Category:Castlevania

Castlevania is one of Konami's longest running series, with games from the NES to the PS2. The series (normally) revolves around the Belmont family and their eternal mission of defeating Dracula whenever he reappears, with occasional help from the Belnades clan and Alucard, the son of Dracula.

There are two types of Castlevania games: the traditional level-by-level action games and the newer, so-called, "Metroidvanias", which involves more exploration, item/key collecting, and going through areas multiple times. There is an official chronology that was created several years ago, and involved retconning several plotlines from games, as well as removing four games from the official timeline. Games are not released in chronological order, and several games are direct sequels to previous ones. Most games take place decades or even centuries after the previous entry, but some (Simon's Quest, Curse of Darkness, Dawn of Sorrow, Symphony of the Night, and Castlevania 64) take place a few years later and involve the same characters.

Castlevania games
The original title of the series is Akumajou Dracula, where Akumajou is Japanese for Devil Castle. Metroidvania is a term referring to 2D video games where the exploration is non-linear; its earliest famous example is the Metroid series, hence the name Metroidvania.

Notes about some sub-series:
 * First chapter: five games, in Japan, share the Akumajou Dracula name.
 * Legend of Dracula: full-color versions are included in Konami Collection Vol. 1 and Konami Collection Vol. 3 for Super Game Boy (Japan only) and Game Boy Color (Europe only).
 * Castlevania X: original and 2.5D version are included in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP.
 * Alternate universe: four titles were removed from the official continuity because later titles openly contradicted their plot:
 * Castlevania Legends (1997) was replaced by Lament of Innocence (2003);
 * Castlevania 64 (1999), Legacy of Darkness (1999) and Circle of the Moon (2001) were replaced by Order of Ecclesia (2008).

After 2010, the Castlevania series was rebooted. The games are then titled Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (plus number or subtitle) in both the original and localized versions.

Cancelled games

 * Castlevania: The Bloodletting for the 32X
 * Castlevania Resurrection for the Dreamcast
 * Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the Game.com

Spin offs

 * Kid Dracula for the NES (Japan only) and Game Boy

Heroes and chronological order

 * XI Century:
 * 1094: Leon Belmont (Lament of Innocence)
 * XV Century:
 * 1431-1476: Life of the historical Vlad III Dracula, Prince of Wallachia, called "Tepes" (Rumanian for "Impaler") by his enemies.
 * 1450: Sonia Belmont (Legends, removed from official chronology: Dracula would have been 19)
 * 1476: Trevor Belmont (Dracula's Curse)
 * 1479: Trevor Belmont (Curse of Darkness)
 * XVI Century:
 * 1576: Christopher Belmont (The Adventure)
 * 1591: Christopher Belmont (Belmont's Revenge)
 * XVII Century:
 * 1691: Simon Belmont (Castlevania, Castlevania Chronicles, Super Castlevania, Vampire Killer, Haunted Castle)
 * 1698: Simon Belmont (Simon's Quest)
 * XVIII Century:
 * 1748: Juste Belmont (Harmony of Dissonance)
 * 1792: Richter Belmont (Rondo of Blood, Dracula X, Dracula X Chronicles)
 * 1797: Richter Belmont, Alucard Tepes (Symphony of the Night)
 * XIX Century:
 * 1800s: Shanoa (Order of Ecclesia)
 * 1830: Nathan Graves (Circle of the Moon, removed from official chronology)
 * 1844: Reinhardt Schneider, Cornell (Legacy of Darkness, removed from official chronology)
 * 1852: Reinhardt Schneider, Carrie Fernandez (Castlevania 64, removed from official chronology)
 * 1893: Setting of Brahm Stoker's novel "Dracula".
 * XX Century:
 * 1917: John Morris (Bloodlines)
 * 1944: Jonathan Morris (Portrait of Ruin)
 * XXI Century:
 * 2035: Soma Cruz, Julius Belmont (Aria of Sorrow)
 * 2036: Soma Cruz, Julius Belmont (Dawn of Sorrow)
 * Time rift:
 * Castlevania Judgement
 * Castlevania: Harmony of Despair