Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow - Julius Mode

 

I finished Dawn of Sorrow months ago, but I've got one more thing to take a look at. Finishing the game unlocks "Julius Mode", one of the many 'Vania postgame modes where you play as a different character. However this one is particularly notable because A) They really went the extra mile here, giving you a party of three new characters to switch between, and B) It's the closest we'll ever get to a Julius Belmont 1999 game (which is kind of crazy considering that's technically the canonical final battle between the Belmonts and Dracula, and we never got a game for it).

The game starts out pretty much the same as the base game, with Julius fighting through the same areas. He's got a double jump and a particularly strong whip attack (that can only be swung left, right, and waved around). He's considerably stronger than Soma is at the beginning of the game. Also, he can gain levels as you progress. Not sure what levels actually give him, because there's no stat screen to look at here. He gains levels very quickly, so presumably he gets even stronger before too long.

Julius may hit really hard, but he doesn't have much HP, so you need to be careful when fighting bosses with him. The first boss here is still a bit of a challenge. Besides the whip, Julius can also throw axes (at the cost of about a quarter of the stamina meter, so you can throw four before needing to regen).

Huge improvement here, when Julius defeats bosses, the glyph-drawing thing happens automatically. This already makes Julius Mode superior to the base game (too bad it's locked behind the base game), and it's definitely worth playing.

It gets better though. Find Yoko early in the game and...

...she joins the group, meaning you can now switch to her at any time. She is quite fun to play as:

Yoko is a spellcaster, and has 3 main spells to throw around. First is this burst of fire, which kinda functions as a melee attack. Every spell she uses causes some loss of stamina, and the stamina meter regens over time. Same as using special weapons as Julius.

Second is a back arch and an ice-elemental spike attack that AOEs in all directions. Potent against groups of smaller foes, but uses a lot of stamina.

Third is an electric attack that fires three lightning orbs that home in on foes. This is the best one to use on bosses, and is quite overpowered if all 3 of them zero in on one foe.

To make things even more like Castlevania III, progress about halfway through the map and...

...Julius runs into Genya Arikado, the villainous-looking raven-haired guy who helps Soma out.

Not only did Genya surprisingly never turn out to be a villain, he's also...

...ALUCARD. And it feels like it should have been obvious in retrospect. "Arikado"?

Alucard now joins the group, to fill out our three-person team. He looks and plays exactly like he does in Symphony of the Night. Only difference is, since this doesn't have a menu screen, he can't equip anything and is limited to his default state.

From this point on, I mostly play as Alucard due to how nimble he is. The kicker here is that all three characters are awesome and worth playing through as, so really Julius Mode might as well be three different modes in one. Outstanding. This is the best extra mode in any of the 'Vanias I've played.

Alucard can turn into a bat and fly around, giving you access to almost all of the map.

Alucard's default weapon is this blue lightsaber. It's no Crissaegrim, but it'll do. You progress through the castle and defeat the same bosses as Soma, only it's considerably easier with this trio.

Sadly, Julius himself is probably the least-OP of the group, and can get overlooked in his own mode.

Alucard stumbles upon some sort of harem. Hell no, he can't handle seven demon-women!

Get to the end, and the final boss is...Soma. Whoa, that's a surprise. This is a followup to the "Soma turns into Dracula" dark ending.

Soma summons various minions and uses Drac's powers. It's a super tough fight.

Remember when Julius promised Soma that if he turned into Dracula, Julius would be there to slay him? Yeah.

Soma can also bust out absorbed special attacks, like this GIANT AXE.

After flipping between the trio and taking down his first form, he goes to a second form that's recognizable as Dracula's final form from several earlier games.

This form is a beast, and uses the same attacks it does in the other games. This is where Yoko's lightning-ball attack really shines.

Defeat Soma with Julius, and the old Belmont says something in Japanese at the very end of the fight. It translates to "I'm sorry". I guess things finally went full circle.

This almost feels like the legit canon ending to the series, with Julius Belmont standing tall to end the Dracula lineage. It always felt weird to me that the series canonically ends with Soma living on as Dracula's living successor/embodiment and just sorta keeping that under control. And this is basically the very last image in the existing series timeline. Whether one considers this canon or not, this is a damn good extra mode that propels Dawn of Sorrow ahead of most of the other Igavanias.

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