlevania Bloodlines, and I’m playing this version specifically because I am a wimp. You see, the USA and European versions of this game are quite a bit harder that the Japanese version. They have more enemies, some enemies takes less damage from your attacks, that kind of stuff. It’s like a Streets of Rage 3 situation for a platform game.
I’ll admit I find most of the pre-SotN CV games way too hard, the NES ones in particular I’m hopelessly bad at. I think Simon’s Quest is my ultimate “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing” game. I can do two of the GameBoy ones but that’s about it.
I used to have both Bloodlines and New Generation for my Mega Drive, but got rid of them. It wasn’t until I started Vampire Killer it on my Switch that I thought I might be able to do it. Whilst it’s easier than the other versions, to me this game is still hard. I really wanted to do a no death run of it as well, which is tough because there are a lot of easy ways to die in this. It’s also very light on health items, especially towards the end -you’re expected to beat Death, Elizabeth and Dracula with no chances of getting any health back.
The following parts were what I had the most trouble with. First, the Gargoyle boss fight, I can tell you I got knocked off that tower a lot. The room at 34:26 was a nightmare, my brain just could not comprehend it for quite some time, especially with those annoying af Medusa heads flying around. I kept using the item crash constantly because I wasn’t going to take any chances getting hit by one of those things at that point.
Finally, the last three bosses. Death takes a while because he makes you fight weaker versions of three of the previous bosses first. Elizabeth’s first phase is far more dangerous than her second, which is really easy in comparison. Last up is Dracula, who has three forms… well maybe three. His second form in this game might not be him -fans speculate the second form is Drolta Tzuentes, who is the one who put the game’s events into motion.
Anyway, Dracula’s final form isn’t too hard once you know what to do -if you hit him, he’ll try and hit you. He has three attack phases, the first is scythes, so just move away and crouch to avoid those. After a few hits he’ll go red and will try and use fiery blasts every time he gets hit, you’ll need to jump to avoid those. After a few more hits he goes grey and starts jumping around, releasing bones when he gets hit.
Another reason I prefer the Japanese version is that you get the full ending when playing on normal. That scene at the very end where Johnny whips the bats only appears when playing on expert difficult in the other versions.
Some of the enemies and traps were designed by contest winners -there was a contest in Mega Drive Fan magazine where fans could send in their own designs. Some enemies, like the ones seen at 27:37 and 31:48, were some of the winning designs:
segaretro.org/Castlevania:_Bloodlines/Development#Mega_Drive_Fan_contest
