
				>>>>DRACULA'S SHADOW<<<<

ANCIENT DEMONS CAME BACK!
In XV century in the land of Transylvania, there lived the Prince of Wallachia: Count
VladIII, Dracula who dedicated his life to evil actions. This Prince of Darkness,
surrounded the towns of transylvania with hundreds of Creatures of Night, Non-living
Zombies, willing to drain the inhabitants hopeness!
When Count Vlad died, killed while fighting the invasors, the nightmare of many people
in Transylvania finally ended, and a new time of peace came.
After 300 years, Dracula's soul is strenghtening again: one day, a mysterious demon
appears in front of the ruins of Dracula's Castle, saying that he is 
going to make Count Dracula come back. At the same time  giants clouds obscure the country
and Creatures of Death invade towns, while people are celebrating the arrival of Spring. 
Sebastian Belmont and his girlfriend Melissa Blacksmith, are descendant of two famous rival
families which fought in the past against Vampires.
A new adventure has started for these Warriors: they must leave in order to find
Dracula's Castle.


ARE YOU READY?
With Dracula's Shadow, you start with the role of Sebastian Belmont. You will have to travel
along Transylvania, a land that is friendly during day and evil by night.
You will have to gather useful informations in the villages. If you don't break your
bones before, you will be able to buy weapons and magic items in the towns of Transylvania,
but only after having fought against Dracula's Creatures to increase your Experience.
Fortunately, you will not be alone in your quest: other people will join the adventure,
and will help you in your mission. Learn how to play with different characters, every
character has special abilities that will became useful at certain points.


DEFAULT BUTTONS CONFIGURATION:
You can use either the keyboard or the joystick to activate the actions described above.
This is the default buttons configuration on keyboard:
<CTRL (left)>	<JUMP>
<ALT  (left)>   <WHIP>
<ENTER>		<INV> Inventory (you cannot modify this on keyboard)
<SPACE>         <WEAPON>

Special keys (cannot be modified):
<ESC>           Activate the game menu (only on keyboard). Use this to exit the game, 
		changing the buttons/joystick configuration or toggling the TV SIMULATOR.

<F1>            Toggle Joystick on/off. If your joystick doesn't work properly (e.g. the
		character moves by him/her self) just press this.

<F12>           (Only WIN) Activate Fullscreen/Windowed Mode.


COMMANDS BUTTONS
There are 5 main buttons used in the game:Arrows,Jump,Whip,Weapon,Inventory.

<ARROWS>:     Move the character in the direction of arrow:
	      LEFT:  Move left
	      RIGHT: Move right
	      UP: Go upstairs or enter a door. If you use <UP> together with <WHIP>, you
		  will throw the weapon (if you have any)
	      DOWN: Kneel (useful to avoid Terrible Fireballs), go downstairs. If you 
		    use <DOWN> together with <JUMP>, you will execute an Item Crash
                    (if possible).
			
<JUMP>:       The character will jump. If you jump and press at the same time a direction
	      (right or left), you will jump towards right or left. If you press <JUMP> and
              <DOWN> at the same time you will execute an Item Crash (if you are allowed 
              to do it).
              
<WHIP>:	      You will throw the whip in your current direction. You will use this button
	      also to talk to people in the villages. If you press <WHIP> and <UP> at the
	      same time, you will throw your current weapon (if you have any).

<WEAPON>:     Throw the weapon (you must select it before) in your current direction.

<INV>:        Open the Inventory: here you will be able to select the Weapon and
 	      to see useful information like the amount of Magic Hearts and Experience.
	

HOW TO PLAY
press <INV> or enter at title screen, you will then be able to start a new quest
(select an empty slot with the arrows and press <INV> or enter), or to continue
a previously saved quest.
If you start a new game, you will be asked for your name. Enter it by using
the arrows and then select "end" and press <INV> (or enter).
If you want to delete a quest,just press <DEL> while the cursor is on the game slot
you want to delete, and then confirm.


MAGIC HEARTS AND EXPERIENCE
When fighting against Creatures of Evil, you will find some Magic Hearts. These Hearts are
very important for your quest: you will have to use them in the villages to buy magic
items or weapons. The Hearts will also increase your Experience. When your Experience
reaches a certain value, a Demon Guardian will attack you. If you successfully defeat
this Creature of Death, your Level of Courage will increase, and your resistance to
evil attack will be greater. If you lose during this Battle, your Experience points will
reduce by an half.
Some Weapons of Light, will require a certain number of Magic Hearts to be consumed,
when you throw them.


