Table of Contents:
To quickly jump to a section, type in the word that is in
brackets (e.g. to go to "Who is Maxim?", type in "WhoX".)

A) Introduction [IntX]
B) Updates [UpdX]
C) Who is Maxim? [WhoX]
D) How Maxim is Different from Juste [HowX]
E) How to Use Maxim [UseX]
F) What's Different from Juste's Game [DifX]
G) Boss Strategies [BosX]
H) Legal Stuff [LegX]
I) Thank Yous [ThkX]


To use Maxim, you must enter MAXIM on the naming screen after
having beaten the game at least one time as Juste.
To use Maxim in Boss Rush mode, you must press L+R while 
choosing the mode.


Section A: Introduction   ----   [IntX]
This section is the introduction to the FAQ.

Hello and welcome to my first (published) GameFAQs FAQ. I'm
Anagram, formerly Burpadoodle, KingZapdos, GolbatGuy, Burpcycle,
and a multitude of other names that were all banned. I'm here to
guide you on your road to using Maxim Kinshine, Juste Belmont's
best friend and skilled vampire-hunter. Aren't you lucky. If you
have any suggestions or problems with my FAQ, please e-mail me
at [email protected].

IMPORTANT NOTE: This guide contains spoilers, particularly
the section after the next, so I'd steer clear of reading this if
you haven't beat the game already.


Section B: Updates ---- [UpdX]
This section deals with updates, what I changed, and when they 
were changed.

If you have any suggestions for this FAQ, e-mail
[email protected].

Version 1.0: 02/02/05
Created the FAQ.
Version 1.1: 02/03/05
Added two sites to the list of people who can use this FAQ on 
their sites.
Version 1.2: 04/23/05
Fixed some grammatical errors and fixed the button imput for the
move "Maxim Mirage."
Version 1.3: 04/24/05
Added how to get by the gear puzzle in Castle B in "Section F,"
and fixed some minor grammatical issues.
Version 1.4: 04/26/05
Added to how use Maxim.
Version 1.5: 08/15/06
Reworded much of the FAQ and added the section descriptions.
Version 1.6: 08/24/06
Fixed a few typos and changed a few things.
Version 1.7: 09/09/06
Fixed and added some various things. Removed the edition tags.
Version 1.8: 03/08/07
Added the note on how Maxim can't get 200% exploration, fixed
some typos, and changed the wording of some paragraphs.
Version 1.8: 03/21/08 
Redid some of the FAQ to follow a template I use with my other
FAQs. The Version Number is now more in line with GameFAQ's 
numbering system.
Version 1.9: 03/27/08
Various updates and corrections.


Section C: Who is Maxim? ---- [WhoX]
This section details who Maxim Kinshine actually is and his past
(or at least what is known of it). It talks about what storyline
Maxim's game actually possesses. It has no actual importance 
game-wise.

Maxim Kinshine is the best friend of Juste Belmont, heir to the
Belmont legacy and grandson of Simon Belmont, who is the most
well-known and legendary Belmont in Castlevania history.
Maxim's past is almost totally unknown; he probably grew up with
Juste and Lydie Erlange as their friend. He's a ninja-like 
character, which is odd, not only because ninja have never 
gotten themselves involved with vampires in the Castlevania 
series, but also because you've got to wonder what the hell a 
ninja is doing in eighteenth century Europe.
Maxim wields a wakizashi named "Stellar Sword" according to
Wikipedia, but I can neither confirm nor deny this.
Whatever his reason may have been, Maxim left before the events
of Harmony of Dissonance to go and train. His goal? He wanted
not only to become a vampire hunter, but also to relieve his best
friend Juste of his cursed lineage. Of course, you've got to
wonder why, considering his family would then be cursed to have
to go and kill vampires every game, but whatever. In order to
prove himself worthy to Juste, he even went and gathered all of
Dracula's remains scattered all across Europe, a feat only Simon
Belmont himself had been able to do previously (and Simon clearly
burnt and destroyed those remains, so I guess both Dracula and
his remains get to be revived frequently).
Maxim came back to wherever it is Juste and Lydie (it's implied
that it's Translyvania, but the real Dracula was Romanian.) lived
to meet them again after years of honing his skills. He met with
Lydie before meeting with Juste, and, because he held all of 
Dracula's remains, was overcome by a mysterious spirit (Dracula).
He kidnaped Lydie, and hid her in Castlevania, Dracula's unholy 
castle and fortress used to annoy the Belmont family every 
century.
Then he became himself again, forgot about his recent actions, 
found his way to Juste, and asked that he help him. Of course,
Belmonts never refuse the possibility of heroism, and vampires
sealed the deal, so the two ventured into Castlevania together.
Anything happening after that is Juste's game, not Maxim's, so
it's irrelevant. Maxim's game is like Richter's in SotN and
Julius' in AoS: Play as that other guy and go kick Dracula's ass
without worrying about trivial detals like storylines and plots.


