Castlevania: Circle of the Moon/Shooter

Shooter is the the fourth mode, and arguably the hardest. You can use Cards again, though you have to collect them from enemies. In this mode you have the HP, strength, and defense of the Magician and the intelligence and MP of the VampireKiller. In other words, the worst of both worlds. The big difference is the number of hearts that you have - you start with 250 and it goes up by 5 (instead of 2) per level.

You will have to rely on sub-weapons to get through the game. This is much easier than it sounds for three reasons:
 * All sub-weapons (except the dagger) cost half as many hearts as normal.
 * All sub-weapons, especially the, are much more powerful than in other modes. Whereas the dagger usually does about 1/4 as much damage as the whip, it now does 1.5 to 3 times as much.
 * You can upgrade the dagger to the, which homes in on enemies. The homing ability plus the extra strength the shooter gets with sub-weapons makes the magic dagger the most useful weapon in the game.

Get the magic dagger as soon as possible (it's the first sub-weapon that you can pick up) and keep it for almost the entire game. Boomerang is also a good choice, as it just cost three hearts and does about 3× the damage of the whip. Since you have so many hearts, this is a good mode to go after the Skeleton Medalist.


 * Password: CROSSBOW


 * Max does not include bonuses from power-ups.