Vampire Killer/Stages 1 - 3

Stage 0
Like in other versions of Simon’s first quest to defeat Dracula, the game begins on the grounds outside the Dark Lord’s Castle. There’s nothing much to do here other than whip the five braziers along the path; you’ll get a total of twelve Hearts from the first four and a Morningstar Whip from the last one. As you walk along, you’ll also notice the lack of smooth scrolling between screens like in NES Castlevania; as mentioned in the walkthrough Introduction, this will become important to the game’s structure in the coming areas. From screen C1, you can head into Dracula’s Castle and the start of Stage 1.

Stage 1
Stage 1 is moderately small, as far as Vampire Killer’s Stages go. Even then, there are still several screens you can explore, with a decent number of items to collect. The Stage’s Silver Key is located on screen C2, inside the right side of the central pillar. Many of the Silver Keys in the game are found by breaking blocks with your weapon(s); the same can also be said of many hidden Chests and Merchants.
 * Silver Key
 * A route through Stage 1, from the starting point of A2:
 * 1) Left to D2. Right away, you can use Vampire Killer’s Stage mechanic of specific screens wrapping around horizontally to your advantage. Going left here instead of right allows you to skip having to fight your way through continually respawning hordes of Zombies, which begin spawning on screen A2 if you linger there for more than a couple of seconds. Once you’re in D2, stay on the lowest floor and keep walking to the left.
 * 2) Left to C2. Grab the Silver Key here from its location as mentioned earlier: in the right side of the wall in the middle of the room.
 * 3) Right to D2. Go back to D2 and head up the stairs here, grabbing the Big Heart from the right-side candle on your way.
 * 4) Up to D1. Be mindful of the Black Panther on the platform above; there are a couple of ways you can deal with them, either by luring them off to the left or defeating them once they jump down to the right to attack you. Once the Panther’s no longer a threat, you can jump on the block to your right, and from there, jump leftward up to the base of the stairs to the exit door. Assuming you have the Silver Key, you can head on through to Stage 2! If you accidentally broke the block on the floor in the right-side corner of D1 while fighting the Panther, you can head left to screen C1 and take the stairs from there up to the platform. If you end up doing this, be mindful that the Black Panther will respawn in front of you.

Stage 2
In comparison to Stage 1, Stage 2 is tiny, one of the smallest in the entire game. A1 and B1 are pretty much entirely bonus screens and don’t give forward progress or contain items that will be necessary for Stages 2 or 3, so it’s best to avoid going up there at all (remember that your inventory is wiped after every Boss). Stage 2’s Silver Key can be found on screen B3, in the floor block on the bottom right. You can get down to the lower ledge by jumping diagonally downwards from the left side of the platform in the middle of the screen, being mindful of Cyan Mermen jumping up to hit you.
 * Silver Key
 * A route through Stage 2, from the starting point of A2:
 * 1) Down to A3. Dodge the Bats that spawn on A2 and head down the stairs to A3. Like in NES Castlevania, the lower area of this Stage contains a pit of water with Mermen leaping out to attack you. As you climb down, be mindful of the Cyan Mermen that jump out of the water and attempt to knock you off the platform. The block in the left corner contains an Axe weapon, which you can take in place of the Morningstar if you want to.
 * 2) Right to B3. Jump across and down to the lower platform to obtain the Silver Key, still mindful of the Mermen attempting to ruin your day. Once you have the Key, head for the stairs leading upwards.
 * 3) Up to B2. Once on B2, the exit door’s already in sight. Before you leave the Stage, however, break the wall blocks at ground level on this screen while fending off the Bats that continually spawn on this screen. The hole should go two blocks deep, and you’ll find two Chests; these contain Speed Boots and an Hourglass, in the order that you’ll pick them up. The Hourglass is especially useful for the first Boss at the end of Stage 3. Once you’ve gotten these items, fight off the respawning Bats, and head up the stairs and through the exit door!

Stage 3
Stage 3 is three-quarters the size of Stage 1 and can be completed extremely quickly if you know where to go. There's not much going on in this Stage: no new enemies are introduced, and there's only a couple of items you can easily obtain. The Silver Key for Stage 3 is located on screen C1, in the right side of the pillar at ground level. To reach it you’ll have to walk left from screen D1, and the quickest and least dangerous way to get to D1 is to head left from the starting screen, A1.
 * Silver Key
 * A route through Stage 3, from the starting point of A1:
 * 1) Left to D1. In A1, you start on a raised platform. Head directly left, grab the Gold Key, and jump off the platform to the floor below. Defeat any Zombies that spawn in front of you as you continue heading leftward.
 * 2) Left to C1. Once in C1, collect the Silver Key from the right side of the wall and head back to the right. If you picked up the Gold Key in D1, you can open the Chest here in C1 to obtain an Invulnerability Ring.
 * 3) Right to D1. Keep heading back to the right. If you picked up the Invulnerability Ring in C1, you should be able to walk straight through pretty much any Zombies that spawn in front of you.
 * 4) Right to A1. Upon returning to A1 with the Silver Key in your inventory, head down the stairs in the floor to the next screen. You can also use a Gold Key to open the Chest on the middle platform of A1, which will reward you with a Shield B. If you haven’t already read the Items page, Shield B blocks nearly all the different projectiles in the game (the only exception being Axe Knight axes), which makes it a valuable asset while fighting the fireball-spitting first Boss.
 * 5) Down to A2. Head down the stairs and through the Stage exit door. Instead of taking you directly to Stage 4 though, you’ll find yourself facing off against the Vampire Bat Boss, the first of the six Bosses in the game.

Boss 1: Vampire Bat

 * See the Bosses page for more detailed info.

The Vampire Bat is a simple Boss. It’ll fly to a point on the screen, shoot a fireball at Simon, and then swoop towards him. After swooping, the Bat will return to the top of the screen and repeat the cycle.

The most effective way to defeat this Boss is to dodge its fireball, wait for it to swoop in close, and then use your Hourglass from Stage 2 to freeze the Vampire Bat directly in front of Simon. This will allow you to get in several hits with your weapon, be it a Morningstar Whip or Axe, before the Hourglass freeze runs out. If you’re good, you can do this cycle a couple of times to finish the entire fight.