History VideoGame / CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow

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->''If the world needs a dark lord, it will emerge.''
-->'''Genya Arikado'''

The ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' duology of ''Aria of Sorrow'' ([[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]]), released in 2003, and ''Dawn of Sorrow'' ([[UsefulNotes/NintendoDS DS]]), released in 2005. The duology takes place in 2035/2036, after the permanent defeat of Count Dracula. Both games follow a [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent high school student,]] Soma Cruz, who has strange and dangerous magical powers.

''Aria of Sorrow'' was included in the CompilationRerelease ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' alongside ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDraculaX''; released on September 23rd 2021 for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}.

[[AC:''Aria of Sorrow'']]

In the year 2035, Soma Cruz is a seemingly OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent (ForeignExchangeStudent in the English version) who gets transported to Dracula's Castle (AKA Castlevania), thought to have been sealed permanently during the [[NoodleIncident battle of 1999]], during a solar eclipse, along with fellow student Mina Hakuba. Also at the scene is government agent Genya Arikado, who suggests that Soma venture further into the castle to discover the secret of its reappearance. Soma contains the Power of Dominance, which allows him to [[YourSoulIsMine take the souls of his enemies]] and [[SoulPower conform them to his will]]. It is revealed later that a mad cultist named Graham Jones is behind everything and believes himself to be the reincarnation of Dracula. Obviously, he has to be stopped.

[[AC:''Dawn of Sorrow'']]

The box, manual and introduction [[LateArrivalSpoiler make no effort to hide]] Soma's status as Dracula's reincarnation. The game starts with Soma living a normal life with his [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]] Mina when he is suddenly attacked by cult leader Celia, who wishes to create a new Dark Lord. After the fight, Soma [[WithThisHerring charges into the cult's base with nothing but a rusty pocket knife and the clothes on his back]]. Oh, and [[BagOfSpilling he doesn't have any of the souls]] from ''Aria'', [[JustifiedTrope having dumped them in the Chaotic Realm to reseal Castlevania and all]]. This time, the castle is somewhere in Europe and is made to be a similar substitute to the sealed Castlevania.
----
!! ''Aria of Sorrow'' and ''Dawn of Sorrow'' provide examples of:

