Hard Mode

Hard Mode, or simply Hard, is an alternate mode frequently present in games that comprise the Castlevania series. This mode generally becomes available to the player after completing the game on the Normal difficulty. In it, the player can go through the game a second time with a harder difficulty setting.
==Overview==
Hard Mode first appeared in the original Castlevania, and since then most games in the series have followed this tradition. It usually becomes playable after the game has been beaten on Normal Mode. Oftentimes, it features additional enemies in a determined area, enemies being replaced by more powerful enemies (sometimes even new enemies that don't appear in the standard game), enemies gaining extra characteristics and stats (e.g.: dealing extra damage and becoming more resilient), faster enemies, as well as reduced attack and defense abilities for the player. This mode has had different names in some games (such as "Crazy Mode").
In Castlevania Judgment, there is an even harder mode that is unlocked after the completion of Hard Mode, called "Brutal Mode".
==Game specific information==
===Castlevania===
In Castlevania, Hard Mode is an additional quest that takes place after the player completes the game in Normal Mode. Since there are no passwords or a save feature in the original NES version of the game, it's not possible to play Hard Mode without first playing through the entire Normal Mode during that session. Hard Mode features additional enemies, such as Bats or Medusa Heads in some difficult platforming areas. Some of the enemies, such as Zombies, move faster. Each enemy deals twice the damage they normally do, even in the early levels. Additional hidden crowns can be found in this mode, which are worth many more points than usual. Every time the player beats Hard Mode, another round of Hard Mode can be started.
===VS. Castlevania===
In VS. Castlevania, Hard mode can be selected via a DIP switch. Enemy placement remains the same as Easy Mode, but enemies cause more damage. Arcade games of this era typically were tougher than games that were released on home consoles only (Easy Mode itself in VS. Castlevania is more difficult than in the original Castlevania).
===Castlevania: The Adventure===
Hard Mode returns in The Adventure. Upon beating the game in Normal Mode, the player can play through the game again with damage from creatures increased twofold. This will continue to increase with each subsequent loop through the four stages.
*Stage 5 to 8: Enemy damage ×2
*Stage 9 to 12: Enemy damage ×4
*Stage 13 to 16: Enemy damage ×8
*Stage 17 to 20: Enemy damage ×16 (instant death)
Clearing Stage 20 will not increase the difficulty any further. However, the score and the stage number will still increase.
===Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge===
Hard Mode also exists in the Game Boy sequel. After beating the final boss, wait until the game "stops" at the end of the credits, and then press A and Start together to begin a second loop in Hard Mode. It is also accessible immediately via a password.
Hard Mode in this game is very similar to the Normal mode, as the enemies and damage do not change from the regular mode. Despite this, there are a few differences that add to the challenge:
*More enemy types will downgrade the Vampire Killer when they deal damage.
*There are no passwords for Hard Mode other than the initial password at the beginning. Therefore, there is no way to resume progress, meaning players will have to get to the end in one sitting (although 'Continues' are still unlimited).
===Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse===
In Dracula's Curse, Hard Mode can be played after beating the game in Normal Mode. The player starts Hard Mode with the companion with whom they beat Normal Mode. However, it's not possible to switch them for another companion during the course of this quest, even when/if defeating the bosses that gave the option to recruit a partner in the standard game.
The player takes more damage in this mode. Additional creatures are added and others have been swapped with more powerful ones. There are some creatures that appear in this mode that do not appear in the normal game, such as floating Skull Heads that move similar to Medusa Heads, but with much more erratic and unpredictable up and down motions. Certain candles are placed in odd far away and/or hard to reach locations where only Grant Danasty or Alucard can reach, although they're not available during the first playthrough, making them exclusive to Hard Mode.
Because of the password system, this is the first game where the player can start a new session in Hard Mode. Starting a new game with the secret name "AKAMA" at the Password screen starts a new game with Trevor only already in Hard Mode, without the need of beating Normal Mode. However, this password follows the same aforementioned rule: no companions can be recruited during Trevor's quest.
===Super Castlevania IV===
After beating the game, a harder mode can be started. This mode has its own passwords and changes the enemy layout for the stages, having more enemies, and sometimes including enemies that would normally appear on the later levels in the standard game. Enemies deal more damage to the players, and more hits are needed to defeat them.
===Castlevania: Bloodlines===
Normally unlocked after beating the game at normal difficulty, Expert mode can be enabled early by entering the Konami Code at the title screen: a confirmation sound will play and the "Expert" difficulty will appear in the option screen. The code also gives the player the possibility of starting the game with 9 lives if it is entered at the title screen after the music settings in the option screen have been set to BGM 05 and SE 073.
