Castlevania



"Give him this message: You have become a cursed being and I will never forgive you. This whip and my kinsmen will destroy you someday. From this day on, the Belmont clan will hunt the night!

~ Leon Belmont, passing a death threat to Dracula through Death himself"

'' This article is about the series as a whole. For the first Castlevania game see Castlevania 1986 ''

An old saying posits the following: "True evil never dies, and all that is necessary for its triumph is for good men to do nothing." As it so happens, the Belmonts are absolute workaholics -- and very, very good men.

For over twenty years, Konami has been chronicling the adventures of the extended Belmont family and their never-ending quest to rid the world of Count Dracula and his eponymous castle. Castlevania, one of the longest-running franchises in the platformer genre, is the co-inventor of Metroidvania-style gameplay and one of the earliest adopters of RPG elements in a non-RPG title. The series is notable for pursuing a Gothic approach to both the audio and visuals (the latter becoming more and more baroque as graphics engines advanced), and it's also respected for helping to define Nintendo Hard back in the day (an ideal occasionally upheld in newer entries of the series).

Centuries ago, the dark lord Dracula rose to power, and his power helped create a demonic castle filled with all manner of folkloric beasts and mythical monsters. Dracula spread his dark influence across the countryside until a vampire hunter, Simon Belmont, broke into the castle armed with the enchanted whip "Vampire Killer" and a plethora of appropriate sub-weapons. Belmont sent Dracula to hell, but every few years, Dracula would return (either through his own dark presence or the machination of his cult followers), and with his return, a member of the Belmont clan (or a friendly substitute) would walk right up to the castle gates and begin vanquishing the horrible night.

As the Castlevania series continued, its gameplay evolved, although the iconic elements -- the Vampire-Killer whip, the sub-weapons, and the focus on combat and exploration -- remained. Most games of the series can be divided into three categories:


 * Classicvanias -- the earlier entries in the series, including the self-titled debut. Falling an inch short of Platform Hell on many occasions, early Castlevanias were strictly about making your way through Dracula’s castle, not getting murdered by his army of ghouls, not getting murdered by mistimed jumps, not getting murdered by bottomless pits, and finally, not getting murdered by the Big D himself. The whip and sub-weapons were your sole protection from darkness, alongside a few pieces of roast meat just lying on the ground (or embedded in walls).
 * Metroidvanias -- the hybrid platform RPGs that have dominated the series' 2D outings since Symphony of the Night (where this particular style was codified). Exploring every nook and cranny of Dracula’s castle and fighting elaborately conceived bosses takes precedence, while the difficulty tends to be more forgiving thanks to experience points, weapons, and the ability to jump beyond a perfect 45-degree angle.
 * Modernvanias -- the free-roaming 3D outings (which try to update the combat and exploration experience, often with mixed results). Plot is king here, as each outing attempts to add more to the mythos than just text on a pixilated screen. The fighting systems are largely inspired by modern hack 'n' slashers like Devil May Cry and God of War, although many of the franchise’s traditional elements are often brought in creative ways.

Castlevania has been infrequently adapted into other media (including comic books, manga, and Captain N: The Game Master). A live-action Castlevania movie, as well as a Warren Ellis-penned animated adaptation of Dracula’s Curse, both appear to have fallen into Development Hell.

For a very in-depth analysis of everything Castlevania, visit Mr. P's Castlevania Realm and The Castlevania Dungeon.

These games are as empty as your soul!:

 * Castlevania 1986 (1986; NES)
 * Vampire Killer (1986; MSX2)
 * Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (1987; NES)
 * Haunted Castle (1988; Arcade)
 * Castlevania: The Adventure (1989; Game Boy)
 * Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989; NES)
 * Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-Kun! (1990; Famicom)
 * Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (1991; Game Boy)
 * Super Castlevania IV (1991; SNES)
 * Kid Dracula (1993; Game Boy)
 * Akumajou Dracula (1993; Sharp X68000)
 * Castlevania Rondo of Blood a.k.a. Dracula X: Rondo of Blood (1993; PC Engine, re-released on PSP with Symphony of the Night)
 * Castlevania Bloodlines (1994; Sega Genesis)
 * Castlevania: Dracula X a.k.a. Akumajou Dracula XX a.k.a. Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss (1995; SNES)
 * Castlevania: The Bloodletting (Cancelled; Sega 32X)
 * Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997; PlayStation and Sega Saturn, re-released on PSP with Rondo of Blood)
 * Castlevania Legends (1997; Game Boy)
 * Castlevania 64 (1999; Nintendo 64)
 * Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (1999; Nintendo 64)
 * Castlevania: Resurrection (Cancelled; Sega Dreamcast)
 * Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001; Game Boy Advance)
 * Castlevania Chronicles (2001; PlayStation; Remake of 1993's Akumajou Dracula)
 * Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002; Game Boy Advance)
 * Castlevania: Aria Of Sorrow (2003; Game Boy Advance)
 * Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003; PlayStation 2)
 * Castlevania: Dawn Of Sorrow (2005; Nintendo DS)
 * Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005; PlayStation 2 and Xbox)
 * Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006; Nintendo DS)
 * Castlevania: Order Of Shadows (2007; Mobile phones)
 * Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (2007; PlayStation Portable; 2.5D Remake of Rondo Of Blood)
 * Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2008; Nintendo DS)
 * Castlevania Judgment (2008; Wii)
 * Pachislot Akumajo Dracula (2009; Arcade)
 * Castlevania The Arcade (2009; Arcade)
 * Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009; WiiWare)
 * Pachislot Akumajo Dracula II (2010; Arcade)
 * Castlevania: Harmony of Despair (2010; Xbox Live Arcade, later released in 2011 for PSN)
 * Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010; PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)
 * Pachislot Akumajo Dracula III (2012; Arcade)
 * Castlevania Lords Of Shadow Mirror Of Fate (2012; Nintendo 3DS)
 * Castlevania Lords Of Shadow 2 (2013; PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360)