* EleventhHourSuperpower: The Black Panther (Sonic Dash) soul. Allows you to run at ridiculous speeds. Combine this with the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Valmanway]] and you can cut through and clear out many areas fast. You receive this very late in the game right before the finale.
* AdvancedMovementTechnique:
** In ''Aria of Sorrow'', you can cancel your backdash into a jump, then backdash again immediately upon landing. This is faster than normal movement.
** In both games' Julius Mode, you move faster by continuously jumping and doing your DivingKick.
* AffablyEvil:
** Graham Jones, although his DevilComplex phase [[FauxAffablyEvil discards most of his affability]].
** Dmitrii Blinov as well. His main motive is curiosity about his abilities.
* AllTheWorldsAreAStage: The Chaotic Realm is made up of various parts of all the previous areas.
* AlreadyUndoneForYou: Justified in ''Dawn''. Julius is running ahead of Soma, yet Soma still has to fight the bosses. Turns out Julius can't use Seals for some reason and only killed them for long enough in order to leave before they could regenerate. [[LampshadeHanging Soma isn't too convinced]], as it is impossible for the player to leave a boss room until the enemy is dead and sealed.
* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation: For no clear reason, Celia's skin is light gray.
* AmbiguouslyBrown: Hammer is notably dark-skinned compared to the rest of the cast, who are paler. Justified as he's a former soldier who comes from a different country.
* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Getting the bad ending when fighting the TrueFinalBoss in ''Aria''.
* AnotherSideAnotherStory: Julius Mode from both games, without any plot in ''Aria'' but with a plot in which [[spoiler:the titular character focuses on getting stronger so he could fulfill his promise to kill Soma if he ever becomes Dracula in ''Dawn'']].
* AntiAntiChrist: [[spoiler:Soma, upon finding out that he is the reincarnation of Dracula, makes it very clear over the course of the game that he doesn't ''want'' to be his successor]].
* TheAntiChrist: [[spoiler:Soma is Dracula's reincarnation, which makes him the target of the With Light cult that believes in GoodNeedsEvil, so they're trying to get him to come into his heritage and become the Dark Lord so that God can once again embody perfect good]].
* TheAntiGod: ''Dawn'' elucidates the idea--first indicated in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence''--that Dracula (or whoever holds the Dark Lord title) is the foremost figure opposed to God in this series, replacing the traditional role of Lucifer/Satan/the Devil.
* AntiFrustrationFeatures: While fighting enemies in the ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' re-release of ''Aria'', a new "gadget" shows a pop-up indication that tells you whether or not you already have their soul in your possession, potentially saving you time from checking the in-game bestiary.
* ArrangeMode:
** ''Aria of Sorrow'' has Julius Mode, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin where you get to play as Julius]], who mostly plays similarly to [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rich]][[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight ter]], with the exception of being able to [[DivingKick dive kick]] as well as [[FlashStep dash]], which passes through enemies.
** Its sequel, ''Dawn of Sorrow'', has another Julius Mode, but this time, he's joined by Yoko Belnades and Alucard, in a CallBack to ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''. The FinalBoss is also altered as well.
* ArtShiftedSequel: The character portraits of the first game were drawn in a gothic style pictured above (the style of Ayami Kojima fans have grown used to since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''). The second game went for a more {{Animesque}} style in an attempt to emulate ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]'', which was one of the most criticized aspects of the game.
* ArtifactTitle: ''Dawn'' does not take place in Dracula's Castle (aka Castlevania).
* ArtisticLicenseSpace: According to the English translation of ''Aria'', the game's eclipse will be the first solar eclipse of the 21st century. As [[Website/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] shows, that's a load of crock. However, it '''WILL''' be the first total solar eclipse visible from Japan in this century. The Japanese version instead describes it as the "biggest astronomical event" of the 21st century, which is arguable and dependent on whether it refers to Japan only as opposed to worldwide.
* AvengingTheVillain: Subverted. When Soma [[spoiler:kills Dmitrii, Dario at first appears to be pissed because his comrade died, appearing to set up the trope. But he quickly reveals that [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou he just wanted to beat Dmitrii himself]]]].
* AwesomeButImpractical: Guns. Despite how awesome it is to bust a cap in evil's ass, even the strongest gun pales in comparison to even most of the mid-game weapons.
* BackgroundBoss: ''Aria'' has a lot of these: Death's first phase, Balore, Graham's [[OneWingedAngel second phase]], [[spoiler:Chaos]], as well as the background mook, the Kyoma Demon. ''Dawn'' has the Puppet Master and Aguni. [[spoiler:However, the latter subverts it; while he can normally only be seen inside the background mirror during your rematch with Dario, Paranoia's soul allows you to enter the mirror and battle Aguni directly to continue towards the best ending.]]
* BadassLongcoat: Soma and Julius. In ''Aria of Sorrow'', Soma's looks like a [[PrettyInMink fur coat]], but in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', it's a [[VideoGame/GuiltyGear Ky Kiske]]-style trenchcoat.
* BagOfSpilling:
** Partially justified in ''Dawn'': Since Soma didn't have any reason to use his Power of Dominance for a long time, all of the souls he collected were released... though it doesn't explain what happened to all his gear and loot from the previous game. That said, he retained the ability to slide and backdash from the very start of ''Dawn'', whereas in ''Aria'' he needed the Skeleton Blaze and Grave Keeper souls to perform each skill respectively.
** Similarly, he requires the Kicker Skeleton soul to perform a drop kick after a double jump in ''Aria''. While this power isn't immediately available in ''Dawn'', reacquiring the Malphas soul also restores the ability to drop kick.
* BaitAndSwitchBoss:
** The Giant Bat appears in ''Aria'', only to be crushed by Balore. You get the Giant Bat soul anyway in the room after the boss room.
** [[spoiler:Just as it seems in ''Dawn'' that you're gonna fight Dmitrii again, his [[PowerCopying stolen Power of Dominance]] didn't quite work out, and all of the monster souls he absorbed fuse and break out to become the real final boss. A bit of a GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere, that.]]
* BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Both Arikado and the cultists in ''Dawn'' appear to believe that the universe requires an embodiment of perfect Evil (whether that be Dracula, [[LateArrivalSpoiler Soma as Dracula's reincarnation]], or someone else) in order for {{God}} to embody perfect Good. The cult tries to force the issue, while Arikado and Soma come to the conclusion that the universe will balance things out on its own by providing a Dark Lord when one is needed.
* BallisticBone: [[{{Pun}} Humerus-ly]] deconstructed with Skeletons absent-mindedly throwing away their own '''heads''' along with bones.
* BattleThemeMusic:
** In ''Aria of Sorrow'', there's separate boss music for Julius (a combination of two old tunes, [[VideoGame/HauntedCastle "Don't Wait Until Night"]] and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaI "Heart of Fire"]]), and in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', [[spoiler:Soma]] uses Dracula's fight music, [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood "Dance of Illusions"]].
** ''Aria of Sorrow'' also had a separate boss theme for fighting [[spoiler:Graham]], and [[spoiler:Chaos, the final boss, has two separate battle themes for both its phases]]. There is also both a regular boss theme used for most bosses, and a major boss theme used for [[WarmUpBoss Creaking Skull]] and Balore.
* BerserkButton: Graham Jones doesn't take kindly when someone other than him shows signs of being Dracula.
* {{BFS}}: There are many ones. For example, Claimh Solais, which is bigger than Soma himself.
* BigBad: ''Aria'' sees [[spoiler:Graham trying to set himself up as Dracula's successor in the belief that, having been born the day Dracula died, he is himself Dracula's reincarnation]], while Celia in ''Dawn'' is trying to create a new Dark Lord (a separate role from Dracula) under the misguided belief that {{God}} needs it in order to embody perfect Good.
* BilingualBonus: Both "Arikado" and, in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', the Cursed Clocktower Slotmachine door is labeled "573", [[GoroawaseNumber which in Japanese is pronounced]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami "Go-Na(na)-Mi."]] Doubles as a StealthPun.
* BishonenLine: Soma is chronologically the latest incarnation of Dracula, and by far the bishi-est.
* BlackBlood: For some reason, any non-scenery blood in ''Dawn'', whether it comes from you or your enemies, is orange. It's possible that this was an attempt to make the blood look [[RealIsBrown more realistic]] that backfired.
* BlessedWithSuck: [[spoiler:Soma]] is Dracula. This gives him many powerful abilities, but also means that a bunch of people attempt to either turn him into Dracula proper for ulterior motives, or to eliminate and replace him to gain his power.
* BlindIdiotTranslation:
** At one point, you'll find a Satan's Ring to use. But in Japan, it was called the "Dark Lord's Ring", so considering the context, it actually is the Dracula's Ring we've been collecting since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest''.
** The names of many enemies in ''Aria'' are misspelled too. "Curly" should be [[Myth/HinduMythology Kali]], "Skull Millione" should be [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Scarmiglione]], "Lubicant" should be [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Rubicante]] and the soul of [[ScyllaAndCharybdis Scylla]] has been renamed "Skulla" for whatever reason.
** Instead of fixing these, the CompilationRerelease ''added'' more. One of the rerelease's AntiFrustrationFeatures is a gadget that pops up every time you hit an enemy to show if you already collected their soul or not. The Mudman is listed on the gadget as "Madman".
** Also in ''Aria'', a handful of souls have decidedly unhelpful or outright wrong descriptions. For instance, the game claims the Dead Warrior allows the player to "deflect normal attacks by pressing UP + B," when what it really does is allow the player to ''[[LagCancel cancel their own]]'' normal attacks by using a Bullet soul. The Zombie Officer soul's description says "Jumping while taking damage restores health," but all it does is allow Soma to cancel aerial knockback by jumping after taking a hit.
** ''Aria'' keeps at it with its weapon names. A holy spear is named "Ronginus' Spear" (as in Saint Longinus, who pierced Jesus's side with a lance on the cross), Katar was renamed to "Cutall", [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the Claiomh Solais is mispelled as "Claimh Solais"]], the list goes on.
** In ''Aria'', when Mina explains the myth that inspired the idea to seal Dracula's castle in a solar eclipse, the goddess Amaterasu Ōkami is mistranslated as "Tensho Daijin" due to a complete misreading of the kanji used to write her name.
* BodyguardCrush: Very subtly implied in ''Dawn'' while using the Alura Une soul. She adds [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics -sama]] to Soma's name and seems to almost lovingly embrace him. [[http://i464.photobucket.com/albums/rr6/Milen_Anessar/DoSshot01.jpg Observe.]]
* BodyHorror: One of the most horrific instances in the entire series. [[spoiler:After absorbing every single monster soul to become the Dark Lord, the massive power Dmitrii got turns out to be too much for him since, while he did successfully copy Soma's power of dominance, he did not copy the RequiredSecondaryPowers needed to properly ''contain'' the souls he absorbed. This results in a skeletal, monstrous fusion of an abomination emerging from Dmitrii's back as he dies in sheer agony.]]
* BookEnds: Depending on how you look at it, the ''Sorrow'' series provides [[EarnYourHappyEnding the ultimate closure for Dracula]]. For one, compare Soma to [[spoiler:Mathias]]; [[RuleOfSymbolism the color of their garments and hair are almost completely reversed]]. In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence Lament of Innocence]]'', we see [[spoiler:Mathias]] falling out with the Belmonts and [[StartOfDarkness the beginning of his descent into darkness]]. In the ''Sorrow'' games, Soma gets to live a relatively blissful life, has a good ally in the form of Julius Belmont, and, just as he is the latest incarnation of Dracula, [[spoiler:his love interest Mina Hakuba is heavily implied to be the reincarnation of Elisabetha Cronqvist, as Lisa was before her]]. [[WildMassGuessing Perhaps]] God gave [[spoiler:Mathias]] [[MyGreatestSecondChance another shot at happiness]]?
* BoringButPractical:
** The Medusa Head Soul in both games makes you hover in the air for a pittance of mana. [[GameBreaker Almost indefinitely, in a game featuring bosses with raised weak points whose attacks sweep the ground.]]
** In ''Dawn of Sorrow'', jump kicking damage is based on air time rather than distance. Guess what Medusa Head lets you do with the kick.
** The Axe Armor soul in ''Dawn'' is your garden variety ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' overhead throwing axe. And as usual, it's one of the most useful weapons in the game.
** The Headhunter boss's soul in ''Aria'' is a passive soul and guaranteed drop that grants boosts to all stats but LCK based on how many souls he's collected. Unless you're actively avoiding killing monsters as much as possible...
** Giant Ghost soul in ''Aria'' creates a barrier that protects you against projectiles. Pretty much ANY projectile. Can make Death's first form fall down easily!
** Killer Mantle disposes of any Golem (except Big Golem) in ONE HIT. Makes it easier to grind for Flesh Golem and regular Golem souls, and later for Iron Golem. Boy, are you ever going to miss it [[NoSell in the sequel]].
** Any soul that increases LCK (such as the ghost dancers) is a generally good go-to "passive" soul to have active when exploring the castle, since it also increases your chances of getting more souls in the process. (Unfortunately, the Luck stat is severely nerfed in ''Dawn'', reducing its effectiveness greatly.)
** The Skelerang Soul in ''Dawn'' increase both the power and speed of throwing weapons like the Boomerang, and also allows you to have two of them on-screen at the same time. Since throwing weapons don't have any animations, you can easily use them to clear enemies at range with no cost to anything.
* BossRush: Present in both games as an unlockable mode.
* CallBack:
** During the intro cutscene to ''Aria'', a large amount of enemies appear in the starting area and surround Soma and Mina. Arikado makes short work of all but one enemy with a spell, turning them into orbs of light that fly into him. [[spoiler:To be specific, he uses Soul Steal -- almost exactly as it first appeared in ''Symphony of the Night''.]]
** Most of ''Aria''[='=]s pedestal souls are monsters from ''Symphony'' who were never adapted for GBA graphics. Most prominent are the Hippogryph, Malphas (the first time this name is used for him in English; he was called Karasuman in ''Symphony''), and Galamoth.
** The FinalBoss of Julius Mode in ''Dawn'' (plus Soma's BadEnding in ''Aria'') is one large reference to the first Dracula fight in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''. [[spoiler:The hero(es) enter to find Soma [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching on his throne]] with a wine glass in hand, which he then hurls to the ground after a brief exchange of words. In ''Dawn'', Soma's phases also match up with Dracula's phases -- though he mixes it up with a few of his souls as well.]]
* CaptainErsatz: Zephyr in ''Dawn'' is basically a palette swap of Dio Brando from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', with [[ColourCodedTimestop the same abilities]] and [[FlechetteStorm everything]]. You even fight him outside of the clock tower, [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders much like the final battle between Dio and Jotaro]]. If that wasn't enough, he shouts Dio's iconic "TOKI WO TOMARE!" before freezing time.
* ChaosArchitecture: Somehow ''Dawn of Sorrow'' completely ignores this, taking place in an "exact replica" of Dracula's castle, completely ignoring its status as [[TropeNamer a creature of chaos]]. The need to have this plot point is unclear, as the story behind the castle [[spoiler:(except possibly [[{{Hellgate}} what is under it]], and even that may be a creation of the cult)]] has no meaning at all.
* TheChosenOne: Soma, though as the chosen villain instead of hero (but luckily for him, he is able to [[RefusalOfTheCall resist]]).
* ChurchMilitant: Yoko Belnades is a witch trained by the Church.
* CirclesOfHell: The Abyss consists of several different themed segments, including a [[FireAndBrimstoneHell traditional fire-and-brimstone area]] and a [[BloodyBowelsOfHell bloody meaty area]]. There's also an area that's [[StealthPun frozen]] [[Literature/TheDivineComedy over]].
* CleavageWindow: Celia [[http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080811123810/castlevania/images/c/c0/Celia-full.gif sports one]] on her otherwise conservative robes.
* CliffhangerWall: ''Dawn of Sorrow'' is chronologically the last game in the original series, with the franchise producing only prequels for a few years before being completely rebooted with ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow''.
* ClimaxBoss: [[spoiler:Julius Belmont]] in ''Aria'' and [[spoiler:Aguni]] in ''Dawn''.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Hammer. Used to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] the oddity of opening a weapon shop on the doorstep of a magical castle full of monsters.
* CollectorOfForms: Implied to be the case with the boss known only as "Headhunter." She normally looks like a headless woman in [=17th=] century garb; however, by putting heads from her collection on her neck she can transform into different shapes. For example, putting the head of a lizard-like creature turns her into one and gives her the ability to climb walls. And she's vocally eager to add ''your'' head to her collection...