===Castlevania (N64)===
Hard mode is unlocked after having acquired the Special Gem in the Forest of Silence and beaten the game with it.
===Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness===
Hard mode is unlocked by rescuing Anthony in the Forest of Silence during Henry Oldrey's quest. This mode has many hidden items downgraded (like Purifying Crystals replaced with 100 gold bags), and enemies dealing more damage and having additional attacks).
===Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance===
Enter "HARDGAME" at the Name Entry screen. A sound will play if the code was entered successfully. Juste Belmont will take double the damage he normally would from enemies with Hard Mode active.
===Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow===
In this game, Hard Mode can be played once the game has been beaten once. In this mode, enemies will receive 20% less damage. Their souls will be easier to get as long as Soma has not obtained them before. The Kaiser Knuckle, Silver Gun, Tear of Blood, Death's Scythe and Death's Robe can only be obtained in this mode, scattered throughout the many areas that comprise the castle.
===Castlevania: Lament of Innocence===
Crazy Mode is one of two alternate modes unlocked in Lament of Innocence, along with Joachim Mode. After finishing the game as Leon Belmont, a new game with a harder difficulty setting can be started. The changes that make this mode more difficult are the following:
*Enemy placement changes. Sometimes, rooms will have more enemies than in Normal Mode, or will replace them with more powerful enemies. In particular, enemies exclusive to Pagoda of the Misty Moon will now wander around normal stages.
*All enemies will have new attacks and the pattern for their regular attacks will change (listed below).
*Environmental traps will have a complete redesign in most cases.
*Leon begins this mode with 18 ATK, 12 INT and 50 Hearts.
*Tutorial pop-ups will no longer appear.
*The player can enter from the opposite side to the tutorial room, but it will only let the tutorial be played backward, with tough enemy waves to compensate.
*Middle-sized enemies, such as Cyclops or Axe Armors, will no longer be stunned or staggered by powerful attacks.
*All enemy attacks will instantly break Leon's guard, unless the attacks give MP upon blocking or are Perfect Guarded.
After completing this mode, the Mobius's Brooch will become available for purchase at Rinaldo's shop.
Lament of Innocence - Hard Mode changes on enemies	Lament of Innocence - Hard Mode changes on enemies
Enemy 	Changes
Shadow Wolf 	Inherits fire breath from Hellhounds.
Spartacus 	Inherits suicidal attack from soldiers.
Peeping Eye 	Inherits laser shot from Buckbairds.
Flame Elemental 	Combo now consists of five hits. Geyser has increased width. Reduced recovery time. Hit-stun may randomly stop working.
Frost Elemental 	Spins five times instead of the normal three. New ice projectile attack. May sometimes stay suspended in midair to avoid hits. Reduced recovery time.
Thunder Elemental 	Thunders now come in more complex and extensive patterns. Three-hit combo can be immediately followed by a second combo or a thunder explosion. Reduced recovery time.
Golem 	Summons rocks on every step. Uses the two hit combo from its normal second phase from the beginning.
Doppelganger 	Two are fought simultaneously.
Doppelganger 	Begins the fight doing all the attacks from its second phase. Inherits the lunging attack from the blue version.
Maggot 	Spawns more frequently. Petrifies on first hit, curses on second. It's also quite a bit larger.
Soulless 	Inflicts Poison on contact.
Soulless 	Inflicts Paralysis on contact.
Medusa 	Melee combo lasts longer. Casts petrifying lasers while summoning rocks.
Succubus 	Uses vines from the beginning of the fight.
Joachim 	Certain sword attacks will hover around Leon trying to deal additional hits.
Walter 	Recovers from his explosion faster; will repeatedly use the explosion attack until interrupted.
Death 	New nuke attack. His projectile attack summons one fast straight beam alongside the homing bolts. Catastrophe consists of four projectiles instead of two. Minions track Leon better and explode faster.
Forgotten One 	Sweeps three times in a row quickly. Venom pouring from his arm is now as wide as the whole arena. Hand slam is much faster and more unpredictable. May fire lasers even when rocks are not present onscreen.
===Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow===
As usual, Hard mode becomes available after completing the game once in Normal mode. To access it, select "Game Start" from the title menu and then "Select Data" from the files menu; a bat-like icon with the word "Clear" will appear on the next screen above your old, cleared file; select it (not the actual file icon below it) and the option to start a new game will be given to start a New Game+ either on Normal or Hard difficulty.
Hard mode has the following gameplay changes:
*Damage dealt by the player to enemies is reduced to ×0.6.
*Stats no longer level up continuously. The player needs to level up a few times in order to gain stat boosts.