What a terrible night to list tropes specific to this series:
"Alucard: Demon, death is too good for you!"
 * Above the Ruins: The series made this an art form.
 * All There in the Manual: Averted, as Castlevania has a history of providing in-game text moving the plot forward, even in its earlier 2D entries.
 * Anachronism Stew: Oh, man. Try modern-style prison islands and evil Robot Buddies in the mid-1800s Order of Ecclesia.
 * Said Robot Buddies predate Ecclesia (in-universe), to boot!
 * Motorcycle-riding skeletons in ye olde Wallachia in Castlevania 64.
 * The very first instance in the whole series: Frankenstein's Monster showing up in the original Castlevania, circa 1691, 127 years before Mary Shelley wrote the novel.
 * A lot of the food items in the Metroidvania games are examples too, with modern hot dogs and hamburgers showing up centuries before they were invented. Symphony of the Night and Curse of Darkness are especially big offenders in this regard.
 * Castlevania 64 has the Room of Inventions which has a radio, a zeppelin (model), and other assorted bits of Schizo-Tech.
 * Animated Armor: Axe Armors.
 * As Long as There Is Evil: Dracula's often uses this as an excuse for his numerous comebacks. Mind you, evil occultists are usually the ones who resurrect him, so it's not like this is a total Ass Pull.
 * Author Avatar: In Order of Ecclesia, IGA designed Shanoa after his wife, and Albus after himself.
 * Back From the Dead: Guess.
 * Badass: If your last name is Belmont, and you own a whip, you are this.
 * This includes anyone closely related to the Belmont family by blood (Sypha Belnades, John Morris) or by friendship (Alucard, Grant DeNasty).
 * Special mention goes to Simon Belmont, who didn't just kick Dracula's ass with jack shit, but after being cursed by the vampire's dying breath, decided the best solution was to resurrect Dracula himself so he could kick his ass again!
 * Extra special mention goes to Julius Belmont, who defeats Dracula once and for all (with some help from Alucard, admittedly), then returns in his fifties and beats the ever-loving crap out of Dracula's reincarnation. Then he returns one year later and (though non-canonical) does it again.
 * Badass Family: You needn't look further than the Belmont clan. Though you'll also find the Belnades, the Morrises and the Lecardes if you do. Of course, everyone in Dracula's family is a badass, but there's a lot of infighting.
 * Badass Longcoat: Many of the heroes from Symphony of the Night onward, and not just the Belmonts - though Richter seems to have started the trend.
 * Soma Cruz stands out for his Badass Pimp Coat. You have to love a guy who can kick ass in calf-length white fur.
 * And if it's not a longcoat, it's a Badass Cape. See Alucard in Symphony.
 * Shanoa gets in on the action with her Badass Long Hair.
 * The Bad Guy Wins: In one of the games, (specifically, Ditto for.
 * Bad with the Bone: One of the most common enemies in the series are bone-throwing skeletons. A few even throw their own skulls!
 * Balance Between Good and Evil: A recurring theme, given that most of the protagonists are largely noble defenders fighting a man who turned his back on God and humanity alike.
 * There must always be a Dark Lord in existence to serve as the balance to God, or so Celia from Dawn Of Sorrow believes.
 * Lords Of Shadow subtlety gets in on this with the presence of Light and Shadow, which defines not just the magic system and rival groups, but Gabriel's own struggles to overcome the darkness within him after losing his wife.
 * Ballistic Bone: The signature ability of standard non-prefix skeletons.
 * Batman Gambit: Dracula and his minions manipulate friends and allies about as much as they manipulate the dark powers. You'd think by now the average Belmont would recognize he's being had.
 * Especially considering
 * BFS: Some of the high-end swords in many games. Shanoa can also make a Big Fucking Sword, a Big Fucking Axe, a Big Fucking Hammer, a Big Fucking Scythe...
 * There are entire classes of BFS and BFA weapons in Curse of Darkness.
 * Big Bad: Almost always Dracula.
 * Though not always. Bloodlines had Elizabeth Bartley, Portrait of Ruin had Brauner, Aria of Sorrow had and Dawn of Sorrow had Celia.
 * Bigger Bad:
 * Dracula becomes this in games where he isn't the Big Bad.
 * Bishonen: Nearly all of the male characters from Symphony of the Night on, given the predominant art style. Before that they were mostly Conan-esque bruisers with whips.
 * Although there's just as many exceptions. Julius Belmont from the Sorrow games is a pretty manly grandpa, as is Gabriel Belmont from Lords Of Shadow.
 * Black Magician Girl: Female protagonists have a certain tendency to be witches and romantic interests, although Yoko Belnades from the Sorrow games subverts this by being a romantic interest for Hammer and not Soma. Averted by Shanoa, who's more of a Magic Knight.
 * Bonus Dungeon: An optional series of rooms filled with tough enemies, with no save points, exists in quite a few games starting with Circle of the Moon, usually giving a very useful item as a reward.
 * The  from Symphony of the Night is the most well-known example, even though
 * Bonus Feature Failure: Almost every Metroid-ish Castlevania has an unlockable mode where you play as another character who can't do most of what the main character can, such as opening the menu, collecting items, or sometimes even leveling up. They do, however, often have balancing factors like increased damage, and always have moves which allow them to explore all the castle.
 * Boss Banter: How dare you! Even forgetting!
 * Boss Rush: In most of the later games.
 * Bottomless Pits: The early games weren't just sadists in this regard, they enforced it regardless of logic. A screen that scrolled up suddenly meant any holes were fatal, even if there was ground a screen below.
 * A pixel below, even!
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Waaaayyyyy too frequent in Castlevanias. From  in Belmont's Revenge to   in Symphony to   in Portrait to   in Lords.
 * Brutal Bonus Level: Overlaps with the optional rooms mentioned above.
 * Burn the Witch: Ties heavily into the backstory of every female character in Dracula's Curse and Curse Of Darkness. It even happened to Alucard's poor mom, thus sending Dracula into his Europe-cursing fit of rampaging misanthropy!
 * Canon Immigrant: Quincey Morris from Bram Stoker's Dracula, thanks to Bloodlines.
 * Changing of the Guard: How the Belmont family works. Since Dracula is effectively immortal, the Belmonts have to continually train their sons and daughters into vampire hunters, occasionally relying on other branches of the family or the odd one out, like Hector or Alucard.
 * Chaos Architecture: The castle itself, and the Trope Namer.
 * Church Militant: Bunches. By the time of the Sorrow games and Portrait of Ruin, the Church is actually hiring and training witches, notably Yoko Belnades and Charlotte Aulin. Order of Ecclesia posits a whole sub-organization of the Church whose entire purpose is to find a non-Belmont-linked way to defeat Dracula.
 * Leon Belmont got his start in the Crusades.
 * Classical Movie Vampire: How Dracula was depicted in early outings. And by depicted, we mean he looked exactly like the Christoper Lee Dracula.
 * Clockworks Area: The Clock Tower levels.
 * Clown Car Grave: Zombies usually rise in infinite numbers, and some coffins repeatedly spawn mummies.
 * Collision Damage: The enemies are usually deadly on touch.
 * Colossus Climb:
 * The battle against Eligor in Order of Ecclesia, who is bigger than the game screen and requires you to shatter the gems on his body before he drops and you get a chance to stab him the face.
 * A Colossus Elevator Ride takes place against The Forgotten One in Lament of Innocence.
 * The Titans in Lords of Shadow, complete with hanging on for dear life while they try to shake you off, and stabbing their weak points in various parts of their body.
 * Menace in Harmony Of Despair is easily the biggest boss in the game, to the point that you and your buddies have to utilize a few well-placed platforms, unless you knock him on his ass with a well-er-placed bone hammer.
 * Combination Attack: Jonathan and Charlotte in Portrait of Ruin. They're not the only ones, though: Several bosses such as Slogra and Gaibon, Werewolf and Minotaur and recently use them, too.
 * Harmony Of Despair lets you and a friend pull off "Dual Crushes" if you activate the right buttons at the same time (and have magic to spare).
 * Continuity Nod: After 20 years, what do you expect? Bosses that appear several times throughout the series, the first and last levels of the original Castlevania being reused in many games, and several minor background elements that are callbacks to previous games.
