Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow/Castle Corridor

When you first enter the castle, you will be shown a cutscene with Mina waking you up, and Genya Arikado introducing himself. Before anything can be explained, an enemy attack arrives, with the end result of Soma absorbing the first enemy soul, the winged skeleton. Once you learn of this power, Genya will tell you will need to head to the master's chamber, or the throne room at the top of the castle; to do this, you will have to go throughout the castle to find everything.

You can use the entrance to heal, and when you reach Hammer, to purchase or sell items.

Layout
At the beginning of the game, there is practically one route, since your limited mobility doesn't allow exploring the branching paths. You will need to backtrack to explore the secret passages, or to collect items in the hard-to-reach places.

When you first enter the castle itself, you will first fight against zombies. They provide little experience, and may be dodged simply by jumping over them. The upward path leads to a teleporter and a few items, which you can only reach later.

The second room provides another branching path; the south-west exit leads to the ../Underground Reservoir/, but you can only tread water at this time. The south-east path leads to a save point, which also allows recovering health. The north-east exit leads to a room containing skeletons. In either case, be sure to collect the short sword, cape, and Grave Keeper Soul.

After proceeding past the skeletons, you will encounter an upward branch, which is not yet accessible. The only option is getting past the Axe Armor, and into the boss room.

Your first boss, the Creaking Skull follows a simple attack pattern, both of which are telegraphed by cues. When it raises it's arm, perform a backward dash to avoid the bone club. When it starts to draw fire into its body, duck or jump over the fireball. When it is destroyed, collect the recovery orb and continue.

Two screens to the right is the second save point. After saving head down and continue to the right to collect the Flying Armor. Next, backtrack and continue all the way up until you need to jump across a large gap. The flying armor will assist, allowing you to proceed.

From here, continue right. While there are upward branches, the only things you can collect are basic items.

When you get to the downward branch, you can continue right to the save point, to the south-west for $500, or the south east exit to reach the ../Chapel/, where you will meet Graham for the first time; he introduces himself as a missionary, and describe the prophecy - in 2035, a person will enter the castle and inherit Dracula's powers.

To the ../Dance Hall/
When you return to this region by teleporting from the Chapel, the next step is the Dance Hall. To reach it, proceed to the right until you meet the Axe Armor, and continue upward from before the Creaking Skull boss room. You will have to jump the gap using both double jump and flying armor. The top leads

To the ../Floating Garden/
Once you get the Undine soul, head to the second save point to the right of the Creaking Skull. Continue down, and walk on the water until you can reach a platform that is a bit too high. Perform a double jump to enter the Floating Garden.

To the ../Underground Reservoir/
Once you get the Undine and Skula souls, head to the place where you got the Flying Armor. Swim underground, and proceed to the right.

Alternatively, head to where you collected the Grave Keeper soul, and continue left.

Items

 * Cape: Past zombie room
 * Short sword: Past zombie room
 * Lucky charm: located at top-right corner of entrance. (Requires double jump)
 * Yasutsuna: Located near third save point. (Requires Giant Bat)
 * Vjaya: Located in room right of teleport. (Requires Giant Bat)
 * Cestus: Located in room right of teleport.
 * Lance: Located in path to Dance Hall.
 * Copper plate: After usign flyign armor (or another means to jump the gap), take the upper path until you reach another large room. Take the upper-right exit from this room, and jump on the monster to reach it.
 * Scarf: After using flying armor (or another means to jump the gap), take the upper path until you reach another large room. Take the lower-right exit from this room.
 * Armor of Fire: After usign flyign armor (or another means to jump the gap), take the upper path until you reach another large room. The armor is located at the top-left corner.  (Requires Giant Bat)
 * $500: At the second save point, go southwest.

Tasks

 * Collect the Grave Keeper soul. This is located on the only available path from the starting location.
 * Defeat the Creaking Skull. It has two attacks - the first raises the big bone for a hard smash which is best dodged with the Grave Keeper soul, and the other launches a fiery breath that can be ducked.
 * Collect the Flying Armor in the lower path.
 * Proceed along the upper path to the chapel. If you collected the castle map, press  and follow the route to the right-most section.
 * The Chapel is the right-most cluster of rooms as visible on the first map. Before you reach the room, you will be introduced to Graham.

Rooms
You can't visit many of these rooms at the beginning of the game, but you can still look around.


 * In the area near the entrance, there is a path upward and a teleporter. You won't be able to reach it until later.
 * A save point is to the right of the Creaking Skull, as is the first castle map.
 * At the right-end of the corridor, you should see a path down. The upper right exit is a save point, and the lower left exit leads to a potion and $500.
 * The lower-right exit heads to the Chapel.
 * Down and left of the first save point is a breakable wall. This leads to a Mind Up item.
 * Above the point where you first meet Graham, you can find another savepoint.