* CollisionDamage: With Julius as the only exception in ''Aria'', and Dario and Dmitrii in ''Dawn''.
* ColorCodedCharacters:
** We have [[TheBigGuy Hammer]] wearing green, [[TokenGirl Yoko's]] first outfit contains pink, [[RetiredBadass Julius]] is in brown, and [[BigBad Graham]] wears white (standard for the evil religious zealot). [[TheHero Soma]] wears white and blue on top of a black shirt, possibly a nod to his dual nature. Arikado subverts the trope by being a good guy who wears black but is not an {{antihero}}.
** There are two kinds of Medusa Head, one which turns you into stone and one which doesn't. The former is yellow while the latter is blue, which has been in the series since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood''.
* ColourCodedTimestop: Chronomage's soul. It's even called ''Time Stop''. However, it doesn't work on [[http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Stop#Time%20Stop%20Immunity some enemies,]] and it's crucial to killing Sky Fish.
* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: Dmitrii can absorb certain Guardian souls, some of which, when you use them, force you to stand still. However, when ''he'' uses them, he can walk around and even keep attacking with his Bullet soul all he pleases. This can get especially silly when Dmitrii is strolling about in the midst of a tornado spewing massive swarms of indestructible locusts at you.
* ContinuityNod:
** The save rooms in ''Aria'' have [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Alucard's save coffin]] in the background. [[spoiler:Makes sense, considering it's implied Alucard is also venturing through Castlevania at the same time Soma is.]]
** ''Dawn'' has several to ''Aria'', of course. Most notably, many areas in ''Dawn''[='=]s castle (which is claimed to be a replica of Dracula's Castle -- not the actual one, which was sealed in an eclipse [[spoiler:and destroyed with Chaos]]) match up to certain areas in ''Aria''[='=]s castle. [[labelnote:Full details]]The Pinnacle and Top Floor are in roughly the same location, both are connected to the Clock Tower on the right and an additional two-part residence (Dance Hall and Inner Quarters/two sections of the Demon Guest House) to the left, a garden (Floating Garden/Garden of Madness) in the very middle, a church-themed area to the right (Chapel/Dark Chapel), a sprawling underground cavern (Underground Reservoir/Subterranean Hell) that requires the ability to walk underwater to traverse, Balore's location (The Arena/Wizardry Lab) in the lower left, an additional much smaller area to its right (Underground Cemetery/Silenced Ruins), a "hidden" underground section (Forbidden Area/Mine of Judgement), and a secret area is isolated from the rest of the castle with its own map and can only be accessed after avoiding the "fake" ending (Chaotic Realm/The Abyss, defeating Graham without Dracula's souls equipped/killing Dario instead of Aguni).[[/labelnote]]
** Soma's NPC allies all have a counterpart in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''. Genya is Alucard, Yoko is a descendant of Sypha, Julius is a descendant of Trevor, and Hammer shares many physical and personality traits with Grant. None the least of which is his [[HopelessSuitor crush on Yoko]], a Belnades witch. In fact, Julius Mode in ''Dawn of Sorrow'' basically ''is Castlevania III'' again but having new playable characters instead, with Julius standing in for Trevor, Yoko taking the place of Sypha, and [[spoiler:Arikado resuming his role as Alucard]]. In addition, the final boss is [[spoiler:Soma, who has fully become Dracula, with his own rendition of Dance of Illusions playing in the background and the classic transformation phase]]. Pity they [[DummiedOut didn't get]] Hammer to stand in for Grant, though.
** [[spoiler:Graham's]] second form is similar to that of Dracula's in ''Symphony'': a large mass of flesh in the background with huge hands on the sides that swipe at you.
* CoolOldGuy: Julius Belmont. In his fifties or no, he can still storm the castle with the best of them.
* CreatorProvincialism: After centuries of Dracula's EternalRecurrence throughout the series, he is finally defeated for good when Julius Belmont joins forces with the heretofore unmentioned Hakuba clan of Japan to seal Dracula's castle inside of a solar eclipse. This intrinsically ties the plot of the ''Sorrow'' games to Japan, a location that had been mostly ignored up to this point.
* CreaturesByManyOtherNames: The Cockatrice and the Basilisk are pretty much palette swaps, although mythological, speaking, they're very different, which is CallAPegasusAHippogriff.
* CreepyDoll: Puppet Master from ''Dawn of Sorrow'' uses them.
* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Dmitrii Blinov]] suffers one of the most horrifying in the entire series. After his [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit that allows him to copy Soma's Dominance ability and return to life from his first death, Dmitrii loses control of the power and all of the monster souls he's absorbed coalesce into a horrible EldritchAbomination... that swells from and ''bursts from his back'', tearing his body to pieces in the process in his clear agony.]]
* DamnYouMuscleMemory:
** Those who play ''Aria'' followed by ''Dawn'' may find it confusing when the "jump" button becomes the "special attack" button. Unless you've been playing SNES games all your life, then this trope has suddenly been played in your favor. (In fact, SNES games using B for jump and Y for attack is likely the reason it is that way in ''Dawn'' and all DS ''Castlevania'' games, ironically an attempt at averting this trope.) This is especially an issue if you play ''Aria'' on a Nintendo DS, due to the way the Game Boy Advance's A and B buttons translate to different positions.
** The game lets you change out the controls... Too bad you can only do it for Soma Mode; Julius Mode is stuck with the defaults, as he can't access the menu and thus the options.
* DarkFantasy: A much more explicit case than most of the games in the franchise. With Soma's Power of Dominance, you [[YourSoulIsMine eat and absorb enemies' souls to gain their abilities]].
* DarkIsNotEvil: Despite his background, personality, and [[BadassInANiceSuit black suit]], Arikado is your most helpful ally. Even when he [[spoiler:unseals his powers in one ending of the second game, he still acts the same instead of [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity losing his mind]], a common side effect to such actions]]. It's probably no accident that the BigBad in the first game [[spoiler:wears white]]. Soma himself, despite having dark powers, isn't inherently evil. In fact, Yoko explicitly invokes this trope to Soma when she explains the nature of his powers.
* DealWithTheDevil: ''Dawn'' features the Devil Soul. It's a Guardian soul -- press R and you will begin to [[CastFromHitPoints lose twenty HP per second in exchange for much higher power]], though it'll stop draining your health before it kills you (but still provide the power boost). Great if you're good at not getting hit and/or doing the Boss Rush.
* DeflectorShields: The Witch and Giant Ghost souls in ''Aria''.
* DegradedBoss:
** All the early bosses in ''Aria'', like Creaking Skull, Manticore, or Great Armor, later become regular enemies.
** ''Dawn'' averts this trope entirely, which is very unusual for a ''Castlevania'' game. This is a necessary consequence of the special nature of bosses in ''Dawn'', which (unlike standard enemies) require a Magic Seal to defeat.
* DemonicPossession: Soma ends up unknowingly sharing his body with Dmitrii's spirit and, when Arikado [[spoiler:reveals that the "Mina" that Celia murdered was actually a doppelganger to trick him into going evil]], Dmitrii then leaves his host after he finished copying his abilities -- painfully, it should be noted as well. It is also implied in the neutral ending (the one where Dario is killed without killing Aguni).
* {{Determinator}}: 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''.
* DevelopersForesight: In ''Aria,'' the Red Minotaur enemy gains a new attack in the Top Floor area that involves tossing its axe in the air, charging forward to catch it, and bringing it down on Soma. But if the player uses the Chronomage soul to freeze time and interrupt the attack, the axe will fall off the screen and the Red Minotaur will be reduced to charging and uppercutting the player.
* DevilComplex: [[spoiler:Graham Jones]] in ''Aria'' and Dmitrii and Dario in ''Dawn'' are completely convinced that they are Dracula's {{Reincarnation}} because they were born the day he died. While they all have demon-related supernatural abilities, they are also completely wrong; the real reincarnation is [[spoiler:the protagonist [[AntiAntiChrist Soma]]]].
* DifficultButAwesome: The Final Guard soul in both games. It's a rare drop from a very tough enemy (making it a pain to even acquire in the first place), can only be used on the ground, freezes you in place and stops you from doing anything else while it's active, and has an excruciating MP cost. However, it grants ''instant'' invincibility on demand so long as you're grounded and provides even more lengthy invincibility frames if you block an attack -- during which you can deactivate the soul and move or attack again. Though it has a short delay after you turn it off before you can move again in ''Dawn'', proper use of it in either game effectively gives Soma the ability to parry almost every attack in the game.
* DiscOneFinalDungeon: Both games technically have one, but the Top Floor of ''Aria'' is the most straightforward and initially convincing one, with its high octane soundtrack, the sometimes hellish backdrop, little details like the animated armor letting Soma past, and of course the final battle taking place in the throne room as is tradition, against Graham, who does a pretty damn good job living up to his claims of being Dracula. Only the dangling plot thread of Julius and his whip and the easy to miss and easy to forget sealed entrance in the floating gardens hint that there's more game past this area.
* DiscOneNuke:
** The Nightmare and Mandragora souls in ''Aria'' and ''Dawn'' respectively. Possible to acquire early, powerful for the entire game, for a reasonable MP cost too.
** The very first enemies in ''Aria'', zombies, will [[RandomlyDrops occasionally]] drop the Baselard, a short knife. As revealed in the LP of the game by LetsPlay/RoahmMythril, the Baselard very quickly proves to outclass almost all of the weapons you find in the early game. For such a small weapon, it does a surprising amount of damage with its good ATK boost and high speed.
** Bhuj, an axe, in ''Dawn''. Not entirely for its damage, either. The true magic is the fact that it's a tier 3 weapon that takes Axe Armor and Manticore Souls to create, which are both common enough, and sells for 10,000G. The absolute earliest you can make it is midway through the Wizardry Lab (the second area), but there are no convenient Axe Armors up to that point. No worries, just carry on a little bit to the first accessible part of the Demon Guest House, and you'll find a room with two, both of which you can kill in one shot with a maxed Skeleton soul, while the Manticore in the Wizardry Lab near a room transition on the floor to a hallway with a Stone Golem in it is perfectly placed for farming. Get nine each of their souls, plus the axes the Axe Armors are liable to drop (buy more from Hammer if you didn't get 9 in the first place), make a bunch of Bhuj, and then sell them for an easy 90,000G. Repeat it a few times and you'll have no trouble whatsoever footing the bill for that Soul Eater Ring. It even works great later in the game, too.
* DoNotRunWithAGun:
** If you're running, you stop when you use a weapon or a Bullet soul. However, if you jump and attack in midair, you can continue moving forward while attacking at the same time. A few weapons are exceptional in that you can continue running as you use them.
** Subverted with a combination of a few select Bullet souls (like Killer Clown) and the backdash or front dash (Werewolf) ability. The Front dash cancels the animation of the bullet soul and allows you to instantly use it again while simultaneously retreating/charging at them. While this CAN be devastating and capable of clearing rooms, it eats through your MP like crazy and it really is not recommended until you get the Chaos Ring. However, the ability to set up 9 Amalaric Snipers at once is awe-inspiring.
** The Valmanway doesn't require you to be still to attack, as Soma doesn't actually ''animate'' as the weapon is so fast. It doesn't even get a special attack because you simply don't need one.
* DoubleJump: Though you'll need Malphas' soul to do it. Soma does a flip in ''Dawn'' on his second jump, though.
* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Dmitrii kills himself after his fight with Soma and allows him to absorb his soul. [[ThanatosGambit However, he takes the time to copy Soma's Power of Dominance and later takes over the body of the doppelganger Celia tries to trick Soma with, allowing Dmitrii to resume a human form.]]]]
* DumbMuscle: Dario Bossi. While physically strong and an equally powerful [[PlayingWithFire fire mage]], he's rather brutish and lacks the intelligence to plan things out.
* DwindlingParty: Despite the reputations of the supporting cast, this happens in a non-lethal sense over the course of the two games, aside from Julius Mode itself. Hammer goes AWOL and becomes a shopkeeper as soon as we meet him. Yoko is stabbed by Graham in ''Aria'' and becomes a non-combatant in ''Dawn''. Julius is fought to a stalemate by Soma in ''Aria'' and defeated by a post-ritual Dario in ''Dawn''. And just before ''Dawn's'' final boss fight, [[spoiler:Dmitrii kills Celia as part of a sacrifice for more power and takes down Arikado]].
* EasyAmnesia: Played straight with "J" or [[spoiler:Julius Belmont, who loses his memories after the trauma of finally slaying Dracula, yet regains them after going on a sabbatical at his castle]].
* EarnYourBadEnding: Julius Mode in ''Dawn''. [[spoiler:Soma ends up becoming Dracula as he feared, causing Julius to fulfill their promise and kill him.]]
* EldritchAbomination:
** [[spoiler:The FinalBoss of ''Dawn'', Menace, which is a fusion of all the souls that Dmitrii absorbed.]]
** [[spoiler:Chaos in ''Aria'', a good contender for the most Eldritch of any abomination in the entire franchise.]]
* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:The Chaotic Realm in ''Aria'' and the Abyss in ''Dawn''.]] Both areas are a surreal amalgamation of rooms mashed together with no real thought for logic, are isolated from the rest of the castle in some way, and contain the TrueFinalBoss in both games.
* ElementalRockPaperScissors: A rather low-key version. Enemies and certain armor items do have elemental strengths and weaknesses, but most of the time you can get by just fine without paying attention to them. Interestingly, certain weapons such as the Kaiser Knuckle, the Killer Mantle's soul, and Balore's soul in ''Aria'' have [[NonElemental no attribute assigned to them, allowing them to bypass resistances]]. This allows them to make short work of a Final Guard, who are resistant to ''all'' attributes in the game otherwise.
* ElephantInTheLivingRoom: Death is repeatedly stated to be Dracula's closest confidant in other games in the series, so you would think he would have something to say to the reincarnation of his old friend. On the contrary, though, these are some of the only games released after ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' where Death has no speaking role at all. [[WildMassGuessing Maybe Dracula's defeat in 1999 had some permanent effect on him?]]
* EnemyOfMyEnemy: A few rooms after meeting Graham at the entrance of the Clock Tower, Yoko uses this saying and teases that Soma doesn't want to be her comrade when he objects slightly.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Graham Jones believes that since he was born with magical powers on the day that Dracula was killed that he has inherited Dracula's powers. He's not entirely off-base, given that he can exert some control over Dracula's castle, but he's missing one key piece of information, namely that Dracula's Power of Dominance is residing in someone else.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: What? [[spoiler:You think Dracula('s reincarnation) would be completely okay with his loved one getting killed in front of him? Especially after [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaLamentOfInnocence Elisabetha]] and [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Lisa]]'s deaths? Celia finds this out the hard way in ''Dawn'''s bad ending.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Soma's relationship with Mina in ''Dawn''. [[spoiler:Especially in the GoldenEnding. However, Celia also seems aware, and exploits it to try and force Soma to become the new Dark Lord by killing a doppelganger of Mina [[ForcedToWatch in front of him]].]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: ''Dawn'''s bad ending. BullyingADragon + StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred = this trope. [[spoiler:Just ask Celia... oh wait, you can't because she's dead]].
* EvilIsVisceral: In a word, Graham's [[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mk7BZkmLSYM/hqdefault.jpg final form]] is '''[[NauseaFuel disgusting.]]''' [[labelnote:For those with a strong stomach...]]It takes the appearance of [[FanDisservice two giant pale women conjoined at the stomach]] [[EyesDoNotBelongThere with eyes on the back of their hands]], [[{{Gorn}} severed below the waist with their skin and muscle torn off from the chest down to expose ribs and pulsing organs]]. Graham himself is [[BodyHorror partially fused with their combined heart]], with a halo formed from [[EyeScream a golden ring stabbed through the eye sockets of the women]]. Yeah, pass the BrainBleach.[[/labelnote]]
* EvilLaugh: [[spoiler:Soma gets an ''epic'' one as the FinalBoss for Julius Mode in ''Dawn''. Unfortunately, he really only has the one voice clip...]]
* ExcaliburInTheStone: The Excalibur weapon allows you to swing an enormous sword, and ''the stone it's still embedded in.''
* EyeBeams: Balore in both games, though it takes form slightly differently. Strangely, his soul has nothing to do with lasers in either game...
* EyesDoNotBelongThere: Graham's OneWingedAngel form has eyes on its hands. [[spoiler:Chaos's true form also has four eyes in each corner of its room; destroying them lowers the core's defense.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler:Soma in the bad ending of both games.]]
