History VideoGame / BloodstainedCurseOfTheMoon

''Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon'' is a {{Retraux}} 2D action-platforming game released for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and PC in 2018 by Creator/IntiCreates, one of the former developers of ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight''. ''Curse of the Moon'' came to fruition as a stretch goal from the Kickstarter campaign that crowdfunded the original ''Bloodstained'' project, whereupon the stretch goal promised to release an 8-bit style spinoff title to the core ''Bloodstained'' game.

* EveryTenThousandPoints: The game awards an extra life at 20,000-point thresholds, signified by a unique jingle when you reach said threshold.

* ScoringPoints: Still very much a thing, although the game takes an unusual stance in not displaying ''quantifiable'' points, instead displaying your points as a gauge marking how far you are to the next OneUp as opposed to EveryTenThousandPoints.

* TacticalSuicideBoss: Bloodless, the EvilIsSexy red lady from the trailers who controls blood, appears as the level 6 boss. She would be almost unbeatable were it not for the fact that, for some weird reason, she summons floating umbrellas that you can use as platforms to reach her, and you can also use them as coverage from her bloody rain attack (it is the only way to avoid it, by the way). To add insult to the injury, the umbrellas can't even hurt you!

* RedHerring: The score/life counter at the top right of the screen also has a timer function, which would indicate the presence of a TimedMission. There is nothing of the sort; the timer (currently) does nothing, as it's always set to infinite. WordOfGod says that it'll be functional in the upcoming Legend Mode with stage-by-stage time limits.

* SchizoTech: Not only are MiniMecha somehow existing in the 16th century, [[spoiler:the heroes are somehow able to use Alchemical knowledge to ''build their own starship'']].

** The enhanced sword attacks of the Soul Eraser and Daizangetsutō basically give Zangetsu the [[VideoGame/MegaManZero Z-Saber]].
** Speaking of Inti's references to a [[VideoGame/MegaManZero previous series,]] [[spoiler:Mephisto's]] BeamSpam attack is shot-for-shot Seraph Copy-X's own BeamSpam from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'', slowed down to account for a lack of a dash or wall climb in this game, except for the fact the orbs the lasers are shot from are colored red and blue… making them look a lot like Crea and Prea from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3''.
** Dominique's Resurrection Anthem sub-weapon is based on the signature ability of [[VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvoltSeries "The Muse" Septima]].

* JackOfAllStats: Zangetsu, aside from having the largest health pool, meets this. While he's not as good as other characters in certain areas and he doesn't have any unique abilities that let him use shortcuts or get easily get powerups like the other three, he's also not weak in any areas.

* LightningBruiser

* MainCharacterFinalBoss: The main playable character, a demon hunter called Zangetsu, is [[spoiler:possessed by the final boss at the end of the game. If the player had opted to recruit Miriam, Gebel and Alfred before then, a new campaign called Nightmare Mode will be unlocked. It consists of those three characters joining forces to break the curse, which culminates in a climactic final battle against their former friend.]]

* WhipItGood: Miriam uses a whip as her primary weapon. Much like the Vampire Killer of ''Castlevania'', there's a slight delay before it actually attacks.

** The Final Episode brings in mind [[spoiler:''Konami VideoGame/WaiWaiWorld'', a platforming game where you go to various locales to recruit additional heroes (although in Bloodstained's case, it's optional), then engage in an UnexpectedShmupLevel near the end where the heroes take to the space to confront the final enemy]].

* WeirdMoon: Pay close attention to the Moon as you progress through each Episode, especially if you unlocked Episode EX before playing the Final Episode. [[spoiler:You'll notice it progressively become ''bigger'' compared to previous Episodes.]]

** If Zangetsu fights Gremory alone, he performs a far larger and stronger version of his Ultimate mode ChargedAttack by charging it for far longer than normal while Gremory is busy doing her own attack. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments "Cleave the Moon" indeed.]]

* DesperationAttack: Almost all of the bosses will try to pull something off when their HP is depleted. [[TakingYouWithMe These attacks tend to kill their users in the process, though.]] [[SenselessSacrifice With one exception, they also can't actually kill you]].
* DevelopersForesight: Since it's possible to arrive at Stage 8 without recruiting any allies, the stage's name changes from "Curse the Moon" to "'''Cleave''' the Moon" and [[spoiler:Zangetsu [[FinishHim finishes]] Gremory by doing just that.]]