Section D: How Maxim is different from Juste [HowX]
This section deals with the mechanical differences between Juste
and Maxim in-game. It details Maxim's unique moves and abilities
and how they are better or worse than Juste's. Actual strategies
for using these abilities are found later (in the next section).

-To use Maxim, you must enter MAXIM on the naming screen after
having beaten the game at least one time as Juste.
-To use Maxim in Boss Rush mode, you must press L+R while 
choosing the mode.
-Maxim doesn't level up like Juste. Instead, he has set stats
that never change. Only his HP and hearts can change, and only
when you find find Max Life-Ups and Max Heart-Ups.
Level: 0
HP: 306
MP: 197
Hearts: 135
STR: 159
DEF: 191
INT: 131
LCK: 79
-Maxim uses his sword instead of a more traditional whip. When he
attacks with it, he unleashes a flurry of extremely quick sword
strikes that hurt an enemy for about 79 damage each attack (the
flurry counts as one attack, despite its look). It's faster, much
faster, than Juste's whip, but it doesn't cover Maxim's back for
a second like the whip does. It's harder to kill airborne 
enemies with it because your timing has to be more exact, as 
opposed to the whip which stays onscreen for a while. It stays 
onscreen for about 80% of a second, while the whip is onscreen 
for almost two seconds.
-Maxim's attack while crouching is an extremely short-range
kick. It's the shortest range attack in the game, but it's as
powerful as his sword strikes. What's special about it is that it
is incredibly quick, by far the game's quickest attack. He can
deal over 200 damage in a single second, but you leave yourself
wide open to attack due to you lack of maneuverability while
crouching. Additionally, it can't hit anything airborne for 
obvious reasons, fast-moving enemies are difficult to hit, and
places with multiple ranged enemies make the attack pointless.
-Maxim doesn't have many sub-weapons like Juste does. Instead,
he has only one sub-weapon: A very large shuriken (think Yuffie)
that boomerangs back to him once thrown. It's fairly strong (80~
damage) and can hit large enemies a couple of time before coming
back. It takes five hearts to use.
-Because he doesn't have a whip, he can't hold out his whip and
block weak enemies and projectiles like Juste can, which is a
minor loss at best.
-Maxim doesn't use items or equipment. He is armorless, and
doesn't use spellbooks like Juste does. He also doesn't pick up
relics, and as such, he has no menus (which disallows configuring
the controls, annoyingly enough). He can still use Max Life Ups
and Max Heart Ups, though, so it's worth exploring the entire
castle for them. Where you would find a relic, armor, weapon, 
spell, or item other than a Max Life Up or Max Heart Up as Juste,
as Maxim you will find a heart. Not a big heart, a small heart.
And it even starts disappearing when you enter the screen as if
an enemy had dropped it.
-Because of the above reason, Maxim can't heal himself like Juste
can. He can still heal himself (check out Maxim's unique moves).
-Maxim can slide from the beginning of the game, as well as
triple jump, something only Maria Renard could do. He also has
the powers of the Soul Orb (recognize amounts of damage enemies
take) and Fairy Journal (know your enemies' names). However, he
can't High Jump like Juste can.
-Maxim is immune to petrification.
-Maxim cannot get a 200% exploration score, because he cannot get
past the metal plate barring the way to the final boss in the 
main castle to explore the final boss area.
-Maxim has a plethora of special ninja-abilities that Juste
doesn't have access to. I took the liberty of naming them since
Konami didn't include names for them.
1) Screw Attack
To Use: Press Up + Jump while in the air
Cost: 5 MP per use (20 possible consecutive uses)
So named because it's a direct and obvious rip-off of Samus'
Screw Attack from the Metroid series.
Ig you press up and jump while in the air, you'll become 
invincible and deal damage to enemies, AND increase your 
altitude by a bit. If you use it several times, you'll increase 
your height drastically and get over what few cliffs your Triple
Jump couldn't get you over. It's fairly useful, but it costs you
five MP per use (almost nothing).
2) Maxim Mirage
To Use: Forward, Back, Down, Attack
Cost: 100 MP per use (One possible consecutive use)
Maxim uses that annoying move he used when you fought him. Yeah,
THAT one. The one where he faces away from the screen, and
summons a dozen images of himself that kick stuff all over the
screen and heartily damage everything except you. You're almost
invincible while doing this, since most enemies (even bosses)
will stumble back or be killed when you use this attack, but not
totally (getting hit doesn't interrupt the attack). Beware,
however, that if you use this attack you're immobile for several
seconds, so bosses like Death's second form will shred right
through you. This does, however, deal HUGE damage, so it's quite
useful. It costs just over half your Max MP, though, so you'll
only get two, and the second one has to wait a few seconds. The
time it takes to input the command and ease of messing it up
hampers this ability's usage, however.
3) Ninja Heal
To Use: Up, Down, Down-Forward, Forward, Attack
Cost: 50 Hearts per use (Five possible consecutive uses)
Maxim's most un-ninja-y ninja move, he summons a huge holy pillar
around himself that heals him to full health. It has its uses,
considering Maxim can't use potions, but it costs a lot of hearts
(better than tapping into his MP, though). It's most useful
against bosses with two forms, like Death. Keep in mind that
those five possible consecutive uses are with your maximum
possible Hearts, however, with your base Heart Count, you've got
three uses of it.