* FantasyGunControl: Subverted. There ''are'' modern firearms in these games, but they're very scarce and come much later in the game than needed. By the time you pick them up, you'll likely have swords that far outclass them.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Graham Jones is extremely kind and polite to Soma, but later admits that this is solely because he doesn't see Soma as a threat. The moment Soma unwittingly implies that he may have inherited Dracula's powers, Graham's demeanor changes completely to murderous rage.
* FetusTerrible: Legion's shell of bodies in ''Aria'' invokes the image of a fetus in the womb, and defeating it reveals the inner core is a cage that really ''does'' contain a fetus of some kind. Notably, defeating Legion without completely destroying its outer shell causes the fetus to burn up after the cage breaks, but if you fully destroyed the shell, it instead floats into the air and briefly opens its eyes before transforming into a red soul to be absorbed by Soma. [[note]]This is also the only way to lose a unique boss soul that can't be acquired elsewhere, [[GuideDangIt so defeating the core without fully destroying the shell means losing out on that 100% soul rate for that playthrough]].[[/note]]
* FieryLion: The ''Literature/ArsGoetia'' demon Buer is a lion head on a flaming wheel.
* FinalBoss: Notably the only 2D games where [[BigBad Dracula]] isn't the final boss. Instead, ''Aria'' features [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain Chaos]]]], and ''Dawn'' [[spoiler:Menace]]; in the latter's Julius Mode, however, [[spoiler:Soma is fought instead, having truly become Dracula, technically making him the final boss for that mode]].
* FinalDungeonPreview: About halfway through ''Aria'', Soma passes through the Top Floor of Dracula's Castle to get to the Inner Quarters. The Top Floor is the final area of the game, though this is {{subverted|Trope}} if the player unlocks the GoldenEnding.
* {{Flanderization}}: In ''Aria'', Hammer makes ''one'' mention about what he thinks of Yoko, saying that she is his type. In ''Dawn'', Hammer is completely smitten by Yoko, but he CannotSpitItOut and about half of his dialogue is pumping Soma for information about Yoko and what exactly her relationships with Arikado and Julius are.
* FlashStep: The special move for high level daggers in ''Dawn''. Great for [[DoorToBefore activating switches]] from the [[SequenceBreaking wrong side]].
* FlunkyBoss: ''Aria'' has Legion, the corpses of whose shell can drop out and attack on their own. ''Dawn'' has the Puppet Master (creates floating doll enemies), Abaddon (directs the movements of a colossal swarm of insects), [[spoiler:Menace (spawns creatures that look a lot like [[Literature/TheLangoliers Langoliers]]) and Soma/Dracula (brings a Gaibon familiar for his first phase and swaps it out for a Harpy in his second.)]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In ''Aria,'' once you obtain the Flame Demon soul and use its [[SignatureMove exceedingly familiar attack,]] you might be able to guess TheReveal.
* FullFrontalAssault: The succubus enemy in ''Aria'' is completely naked, although the pixelated nature renders [[BarbieDollAnatomy any sensitive bits undiscernable]]. ''Dawn'' would opt to make them {{Stripperific}} instead.
** Cagnazzo and it's variants are the male example, with a visible (albiet undetailed) penis that can be seen upon closer inspection.
* HardModePerks: In ''Aria of Sorrow'', certain items will only spawn/be collectable in Hard Mode despite being spotted early on in normal mode. The most notable of these is [[spoiler:Death's Scythe]], which makes soul collecting much easier. However, since Hard Mode can only be unlocked after beating the game on Normal once, the player will be forced to at least play Normal Mode once before they can get any Hard Mode loot.
* {{Gashadokuro}}: The first boss, Creaking Skull, is a gigantic skeleton without legs (as its body has collapsed under its own weight) and a bone club. It's encountered again in the Dance Hall, where Soma can get its "Guardian Big Bone" soul ability, which creates its club hand. It can also later be encountered as the "Giant Skeleton", now lime-green and without the fire breath. Killing the Giant Skeleton grants the ability to lob big skulls.
* GenerationXerox: The cast of protagonists bears a striking similarity to the cast of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse''. Alucard was a playable character in that game. Julius and Yoko are descendants of Trevor and Sypha, respectively. Certain unused assets suggest Hammer was also intended to be playable at some point, filling in the role of Grant. All the while, Soma plays the role of "Dracula if Lisa hadn't died", and indeed becomes villainous if Mina shares her fate.
* GenderBender: The Curly soul in ''Aria'' and the Valkyrie soul in ''Dawn'' will briefly turn Soma into the respective female enemy.
%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.
* GlassCannon:
** On a NewGamePlus on Hard Mode in ''Aria'', your character will likely be this, especially in the beginning. You start with all your items and almost all souls, including ridiculously game-breaking weapons. However, there's no equivalent game-breaking armor, and while most enemies will go down in one to three hits, they'll still do a surprising amount of damage.
** The Lubicant soul increases your attack power as you lose HP. It's very useful for clearing Boss Rush mode quickly, if you dare, as you begin with a [[HPToOne Spoiled Milk]].
** Using the Devil soul in ''Dawn'' eventually turns Soma into this. It stops draining health if Soma doesn't have more than 10 HP without revoking the power boost... but you still don't have more than 10 HP, so just about anything will likely kill you.
* GodWasMyCopilot: You know that odd guy who keeps telling you what to do, helps you understand your power, and protects all [[DamselInDistress Distressed Damsels]] in the area? Well, he's not God, but [[spoiler:Alucard]] is the [[BigGood next best thing]] in this series.
* GoldenEnding: 100% in either exploration or soul collection in ''Aria'' changes the best ending a little, with Soma bragging about how cool he's become and Mina [[ShipTease holding his hand at the very end]].
* GoldMakesEverythingShiny: Joyeuse, the gold sword.
* GoodNeedsEvil: [[spoiler:Celia believes that [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil in order for God to embody perfect Good, there needs to be an embodiment of perfect Evil to stand opposite of Him]]. This is why she wants Soma to become the Dark Lord. Arikado believes in this trope, too, yet his opinion is the universe will provide a Dark Lord when one is needed, and that no one '''must''' fill the role.]]
* GottaCatchThemAll: Collecting all attainable souls in either game comes with the reward of the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Chaos Ring]], which constantly regenerates MP faster than you could ever hope to deplete it -- in other words, unlimited MP.
* GrandFinale: The good endings mark the conclusion of the battle between Dracula and the Belmont clan. In ''Aria'', Soma manages to defeat the evil of Castlevania that sought to turn him into Dracula again. In ''Dawn'', he refuses the mantle once again despite being told that the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil demands that he become the Dark Lord. So even if the universe truly needs another BigBad down the road, it won't be Dracula again.
* GrandTheftMe: This is how [[spoiler:Dracula came BackFromTheDead in the bad endings, via his reincarnation Soma Cruz]].
* GreaterScopeVillain: ''Aria of Sorrow'' establishes that [[spoiler:Chaos is this for the entire series, despite its lack of sentience]].
* GreatOffscreenWar: The assault on Dracula's castle in 1999, in which Dracula was finally killed for good and his castle sealed inside an eclipse. This event directly results in the whole story of ''Aria of Sorrow''. Unlike every other instance, this wasn't just a lone hero traversing the castle and fighting Dracula, but it also involved contemporary military forces, as seen in the zombies of the soldiers in ''Aria''.
* GuideDangIt:
** The steps to unlocking the real ending in ''Aria of Sorrow''. [[spoiler:There are some vague clues and a sort of logic (you need to equip souls that give you Dracula's traditional abilities), but it still requires finding just the right enemies to get souls from, and the clues are very easy to overlook. Not to mention you still need to work out ''where'' you need them equipped.]]
** Also from ''Aria'', how to get Legion's soul, the only boss whose Soul you may get or not. [[note]]This does not count the bosses that reappear later as standard enemies.[[/note]] [[spoiler:You have to attack its outer shell made up of corpses first. This shell is made up of four segments, which break off with enough damage, exposing its core. The catch is, you must ''not'' destroy the core without getting rid of all the bodies surrounding it. If you do, you kill it anyway, but you won't get its soul. And, since it's a boss, [[PermanentlyMissableContent you cannot fight it again for its soul in that run]].]] This does not affect story progression, but does lock you out of OneHundredPercentCompletion and makes one of the hardest boss fights in the game much harder.
** Getting through the waterfall is quite the confusion, as it requires the use of two souls in conjucture to get through. [[spoiler:Specifically, Undine which is logical to have by that point and any other soul that rushes you further such as the Curly soul.]] While the solution is quite literally written on the wall of the room, it's in the form of small drawings that can be rather hard to notice and figure out.
** To a lesser extent, Julius Mode's primary mechanic in ''Aria''. Yes, you ''can'' get to the FinalBoss [[spoiler:Graham]] almost immediately since Julius starts with all his abilities unlocked, but if you do that the boss will ''destroy'' you. Turns out, Julius "levels up" only after defeating the game's bosses, so you need to go around and defeat them before you can effectively stand up to the final boss.
* GunsAreWorthless: Played mostly straight in ''Aria'', where the handgun is only obtainable at a point in the game that you can easily have the InfinityPlusOneSword by (and even if you don't, it's still weak compared to everything else). The Positron Rifle is decent enough, but a BraggingRightsReward due to the quick finish of Boss Rush (which requires getting the good ending and being able to kick every boss' ass in under 5 minutes) required. There is a Hard Mode-exclusive Silver Gun though, which is pretty good (as in, workable, but like every other weapon, outclassed by the InfinityPlusOneSword). Averted in ''Dawn'', where the handgun is a great early weapon if bought from Hammer when first available (you can also find it a bit later) with its high firerate (if combined with any form of LagCancel), and the [[DepletedPhlebotinumShells Silver Gun]] works great for a bit after that, but the lack of upgrades after the Silver Gun make it worthless for endgame. Then again, the guns have an attack range across the entire screen and do {{hit scan}} damage, and don't require using any mana (as well as having infinite ammo), [[DownplayedTrope so they're not totally useless]].
* TheGunslinger: Soma can equip guns if you can find them.
* HardModePerks: Playing ''Aria of Sorrow'' on Hard mode increases the chances that enemies will drop their souls if you don't already have them. Additionally, some unique and powerful items like Death's Robe can only be obtained in Hard mode.
* HeartContainer: Unlike most {{Metroidvania}}s, they are absent in both ''Sorrow'' games.
* HelpfulMook: Bone Pillars allow you to stand on them, as do the Catoblepas and Gorgons. If you don't have double jump or flight (and even if you do), they can help you reach slightly higher places.
* HeroOfAnotherStory: Julius was the Belmont who permanently destroyed Dracula ''forever'' by sealing his castle in another dimension in 1999. So far, there have been no games that take place during 1999, so we have to take his word for it that it was the last hurrah for both old Drac and the Belmont clan.
* HighPressureBlood: Anything that bleeds in ''Aria'' will emit jets of bright red blood with a distinctive spraying sound.
* HoistByHerOwnPetard: In the bad ending to ''Dawn'', [[spoiler:Celia fakes killing Mina. Without Mina's talisman to absorb the darkness spawned by his rage, Soma becomes Dracula, [[GoneHorriblyRight just like Celia wanted... and then brutally kills her in revenge.]] Nice work, Celia. Rest in peace.]]
* HolyHandGrenade: The Claimh Solais sword, Ronginus' Spear, the Valkyrie soul in ''Aria'', the Erinys soul in ''Dawn'', and a handful of others.
* HotWitch:
** Yoko Belnades, who doubles as a CoolBigSis to both Soma and Mina. Celia, the cult leader from ''Dawn'', is possibly an EvilIsSexy example.
** The normal Witch enemies as well. Sometimes you just want to stand there and watch them bounce.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: Graham Jones is exactly this. While normally an AffablyEvil antagonist throughout the game, he breaks down when confronted with the possibility that he is not the reincarnation of Count Dracula as he had believed his whole life. [[spoiler:It reaches its peak in the Throne Room if Soma battles him with Dracula's souls equipped and proves himself the true successor to the Dark Lord.]]
* ILetYouWin: This applies for [[spoiler:Julius Belmont]] in ''Aria Of Sorrow''.
* ImprobablyFemaleCast: The Inner Quarters in ''Aria''. Practically all of the enemies there are [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster/Humanoid Girls]] of one kind or another. Fun fact: If [[http://www.castlevaniadungeon.net/games/ariaweird.html the results of using a certain debug code]] are any guide, the area was originally going to be called "The Harem." Also, a single room in ''Dawn'' has a similar theme. As it so happens, it's a bedroom.
* InfinityPlusOneSword:
** The Claimh Solais in ''Aria'', or the Chaos Ring + Red Minotaur soul. Completing Boss Rush Mode nets you three more in the form of the Valmanway, Excalibur, and [[RuleOfCool the positron rifle]].
** ''Dawn'' had a great balance with the weapons and souls, but the three weapons that stand out as the best weapons are the Claimh Solais, Death's Scythe, and the Valmanway.
* InterfaceSpoiler: Soma plays ''far'' more similarly to Alucard in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' than any other Castlevania protagonist which, combined with Yoko's allusions to them having similar powers, is a ''huge'' hint about Soma's identity.
* InternalHomage: Fittingly, the final battle against [[spoiler:Dark Lord Soma]] in Julius Mode of ''Dawn'' serves as one to both ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]''. [[spoiler:Soma, assuming the classic SlouchOfVillainy favored by Dracula, [[AGlassOfChianti throws a glass of wine to the ground]] before the battle begins. He spends most of the first phase making liberal use of Dracula's VillainTeleportation skills, complete with Creator/HikaruMidorikawa performing an EvilLaugh that would make Creator/NorioWakamoto proud. Then there's the matter of his OneWingedAngel form, which is identical to the one Dracula assumes to fight Richter Belmont. If that wasn't enough, the boss fight sees the return of what is likely Dracula's most well-known theme, "Dance of Illusions."]]
* ItCameFromTheFridge: The Spoiled Milk item. "It expired THREE YEARS ago."
* ItemCrafting: In ''Dawn'', Yoko's primary gameplay role is to fuse souls you're willing to part with with weapons to create upgraded weapons. This is the only way to get most of the better weapons in the game. Sort of a mixed blessing, as if you want to make the best weapons, you'll have to spend significantly more time grinding for rare souls than you otherwise would. On the other hand, buying cheap weapons, grinding for certain common souls, using them to make moderately good weapons, and selling the now much more valuable weapons back to Hammer is an excellent way to make money.
* ItemFarming: To get any Soul beyond the most frequently dropped and frequently encountered ones to a decent level (or found in the first place), you need to grind with the Soul Eater Ring (double soul drop rates) equipped. And to afford the Soul Eater Ring, you need a ''lot'' of money. The only way to afford this (as pretty much every enemy drops the same amount of money regardless of strength) is to grind zombies and fuse their souls into weapons and sell the weapons. This takes about 14 or so trips with each trip taking 8 or so minutes with decent LuckStat. Once you spent 2 hours on the Soul Eater Ring, you spend more time repeatedly killing various enemies with [[RareRandomDrop low soul drop rates]] (many are 1% before ring and luck bonus, while others only appear in a single room). Of course, this only really applies if you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion, but there are benefits to doing so...
* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:At the end of the second game, after Arikado explains what a "Dark Lord" is, Soma starts blaming himself for not becoming Dracula because that means there will be someone "next in line". Arikado assures him that if a Dark Lord is needed, the universe will provide one on its own. No one has to be ''forced'' into it.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Dario. Just before you first fight him, it seems he's genuinely angry with Soma for [[spoiler:killing off his comrade]]... and then brushes it off when Soma tries to apologize, [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou claiming he just wanted to do it himself]].
* KaizoTrap:
** Death is capable of pulling this in ''Aria''. Upon defeat, Death lets his scythe go spinning through the air -- except it still has a (very large) hitbox, meaning it can easily hit and potentially kill an unwary Soma.
** In ''Dawn'', if you kill and seal a boss during an attack, the attack will keep going during the boss's death animation. [[ThatOneBoss Death's]] [[ThatOneAttack skull attack]] is by far the worst offender. As if the seal system needed any more reasons to be the ScrappyMechanic...
* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:Mina Hakuba]] gets [[CrucifiedHeroShot crucified to a tree]] and shot with a laser in ''Dawn''. [[spoiler:Except not.]]
