Other Instances

 
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This would actually be the original original castle hall level of the series. The only difference between this stage and the one found in Castlevania is the structure, whereas this level is broken up into three separate screen-by-screen sections. There's also an extra chamber above the fishman room, a sign of things to come starting in Harmony. Save for that and some cosmetic difference, everything else is close to where it should be.

   
 

The game's second stage brings you through those all-too-familiar halls. The setup is almost the same as Castlevania's, with a little length added. Falling in a hole while being chased by the Raging Bull will lead you an extra underground area. Maria is being held captive in a room right by the fishmen, at the end of that underground cavern. Finally, before you exit the halls to face Lypuston, you'll be in that little room where you faced the Phantom Bat in the first game--with the power-up (big heart) right in the block under the stairs, where it was back then.

I never paid much attention to it at first, but the original stage even makes an appearance in this title. After you enter the castle, you start in that long hall--darkened and guarded by Wargs and later home to zombies--and then enter into the fishman room. The scattered platforms and stairways are gone, making for a more direct route. There fishman room has two differences: (1) You can go through the breakable wall this time, and (2) there are alternate exits in the bottom-right and in the ceiling in the upper-left portion of the room. If you take the normal route (upper-right exit), there's another long hall, which rightfully mimics the first. It's nice how they sewed it in.

               
           
         
   
     
           
           
   

The second stage of Castlevania Legends encompasses those familiar halls, looking, well, rather unfamiliar. But the curtained windows and pillars can be found stagewide. For some reason, they tied together several areas, including the long library, into one stage; it's as if they tried to remake Symphony of the Night in one broad stroke. The enemies you'll find include skull heads, bone pillars, hunchbacks, and, of course, those lovable zombies.

Though again Symphony-like, the halls are almost back to their classic look. However, this is the only game where you don't start from this location once inside the castle; instead, you'll work up to the halls--now called the "Triumph Hallway"--and enter into it from the left of the Audience Room. There's only one hall, though, and it's a bit longer and it has some ramps instead of platforms; the fishman room and the last hall are missing, too. But zombies do roam the hall along with the newcomers, the Will-o'-Wisps. Less relevant is that you can go outside to the castle entrance, as seen in Symphony, to get a power-up.

While the same idea, the halls have a little different look to them this time, most notably the high slopes and added bookcases as platforms. This is one of the only times when the halls have exits into multiple areas. In the end, the windowed curtains are all that remain from the original design. The first room is completely empty except for the silhouette of a peeping eye behind the first curtain, but your zombie friends return to inhabit the next large room. Late in the game, when you enter into the real castle, you'll find these same halls tattered and eroded--creating more the image of early games; its structure, however, remains the same as this.

What a mess. The halls have been around so long that it was only a matter of time before the neglect led to their ruin. Like in Symphony, the platforms and stairways that are usually scattered about are nowhere to be seen, no doubt lost in those ruins. And like Simon's Quest, the walls have again collapsed, leaving only a view of the forest and the castle's outer regions. Not even the curtains survived. Fortunately (I guess), the zombies still prefer to lurk here. The only difference is an opening near the ceiling that leads into a tower with a portal room. The fishman room has changed a bit, too--it's now contained fully within the castle as a fountain-well combination; and stairs finally allow you to travel over the big dividing wall up top. The second hall is in the same condition as the first--the only difference is that it acts as a boss room early on.