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.

Linear action games
Action games are based on quick reflexes, adventure games require some deep thought.

Action platformers
The core of the Castlevania series.

In these games, the player has to navigate through a fixed number of stages. Some titles allow forks in the path, but the total number of areas is usually constant, or it varies by one at most.

The player controls one member of the Belmont family (the Morris are related), armed with the whip called "Vampire Killer". The characters are very similar to each other from game to game: they can jump, swing the whip, and use some other skills. The number and characteristics of said skills depend mostly on the capabilities of the platform (e.g. the Belmont in the first Castlevania for GameBoy has just one sub-weapon, whereas the Belmont in the last SNES title can use ten different special attacks).

The handheld line incrorporates some gameplay elements that are reminiscent of the  series. In particular, Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge has a stage selection screen; the hero in Castlevania Legends obtains new skills whevever a boss is defeated; the stages in Castlevania: Order of Shadows can be revisited to access new areas using new skills.

Three-dimensional action
With the advent of 64-bit consolles, the Castlevania series upgraded its gameplay. These titles feature three-dimensional environment and a third person point of view (i.e. the player sees the game world as if he or she was just behind the character).

Apart from the change in graphics, everything said for the still applies to these games.

Other action games
Technically, fighting games and light gun games are two sub-sets of action games.

Early non-linear games
Vampire Killer is a different version of the first Castlevania. Each stage is a labyrinth where the player has to find the necessary items to progress to the next one.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is the only true role-playing game in the series. In fact, it features all three main characteristics of the genre: text-rich, freedom of exploration, permanent character upgrades

Put together the maze-like stages of Vampire Killer with the freedom of exploration and the level-up system of Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and you get a good approximation of a Metroidvania.

Metroidvanias
When it was released, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was a revolution in the series.

A Metroidvania game consists of a huge two-dimensional, platform labyrinth, where certain areas can only be accessed after the character found specific items or abilities.

Still, it would be a stretch to include them in the definition of "role-playing game". They do include freedom of exploration and permanent character upgrades, but they are completely lacking when it comes to active dialogue and plot development.

Multiplayer
A multiplayer game requires each player to have a different approach than in a single-player game.

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