* KnightTemplar: Celia's cult from ''Dawn'', With Light. Believing that GodIsGood, they reason that in order for {{God}} to embody perfect Good, the Dark Lord, embodying perfect Evil, must stand opposite of Him. And since Soma [[RefusalOfTheCall rejected his status as such]], Celia's going to offer him up as a sacrifice to create a new one, or failing that, attempt to force his hand. [[spoiler:In the ending, Arikado affirms that the cult's way of thinking was right, but that if the world truly needs a Dark Lord, [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil nature will respond of its own accord]].]]
* KnockbackEvasion: The Zombie Officer soul allows you to stop aerial knockback, while the Iron Golem soul in ''Aria'' ignores knockback and flinching completely.
* LagCancel: Backdash can cancel out of many moves and are key for good boss rush times. Landing also works, but some items (Hammer, Broadsword, Balmung, etc.) don't cancel. The werewolf soul in ''Dawn'' does a strange forward dash, which is very spammable for lag cancelling, and filling the screen with soul attacks. Even better, ducking allows Soma to lag cancel his backdash, and some attacks cut off the ducking animation, thus allowing him to attack even faster by lag cancelling his lag cancel.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Julius has this for a few decades. While he doesn't know anything about his life or family, he has somehow taken care of himself for all this time.
* LateArrivalSpoiler:
** None of the official materials post-''Aria'' have bothered to hide the reveal that Soma is Dracula's re-incarnation. In fact, this was considered a selling point of ''Aria of Sorrow'' pretty early on in its run, with fans of the series eager to play through Castlevania as the Dark Lord himself.
** Played with in terms of Genya Arikado's identity. He is so heavily implied to be Alucard in all of his appearances that it is practically impossible to miss, but the ''Sorrow'' main stories avoid coming right out and saying it. It's largely treated as an open secret by fans and the series' creators regardless.
** Dracula was killed once and for all in 1999 by the last Belmont descendant. This is one of the first pieces of exposition the player is given in ''Aria of Sorrow'' and is simply treated matter-of-factly from that point on.
* LegendaryWeapon: The Vampire Killer Whip becomes this, if not already. Even in the future with modernized weaponry, the whip of the Belmonts is still the ideal weapon against the forces of the undead. Julius revealed he had sealed the Vampire Killer somewhere in Castlevania in order to weaken the castle's dark influence and slow its recovery.
* TheLegionsOfHell: While the series as a whole has featured devils and imps as enemies for some time, they're especially plentiful and varied in these games. ''Dawn'' provides a possible explanation. (See PlanetHeck below.)
* LethalJokeItem:
** The Waiter Skeleton soul. Try it on an [[MightyGlacier Iron Golem]].
** Yorick is one as well. The novelty of the soul is that it does pitiful damage even compared to the Skeleton soul, its miniscule reach, and the fact that it is required to be kicked in order to deal any real damage. The lethal factor is that it does 10x the amount of damage if the kick is successful. While its range makes it an utterly terrible weapon against a lot of creatures, it can turn several enemies and bosses into '''jokes''' when used correctly due to how absurd the damage gets when it gets strong enough.
* LevelGrinding: ''Dawn'' has a perfect leveling curve -- if you don't avoid enemies, you should always be around the right level.
* LightEmUp: The Claimh Solais, Erinys soul in ''Dawn''.
* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:Graham, dressed in an all-white suit with [[MysticalWhiteHair white hair]] (even though he's only 36 during the events of ''Aria'')]]. His OneWingedAngel form is a pale mockery of Dracula's final form from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', complete with a "halo" of a golden ring looped through the eye sockets of two stark white women and a much larger halo made of skulls raining down devastating beams of light.
* LosingYourHead: Skeletons may absentmindedly throw their own head, not that it'll stop them from throwing more bones.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: Soma has this problem. [[spoiler:He always has.]] [[ThePowerOfLove Subverted]] with [[spoiler:the ending of ''Dawn'', where it is Soma's thoughts of Mina that prevent all of the souls released by Menace from overwhelming him and turning him into the next Dark Lord.]] In other words, this is a two-sided case that persists [[spoiler:in the Dracula character]]; losing his loved one makes him turn to evil, but as long as he has her, he can maintain being good.
* MaouTheDemonKing: Dracula is finally KilledOffForReal when his castle (the personification of his power) is sealed inside of a solar eclipse. However, the forces of Chaos ([[AsLongAsThereIsEvil the aggregate of all human evil]]) reincarnate him as Soma Cruz. Soma [[AntiAntiChrist refuses to become the new Dark Lord]], but this simply means that Chaos will wait until another candidate is born that will accept the role. In the non-canon bad endings of the games, Soma ''does'' become the new Dark Lord and is an exact copy of Dracula gameplay-wise.
* MarilynManeuver: Various wind effects can make certain female enemies like the Student Witch or the Persephone go through this.
* MeaningfulName: More like initials, and it's possible this is entirely unintentional, but the initials of both Dmitrii and Dario, D.B., are an inversion of what Dracula's initials would be in Japan: B.D.: Burado Dorakyura.
* {{Meido}}: In both ''Aria'' and ''Dawn'', the Persephone enemy, a cutesy ninja maid that debuted in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChronicles''.
* MercyKillArrangement: Soma asks Julius Belmont to kill him in the event that [[spoiler:Soma fully becomes Dracula. The final battle of Julius Mode in ''Dawn'' is essentially Julius, Yoko and Alucard performing a MercyKill on Soma/Dracula.]]
* {{Miko}}: Mina is a member of the Hakuba Shrine. In ''Aria'', she even wears the proper attire.
* MoneyGrinding:
** In ''Dawn'', there are certain doors that unlock when the last three digits of your gold match a target: 777 for the room contaning the Three 7s armor; 573 for a room in the Cursed Clock Tower; 666 for one in the bottom-left area.
** The Soul Eater Ring costs a whopping 300,000 gold, far more than you could have by playing the game normally. Some form of grinding, whether for money directly or for equipment to sell, is absolutely required.
* TheMothman: Mothman is one of the game's three elusive cryptids, and can be summoned by turning on a giant spotlight using an electrical attack.
* MultipleEndings: Both games come with three endings -- the lame one (where everything is cut short and you don't learn anything), the bad one ([[FaceHeelTurn where Soma turns evil and becomes the Dark Lord]]), and the good one (where everyone lives happily ever after, more or less).
* MultiStageBattle: Something similar happens with Gergoth in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', you fight him on the top floor of the Condemned Tower, and during the fight you and he end up falling all the way down to the bottom floor once he TurnsRed.
* MusicalNod: Julius's theme in ''Aria'' is "Heart of Fire", one of the few themes from the original ''Castlevania'' that isn't a RecurringRiff in the series. It actually quotes "Don't Wait Until Night" from ''VideoGame/HauntedCastle'' in the first half of the track, starting a trend of reusing ''Haunted Castle'' music. In the sequel, the theme of the Mine of Judgment, Basement Melody, is also originally from ''Haunted Castle''.
* MyNameIsQuestionMarks: Shows up whenever someone speaks whose name hasn't been revealed. Usually when they speak for the first time, as the second time will likely involve them introducing themselves.
* NinjaMaid: As mentioned, Persephone. She stands prim and proper when you enter the room, then as you approach, she does a courtsy and welcomes you ([[GratuitousJapanese in Japanese]])... Then proceeds to assault you with kicks.
* {{Nerf}}: The Rycuda and Great Axe Armor souls in ''Dawn'' are replacements of the powerful Lightning Doll and Red Minotaur Souls from ''Aria,'' and both are heavily weakened. The former no longer multihits, has reduced attack power, and while it has a unique SplashDamage effect that still allows it to hit multiple enemies, the initial hit has reduced range. The latter also has reduced range and power unless leveled up, and even then it doesn't quite have the same destructive power it did in the previous game.
* NoblewomansLaugh: Celia Fortner does this in ''Dawn of Sorrow''.
* NonStandardGameOver: How badly did you mess up? Enough that getting the bad ending in ''Dawn'' unlocks another play mode where [[spoiler:the other characters team up to take down the now evil Soma]].
* NoodleIncident: The Battle of 1999 has not been featured in any game.
* NotCompletelyUseless: The Balore soul in ''Dawn'' allows you to break chunks of ice that may block your path. There are only two rooms with ice that block your path, and both are next to the place where you find the soul.
* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Depite being Dark Lord candidates, Dario and Dmitrii are treated mostly like jokes in ''Dawn.'' Dmitrii looks especially weak, that is, until the climax...
* NostalgiaLevel:
** ''Dawn'' features the Silenced Ruins, an area that looks exactly like a rather run-down version of the first level of ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania|I}}'', although since it's deep underground, you can see caverns (and in a couple of places lava) through windows and holes in the wall. It even has [[RearrangeTheSong a "Vampire Killer" arrangement]] as its background music. Of course, this isn't the first time this has been done; ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'' and ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' had similar levels at the start of its castle, although it wasn't underground.
** Almost every enemy in the Floating Garden is a creature or summon from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon''.
** As noted under ContinuityNod, if you look carefully in ''Dawn'', the areas are like in ''Aria'' in terms of map location.
* ObliviousToLove: Yoko to Hammer, more so in ''Dawn''.
* OlderHeroVsYoungerVillain: ''Dawn'''s Julius Mode only; 56-year old [[CoolOldGuy Julius Belmont]] vs. [[spoiler:19-year old [[FallenHero Soma Cruz]]]].
* OlderThanTheyLook: Graham (like Dmitrii and Dario) was born on the day of Dracula's destruction in 1999. ''Aria'' takes place in 2035.
* OldSaveBonus: If you start ''Dawn'' while ''Aria'' is in your GBA slot, you'll start with a Rare Ring, which makes getting those rare drops more likely. Also, Yoko's shop gets a Mina doll in the background.
* OrbitingParticleShield: The ''Sorrow'' games have the Buer [[PowersAsPrograms soul]], which are fire particles, and more appear the more copies of the soul you have.
* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent: Soma starts out as exactly this.
* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: In addition to Castlevania staples like demons and legendary monsters, ''Aria of Sorrow'' throws in a tsuchinoko, a cryptid from Japanese folklore. It acts as a MetalSlime, there being only one in the game, appearing randomly in one room, and quickly burrowing away if it gets damaged too much without dying.
* OutsideTheBoxTactic: ''Aria'' has a specific unusual "attack" that is the only practical way to kill a certain enemy. The game makes it fairly obvious what the attack and the enemy are, though.
* PaperThinDisguise: Quick hint to [[spoiler:Genya Arikado]], pronouncing your name funny ''does not count as a disguise''. Possibly {{justified|Trope}}, since [[spoiler:Genya Arikado]] is how you would pronounce it in Japan, where Soma lives, and it's not like Soma has any idea that this is an alias for [[spoiler:Alucard]].
* ParrotExposition: Soma has a tendency to repeat things being told to him, though admittedly all of it sounds kind of fantastical.
* PermanentlyMissableContent:
** In ''Aria'', Legion will only drop its soul if you destroy all four pieces of its outer shell before destroying the core. As Legion does not respawn again for that playthrough after you kill it, you cannot gain 100% souls and the Chaos Ring until you reach that point again in NewGamePlus.
** In ''Dawn'', certain boss souls can be fused to make a powerful weapon; as these bosses do not respawn, doing this will lock you out of 100% souls completion and the Chaos Ring if you hadn't gotten it already until NewGamePlus.
* PlanetHeck: The final stage of ''Dawn'', the Abyss, very obviously takes place in Hell. Apparently the castle the cult uses as its base has a HellGate below it.
* PoisonMushroom: There are poisonous items like Spoiled Milk, Tin Can Food (hundreds of years old food), and rotten meat that will damage Soma if you eat it. Unless you equip the [[NotCompletelyUseless Flesh Golem/Ghoul]] soul (depending on the game), where it will instead heal you. Alternatively, you may eat it and run around at low hit points while spamming your [[DesperationAttack "best used at low HP"]] attacks like Lubicant. The key to every BossRush SpeedRun.
* PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes: At the beginning of ''Aria'', Arikado is aloof and closemouthed, and Graham is chatty and helpful.
* PostDefeatExplosionChain: ''Aria of Sorrow'''s true ending has the castle explode repeatedly before imploding.
* PostEndGameContent: Boss Rush Mode and Julius Mode. In ''Dawn'', Julius Mode is [[spoiler:[[AnotherSideAnotherStory how the game continues after the bad ending]]]].
* PowerCopying:
** Besides Soma himself, Dmitrii Blinov has the ability to use any enemy ability he's hit by. In your fight with him, he'll mimic any Bullet and Guardian Souls you use against him, but he'll only utilize what you hit him with last, so you could... say... use the Student Witch soul and throw an easy-to-dodge cat at him, [[PowerupLetdown forcibly locking Dmitrii into a laughably easy attack pattern]] (all you'd really need to worry about then would be a simple stabbing attack). If you want to make him look even more ridiculous, hit him with the Cave Troll soul: any enemy ability he copies is restricted to level 1, meaning that instead of the long-ranged tongue attack with half screen range Soma gets at Level 9, he'll be stuck with an ineffectual mildly rude gesture that has an even shorter range than his knife.
** After his initial defeat, he seemingly dies and his black soul enters into Soma -- but it's not Soma gaining dominance over a human soul, [[spoiler:it's just Dmitrii inserting himself into Soma so he can copy Soma's basic ability to copy other powers by absorbing souls. Unfortunately, [[PhlebotinumOverload this double level of Power Copying overwhelms Dmitrii]] and [[BodyHorror he transforms into a massive abomination]] — or, rather, said abomination ''rips its way out of his body'', killing him in the process]].
* ThePowerOfLove: Soma's friends -- particularly his attachment to [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend Mina]] -- are the main reason he is able to fight off Dracula's influence. In one ending of the second game, when he thinks [[spoiler:Mina has been killed, he [[FaceHeelTurn Face-Heel Turns]] to get revenge for her death]].
* PowerUpLetdown: Trying to summon using the Killer Fish soul in ''Aria'' results in the fish dying unless you're underwater. [[SchmuckBait The soul description does warn you about this side effect.]]
** Ascalon in ''Dawn''. The problem is that the weapon preceding it, Dainslef, confers boosts to STR, CON, and INT. Even ignoring the INT boost being good on its own, the STR Boost causes Dainslef to wobble between matching and slightly beating Ascalon's raw ATK, resulting in Ascalon being strictly inferior. Insult to injury, the weapon that follows Ascalon is Balmung, which while stronger than the preceding weapons also requires the one-per-playthrough Gergoth Soul in order to create it. Since the Chaos Ring requires having every soul in the game on hand at once in order for it to spawn, that presents a problem.
* PrettyInMink: Soma's fur collar in ''Aria''.
* ThePromise: In ''Aria'', Soma gets Julius to promise to kill him if he turns evil. In ''Dawn'', Julius warns Soma early on to be careful, otherwise he'll be forced to carry out his promise. [[spoiler:In the bad endings of both games and in Julius Mode in ''Dawn'', Julius keeps said promise.]]
--> '''Soma:''' ... I've got a favour to ask of you.\\
'''Julius:''' What is it?
--> '''Soma:''' From here. I will set off to fight against my own fate. If I lose the battle... And I become the reincarnation of evil, I want you to kill me.
--> '''Julius:''' ... I will... I promise.
--> '''Soma:''' Thanks. Now I can go into this battle without reservations.
--> '''Julius:''' Farewell, my friend. Don't let me use that whip again.
* PunchedAcrossTheRoom: Balore might be big and slow, but if he hits you, it'll ''hurt''.
* RandomDrop: Enemies can drop souls, one or two items and sometimes money and hearts.
* RandomDropBooster: In addition to the Rare Ring for items, the Soul Eater Ring increases the chance for souls.
* RareRandomDrop: Some souls can be stupidly hard to get:
** Tsuchinoko from ''Aria'' can just straight up leave the room, so you need to be decently powerful and/or hope it feels like co-operating to get even a chance of having its soul. And then you need to hope the RNG co-operates as well, although its drop rate isn't too terrible. So as long as you're strong enough to kill it decently quickly, it's much easier to get.
** Sky Fish in ''Aria'' gives a StealthHiBye.
** Peeping Eye and Ouija Table in ''Dawn'' are technically available in the very first area, but their abysmal drop rates ensure that most players won't get them until much later.
** Iron Golem in ''Dawn'' has 50 HP and resistance to ''EVERY SINGLE ATTACK TYPE IN THE GAME'', ensuring that you will only ever do 1 HP of damage with every attack (unless you attack it with Death's Scythe's special attack, which deals 2 HP), or using a multi-hit weapon like Laevatain to reduce that. The only relief to give oneself in this venture is to use the not-as-useful Imp Soul, "Astral Veil", which turns the screen black-white for a bit and switches HP/MP for a time. However, this Iron Golem STILL has 15 MP, which while more manageable, would still require 8 hits from Laevatain in order to defeat. Astral Veil doesn't last but a few short seconds and costs a pretty hefty ''50 MP'' to cast. Soul Rarity is 3 stars (1%). Players are pretty likely to attempt farming this soul several times for the Chaos Ring and to forge Burtgang in the Sword forging list. The only other consolation is the fact that Iron Golem gives a pretty hefty 2000 experience points per kill.[[labelnote:*]]The Dead Pirate Soul can also help tremendously, as it allows you to deal double damage when attacking from behind irrespective of the target's defenses. Given that the Iron Golem can't turn around and the Puppet Master Soul can get you behind it without much guff, this can allow it to be dispatched in decent time with the Kaiser Knuckle (or the Valmanway if you have it).[[/labelnote]]
* ReachingTowardsTheAudience: Soma on ''Dawn of Sorrow''[='s=] box art.
