The series debuted in Japan on September 26, 1986, with the release for the Family Computer Disk System (FDS), followed by an alternate version for the MSX 2 platform on October 30. Although the MSX 2 port (localized in Europe and Brazil as Vampire Killer) was released first outside of Japan, the series did not receive wide attention outside of Japan until the FDS version was ported to cartridge format for the Nintendo Entertainment System and localized for North American and European releases ofCastlevania in 1987. The series soon became one of Konami's flagship series.[peacock term]
The Castlevania titles have been released on various platforms, from early systems including the Nintendo Entertainment System to modern consoles. It has also been released for Pocket PCs Emulators and mobile phones.
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Series : The very first console title, Castlevania, released for the NES in 1986 by Konami, was a typical platform game in which the player takes the role of Simon Belmont, a descendant of the Belmont clan, a family of vampire hunters. He travels to Dracula's demonic castle, Castlevania and fights his way through the castle destroying Dracula himself and the castle.
and continue to the lastest game : Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2. Lords of Shadow 2 is an action-adventure game, the sequel to the 2010 game Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, and the 34th installment in the Castlevania franchise (37th if one includes the 3 Pachislot games). The game was developed by MercurySteam and published by Konami.[3] It was released late February 2014 in both North America and Europe and on March 2014 in Australia. A Japanese release is stated to be released on August 7, 2014. A downloadable chapter has also been released in March from the same year.
The story is set in both medieval and modern worlds[4] and follows a weakened Dracula who is on a quest to defeat his former enemy, Satan. Gameplay takes after the original Lords of Shadow but this time through an open world. The player controls Dracula who uses multiple powers and weapons to achieve his goals.
Characters :
Dracula
The Castlevania games have always had a single focus on the main antagonist, Dracula (ドラキュラ Dorakyura?), who is based on the original character by Bram Stoker. With a few exceptions, Dracula has been the villain of every title.
Originally named Mathias Cronqvist, Dracula is a former mortal turned wicked following the death of his wife,Marie. His lust for vengeance turned him into an immortal vampire. He later took the name Count Vlad Tepes Dracula. He desires to wage war against humanity for having killed his second wife (she was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake) and take the world under his possession, but has been foiled by the Belmonts in every generation of his immortal life.[1] When defeated, Dracula is prophesied to return again every 100 years.
Despite being the primary villain of the series, his role is often passive, and he simply waits in his castle, letting his monsters confront anyone for him. His appearance varies from game to game, but a few recurring ones exist. He is one of the playable characters in Judgment.
He is voiced by Gary Chalk in Captain N: The Game Master, Michael G. in Symphony of the Night, Crispin Freeman in Lament of Innocence, Douglas Rye in Curse of Darkness, Patrick Seitz in other entries, andRobert Carlyle in Lords of Shadow.
Death
Death (死神 Shinigami?) is present in all Castlevania games, except for Haunted Castle, Castlevania: The Adventure and Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge. Death is often a boss fought toward the end of the game. He is considered Dracula's second-in-command and most trusted minion. Sometimes he has played an important role to the storyline, such as Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. He is a playable character as the skeletal knight in Castlevania Judgment.
In most of his appearances, Death closely resembles the cultural personification of the Grim Reaper, being a legless skeleton in a hooded cloak with a scythe. Like Dracula, he can change into a second form upon being defeated in the game.
He is voiced by Dennis Falt in Symphony of the Night, Travis Willingham in The Dracula X Chronicles, Tony Oliver in Judgment and Tom Wyner in earlier games.
The character of Zobek, Lord of the Dead (voiced by Patrick Stewart) in the reboot Castlevania: Lords of Shadow has been speculated to be the version of Death of this universe, due to his relationship with Dracula. Additionally, the Lord of the Necromancers is at one point referred to as "Death itself". In the game's sequel, when Gabriel Belmont is forced into a confrontation with Zobek, he sheds his human form and takes on a more traditionalized appearance of Death (including wielding a large scythe).
