History YMMV / Castlevania

* {{Narm}}: [[Narm/Castlevania Has its own page.]]

* CompleteMonster: Actrise is easily the most repulsive villain in the entire franchise. She pledged her loyalty to Dracula by slaughtering 100 children, one of whom was her own daughter. When she fights Carrie she outright states that she feels no remorse about it. As Carrie points out, Actrise is really just a pathetic individual trying to gain power.

** Shaft
** In Lords of Shadow, we have Satan (duh), Carmilla and Cornell, the latter two being one of the [[TitleDrop lords of shadow]], so this kind of behaviour is standard for them.

** Golem (or more specifically, [[GentleGiant his]] [[IronWoobie characterization]]) from ''Judgment'' is probably the ''only'' thing fans agree to be unanimously likable about the game.
*** Well, him and Cornell from ''Legacy of Darkness''. In a game where the ''DeathNote''-[[ArtShift inspired]] artwork was heavily bashed, his Wolf Knight design got the least flak of them all (''if any at all''). Cornell already had a small, albeit devoted fanbase; his fans were glad to see him make a reappearance in ''Judgment'' and many others were intrigued by this character from an oft-overlooked title.

* FakeDifficulty: Tricky jumping physics in the older games.

** Japan refers to ''Chronicles'' Simon as either Red Simon (akai Shimon) or...Homon.
* FirstInstallmentWins: ''Symphony of the Night'' is near-universally regarded as the best Metroidvania in the series, despite it having been released in 1997 and with many games following after that attempt to emulate its style.

** Goddamned Birds, too; the avian species in Castlevania, especially older titles, rival their Ninja Gaiden kin for being plain old pains in the ass...or wretched, mongrel, hateful freaking birdbrains, if you will. [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3645661737840311329 Just ask]] DeceasedCrab...

* ThatOneBoss:Death. Goddamned scythes...

* ToyShip: Carrie and Malus in ''Castlevania 64'', Maria and Eric Lecarde in ''Judgment''

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: Julius Belmont has the distinction of being described, within canon, as the strongest Belmont in history, and his sealing of ''Castlevania'' within the solar eclipse with the help of an army is the stuff of legends. He's also the only Belmont thus introduced whose main story has ''never'' been playable, only later missions as bonus material.

** And from inside the Belmont family, we have [[MemeticBadass Richter and Julius]]. Fans of the [[BadassGrandpa latter]] are quite miffed that [[MissedMomentOfAwesome there still isn't a game chronicling Julius' battle in 1999 that did away with Drac once and for all.]]

** Hammer from the ''Sorrow'' games gets some of this, mostly due to [[MissedMomentOfAwesome not being playable]] in Julius Mode. Many are hoping for ''Harmony of Despair'' to change this, especially since some sound files buried in the game came to light.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: Julius Belmont has the distinction of being described, within canon, as the strongest Belmont in history, and his sealing of ''Castlevania'' within the solar eclipse with the help of an army is the stuff of legends. He's also the only Belmont thus introduced whose main story has ''never'' been playable, only later missions as bonus material.

** ForTheEvulz doesn't even ''begin'' to describe how morally reprehensible Walter's actions are. Most of the villains here are like ''saints'' compared to this guy.

** Satan
** Carmilla's a Lord of Shadow. It goes with the territory.
** Cornell (the ''Lords of Shadow'' version, anyway)

** Cornell
* DesignatedVillain: Golem is opposing characters open the battle with their quote reserved for villains and during its Story Mode, the BGM for the villains' story plays.

* TheWoobie: Golem's own "Mama" finds the concept of it thinking for itself to be absurd. And even after Death affirms its sapience as close to achieving humanity, he tells it that it ''should'' be mindless.
** IronWoobie

* SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome: '''''AND HOW!''''' It's so awesome it has [[{{CrowningMusic/Castlevania}} its own page]].

* {{Woolseyism}}: The series is known as ''Akumajō Dracula'' ("Demon Castle Dracula") in Japan. Likewise, "Belmondo" was changed to "Belmont" in Western releases, "Ralph" to "Trevor," Sōma Kurusu the Japanese high school student to transfer student Soma Cruz, among other things.

* ThatOneLevel: "Mention the Clock Tower to any ''Castlevania'' player and they will fall on the floor crying in the fetal position.".

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Koji Igarashi said the series is more popular in the US than in Japan, with [[CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Dracula X]] and [[Order of Ecclesia]] being release here first.

* SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome: And how! It's so awesome it has [[{{CrowningMusic/Castlevania}} its own page]].

* SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome: Face it: the only reason you play a ''Castlevania'' game is for the music. It's so awesome it has [[{{CrowningMusic/Castlevania}} its own page]].

* CharacterDerailment: ''Judgment'' suffers from this, and the sound drama based on ''Symphony of the Night'' is basically bad fanfiction. Simon Belmont's portrayal in ''CaptainNTheGameMaster'' is about what you would expect.

* {{Narm}}: "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk. HAVE AT YOU!"
** The entire scripts of the N64 games--though Reinhardt's conversations with Rosa stand out as especially ridonkulous.
** "WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE."
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PrHEelh5oo "I'll kill you AND the night!"]]
** "LORD DRACULAAA'''AAAAAAAAAAA!'''"
** "I am the morning sun, come to end this horrible night!"
** TheDragon in ''Symphony'' is named Shaft. It is ''impossible'' to go through a discussion about him without any blaxploitation jokes. Even ''the character page on This Very Wiki'' has one.