 * Harmony of Dissonance and Symphony of the Night repeat Simon's Quest in having to gather Dracula's remains to finally confront and beat the Prince.
 * Also in Symphony of the Night, Alucard faces evil versions of his three companions from Castlevania III: Trevor, Grant, and Sypha, who actually fight pretty much like they played in that game. Trevor fights like a typical Belmont, Grant chucks knives around and walks on the ceiling, and Sypha uses Fire, Ice, and Lightning magic. The three show up again in near identical forms in the Nest of Evil section of Portrait of Ruin.
 * Julius Mode in Dawn of Sorrow basically is Castlevania III again, with Julius standing in for Trevor, Yoko taking the place of Sypha and Pity they didn't get Hammer to stand in for Grant, though.
 * In Order of Ecclesia, Shanoa's dialogue just before she enters Dracula's castle references Simon's Quest: "I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night!"
 * Gabriel in Lords Of Shadow's second DLC says "Enough talk, have at you!" to Forgotten One before the first fight: fitting, considering
 * Cool Old Guy: Julius Belmont, Morris Baldwin, and Hammer. Technically,  counts by the time of Sorrow.
 * Copy and Paste Environments: Lament of Innocence and Curse of Darkness were really bad about this. The 2D games, however, avoid this trope almost completely, with Portrait of Ruin being an exception.
 * Copy And Paste Enemies, on the other hand...
 * Creepy Doll: Marionette and Killer Doll, Puppet Master from Dawn of Sorrow also use ones. Chronicle has small clown dolls and hover dolls, though the latter has voice that is just too cute to be creepy.
 * Cute Monster Girl: The DS Castlevania titles are absolutely packed with these, so much so that one promotional wallpaper for Portrait of Ruin was the entire female bestiary in adorable chibi form.
 * Cute Witch: Two varieties. The Student Witch enemy is particularly adorable. Charlotte in Portrait of Ruin also qualifies.
 * Dangerously Genre Savvy: The vast majority of the time, Dracula is stupidly Genre Blind. During the Final Boss fight of Portrait of Ruin, however, he suggests that since there's two of the heroes, he might as well do some double-teaming himself and asks Death to back him up. And in Rondo Of Blood, Dracula's first act upon resurrection is to tear ass through Richter Belmont's hometown.
 * Darker and Edgier: Lords Of Shadow, the reboot of the franchise and the darkest entry of the series thus far.
 * Dark Fantasy: Lots of gothic horror-themed enemies (Dem Bones, Zombies, vampires, Animated Armor, etc) and some magic.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Alucard, despite being part vampire, is a good and noble person.
 * Soma and Yoko have a discussion about this in Aria of Sorrow.
 * Defector From Decadence: In Curse of Darkness, Hector worked for Dracula as a Devil Forgemaster (which seems to be like a blacksmith except making monsters in addition to weapons), but left his service, suppressed his magical powers and would have married a human woman. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the 'Oh Crap'...
 * Alucard fits in this category rather well, trying to stop Dear Old Dad and show him the error of his ways.
 * Leon in Lament of Innocence, to the point of refusing to take a sword with him when he goes to storm a vampire's castle, because he feels the sword is no longer his to take.
 * Degraded Boss: Both kinds are incredibly common across the Castlevania series. Werewolf, Dogether, Wyvern, Minotaur, Slogra, Gaibon, Frankenstein's Creature... It is also cyclical, with enemies going back and forth between boss status and mook status across games.
 * Dem Bones: There are lots of animated skeletons. The main varieties are human skeletons and snake skeletons.
 * Denial of Diagonal Attack: In earlier Castlevania games.
 * Destructible Projectiles
 * Devour the Dragon: Dracula does this with Death in Portrait of Ruin. However, Death told him to do it.
 * Dhampyr: Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, better known as Alucard.
 * Did Not Do the Research: If you want historical accuracy, you're in the wrong game series. Usually skates by through lack of any pretense, but when the official time-line brings us the serious adventures of a Crusade veteran in 1094, you just Did Not Do the Research (the Crusades started in 1095).
 * In Dawn of Sorrow, the upgrade to the slug Mollasc enemy was the Giant Slug, which has a shell, meaning it's a snail, not a slug.
 * Did You Just Kill Death With a Whip?
 * Digital Bikini: See Magic Pants below.
 * Directionally Solid Platforms: Well, it is a platform game.
 * Distressed Damsel: Serena in Haunted Castle, Lydia in Harmony of Dissonance, and four women in Rondo of Blood including Maria and Annette. Mina Hakuba becomes one in Dawn of Sorrow.
 * Dojikko: Student Witch attacks you by flying on her broom... then falling down on your head.
 * Dracula: A minor, one-off character.
 * The Dragon: Death usually fills this role, Though many others have also served this purpose, notably named characters like Carmilla and Shaft.
 * Dream Match Game: Judgment and Harmony of Despair.
 * Dual Boss: Most famously: The Werewolf and the Minotaur.
 * Slogra and Gaibon in Symphony of the Night, Dragon Zombies in Circle of the Moon, gets upped to three in Symphony of the Night and Portrait of Ruin with the Zombie Clones.
 * In the first Castlevania the battle against Frankenstein's monster and Igor.
 * From the same game, the Mummies, which also appeared as a Dual Boss in Dracula's Curse (twice!).
 * The Final Boss battle of Portrait of Ruin when
 * Easy Amnesia: Averted with Shanoa, as she loses her memories at the beginning of the game, doesn't get them back, and it changes her personality considerably. Played straight with "J" or
 * Eenie Meenie Miny Moai: A Running Gag and a Continuity Nod in the series.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Double as Eldritch Location. Dracula's Castle/Castlevania itself. Alucard calls it a Creature of Chaos in Symphony. And as revealed in Aria, the castle spawns from the Chaotic Realm in response to the Dark Lord.
 * Elegant Gothic Lolita: Loretta, maybe Stella too.
 * Enemies with Death: Duh. Death is the [recurring] Dragon to Dracula, of course he doesn't like anyone who would oppose him!
 * Equal Opportunity Evil: Dracula's army contains pretty much every sort of monster you can think of, and many you can't. See Mr. P's Castlevania Realm for a list of Mooks and bosses.
 * Evil Only Has to Win Once: A recurring theme, due to Dracula's penchant for resurrection. The Belmont clan stands as the force that can seal him away again but if he ever triumphs, there will be no hope for humanity. The events leading up to Aria of Sorrow finally set up Dracula for his final defeat but there are still those who wish to see him reborn anyway (keeping the trope intact).
 * Evolving Attack: Item Crashes.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Trevor sports this in Judgment, and you can also give Gabriel a Solid Eye from the Extras menu once you beat the game.
 * Fairy Sexy: The Fairy familiar.
 * Faith Heel Turn: Mathias becomes Dracula as a result.
 * Fake Difficulty: Tricky jumping physics in the older games.
 * And recoil. And birds.
 * Fan Service:
 * Carmilla in Castlevania Judgment has Jiggle Physics, a Stripperiffic outfit, and her special attack includes a closeup of her crotch in the foreground.
 * Judgment Sypha as well. When she turns around her boobs bob up and down, and her ample chest is well, so ample, it's a wonder she ever managed to dress up as a man and convince people! (though she did say they only get in the way)
 * Shanoa and her Sexy Backless Outfit, with some type A Zettai Ryouiki for good measure.
 * Simon Belmont's Castlevania Chronicles design. And Isaac. Kojima and IGA love them some redhead.
 * Arguably the classic designs are pretty hot as well. Trevor's original armor is backless, and...mmmm...loincloths.
 * Who likes short shorts? Well, Super Castlevania IV Simon, for one.
 * Angela in the Pachislot series is basically a scantily clad casino girl designed so she vaguely fits in the Castlevania universe.
 * Fantastic Nature Reserve: The castle serves as one.
 * Fantasy Kitchen Sink: The majority of demonic forces originate from Western lore, including Greek mythology, but a few Eastern monsters like Tsuchinoko or Jiang Shi also appear.
 * Implied in Curse Of Darkness, in that Devil Forgemasters are responsible for designing the monsters, which they base on folklore and legends they heard. Thus why Dracula has such a varied menagerie.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Alucard grants this to a succubus by killing her in a dream world.

