Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Deathless (Maxim Mode)

Maxim Mode is the high-octane, no-inventory alternate mode of Harmony of Dissonance, similar spiritually to Richter Mode. Unlike Richter Mode, however, the final boss of Maxim Mode isn't unlocked until you beat all the bosses, meaning there won't be any ten-minute rush version of this run.

Maxim Mode takes the advanced movement of Harmony of Dissonance's main game and hypercharges it. Maxim zooms around the castle like Sonic the Hedgehog and does somersaults through the air like he has the Screw Attack. Like Alucard in Symphony of the Night, Maxim has an instant-use sword attack that allows him to get much more aggressive than Juste.

While I find Maxim Mode incredibly fun, it, like Richter Mode, has a tool that I never figured out how to use; Maxim can use his MP to Screw Attack around, but he can also use it to summon clones of himself that fly around the screen doing damage to everything. The input combo required to activate this, however, was a little bit too tricky for me so I just ignored it. The mode's fun enough without it.

The mode is also slightly better thought-out than Richter Mode; Maxim cannot level up or gain any additional power throughout the mode, so all enemies (including bosses) have had their stats adjusted to provide roughly equal levels of challenge across both castles.

As a final note, I'm very proud of my resource usage/management in this run. I finally didn't overhoard hearts!

Done on emulator, mGBA.