Clock and Machine Towers

The Clock Tower is an area in the Castlevania series, it is perhaps the most infamous of them, being in almost every game since the first.

Enemies Most Clock Tower areas feature the enemy Medusa Heads, generally in two varieties, one, a blue head with green hair, and the other with a gold head and brownish-red hair, depending on the game, the Bestiary entries for them may be separate (Harmony of Dissonance), or lumped together.

Death, the grim reaper, Dracula's confidant, typically resides in this area, though in some games, he is encountered in other areas as well. Recently (Dawn of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin) Death's servants Slogra and Gabon have appeared here as well. Other common enemies include the Harpies and other sorts of flying foes to increase the difficulty of traversing the area's many obstacles.

Features Most Clock Tower areas feature moving platforms in the form of gears, and spikes in some manner. While the gears move the character slowly, becoming petrified by a Medusa Head prohibits movement for a period of time, and greatly increases damage taken. The Sorrow series has, perhaps, the best designed Clock Tower areas, Aria's has the most amount of flying enemies and slowly moving platforms (more than just gears), and Dawn's has multiple new obstacles: spiked 'fans' that rotate around at variable speeds; pendulums that can be walked on and move at variable speeds; and pistons that can force the player into a spiked ceiling if you're not careful with your timing. Of note, Dawn's Clock Tower is not home to Death, but to an enemy named Zephyr, whom appropiately has the ability to stop time.

The other two GBA games (Harmony of Dissonance and Circle of the Moon) have differently designed Clock Tower-esque areas. Circle of the Moon has no area named Clock Tower at all, though, encountered somewhat early in the game is the Machine Tower, utilizing Clock Tower music from previous games, and employing similar features.

Harmony of Dissonance's Clock Tower is perhaps the weakest in the series. There are few enemies (only Harpies and Gold Medusa Heads), and the gears are used to little effect, despite the easy to solve puzzle involving them.

Other Notes The Clock Tower is usually in the (Uppper) Right of the castle, though in a few games, it is not. Typically, it is the highest section of the castle, and as such, usually leads to Dracula's area via a large stairway. At the very top of the Clock Tower, there is usually a room in which the background shows the 'outside' of the castle, such instances are somewhat rare in Castlevania games.

Music Generally, the Clock Tower music is the catchiest in the game, Castlevania 3 is a prime example of this, several remixers on OCRemix and the Video Game music band The OneUps incorporate the Clock Tower theme into their songs. Even the Castlevania series does this; Circle of the Moon's Machine Tower area uses the Clock Tower theme from Castlevania 3. More? Artist?