"Dracula: "What IS a man?! A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk--HAVE AT YOU!""
 * Faux Action Girl: Medusa. Despite being a legendary monster, she's the easiest boss in almost every game she appears in.
 * Fetch Quest: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest started the series' use of this trope, but Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia were Egregious offenders.
 * While Harmony of Dissonance and Curse of Darkness contain weird little furniture based subquests that are optional, for a gamer obsessed with One Hundred Percent Completion they are just as hugely aggravating.
 * Fighting Your Friend: Juste versus Maxim, Hector versus Isaac, Nathan versus Hugh, the entirety of Judgment...
 * Fireballs: Scattered all over the place. Dracula practically has the copyright on the three fireball salute, which he calls "Hellfire".
 * Flechette Storm: The Knife Item Crash, starting with Rondo of Blood has the user throw a multitude of knifes in rapid succession at the enemy. This attack varies with the game it appears in.
 * It re-appears in Portrait of Ruin as a special attack. It comes in handy against most enemies.
 * Also a power used by the bird-type and Battle-type Innocent Devils in Curse of Darkness, in the form of Bone Shot and Heavenly Sword. Bone Storm doesn't quite count, given how awesome it is.
 * Grant can perform this kind of attack in at least three ways in Judgment.
 * Flying Face: The Medusa heads.
 * Foreboding Architecture: Certain kinds of door.
 * Especially so are the ones that (a) are shaped like some kind of beastie's jaws and (b) open for Belmonts. Shudder!
 * Forgiveness: Alucard's mother mentions how Dracula could never forgive the peasants for killing her, and begs him to do so. She was a saint.
 * The Four Gods: Maria's super attacks in Rondo, Symphony and Judgment.
 * Genius Loci: The castle itself. It might be a full-fledged example or it might be merely an extension of Dracula's will. Either way, creepy place.
 * Glass Cannon: Richter and Maria in Symphony of the Night take damage horribly in comparison to Alucard. Not helped by the fact that they don't level up, and their only way of healing is through save points and HP Max Ups.
 * And again during Richter Mode in Portrait of Ruin. They can at least level up this time, but there's still almost no health.
 * Judgment made Death into this, which is either totally bizarre or completely in-character.
 * In Order of Ecclesia the Death Ring makes Shanoa into one of these--it makes her die in one hit while boosting all of her stats excluding Luck (but including Defense).
 * In Circle of the Moon, combining the Black Dog and Pluto cards will turn Nathan into a skeleton that throws bones. He occasionally throws a large bone that deals an automatic 9999 damage, but he dies in one hit while in this form.
 * God Is Good / God Is Evil: A bit of a theme throughout the series. Dracula's origin story came from a hatred of God after losing his wife, while Leon Belmont, who also lost his wife (due to Mathias' scheming), remained steadfast in his faith. Alucard and Celia Fortner seem to believe that in order for God to be wholly good, evil must exist in the form of a Dark Lord to oppose Him. In addition, some of the item crash powers Richter and Julius use draw directly on divine might.
 * Good Is Not Nice: Alucard. Steadfast champion of goodness, is very cold, blunt, and aloof.
 * Gorgeous Gorgon: Medusa, although this varies from each game.
 * Grand Theft Me: This is how Dracula was to come Back From the Dead in the Sorrow games.
 * He does it in
 * The Greatest Story Never Told: In-canon, . In-franchise, Circle Of The Moon, Castlevania Legends, and any other release that wasn't blessed with future Continuity Nods.
 * The Grim Reaper: He is also often The Dragon and on a First-Name Basis with Alucard; if you consider Kid Dracula to be canonical at all, he may have even helped raise him. According to the enemy list and manual of Symphony of the Night he is Dracula's close personal friend.
 * The Gunslinger: Henry Oldrey and Albus. Also possible for Soma if you manage to locate the right weapon.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Alucard... he's not your ordinary vampire...
 * Haunted Castle: It was even the title of one of the games; the most unfair, hair-pullingly difficult game in the entire series.
 * Headless Horseman: The Dullahan.
 * Heart Container: In all of the Metroidvania titles except the Sorrow games.
 * Heroic Albino: Some of the Belmont clan seem to be this, owing to the art style used. Largely this is jut a side-effect of being White Haired Pretty Boys, with no one being explicitly described as "Albino".
 * By that token, Soma, Hector, and some incarnations of Alucard may or may not also qualify (for certain values of "heroic", of course).
 * Heroic Sacrifice: The oddest example so far,
 * In Order of Ecclesia,
 * Holy Burns Evil: Holy Water bursts into flames once its container break upon ground impact.
 * Holy Hand Grenade: One of the most useful sub weapons is Holy Water, which can cause tons of damage in the right circumstances. The cross and bible subweapons also count. Also, some of the games have holy elemental weapons, like the Claimh Solais in the Sorrow games.
 * Item Crash cranks this Up to Eleven. HYDRO STORM! GRAAND CRUZ!
 * Hotter and Sexier: The IGA era titles introduced nudity and fanservice everywhere.
 * Hot Witch: A common baddie in the IGA titles, who Show Some Leg with their witch costume. In the DS titles they got an upgrade.
 * Some of the protagonists as well; Sypha (if her Judgement appearance is any indication), Yoko, possibly Charlotte, etc...
 * Humans Are Bastards: According to Dracula, anyway.