*LCK has four times the effect it usually has on soul and item drop chances.
*Traps (spikes, blades, etc.) deal about double damage.
*Some enemies are leveled-up and have more HP. Some of them also figure some changes:
**Zombies and Ghouls now inflict Poison.
**Slime now inflicts Poison. Tanjelly now inflicts Poison and Curse.
**All Medusa Heads become Gold Medusas and can thus petrify.
**Bone Arks will blast two balls of energy instead of one.
*Some bosses also have some changes:
**Paranoia will change his patterns and sometimes attacks only once before entering his mirror.
**Aguni will go outside of the screen, smash the ground and burst into flames faster than usual.
**Death in his second form summons three additional sickles when throwing his scythe, and summons two extra giant skull heads.
Upon completing Hard Mode, Hell Fire is added to the player's Bullet Souls.
===Castlevania: Curse of Darkness===
In Curse of Darkness, the player can unlock Hard Mode (called Crazy Mode), as well as Trevor Mode, which allows the player to play as Trevor Belmont. It is unlocked by starting a new game with "@CRAZY" as the save name.
In this mode, most enemies have +10 levels and strong enemies have +20, while retaining the same experience given in Normal Mode, making the game much more challenging and making it harder to level up. The enemies A.I. is also slightly improved as they can sometimes synchronize attacks in order to break Hector's guard. Additionally, the Garibaldi Temple will now spawn some high-level enemies, such that the player may suddenly get ambushed by some Lv.85 Flea Men and take serious damage. Similar to Lament of Innocence, finishing the game on this difficulty allows the player to purchase the Mobius Brooch, which reduces the cost of the Innocent Devils' skills to zero.
===Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin===
Hard Mode returns in Portrait of Ruin as an unlockable feature after beating the main game and receiving the good ending. Upon selection, the player is prompted with a choice of three level caps. Completing each difficulty level cap will reward the save file used with one of three items, depending on the level cap selected:
*Level 50 or lower: Vic Viper (LCK +50).
*Level 25 or lower: Twin Bee (INT +50).
*Level 1: Konami Man (STR +50).
Each of the rewards above may be obtained only once, but if the player feels up to the challenge, they can freely skip an easier level cap in favor of a more difficult one with little fear of missing that cap's reward.
The following are differences from Normal Mode:
*All damage dealt by the player is reduced by 25% compared to Normal.
*All enemies have a bonus to their attack power that scales with the player's level. This starts at different points, depending on the cap chosen, but as a player levels up, enemies deal more and more damage. This caps out at 100+ per hit when the player reaches the cap chosen and is not affected by a character's DEF or MND.
*Some enemies and bosses receive additional traits and/or bonuses compared to Normal Mode. All known changes are listed below:
Portrait of Ruin - Hard Mode Changes	Portrait of Ruin - Hard Mode Changes 	Portrait of Ruin - Hard Mode Changes
Enemy 	Changes 	
Zombie 	Walks faster and inflicts Poison on contact. 	
Bat 	Moves faster and adjusts its flight path to hit the player if they move. 	
Axe Armor 	Can curve its axes mid-flight so they return low if thrown high, and vice-versa. 	
Wight 	Walks faster and inflicts Poison on contact. 	
Frozen Shade 	Wind-up for frost attack is much shorter; summons 5 icicles instead of 3, which take aim and are launched much faster. 	
Invisible Man 	Attacks far more aggressively and no longer pauses between attacks. 	
Golem 	Walks faster. 	
Spittle Bone 	Sprays fire over a much greater area. 	
Ghost 	Spawns more frequently and moves much faster. 	
Ectoplasm 	Moves faster. 	
Slime 	Moves faster and inflicts Poison on contact. 	
Flying Skull 	Moves faster. 	
Great Ghost 	Dashes further and faster. 	
Hill Guard 	Moves much faster. 	
Corpseweed 	Spawns fully grown; shoots three blobs aimed directly at the player as soon as they approach, and then in regular intervals. 	
Medusa Head 	Are always gold, and thus always inflict Stone on contact. 	
Slogra 	Moves faster. 	
Moldy Corpse 	Sprays clouds further, and in all directions. 	
Red Axe Armor 	Can curve its axes mid-flight so they return low if thrown high, and vice-versa. 	
Maneating Plant 	Spits two skulls at once instead of one; releases more spores after it flowers. 	
Wyvern 	Shoots three flaming dragon heads in a row instead of one. 	
Ghoul 	Walks faster and inflicts Poison on contact. 	
Armored Fleaman 	Moves faster and attacks more aggressively. 	
