Zombies
I:
Regular Zombies
Basic zombies are those undead
nightmares that pop up at the most convenient times. These rotting yet reanimated
remains, whether in whole or in decapitated/amputated form, come alive with
an insatiable urge to consume living forces.
Dracula's resurrections
have a way of making the dead rise from their graves as eternal servants to
his cause. In turn, the zombies' hunger for brains will draw them to any living
entity. They're known to climb out from the ground from even solid surfaces,
and it would seem as though they come in an endless supply.
These zombie
hangmen lurk about in torture areas, dragging along their bags of goodies
while keeping out of dodge; they'll randomly pull out and throw one of three
items: Bombs that explode after a short period, blue skull heads that eventually
become a full-fledged skeletons that give chase, or, unwittingly, a pot roast
which will instead help you.
These brains
with attached curling spines have been freshly ripped out of some group of
unfortunate souls. They're conveniently bunched together in narrow tunnels
wherein they float back and forth to create an annoying obstacle upward. If
they stop moving, they'll brain-channel and blast energy out from their eyes.
Even dislodged
zombie limbs are under the influence of Dracula's curse. These creepy
claws will glide through the air and grab onto you, wherein they'll begin
draining away your precious heart-total. You'll have to shake profusely to
knock them off. Other such limbs are simply on a stalk-and-destroy mission.
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Alternate Names/Forms:
Evil Hand |
This is merely
a weaker version of the boss called "the Dancing Specters"--they're
sort of an offspring of the deadly duo. They'll carry out their number in
a pattern of levitating around an area, dancing endlessly and rebounding around
the room until destroyed. Making it tougher is that some ghost dancers can
temporarily separate, shooting off in opposite directions before coming back
together.
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Alternate
Names/Forms: Ghost Dancer |
This creepy zombie is in
charge of protecting graveyards together with its equally undead hound.
When the zombie spots a threat, it will order the canine to charge forward,
which it will continue to do until its master is destroyed. However, if
you destroy the dog first, the master will weep in sadness and then
disappear on its own.
Ghouls are
advanced forms of regular zombies. They're described as legendary evil beings
that feed on human corpses. Other than their slightly different appearance,
their method of attack mimics that of regular zombies--needless to say, they'll
rise up from the ground and give chase.
The rarely seen
king of the ghouls is a patient fellow that won't show its rotting face until
several of its underlings, the typical ghouls, have been slain. The tough-skinned
ghoul king will at that point pop out from the ground and frantically run
about for a few seconds,
smothering heroes with its long reach and speed,
before returning to its resting place in the depths.
A moldy corpse
is a former human consumed by evil after eating a cursed mushrooms; it lives
on as a hideously deformed (and very blue) humanoid with fungus growing all
over its frame. Unhappy about this undesired fate, a moldy corpse will trek
slowly through castle corridors and expel into the air, all around, a poisonous
mist.
These are decapitated horse
heads that lurk about in barns and other farmland. In that sense, you can
be sure that they'll be traveling in packs. If you manage to wake one up from
its slumber, it'll quickly, and endlessly, stalk you via the air until defeated.
This is a guillotine-victim
monster that quickly lunges itself in all directions, rebounding around the
area in an unpredictable pattern. You can never fully anticipate when it's
going to strike, since it's so quick; however, it's not much of a threat unless
it shows up in a lesser-enemy-populated area.
Wights are
another of those in the class of flesh-craving madmen. Like Ghouls, they fit
well under the category of "advanced zombie," too--the strongest
of their kind, in fact, extremely loyal to the force that awakened them. As
such, they'll pop up unexpectedly from the ground and march toward you in
search of a dinner of fresh brains.
What if some
zombies can't get out of their graves? No problem--they'll just reach through
the ground and try to pull you under. While some can hurt you just by grabbing
at you, others are able to hold onto you, making you prone to other lesser
enemies in the surrounding environment.
The lesser
Clinking Men were drunken thieves that foolishly entered into Castlevania
to reap its rewards. Now undead, they roam about with a craving for flesh.
When they sense a living presence, they dive forward to try to obtain it as
a would-be dinner. The most greedy of this type are the advanced Zombie Thieves;
when these muddled beings get near, they'll attempt to dive onto you and steal
your possessions instead.
II:
Advanced Forms
Advanced zombies have special
abilities or quirky traits that make them more dangerous than just the regular
undead selection. In simple terms: These zombies will always put up a fight
rather than just aimlessly stalking you.