""DIE, SHANOAAA! HOW DARE YOU! * Punch* EVEN FORGETTING! * Punch* WHO "''"
 * Hunting the Most Dangerous Game: The Belmont clan has this as a hereditary job description: Vampire Hunter.
 * Walter Bernhard in Lament of Innocence incites people to hunt him for his amusement, usually by kidnapping and turning their loved ones.
 * Hyperactive Metabolism: Food instantly heals you, although if you eat something rotten it also instantly harms you... The Sorrow games feature an ability you can equip to turn poisonous food edible.
 * The flavor text in Order of Ecclesia is very amusing about these. Rotten pot roast is described as "Your ticket to a brand new echelon of stomach problems."
 * I Am Legion: A Recurring Boss, introduced more recently than many examples.
 * Referred to as Granfaloon in SotN's english translation. Cat's Cradle used the word to refer to a false grouping of people, so it makes an odd bit of metaphorical sense.
 * I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Subverted; Alucard tends to mourn him afterward.
 * I Let You Win: If you defeat Death in Portrait Of Ruin, he will tell you he was holding back. Same goes for  in Aria Of Sorrow.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Maria Renard (animals), Charlotte Aulin (books).
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Several examples amid the Metroidvanias:
 * Symphony has the Crissaegrim, which can do tons of damage in rapid fire, without breaking stride. If you manage to equip two Crissaegrims at once... holy hell, it's almost like cheating.
 * Aria of Sorrow has the Claimh Solais, the best weapon due to its speed, power, and reach. It also had the Crissaegrim, but the (low) damage it dealt nerfed it into uselessness.
 * Dawn of Sorrow finally balanced both by slowing down the Claimh Solais, and the rapid attack sword (Now the Valmanway) has decent attack power. Forging the Claimh Solais also requires sacrificing a decent Boss Soul, preventing 100% completion for that play through.
 * Several games (Aria, Dawn, and Portrait) also have an item that grants essentially limitless MP, although latter games limited its effectiveness and you need to wait a few seconds for it to replenish if you run out completely. It comes late in the game, but makes replays a cakewalk.
 * Death's Scythe in Curse of Darkness arguably counts, but it is such a pain to make. On higher levels, it is also outclassed by the Force Glove in terms of damage per time. It's also available in both Sorrow games and just as powerful there, but it's Darkness-elemental which many enemies resist and the shaft has no hitbox, meaning it misses enemies that are standing too close to Soma.
 * Informed Ability: The Belmonts are supposed to be the best vampire hunters around, but you'll have a much easier time beating the game with a little girl or a high school student. The Vampire Killer is supposed to be the best weapon to use against Dracula and his minions, but you'll find high-end swords can be much better.
 * YOU ARE JUST NOT MAN ENOUGH TO BEAT THE GAME AS RICHTER!
 * Naturally, this only applies when you are the Belmont. Julius is easily able to prove his worth time and time again, as long as you aren't controlling him, in the Sorrow series. Ditto Trevor in Curse of Darkness to an extent! He's got an edge with the different whips though.
 * An Interior Designer Is You: Sorta. There's one room in Harmony of Dissonance that you can "decorate," but you can't actually move the furniture. Just acquire it.
 * Hector has this weird chair-collecting subquest in Curse of Darkness.
 * In Universe Game Clock: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Castlevania (Nintendo 64) all have day/night cycles.
 * James Bondage: Richter Belmont, Soleiyu/Soleil Belmont, Hugh Baldwin, Maxim Kischine, arguably Simon Belmont (a curse eroding your soul is sure gonna limit your mobility) in the spiritual sense, and Morris Baldwin in Circle of the Moon literally.
 * It's not limited to the heroes! Leon finds Joachim locked in the basement in Lament of Innocence, and
 * Joke Item: Several crafted items in Curse of Darkness; the paper airplane in Portrait of Ruin; the Vic Viper, Twinbee, and Konami Man in Order of Ecclesia. The Alucart equipment looks to be this, but it does have a purpose.
 * Justified Save Point: As of late, they've been in front of statues of angels, the Virgin Mary, or like religious figures (Dawn of Sorrow had Valkyries). Makes sense since it's probably sanctified ground, and thus repels monsters.
 * Kamehame Hadouken: The specialty of the Nova/Beam Skeletons that have shown up in several of the Metroivania titles now.
 * Knockback: One of the main forms of difficulty in the earlier Castlevania titles.
 * Lampshade Hanging: (Maria introduces her special attack in Judgment with "This is my special!"
 * Dracula does it first in Portrait of Ruin, commenting about how he and Death should get to double team, too.
 * Ledge Bats: The bats and Medusa heads.
 * Lethal Joke Character: Maria in Rondo of Blood / Dracula X Chronicles. Beat the game with her and you'll get flamed for not being man enough to use Richter.
 * Lethal Joke Item: Put on all three Alucart items in SOTN and you gain a + 30 luck bonus.
 * There's also the Cream Pie subweapon in Portrait of Ruin, which is dark-aligned and thus does nice damage to holy-aligned enemies when mastered. The easiest way to kill the rather difficult is to simply throw 200 cream pies in his face.
 * In Rondo of Blood, a Key must be held in place of secondary weapons. It can't be used to attack and trying to make Richter item-crash with it will just make him wonder what the hell you're trying to do. However, since Richter is invulnerable while performing item-crash and the key's item-crash consumes no hearts, you can spam it to get out of tight situations - just don't do it on moving platforms.
 * Lighter and Softer: The Kid Dracula series.
 * Also, Portrait Of Ruin, which has quite a few Funny Moments.
 * And the Pachislot, which probably harbors on the silly end of the Sliding Scale of Silliness Versus Seriousness.
 * Living Labyrinth: Dracula's castle points and laughs at mapmakers. Metaphorically, of course.
 * Love Makes You Evil: Twice in Dracula's case; it also justifies the bad ending of Dawn of Sorrow.
 * Subverted with
 * intended Leon Belmont to obey the trope, but Leon finds the very idea ridiculous.
 * Played straight with Brauner in Portrait;.
 * Mad Artist: Brauner in Portrait of Ruin. In a sense, the point of the whole game.
 * Magic Knight: Shanoa. Also Juste Belmont, who is not only strong physically, but also the one augmenting most magic in his arsenal.
 * The Devil Forgemasters are the other side's equivalent.
 * Alucard belongs here, too (the guy gets around, tropishly).
 * Nathan Graves also qualifies, wielding both a Hunter Whip and magic cards. His game even has a Magician Mode where you have all the cards available from the start.
 * Magic Pants: Averted with the Werewolf in Rondo of Blood, (and all other games which reuse those sprites) who turns into a naked human while dying (who clearly has something between his legs). Dracula X Chronicles played this straight by adding a little black loincloth, both in the 2D and 3D versions of Rondo of Blood (but not in Symphony of the Night, which uses the same sprites). Order of Ecclesia similarly alters the Rondo sprites, but with a pair of boxer shorts instead (although added rather more clumsily, spontaneously appearing between frames.)
 * The She-Wolf in Bloodlines and the Portrait of Ruin Werewolf also turn into naked humans, but they are positioned a bit more modestly (though you can see PoR Werewolf's buttcrack).
 * Magic Skirt: In Bloodlines, Eric "Spear Dude" Lecarde's short tunic stays in place even when completely upside-down and pole-vaulting.
 * Rondo of Blood subverts this very cleverly. Maria holds her skirt so as not to flash the world or trip when she somersaults.
 * The Man Behind the Man: There are a few hints dropped that Death may actually be the man behind the man to Dracula, or that Death obeys a power beyond Dracula.
 * The Man Behind the Monsters
 * Market-Based Title: It's called Castlevania in the west because "The Demon Castle of Dracula" isn't very trademarkable, and probably is harder to make look good on ad copy.
 * Zig Zagged somewhat, as a few games from the early 00s went by the name of Castlevania in Japan as well, including most recently Lords of Shadow.
 * Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Dracula races in Konami Krazy Racers and Simon fights in Dream Mix TV World Fighters.
