Glitches and Fun Facts
Mindless Slaughter: You might have heard stories about decapitated chickens continuing to run around well before finally succumbing. Well, Bloodlines has its own version: In the opening of the game's third stage, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, you'll find yourself under the constant assault of harpies. Two hits will do in these bird people. Though, if on the second strike you land a direct headshot (an admittedly rare feat), the harpy's head will fly off, in bloody fashion, yet it'll somehow live on to torment the hero. One additional whip or lance strike will finally end its pain. (Contributed by Negative Flipper.)
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Permanent Residence: Why just visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa when you become forever a part of it? Eric Lecarde will have such designs if he's tempted by Stage 3-3's fake breakable wall. Upon entering this area, immediately super jump upward to find the crumpled-looking wall, which for some reason can't be smashed, and jump into it, as if planting yourself. Eric will become wedged within the wall and lose his ability to move. The game will have to be reset if you hope to ever again experience Castlevania: Bloodlines. (This information was sent in by Amar Youkai.)
Genetic Coding: Apparently Bloodlines was originally going to be titled "Castlevania Chronicles." Someone who hacked his or her way through the 0.5 beta version's code discovered that the internal ROM header reads "CASTLEVANIA CHRONICLES 09." Though, no one knows what, exactly, the name is supposed to signify. It could be that Konami was thinking about making Bloodlines part of a gaiden-style sub-series. Maybe the original plan for the Genesis Castlevania was for it to be a Mega Man: The Wily Wars-style compilation of the the three NES Castlevanias. Or perhaps the header has no deep meaning and simply represents a code name that the developers randomly landed upon. It causes one to wonder if Koji Igarashi knew about this code name and found use for it seven years later when he needed an archival-sounding title to attach to his remake of the obscure Akumajou Dracula (X68000). (This informationed was sent in by LuxKiller65.)
Codes Gone Wild: Here's a case of a secret code having an obscure secondary effect. The game's "9 Lives" code (whose input method is detailed here), it turns out, comes with a quick-save feature of sorts. If, when the code is active, you soft reset the game and then press Start on the title screen, you'll be sent not to Stage 1's starting point but instead back to whichever stage block you were on when you reset! The best thing about this feature is that it allows you to use John and Eric on stage blocks they weren't meant to access! (This information was sent in by Amar Youkai.)