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.

Castlevania games can be roughly divided into two main groups: linear and mazes. Linear games consist of a series of stages that must be cleared in order; maze games usually consist of a single, huge labyrinth with areas that can be accessed only after the character found specific items.

Terminology:
 * 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.
 * 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 (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