DROPPED ITEMS
When defeating an enemy, the monster will sometimes release an item, you can collect:
small heart: give you 2 heart points
half heart:  4 heart points 
big heart:   6 heart points
pork chop:   will increase your energy and give you 10 heart points


THE SECOND SCREEN
The <INV> button will open the Inventory. You will need this function pretty offen.
In the highest part of the second screen, you will find useful informations like:
time, number of Experience points, number of Magic Hearts, Level of Courage, Ingredients
that you have.
Below there are 5 fields. You can select the field by pressing <UP> or <DOWN>.
Whip Field:      here you will see your current Whip and other special objects. This field
                  cannot be selected.
Relics Field:    here you can select which Relic you want to keep in your hand.
Objects Field:   here you can select which weapon or special item you want to use when
	          pressing the <WEAPON> button (or <WHIP>+ <UP>).
Character Field: here you can select which character to control. 
Presages Field:  here you can read one of the Seven Presages.


THE LEGACY OF LIGHT
These are the three main characters which will try to stop Count Dracula:

Sebastian Belmont : Descendant of the famous Belmont, a family of vampire-killers. He
		   is the main character and as his ancestors did, he wants to dedicate
		   his life to the search of the Evil Count Dracula. 		

Melissa Blacksmith: Sebastian's girlfriend. She is also a descendant of a family of 
		   vampire-hunters who were Belmonts ancient rivals. She will help 
                   Sebastian in the adventure thanks to her knowledges of techniques 
                   agains Evil.

Igor		 : ???



CANDLES OF LIGHT: 
During your quest you will see some Candles of Light: if you hit one
of these candles with your whip, you will be able to save your quest. 
When a character is killed in a battle, you will continue with another one. If every
Warrior of Light is killed, then you will be asked wether to continue, getting back
to your last Candle (and you will lose all goods gained in the meanwhile) or
ending the adventure.
If you continue, you will lose your Magic Hearts and Experience points. Note that 
when you select "continue" all your characters will get together again.


INGREDIENTS & MAGIC POTIONS:
During your Journey, you will find some Ingredients that you will need in the villages
to obtain a Magic Potion. There are some special recipes you must find, which will
tell you how to combine the Ingredients. 
If you read the right recipe, you will be able to create your magic potion:
find the old magicians in the villages and give them the correct stuff.


POTION MAKER:
This menu opens when you meet the old magicians in the villages.
You will obtaine a Magic Potion whenever you insert the right quantity of every 
Ingredient at the potion-maker menu. 
Use the <LEFT> and <RIGHT> arrow to move the cursor and select the current
Ingredient. 
<JUMP> button will add a quantity of 1 of the specified Ingredient.
<WHIP> button will low by a quantity of 1 the Ingredient from the mixture.
When you are done move the cursor on "end" option and press <JUMP>
 

THE MAGICAL WHIPS:
Your main weapon will be a whip. This is a list of the type of whip you can buy:
-Leather Whip: you have this at start.
-Thorn Whip: more powerful than Leather Whip, buy it in a village
-Chain Whip: more powerful than Thorn Whip, useful to kill the strongest Creatures of darkness
-Snake Whip: the legend says that this whip fell from an eagle in Transylvania.
-Morning Star: this whip is longer than the others
-Flame Whip: a sacred flame is released when you throw it.
-Light Whip: the one who holds this Whip will be powerful enough to fight the Curse of
	     Dracula.


THE RELICS:
The Seven Dracula's Relics are kept in the Seven Mansion. You will need these Relics
to see the old Invisible Castles and kill the Evil.

Dracula's Rib: this Rib will form a shield that can protect you from Evil.
Dracula's Heart: is the symbol of Evil and Curse.
Dracula's Eyeball: the cursed Eye discloses the Evil Paths for the Legacy of the Night.
Dracula's Nail: this Relic releases the Strenght of Demons.
Dracula's Ring: the symbol of Dracula's Evil Family.
Dracula's Goblet: the symbol of blood drunk by Dracula while he was alive.
Dracula's Evil Book: all the secrets of the Forces of Evil are in this Book.
Monster Encyclopedya: this will let you know your enemies.


