History YMMV / Castlevania

** Michiru Yamane is easily the best-known of the ''Castlevania'' soundtrack composers when she started scoring the games with ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines''.

** Ayame Kojima's painterly artworks and designs, again a defining trait of the games from ''Symphony of the Night'' onwards, are so iconic that when ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfShadow'' switched artists and adapted a more anime-like look for its cover and character artwork, [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks the change was met with considerable backlash]].

* MyRealDaddy: The iconic Igarashi-Yamane-Kojima[[note]]Not to be confused with Creator/HideoKojima, who worked on [[Franchise/MetalGear a different Konami series]].[[/note]] trio:

* EvilIsSexy:
** The various succubi, and the related liliths. There is official artwork of the succubus from ''Symphony of the Night'' with her nipples exposed, her sprite is bottomless, and a figurine of her with a piece of tape over her possibly-exposed boobs was shown at a NECA convention. Said figure was released with a top glued on to extend the corset- but if one carefully pries it off, sands down the glue and touches up the paint... the top was to please both retail stores and MoralGuardians.
** [[MisplacedVegetation Venus Weeds]]/[[PlantPeople Alura Une]] and [[HotWitch Witches]], among others.

* BreakoutCharacter: '''''Alucard''''', full tilt. Being [[DefectorFromDecadence the heroic]] [[{{Dhampyr}} half-human son]] [[BigBad of Dracula]] already made fans find him memorable in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III]]'', but after his protagonist role in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony Of The Night]]'', he's arguably become more iconic than the Belmonts themselves.

* BreakoutCharacter: '''''Alucard''''', full tilt. Being [[DefectorFromDecadence the heroic]] [[{{Dhampyr}} half-human son]] [[BigBad of Dracula]] already made fans find him memorable in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III]]'', but after his protagonist role in [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony Of The Night]]'', he's arguably become more iconic than the Belmonts themselves.

* BreakoutCharacter: '''''Alucard''''', full tilt. Being [[DefectorFromDecadence the heroic]] [[{{Dhampyr}} half-human son]] [[BigBad of Dracula]] already made fans find him memorable in ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Castlevania III]]'', but after his protagonist role in [[[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony Of The Night]]'', he's arguably become more iconic than the Belmonts themselves.

*** Even with the Official spelling pinned as "Belmondo" in Japan, there were still a few instances in Japan where the name was rendered as "Belmond" or "Belmont". With the former, this shows up in the ending of Akumajou Densetsu when it lists "And starring Ralph Belmond 'HelloInsertNameHere'". The latter appears in a few games, most notably the SurprisinglyGoodEnglish text for the opening of ''Symphony'' despite the narrator saying "Belmondo", the Good Ending of ''Simon's Quest'', and even promo fliers and the manual for the original and its MSX port, all saying "Belmont".

* CantUnHearIt: Despite having voiced the character [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight only once]], Robert Belgrade is arguably Alucard's most remembered voice among fans and the former's most famous role. This is in part due to delivering a relatively good performance next to Maria's (who was clearly phoned-in) and Dracula's (who takes EvilIsHammy to a whole new level), on top of having a very [[BadassBaritone classy baritone]]. His replacement from ''The Dracula X Chronicles'' onwards is still seen as good (and we're talking about ''[[Creator/YuriLowenthal Yuri Freaking Lowenthal]]''), but Robbie is pretty much the fan-favourite.

* ''YMMV/CastlevaniaI''

* CantUnhearIt: Despite having voiced the character [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight only once]], Robert Belgrade is arguably Alucard's most remembered voice among fans and the former's most famous role. This is in part due to delivering a relatively good performance next to Maria's (who was clearly phoned-in) and Dracula's (who takes EvilIsHammy to a whole new level), on top of having a very [[BadassBaritone classy baritone]]. His replacement from ''The Dracula X Chronicles'' onwards is still seen as good (and we're talking about ''[[Creator/YuriLowenthal Yuri Freaking Lowenthal]]''), but Robbie is pretty much the fan-favourite.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:

** [[MisplacedVegetation Venus Weeds]] / [[PlantPeople Alura Une]] and [[HotWitch Witches]], among others.

* FriendlyFandoms: Fans of [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure Jojo]] and Castlevania tend to get along very well, if not be one in the same, considering the similarities between the two (with the basic plot of both being able to boil down to "a family dedicated to killing a single vampire") and how Jojo is often referenced in the games.
* GameBreaker:

** {{Creator/Patrick Seitz}} playing Dracula (from ''The Dracula X Chronicles'' and beyond) in a series that heavily references ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. He was later cast in the 2012 anime adaptation as Dio Brando, ''[=JJBA=]''[='=]s main vampire antagonist. What a horrible night to be a Joestar...