* RealTimeWeaponChange: When he's playable, Julius can switch sub-weapons with a single button press.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler:Genya Arikado is actually the immortal {{dhampyr}} Alucard, and around six hundred years old by the time the game takes place.]]
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Soma gives one to Dario Bossi before their second battle.
* RecurringBoss: Balore reappears in ''Dawn'', sporting a damaged eye from his last battle with Soma in ''Aria''. Dario escapes from his first fight, only to be fought later when his powers have increased [[spoiler:due to being bonded to the fire demon Aguni -- [[GuideDangIt who you need to use a particular hidden soul to enter the mirror and kill in order to progress in the story]]]]. Oh, and Death pops up too.
* ReincarnationRomance: It's implied that Mina Hakuba is [[spoiler:the reincarnation of Elisabetha and Lisa, as in ''Film/BramStokersDracula'', where Dracula's reincarnated wife was named Mina Harker]].
* ReligionOfEvil: The BigBad of the first game was the head of a sect that focused on the apocalypse, while the second game had cultist Celia and her minions trying to [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil recreate the Dark Lord in order to restore God's status as the embodiment of perfect Good]].
* SadBattleMusic: There's an air of melancholy in ''Dawn'''s rendition of Dracula's iconic theme "Dance of Illusions", mostly to remind the player that [[spoiler:they are essentially [[MercyKill putting Soma out of his misery]]]].
* SayMyName:
** Soma's name is often called in dramatic moments.
** Also, in Julius Mode, each character calls for one another when switching. Prepare to hear lots of "Yoko!" "Julius!" and "Alucard!" over and over again.
** [[spoiler:Soma as the Dark Lord pulls this on whichever playable character is active when you begin the final boss battle (with said character uttering a [[FightingYourFriend somber]]-[[MercyKill sounding]] "Soma..." beforehand). Note that Yoko gets the LastNameBasis treatment, whereas Alucard is referred to by his preferred alias. As for Julius, Soma starts out calm enough, only to [[SuddenlyShouting crank up the decibel level]] [[SayMyName once he gets to the family name]] ("BERUMONDO!!"). Old grudges die hard, apparently.]]
* ScratchDamage: Can be subverted to a degree in ''Dawn'', as it has a soul that gives a flat damage reduction and with it equipped, all attacks that'd do 1 damage normally do 0 damage. This makes it so that Soma doesn't flinch when hit by such attacks, but he still bleeds like a stuck pig while shrugging them off, which makes it look pretty amusing.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In ''Dawn'', defeating Aguni bereaves Dario of his [[PlayingwithFire fire powers]]. Realizing he's completely emasculated, he hightails it out of the castle and effectively [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse out of the rest of the game]].
* SealedEvilInACan: Dracula's castle is kept sealed away within an eclipse.
* SequenceBreaking:
** The Succubus glitch in ''Dawn'' allows you to turn a temporary FlashStep special move into a permanent change in location, allowing you to warp past solid walls. Even without canceling out of it, it can activate a few [[DoorToBefore Doors To Before]] from the wrong side. (This type can even be pulled off in Julius Mode via [[spoiler:Alucard]].)
** Also easily done in ''Aria of Sorrow''. You can actually ignore two areas and just go directly to the Floating Garden. This allows you to pull off some serious shenanigans and get Skula before you get Undine or the Slide. You'll eventually have to backtrack, but by the time you've beaten Death, you would have acquired some seriously awesome stuff.
** Wonky collision detection in ''Aria'' makes it possible to clip into walls while riding on the back of a Catoblepas or Gorgon, as well as use the Giant Bat soul to turn virtually every solid wall into a warp zone. Proper application of the two can result in Soma warping from the Castle Corridor to the warp room in the Chapel to fetch the Malphas soul, warping from the Floating Garden to the ''Arena'' for the Giant Bat soul, warping from there to the Top Floor en route to an even more advanced warp into the Forbidden Area for the Claimh Solais before finally warping [[spoiler:''into the Chaotic Realm, right in front of Chaos' chamber'' for the final boss battle]].
** 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 barriers meant to block you until you got a specific item.
* SequentialBoss: ''Aria of Sorrow'' had a two-stage fight with [[spoiler:Graham]] for the normal ending. Beating him with the three souls that best represent Dracula's powers (Giant Bat, Succubus, and Flame Demon) equipped let you progress further in the game to fight [[spoiler:[[TrueFinalBoss Chaos]] so you don't turn into Dracula ([[NonStandardGameOver losing to him causes exactly that to happen]])]] in another two-stage battle.
* SharedLifeMeter: In ''Dawn'', all three characters in Julius Mode share a life and magic meter.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Mina is totally not Soma's girlfriend. Totally. In the good ending of ''Dawn'', Mina also pulls a He Is Not My Boyfriend.
* ShipperOnDeck: Hammer and Yoko are fond of playing this role to Soma and Mina. In their defense, [[ShipTease they're not exactly unjustified]].
* ShownTheirWork: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_September_2,_2035 There's actually going to be a total solar eclipse in Japan in 2035,]] even if [[FutureImperfect it won't be the first in the 21st Century]]. Also, there was indeed [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_August_11,_1999 a total solar eclipse in 1999,]] the maximum being in ''Romania'', where Dracula's castle usually reappears. Soma is 18 years old in the game, meaning he was born in 2017, possibly implying that he was born during the August 2017 eclipse. That eclipse, as well as the 1999 and 2035 eclipses, are all part of the same Saros series, being 18 years apart.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The English version of ''Aria'' in particular has quite a few questionable translations or outright errors in the names of enemies, e.g. Kali became Curly and Scarmiglione and Rubicante became Skull Millione and Lubicant. ''Dawn'' turns Agni into Aguni. Both ''Aria'' and ''Dawn'' turn Alraune into Alura Une. There are also a number of weapons whose names get strange spellings, including the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Claimh Solais]], whose spelling in the original (Irish) mythology is Clai­omh Solais.
* TheStarscream: [[spoiler:Dmitrii Blinov eventually sacrifices Celia in pursuit of even greater power.]]
* StealthSequel: At first, it seems like ''Aria of Sorrow'' takes place in its own contained storyline. However, late into the game you find out that [[spoiler:Soma is the reincarnation of Dracula]] and the Arikado is [[spoiler:Alucard under a different alias]], making it apparent the game is a direct sequel to [[spoiler:''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'']].
* StockWeaponNames: The Claimh Solais, a.k.a. the Sword of Light, which was the sword of a leader of the legendary [[Myth/CelticMythology Tuatha Dé Danann]].
* TheStoic: Arikado and Julius. Both are never seen laughing throughout the game -- [[PerpetualFrowner let alone smiling at all]]. Julius is heard laughing at Soma and Mina at the end of the best ending of ''Dawn'' with Yoko and Hammer, though.
* SuddenlyShouting: [[spoiler:Soma]] does this when you fight him as the final boss of ''Dawn'''s Julius Mode.
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Soma [[spoiler:if you play your cards wrong]].
* SuperpowerfulGenetics: Julius, Yoko, and Arikado get their abilities from these.
* SuperSpeed: Sky Fish zips across the screen at super-high speed, moving from one side to the other in a split-second. Consequently, it's ''very'' difficult to hit at normal speed. You'll require the [[ColourCodedTimestop Chronomage ability]] to slow it down enough to actually hit it.
* SuperTitle64Advance: '''D'''awn of '''S'''orrow on UsefulNotes/NintendoDS.
* SurprisinglyHappyEnding: The ''Castlevania'' saga ends not with the final destruction of Dracula, but with his redemption, the final destruction of [[GreaterScopeVillain the source of his evil, powers and castle]], and a second chance for him to live a good life.
* SweepingLaserExplosion: Balore in ''Aria'' will start firing {{Eye Beam}}s that leave trail of fire behind once he enters his second phase.
* TakenForGranite: Stone status paralyzes you until you finish ButtonMashing. Attacks that hit while in stone form cause double damage, even when the petrifying hit [[ClassicVideoGameScrewYous throws you into spikes]].
* TargetedToHurtTheHero: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''Dawn of Sorrow'', where [[spoiler:Celia]] kills [[spoiler:a doppelganger of Mina]] to force Soma to become the next Dark Lord. [[spoiler:It works if Soma isn't wearing Mina's talisman, leading to the Bad Ending/Julius Mode, but if he is, the game continues as normal.]]
* TestYourStrengthGame: Used as a puzzle in ''Dawn''. The solution is to strike it with a mace-type weapon, gaining a better prize the stronger the weapon used.
* ThisCannotBe: Part of [[spoiler:Graham's]] final words when defeated the right way.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: In ''Aria'''s extended ending, Soma begs for mercy upon realizing [[spoiler:Julius is dead-set on killing him to prevent him becoming Dracula]].
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:Turns out that Soma is Dracula.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: Soma, according to his dialogue in the best ending of ''Aria''.
* TookAShortcut: Early on ''Dawn'', Julius leaps over a drawbridge in order to enter the castle, leaving Yoko and Soma behind. Later you find out there was a switch right there to lower the bridge and he didn't have the decency of pushing it. You then come across him [[TheWorfEffect having trouble fighting Dario.]] Julius comments he had been able to kill the previous bosses despite not knowing how to use Magic Seals. Soma understandably thinks that makes no sense.
* TrialBalloonQuestion: In ''Aria'', [[{{Dracula}} Soma]] asks Mina if she'll still like him if he's NotHimself. Confused, she tells him that no, she wouldn't if he changes too much. Unlike most examples, she immediately realizes that something is amiss for him to suddenly ask that, but doesn't figure out what ''exactly'' prompted the question in the first place (considering Soma tends to run off if she tries).
* {{Tsuchinoko}}: There's a tsuchinoko as a particularly elusive enemy that serves as a MetalSlime not because it drops a lot of money if killed, but because possessing its soul reduces prices at the shop. It appears in a single room, and not every time you enter it, and tends to disappear quickly.
* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: One of the things that make these games unique in the series.
* TurnsRed: Death's second part, and a regular enemy -- Gaibon. Both do it literally and metarophically, though Gaibon does that on his last hit points, while Death... well, you still have the other half of the fight to go.
* UndergroundMonkey: ''Aria'' has many, many palette-swapped enemies with slight differences in their stats or behavior. ''Dawn'' is a little better about this (and also makes the Underground Monkeys' appearance slightly more different than a simple palette swap) but still has several examples.
* UnderTheSea: In both games. As per Metroidvania rules, you'll need an upgrade to get far in either.
* TheUnfought: [[spoiler:Celia, in 2 different occasions. On the bad ending, Soma turns into the Dark Lord and kills Celia immediately, thus forcing Julius Mode to occur and fulfill the classic destiny. On the road to the good ending, Dmitrii sacrifices Celia in order to reverse Arikado's powers and defeats Arikado.]]
* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: In ''Dawn'' a bad throw with the Puppet Master soul can get you stuck inside a wall. The Suspend feature, thankfully, can allow you to escape, but it's not immediately evident.
* UniqueEnemy: The Chronomage, Tsuchinoko, and Sky Fish in ''Aria''; several more in ''Dawn'', most notably the Flying Humanoid, the Yeti, and the Mothman. There are a few enemies in both games that don't have a gimmick but only spawn in one room anyway though.
* VampireBitesSuck: If Soma gains the "Blood Sucker" Bullet Soul from the Succubus, this allows him to regain HP by biting enemies. Soma does this by grabbing the enemy targeted, and a cloud of blood messily bursts out from them after he bites them.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: [[spoiler:The Chaotic Realm]] and [[spoiler:the Abyss]] in ''Aria'' and ''Dawn'', respectively. Both are more played up than usual for the IGA-made ''Castlevania'' games, being much longer, and having a map screen separate from all of the previous areas in their games. The former is inaccessible in Julius Mode in ''Aria'', leaving the Top Floor as this instead.
* VictorGainsLosersPowers: Soma himself does this. Every soul is from an enemy, most of the time, one you'll meet, even for basic attacking souls. Like he can get the Skeleton soul to throw bones from the Skeleton, etc. In ''Aria'' you have to beat bosses to get the soul in the next room, which is often of a completely different creature, but in ''Dawn'', this is played much more straight and you get the soul of the boss you killed instantly.
* VideoGameSliding: In ''Aria'', Soma gains this ability if he finds the Skeleton Blaze item.
* VillainousBreakdown: Upon killing Graham Jones, who believed himself to be Dracula's reincarnation. He finds out the hard way he's not. Of course, that's nothing compared to [[spoiler:Dmitrii's own breakdown in ''Dawn of Sorrow''[='=]s GoldenEnding when he finds out the hard way himself that the power of dominance he copied from Soma isn't so easily contained by him and what would happen to his soul if he tried to use a power that intense. Even after forcing Arikado away, his condition only continues to get worse until the demons under his dominance burst out of his back, resulting in his death in the process as they come together to form the FinalBoss]].
* WakeUpCallBoss: The Puppet Master. One of the first bosses to punish you heavily for the "Just beat him 'til he dies" strategy. [[spoiler:If you don't destroy the puppets he uses to switch places with you, you're never gonna stand a chance.]] Once you figure out how he works, he easily becomes a [[WarmUpBoss Warm Up]], though.
* WarmUpBoss: The first couple bosses in both games qualify, though Flying Armor is especially noticeable, with his slow and weak attacks. He only has one attack that might surprise you, and after the first time, it won't surprise you again.
* WaterfrontBossBattle: Rahab is fought in a pool, and there are no platforms for your hero to stand upon (he instead floats on the surface of the water), but the boss will frequently leap out of the water to attack in one of three ways. Defeating it nets you the ability to move around underwater.
* WeirdMoon: In ''Aria'', the entire castle is inside an eclipse, whatever that means, but you can still see the (full!) moon outside. And then, to [[spoiler:enter the Chaotic Realm]], you have to pass through what appears to be ''an eclipse inside the eclipse''.
* WhamLine:
-->'''Soma:''' Finally... I clearly understand... everything. I am... Dracula.
* WhatTheHellHero: In ''Dawn'', Dario calls out Soma for [[spoiler:apparently killing Dmitrii]], prompting Soma to apologize for his actions. This (and EvenEvilHasStandards) is then subverted, as Dario then snidely remarks that ''he'' wanted to be the one to [[spoiler:kill Dmitrii]].
-->'''Dario:''' Ah, what are you talking about? I just wanted to beat that stuck up jerk to death with my own hands!
* WitchClassic: The witches, of course.
* WithThisHerring: Soma starts both games with nothing but a knife and the clothes on his back.
** This is quite understandable in ''Aria'', where his plan for the day was to, effectively, go to his not-girlfriend's house and watch a solar eclipse. He certainly wasn't expecting to be transported to Dracula's frickin' castle to fight for his life, and it's actually a small miracle he had the knife at all. You'd expect Arikado -- who was there at the beginning, gets him started on the quest and, y'know, is Alucard -- to at least have a sword for him or something, though.
** It strains WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief a bit in ''Dawn'', as an evil cult has arrived, ready to kill Soma and/or turn him into the Dark Lord (hey, whatever works), attacks him and his best friend, and puts the world on the verge of plunging into darkness. What does Arikado toss to him to fight this menace? ... A knife. Really? You'd think between him and Soma, they'd have a better arsenal than that at their disposal. Soma then storms the castle, with nothing but this knife.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Soma in ''Dawn''. Kill Mina, and he will gladly embrace his destined power as the Dark Lord... and immediately put it to use slaughtering you in revenge.
* YouCantFightFate: Not alone, anyway. [[spoiler:And if everything goes terribly wrong, there's [[HeroAntagonist a team]] ready to end [[RogueProtagonist you]].]]
* YouHaveResearchedBreathing:
** Sort of. ''Aria'' has two ability souls of note -- the first is Grave Keeper, which allows you to do a backwards dash (almost every other game has it naturally), and the Kicker Skeleton is the second, where you can do a drop kick after a double jump (normally a requisite of the double jump in other games). Neither of these are technically mandatory. There's also the Skeleton Blaze soul, which lets you slide, but unlike the former souls, it's necessary to progress in the game.
** In ''Dawn'', Soma starts the game with the power to backdash and slide, and regains the drop kick alongside double jump despite having released all his souls at the end of ''Aria''.
* YourSoulIsMine: The basis of Soma's powers. He can steal the souls of the monsters he kills, and use their abilities.

