Old Axe Armor



The Old Axe Armor is a version of the Axe Armor that can be worn as a suit of armour. It is styled after the Axe Armor that first appeared in Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Whoever wears it "becomes" an Axe Armor with its abilities. It is worn by Alucard in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (as an equippable armour), veteran zombies in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (as enemies), a mysterious female warrior in Portrait of Ruin (as a playable character), and by any of the downloadable characters (Julius Belmont, Yoko Belnades, and Maria Renard) in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair when that character has not been purchased.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
thumb|300px|right|Alucard Donning the Axe Lord armor

Alucard can find the Axe Lord Armor by using Gravity Boots underneath the Master Librarian's chair and lifting him up. Equipping it causes Alucard to yell "What?!" (しまった！) and changes his appearance and abilities to that of an Axe Knight. The armour grants Alucard a boost to movement speed, but he also cannot jump very high while wearing this armour, and his regeneration of MP is halted. He has a short axe that he can "hack" with which cannot be thrown. He is unable to use any of his other abilities or weapons in this mode. The armour gives Alucard a +15 Defence boost and a +2 Attack boost. It is also the only way to use an Axe primary weapon in the game.

After beating the game once, it is possible to play the entire game using the Axe Lord Armor. Entering the special name "AXEARMOR" in a new file on the Name Entry screen starts a new game with the Axe Lord Armor already in Alucard's inventory. It will be necessary to periodically take off the Axe Lord Armor in order to access certain parts of the game, however.

Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
In Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin, the Old Axe Armor is a veteran zombie warrior. Killing 1000 or more of these enemies (found on the 2nd to last floor of the "Nest of Evil" and the north east portion of Dracula's Castle) on "Jonathan Mode" (the game's "regular playing mode"), unlocks Old Axe Armor as a new playable character. This is the only character mode in the game that doesn't give you a partner you can switch to.

The abilities of the Old Axe Armor have improved greatly in this game over its first appearance in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, perhaps as this mode is required to allow you to be able to play the whole game as the Old Axe Armor and not just "take it off" in order to access certain parts of the game.

Identity Issues
There is considerable amount of debate and confusion over the Old Axe Armor's gender and identity. The character appears to have a male voice (Jonathan's), however, the game treats the character as if they were female (Zacchino presents the armor with a rose instead of a sword and Astarte's charm attack has no effect). Artwork, which may be official or simply fan service, found on the official Konami web page depicts an unknown female warrior wearing the armour.

The description of the enemy indicates that it is a "veteran zombie" which is wearing the suit of armour. This suggests that the playable character may be a zombie, but it could be someone else wearing the armour in the playable mode. When the Axe Armor gets on the high score board of Boss Rush Mode, two portraits are listed, one showing the Axe Armor with its helmet down, and an image of Maria Renard is shown as its partner. Also, the portrait shown in the end credits is Maria's. This suggests that Maria is the one who is wearing the armor. The artwork found on Konami's web site does not resemble Maria, however.

One possible explanation for this is that like all other modes in the game, this mode can be considered a two-character mode. One character is the armour itself and accounts for the male voice in the game. The other character is the one wearing the armour, who is female and accounts for enemies' behaviour towards her. This may have been the intention for this character, but they did not want to spend any additional time on this bonus mode than they had to, so they took a shortcut and used Jonathan's voice for the male sounding armour and Maria's portrait to represent the female wearing the armour. Then after the game was created, they put up artwork of what the character is supposed to look like on their web site.

The true nature of the Axe Armor may never be known for certain without an official statement and may not be important, as the mode is non-canon to the series and has no storyline.

Old Axe Armor's Special Attacks
Source: BradyGames Portrait of Ruin Official Strategy Guide page 99


 * High Jump: Command: [Up + L button (L button white jumping)], MP Use: 0, Attribute: Slash, Invulnerability: No.


 * Upper Axe: Command: [Up], MP Use: 0, Attribute: Slash, Invulnerability: No.


 * Running Axe: Command: [Left, Left + Y], MP Use: 30, Attribute: Slash, Invulnerability: No.


 * Smash: Command: [Up, Left, Down, Right + Y], MP Use: 30, Attribute: Strike, Invulnerability: Yes.


 * Deadly Axe: Command: [Right, Down, Left, Up, Right + Y], MP Use: 80, Attribute: Slash, Invulnerability: Yes.

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
Old Axe Armor appears in Castlevania: Harmony of Despair in an unusual manner. When playing in a multiplayer mode, if one of the players selects one of the downloadable characters that you have not purchased, that player's sprite will be replaced with that of the Old Axe Armor. It will thus appear as if that character is wearing the Old Axe Armor, and thus their appearance is "covered up". The character's voice will not be heard, and attacks appear as if they were simple axe swings.

External Videos

 * Axe Armor - Caution, this video is a joke, but shows the "Axe Armors" in action.