 * Mayfly-December Romance: Dracula and Lisa, with tragic results; ambiguously implied for Alucard and Maria.
 * Mega Manning: Key gameplay element in Dawn of Sorrow and Aria of Sorrow. Shades of it appear in Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia.
 * Metroidvania: One of the trope namers, along with Metroid. Some of the games follow this formula, as early as Simon's Quest, but it was Symphony of the Night that made the series known for this.
 * Mirror Match: In Lament of Innocence, you can play as, and while playing as him, you end up fighting a doppelganger of yourself. Ditto for in Curse of Darkness and  in Order of Ecclesia. And that's without counting the numerous doppelganger bosses.
 * Money Spider: What bats are doing with a bag of money, is left unanswered.
 * Monster Mash
 * Multiple Endings: First featured in Simon's Quest, most of the Metroidvanias except for Circle of the Moon have multiple endings; there is at minimum a bad ending for rushing through the game and a good ending for thoroughly completing the game.
 * A weird habit for several games is that the 'worst' (Or, at least, the easiest to get) ending is actually not that bad, while the 'moderate' ending is the Downer Ending. Simon's Quest was especially weird, as the worst ending ended happily, the moderate ending had Simon dying, and the best ending had Dracula coming back from the grave.
 * My Death Is Just the Beginning: Essential in Legacy of Darkness.
 * Named Weapons: Pretty much every weapon used by a character, although the Vampire Killer is the most obvious example.
 * Ninja Maid: The Zombie Maid and later Persephones.
 * Nintendo Hard: Many of the early games in the series, before the Metroidvania phase kicked in with Symphony of the Night.
 * Circle of the Moon is pretty hard, even if you know the right cards to get. And the most useful cards force you to go through the Bonus Dungeon to get them.
 * And Order of Eccelsia, which is full of Goddamned Bats and Demonic Spiders, and most bosses can kill you in 2-3 hits, and some of them have instant-death combos.
 * Out of all the already Nintendo Hard Classicvanias, special mention must go to the arcade game Haunted Castle. Not so much for the platforming and hard-to-kill creatures (Of which there is plenty of both) but for the fact you only get TWO lives to beat the game with. Yes, an arcade machine with a life limit. Lose both lives, and your third token will throw you back to the very beginning.
 * No-Gear Level: Near the beginning of Symphony of the Night.
 * You can actually continue doing this if you so desire. Its challenging but kinda hilarious (And Crazy Awesome) when Alucard beats the shit out of the Grim Reaper with his bare hands.
 * Noblewoman's Laugh: Celia Fortner in Dawn of Sorrow.
 * Stella's implied to do this in some of the extra bonus artwork.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Lisa was burned at the stake for practicing medicine. Considering who her husband was and his reaction, this trope is deconstructed.
 * Nonstandard Game Over: In Order of Ecclesia, will result in this.
 * No Ontological Inertia: Dracula's castle always crumbles to dust upon the death of its owner. Explained by Dracula and his castle being symbiotically linked.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: Everyone in North America thinks Simon Belmont's name is pronounced "Sigh-mon". In the original Japanese, it's "Shee-mon". It's really supposed to be a French-sounding name, pronounced "See-mohn".
 * Norio Wakamoto: Dracula's voice in Japanese versions.
 * Except in Castlevania Judgment, in which Dracula's voice is Joji Nakata, well known as the voice of another vampire whose name has no relation to Dracula's son.
 * Nostalgia Level: Pretty much every single area in the original appears in the sequels. Areas of the castle shown in subsequent games also have a habit of returning. They even tend to have the same items hidden in the same locations. The two most noteworthy locations are Dracula's Keep and the Main Entrance.
 * Castlevania Chronicles pulls a nostalgia screw on players in the first level. Whip the place in the wall where there was delicious masonry pot-roast in the original game, and you will be rewarded not with lunch but rather an infinite flow of flea men.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Stella, of Portrait of Ruin, wears a loose-fitting corset as part of her costume. And although they're (sadly) not seen wearing them, corsets can be found and equipped as armor by the female protagonists in the DS games.
 * Carmilla's top in Circle of the Moon looks to be one as well.
 * The Succubus in Symphony of the Night seems to wear nothing but a corset.
 * Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Julius Belmont has the distinction of being described, within canon, as the strongest Belmont in history, and his sealing of Castlevania within the solar eclipse with the help of an army is the stuff of legends. He's also the only Belmont thus introduced whose main story has never been playable, only later missions as bonus material.
 * Omake: The 4-koma comics, only the Dracula X and Order of Ecclesia ones have been translated so far.
 * Once an Episode: Certain things are sure to reappear from time to time in the series. For example, there's often a "Clock Tower" level with spike pits, conveyor belts of some sort, and usually a lot of flying Medusa Heads clogging up the area.
 * One-Winged Angel: Dracula, every game. He actually only has one form at the end of Symphony of the Night, but that's because he did the usual two forms in the Rondo of Blood Call Back at the beginning.
 * Castlevania II Belmonts Revenge also has only one form for Dracula -- perhaps because he comes right after the fight with Soleiyu Soleil.
 * In Order of Ecclesia, he doesn't transform at all; he just starts walking around.
 * Death also has a second, more monstrous form in some games.
 * One to Million to One: Dracula occasionally teleports this way, becoming a mass of bats.
 * Our Fairies Are Different: The Innocent Devil fairies in Curse of Darkness (especially the Proboscis Fairy, what the heck), and the Pixie/Half-Fairy/Han'yousei familiar in Symphony of the Night; the Fairy is pretty usual for her species.
 * Our Monsters Are Weird
 * Our Vampires Are Different: When you think about it, Dracula is less of a vampire and more of a japanese-style Demon King.
 * Pimped-Out Dress: Some of the 3D games have pretty elaborate outfits, as does Order of Ecclesia.
 * Plot Coupon: Three games require the player to collect Dracula's body parts before heading to the final confrontation. Several other games require you to collect different items to progress, or get the good ending. Classic games have orbs dropping from the boss which the player has to collect.
 * Power-Up Letdown: Trying to use the Alucart Shield (if you weren't watching the last consonant or were just curious) in combo with the Shield Rod. Cue Alucard pulling his cloak around dramatically...and then going "?"
 * Trying to summon using the Killer Fish soul in Aria results in the fish dying unless you're underwater. The soul description does warn you about this side effect.
 * Attempting an Item Crash with the Key in Rondo of Blood leads to Richter powering up...and falling back to earth with a ? above his head, wondering what the heck you're trying to do. Then again, the key does have its uses.
 * Power of Friendship: Justifies the true ending in Harmony Of Dissonance, where Juste saves his best friend Maxim from needless death thank to Dracula's mind control.
 * Power of Love: Noted as a contrast to Love Makes You Evil above. The most obvious example might be Leon Belmont, who after the tragic death of his lover in the hands of the villains swears that he and his descendants will hunt the night to prevent the same tragedy from happening to other humans again; he himself also stated this is the only way to prove his love for the deceased Sara. It also justifies the good ending of Dawn of Sorrow;
 * Prequel: Four times. It's almost as if every director wanted to be the one to tell the earliest story in the timeline...
 * Pretty in Mink: Soma's huge fur collar in Aria Of Sorrow.
 * His
 * Chronicles Simon has a sexy fuzzy collar. Or half of one.
 * Pulling Themselves Together: Red skeletons, one of the more common enemies in the series reform themselves after they've been destroyed.
 * Pun-Based Title: Castlevania is an obvious pun on Transylvania.
 * Punctuated Pounding: really losing his shit in Order of Ecclesia.


