After parting with Maxim, the gigantic Talos will come alive and chase you until you enter into the castle via the drawbridge. You'll find yourself in those halls of legend, the curtained windows and textures as prominent as ever. The rest of the area, which, like most others, is maze-like, and it branches into several other areas; all but the castle's first vertical passage will be inaccessible at this point.

Stage Track: Successor of Fate

Area Boss: None

Zombie | Bat | Skeleton | Armor Knight | Peeping Eye

The main halls' only accessible entry leads here, the daunting stone and marble galleries. Not far into the area, you'll have your first encounter with Death before moving on and facing your first boss. Your next challenge will be finding the correct path to travel; the whole area is a maze of stairways, stone walls and attic-like structures, and you'll find only one exit point carved into one of lower levels of one of the area's larger rooms. Even considering the boss, the strongest enemy you'll run into here is a Victory Armor, a foe that guards a power-up and an inaccessible path.

Stage Track: Offense and Defense
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Giant Bat

Bat | Skeleton | Bone Soldier | Armor Knight | Medusa Head | Fleaman | Victory Armor

The Room of Illusion is a virtual extension of the Marble Corridor. As such, it's another one of those famed "connector areas," which serve only to branch into another area. You'll find nothing here early on except for its encompassing backgrounds, but when you learn your sliding move, you'll be able to pass through this area and find the game's first transporter room. Since this is an extension of the previous area, it shares some of the same enemies.

Stage Track: Offense and Defense

Area Boss: None

Lizard Man | Medusa Head | Zombie

From the Marble Corridor, you'll be forced to come to this connector area. The ruins of the castle have indeed been intentionally neglected, so you can expect narrow passages, unreachable platforms, damaged structures and enemies stuffed all in between. Most of the unreachable platforms house power-ups that you can come back to get later--but for now, the goal is to zip past this area and get to the one it branches into. Trying to stop you from doing that will be some of the more tricky enemies.

Stage Track: Approach to Despair

Area Boss: None

Ghost | Rock Armor | Large Ghost | Bone Pillar | Bat | Lizard Man

The Wailing Way spills into this area, the burial ground and worshipping area for the castle's wicked habitants. It's here that you'll begin running into some of the more equipped enemies, most of which preside within the narrow passages of this maze. When you've found the correct path, you'll meet up with Maxim; after Maxim departs, you'll venture into the chamber of this area's boss; after defeating the boss, a switch raises a wall that'll allow you to return to the main halls. Many of the previous area's enemies also reside here, including another powerful victory armor.

Stage Track: Approach to Despair
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Living Armor

Lizard Man | Rock Armor | Bone Pillar | White Dragon | Victory Armor

Once you've escaped from the Shrine, you can return to Room of Illusion and take its transporter here. The Treasury is actually the whole center of the castle, and it contains many dark and misty chambers, including crystal mines and volcanic pools, that simply branch into other areas. In effect, this is a very large connector area. This is the easiest part of the castle to become lost within because most of its chambers strongly resemble one another. For that reason, your endurance will be tested; if you can find a save room, you can use such a safety net to your advantage and grind for levels in the adjacent rooms. The wave of high-value EXP-rewarding lesser enemies here will serve that goal well. The sealed-off chamber found in the area's heart can't be accessed until you've collected certain items.

Stage Track: To the Center of the Castle
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Maxim

Bone Soldier | Skeleton | Ghost | Peeping Eye | Skeleton Rib | Skeleton Flail | Ectoplasm | Skeleton Blaze | Zombie | Bomber Armor | White Dragon Lv3 | Feather Demon | Gate Guarder

This creepy area can be reached from the aforementioned treasury; it seems as though Dracula's skeletal forces have joined together to create their own haunt. Obviously, much of this area consists of skeleton-like structures--ribcages, most prominently--walls forged using human skulls, bone bushels, and backgrounds containing more of the same. All of the lesser enemies here, though not too advanced, are borne out of its surroundings.

