The legacy of Simon Belmont and every vampire hunter from there forward started back in the late 80’s and surged forward ever since. The beautiful platforming chaos extended even into the hugely popular Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Want some trivia? Let’s do this.
1. The first Castlevania title in 1986 had the clock item that would freeze time as well as the enemies. This meant the bosses as well! In future titles, the clock item would not actually affect the bosses. Perhaps developers realized we’d exploit the absolute heck out of that!
2. When you stumble upon Frankenstein’s Monster (We’re not calling him Frankenstein. That was the Doctor. Yes, I’m going to be THAT jerk) he is actually modeled after Universal Picture’s version of him. This is pretty interesting as it means that even designers overseas saw that visual of him as being canon.
3. Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest was made so complex that they implemented passwords, the first for the series, in order for people to ultimately have checkpoints.
(Konami)
4. In the American version of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse – you could give certain names at the onset that would provide the player with different abilities at the stat of the game. This means you could actually start with spirit aides and extra lives which may help those players that forgot the new symbol password system implemented in this title.
5. People still debate the gender and proper naming of Sypha/Syfa in Castlevania III. This is because the manual has different spelling than the game and isn’t quite clear about their character’s gender. Personally, I’m still trying to figure out why it matters even when canon is involved.
6. Super Castlevania 4, released on the Super Nintendo, is the first time players could use the whip in multiple directions. Did it make the game better? Well, not really. It’s still one of the most widely disliked of the Castlevania titles. It’s no Dracula X. (Little something for my fellow Castlevania lovers out there)
(Konami)
7. Speaking of, Castlevania: Dracula X is also titled “Rondo of Blood” overseas. One of the more highly sought out of the series (up until a re-release came out for the PlayStation Portable) due to the fact a limited number of cartridges were actually released in North America. You don’t even want to know how much these cartridges can cost you online.
8. Castlevania: Legends is the first of the Castlevania series to let you play as a female protagonist. Who did you play? A female Belmont.
9. While a lot of people think this is the first time you had a friendly type Alucard in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night — it’s not. Alucard was actually a spiritual helper in Castlevania III.
(Konami)
10. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is actually the very first Castlevania to take on 32-bits! All those bits mean all the colors and proper details making it, I think, still one of the most gorgeous Castlevania games to date.