 * Rain of Blood: The death animation for most of the mains, starting with Rondo of Blood, as well as.
 * The poorly received SNES adaptation of Rondo of Blood censored this in a... questionable manner. They turned all the blood white, which makes what Death is doing when Richter hits him look... funny.
 * Random Drop: Ever since the Metroidvania era began; recent games have even started displaying the drop rates too.
 * Rare Random Drop.
 * Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The Sacred Fist sub-weapon from Harmony of Dissonance.
 * Rated "M" for Manly: The old school barbarian looking Simon, with the leather and crotch plate. The action figure/toy/collectible model/whatever you want to call it looks even more manly. Also, from Haunted Castle, fighting Dracula again to save his woman.
 * Real Men Eat Meat: In several of the side-scrolling Castlevania games, you must find power-ups that resemble various cuts of meat to regenerate your health.
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Juste Belmont from Harmony of Dissonance likes... decorating a room.
 * Recurring Riff: The big three tunes are "Vampire Killer", "Bloody Tears", and "Beginning" from the first three games in the series, in that order. Individual character themes such as Simon's and Dracula's Dance of Illusions also count.
 * Recycled Title: Both the NES and N64 versions are just called Castlevania, as is the European version of the Play Station 2's Lament of Innocence and the European version of the Game Boy Advance's Circle of the Moon. Also, about half the games in the series before the 32-bit era were called Akumajou Dracula in Japan.
 * Refusal of the Call: The cancelled Dreamcast entry was to star a Belmont named Victor who wanted nothing to do with his family's heritage, but the call found him anyway. Makes you wonder What Could Have Been if it had come out.
 * Reincarnation Romance: There's a pretty widespread Fanon assumption that just as Soma Cruz in the Sorrow titles is the reincarnation of, Mina Hakuba is similarly the reincarnation of . People who aren't fans of the Soma/Mina pairing understandably have an issue with this. There's no Word of God one way or the other, too, so the slapfights go on...
 * Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain: Dracula is usually only vulnerable to headshots, from the first game onward.
 * Reverse Shrapnel: A few of the Item Crashes, the Cross and Axe particularly.
 * Rewarding Vandalism: Candles are made to be broken. So are some walls. And floors. And clocks. And chandeliers.
 * Samus Is a Girl: Sypha Belnades. When it comes to zombie impersonators (Or Judgment), though, no subtlety remains.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: Alucard, and arguably Zead.
 * Also Puwexil (a gigantic skull that attacks with an oversized tongue, his name backwards is essentially "Licks You Up") and Koranot (a golem, his name backwards is "Ton 'a rock"), two bosses in Super Castlevania IV.
 * Secret Character: In almost every game since Rondo.
 * Rondo of Blood: Maria.
 * Symphony of the Night: and Maria (only in the Saturn and PSP versions)
 * Harmony of Dissonance:, and for the boss rush,
 * Aria of Sorrow:
 * Dawn of Sorrow:
 * Lament of Innocence:
 * Curse of Darkness:
 * Portrait of Ruin: Sisters mode, Richter mode, Old Axe Armor mode
 * Or rather "Richiter Mode"...
 * Order of Ecclesia: Albus mode
 * Sequel Difficulty Spike
 * Sequence Breaking: There is no need to get the cleansing item to beat Circle of the Moon, and consequentially no need to get the heavy ring either, letting you skip two of the eight main levels (if you can survive being that underleveled in the waterway).
 * If you know which three souls you need to equip to reach the true ending in Aria of Sorrow, you can skip the rooms where you learn this information. This includes the area behind the Chronomage, which you could only pass with Galamoth's soul, which is the main reward for defeating Legion. Thus, you can also skip the Underground Cemetery. (Though getting the Golden Ending requires that you collect every soul in the game, meaning you can't skip anything.)
 * In Dawn of Sorrow, large sections of the game can be skipped either after the first playthrough, or with some other method of accessing the cross-hilt dagger Cinqueda-- Because it has a special move that teleports you, it can trigger every single door-switch from the wrong side. Other tricks exist to bypass barries meant to block you until you got a specific item.
 * Sexy Backless Outfit: Shanoa in Order of Ecclesia. Mmmm...
 * Shapeshifter Mashup: Scylla.
 * Shout-Out: One of the bosses in Order of Ecclesia looks a lot like Raoh... There's also Zephyr in Dawn of Sorrow, which is a Shout-Out to Dio Brando
 * There are plenty of Shout Outs to classic vampire stories and movies; for instance, Carmilla is named for the eponymous villain of the first Lesbian Vampire story, and the boss "Olrox" in Symphony of the Night is a fudged translation of Orlok, from the classic film Nosferatu.
 * Also, the Grave Digger monster in Order of Ecclesia bears an uncanny resemblence to WWE wrestler The Undertaker.
 * Symphony of the Night and Harmony of Dissonance have spells that allow you to summon shield orbs a la Gradius.
 * The Griffon Wing relic, which lets you triple-jump and beyond, lets Jonathan in Portrait of Ruin do an underpowered Shoryuken.
 * The Kicker Skeleton in Aria of Sorrow spends all day jumping in the air and Rider Kicking you, its Scarf of Asskicking flapping in the wind.
 * The Yeti monster in Dawn of Sorrow has a Metal Gear style ! above its head in its info box, and again when it returns in Order of Ecclesia. Also, his bestiary picture in Do S looks pretty much like the infamous Bigfoot photography.
 * There's also a boss battle in Order of Ecclesia that is a parody of Bomberman.
 * Castlevania: The Arcade.
 * The Pneuma glyph in Ecclesia allows you to dish out Reppukens and Raging Storms. Geese Howard would be proud.
 * And of course, the requisite shout outs to the original Dracula novel by Bram Stoker, such as his name (mangled) being in the credits of CV1, John Morris' father being Quincey Morris and Mina Hakuba of the Sorrow duology's name being similar to Mina Harker.
 * The credits on the first Castlevania for the NES consisted purely of shout outs to classical monster actors and the roles that made them famous. Dracula being played by Christopher Bee, for example.
 * In the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night, Maria can summon a blue dragon, which looks like the Intruder/Fire Dragon from Life Force.
 * In perhaps one of the most obscure shout out ever on the series, the first name of Castlevania 64's Belmont is Reinhardt, and the person who introduced actor Max Schrecks to director F.W. Murnau (of Nosferatu fame)? Max Reinhardt.
 * Another JoJo reference can be found in the Stone Mask item.
 * Lords of Shadow is chock full of these, though they are, in fact, shout outs to the Castlevania series at large. For instance, part way through the game, Zobek has this to say about the Combat Cross, your main weapon: "The Villagers called him 'God's Savior' and his weapon they called 'Vampire Killer'. Ah, Gandolfi, how that would make you smile." Also, before the fight with Carmilla: "Poor, beautiful Carmilla, you will cry bloody tears before this night has ended!" Many of the boss characters (Cornell, Malphas, Brauner, Olrox, Carmilla) are named after characters from other games. Even the song that plays in the Music Box level (Level 9-3) is the (in)famous theme from the original Castlevania, "Vampire Killer." Mercury Steam went out of their way to include many different shout outs for their reboot.
 * The two Belmont sisters from Order of Shadows are named Zoe and Dolores, referencing the Zone of the Enders anime series Z.O.E. Dolores,i.
 * A subtle one from Portrait of Ruin: "JOHNATHAN! CHARLOTTE!"
 * Showgirl Skirt: The Fairy familiar in Symphony.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: "Your words are as empty as your soul!"
 * Sinister Scythe: Death, duh. Ups the ante by attacking with mini-sickles and a double-bladed version in Aria of Sorrow, further upped in The Adventure Rebirth which introduces laser scythes.
 * Slouch of Villainy: Dracula has used his immortality to not only perfect it, but teach it to his children, underlings, and even .
 * Shaft, his dark priest lackey, also has somewhat bad posture, though his is perpetual and doesn't just appear in conjunction with a throne and a wineglass.
 * Richter displays the slouch in a piece of official art for Symphony of the Night.
 * Walter has one as well in Lament of Innocence
 * Smart Bomb: Some games have these. For an example, a cross sometimes qualifies as one.
 * Smashing Hallway Traps of Doom: Many games have them.
