Castlevania: Rondo of Blood / Akumajou Dracula X: Chi no Rondo [PCE] Richter, Upper Path, 1LC

One of the best games in one of the greatest series of all time.
Stage 0 - 1:41
Just a playable opening cinematic. I find the easiest way to avoid Death's scythe throw is to jump as he's winding it up, but it doesn't really matter if you get hit.
Stage 1 - 2:39
If you read the sign on the second screen, it says the town is Aljiba, which is one of the towns in Simon's Quest. There's a hidden area leading to the serpent boss. It's a really easy stage, there's not much to say about it.
Stage 2 - 5:10
This stage is heavily based on the first stage from the original Castlevania. Dropping down the first pit in the behemoth's room will take you to a difficult area and the bone golem boss. The behemoth can be killed, but you don't get anything for doing it. Getting the key and using it to unlock the prison cell allows you to rescue Maria, who is this game's hidden playable character. The werewolf, like several other bosses, launches a final attack after being defeated. It can't actually kill you, it's just a shame thing.
Stage 3 - 11:01
Falling into a pit in the medusa head room will take you to an alternate path, but it still leads to the minotaur. If you make the three statues in the end of that room face to the right, they drop a point item. The room after the elevator leads to Dogether. I try to get fancy and kill the minotaur as it jumps at me then I pay for it. After hitting him one more time I assume he's dying and I pay for that too. Very sloppy.
Stage 4 - 16:35
This stage is full of alternate paths that mostly lead to the same place. The three switches at 19:12 determine what the next white dragon drops. The leftmost switch is the best one, causing it to drop 700 point bags of gold. I like the absurd physics on the spiked ball at 20:27. The area to the right of the hidden bomb leads to Carmilla. Most alternate bosses lead to alternate stages, but the alternate stage after Carmilla is special because it can only be accessed after you've beaten the game at least once.
Stage 5 - 22:34
There's a very strange secret in this game. Maria can jump over the ship's engine seen at 23:46 and access a room behind it. There's a door in the room, but it can't be entered and the room overall doesn't seem to serve any purpose. The painting is easy to avoid, but it should still be taken seriously because touching it is an instant kill. Death is pretty easy this time around. His second form counters the cross so don't use it on him.
Stage 6 - 30:17
This stage is a boss rush against four bosses from the original Castlevania, followed by Shaft. I highly recommend using the hidden bible. It's good against every enemy here. The giant bat and medusa are both pretty easy. The mummy's projectiles are tough to avoid unless you use the bible to destroy them. Frankenstein's monster follows a strict pattern and is easy to deal with. Shaft can be hard. You want to stay on the offensive as much as possible. He can't attack while he's jumping around.
Stage 7 - 34:15
The crumbling bridge can be tricky as Richter. The axe isn't always easy to hit the bats with, but it kills them in one hit so I like to bring it anyway. Annette is locked up in this stage and can be rescued, but unlike Maria she doesn't help out. I didn't find out until after recording this, but there's meat hidden in the room just before Shaft's ghost. Whip the rightmost wall to reveal it. Shaft's ghost's pattern is to summon a few bats, and then summon either the undead wyvern if he's on the right side of the screen, or the undead behemoth if he's on the left. The behemoth is much easier to deal with so I try to keep him on the left side whenever he's about to summon. The one time he summons the wyvern I get stuck underneath him and cheese my way out of it using the axe item crash's invincibility frames.
Stage 8 - 42:28
This stage is just a boss battle against Dracula and he's unfortunately pretty easy. His first form can take a long time so I use the cross to be a bit more aggressive and speed things up. I try to get cute and use the cross item crash's invincibility frames to avoid demon Dracula's shockwave attack, but it can't be used while there's a cross on screen, so I take a senseless hit.