Race Mode is a competitive mode in Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia involving Wi-Fi connection. It is similar to the Enemy Set Mode from Dawn of Sorrow, but the courses are already arranged. The point is to have more points at the end than your competitor. Points are earned by killing enemies, and some other factors will add to your points at the end. The first is HP, so the more HP, the better. The next is how quickly you finish the course, meaning that if you take long, you get a lower score. The next, and final factor, is the amount of Hearts you have.
This is how many points each enemy encountered gives:
- Bitterfly - 16 points
- Scarecrow - 28 points
- Bone Pillar - 56 points
- Mad Butcher - 105 points
- Balloon - 110 points
- Evil Force - 122 points
- Tin Man - 128 points
- Bat - 176 points
- Bone Archer - 185 points
- Hammer Shaker - 225 points
- White Dragon - 276 points
- Nova Skeleton - 300 points
- Cave Troll - 331 points
The mode is separated into three courses, the first resembling a lab, the second resembling a training hall or some sort of dungeon, and the third resembling the Abyss. All items currently equipped to Shanoa will carry on to the race mode, excluding the back glyph, which is always Magnes. Also, the status screen cannot be accessed, and HP is reduced to 520.
There is also a mode called Practice Mode, which is exactly the same but there is no competitor, and thus, it does not require any sort of connection. In both modes, there are four exclusive power-up items which take effect immediately:
- Boots - These will boost Shanoa's speed temporarily.
- Feather - These will temporarily allow Shanoa to jump extremely high, most likely triple or quadruple the normal jump range.
- Shield - These will make Shanoa temporarily invincible.
- Skull and Crossbones - These can produce four effects randomly, some positive, some negative: they can petrify, curse, or poison Shanoa, or they will heal her by 100 HP.