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The Castle Maps

Castle Map	The Abyss

"Julius Mode"

The most interesting development in Dawn of Sorrow is the discovery of "Julius Mode," which will be unlocked after receiving the second-worst ending (see below) or better. After the credits roll and your progress is saved, on the title screen will have appeared "Julius Mode." When you select the option, you'll be able to establish a new file that can then be selected and played by backing out and selecting "Game Start." It's in "Julius Mode" where you'll take control of Julius Belmont, who plays almost identically to how you'll remember from his special appearance in Aria of Sorrow. "Julius Mode" is a fantasy scenario where Julius Belmont must honor his promise to destroy Soma Cruz, who has apparently given in and succumbed to the chaotic forces within.

Though, this isn't just your typical "pointlessly run about the castle as the unlockable guy" mission; this mode has to it a Dracula's Curse-like ally system that allows Julius to meet with and utilize the services of Yoko Belnades and Alucard (known until then as Genya Arikado). After defeating the Flying Armor, Julius will locate Yoko in the same place where in Soma's mission she opened shop; thereafter, the duo will together locate Alucard after entering into the Demon Guest House. The trio of allies will then go about their mission to hunt down Soma Cruz, the new Dark Lord.

You'll notice, also, that the heroes aren't exactly afforded the free reign to which secret characters have become accustomed; all three are controlled in their own ways (mostly by the castle design, which doesn't feature many wide-open spaces). Also in contrast to past secret modes: The three heroes can gain levels by the unseen RPG system that governs them, and during the adventure, their collectively shared level will increase in a natural process. They share, also, the same energy and magic meters. Because they're therein controlled and have no inventory, there are some things to remember:

To reach the Abyss and thus Soma Cruz, you'll have to utilize the three characters' special abilities and find which works best in certain scenarios: Which character can easily tackle this boss? Which one is equipped enough to counter its attacks? Which can navigate and maneuver around this particular obstacle? They all present the player respective advantages that should be considered. Since you can only control one hero at a time, you'll have to push the "X" button to switch to an ally, which works only in the following order: Julius, Yoko, Arikado, Julius, etc. There's during a switch a virtual time-out so that you can't be ambushed, so don't be discouraged that you can't get from Julius to Arikado in one shot. The heroes have the following abilities (minus "Start," which for all characters simply pauses the game; "Select" does nothing):

• You took too long: A simple potion.
• You took seven-eight minutes: Nunchakus.
• You took six-seven minutes: A Terror Bear.
• You took five-six minutes: Death's Robe.
• You took under five minutes: RPG
• You hurried but already had an item listed above: A simple potion.

There have in recent titles been different endings depending on the conditions surrounding your battle with certain boss creatures, and this trend continues--there are three possible endings for Soma Cruz in Dawn of Sorrow. The first ending, considered "bad," is received if you simply defeat the Dracula-like Dario in the Pinnacle. The second ending, surprisingly, has attached no boss battle; rather, the true test is your memory of earlier events and how through this process you bypass a normally game-ending storyline sequence. The best possible ending is based purely on your bypassing of this sequence, where thereafter you'll track down in the Abyss the game's ultimate evil.

• Bad Ending: Under normal circumstances, defeat during the second such encounter Dario Bossi.
• Good Ending: During the second Dario battle, use the Paranoia soul to enter the throne room's large mirror; from there, defeat the real boss, Aguni. A storyline sequence will play and the game will continue. Before in the Garden of Madness initiating the next storyline sequence wherein Celia Cruz "murders" Mina Hakuba, make sure the special talisman (Mina's Talisman, which was given to you on her behalf by Genya Arikado) is not equipped.
• Best Ending: After Aguni's defeat and before in the Garden of Madness initiating the storyline sequence wherein Celia Cruz "murders" Mina Hakuba, make sure you do have equipped the special talisman; the storyline will thus be allowed to continue past that point. Thereafter, head to the Abyss and finish off the Menace, whose defeat will earn you the game's best ending.

• Hippogryph (Ability): The Hippogryph soul can be attained in the Abyss, in the sandy areas traveled through early on. In a particular room, there's a large pool of quicksand at a vertical room's bottom. Let Soma sink to the bottom of this pool and he'll fall into a secret room where a candle essence will award him the Hippogryph soul that affords him the obligatory super jump, which can be pulled off by pushing "L" while airborne.
• Mud Demon (Ability): In the same sandy area is a recurring minor enemy called the "Mud Demon." Pick one and defeat it again and again until it relinquishes its Mud Demon soul power, which allows Soma to walk on the surface of quicksand-filled pools.
• Procell (Ability): You'll find this foe in the Subterranean Hell, wherein it'll appear on the surface of water. Earn its soul and you'll be able to increase Soma's mobility within water.
• Hellfire (Bullet): Only by playing through and clearing the "Hard Mode" can the Hellfire soul be attained. After clearing the mode, the credits will roll and all progress will be saved. Thereafter, simply select to play in your "Hard Mode" file and the now-present Hellfire will be usable as a Bullet Soul.