Eastern Church
soldiers that invaded the castle met an unforunate fate. They now serve as
an advanced form of castle servant--bloody zombies. A bloody zombie will march
over a given area and quickly swing its short blade when the hero character
comes within its range.
This is a heavily armed
zombie bearing a sturdy shield. Most frequently, it will block any and all
attacks by guarding with its impenetrable shield; and when the opportunity
arises, it will counterattack by swiping its sword. There are two ways to
inflict damage: You can catch it by surprise with a from-below dive, or
you can strike it from behind.
As its name suggests, this
is a zombie pirate that was killed and thus cursed by its own greed. The
intimidating pirate holds its cutlass sword overhead while stalking about;
when an opportunity opens, it will lift its leg and then furiously chop
down an adversary with a hard-to-dodge sword dash; otherwise, it will surprise
the hero with a short hop and an equally damaging swipe.
Previously
burned at the stake, they become reanimated, and the flames are then their
eternal essence in their now-zombie form. They attack by emitting smaller
balls of fire onto the ground, where they trek along until hitting a wall.
Others simply patrol and area, leaving behind many smaller residual flames
that blaze for long periods of time before extinguishing.
These extremely-slow-moving
but tough zombies try to overwhelm you with sheer numbers. When struck enough
times, their ribcages will rip apart, and their top halves will separate themselves
and float through the air while the lower limbs continue to march forward.
This is a malevolent, artificial
life form that was created by a demonic scholar. The homunculus is kept
in stasis and retained in liquid--in this case the watery depths of a castle--using
a tube. It will unexpectedly spring to life and flail away, moving as far
as its tube will allow. Though, after stretching it as far as it will go,
homunculus will break free of the tube, at which point its flailing becomes
more of an overwhelming concern.
These are distinctly
different from your average zombies--they're heaps
of a formaldehyde-like gel that morph into typical zombie forms. When they
take on this human-like appearance, the slothful foes will begin their death
march. While most are destroyed easily, others can absorb the damage from
lower-level whip forms and reform elsewhere.
It took a lot
of force to destroy these large monsters, as it will to take down their undead
remains. These poisonous zombies crawl slowly, dragging along what's left
of their spinal column. After a short while, a Melty Zombie will spit out
glob that will morph into an additional Melty Zombie; they can do this again
and again, if you let them, to create a small army of their kind.
While this
lesser class of mummy isn't quite on the level of a typical boss mummy, they're
elite amongst most other minor enemies. A great number of mummy men share
with the boss brethren the the waving shard attack; others simply utilize
a quick dash, which catches heroes off guard; others still can (due to their
elasticity) elongate their arms for a long-reaching attack. You can always
expect to run into large groups of mummies in the encompassing graveyards
and torturous death chambers.
Dracula must
have a warehouse full of these ghastly eyeballs, 'cause they never stop coming.
Rolling eyes will pop out of crevices, ceilings, pits, etc. in continuous
streams without letup. Their most deadly property is that they explode when
struck, which can leave large gaps in weak surfaces; this attack's prominence
is magnified when many rolling eyes are in the vicinity.
These are no
doubt the victims of Vlad Tepes Dracula's paranoid rampages. Impaled zombies
bounce around on the weapon of their death, in pogo-like fashion, searching
for their brains. They can't harm you while you're on the ground, but they
can make things messy while you're fighting the airborne lesser enemies with
which they're sometimes paired.
Zeldos seem to be Dracula's
attempt at cloning his buddy, Death--a poor man's Reaper, perhaps. These hooded
druids, while slow, are experts with boomerang-like sickles. They'll throw
a sizably thick sickle high or low, and it'll return in the opposite range.
Because of their sloth in executing this attack, you can often telegraph as
to which level they'll be releasing the sickle.
These amazingly annoying maids are
rare habitants of the castle keep. They'll wait patiently for you to draw
near before evading your attack by flipping backwards--they're invincible
during this time; during some flips, they'll throw a barrage of daggers in
five different directions. If damaged without being killed, they'll turn vicious
and start hovering in the air; while airborne, they'll generate blue flames
from their hands and throw them toward the ground, each of which will break
into four smaller fireballs that will home in on you.
These are
the commanding lieutenants that led their brigades into the castle, the
place of their humiliating defeat. These now tough-skinned zombies patrol
the castle with their deadly machetes. Officers will extend their weapons
long distances while marching forward in an attempt to corner you.
As if the
Eastern Church's raid didn't teach them anything, the military tried years
later to storm the castle. They met the same fate. The remains of these
lower-class soldiers now march around the castle with their combat knives
extended outward; if you remain at a distance, they'll whip out grenades
and loop them toward you.
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