* FinishHim: The two final bosses get this, both in needing you to manually finish them off, and the opportunity comes when they decide to [[LetsGetDangerous stop screwing around]] and use their respective OneHitKill attacks. However, specific conditions must be met: Gremory requires you to [[spoiler:come alone]] while [[spoiler:Zangetsu]] requires you to play Nightmare Mode. The latter has a failure requirement ([[spoiler:let Alfred get hit even once]]) while the former is a glorified cutscene that nonetheless lets you deal the final blow yourself instead of just watching it happen.

** Crosses with DevelopersForesight if you enter Stage 8 without any allies, regardless of whether you killed them, ignored them, or some variation between the two. [[spoiler:The stage's name changes from "Curse the Moon" to "'''Cleave''' the Moon" and as shown under CutscenePowerToTheMax, that's exactly what Zangetsu does]].

** Ultimate Zangetsu can dash and double jump[[labelnote:*]] from the start, without first needing to kill Gebel and Alfred, respectively,[[/labelnote]] and his ChargedAttack deals massive damage in a large radius in front of and above him as well as having the largest health of the playable characters.

** If you kill the three party members to absorb their powers, [[spoiler: Zangetsu becomes the Dark Emperor and nobody is there to stop or save him]]. This unlocks Ultimate Mode.

** Alfred's Burning Sphere, Frostcalibur, and Voltaic Rays are named after [[VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt Gunvolt's]] Astrasphere, Luxcalibur and Voltaic Chains attacks. Burning Sphere and Frostcalibur behave somewhat similarly as their namesake attacks, and Frostcalibur has a similar blade design to Luxcalibur. Alfred's other spell, Soul Vision, may instead be based on Joule's ability to project an image of her soul as the Muse.

** The last level in Nightmare Mode is highly reminiscent of [[spoiler:''VideoGame/GetsuFumaDen'', a Shinto-style hell. Especially if you consider that Zangetsu himself also evokes Getsu Fuma, being an eastern swordmaster who fight demons.]]

* TokenEvilTeammate: Gebel, the curse-progenitor, and the BigBad of ''Ritual Of The Night'', is a VillainProtagonist here.

* AdvancingBossOfDoom: Stage 8 of Episode 1 prominently features Mephisto constantly pursuing the heroes throughout the stage in a ball of deadly flies. You can push the ball back with attacks, but if it catches up and consumes you it's [[OneHitKill instant death.]]

** In multiplayer, both players have access to a special ability called Mascotify, which transforms them into an invincible box that hovers around the other player. You can use this to have the other player carry you through a difficult room without taking damage or worrying about losing a life, but if the player carrying you dies you die as well.

* AstralFinale: In a surprise departure from its predecessor series [[spoiler:the final confrontation takes place on the moon.]]
* AwesomeButImpractical: [[spoiler:Speed upgrades in the UnexpectedShmupLevel are useful... to a point. Speed goes up to 10, and after collecting multiple upgrades you'll start going a bit ''too'' fast. This can make the Flying Armor incredibly difficult to steer, since certain segments require precision movement and having too many speed upgrades will likely make you crash into a wall/moon rock and die.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: For the first three levels of Episode 1, the bosses would prepare to do a LastDitchMove like the bosses from the first game... only for your new party members (Dominique, Robert and Hachi) to pull a BigDamnHeroes and annul the attack.

* BigDamnHeroes: If you get the normal ending to episode 2, at the start of episode EX, The original trio of allies from the first game teleport in, find out what's going on and join you giving you [[spoiler:the Zanmatou, making what looked to be a bleak journey more hopeful.]]

** Episode EX's stage 2 is called "The Blue Rose" which is the signature sword that Miriam is seen wielding in her promotional images in ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight''.
** The subtitle for the Final Episode is "Cleave the Moon", much like the name of the last stage in the previous game if you didn't recruit any allies. Furthermore, attempting the final stage without recruiting allies changes the stage's name to "[[GratuitousLatin Luna Secare]]" meaning "cut the moon", [[spoiler:and this time around, Zangetsu does exactly that]].

** Going for TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in the Final Episode without picking up any allies gives a ''much'' more difficult [[spoiler:UnexpectedShmupLevel]] with a unique music track, an alternate form of the TrueFinalBoss and a special ending.