* ThatOneBoss: Death in nearly every game he's been in poses a significant challenge. As a matter of fact, [[{{ThatOneBoss/Castlevania}} there's a whole page of them]].

** The series is known as ''Akumajō Dracula'' ("Demon Castle Dracula") in Japan. Likewise, "Belmondo" was changed to "Belmont" in Western releases, "Ralph" to "Trevor,"[[labelnote: Explanation]]while Belmondo is a real name, it's Italian despite the family always being originally from France. Ralph is also not a region-accurate name, with Trevor being at least more plausible.[[/labelnote]] Kurusu Sōma the Japanese high school student to transfer student Soma Cruz, among other things.
*** Even with the Official spelling pinned as "Belmondo" in Japan, there were still a few instances in Japan where the name was rendered as "Belmond" or "Belmont". With the former, this shows up in the ending of Akumajou Densetsu when it lists "And starring Ralph Belmond '[[HelloInsertNameHere]]'". The latter appears in a few games, most notably the SurprisinglyGoodEnglish text for the opening of ''Symphony'' despite the narrator saying "Belmondo", the Good Ending of ''Simon's Quest'', and even promo fliers and the manual for the original and its MSX port, all saying "Belmont".

* SignatureScene: The staircase climb to Dracula's room. It's one of the most iconic locales of the series, and whenever the game takes place at Dracula's castle (or a copy of it in [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Dawn of Sorrow's case]]), there's a good chance you'll eventually run into that outside staircase with the crescent moon and clock tower in the background.

* ''YMMV/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow''

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

* CantUnhearIt: Despite having voiced the character [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight only once]], Robert Belgrade is arguably Alucard's most remembered voice among fans and the former's most famous role. This is in part due to delivering a relatively good performance next to Maria's (who was clearly phoned-in) and Dracula's (who takes EvilIsHammy to a [[UpToEleven whole new level]]), on top of having a very [[BadassBaritone classy baritone]]. His replacement from ''The Dracula X Chronicles'' onwards is still seen as good (and we're talking about ''[[Creator/YuriLowenthal Yuri Freaking Lowenthal]]''), but Robbie is pretty much the fan-favourite.

* CompleteMonster:
** {{Satan}}, [[ManipulativeBastard Zobek]] and [[OmnicidalManiac The Forgotten One]] from ''[[YMMV/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow Lords of Shadow 1 & 2]]'', [[DarkActionGirl Raisa Volkova]] and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nergal Meslamstea]] exclusively from the [[YMMV/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2 Lords of Shadow sequel]], the ''YMMV/CastlevaniaTheBelmontLegacy'' version of {{Dracula}}, and [[TheGrimReaper Death]] from ''YMMV/Castlevania2017''.
** ''[[https://castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Nocturne_of_Recollection Nocturne of Recollection]]'': [[BigBad Magnus]], a vain and particularly sadistic [[HornyDevils incubus]], is one of the vilest creatures of the night. Centuries before [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Dracula's defeat]], Magnus left the beloved servant of Alucard, Lyudmil, at the brink of death, and cruelly [[MindRape mind-raped]] Alucard until he finally gave in and turned Lyudmil into a vampire. Magnus glories in having tortured Lyudmil to the point of becoming a "walking corpse" who despises all humanity, using Lyudmil as his pet SerialKiller while simultaneously aiming to destroy Alucard's mind, have him kill all his loved ones, and bring back the hellish reign of Dracula upon the world. When Lyudmil finally rebels against him, Magnus murders him and tries to torture Alucard and his allies down to their very souls.

* NarmCharm: Many of the above have caught on via MemeticMutation.

* UglyCute: The Golem.

** Whether or not ''Castlevania'' deserves to be part of the namesake {{Metroidvania}}. Some fans feel that since ''Metroid'' came first, games in the subgenre should just be called "Metroid-inspired". Others feel that ''Castlevania'' has refined the formula in its own way to be unique from Metroid.
*** Since then, the term "Igavania" has come into use to some degree, mainly as a more accurate (IGA was the one to make the subgenre) and lawsuit-safe term.
** The previous broken bases -- the original fans, the IGA fans, and the ''Lords of Shadows'' fans -- have [[EnemyMine joined forces]] to bash on Konami for the Pachislot and Pachinko machines as of late, due to their heavy focus on {{Fanservice}} and the cancellation of other types of ''Castlevania'' games[[note]]Mind you, the previous pachinko iterations didn't cause any problems because they were in development alongside other games, came with new music, and weren't full of scantily clad women[[/note]].

