You'll start in a wide-open area in typical Castlevania fashion before entering the fray through a drawbridge. A large gate will come crashing through the ground, splitting the area in two. You can go between areas (behind and in front) by using the gates, but you'll have to work around the bone-throwing skeletons and bats. You'll then reach an area where you'll have to swing over gaps using the floating hooks. Next you'll make your way into an abandoned farm house where you'll be attacked by viper swarms, Mr. Heds and Medusa Heads. After some tricky jumps over rotating platforms, you'll descend down to face the boss.

The long graveyard is pretty straightforward but nonetheless difficult, as zombie hands, plant men, critters and regular zombies pop up from everywhere. You'll exit near the marshland, where ravens and mad frogs will make your life hell. After climbing over two unsteady bridges, with ill-timed enemy attacks, you'll face the oddly-placed boss. The stage then continues, as you'll enter a dabune, the tide changing. Here you'll have to watch out for attacks by grabbing hands, batmen, bone pillars and bats. You'll also have to watch out for spikes hidden in the water. After two sections of this watery ride, the stage will thus end, bringing you to the next level.

You start off in this long, dreary cave. Jumping from round-tipped platforms is the first challenge. The enemies encountered here are stone men, bats and bone pillars. You'll also have to watch out for rocks falling from the ceiling. You'll then enter an area surrounding a waterfall, where a long climb up will be deterred by balls of destruction and thornweed. You'll have to make some timely jumps; doing so will lead you to the ruins. Fishmen will try to stop you initially, while bone pillars and skeletons bug you while you make swinging jumps soon after. But then you have to make your way through one last vertical shaft, guarded by sword-wielding skeletons and a couple of ravens. The water level will start rising, signaling that the boss is on his way.

First, there are two instances where you'll have to make lightning-quick jumps over the green rotating platforms. Next is a lone room with a hook floating in the middle. You'll have to latch onto it immediately, because the room itself will start rotating. After rotating 180 degrees, a swarm of Medusa Heads will attack; latching back on, the room will rotate again. When complete, bricks will appear, forming an exit. The next part puts you in a wheelbarrow-like room. You'll have to walk over falling platforms as skeletons break through the background itself. Finally, you get to the end: A room where you'll have to make your way through passages while platforms revolve around the stage. After making it by some crushing spikes, you'll face some bone pillars and the boss itself.

This stage doesn't have a boss, as it's merely an entrance into Castlevania. The first part of the stage is guarded by bone pillars, eagles carrying hunchbacks, and batmen. There's nothing terribly hard about it. The next part of the stage is guarded by a bevy of whip- and sword-wielding skeletons. You'll then make your way up a giant staircase guarded by a lone bat. If you look around once up there, you'll notice statues in the background that look like Sypha. Congratulations, though: You've made it to Dracula's castle.

It's another remake of the first stage of the original Castlevania. The first part is guarded by leopards, Cruelas, bats and axe knights. When you proceed up the stairs, you'll have to jump to the other side of the room by leaping on the four gigantic chandeliers. Next is a long corridor guarded by axe knights, sirens, glowing spirits, bats and finely dressed zombies. The next two areas are similar, and you'll be attacked by anything and everything--snapper caskets, sword-wielding skeletons, charging tables and dancing zombies. When you come to an area where there are caskets floating around in a circle, the boss is not far off.

The main hall is guarded by axe knights and knights with long spears--and they'll reach through the ceiling to get you. Next comes a downward vertical shaft guarded by magic books and winged guards. It's safe to take suicide leaps to speed by this area. In the storage area, you'll encounter pictures that grab and hold you while bats attack, ghosts that travel underneath the rugs while trying to lift you into the spikes lining the narrow passages, and statues that crumble when you approach them. You'll also have to make some difficult jumps over moving book-like platforms while watching out for blood skeletons that are placed atop the regular platforms. After fighting some more axe knights, the boss will come alive.

You'll have to watch out for the green acid dripping from the ceilings and the acidic pits. Spiders, ghostly eyeballs, thornweed, hanging skeletons and skeledragons await. Next is a downward vertical shaft guarded by more viper swarms, winged guards and grabbing skeletons. The bottom holds another corridor where you'll have to maneuver around more crushing spikes and spike platforms, crouch-walking to avoid spike-tipped bars stabbing at you from the low ceiling. The final challenge is jumping over blocks that teleport in and out (similar to those blocks in Mega Man) while avoiding the spears that fall from the ceiling. If you have good handwork, and a little luck, the boss is waiting right there.

To show how rich Dracula is, everything on this stage is made of gold. Bats will attack early as you jump on top of treasure chests. Some floors break when you walk over them, but they don't damage you. Next you'll have to swing over a sea of gold while fighting skeledragons. Then you'll enter an area where you'll have to jump over gaps using platforms--made from gold pieces--that disintegrate as you walk on them. This leads to an area guarded by some sword-wielding skeletons and snapper caskets. Magnetic fields in the backgrounds will pull you in and keep you stationary while other enemies attack; they can be avoided, but you'll want one of them to pull you in, since it leads to a secret area. The boss is just beyond.

This classic stage will see you jump from pistons, gears and other clock parts as you try to ascend to its top. Medusa Heads will attack early on, but not often. You'll then swing over a conveyor belt guarded by an ill-timed sword skeleton. Soon after, you'll start climbing vertical shafts with more skeletons, axe knights and malfunctioning gears that bounce your way. You'll trek across two areas where you'll have to hook onto conveyor belts that travel upward--this while dealing with a skeledragon and an axe knight respectively; one hit can can knock you loose from your grip. The top of the tower and the boss rest after a small onslaught of blood and sword-wielding skeletons.

After taking out some Dhurons, you'll travel over a collapsing bridge while being chased by at least a dozen bats. Entering into a tower, you'll have to traverse upward using floating, breakaway stairways as a spiked gear at the bottom starts to pull itself upward to give chase--you must hurry if you want to outrun it. Midway up, you'll have to jump up using platforms that are moving upward at a 45-degree angle while trying not to hit spikes lining the bottom of some platforms. Dhurons, rock monsters and bone-throwing skeletons will try to impede your progress. If you slow down for too long, the spiked gear will catch up and kill you in one shot. If you're lucky enough to make it out, you'll face three bosses before making it to the Count himself.