Simon Belmont
Simon Belmont (シモン・ベルモンド Shimon Berumondo?, Simon Belmondo) appeared in Castlevania, Vampire Killer, Haunted Castle, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Super Castlevania IV, Castlevania Chronicles, andCastlevania Judgment. Simon was the first protagonist to appear in the series. Dracula placed a curse on Simon after he was defeated by him, but it was broken after Simon recovered Dracula's body parts and defeated him again after resurrecting him in Simon's Quest. Nintendo Power listed Simon as their seventh favorite hero, stating that while they respect all of the vampire hunters in Castlevania, he was the first.[2]
Simon's Castlevania Judgment incarnation (voiced by Keith Silverstein) was designed by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata.[3] Series director Koji Igarashi emphasized that these designs were different from what he envisioned, Simon in particular, but commented that this was how Obata envisioned them.[4] He added that while the design felt radically different, so did Kojima's.[5] Simon's design by Obata was criticized, which was perceived as too derivative of Obata's work on Death Note.[6]
In Haunted Castle, he has a wife called Selena, who is kidnapped by Dracula during their marriage.[7]
In Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, the main character Juste Belmont is Simon's grandson.[8] Simon is also playable in the Boss Rush mode.
Simon appeared in Captain N: The Game Master (voiced by Andrew Kavadas), a television cartoon featuring characters from contemporary games released for the Nintendo Entertainment System. He is depicted as an arrogant and vain vampire hunter who competes with the main character Kevin Keene for the heroine Princess Lana. Simon has a whip and a backpack of resources which he uses throughout the series. His appearance in the cartoon was met with criticism. Ben Rhudy of Monsters and Critics stated that he looks nothing like his video game counterpart, and that the show's creator DiC should have consulted the game before choosing this design.[9]
Simon Belmont appears in the rebooted series Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (voiced by Alec Newman), as the son of Trevor Belmont, and grandson of Gabriel Belmont, later known as Dracula. He seeks revenge for the murder of his parents and throughout the game is unaware that his father has been turned into a vampire known as Alucard or that Dracula is his grandfather.
Alucard
Main article: Alucard (Castlevania)
Alucard (アルカード Arukādo?) is Dracula's only child, the half-vampire son of the Count and a human woman named Lisa. He appears in Castlevania III, Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow, Judgment & Legends, and stars in Symphony of the Night. He is voiced by Robert Belgrade (Symphony of the Night) and Yuri Lowenthal (all other roles). A reference to the 1940s movie "Son of Dracula", Alucard is "Dracula" spelled backwards. This is a title Alucard seems to have adopted for himself, as his actual full name is Adrian Fahrenheighst Tepes.
Alucard also appeared in Captain N: The Game Master voiced by Ian James Corlett.
Alucard appears in Mirror of Fate, a chapter of the Lords of Shadow reboot series. It is revealed that this version of Alucard was originally Trevor Belmont, the son of Gabriel and Marie Belmont, before being turned into a vampire. Trevor grew up not knowing of his true origin until the Brotherhood of Light reveals to him who his parents were. Believing that his father, Gabriel who became Dracula, murdered his mother in cold blood, he decides to pursue him, in the hopes of destroying him and bringing peace. During the fight Trevor is defeated and stabbed with his Combat Cross. Dying and gazing at the Mirror of Fate he finally realizes the truth of what really happened to Gabriel and feels sorry for him, calling him his father. Dracula feeling confused, gazes at the mirror as well and learns who Trevor was all along. Remorseful for killing his own son who had been unknown to him the entire time, Dracula tries to bring him back to life by making him drink his blood, which seems to be in vain. Dracula mourns over his loss, and places Trevor in a coffin with the name Alucard, since he never learned his son's real name. Many years later Alucard awakens, with pale white skin, white hair, and glowing orange eyes. He meets up with Dracula and his own son, Simon. Alucard tries to finish what he started, angry that his father turned him into a vampire. Dracula asks Alucard to join him in remaking the world and destroying the brotherhood, but Alucard refuses. Dracula proceeds to attack Simon for being a Belmont, wishing to end the Belmont bloodline due to his hatred of his past life. Alucard and Simon manage to defeat Dracula, and part ways as Dracula's castle crumbles.Marie Belmont
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Marie (マリー Marī?) is Gabriel's beloved wife. She was brutally murdered by the evil forces of darkness and her soul trapped for eternity. Her spirit guides him on his quest to rid the land of evil.
Voiced by Natascha McElhone.
