The first of these installments was the sleeper hit Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, which followed Alucard, the half-human, half-vampire son of Dracula who previously debuted in Dracula's Curse, on an adventure through two versions of Dracula's Castle to defeat his father and avenge his mother's death, all the while attempting to save Richter from his possession by the dark priest Shaft. This game would later see an international release when adapted for the SNES as Castlevania: Dracula X, a 2.5D remake through The Dracula X Chronicles in 2007 and a release on the Wii's Virtual Console service in 2010 (albeit the original Japanese language version).įollowing Rondo of Blood, the franchise would begin to deviate from its side-scrolling platformer roots and expand into a subseries now referred to as the " Metroidvania" genre, notable for sharing aspects with Nintendo's Metroid series such as a more expansive, interconnected map, secret areas and upgrades, and greater control over the player character and their abilities. This installment boasted many features that would be incorporated into later titles, such as wholly separate playable characters (as opposed to the switching system of Dracula's Curse) and additional techniques for the playable characters beyond basic jumping and attacking skills. Of these, Bloodlines would see a normal release internationally on the Sega Genesis, while the entry more significant to the series' development, Rondo of Blood, would see a Japan-exclusive release on the Super CD-ROM² System, an add-on to the internationally-released Turbografx-16 (known in Japan as the PC Engine CD). Games released earlier in this period are Castlevania: Bloodlines and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, which both instead followed descendants of Simon, such as Richter Belmont. After these titles, the franchise would begin to see fewer releases on Nintendo hardware for some time, with other hardware boasting features not present in that produced by the company. Dracula's Curse is notable in being one of the first titles in the series chronology, introducing such concepts as alternate routes to Dracula and additional playable characters. These installments follow the basic premise of the original game, following a Belmont on his journey to slay Dracula. Since these two titles, Simon has most prominently appeared in retellings of the original title, notably Super Castlevania IV, Haunted Castle, Castlevania: The Arcade, and Castlevania Chronicles.įollowing this, the series would see other installments that followed predecessors of Simon, notably Trevor Belmont in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, and Christopher Belmont in Castlevania: The Adventure, its sequel Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge, and its remake Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth. Originally released in 1987, it followed Simon's journey to undo a curse placed on him following Dracula's death. Simon would later appear in the game's direct sequel, Simon's Quest. This first installment would notably introduce the concepts of the Belmont clan's continued bloodline, the series' mascot being Simon, and a single warrior (though in later installments, occasionally several) venturing to Dracula's Castle in order to slay him. The game follows vampire hunter Simon Belmont of the Belmont clan, a bloodline devoted to defeating Dracula whenever he is resurrected armed with his bloodline's legendary whip, Vampire Killer, he embarks on a journey through Dracula's Castle to defeat the Count himself. However, the franchise would debut through the game's sister release for the MSX2 in Europe instead, Vampire Killer. Now often considered to be a classic series of action platformers based on traditional Gothic horror elements, the Castlevania series made its debut on the Famicom Disk System as Akumajō Dracula ("Demon Castle Dracula"), before being released internationally on the Nintendo Entertainment System as Castlevania. The franchise's origins took inspiration from many public domain figures such as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and the Greek myth of Medusa, as well as the Universal Pictures monster movies of the early-to-mid twentieth century. 3 Games with elements appearing in the Super Smash Bros.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |