Maria fighting Death in Rondo of Blood.
Maria Mode is a gameplay mode featured in several Castlevania games, in which the player can play as Maria Renard.
Game specific information
Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
Maria becomes playable as soon as Richter (the starting player character) releases her from her cell. The Key located at Stage 2's corridor –where the Behemoth is first encountered– must be picked up from one of the candles and used at the cell found at the underground area immediately after the corridor. After saving her from Shaft and activating a cutscene, Maria can be selected upon a Game Over or within the main menu of the game.
Many players consider that playing as Maria makes the game much easier than playing as Richter. She has her own set of sub-weapons –based on the Four Symbols from Chinese mythology– each with their own item crashes. She is slightly shorter than Richter, which allows her to dodge certain attacks easier. Her main weapon is summoning doves to attack her enemies and she can throw two of them at a time. She can also slide and roll in order to move faster and dodge attacks. Her special ability, called Guardian Knuckle (performed by pressing ↓ ↑ ↘ + II when facing right), deals quite a large amount of damage if used correctly. Finally, she can double jump, which is very useful for dodging enemies and their attacks, and also to reach certain platforms. However, she has far less health than Richter.
Maria has her own ending, a cutesy and slightly shorter version of Richter's ending. She has her own Game Over screen as well, made of colored letters and flowers.
When she is defeated, she falls down, hits the ground and lies for a brief moment before fading out of existence.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Saturn)
- Main article: Maria Renard/Symphony of the Night/Saturn
Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
- See: Richter Mode
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
In The Dracula X Chronicles, Maria still plays the same as in the original Rondo of Blood version, without any major gameplay changes added. However, some cutscenes were specifically rewritten to take into account her presence, instead of reusing the original game's dialogues to her (with a notable example being her confrontation with Dracula).
Since The Dracula X Chronicles is a remake and not an exact port, many of the enemies' behaviors and placements have been slightly changed, overall making this game easier than the original. As a consequence to this, Maria's sub-weapons can often defeat enemies more easily. Their Item Crashes have received a graphical overhaul as well (particularly the Dragon, which instead of repeatedly lashing its body across the screen like in the original game, it now flies about the screen for a brief moment while dealing damage to everything in it).
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles: Symphony of the Night (PSP)
- Main article: Maria Renard/Symphony of the Night/DXC
Move list
Sub-weapons
Dialogue
- Main article: Maria Mode/Script
Gallery
