Castlevania

Castlevania (キャッスルヴァニア) is a video game series, created and developed by Konami. The series debuted in Japan with the release of Demon Castle Dracula (悪魔城ドラキュラ Akumajō Dracula) for the Famicom Disk System (FDS) and MSX 2 platforms in 1986. Even though the MSX 2 port (which was localized in Europe under the title of Vampire Killer) was released first outside of Japan (a fact which had led to many people attribute the MSX version as the original game, when in reality the FDS version came out first), many people in the west weren't exposed to Demon Castle Dracula until the FDS release was ported to cartridge format for the Nintendo Entertainment System and localized for North American and European release under the title of Castlevania in 1987.

Related Topics:
Video game - Series - Konami - Japan - Famicom Disk System - MSX 2 - 1986 - Europe - Ported - Cartridge - Nintendo Entertainment System - Localized - North America - 1987

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In Japan, the series is mostly known as Demon Castle Dracula (Akumajō Dracula). However, not every entry in the franchise has borne that title. For example, the first two installments for the Nintendo Game Boy were released under the title The Legend of Dracula (ドラキュラ伝説 Dracula Densetsu), the game known in North America as ' was originally released in Japan as The Legend of the Demon Castle (悪魔城伝説 Akumajō Densetsu), and again the Sega Megadrive (known as Sega Genesis in the North American market) installement in the series was just named as Vampire Killer in Japan (published as Castlevania Bloodlines in the western market).

Related Topics:
Nintendo - Game Boy

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Since ' for the Game Boy Advance, the Japanese games officially adopted the western title Castlevania for a brief period, although it should be noted that the Japanese release of Castlevania Chronicles (titled Akumajō Nendaiki: Akumajō Dracula) first utilized the Castlevania name as part of the game's alternate English title (Castlevania Chronicle). According to series producer Koji Igarashi (or IGA, as he is commonly known), the developers chose to adopt the Castlevania moniker as a way to involve scenarios that do not solely revolve around Dracula himself. Nevertheless, the series has officialy be changed back to its original Akumajō Dracula moniker in Japan with the release of ' (titled Akumajō Dracula: Sōgetsu no Jūjika in Japan, meaning 'Latin Cross of the Blue Moon, where 'blue moon' is a Japanese idiom for 'dawn') and ' (Akumajō Dracula: Yami no Juin, meaning something like 'The Curseal of Darkness', as 'Juin' is a single word created by the fusion of two different kanji meaning 'curse' and 'seal' respectively) due to overwhelming fan demand according to the producer.

Related Topics:
Game Boy Advance - Castlevania Chronicles - Koji Igarashi

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The series is also famous for the differences seen between the Japanese and American versions. When the games are converted for western audiences, they usually lose a heavy share of violent and religious imagery and references, a fact that upsets Castlevania fans. This strong censorship (which is a common practice in many other games) makes the American versions much milder, and such differences can be seen right in the opening sequence of Super Nintendo's Super Castlevania IV, for example.

Related Topics:
American - Violent - Religious - Censorship - Super Nintendo - Super Castlevania IV

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On top of that, the western (US and European) localization of the various titles in the series have always been plagued with a great amount of omissions, errors and deliberate alterations from their original Japanese counterparts, starting from the very title of the series itself. The first starring in the series was and still is named Simon (??? = 'see-mon') Belmondo, from a supposed French heritage. His ancestor Christopher's son, starring in the second titles on the GameBoy system, also was mispelled as 'Soleiyu' instead of Soleil (French for 'Sun'). The leading heroes in the third installement of the series on the Famicom system was altered in his name from 'Ralph C. Belmondo' to 'Trevor Belmond'. Not only that, his famale companion Sypha Velnandes was introduced as a male character in the US version of the game, her surname also being mispelled as 'Belnades'. The very same Velnandes surname was again mispelled as 'Fernandez' in the first Catlevania game for the N64 system, featuring a young girl named Carrie Venandes, and again got back to its original mispelling in the third GBA title, with Yoko Velnandes.

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Several games in the series have been produced in very limited quantities, in North America and Europe at least, and have thus greatly fallen short of demand. Most recently, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance and ' had sold on eBay for two to three times their original selling price before pirated copies became common. ', considered by many Castlevania fans to be the "holy grail" of the series, still easily sells for over a hundred dollars due to being released solely on the Japanese PC Engine, and so does the original Japanese version of the Megadrive installement, Vampire Killer. Not to mention other rare edition such as the original X68000 (a Japanese home computer) port of the first title in the series.

Related Topics:
EBay - Pirated copies - PC Engine

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