----

* {{Gainaxing}}: The Valkyrie soul in ''Aria of Sorrow'' summons a giant naked woman to take a sword swing and jiggles appropriately.

** The normal Witch enemies as well. Sometimes you just want to stand there and watch them [[{{Gainaxing}} bounce]].

* HoistByHerOwnPetard: In the bad ending to ''Dawn'', [[spoiler:Celia fakes killing Mina]]. [[spoiler:Without Mina's talisman to absorb the darkness spawned by his rage, Soma becomes Dracula, [[GoneHorriblyRight just like Celia wanted... and then brutally kills her in revenge.]] Nice work, Celia. Rest in peace.]]

** The FinalBoss of Julius Mode in ''Dawn'' (plus Soma's BadEnding in ''Aria'') is one large reference to the first Dracula fight in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''. [[spoiler:The hero(es) enter to find Soma [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching on his throne]] with a wine glass in hand, which he then hurls to the ground after a brief exchange of words. In ''Dawn'', Soma's phases also match up with Dracula's phases -- though he mixes it up with a few of his souls as well.

** The FinalBoss of Julius Mode in ''Dawn'' (plus Soma's BadEnding) is one large reference to the first Dracula fight in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''. [[spoiler:The hero(es) enter to find Soma [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching on his throne]] with a wine glass in hand, which he then hurls to the ground after a brief exchange of words. In Julius' mode, Soma's phases also match up with Dracula's phases -- though Soma mixes it up with a few of his souls as well.]]

