Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: The Mega Drive Fan magazine's guide refers to the clearly one-headed, hellhound-like Stage 1 miniboss as "Cerberus", which appears in some subsequent games with three heads.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Rescued, although it took quite some time. Castlevania Bloodlines was the only originalnote as in, not a remake, port, or retelling of a previous Castlevania game console Castlevania game that didn't had any sort of re-release until the Castlevania Anniversary Collection in May 2019, 25 years after its original release. It is also one of the 42 games included in the Sega Genesis Mini from M2, which was released in September 2019. As of October 2021, it is also available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers alongside several other Genesis games.
No Export for You: Even with the ports to the Genesis Mini and Anniversary Collection noted above, the European version has yet to see a release outside of, well... Europe.
Official Fan-Submitted Content: Two enemies, a boss, and an obstacle were chosen from a contest for the Japanese exclusive MegaDriveFAN magazine. Those enemies were the green enemies in the gardens of Versailles called Headhunter Bats, the beetles in the Munitions factory (which also housed the winning trap, the rollers) called Flying Beetle Rollers, and the boss was the Silhouette Demon just before the Princess of Moss.
According to the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, two more characters were planned to be playable alongside John and Eric. The first was a Viking-type character named Bolt Ericcson who used a mace (called a "hammer" in the concept art) for attacks. The second was a prototypical Yoko Belnades functioning more like Ryu Hayabusa and Grant Danasty by throwing shuriken, climbing walls, and hanging to the ceiling. The design documents spell her name as "Yoko Felnades."
Internal Konami documents faxed to EGM were shared in 2021. It hints at many elements that did not make it into the game or even the series at large. For example, Elizabeth Bartley holds a grudge against the Austro-Hungarian Empire due to being captured by a Hungarian king, and the Morris clan is an English branch of the Belmont family that immigrated to America during the California Gold Rush and got very rich via Texan mining operations. It also suggests that a game set in the 1940's was already being considered, has more direct connections to the original Dracula novel, mentions abandoned story elements such as the presence of three magical whips (the Belmonts' Excalibur, the Morris' Vampire Killer, and the disappeared "Death mercury"), and includes early bios and a family tree mentioning VanHercing and the cut Bolt Ericcson as Belmont relatives, among other things.
The recently revealed version 0.3 prototype up to the previously thought to be elusive version 0.5 prototype have different effects, areas, and bosses in some cases:
The first miniboss originally had a different design that Shows Damage similar to the Behemoth from Rondo of Blood. Its moveset was largely the same, but it would often charge at the player.
The Fishmen had an entirely different design.
The Minotaurs exhibit a behavior not in the final game, where they will lose whatever weapon they hold upon being attacked, eventually picking up a new one if it is available.
Two stages were cut from the Munitions Factory: the molten steel and zeppelin rooms.
The Princess of Moss had a different design for both forms.
General Trivia:
This game introduces a number of firsts to the series:
First Castlevania game to not star a direct descendant of the Belmont clan.
First Castlevania game to have a spear as a main weapon. That said, it's not the first game to feature a non-whip main weapon; in Haunted Castle, Simon Belmont can wield a sword.
First Castlevania game in which water submersion does not result in instant death, though it still causes heavy damage.
First Castlevania game to be set in the 20th century.
First Castlevania game to feature an American character.
First Castlevania soundtrack to be composed by Michiru Yamane, who would go on to be a regular composer for Castlevania soundtracks.
Supposedly, the cloaked spell caster that appears after Dracula's first form has been defeated is not another form of the Count but Drolta Tzuentes, Elizabeth's servant, who came to aid the vampire lord. This is mostly based on the similarities between the boss sprite and Drolta's official artwork.
magazine's guide refers to the clearly one-headed, hellhound-like Stage 1 miniboss as "Cerberus", which appears in some subsequent games with three heads.
