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A History of Castlevania

A History of Castlevania
Ross gives us a brief run down of how Castlevania originally rose to fame
and, more importantly, how it has stayed such a successful franchise.

By Ross D. Brown

C

astlevania is something of
an institution. It’s hard to
believe that the first game
was released in 1986, which
makes it a mere three years
younger than me. Castlevania
has very much been there as I’ve
grown up, and given the sheer
number of franchise entries
it would be a small miracle if
anyone who has picked up a
game controller in the last 27
years hasn’t at least heard of,
if not played, the Castlevania
series.
Several long-running Konami
series had their debut in the midto-late 80s, most notably Contra
and Metal Gear. While both of
these series have a multitude
of game releases and have
benefited from positive critical
reception, the Castlevania series
has more titles under its banner,
and has covered more platforms
over the years.
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 Edition

The
plot
of
most
Castlevania games typically
revolves around the Belmont
family of vampire killers, who are
destined to combat the vampire
lord Dracula. Every century or
so, this powerful nemesis will
be resurrected and it will fall to
a descendant of the Belmont
family, the player, to defeat the
dark lord once again.

so long when many, previously
successful series, have faded into
obscurity in that time is Konami’s
ability to constantly reinvent the
series over the years.
Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
(1988) immediately departed
from the linear level-by-level
structure of its predecessor.
While still a 2D platformer at
heart, it incorporated several

"The series continued in
the style of a traditional
2D action-platformer
for several years"
Looking back at that first linear
2D platformer on the old
Nintendo Entertainment System
and comparing its mechanics
to the modern gameplay is like
comparing chalk and cheese. The
reason Castlevania has survived

elements more common to RPG
games in its design. There was the
bare-bones of a levelling system,
the ability to select missions in
varying order, villages with shops
and NPCs, a day/night cycle and
even featured multiple endings.
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