** The FinalBoss of Julius Mode in ''Dawn'' is one large reference to the first Dracula fight in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''. [[spoiler:The heroes enter to find Soma [[SlouchOfVillainy slouching on his throne]] with a wine glass in hand, which he then hurls to the ground after a brief exchange of words. Soma's phases also match up with Dracula's phases -- though the former also mixes it up with a few of his souls as well.]]

* CutAndPasteTranslation: Whereas ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' localized all voices used by characters and enemies during the in-game action, and both ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' and ''Aria'' simply left them in Japanese, the English version of ''Dawn'' actually removed the vast majority of voice clips, replacing them with generic grunts or just nothing at all.

* GoodNeedsEvil: [[spoiler:Celia believes that [[BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil in order for {{God}} to embody perfect Good, there needs to be an embodiment of perfect Evil to stand opposite of Him]]. This is why she wants Soma to become the Dark Lord. Arikado believes in this trope, too, yet his opinion is the universe will provide a Dark Lord when one is needed, and that no one '''must''' fill the role.]]

** [[spoiler:Soma as the Dark Lord pulls this on whichever playable character is active when you begin the final boss battle (with said character uttering a [[FightingYourFriend somber]]-[[MercyKill sounding]] "Soma..." beforehand). Note that Yoko gets the LastNameBasis treatment, whereas Alucard is referred to by his preferred alias. As for Julius, Soma starts out calm enough, only to [[SuddenlyShouting crank up the decibel level]] [[LoudLastName once he gets to the family name]] ("BERUMONDO!!"). Old grudges die hard, apparently.]]

* ArtisticLicenseSpace: According to the English translation of ''Aria'', the game's eclipse will be the first solar eclipse of the 21st century. As [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] shows, that's a load of crock. However, it '''WILL''' be the first total solar eclipse visible from Japan in this century. The Japanese version instead describes it as the "biggest astronomical event" of the 21st century, which is arguable and dependent on whether it refers to Japan only as opposed to worldwide.

* LightIsNotGood: [[spoiler:Graham, dressed in an all-white suit with [[MysticalWhiteHair white hair]] (even though he's only 36 during the events of ''Aria'')]]. His OneWingedAngel form takes it UpToEleven -- a pale mockery of Dracula's final form from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', complete with a "halo" of a golden ring looped through the eye sockets of two stark white women and a much larger halo made of skulls raining down devastating beams of light.

** Wonky collision detection in ''Aria'' makes it possible to clip into walls while riding on the back of a Catoblepas or Gorgon, as well as use the Giant Bat soul to turn virtually every solid wall into a warp zone. Proper application of the two can result in Soma warping from the Castle Corridor to the warp room in the Chapel to fetch the Malphas soul, warping from the Floating Garden to the ''Arena'' for the Giant Bat soul, warping from there to the Top Floor en route to an even more advanced warp into the Forbidden Area for the Claimh Solais before finally warping [[spoiler:''[[UpToEleven into the Chaotic Realm, right in front of Chaos' chamber]]'' for the final boss battle]].

** The steps to unlocking the real ending in ''Aria of Sorrow''. [[spoiler:There are some vague clues and a sort of logic (you need to equip souls that give you Dracula's traditional abilities), but it still requires finding just the right enemies to get souls from, and the clues are very easy to overlook. Not to mention you still need to work out WHERE you need them equipped.]]

* HoistByHerOwnPetard: In the bad ending to ''Dawn'', [[spoiler:Celia fakes killing Mina. Without Mina's talisman to absorb the darkness spawned by his rage, Soma becomes Dracula, [[GoneHorriblyRight just like Celia wanted... and then brutally kills her in revenge.]] Nice work, Celia. Rest in peace.]]

* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:At the end of the second game, after Arikado explains what a "Dark Lord" is, Soma starts blaming himself for not becoming Dracula because that means there will be someone "next in line". Arikado assures him that if a Dark Lord is needed, the universe will provide one on its own. No one has to be ''forced'' into it]].

** Yorick is one as well. The novelty of the soul is that it does pitiful damage even compared to the Skeleton soul, its miniscule reach, and the fact that it is required to be kicked in order to deal any real damage. The lethal factor is that it does 10x the amount of damage if the kick is successful. While its range makes it an utterly terrible weapon against a lot of creatures, it can turn several enemies and bosses into JOKES when used correctly due to how absurd the damage gets when it gets strong enough.

** After his initial defeat, he seemingly dies and his black soul enters into Soma -- but it's not Soma gaining dominance over a human soul, [[spoiler:it's just Dmitrii inserting himself into Soma so he can copy Soma's basic ability to copy other powers by absorbing souls. Unfortunately, this double level of Power Copying overwhelms Dmitrii and [[BodyHorror he transforms into a massive abomination]].]]

--> '''Soma:''' From here. I will set off to fight against my own fate. If I lose the battle... And I become reincarnation of evil, I want you to kill me.

** Iron Golem in ''Dawn'' has 50 HP and resistance to ''EVERY SINGLE ATTACK TYPE IN THE GAME'', ensuring that you will only ever do 1 HP of damage with every attack (unless you attack it with Death's Scythe's special attack, which deals 2 HP), or using a multi-hit weapon like Laevatain to reduce that. The only relief to give oneself in this venture is to use the not-as-useful Imp Soul, "Astral Veil", which turns the screen black-white for a bit and switches HP/MP for a time. However, this Iron Golem STILL has 15 MP, which while more manageable, would still require 8 hits from Laevatain in order to defeat. Astral Veil doesn't last but a few short seconds and costs a pretty hefty ''50 MP'' to cast. Soul Rarity is 3 stars (1%). Players are pretty likely to attempt farming this soul several times for the Chaos Ring and to forge Burtgang in the Sword forging list. The only other consolation is the fact that Iron Golem gives a pretty hefty 2000 experience points per kill.[[labelnote:*]]The Dead Pirate Soul can also help tremendously, as it allows you to deal double damage when attacking from behind irrespective of the target's defenses. Given that the Iron Golem can't turn around and the Puppet Master Soul can get you behind it without much guff, this can allow it to be dispatched in decent time with the Kaiser Knuckle.[[/labelnote]]

** The Succubus glitch in ''Dawn'' allows you to turn a temporary FlashStep special move into a permanent change in location, allowing you to warp past solid walls. Even without canceling out of it, it can activate a few [[DoorToBefore Doors To Before]] from the wrong side. (This type can even be pulled off in Julius Mode via [[spoiler:Alucard]]).

** 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 barriers meant to block you until you got a specific item.

The box, manual and introduction [[LateArrivalSpoiler make no effort to hide]] Soma's status as Dracula's reincarnation. The game starts with Soma living a normal life with his [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend not-girlfriend]] Mina when he is suddenly attacked by cult leader Celia, who wishes to create a new Dark Lord. After the fight, Soma [[WithThisHerring charges into the cult's base with nothing but a rusty pocket knife and the clothes on his back]]. Oh, and [[BagOfSpilling he doesn't have any of the souls from]] ''[[BagOfSpilling Aria]]'', [[JustifiedTrope having dumped them in the Chaotic Realm to reseal Castlevania and all]]. This time, the castle is somewhere in Europe and is made to be a similar substitute to the sealed Castlevania.

* CaptainErsatz: Zephyr in ''Dawn'' is basically a palette swap of Dio Brando from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', with [[ColourCodedTimestop the same abilities]] and everything. You even fight him outside of the clock tower, [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders much like the final battle between Dio and Jotaro]]. If that wasn't enough, he shouts Dio's iconic "TOKI WO TOMARE!" before freezing time.

* CaptainErsatz: Zephyr in ''Dawn'' is basically a palette swap of Dio Brando from ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', with [[ColourCodedTimestop the same abilities]] and [[KnifeNut everything]]. You even fight him outside of the clock tower, [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders much like the final battle between Dio and Jotaro]]. If that wasn't enough, he shouts Dio's iconic "TOKI WO TOMARE!" before freezing time.

** Besides Soma himself, Dmitrii Blinov has the ability to use any enemy ability he's hit by. In your fight with him, he'll mimic any Bullet and Guardian Souls you use against him, but he'll only utilize what you hit him with last, so you could... say... use the Student Witch soul and throw an easy-to-dodge cat at him, [[PowerupLetdown forcibly locking Dmitrii into a laughably easy attack pattern]] (all you'd really need to worry about then would be a simple [[KnifeNut stabbing attack]]). If you want to make him look even more ridiculous, hit him with the Cave Troll soul: any enemy ability he copies is restricted to level 1, meaning that instead of the long-ranged tongue attack with half screen range Soma gets at Level 9, he'll be stuck with an ineffectual mildly rude gesture that has an even shorter range than his knife.

Aria of Sorrow was included in the CompilationRerelease Castlevania Advance Collection alongside Videogame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon and Videogame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance released on September 23rd 2021 for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne.

* MoneyGrinding: Required to get specific values of money to unlock certain rooms:
** To get the Three 7s suit, you need to grind enough money so the last three digits are ''777'', which allows the room containing it to open.
** [[spoiler:Cursed Clock Tower's needs 573]].
** [[NumberOfTheBeast 666]].

* RareRandomDrop: Some souls can be stupidly hard to get. Tsuchinoko from ''Aria'' and Peeping Eye from ''Dawn'' get the honour of being the most difficult ones in each game.
** Just for the sake of clarification, it isn't the drop rate that makes the Tsuchinoko soul hard to get. It's the fact that it can just straight up leave the room, so you need to be decently powerful and/or hope it feels like co-operating to get even a chance of having its soul. And then you need to hope the RNG co-operates as well, although its drop rate isn't too terrible. So as long as you're strong enough to kill it decently quickly, it's much easier to get.

** Iron Golem in ''Dawn'' has 50 HP and resistance to ''EVERY SINGLE ATTACK TYPE IN THE GAME'', ensuring that you will only ever do 1 HP of damage with every attack (unless you attack it with Death's Scythe's special attack, which deals 2 HP), or using a multi-hit weapon like Laevatain to reduce that. The only relief to give oneself in this venture is to use the not-as-useful Imp Soul, "Astral Veil", which turns the screen black-white for a bit and switches HP/MP for a time. However, this Iron Golem STILL has 15 MP, which while more manageable, would still require 8 hits from Laevatain in order to defeat. Astral Veil doesn't last but a few short seconds and costs a pretty hefty ''50 MP'' to cast. Soul Rarity is 3-stars (1%). Players are pretty likely to attempt farming this soul several times for the Chaos Ring and to forge Burtgang in the Sword forging list. The only other consolation is the fact that Iron Golem gives a pretty hefty 2000 experience points per kill.[[labelnote:*]]The Dead Pirate Soul can also help tremendously, as it allows you to deal double damage when attacking from behind irrespective of the target's defenses. Given that the Iron Golem can't turn around and the Puppet Master Soul can get you behind it without much guff, this can allow it to be dispatched in decent time with the Kaiser Knuckle.[[/labelnote]]

* TimeStop: Chronomage's soul. It's even called ''Time Stop''. However, it doesn't work on [[http://castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Time_Stop#Time%20Stop%20Immunity some enemies,]] and it's crucial to killing Sky Fish.

** Those who play ''Aria'' followed by ''Dawn'' may find it confusing when the "jump" button becomes the "special attack" button. Unless you've been playing SNES games all your life, then this trope has suddenly been played in your favor. (In fact, SNES games using B for jump and Y for attack is likely the reason it is that way in ''Dawn'' and all DS ''Castlevania'' games, ironically an attempt at averting this trope.) This is only an issue if you play ''Aria'' on a Nintendo DS, due to the way the Game Boy Advance's A and B buttons translate to different positions.

** [[TheNumberOfTheBeast 666]].

** Played with in terms of Genya Arikado's identity. He is so heavily implied to be Alucard in all of his appearances that it is practically impossible to miss, but none of the games came right out and said it until ''Grimoire of Souls''. It's largely treated as an open secret by fans and the series' creators regardless.

* Nerf: The Rycuda and Great Axe Armor souls in ''Dawn'' are replacements of the powerful Lightning Doll and Red Minotaur Souls from ''Aria,'' and both are heavily weakened. The former no longer multihits, has reduced attack power, and while it has a unique SplashDamage effect that still allows it to hit multiple enemies, the initial hit has reduced range. The latter also has reduced range and power unless leveled up, and even then it doesn't quite have the same destructive power it did in the previous game.