 * Sound of No Damage: A snapping or metallic sound effect is used for this throughout the series.
 * Spikes of Doom
 * Spinoff Babies: Kid Dracula, starring (what is generally considered by many to be) Alucard as a child. Certainly the goofiest game in the series. The final boss got a cameo in Symphony of the Night and factored into the story of Judgment.
 * Yes, it's Alucard, not Dracula. The Japanese players' guide confirms it by stating that Kid Drac's cape is 'papa's old one'. Though one WMG theorizes that it's another son of Dracula's.
 * Sprite Polygon Mix: Symphony of the Night and Dawn of Sorrow.
 * Even more so in Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia.
 * Stock Weapon Names: If the whip isn't the weapon, then these come into play.
 * Stopped Numbering Sequels
 * Storming the Castle: It's either the entire game or the last level.
 * Stripperiffic: Shanoa, the new heroine in Order of Ecclesia, by means of a really amazing Sexy Backless Outfit.
 * Carmilla and Maria are this in Judgment.
 * If guys count, Isaac fits in here, too. Dracula is a Dirty Old Man.
 * The Succubus from Symphony of the Night has not only forgotten her pants, she's not even wearing panties. That's right; the sprite is naked from corset to boots (nothing's shown of course).
 * The Belmonts, in their classic designs, are also male examples.
 * Super Drowning Skills: None of the Belmonts could swim until Symphony of the Night granted Richter the ability to touch water and not die.
 * Super Not-Drowning Skills: A number of examples, including Alucard, Shanoa, and Julius.
 * Alucard gradually loses HP upon exposure to water until you get the Holy Snorkel--er, Holy Symbol in Symphony of the Night.
 * John Morris and Eric Lecarde of Bloodlines weren't exactly water-soluble either. They only took a modicum of damage, but as long as they were still onscreen, it wasn't instantly fatal.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Shanoa. The clincher is that several of the female NPCs flirt with her.
 * Two of the female demons calls her a 'cute little kitty', too.
 * Tearful Smile:
 * Tears of Blood: A recurring decoration, an area obstacle in Chronicles, and an occasional Carmilla attack. "Bloody Tears" is the name of one of the series' Recurring Riffs.
 * Temporary Platform: Scattered across the series.
 * This Is Unforgivable!: Alucard to the succubus in Symphony of the Night, Nathan to Carmilla in Circle of the Moon, and Soma to Celia in Dawn of Sorrow.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: The Heaven Sword and Runesword weapons in Symphony of the Night.
 * Throw the Book At Them: Charlotte at the start of Portrait of Ruin and the Bible subweapon.
 * Timed Mission: The non-metroidvania platformer installments have a timer.
 * Time Stands Still: Stopwatches are a recurring item; some games also use this situation as an obstacle.
 * Said obstacle is usually passed, oddly enough, by using a time stop power.
 * Aeon's special attack in Castlevania Judgment also does this.
 * Saint-Germain did it first in Curse of Darkness.
 * Literally inverted in Aria of Sorrow; one enemy uses a stopwatch on you and reverses time to send you back in the previous room. Said enemy is quick enough to prevent being hurt until you have a way of negating his effect.
 * Tomato in the Mirror:
 * Treacherous Advisor: in Order of Ecclesia. Not helped by the fact that
 * It's possible he didn't intend to pull a Face Heel Turn; Dracula has a knack for messing with people's heads.
 * Trick Boss: Scylla, Paranoia and the Hydra from the Rondo remake.
 * True Final Boss: In Dracula X Chronicles, Dracula goes One-Winged Angel after his One-Winged Angel form. Oh dear.
 * Turns Red: A lot of bosses. Gaibon from Super Castlevania IV probably started its origin without going One-Winged Angel though.
 * Uberwald: Subverted in Bloodlines, as the final battle actually takes place in England, not Romania.
 * Unholy Nuke: "Demonic Megiddo" is the Dark Lord's most powerful attack, and tends to be a One-Hit Kill super powerful spell used mainly by Dracula or Death.
 * Unwitting Pawn: in Order of Ecclesia is tricked into  in the bad ending.  still contributes to  anyway if you bypass the bad ending, having
 * almost becomes one of these in Curse of Darkness; his rival actually does.
 * Leon Belmont becomes one in Lament of Innocence as
 * Poor, poor Cornell.
 * Of late, in Lords of Shadow, turns into this, and like a good ol' one-two punch,
 * Updated Rerelease: Legacy of Darkness was originally going to be called Castlevania: Special Edition.
 * Vampire Hunter: Just about everyone.
 * Variable-Length Chain
 * Victory Is Boring: Subversion: Richter Belmont seemingly summons the castle back just to be a hero again, but he's actually under Mind Control.
 * Video Game Lives
 * Video Game Remake: The original Castlevania has been remade several times; notable versions include Super Castlevania IV and what would later become known as Castlevania Chronicles. Also, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood was remade for the PSP.
 * There is also Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth, which is a re-imagining of Castlevania: The Adventure.
 * Villain Teleportation: Dracula.
 * Subverted by Alucard, who inherited the powers from his old man, but obviously uses it for righteous means.
 * Weird Moon: Most games in the series content themselves with an inexplicably gigantic moon, but Symphony of the Night takes the cake. SotN's moon appears crescent when viewed from the clock tower, full when viewed from the outer wall and Olrox's quarters, and full with a blood red tint when viewed from the castle keep. In all but Olrox's quarters, the moon is also terrifyingly HUGE. And yet, all of these locations are a short walk from each other, with the outer wall, clock tower, and castle keep all being right next door.
 * At times, the moon displays a vague but definitely seeable skull pattern.
 * In the intro for Castlevania Judgment, the moon is portrayed in such a size it would actually be BIGGER than the Earth itself, unless the satellite has broken orbit and is on a collision course for Eastern Europe.
 * A more subdued variation occurs in Bloodlines, during the final segment of the final stage. The moon, in all its largeness, is prominent in the background as you climb the first of three boss-room towers, and is turned blood red by the powers of Death as he manifests to attack you. The subsequent towers are presided over by the still-red moon.
 * Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you realize that the Castle is an ever-changing being of Chaos. It's doing it on purpose.
 * Whip It Good: The foundation of the Belmont offense, as well as many other protagonists.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Almost all Castlevanias illustrated by Ayami Kojima have one, with the exception of Richter in the Rondo of Blood remake Dracula X Chronicles.
 * Kojima's not the only one fond of these fellows - Cornell of Legacy of Darkness, and Nathan Graves of Circle of the Moon are examples of this trope.
 * With This Herring: The knife is the weakest of the special weapons, on par with the un-upgraded whip, in most Classicvanias. Starting with Rondo of Blood they've tried to make the knife a more viable choice through low ammo cost, rapid fire, or powerful item crashes.
 * In Lament of Innocence, the dagger is pretty weak by itself. Combine it with the Yellow Orb (gotten by beating Succubus), and it can easily clear rooms at a moderate 10 hearts.
 * It's damned useful in Symphony of the Night for powering up a particular sword, or healing Alucard after he uses a certain spell. Just stand near a bunch of Bloody Zombies and spam it like a madman.
 * The Metroidvania entries tend to start you with a really lame weapon. Portrait of Ruin starts Jonathan with the legendary Vampire Killer, but he can't use it so it's pathetically weak. It can be upgraded later, though.
 * Wolf Man: They are recurring enemies, but there's also Cornell.
 * World of Ham: The series is very over dramatic, as befitting its source material. Especially any time there's voice acting involved (see below). But the quality is usually high enough that it works. And, occasionally, Konami throws in little jabs to imply they're not taking it completely seriously either. But regardless of if you do, or laugh, or are somewhere in between, it's still one of the only game series that can have a stage entitled "Atop the Corpses of thy Brethren" and not sound out of place.
 * You Monster!: "Die, monster! You don't belong in this world!"
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Charlotte Aulin and Sonia Belmont. Also, Carmilla and Maria in Judgement.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Charlotte Aulin and Sonia Belmont. Also, Carmilla and Maria in Judgement.

But enough tropes, HAVE AT YOU!!!