* CuttingTheKnot: Discussed in the Final Episode, where [[spoiler:Zangetsu asks Dominique why they didn't just get the Zanmatou from the outset instead of going through the adventure with the Soul Eraser before realizing that they needed the Zanmatou to keep Dominique alive. Dominique insists that they couldn't rely on finding the Zanmatou that easily, but Zangetsu points out that the Zanmatou was HiddenInPlainSight in a very obvious side room. Dominique blames her bad eyesight.]]

* DownerEnding: The bad ending of Episode 2 ends with [[spoiler:Zangetsu wounding, but not killing the FinalBoss, as he feared the Soul Eraser would take Dominique's life as well. This results in the boss using its LastDitchMove, and while Zangetsu, Robert, and Hachi escape alive, Robert and Hachi are too injured to keep going, forcing Zangetsu to continue alone.]]
* EarnYourFun: You can unlock Ultimate Zangetsu, infinite items and infinite WEAPON Points for Boss Rush, but to do so you must clear it on Veteran difficulty with the default settings.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Unlike either of its predecessors in the series, ''Curse'' [[spoiler:ends on an unambiguously positive note. No characters are killed, the demons are vanquished and the world is saved, and Zangetsu finally ends his curse. To earn this ending, however, the player will need to play through the entire game ''three times'' with various challenges and sacrifices to make on each playthrough.]]
* EasterEgg: Some of the bosses last ditch attacks can be countered by Ultimate Zangetsu's ChargeAttack, bifurcating them. Seeing as they can't kill you it's solely for style.
* FakeLongevity: In order to unlock every scenario in ''Curse of the Moon 2'', you need to play the entire game from start to finish no less than '''five times.''' The only things that change in each playthrough are your starting equipment, potential ally characters, and in certain cases stage access and difficulty, although each stage has a large bevvy of branching paths that can be accessed with different combinations of characters to make each playthrough feel different.
* {{Foil}}: It is interesting to see that members of Zangetsu's original and new teams are parallels to each other (to the point of possible counterparts)

** The last three rooms before fighting Gremory has enough high-value score drops to guarantee a OneUp every time you lose a life, granting you [[InfiniteOneUps infinite lives]] in a long-winded way.

* HardModeFiller: Episode 2 is all of the stages from Episode 1, but with tougher enemy placement and harder boss battles. [[spoiler:And you're not allowed to use Dominique and her useful utilities]]. On the bright side, Robert and Hachi are available from the get-go.
** Episode EX, very similar is unlocked by [[spoiler: failing to get the Zanmatou in Episode 2 is a similar go around but with just the original bunch of allies from the first game and the Zanmatou given to you from the get-go.]]

* InfinityMinusOneSword: The Zanmatō, which {{Nerf}}s Zangetsu back down to just one sword slice and normal sub-weapons[[spoiler:, yet can kill Mephisto without harming Dominique.]] See also SwordOfPlotAdvancement below.

** [[spoiler:Hachi has apparently followed Zangetsu ever since a fateful night's favor. Zangetsu also reveals that it was Robert who gave him the name "Hachi"; Zangetsu originally wanted to call him "Zangetsumaru" but "Hachi" stuck.]]

* LighterAndSofter: [[spoiler:None the playable characters end up dead,]] with the sub-plot being learning how to get along with people with different opinions. [[spoiler:And the BigBad of ''Ritual'' is [[AdaptationalHeroism re-imagined]] as [[TheHeart the moral compass!]]]]
* MarathonBoss: Fighting the TrueFinalBoss as Zangetsu alone rewards you with [[spoiler:a grueling multi-stage slugfest where you must destroy several skeletal rabbits in a row to get high enough to fight the actual boss.]]
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: A couple times the level boss can be seen in the background. Furthermore, keep an eye on the Moon as you progress through each Episode, even Episode EX.

* OneWayTrip: [[spoiler:The ride to the moon is implied to be one. The shuttle made to go there is damaged, but not totalled, in the landing and the ending naration never says that they return to Earth and explicitly notes no-one will ever know of their deeds. Either way they're all content to stay by the campfire looking up at the Earth on the moon.]]