THE ITEMS:
You will find in the villages merchants who sell you stuff. Some weapons are also hidden
inside walls or floors.	
-Dagger: throw a Dagger towards a Creature of Night to damage him.
-Silver Knife: you can throw this knife from a long distance.
-Golden Knife: more powerful than Silver Knife: when hit an Evil Creature, it releases a Sacred
	       Flame.	
-Holy Water: you will use this Holy Water in order to destroy some blocks of walls or floors
	     which could hide some special treausures.
-Sacred Flame: throw it on the ground, and a fire will weaken the Curse.
-Oak Stake: you will need this stake to obtain the Seven Dracula's Relics in the Mansions.
-Crystals: there are three special Crystals: White, Blue and Red which will help you in your
	   quest. The power of the Crystals is mysterious and you will have to discover it.
-Laurel: a laurel will make you temporaly invulnerable from Evil attacks.
-Garlic: you can place a garlic near an enemy, and he will lose his Evil Powers.
-Magic Potions: in your quest you will need the power of some Magic Potions. To obtain
 	        these Potions, you will need to collect the right Ingredients. Some
		old men in the villages will help you creating a certain Potion.


INGREDIENTS
These are Ingredients used to make Magic Potions. See the "Ingredients & Magic Potions"
section.


THE PRESAGES
Presages are important messages, you will find in the adventure, which will help you 
a lot in your quest. You should always read them carefully. If you can understand them,
they will directly lead you to Dracula's Castle. 


DIVIDE PATHS 
There is a special Magic Potion called "Divide Potion". This potion will let you split
the characters, so that you can control many of them in different areas of the game.
Learn to use this strategy, it will help you a lot!
How to use Divide Potion: throw on the floor the Divide Potion: a special menu will show
up: use the <LEFT> and <RIGHT> arrow to select the character you want to drop at that place.
Then  press <JUMP> to confirm the choice. To exit (without splitting the characters) press
<INV> or <WHIP>.
To accept a previously dropped character in your group, just talk to him/her.


SPECIAL ITEMS: 
This special items will give you magic power:
-Melissa Cross: nobody knows anything about this mysterious cross...
-Magic Key: the legend says that this Key will open the Gates of Invisible...


ITEM CRASHES AND GOLDEN HEARTS: Along your path you will find some Golden Hearts: if
you collect them, you will be able to execute an Item Crash. Item Crashes are special
attack you can make with your Weapon: the effect depends on the weapon and the character.
Note that Igor is not able to execute an Item Crash because of his blurred soul.
When you defeat an enemy with the Item Crash, some of them will drop a Pork Chop.
There are three types of Item Crashes depending on their effect on enemies:
First Type:  Only enemies who faces the character are damaged.
             Required: 1 Golden Heart.
Second Type: All enemies in the screen get seriously damaged.
             Required: 2 Golden Hearts.
Third Type:  All enemies in the area are damaged, the effect of this Item Crash will
             last a lot longer. 
             Required: 3 Golden Hearts.
           

ACTION SCENES:
Your adventure in Transylvania will take place in areas like:

"The Forest": This forest is dark and cursed, the light doesn't come in because of the
	      presence of ancient trees and bushes. Typical inhabitants of this place
	      are Terrible Skeleton, Wolf-Man, and others...		

"The Graveyard": Dozens of Undeads walk in this Graveyard looking for Blood. Be careful!
		 Sometimes, the Graveyard hides some secrets...

"The Bridge": The Bridge brings together different areas of Transylvania.
	      If you don't fall in the Glacial Cursed Waters, you will probably be killed
	      by a Murder-Fishman!

"The Mansion": The legend says that no one who visited this place, has come back to tell
	       about it... You will find here the Seven Relics of Dracula.

"The Village": The village is the only safe place you will meet during this quest, but only
	       if the sun shines in the sky. Infact, during night, dozens of Zombies will
	       invade the village, scaring the people who will have to stay inside.
	       During daytime, go to the Church to cure your wounds.

"The Ferryman": This old man, will take you to the right place crossing the River of Death, 
		according to the Relics you have collected. Trust him.



TIPS:
-Listen carefully to what people in the village say: they know the secrets of Transylvania 	 	 		 
 better than you.
-Fight the Evil Creatures as many as you can: they will increase your Experience and your
 Hearts number
-Don't ignore the secret messages that previuos failed warriors put in the walls: they will
 probably help you.



	


 

 