Section E: How to Use Maxim [HowX]
This section deals with how to actually use Maxim as opposed to
using Juste.

Maxim plays much like Juste, but has many key differences.
Maxim doesn't wield the traditional Vampire Killer whip of the 
Belmont family, nor does he wield the Alucard Sword like Alucard
or the Alcarde Spear like Eric Lecarde. Instead, he wields a 
short ninja sword (wakizashi?), which he uses to kill stuff. 
Although you're specifically told the reason you don't need to 
use garlic and stakes to kill Dracula is because the Vampire 
Killer whip is special (and play LoI, it is), Maxim apparently
has no difficulty at all in killing Dracula using his ordinary,
run-of-the-mill ninja sword.
Regardless, Maxim plays differently from the Belmont family. His
attacks are quicker, less powerful (compared to Juste at level
45) and have less range. However, he has more mobility, is faster
on his feet, can stay in the air for almost a full minute using
his Screw Attack, and is extremely cool (really, he is). But, his
limited healing ability puts him a peg below Juste in power.
Maxim still plays mostly like Juste, though. He's has to be more
careful against certain powerful opponents like Death. Basically,
Maxim's strategies are much like Juste's, but tweaked:
-When fighting airborne enemies, you have to make your attacks'
timing more precise. You can't just leave your whip out for a
long time, but you can counteract this by Screw Attacking your
airborne foes if you don't mind the heart usage.
-When fighting a huge amount of weak opponents (like that one
screen that's full of stupid Mermen), Maxim has his Maxim Mirage
ability to clear them out instead of Juste's sub-weapons.
-Speaking of sub-weapons, his shuriken-y weapon is most useful
against giant enemies like Talos. Its uses otherwise are mostly
to keep Maxim damaging enemies but still at a safe distance. I'd
advise learning to use it, but not depending on it.


Section F: What's Different from Juste's Game [DifX]
This section addresses the castle's differences when Maxim plays
through it as opposed to when Juste goes through it.