* PowerUpLetdown: In Episode 2, you can try to gather three different colored swords to get the Zanmatou, and you're given quite the fanfare for unlocking it. However, doing that means you just {{Nerf}}ed Zangetsu into his vanilla form, no more 3 hit combo, no more vertical jumping slash, no more superpowered subweapons. [[spoiler: It's what you need to unlock the good ending, as its description is a weapon created to destroy evil without hurting what's good. Perfect for saving someone from the grip of a demon.]]

** Speaking of Inti's references to a [[VideoGame/MegaManZero previous series,]] [[spoiler: Mephisto's]] BeamSpam attack is shot-for-shot Seraph Copy-X's own BeamSpam from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1'' slowed down to account for a lack of a dash or wall climb in this game, except for the fact the orbs the lasers are shot from are colored red and blue...making them look a lot like Crea and Prea from ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3''.

** The Final Episode brings in mind [[spoiler:''Konami VideoGame/WaiWaiWorld'', a platforming game where you go to various locales to recruit additional heroes (although in Bloodstained's case, it's optional), then engage in an UnexpectedShmupLevel near the end where the heroes take to the space to confront the final enemy.]]

* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:Much like Zangetsu did at the end of the first game, it's Dominique who takes a dark magic shot to save her allies. Episode 2 is about Zangetsu, Robert and Hachi going to save her.]]

* UnexpectedShmupLevel: In the Final Episode, [[spoiler:after gathering all the materials needed, Alfred constructs an alchemist-based battle plane that travels to the moon and fires weapons based on the playable characters' abilities. Cue a top-down plane shooter gameplay similar to ''VideoGame/{{Twinbee}}'' or ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} / Life Force''.]]

* WeirdWeather: The first stage's background features a sea of clouds blowing past rather quickly. WordOfGod is that the team really likes moving stages but didn't want to repeat the LocomotiveLevel from ''Curse 1'' so they added a moving parallax background to invoke the feeling of movement in an otherwise static level.

* EenieMeenieMinyMoai: Stage 6 has several large moai statues in the background, has several as rising platforms, and also introduces leaping moai heads as enemies.

** Nightmare Mode is a dead ringer to ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow]]'''s Julius Mode: [[spoiler:The initial protagonist of the game becomes possessed by dark powers (Zangetsu/Soma), so his friends, a whip-wielder (Miriam/Julius), a staff-carrying wizard (Alfred/Yoko), and an otherworldly person who can shape-shift into a bat (Gebel/Alucard) go and try to save him, culminating in facing the corrupted protagonist as the final boss.]]

** Miriam's [[AnAxeToGrind Axe]] sub-weapon. It costs six WEAPON points for a slow, yet powerful swing; it has a very short range, a second-long delay before striking, and can be interrupted. However, it is the most damaging sub-weapon; in fact, it's so strong that it can OneHitKill most non-boss enemies. With enough practice, it can defeat most bosses in a few hits.

* PlayboyBunny: Strangely enough, some of the enemies in the level "Tragedy of Slaughter" are playboy bunny girls. They attack by high jumping and kicking up miniature shock-waves made of hearts as they land. They even have their own death animation where instead of exploding into a burst of blood, they explode into a small burst of pink hearts. It's possible that they are Lilis, a type of PlayboyBunny-themed [[HornyDevils Succubus]] from ''VideoGame/BloodstainedRitualOfTheNight''.

* UpToEleven: If ''Curse of the Moon 1'' is an evolution of ''Videogame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'' then ''2'' is this trope with the inclusion of three new playable characters bringing to playable character count to ''seven'' and the inclusion of two-player co-op.

** The true final stage of the game brings in mind [[spoiler:''Konami VideoGame/WaiWaiWorld'', a platforming game which has an UnexpectedShmupLevel near the end where the heroes take to the space to confront the final enemy.]]

** The last three rooms before fighting Gremory has enough high-value score drops to guarantee a OneUp every time you lose a life, granting you InfiniteLives in a long-winded way.

* SequelHook: After being killed as the final boss in Nightmare Mode, [[spoiler:Zangetsu's soul wakes up at the top of a building in a {{Cyberpunk}}-esque city revealed to be [[VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt Gunvolt's]] world]]. Cue the words "The End...?"

* SequelHook: After being killed as the final boss in Nightmare Mode, [[spoiler:Zangetsu's soul wakes up at the top of a building in a {{Cyberpunk}}-esque city]]. Cue the words "The End...?"

* AsskickingPose: In each campfire scene before each episodes' final stages, the characters will engage in tough posturing before getting started.