Stopwatch

The stopwatch is a subweapon used in Castlevania games. It is used to slow down/stop time temporarily. It is most useful against enemies that move around a lot, and enemies that are very annoying, or hard to hit. It normally lasts 5 seconds and traditionally consumes 5 hearts, a considerable higher amount than other sub-weapons. Some enemies (especially bosses) are immune to time stopping events, or are only slowed down instead of freezing completely. Its item crash involve a longer amount of time freezing and sometimes an energy attack following the end of the attack. Some other games feature spells or abilities that essentially work like as a stopwatch does, such has the Chronomancer soul in Aria of Sorrow and a "time stop" spell in Portrait of Ruin. The stopwatch is the traditional subweapon that is most frequently absent from certain games.

Appearance in Castlevania (NES)
The original Castlevania featured an Stopwatch as one of the 5 original sub-weapons that could be used in the game. The player could only equip a single sub-weapon at a time, each which could be obtained from hitting a particular candle or as a drop item from an enemy. By holding up while attacking, all enemies on the screen freeze. The game's stage timer, moving platforms and traps, and some bosses are unaffected by this action. The stopwatch is the only subweapon in this game that takes more than one heart, and it takes 5 hearts to be used. It is also the only weapon in the game that cannot be enhanced with the use of Double Shot or Triple Shots.