Stage Track: Skeleton Den
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Skull Knight

Skeleton | Bone Soldier | Bone Pillar | Big Skeleton | Skeleton Flail | Skeleton Spider | Flying Bone | Skeleton Spear | Red Skeleton | Skeleton Rib | Bone Thrower | Skeleton Ape

Early on, the top floor of the castle can be accessed only through the treasury. The bottom portion of this area consists of long vertical passages--two of which feature elevators for easy travel that can be used when you can jump high enough to reach them--forcing you into a game of platform-jumping. Later on, you'll be able to enter the top of this area, the dreaded castle keep, via that all-too-familiar staircase.

Stage Track: To the Center of the Castle
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Bosses: Minotaur

Skeleton Blaze | Ectoplasm | Skeleton Spear | Big Skeleton | Bone Thrower | Disc Armor

The Luminous Cavern is very reminiscent of the usual underground caverns of games' past. The supernaturally carved passageways will test your skills thusfar, as you'll be unable to speed past the enemies that clog up each. After you dispense of the boss here, you'll have to retreat to the area's first downward vertical chamber in order to find the castle's only other transporter. To get there, you must fend off axe armor, man-eaters, witches, bomber armor and others that are more than comfortable within the narrow caves.

Stage Track: Luminous Caverns
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Golem

Axe Armor | Bat | Siren | Man-Eater | Ghost | Slime | Tiny Slime | Bone Pillar | Ectoplasm | Skeleton Ape | Scarecrow | Bone Thrower | Witch | Bomber Armor

The Cavern's transporter leads here, one of the castle's rightmost towers, and it's hardly suppressed by the intimidating clouds circling its top. There isn't much room to move around its passageways, so you'll forced into difficult situations against more of those "tricky" enemies. There are three exits out of this area, only two of which you'll want to explore before entering the second castle; after entering that castle, you can return here for another meeting with Maxim.

Stage Track: Chapel of Dissonance
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Devil

Balloon | Big Balloon | Flying Bone | White Dragon | Bone Archer | Ruler Sword Lv3

The topmost exit of the Walkway leads to the maze-like halls that connect into the chapel. The narrow halls wrap around and around, all vertically, until you come to the chapel itself. (Think of the archer room in the chapel from Symphony reversed.) After finding some power-ups, you'll want to battle the boss to retrieve the night goggles and then retreat back to the Sky Walkway, since you can't yet open the locked door within this area. On the way up, you'll face bone pillars, flying bones, bone throwers, and other pesky platform-protecting baddies.

Stage Track: Chapel of Dissonance

Area Boss: None

Fleaman | Flying Bone | Bone Pillar | Bone Archer | Bone Thrower

From the Walkway, you can reach here using the night goggles. This underground waterway isn't too large, but it's crowded with hordes of sizeable fishmen and mermen. If you can manage to plow your way through the onslaught, you'll find a save room, which, as usual, will signal a boss' presence. After defeating the boss, you can move forward and enter into the Clock Tower from a different location than the one you could reach using the Walkway. Besides the fishmen and mermen, you'll run into into a few smaller enemies, and you'll run into the second-toughest foe here--the guardian boomerang armor.

Stage Track: Aqueduct of Dragons
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Giant Merman

Fishman | Merman | Slime | Tiny Slime | Bat | Boomerang Armor

The Clock Tower is the last area you'll explore in the transient castle, and you can get here from the previous area and the Sky Walkway. The tower is its usual collection of long vertical chambers filled with gears, cylinders, spokes and the whole works. Since all roads lead here, expect the most powerful enemies you've faced thusfar. The last such chamber of the tower will lead to another encounter with Death, in a room where you'll find the first inter-castle portal. If you want to stop along the way to the far east, you'll find a unique room where you can race a giant boulder around a metal track for a prize.

Stage Track: Clock Tower Casualty
Boss Track: Last Battle

Area Boss: Max Slimer

Harpy | Gold Medusa Head | Fleaman | Bone Pillar | White Dragon | Big Skeleton | Disc Armor | Arabaki | Feather Demon | Guardian Armor | Specter | Ruler Sword Lv2