Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness

Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
Also known as: Akumajou Dracula Mokushiroku Gaiden: Legend of Cornell (JP) Developer: Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe Publisher: Konami Platform: Nintendo 64 Released in JP: December 25, 1999 Released in US: November 30, 1999 Released in EU: March 3, 2000 This game has unused items. This game has regional differences. This game has a notes page

To do: Early title screen showing the original Castlevania 64 logo. [1], [2] The process meter and crash screens from CV64 are still present here, albeit with a few differences. The crash screen in particular now attempts to print to the screen the cause of the crash, but fails due to faulty code.

A part-prequel/part-expansion follow-up to the original N64 Castlevania, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness centers around a new werewolf protagonist named Cornell, who was intended to be one of the playable heroes in the first game, but got cut from the roster and was given his own starring role here instead. After completing Cornell's quest, the player gets to unlock truncated versions of Reinhardt's and Carrie's quests from the first game, reworked around the new levels and bosses from this game, but without their voice acting and most of their cutscenes due to space constraints.

Unused Map

The unused Test Grid map from Castlevania 64 reappears in Legacy of Darkness, albeit with a few differences, like some missing walls.

Its map ID is 0x31, and the ID in the Nisitenma-Ichigo table is 0x34 (ROM addresses 0xAF2CE0-0xAF2FB8, compressed). Loading it normally softlocks the game, so some work has to be done in order to load it properly. The softlock appears to be due to the map not having actors.

Function 0x80178784 (USA) checks if the player is on this map before executing its code. A decompressed overlay associated to this map exists at ROM address 0x8381C0-0x838350, with a single function likely named deku_custom_check_test, which only returns 1 (ON) if pressing the R button.

Enable the following code and press the Gameshark button to warp to this map:

Version	GameShark code
USA	89141EA4 0000 89141EA6 0000 89141EC0 0000 89141EC2 0000 891CAE78 0031 891CAE7A 0000

Debugging Functions

Debug Print

Like other Konami N64 titles, this game supports printing text to the screen using a debugging font. By default, this feature won't work because the game doesn't load the debugging font file. The game expects it to be loaded at RAM address 0x80293370 (USA).

This feature only works properly when the game's resolution is set to "LOW".

Functions

Below are the functions associated with this feature. These RAM addresses are for the USA version of the game:

Address	Arguments	Description
0x8001e1c8	(s32 X_pos, s32 Y_pos, char* text)	Prints the text to the screen
0x8001e234	(s32 X_pos, s32 Y_pos, char character)	Prints a single character to the screen
0x8001e420	(char character)	Obtains a pointer to where the character texture from the debugging font is located.
0x8001e3ec	(s32 X_pos, s32 Y_pos)	-

Controllable Green Platform

A debug function exists in the game that lets you control the green platforms (those that appear in places such as in one of the Castle Towers) using the 3rd controller's D-Pad and C-Buttons.

To enable this, go into one of the green platform's actor settings and set its variable 2 (field 0x14) to 1. Alternatively, you can use the following GameShark code to enable this debug feature in all green platforms:

Version	GameShark code
USA	811587AC 0000 811587AE 0000

Oldrey's Diary Item

Oldrey's Diary normally appears as an unobtainable object in Stage 3 (the Villa), inside the library of the Oldrey Mansion. It can be read, but since it is bolted down, it can't be acquired. Using the following GameShark code will place the Oldrey's Diary item into the inventory and can be used. Its description is just "Oldrey Diary".

Version	GameShark code
Japan	801CC50A 0001
USA	801CAB5A 0001
Europe	801CC02A 0001

Hidden Skeleton Behaviour

The skeletons that throw bones at the player have a hidden behaviour that can be activated by holding R on the 3rd controller slot.

While holding R, the skeletons will throw the bone much farther, and with the right hand instead of the left one. They also seem to have worse aiming.

Regional Differences

Difference	Japanese version	NA / PAL version
Game saves	Stored on cartridge	Stored on Controller Pak
Rumble Pak	Supported	Not supported
Henry's scenario	Playable from the start	Has to be unlocked by finishing Cornell's scenario, or through a variation of the Konami Code
Cornell's prologue	Read by Takashi Bratcher (who voiced Henry as a boy)	Read by Scott McCulloch (the narrator in the first N64 Castlevania as well as the voice of Richter in SotN)