Castlevania 3: Favourite Ally and Route?

[Jynx | 140]

Castlevania 3 on NES is such a good game, and part of it is due to the different ways you can play! Who is your favourite ally to take? (Or do you go alone!) What route do you prefer to take? How do you play Castlevania 3?

Let's also leave out arguing over the Famicom version. Import people like import things, and we understand. ^_^

My favourite route for Castlevania 3 is to keep the axe for the first four stages down the Alucard path. I keep the axe until I beat Alucard and get him to join. Then I go down to the water stage with the bone dragon boss, because it has the best song in the game. From there it's a straight path to Dracula.

A lot of people say it's the hardest route, but I've had practice with it. The axe is really good until you get the cross in the water stage. It's best to keep it for the next stage, as the fight with the mummies, cyclops and demon is impossible with the axe.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

1 minute ago, Jynx said:

Then I go down to the water stage with the bone dragon boss, because it has the best song in the game.

I absolutely love that this is your justification for going to the water stage. So many cool points for this.

I've never put any significant time into the older Castlevania games, but maybe I'll find play this some day when I get a time machine.

[Sumez | 2,949]

Alucard is cool and all, but you'd be crazy to not pick the upper path (the Sypha path) when playing CV3! 

It just has much much better stages, and most importantly avoids probably the worst cv stage ever made. It's the difference between a 7/10 game and a 9/10 game based on your route!

[Gentlegamer | 172]

Grant DaNasty

any path but the flooding levels

[Jynx | 140]

3 hours ago, Sumez said:

Alucard is cool and all, but you'd be crazy to not pick the upper path (the Sypha path) when playing CV3! 

It just has much much better stages, and most importantly avoids probably the worst cv stage ever made. It's the difference between a 7/10 game and a 9/10 game based on your route!

Maybe I'm just crazy then. Alucard makes the two stages after him much easier. The only hard parts of the water stage are during the flooding, and both sections are made easy by flying with Alucard. If you were really crazy, you'd go that route and leave Alucard behind. I beat it that way once years ago, and told myself "never again."

I also like Alucard's ending the best, so I always would rather see my favourite ending.

[guitarzombie | 924]

Sypha.  Just have to remember to get the homing spell book for the staircase near the end of the game.  Having ice and one hit kills can help a lot.

[Webhead123 | 675]

I haven't explored all the possible route combinations yet but I can say that...yeah, Sypha kicks ass and is usually the direction I go if I'm just playing casually and not trying something new for the sake of it. However, Alucard is not to be underestimated. The stages on his path aren't my favorite but he's just generally useful and fun to play.

But Sypha...

[Jynx | 140]

Even though Alucard will always be my favourite, I'll point out to Sypha fans something that they'll like! Konami has mentioned many times that it is canon that Trevor Belmont is married to Sypha, which makes her ending the canonical ending of Castlevania 3.

[Sumez | 2,949]

I love CV3, one of my absolute top NES games, and an alltime favourite as well. 

I couldn't give a crap about the story though  Konami just needed an excuse to kick Dracula butt again 

[DarkTone | 984]

Only played the game once. Picked Alucard and never used him. 

[PII | 1,885]

And don't forget you can use codes to start with any of the 3 Allies so if you are inclined you can take Sypha down the Alucard route or Alucard down the Sypha Route as well.  

Sypha is the practical pick

Alucard is the tough pick

Grant is the most fun with whom to Git Gud.

[Tanooki | 4,933]

I go between either Sypha and Alucard, both have their very obvious perks that make chunks of the game for either/both in overlap stages a real benefit.  Grant just sucks, nerfed his value horribly on the non-FC version of the game.  I still go that route at times as I like the clocktower and its music, but I'll dump him fast for one of the others.

I see no reason to do the why, it's covered on the other two already above and probably below at some point too.

Grant though, if you play the FC release he has a permanent butter knife, also his hit box and damage ratios (taking, dishing) are very much better balanced and fair not making him a stupid burden to use.  He was Konami's middle finger character to renters as companies did in the day in protest.  I find when he's as he was intended he's pretty enjoyable to use and I'd maybe pick him over one of the other two as there are advantages in that release where as he's crap in the west.

[Jynx | 140]

9 hours ago, Sumez said:

I couldn't give a crap about the story though  Konami just needed an excuse to kick Dracula butt again 

I said it for Sypha fans, but I totally agree! I never care about the story in Castlevania. I only notice in Castlevania 3 because it's unskippable before the credits. I have played the Iga-vania titles on GBA and DS so many times, and have never read the story even on a first playthrough. Circle of the Moon is non-canon, so the timeline is bad for not counting the best hunk of the series Nathan Graves.

Since I mentioned it, I'll off topic my own thread and complain about Castlevania Judgement. It's fun and underrated, but what's with the list of characters?

• No Nathan Graves
• No Soma Cruz
• No Christopher Belmont
• No Charlotte Jonathon Charlotte Jonathon Charlotte Jonathon Charlotte Jonathon
• No Richter Belmont

You CAN play as a Golem for some reason though! Why not redesign and re-introduce Christopher Belmont as something more than a Simon clone for a goofy spin-off? : (

Edited May 5, 2023 by Jynx

[rdrunner | 422]

I like Syfa and her path the best.  She's the only helper that's actually useful in combat.  The others are only good for taking shortcuts.

I do like the clock tower as well as a lot of the levels in the Alucard route (so basically most of the game lol).  The only stinker is that lower path through Dracula's castle with the falling blocks.

Also, triple-shot holy water FTW!

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,104]

I've always taken the lower route with Alucard, but I agree that the section of the castle with the falling blocks is a pain.

[fcgamer | 4,723]

Historically I've always gone the bottom route with Alucard. Although my brother and I sometimes would go up the clocktower, we'd often avoid it, as we'd feel bad later on having to ditch Grant for either Alucard or Sypha (my brother would always go the top path)

On a different note, thanks to the hard work of UglyJoe over at Famicom World, and a Game Genie, one can now live the dream! This definitely mixes things up a bit and adds a new challenge back into a great game.

Enjoy

[Gloves | 11,776]

I've never played Castlevania 3. >_>

[Sumez | 2,949]

1 hour ago, fcgamer said:

On a different note, thanks to the hard work of UglyJoe over at Famicom World, and a Game Genie, one can now live the dream! This definitely mixes things up a bit and adds a new challenge back into a great game.

Wow this is a great idea for a Game Genie code, I wish I had thought of it  

[fcgamer | 4,723]

1 hour ago, Sumez said:

Wow this is a great idea for a Game Genie code, I wish I had thought of it  

My brother and I had been dreaming about this for years, but didn't have the technical knowledge needed to create something like this. UglyJoe let's people request codes and he'll try to make them, so luckily he was able to do it for us.

Here's the entire thread, and some other fun codes too:

https://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=1402.0