Courtyard Periphery

A Courtyard Periphery stage (informal term) is a Courtyard area that mostly sticks to the periphery, rather than traversing the main courtyard along the ground. It sticks to taking paths and corridors in front of or within the various walls of the courtyard, occasionally climbing them or entering them, and entering various towers found along those walls or traveling to towers located along the wall or within the courtyard via connecting bridges. They don't tend to get much higher than the outer castle walls themselves though. Sections that face the courtyard interior are often overrun with vines and monsters that are characteristic of the interior of the courtyard, while others may be devoid of these features. They tend to either run along the Castle Front Courtyard (courtyard between the Castle Front Gate and Castle Entrance) or the Inner Courtyard (courtyard behind the Entrance), though they occasionally may span both.
==Appearances==
*Castlevania (Inner Courtyard) - Block 3 is the first example of this type of stage.
*Vampire Killer (Inner Courtyard) - This section is also Stage 7 of Block 3 (The Passageway).
*Dracula's Curse (Front Courtyard) - This location includes Stages 7-A and 7-B. Its position between the Castle Front Gate and Entrance places it along the Castle Front Courtyard.
*Super Castlevania IV (Barracks) - Block 1-2 resembles Courtyard Periphery stages from other Castlevania games, except that its going around the courtyard of the Barracks fortress instead of the main castle.
*Symphony of the Night (Inner Courtyard) - Olrox's Quarters (large outdoor area with the fountain in it) - Contains buildings (possibly the Castle Front Walls and/or the Entrance building) similar to Castlevania Stage 7 and a prominent fountain. Contains an upper level with broken stairs and a segmented path, similar to upper portion of the Castlevania stage.
*Castlevania: Dracula X (Inner Courtyard) - Much of Stage 5 is a courtyard periphery stage.
*Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Inner Courtyard) - Much of the Floating Garden is a courtyard periphery stage. Rather than taking bridges between the towers, which tower above the clouds in this game, they appear to be connected with warps, or else traversal over the bridges is simply skipped and not shown.
*Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (Inner Courtyard) - Much of the Garden of Madness is a courtyard periphery stage.
*Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls (Front Courtyard) Chapter 1 Part 2 (In the Beginning) - The first three sections are placed in a similar location of the game as the Courtyard in Dracula's Curse, that is, they come before the Castle Entrance (Front Courtyard). Each stage involve traversing Courtyard-Facing Corridors along the ground floor, climbing towers, crossing Inter-Tower Bridges, and descending those towers back to the ground floor at various parts (which is sometimes skipped, especially at the end of a stage). At the end of stage 2-3 is the Castle Entrance, allowing passage to the inside of the Castle in the first stage of Part 3, A Daring Advance. Additional areas in the courtyard can be explored later in stages 2-4 and 2-5 (which could actually be in the Inner Courtyard).
==Gallery==
Quest map 1 2.png|Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls Chapter 1-2 In the Beginning
GoS In the Beginning.jpg|In the Beginning Screenshot
Category:CourtyardsCategory:Recurring Locations