Yet another normally impossible to encounter battle, but this time it's a little something more special. Richter never got to fight his own shadow before, but what if he did? Alucard was strong enough to break Richter's possession, and Richter Belmont is now out for some revenge against his possessed doppelganger and Shaft, the dark priest who controlled him.

Richter's boss form is tough, but also weak. His original stats only have 300 HP, meaning that he goes down very quickly. But he also hits like a tank, and he has a move that can soft-lock you. Richter's own sub-weapons and attacks are also mostly ineffective, as the boss has immunity against the holy attribute and almost all of Richter's weapons and attacks are marked as such. It's still possible to do, but it's not very fun or interesting, and the execution can be tricky. So, I decided to step out of the shadows once again and make the Richter mirror fight interesting and challenging, while not too overbearingly difficult if you mastered Richter's move-set.
First of all, I increased the health of both the player and the boss. Both Belmonts have 1200 HP, but the boss version also has additional 1200 HP that he recovers from the second phase. The boss can also switch sub-weapons freely and has no hearts limit, but even then the boss isn't much of a match if you know Richter's move-set. I also made sure to remove immunity and weaknesses, meaning that the boss can now actually take damage from you properly.

TACTICS:
Richter Belmont can be quite a push-over. He'll constantly charge at you and try to knock you down. Use your Blade Dash to ram into him, but only if you're close enough or he jumped into the air. Slide and Drop Kick can only be mostly used for escaping tight situations since the boss uses the Axe Item-Crash to avoid damage from the special moves. Uppercut is almost entirely useless and will most likely result in you getting hit by the boss' axes. Holy Cross is the best weapon for the fight, since it's perfect for controlling the boss and pushing him back, and while it's Item Crash deals quite a bit of damage when you hit him right, it burns out a lot of hearts. Back-flip can be very essential depending on the situation, since it puts you behind a bit and can save you from some of the boss' Sub-Weapons. The Vampire Killer whip's normal attack and brandishing are also and can be enough if you space yourself well against the opponent.
The first phase is pretty easy since Richter isn't so aggressive in it. Just use the Holy Cross Sub-Weapon and overwhelm him, put emphasis on strength and out-whip him. Watch out for his Blade Dash, because it soft-locks you once it hits you when you play as Richter. Once the second phase hits though, the real fight begins. He'll be using his full-power and will be far more aggressive. The boss will also use more Sub-Weapons and even more of their Item Crashes, but he will barely use the Blade Dash. All you need to do is keep your footing and watch out for all the projectiles. Use your special moves to evade certain attacks and gain some brief invincibility frames for ramming through his defenses.

Once possessed Richter Belmont's HP runs out, he will die and the fight will be over. Unfortunately, the game soft-locks since a cut-scene is supposed to occur whether you save possessed Richter or not.
Since Richter Mode is not compatible with cut-scenes, most of them do not work. Death can still be fought, but Succubus and even Richter cannot be fought against as Richter without the use of special cheat codes.

Some more things to say. I put the video of the ending at the end just to tie the fight into something proper, so it wouldn't end abruptly. I also manually put "Blood Relations" track in the first phase through video editing since the track in the game itself only plays in the cut-scene that happens between Richter and Alucard, and since I skip it the track doesn't play until at least the second phase where the next cut-scene of Richter taunting and powering-up happens regardless.

I can't put this out as a hack since I don't have any means to do that, but my other bigger hack, Rondo of the Night, will have a save file that'll be Richter at the top of the castle with 1200 HP. That hack re-balances the whole game for Richter Mode, and it if I ever find a way to bring it to the public, then fans of classic Castlevania games will have something to enjoy. Even if it won't be much, I still think this is the most fun I had in a Castlevania game.

Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997, PSX).

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