-All rock walls (the ones you need the whip add-on, "Crushing
Stone," to destroy) are already gone, as are some other walls
that only Juste could have destroyed.
-All the blocks you needed the "Crushing Boots" to destroy are
already gone.
-Some enemies, mostly in beginning, have increased health to
compensate for your increased damage. As you go further in, the 
enemies usually have normal health.
-All items and relics you would have collected, save Max Life Ups
and Max Heart Ups, have been replaced by hearts. Not Max Heart
Ups or large hearts, hearts. Those little tiny ones that 
disappear when you enter the screen.
-Maxim does not use money, so tThe Merchant is gone.
-Enemies never drop items, though they still drop money, although
you can't find how much money you've collected.
-That large rock you needed to knock the Gate Guard into is gone
-All dialogue is gone. All of it. No storyline for you.
-You no longer fight Maxim as the game's second-to-last-boss, nor
do you fight Dracula Wraith's first form, you just go straight to
Dracula Wraith's second form.
-The gear puzzle in Castle B is solved by Juste by attacking the 
gears with any attack, for Maxim, only his Screw Attack will turn
the gear. It's kind of annoying to aim Maxim, but worth it, since
you get more map completion and another heart. This puzzle has
puzzled more Maxim players than any other.
-Although it's not a difference resulting from the castle, 
because Maxim can Triple Jump at the game's start, he can skip 
almost every boss and most areas.


Section G: Boss Strategies ---- [BosX]
This section deals with how to fight bosses using Maxim (and 
whether or not they exist in Maxim's game).

1. Giant Bat - HP 400
The first, and by far the easiest, boss in the game, Giant Bat 
should pose absolutely no problem for even an inexperienced user
of Maxim (or Juste).
Every three hits, he deforms into several dozen bats, and reforms
somewhere in the room. Just keep following him around and hitting
him. Sometimes, he'll wrap himself in his wings and try to drill
into you, just keep moving and he'll miss, you can hit him five 
or six times during this time. He'll occasionally spit out a 
slow-moving fireball. Even if Giant Bat hits you it's negligible
at worst. Your shuriken will rip RIGHT through him.

2. Living Armor - HP 900
Almost as easy as Giant Bat, Living Armor shouldn't be a problem.
His entire strategy is to step extremely slowly towards you, 
raise his oversized sword over his head, and bring it down on 
you, all impossibly slowly. All you need to do is keep smacking 
him until he stumbles backward (for every couple of hits you deal
him, he'll stumble backwards unless you hit him while his sword 
is raised), then keep smacking him. If he's about to bring his 
sword down, just backdash. His hits are reasonabily damaging, 
however, so don't be stupid or anything.

3. Skull Knight - HP 1600
The Skull Knight consists of three forms, and is the first boss
that really poses any sort of challenge.
For his first form, he has two attacks: Raising his sword then 
stabbing fowards, and jumping on you. His sword attack is easily
backdashed, he takes like three seconds to actually use the real
attack, but it does have some range, so be careful. His jumping
attack is also easy to avoid, just move. Really, just move.
In his second form, he loses the sword but keeps the shield. If 
you keep attacking him, he'll hide behind it and is invincible.
He's got two attacks; the jump attack, easily dodged, and a much
more dangerous teleport attack: He crouches, looks at you, and
teleports to wherever you are. When you see it coming, jump onto
a platform and you're impervious to it. Not quite going to work,
Mr. Skull Knight.
His third form is the most annoying. He loses the shield, keeps 
the jump attack, and learns the Beam Skeleton move squared; that 
is, he stands still for a moment and then unleashes a massive and
damaging beam of death. You can just duck to avoid, but because
Maxim kicks while crouched instead of whipping, you probably 
can't touch him. If you can, however, try to get in close enough
to kick him, you can deal well over 300 damage before his stupid
beam is done.

4. Golem - HP 1408
Golem hits hard and is slow, he's your generic strong-but-slow 
bad guy. He's very easy, however, just because he's so
predictable. In his first form, he's got two attacks: Stomping
the ground, causing boulders to fall from the ceiling, dealing
moderate damage but is easily avoided because of the time the 
boulders take to fall. His other attack is holding his arm out 
and punching you literally five seconds later. This hurts A 
LOT, but it's easy to dodge with backdash.
His second form is even more predictable; he has but one attack.
He always stomps towards you, then uses the red sphere in his 
head to spout magma (lava?) at you. It doesn't hurt much and is
easily dodged, but it lasts long enough to be a pain, so don't
try dodging it by jumping. Stand on a platform and just attack
him whenever he isn't spouting lava, I know it doesn't look like
it'd hit him, but it does.