Primal Entry

When you early on purchase Castle Map 1 from Hammer's shop, you'll see marked on the map some unexplored terrain that seems completely inaccessible. You'll find one potential entry point to it in the Subterranean Hell, in a water-filled room with a spike-lined floor and a giant divider in the room's center. You'll notice two vacant spots on either side, which seems like an invite to use your Puppet Master soul; however, you won't be able to throw it far enough to clear the distance. You can change this by equipping as an Enchanted Soul the Ape Skeleton, which will allow you to toss farther the place-switching puppet. Additionally (as Mister Mattias tells us), you can use the Bone Ark soul to procure transportation over the spikes and under the low-hanging divider.

Posing for Prizes

Konami always likes to nod toward the earlier games in its fine series, thus Dawn of Sorrow features a throwback to the NES' own Castlevania, which had a procedure of treasure-collecting I termed "posing for prizes." Castle-wide, you can in certain rooms uncover treasure by placing Soma in certain postures:

• The Crown: In one of the isolated rooms in the Demon Guest House, place Soma in a chair.
• The Bell: In the Dark Chapel's bell tower, somehow with force shoot Soma up into the leftmost bell. Out of it will fall the "bell" collectible.
• Konami Man: In the Cursed Clock Tower, in a room laden with spikes and occupied by a Slime and Tanjelly, look for a square platform whose sides and bottom are spike-lined. In bat form, fly to its spikeless top and on there crouch. A miniature Konami Man will fly in--stand up to capture it.

Note that these treasures, which remain in Soma's inventory, can only be collected for fun and nostalgia purposes, and they have no influence on the mission itself. The description for each reads: "5000 points."

The Ring of Chaos

Perhaps the most difficult item to attain is the Chaos Ring, which can only be found after Soma collects all possible souls. When this considerable challenge has been met, Soma will find in the icy area of the Abyss the Chaos Ring, which when equipped will work to quickly replenish Soma Cruz' drained magic meter. (Contributed by Mister Mattias.)

The Power of the Seesaw

You'll in the Subterrenean Hell find an abandoned vertical passage populated by a seesaw whose right side is occupied by a giant boulder. If you hit the right side with a normal weapon, the boulder will rise up only meakly. Rather, you'll need a weapon that has behind it a little oomph; the Mace, Morgenstern or Mjollnjr will fit the bill. When the boulder is then tossed high into the air, it will knock loose from the above coffers Potions, High Potions or Super Potions.

Killer Jump Kick

Sent in by Mister Mattias: "This is easy: Be at a high place and use the Jump Kick straight down. As Soma's sprite changes, the power level is increased. When the sprite stops moving after a collision with an enemy, it could do, say, 600 damage. It's not all that useful as there is only one area where it can used effectively. Instead, equip the 'Medusa Head' soul and activate it while you are hovering. Release it and watch your enemy die."

Off to See the Wizard

Sent in by Mister Mattias: "There is another way to early on enter the area beneath the Wizardry Lab. If you have either the Cutall or the Cinquedia weapon, go to the Wizardry Lab and head toward its southwest-most room; once there, use either weapon's special attack to reach the other side of the room and hit the switch, which will lower the barrier. The same thing can be done in rooms with similar switches. Alucard can in 'Julius Mode' do this with his Alucard Sword (with the special attack executed by pushing 'A')."

The Death That Keeps on Giving

Sent in by SaintofAthena: "The location of this event is the Mine of Judgment. In a room before the area's final save room (as depicted above), and before facing Death, there is a candle that drops money. In the case of the usual money-holding candles, you can only enter and reenter the room to collect the money a certain amount of times before the candle's content is replaced by only hearts. This candle, however, drops only money no matter how many times you reenter the room. Better yet: If you equip the Gold Ring, which acts as a multiplier, the candle will often drop 500-gold money bags. It's easy money, really."

The Codes

Advanced Rarity

One of the overlooked functions of the DS is its ability to read GBA cartridges as sort-of expansion paks. Konami allows you to use this function to your advantage. Before turning on the system to play Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, insert into the GBA slot Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. When you start a new mission, you can look to your inventory to see already present the Rare Ring, which would have been ordinarily collected much later on in the mission. Additionally, you'll also find in your inventory a Meat Strip and Spoiled Milk. For cosmetics, also, you'll find in Yoko's magic shop a cute Mina doll that waves its arms. (Thanks in part to lifeless312.)

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