Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Catacomb

Intro
The game starts out in front of the Ceremonial Room, during Dracula's resurrection by Camilla. Morris, Hugh, and Nathan attempt to stop him, but are too late. Dracula knocks the floor out from underneath Nathan and Hugh, throwing them into the Catacomb, and captures Morris for use in a restoration ritual.

After a loooooong drop, Hugh tells Nathan to stay out of his way and runs off to rescue Morris on his own.

Catacomb
From where you gain control over Nathan, drop down the pit to your left and continue down the shaft. There are skeleton bombers on most of the ledges, and while weak, their bombs can do a surprising about of damage. Avoid or whip the bombs, then kill the bombers. You may get the, which is of no use just yet. Right in front of the doorway is a candle that drops a large heart. Grab it, go into the next room, then come back and grab it again. Repeat until you have all of your hearts.

The next room is a large square with three levels, a bunch of exits, and a slew of monsters. Ignore all of that for now, and go down to the second level. On the left side of the room, still on the middle level, is a opening that will take you to the first save room. Save your game and then head back into the square room. Fight the monsters until you get the from the Bone Heads, two  from the Bats, and the Salamander card from the Skeleton Bombers (if you didn't already get one). If you go into the DSS menu, you can equip the two cards that, when activated, give you a flame whip. You should also hang around this room until you get up to level three or so, and hopefully you'll get a couple of and  along the way. Additionally, pick up the dagger from a candle on the lowest level (if you're playing as a Shooter, immediately leave the room and come back to the same candle to upgrade your dagger to a magic dagger).

Once you have everything that you need from this room, head through the lower right exit, into a long corridor. You'll run into an Earth Demon almost immediately. While strong, he drops two important things: and the. It may take a while to get the Serpent Card, but is worth the time as not only does the card let you freeze enemies, but you'll gain a fair amount of experience getting it. In any case, you're first time in the room, head to the far right and get the, which enable you to run by double-tapping or. Once you have what you need, take a running leap to reach the platforms and navigate to the lower right exit.

This room is filed with zombies, skeletons (the classic bone throwing kind), and poison worms. Keep fighting the skeletons until you get the, as it will give you a substantial boost to your defense. Go through the exit on the right.

You'll be in another large room with eight different exits. You can get the from the skeleton spears, which will increase your MP recovery rate, though it is a very rare drop. Work your way up to the top, and go through the exit in the upper left corner (not the one on the ceiling), where you'll get your first. Back in the large room, halfway between the lowest and middle exits on the left side is a breakable wall. Whip it to break it, then go in and get another. Go through the lower right exit of the large room and get a (you can also fight another Earth Demon if you didn't get the Serpent card yet). Don't bother trying to get up the shaft at the top of the room, as you'll have to come back much later in the game. Go back to the large room and through the middle exit on the right. At the other end of this room is your first. The topmost exit on the right side of the large room is another save room. Save your game if you want then go through the exit on the ceiling of the big room.

Avoid getting hit by the bombers as they have an annoying habit of knocking back to the the previous screen. Just slide under the bombs and into the skeletons. Head right and grab the, then head all the way over to the left side and slide through the opening into another large room. In the lower left corner is a room with a, and above that exit is a candle with an Axe, which all non-Shooters should pick up (Shooters should avoid picking up any other sub-weapons until near the end of the game). Go through the lower right exit to get dumped back in the large room with the skeleton spears and bone heads. Go back through the ceiling exit, and this time head up and left to take the upper left exit.

This long hallway features a trench filled with mudmen, who are useless in terms of experience and items, so just continue to the right. The upper exit will take you to the third and last save room of the Catacomb, and the lower one will take you to yet another large room. This one has Gremlins flying about throwing spears at you. They're easy, but if you stay in one place too long, they'll hit you. Get a from the exit on the right and head around the bend at the bottom. Ignore the lower left exit, and grab a from the middle room. This room has a couple of hoppers, who you should fight until you get a or two. Head back to the save room, equip your best armor and save. Now head back to the room you were just in and go through the glowing blue door in the upper left corner.

Cerberus

 * See Cerberus for more.

Cerberus can be fairly difficult, depending on your levels, equipment, and what mode you're playing. He can fire a powerful beam, throw lightning orbs, and lunge at you. You're best chance of attack is to wait until he goes to one of the lower plat forms, then stand under him and throw axes or jump and whip. He isn't extremely hard, however he can kill you pretty quickly if you get hit by the lunges or fire beam too often.

Afterwards
After you kill Cerberus, refill your hearts from the candles in the room, then go through the left door and grab the, which will allow you to jump a second time while in midair. Head back to the large room and either go back and save if you want, or head straight through the lower left door that you ignored earlier. Fight off the mummies and double jump to the ledge on the left side. Break the wall on the left to get another. Head out the left exit and you'll be in the Abyss Stairway, however you're not quite done with the Catacomb, so drop down, back into the square room where you started the game.

Head through the lower left exit to enter a room with a bunch of fleamen (who drop ). Double jump onto the ledge and head up and left to get the last for now, then to the right where you'll see a bunch of brain floats. Use the Mercury/Serpent combination to freeze them and use them as platforms to get to the. The last power-up that you can get right now, a, is in the long, horizontal room in the northeast of the Catacomb. On the right side, above where you got an MP Plus, you can double jump onto a ledge, which leads to the Heart Plus.

Go back and save at the first save room of the Catacomb, then head through the ceiling of the square room to reach the Abyss Stairway and continue your journey.