5. Minotaur - HP 1920
Pathetic. He's got three attacks: Swinging his axe down at you,
but he takes forever to do it, so just backdash, throwing his axe
like a boomerang, just crouch or jump over it, and charging at
you.
Keep attacking whenever he isn't attacking. For every several 
hits he stumbles back like Living Armor. When he raises his arms
in triumph he's about to charge at you, just jump onto a platform
and he'll be stuck in a wall where you can attack him for several
hundred damage. But, he jumps out of wall all at once, so be 
careful or your ass will get butt-stompted.

6. Devil - HP 2176
Devil is actually hard if you don't know what you're doing. 
First, never, ever, ever touch him if you can avoid it, you'll be
cursed, and that eliminates Maxim's greatest advantage; mobility.
Second, you need to know his attacks:
-Landing on a platform and changing up a beam, which he then
releases. It follows the ground for a short while, just run away
from it.
-Charging up a punch. Just get behind him or attack from the air
with air-kicks.
Just avoid touching him directly and you'll be fine.

7. Giant Merman - HP 3520
Why does an overgrown fish have more HP than a devil? Who knows.
Anyway, Giant Merman is easily bested, you don't even need to 
know his attacks. But, knowing them can't hurt, right?
-He can summon two mermen from the water underneath the stage,
just kill them before they spit out water streams. Even if you
fail to kill them, they deal so little damage it's hardly worth
caring about.
-He can raise one of his arms, summoning a wave that follows the
ground and is easily jumped over.
-He can curl up into a ball and try to run you over, just stand
on a platform or jump over him.
Just attack him until he dies. He couldn't be more pathetic.

8. Max Slimer - HP 3680
Max Slimer is an interesting boss. Keep in mind that no matter 
how small he gets, you can always hit him with you sword, even if
it doesn't look like it. Anyway, every attack you make not only 
decreases his size, but knocks off one or two smaller generic 
slimes that are annoying to have to kill as Maxim, since you'll
have to get in close to kick them or use your shuriken.
He can also jump onto the ceiling, just wait him out until he 
falls down.
He seems hard at first, but just keep attacking him to show him
who's the real boss.

9. Peeping Big - HP 2000
Wow.... just wow. Two boss battles, IN A ROW, of normal enemies
that are just bigger... *sigh...*
Peeping Big is big and easy to hit, but only attacks on his eye 
count for damage. Any attack makes him rebound, so just corner 
him. So, you're thinking "Well, if he's that easy to corner, and
he's got nearly no HP, he must have some kickass attacks, huh?"
No. No, he does not. His one and only attack is flailing around 
his tail. Just avoid it. Hell, don't avoid it, it barely hurts.

10. Legion (Saint) - HP 1920
FINALLY, a boss who is a challenge. Legion (Saint) is actually
tough to kill. He doesn't attack directly, but for every attack
you make, tiny Legions come off him and fly at you. These hurt,
so destroy them quickly. What you have to do is just keep hitting
him until his centerpart opens. Make your own joke about what it
looks like, I know you want to. Anyway, you have to hit the hole
to hurt him, and in order to that you have to get in close, so 
you'll probably have to sacrafice some health to hurt him, 
nothing Maxim can't handle, though. If you can't spare the 
health, I hope you like shurikens.

11. Shadow - HP 1600
Why do all the bosses have sucky HP amounts now? Anyway, Shadow 
has four forms, with four attacks:
-Evil head form. He floats around and looks evil. He's 
invincible, but he can't hurt you, even if you touch him. He 
really just uses this form to transform into other forms.
-Panther form, his first form. He turns into a panther, dashes at
you quickly, runs to the room's edge, turns around, and repeats.
It does hurt, so if you want to attack him during this form, just
wait until he pauses at the room's edge to hit him two or three 
times. Alternatively, shurikens-ahoy!
-Scimitar form, he floats around slashing at air randomly. He 
does come at you, however, so try to keep moving. The form's 
weird shape is hard to hit at times, but keep at it and he'll go 
down.
-Moth form. He turns into a moth, flys around, and drops 
poisonous spores. Just stay in the air, not under him, to avoid
the spores and keep attacking him.

12. Pazuzu - HP 4500
Pazuzu can be easy or hard, but usually hard, if only because 
this is a battle of attrition because of his high HP count.
His attacks consist of summoning Tiny Devils, which can get in 
the way, so just hit them once to kill them, jumping on you, 
stand under a platform whenever you can because this comes at you
fast, and spiting fireballs, his main attack. Just try to dodge 
the fireballs by staying in the air.
Whenever he isn't attacking is your chance to attack. I know it
doesn't help much, but this just a battle of beating the crap of
each other and seing who's left in the end, like Samus vs. Ridley
Metroid games.