Tanjelly 	Moves faster and inflicts both Poison and Curse on contact. 	
Vice Beetle 	Sprays fire over a much greater area. 	
Lightkeeper 	Moves faster. 	
Minotaur 	Moves faster. 	
Ghoul King 	Walks faster and inflicts Poison on contact. 	
Vapula 	Magic breath moves faster and has double the range. 	
Bone Ark 	Fires two blasts instead of one. 	
Skeleton Farmer 	Moves faster. 	
Dullahan 	Wind-up for jump attack is much shorter; homing blasts are launched faster and the fifth blast is replaced by four blasts that all do less damage.	
Keremet 	Spawns slimes more often. 	
Death 	Spawns scythes more frequently. 	
Werewolf 	Calls forth 5 wolves instead of 3. 	
Mummy Man 	Blocks that are summoned offscreen will still be launched at the player. 	
Whip's Memory 	Uses subweapons more often. 	
===Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia===
Hard Mode returns in Order of Ecclesia, much in the same way as it did in Portrait of Ruin. After beating the game and receiving the good ending, the player can select Hard Mode upon starting a new game; upon doing so, the player is prompted with a choice of level caps. Beating the game on these level caps for the first time will reward the save file used as follows:
*Hard, level cap 255: Unlocked only after beating Hard level cap 1. While it allows full leveling, it otherwise functions like the level cap 50 variant.
*Hard, level cap 50 or lower: Awards the Queen of Hearts upon beating Hard Mode for the save file used.
*Hard, level cap 1: Once the player beats Hard Mode with this level cap, they unlock the ability to level up to 255, as well as another level cap of choice upon selecting Hard Mode.
The reward for beating Hard Mode on the level cap of 1 is a one time reward only, but the rest of the level caps do offer their reward if it is the first time for the save file used.
The following are differences from Normal mode:
*All damage dealt by the player is reduced by 10%, compared to Normal.
*Enemies deal +50% damage scaled with their base ATK. After calculating DEF and MND stats, the player takes extra damage according to the level cap:
**Hard level cap 255/50: +30 damage.
**Hard level cap 1: +60 damage.
*Some enemies receive additional bonuses and/or traits that make combat against them more difficult. Others may simply appear earlier in the game compared to Normal Mode. To name two examples: The first enemy group for training is no longer common Skeletons, but Skeleton Heroes. Also, Medusa Heads can be seen as early as in Ruvas Forest and will always be gold colored, signifying that Stone will be inflicted upon taking a hit.
*Certain environmental hazards (like the guillotines in Minera Prison Island) move much faster.
=== Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth ===
Hard Mode can be selected from ReBirth's options menu and makes a wide array of changes to the game. In this mode, enemies appear where they did not before and Christopher takes more damage, beginning at three points of damage per hit and increasing to four by Stage 3. Uniquely, some rooms have had their layouts altered, following the same general structure but with entire floors, platforms and hazards removed or added.
===Castlevania: Harmony of Despair===
Hard Mode unlocks in Harmony of Despair after finishing Chapter 6. Subsequent chapters (DLCs in Xbox 360) have their Hard Mode already unlocked. Enemies have a higher degree of vitality and the player characters suffer more damage per hit. Enemies may appear where they did not before (such as Gurkha Master in Chapter 1) and some receive different attacks or behaviors compared to Normal Mode. For example: Dracula's final form sports fire pillars briefly before using Demonic Megiddo, and one of his normal attacks will have lightning cutting through the room, nullifying the possibility of jumping.
===Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls===
Hard Mode unlocks in Grimoire of Souls on a per chapter basis, after clearing the associated chapter on Normal. Stages have the same layouts, but feature a completely different list of enemies and item drops. The recommended stats for each level are also significantly higher. Hard Mode was removed along with the original game when it was discontinued, but was readded in the Apple Arcade version via the 1.4.1 Update after clearing the game.
==Gallery==
Joachim mode unlocked.png|Crazy and Joachim modes unlocked in Lament of Innocence.
Lament of Innocence - Name Entry Screen - 02.png|Name Entry screen listing some of the alternate modes available in Lament of Innocence, one of them being Crazy mode.
Curse of Darkness - Name Entry Screen - 01.png|Name Entry screen listing the two alternate modes available in Curse of Darkness, one of them being Crazy Difficulty mode.
GoS Hard.png|Tutorial screen for Hard Mode in Grimoire of Souls.
Category:Alternate Modes
Category:The Adventure
Category:Castlevania
Category:Curse of Darkness
Category:Dracula's Curse
Category:Grimoire of Souls
Category:Harmony of Despair
Category:Order of Ecclesia
Category:Portrait of Ruin