Ultimate Castlevania version 1.1 - December 2017 by KHEFZ

This patch intends to offer the definitive version of Castlevania for the NES.
In its 30-year anniversary, my favorite game of my favorite franchise 
really deserved an upgrade that, unlike most hacks available in the web, 
didn't change completely its original aesthetics and essence.

THE GRAPHICS: it aims to stay as close as possible to the 
original concepts, but with a better presentation. That's because, despite 
its great atmosphere, Castlevania is known for its somewhat clunky/dirty 
graphics, specially when compared to its sequels. Thus, lots of graphical 
upgrades and clean-ups were made, including enemy, item and boss sprites. 
All backgrounds were also touched up to make the castle looks nice, 
dark and architecturally consistent.

THE SKINS: The patches offer 3 possible skins for 
Simon Belmont for you to choose. Check out the Skins Guide 
file included in this folder to see the options.

THE GAMEPLAY: everything was a little rebalanced. 
Overall, the idea is to make the difficulty progression 
a little more gradual, and to make the gameplay even 
more strategic and thoughtful than it already was.

* You start with zero hearts, so you keep the short whip 
for a little longer, and you should really learn to survive with it.

* Big Hearts now are worth 3 units, and they're more rare, 
so you'll have to really use you Subweapons toughtfully.

* Candle placement was completely changed. 
There are much less of them (and their position 
is now more coherent, no more weird floating candelabras).

* Subweapons were replaced to really help you. 
With a few exceptions, you'll always find the perfect 
weapon for each situation... somewhere.

* To make up for all this nerfing, now all enemy attacks
deals 1 less point of damage than normal. This practically turns 
Block 1 into a tutorial, but also makes the last 3 Blocks 
a little more forgiving. You'll notice that the bosses now 
put up some fun fights, instead of butchering you instantly.
(So, if you use the Holy Water Trick against them, you're lame)

CRAZY MODE: The same as above, but all enemy attacks
deal 3 more points of damage than in the original game.
If you're an experienced Castlevania player and wants 
a good challenge, patch it up with the Crazy Mode patch file 
and the skin of your preference. And good luck.
(It's ok to use the Water Trick here cuz the bosses are TOUGH.)

EXTRA STUFF: I've designed a digital new version of the 
original american instruction manual. It's included in this folder.

This patch is meant to be applied in the american Castlevania ROM 
with an IPS patcher program. Personally I recommend Lunar IPS.

To get the best possible visuals, I recommend the newest JNES 
emulator with the "Accurate" palette selected.

Huge thanks to Dan for his tool Stake. 
YYCHR helped a lot too, thanks to whoever created it.

Hope you like it!

- KHEFZ