Bram Stoker's Dracula/Harker's Escape from the Castle

The second chapter is a bit longer. It is also notorious for the spike trap corridor, one of the major zones that can sap away lives. If you die too often or need to use a continue, it's best to restart the game rather than continue playing.

First area
Harker starts in the middle of the stage.

Van Helsing is found at the top-right corner of the level. You can head directly to him, being careful about spiders crawling back and forth.

He recommends obtaining dynamite. You may now head to the exit, or to the bottom-left corner of the map for the weapon. When travelling back, you will see the gap that you probably went past to reach Van Hellsing - jump down before the gap to avoid the spider that you previously spotted.

Dynamite is located at the bottom-left corner of the map. Aside from the initial drop, it's generally safe to approach.

Second area
Head to the right, and drop down. Destroy the two skeletons, and continue right to the dragon statue. Strike it to activate the orb, unlocking a secret pathway needed later.

Backtrack, and continue right. Stop at the pillar, as there is a spear trap corridor ahead. If you move carefully, you can squeeze yourself in the gaps between the spears. There's a total of five to pass. You can also attempt to run past them at full speed, which may hit you one or two times - worth it only if you can last until the potion pickup in the next stage.

Continue right to the checkpoint, and activate it.

If you want to use the secret path, continue right. Drop down, and keep moving left to avoid being struck by a rolling boulder (although you can jump over it if you moved too slowly.) At the second drop where the boulder starts to catch up, make a jump to find another secret room containing an extra life.

If you prefer the normal route, continue down. Watch for two remaining spears. There's three spiders ahead, kill them and exit the pit that they patrol. The rest of the route contains skeletons, although the SNES version also has a strange set of grabbing hands in addition to other spear traps.

Boss - Dragon
With the dynamite, you can throw it when the dragon is partially on-screen. The exact position changes if the dragon is approaching or retreating, but the stick will do significant damage.

If you're using the sword, you can watch it make three fire breaths in a row, and make the attacks while it takes a short pause.

Third area
Here, Dracula's daughters will instantly chase you. Move to the right, and keep going as quickly as possible.

The first ramp has three spiders.

Jump the first and second gaps.

When you approach the spider blocking the way, attack at maximum distance to avoid the spear trap. The spear trap only activates when you're directly on it, thus you should be safe to cross.

Continue right, taking the high road when possible. At worst, you might need to jump back up, or fight a few small spiders.

Boss - Dracula
The boss has a fixed action pattern:
 * 1) In his small recess, inches forward slowly.  He is vulnerable during this movement.
 * 2) Creates a shield, covering a short range within the recess.
 * 3) Steps back and extends his arms.  Within 1 second, he fires an easily jumped bullet.  (Note: The first cycle on the Genesis version fires as soon as the shield disappears.)

The dynamite is ineffective, as well as being hard to aim against him.

The best method seems to require approaching as close as possible without entering range of the shield. The corner just infront of Dracula works for the sword.