Castlevania: Bloodlines Cheat Codes & Secrets

Configuration Screen Cheats

Most of Castlevania: Bloodlines’ hidden features are accessed through the Configuration screen, reachable from the title screen by pressing Start to navigate to Options.

For the Stage Select, once the cursor appears, use Left/Right on the D-pad to cycle through stages 1–6, then press Start to jump directly to that stage with your chosen character.

Expert Mode

Expert Mode is Bloodlines’ second-loop difficulty — enemies deal more damage, some checkpoint refills are removed, and enemy patterns are more aggressive.

Expert Mode is worth attempting for the alternate experience — the game was designed with high replayability in mind, and enemy placements feel meaningfully different at this difficulty level.

Sound Test

The Sound Test is accessible directly from the Configuration/Options screen without any additional code. Navigate to the BGM or SE (Sound Effect) entries using Up/Down, then use Left/Right to scroll through tracks and press A or C to play them. This covers all music tracks and sound effects in the game.

There is no hidden track unlocked by a code in the standard retail build, but the music player lets you listen to all compositions including the unused or looping variants.

Character Selection and Hidden Play Styles

Bloodlines ships with two distinct characters selectable at the start screen:

There is no hidden third character or unlock — the two characters are both available from the first run. However, selecting Eric Lecarde on a second playthrough constitutes a significantly different gameplay experience due to his movement mechanics and the routes his pole vault opens up.

Infinite Lives and Credit Exploits

The game awards a 1-Up at specific score thresholds. Farming these requires reaching a repeatable kill loop:

• In Stage 1, the staircase section with the armor knights respawns enemies if you move just far enough left and return. Each kill contributes to your score multiplier for 1-Up farming before the first boss.
• Sub-weapon hearts can be stockpiled by backtracking in early rooms where candles respawn on re-entry.

There is no true infinite-lives glitch in the conventional sense, but the 9-lives Configuration code (see above) combined with an Expert Mode run effectively gives you the maximum stock to start.

Stage Passwords

Castlevania: Bloodlines does not use a password system. The game is designed as a single-session, arcade-style run — you play from Stage 1 through Stage 6 in one sitting, relying on lives and continues rather than save states or passwords. This was an intentional design choice by Konami to preserve the tension of a continuous run. The Stage Select cheat (see Configuration Screen section) is the workaround for practice.

Beneficial Glitches and Exploits

Eric’s Spear Vault Skips

Eric Lecarde can use his spear pole-vault to skip platform sequences the game expects you to climb conventionally. Notable locations:

• Stage 2 (Atlantis Shrine): Several rising water sections can be bypassed by chaining vault jumps off of low ceilings and ledges, shaving significant time off the stage.
• Stage 4 (Munitions Factory): The rotating gear rooms have a ceiling clip point where Eric can vault above the intended path and land on a higher platform, skipping one full sub-section.

Sub-Weapon Freeze Trick

Using the Stopwatch sub-weapon (John Morris only) just as a boss begins its entrance animation freezes the boss in place for the full duration. Combined with the whip’s reach, you can deal significant damage before the boss AI activates. This is especially effective on the Stage 3 boss where the window for the freeze is generous.

Holy Water Boss Stun Loop

Against several bosses, John’s Holy Water (vial sub-weapon) causes a stun frame on hit. With enough hearts, you can loop the stun indefinitely against bosses with smaller hitboxes by throwing a vial the instant the stun recovery animation begins, effectively locking them in place for the kill.

Medusa Head Manipulation

In stages featuring Medusa Heads (the sinusoidal flying enemies), standing at specific horizontal positions causes their flight arc to peak below or above John’s whip strike zone, letting you walk through without engaging them at all. The pattern is deterministic — stop at the pillar edge and wait for the second head to pass before advancing.

Developer Easter Eggs

• The game’s European title, “Castlevania: The New Generation”, is embedded in the ROM header — visible in hex editors — alongside the Japanese title “Vampire Killer.” The North American “Bloodlines” name appears only in the NA ROM’s header string.
• The intro cutscene’s art style deliberately mirrors the look of 1990s horror film posters as a nod to the development team’s stated influences; the artist credits embedded in the ROM reference this aesthetic choice in Japanese.
• Setting the BGM player to track 00 (silence/null) and pressing A+C simultaneously on certain Genesis hardware revisions produces a brief blip of an unused sound effect that survived in the sound bank from an earlier build — not accessible through normal gameplay.

Tips for Speedrunning and High Score Runs