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken''. A sketch shows Simon Belmont arriving at Dracula's castle. Two werewolves very politely invite him in, only for Simon to start whipping them, then runs off to whip more monsters, who also just wanted to accommodate their guest. Simon then enters Dracula's room, and whips Dracula repeatedly (in the crotch, and then while he's in bat form) while the werewolves from earlier watch in horror.
-->'''Werewolf''': What kind of sadist carries a whip!?\\
'''Other Werewolf''': ...maybe it's a fetish?
** The actual skit portrays the werewolves and Dracula as thoroughly underestimating the whip... right up until Simon starts hitting them with it.
** Similarly, ''Music/NinjaSexParty''[='=]s Starbomb album has Belmont as a party crasher who always shows up and ruins Dracula's get-togethers.

** ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' is held in high regard by many players due to being [[PolishedPort fantastic ports]] of the GBA ''Castlevania'' trilogy by Creator/{{M2}}, a team that put in the extra work to include quality-of-life features like gadgets, savestates, and rewinds. However, a good section of the fanbase is a lot more cold about these ports, seeing them as a distraction from all of Konami's misdoings that they have not made amends on and that it's morally wrong to purchase it because doing so gives money to a company widely perceived as corrupt and antagonistic towards its staff and fans, to which some fans readily counter that they haven't been doing anything ridiculously bad or corrupt as of late during the , meaning the cold camp was holding a grudge for a past thing that they thought to be still ongoing without proofs.[[note]]Bottom line, whatever Konami did, for good or bad, some fans will just [[NeverLiveItDown never let them live down]] their 2015/2016 controversy, whether that makes them look good or not is a whole new different can of worms, but this will definitely affect the reception of every future games/rereleases of Konami.[[/note]]

** ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' is held in high regard by many players due to being [[PolishedPort fantastic ports]] of the GBA ''Castlevania'' trilogy by Creator/{{M2}}, a team that put in the extra work to include quality-of-life features like gadgets, savestates, and rewinds. However, a good section of the fanbase is a lot more cold about these ports, seeing them as a distraction from all of Konami's misdoings that they have not made amends on and that it's morally wrong to purchase it because doing so gives money to a company widely perceived as corrupt and antagonistic towards its staff and fans.

* CharacterRerailment: The third Pachinko series is based on ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse'', which gave Konami chance to characterize Sypha Belnades when Trevor already got ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness Curse of Darkness]]'' and Alucard already got ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]''. Rather than refitting her ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaJudgment Judgment]]'' characterization, which was not that well received, they returned her to a slightly more expanded rendition of her ''Dracula's Curse'' personality: less colorful, not at all extremist but at core a nice, amiable and helpful lady. Even those who dislike Pachinko series in general think that this is an improvement over ''Judgment''.

** ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' is held in high regard by many players due to being [[PolishedPort fantastic ports]] of the GBA ''Castlevania'' trilogy by Creator/{{M2}}, a team that put in the extra work to include quality-of-life features like gadgets, savestates, and rewinds. However, a good section of the fanbase is a lot more cold about these ports, seeing them as a distraction from all of Konami's misdoings and that it's morally wrong to purchase it because doing so gives money to a company widely perceived as corrupt and antagonistic towards its staff and fans.

** ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' is held in high regard by many players due to being [[PolishedPorts fantastic ports]] of the GBA ''Castlevania'' trilogy by Creator/{{M2}}, a team that put in the extra work to include quality-of-life features like gadgets, savestates, and rewinds. However, a good section of the fanbase is a lot more cold about these ports, seeing them as a distraction from all of Konami's misdoings and that it's morally wrong to purchase it because doing so gives money to a company widely perceived as corrupt and antagonistic towards its staff and fans.

** ''Castlevania Advance Collection'' is held in high regard by many players due to being fantastic ports of the GBA ''Castlevania'' trilogy by Creator/{{M2}}, a team that put in the extra work to include quality-of-life features like gadgets, savestates, and rewinds. However, a good section of the fanbase is a lot more cold about these ports, seeing them as a distraction from all of Konami's misdoings and that it's morally wrong to purchase it because doing so gives money to a company widely perceived as corrupt and antagonistic towards its staff and fans.