Exvania/Gameplay

Controls

 * Joystick: Use the 4-way joystick to direct Ward, Emilio, Charles or Karl around each of the rooms; you cannot force them into pools of lava or water.
 * Whip Button: Use this button to make Ward, Emilio, Charles or Karl swing his whip; it can be used to break Treasure Boxes, and stun other players.
 * Bomb Button: Use this button to make Ward, Emilio, Charles, or Karl drop a green bomb; if you whip it after dropping it, it will turn yellow, and if you whip it again, it will turn red. Their explosive power can be used to break several Treasure Boxes, and kill the other players - but it could also kill you.
 * 1, 2, 3 or 4 Player Buttons: Push these buttons to begin the game as player 1, 2, 3 or 4; if less than four people are playing, the remaining lords are controlled by the CPU. If all the player-controlled lords should get killed before that timer runs out, the text of "COMP WIN" will appear on the screen.

Ward, Emilio, Charles and Karl (ウォード, エミリオ, チャールズ & カール)
The protagonists of the game; Ward (1P) starts out in the top-left corner of each room, Emilio (2P) starts in the bottom-left corner, Charles (3P) starts in the bottom-right corner, and Karl (4P) starts in the top-right corner. They can use their whips to break open all Treasure Boxes that populate the rooms and collect the powerups they leave behind to upgrade their abilities, along with the explosive power of their bombs to kill each other - and once one of the lords has killed the other three, the text of "1/2/3/4P WIN" will appear on the screen, and he will receive a gold medal. Once one of the lords has received three gold medals, he will gain control of the current castle (as the text "YOU GET A CASTLE" appears over it), and the game will proceed to the next castle; however, if two or more of the lords are under players' control, and still alive when the timer runs out, the text "DRAW GAME" will appear on the screen. Once the eighth castle has been conquered, the lord who has won the most rooms and conquered the most castles must face off against the witch Erinyes - and once he has killed her, the mirror at the back of the room will shatter to reveal the Princess Electra and end the game.

Treasure Boxes (宝箱)
These chests populate the rooms of the castles, and can be broken open with three strikes from the lords' whips; once they have done so, they will leave a powerup behind. The two Kanji characters in their Japanese naming also read as takarabako - and here is a complete list of the powerups:

Bomb Power Up (ボムパワーアップ): This orb, which has the text +1 on it, will increase the number of bombs your lord can have on screen by one.

Magic Book (魔法書): This tome will increase the blast radius of your lord's bomb by one; the three Kanji characters in its name read as mahō-sho.

Jet Boots (ジェットブーツ): These boots will increase your lord's walking speed, for the remainder of his time in the current room, unless he is killed.

Potion of Barrier (ポーション・オブ・バリア): This beaker will make your lord invulnerable to the bombs' explosive radiuses for a short period of time.

Potion of Death (ポーション・オブ・デス): Conversely, this beaker will decrease your lord's walking speed, for the remainder of his time in any room.