** Hell, this series could the the MostTriumphantExample of this trope several times over.

* ToughActToFollow: Developers are trying to surpass ''Symphony of the Night''.

* SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome: It has [[{{CrowningMusic/Castlevania}} its own page]].

*** Sonia from ''Legends'' gets quite a bit of this too, mostly in regards to her [[CanonDiscontinuity being written out of canon]] and Iga's perceived sexism regarding the matter. However, she does have a good number of fans who do genuinely like her.

** A few other of Dracula's followers have a bit of this going for them too, such as Carmilla and (most prominently) Slogra. Galamoth from ''Kid Dracula'' and ''[=SotN=]'' is pretty memorable too, but mostly due to his status as ThatOneBoss in the latter.

* MisBlamed: Heavily debated, but generally the accusations that IGA is sexist, mostly for removing Sonia and ''Castlevania Legends'' from continuity. Not helped by his clumsy explanation when interviewed by EGM and asked whether fans could expect a female protagonist at some point in the future:
--> IGA: It's possible I guess. Although, I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from ''Castlevania: Legends'' for GBC) out of the official ''Castlevania'' chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though.

** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PrHEelh5oo I'll kill you AND the night!]]"

** MostlyNarmless: There are those who see the above "night killing" statement to be a ridiculously awesome one-two punch of a BadassBoast and ShutUpHannibal.

* ThatOneLevel: "Mention the Clock Tower to any Castlevania player and they will fall on the floor crying in the fetal position.".

* SugarWiki/CrowningMusicOfAwesome (It has [[{{CrowningMusic/Castlevania}} its own page]].)
* EnsembleDarkhorse (Death. He is generally considered harder than Dracula and is more popular among fans.)

*** Sonia from ''Legends'' gets quite a bit of this too, mostly in regards to her [[CanonDiscontinuity being written out of canon]] and Iga's perceived sexism regarding the matter.

** Hammer from the Sorrow games gets some of this, mostly due to [[MissedMomentOfAwesome not being playable]] in Julius Mode. Many are hoping for Harmony of Despair to change this, especially since some sound files buried in the game came to light.

* FakeDifficulty (Tricky jumping physics in the older games.)

* LateArrivalSpoiler(It was all a plot to resurrect Dracula early. [[SarcasmMode Now, which game am I talking about?]])

* MemeticMutation (Dracula's infamous "miserable little pile of secrets" line from the PSX version of ''Symphony of the Night'').

* MisBlamed (Heavily debated, but generally the accusations that IGA is sexist, mostly for removing Sonia and ''Castlevania Legends'' from continuity. Not helped by his clumsy explanation when interviewed by EGM and asked whether fans could expect a female protagonist at some point in the future:)
--> IGA: It's possible I guess. Although, I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from Castlevania: Legends for GBC) out of the official ''Castlevania'' chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: Julius Belmont has the distinction of being described, within canon, as the strongest Belmont in history, and his sealing of Castlevania within the solar eclipse with the help of an army is the stuff of legends. He's also the only Belmont thus introduced whose main story has ''never'' been playable, only later missions as bonus material.
* {{Narm}} ("What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk. HAVE AT YOU!")
** The entire scripts of the N64 games - though Reinhardt's conversartions with Rosa stand out as especially ridonkulous.

** {{The Dragon}} in ''Symphony'' is named Shaft. It is ''impossible'' to go through a discussion about him without any blaxploitation jokes. Even ''the character page on This Very Wiki'' has one.
* NarmCharm (Many of the above have caught on via MemeticMutation.)

* NeedsMoreLove (It's woefully uncommon for a ''Castlevania'' game to sell over a million units.)

** Hammer from the Sorrow games gets some of this, mostly due to [[MissedMomentOfAwesome not being playable]] of Julius Mode. Many are hoping for Harmony of Despair to change this, especially since some sound files buried in the game came to light.

** Many characters ''not'' related to the Belmont family tend to be more popular than the central characters. Soma, Shanoa, and ''especially'' Alucard get this a lot.
** And from the Belmont family, we have [[MemeticBadass Richter and Julius]]. Fans of the [[BadassGrandpa latter]] are quite miffed that [[MissedMomentOfAwesome there still isn't a game chronicling Julius' battle in 1999 that did away with Drac once and for all.]]

* HilariousInHindsight[=/=]HarsherInHindsight: The fact that Iga believed that Sonia and Alucard settling down in ''Legends'' and having a child believed to be Trevor from ''III''' would ruin the Belmonts' family history by making them descendants of Dracula could definitely be seen in a different light thanks to ''Order of Ecclesia''.

* ThatOneLevel: "Mention the Clock Tower to any Castlevania player and they will fall on the floor crying in the fetal position.".

* AndTheFandomRejoices ''Lords of Shadow'': either played straight or ''averted'' by the voice of Patrick Stewart, [[BrokenBase depending on which side of the fanbase you're on]], it's either an awesome cherry on top or doesn't make up for a pile of genericness. The presence of HideoKojima is naturally even more divisive, producing either [[PlayedStraight good]] or [[InvertedTrope bad]] audience reactions.

** And recoil with flying enemies
* ItWasHisSled (It was all a plot to resurrect Dracula early. [[SarcasmMode Now, which game am I talking about?]])

--> IGA: It's possible I guess. Although, I purposefully left the Sonia Belmont character (from Castlevania: Legends for GBC) out of the official Castlevania chronology. (laughs) Usually, the vampire storyline motifs, females tend to be sacrificed. It's easier to come up with weak, feminine characters. I'll think about it more in the future, though.