Pan
Pan (パン Pan?) is the ancient Greek god of the old forest who may hold a clue to the circumstances surrounding the death of Gabriel's wife. Pan has contacted the Brotherhood of the Light to tell them that Marie Belmont calls from the other side and wishes to speak to her husband, so Gabriel searches for Pan's hidden grotto to seek the truth. During Gabriel's journey, Pan assumes several forms including a horse, an eagle, and an armor clad knight.
Voiced by Aleksander Mikic.
Claudia
Claudia (クローディア Kurōdia?) is a mysterious barefoot mute girl who has the ability to speak to Gabriel telepathically. when they first meet she keeps hiding and running away from Gabriel, but later wants to help him in his journey. after she decides to help, she requests that he find several crystals to fight against the supernatural creatures.[42]
She is later known to be one of the last Aghartians, a now extinct race that created vast technologies ahead of its time; they were later wiped out after the lords of shadow took over the earth.
She is guarded by her Golem knight fabricated by her father shortly before his death, the golem lives on dead souls of supernatural creatures.
Baba Yaga
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Baba Yaga (ババ・ヤーガ Baba Yāga?) mysterious old hag, who is later seen as a mystical witch. She will help Gabriel, but wants a blue rose to make her young again for a temporary amount of time.
She is known to be wicked, but will help someone as long as they help her in return.
Voiced by Eve Karpf.
Satan[edit]
Satan (サタン Satan?) is the main antagonist of the series, and plotted all of the events of the first game. He is also the final boss.
He drops the God Mask at the end of the game (Castlevania: Lords of Shadow) which Gabriel uses to speak to his wife for a short time. He reappears in Lords of Shadow 2, as a Heavy-Metal Rock Lord, where he serves as the main antagonist and final boss again. This time Satan chooses to possess Dracula's son, Alucard, but in the end flees from his body and is killed by Dracula, who uses his old Vampire Killer weapon to deliver the final blow.
Toy Maker[edit]
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At a time, the Toy Maker was the brightest pupil of Rinaldo Gandolfi; Though, he much preferred to build toys for children and the skill that gave him his name made him legendary across the lands. However, hearing of his skill was Walter Bernhard, a member of the Bernhard family who offered the Toy Maker a place in his Castle to make his craft.
In time the Toy Maker realized, but not until it was too late, that Walter came from a family of dark occultists who summoned a demon to possess his kind soul, twisting his craft in the darkest way and making for, the Castles Master, weapons of death and destruction, some being the Dark Pain, the Stopwatch, and the Macabre Puppet, and Gargoyles.
However, the Demon couldn't completely corrupt the Toy Makers soul resulting in something of a split personality; the original kind old man and the childish and sadistic demon within. Sometime during this period, the Toy Maker was touched by the puppet of a child seeking to free his soul from the demon and escape Walter Bernhard; who then discovered he had regained his innocence, Walter removed his heart, putting the Toy Maker into a deep slumber.
It is unknown his fate, while Carmilla took over the castle, and only then until Gabriel Belmont, rechristened as Dracula, took over as well.
Agreus[edit]
Agreus is the brother of the deceased Pan, coming to Dracula's Castle to seek revenge against his killer, the vampire lord Dracula. First Agreus lures Dracula into the Castle's gardens with a fragment of the Mirror of Fate knowing that he would seek the fragment for his son Trevor Belmont. As Dracula attempts to claim the fragment, Agreus steals it from him and informs the vampire that he intends to avenge Pan's death. Dracula tries to reason with Agreus that his brother chose to sacrifice himself for a cause that he believed in, but Agreus retorts that Pan only died to serve his quest for power. Declaring that Dracula would pay for what he had done, Agreus retreats into the maze, goading the vampire to follow him.
Now trapped inside the maze with the vengeful God, Dracula is forced to evade him in order to escape. Agreus taunts the vampire, claiming that he would relish hunting him down but Dracula manages to avoid him long enough to reclaim the fragment from his Owl Familiar. Enraged, Agreus vows to destroy Dracula and challenges him to a final battle. Eventually the two warriors tumble off the edge of the cliff but Dracula uses Agreus to break his fall. With the Old God weakened and unable to fight back, Dracula proceeds to crush Agreus' skull, killing him.
