Castlevania: Rondo of Blood Secrets and Bonuses
Maria Renard
here is an additional playable character in Rondo of Blood. One of the captured damsels is Maria Renard. Both of her parents were killed, and she has aspirations of becoming a Vampire Hunter like Richter. She set off toward Dracula's Castle to slay the Count herself, but was defeated and captured.
While examining her, The Dark Priest Shaft realized she had a latent magical power and unlocked it within her. Before Shaft could harness that power for his own nefarious purposes, Richter Belmont entered the room and rescued Maria from Shaft's control.
Maria wishes to use her new powers to help Richter in his quest. Because of her adamancy, Richter agrees. Maria must first be rescued for her to become playable. She is locked away in Stage 2, in the flooded basement. You must obtain the key from above the basement during the Behemoth chase, and use that key to unbolt the door where Maria is being held.
You will have the choice to use Maria whenever you enter the data select screen. Playing as her is considerably different from Richter Belmont. The pros are that she is faster, can double jump, perform a tantrum slide, and has a stronger primary weapon. The downside is that she suffers more damage than Richter, gets knocked back farther, cannot back flip or do backwards walking.
Maria has her own set of sub-weapons and items. Her sub-weapons are animal helpers, and her items are cutesy versions of items that Richter gets. For instance, where Richter will get a pot roast, Maria will receive a birthday cake or lollipop.
Maria has many abilities that Richter does not have, like her tantrum slide and double jump. It's generally thought that playing as Maria makes the game easier, so she may be a good choice for beginners, or those who feel the game is too difficult.
Maria has unique cut scenes. The basic gist is the same as Richter's, but Maria parades her distinctive sweet personality when interacting with other characters from Rondo of Blood.
Maria even has her own girly Game Over screen. When she dies, blood does not splatter all over the place as when Richter does. I suppose that wouldn't be quite in line with her adorable demeanor, would it?
Akumajo Dracula Peke
HuCards are necessary to play PC Engine Super CD games. If Rondo is played with a HuCard it is not compatible with, then a game somewhat resembling Green Hill Zone from Sonic The Hedgehog will appear, with parody versions of Richter and Maria. At the end of the small stage, a message will appear saying a System 3.0 card is needed to play Rondo, and Maria tells Richter, "Sorry". This is a small consolation to the very disappointed players who do not have the proper HuCard to operate the game.
CD Player Message
If you put the original PC Engine Rondo CD into a music CD player, the first track will give you an animated message in Japanese from Richter and Maria telling you that it is a PC Engine CD, and that the rest of the tracks are data tracks that should not be listened to.
It's a fun exchange displaying Richter and Maria's playful personalities. Maria scares Richter, and then warns him about putting the CD in a regular CD player. Richter asks how she knows about such things, and Maria tries to convince him that it's because she's naturally smart. Then Richter discovers that she was reading some instructions. Afterward, both of them escape because track 2 is approaching, and the loud static from data tracks has the potential to blow out speakers, which is a warning to the player to get the CD out of there.
Click here to listen to the message
Stage Select Code
To gain access to any stage right from the get go, enter X-X!V"Q as your name in the Name Select screen. This serves as a great shortcut for the impatient.
Misc.
You can lengthen Richter's whip by double tapping the direction he's facing on the control pad directly after commanding the attack. The whip will turn a white hue when this happens.
There is a hidden room in Stage 5 that only Maria can access. It is to the left of the engine room, and is entered by using her slide technique. Coming in this strange place does not seem to cause anything.