13. Minotaur Lv. 2 - HP 4200
He got a paint job, now he's white. Random choce of color, or 
subtle social commentary on the part of Konami? You decide. He's
slightly tougher, but you just have to know what to do.
Instead of an axe, he has a flail. It's the same basic attack,
but while the chain can't hurt you, the ball hurts a lot more  
than his old axe.
He's got the same attacks otherwise, sans his boomerang attack, 
which was replaced by nothing.

14. Legion (Corpse) - HP 4620
NOTE: If you're hit by him, you're cursed, so don't get hit.
This is like Legion's previous form, except more annoying.
Attack the outer shell until it opens and reveals a large corpse
who you need to attack. Do so. All throughout this, Legion 
releases tiny maggots who you can't attack with your sword 
because they're too short, so be careful of them and shuriken 
them away when you need to.

15. Talos - HP 4200
The coolest-looking boss in the game is a giant robot with a blue
vein on his leg. Attack said vein. His only attacks are trying to
stomp you (just backdash, he'll never corner you) and flailing 
his arm wildly. Just backdash when you his arm coming at you, 
wait for it to go away, and keep attacking away.

16. Death - HP 3920
The only Death that doesn't have 4444 HP (it makes sense for him 
to have that number of HP in Japanese, trust me), is actually 
fairly tough (for a HoD boss, anyway). His first form is 
annoying, if not hard. It's his generic form from game-to-game, 
he'll attack you with his scythe, just backdash the swing, he'll 
throw his scythe like a boomerang, which is duckable, and he'll 
summon stupid kamas, which can get it the way, so destroy any you
see coming that think might pose a threat. Once you kill him, he 
becomes

17. Death's Second Form - HP 2800
He turns into a giant... snake? that jumps around the room in a 
very predictable pattern. You must attack his head. You can stand
on his spine to have an attacking point, but once he gets to the 
room's edge, ride's over, jump over his tail, which damages you.
In order to board his back, you must jump over his head and 
scythe-arms, which attack you if get close, but don't do anything
if you're not in range, which makes it hard to see their attacks
coming at you. It's easiest not to take risks and jump triple 
jump onto his back (Maxim can stay in the air for a long period 
of time compared to Juste). Note that if he hurts you, it HURTS,
so don't get hit.

18. Cyclops - HP 4680
Unlike the mythical version, looking at this guy's eye does 
squat. He's armed with a large hammer: He's Minotaur lv. 3 in 
everything but name.
He'll raise his hammer over his head and attack whatever is in
front of him, and if you backdash, it'll be nothing. He'll also
charge at you, just jump to avoid it. He WON'T get stuck in the
wall, though. This battle is easy, but it takes a while.

19 & 20. Maxim and Dracula Wraith (First Form)
Maxim doesn't fight them. Maxim I can understand, but why cut out
Dracula Wraith's first form? It makes the battle longer and more
epic. Ah well.

21. Dracula Wraith (Second Form) - HP 6666
Well this sucks. It's all of Dracula's remains put into.. 
whatever this thing is. But, I do know it's way too easy. The 
battle's coolest part is his HP count. Well, bah.
Dracula Wraith is easy, so long as you don't do anything stupid.
He can either summon a giant energy beam from his eye, just duck,
you can't possibly kick him because his arm will get in way, or
attack you with his giant arm, which you can simply backdash to
avoid. Whenever he's between attacks, just attack him.
It's sad he continues the tradition of pathetic final bosses in
RPGs.
You can screw attack over him and stab him in the back. He won't
turn around and his arm won't reach you.


Section J: Legal Stuff ---- [LegX]
This section is about boring legal stuff.

Layman's Version:
Thou shalt not steal this FAQ. If you want to use this FAQ on 
your site, you need to ask permission by e-mailing me at 
[email protected]. If you do, and I agree, do not edit the FAQ
in any way, and give me credit.

Lawyer's Version:
Copyright 2008 Adam Sokol
This FAQ is for personal use only, do not sell, distrubite, or do
anything else with the FAQ.