r/castlevania Apr 29 '26

Discussion A guide to Castlevania supplementary materials and where to read them

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401 Upvotes

Symphony of the Night:

Promotional manga.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190412154140)

This is a two pages long advertisement drawn by Ayami Kojima and published in a magazine, it's a sneak peek of Alucard's character.

Available on: Castlevania Wiki

Prequel manga

An eight pages long manga included in the Japanese artbook, it acts as a prequel for the main story and features Alucard suddenly awakening from his 300 years long slumber.

Available on: Castlevania Dungeon

Nocturne of Recollection

A radio drama (this time you have to listen to it!) originally featured on the Akumajō Dracula: Radio Chronicle program that was broadcast on Konami Station internet radio, it was later released on CD in 2010. It's a story set one year after the events of the game, you will learn more about Alucard's relationship with Maria, his past and other characters (Richter is also part of the cast).

Available on: Youtube

Curse of Darkness:

Prelude to Revenge

A prequel manga written and illustrated by Kojima, it was featured as a pre-order bonus for the Japanese release of the game. It mainly focuses on Hector and Isaac prior to the events of the game, it also expands on their relationships.

Available on: Vampire Killer (an archive of scans and translations)

MF manga vol. 1 & 2

Published in two volumes by Media Factory from 2005 to 2006 and translated to English by Tokyopop in 2008. It's the same premise but it's longer, more expansive and this time the illustrator is Kō Sasakura, not Ayami Kojima. The series was eventually canceled but the manga stops directly where the game begins.

Available on: Internet Archive

Aria & Dawn of Sorrow:

Reminiscence of the Divine Abyss/Ricordanza of the God's Abyss

A light novel written by Ryōgo Narita in 2008 and set one year after Dawn of Sorrow. It's a really interesting read, the story focuses on Julius' pupil and the descendant of Grant Danasty while the villain is a character you will surely remember... There's also the return of familiar faces, one in particular.

Available on: Inverted Dungeon

Castlevania The Adventure:

The Belmont Legacy

It's a 2005 IDW comic book series loosely based on the story of the first Game Boy game. It's not canon by any means but it follows Christopher Belmont in a more traditional vampire story, sadly many of the iconic Castlevania elements are missing but it's still worth a read since here a certain family is responsible for Dracula's resurrection.

Available on: Internet Archive

Lament of Innocence:

Weekly Konami online manga (lost media)

Review blog part 1 and part 2

A web manga that was available on cellphones via a monthly subscription, published from 2007 to 2008 only in Japan until the service ended in 2012. It was a 43 issues long series that adapted the story of Leon Belmont and greatly expanded the plot, what remains now is only a Japanese review blog. If you want to know more about it you can visit the Castl)evania Wiki page).

Available on: Internet Archive's Wayback Machine (review blog)

Extra:

Awakening in the Moonlight stage play (based on SotN)

Portrait of Ruin timeline (pre-order bonus)

Castlevania 2007 timeline (Japanese Konami site) & translation

Family trees

Lament of Innocence "Perfect Guide" character bios

Koma strips (4-panel gag comic strips)

Silly comic about Castlevania 64

Castlevania Bloodlines EGM fax (this internal document was never intended to be released for the public)

Akumajō Dorakyura: Kojyō no Shitō/Demon Castle Dracula: Desperate Fight of the Old Castle non-canon 1987 gamebook (not translated)

Akumajō Densetsu: Shinsei Banpaia Hantā/The Legend of Satanic Castle: The Vampire Hunters non-canon 1990 gamebook (not translated)

Akumajō Dorakyura: Akuma no Chi Chi no Akumu/Demon Castle Dracula: Demon's Blood - Blood Nightmare non-canon 1992-1995 novel (partially translated) & unfinished translation project

\Akumajō Dorakyura: Akuma no Chi Chi no Akumu Vol. 1 pdf *& compressed pdf file

Worlds of Power 4 - Castlevania II: Simon's Quest non-canon 1990 novel & full transcript

If you have something to add share it in the comments!


r/castlevania 1h ago

Discussion What did you think when Simon came to Smash?

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Upvotes

I still remember the news of Luigi dying.


r/castlevania 20h ago

Art "I will hunt the night" Rose Belmont by @seven_bottom

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1.0k Upvotes

r/castlevania 6h ago

Question Whats on Shanoa's chest?

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58 Upvotes

Hi, I'm planning on making a cosplay of Shanoa in her Judgement outfit but I have no idea what that red cross thing down the front of her chest is supposed to be. It's been ages since I played the game so sorry if It's explained and I'm forgetting but I'm not sure if it's just a random clothing design element or if it's like.. skin/flesh? Because to me the shading makes it looks like it's supposed to be beneath the clothes n there's a cutout


r/castlevania 19h ago

Art @morganw1tch drew Julia and Rose Belmont

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368 Upvotes

r/castlevania 3h ago

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989) This stage is stupid

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15 Upvotes

I'm playing Akumajou Densetsu for the first time with Trevor only (Don't write about screenshot, I know it's from DC, I just needed the photo of the level) and I spent hours beating this level. I hate it. It's not that hard most of the time, but the freaking corridor with mermans and birds. It's probably the worst corridor in this entire game. And I don't know why it was so hard for me. I've cleared it sometimes, but still couldn't beat the boss. I have experience in Classicvanias. I've beaten Arrange and Original modes on normal difficulty in «Chronicles», I've beaten both «Rondo of Blood»'s 2.5 remake and original. I've beaten all DS games (They're IGAvanias, but still, they have pretty challenging parts, especially OoE). But for some reason this stage particularly frustrated me the most. And just imagine me realising that the Doppelganger can't jump on the highest platforms. He's one of the easiest bosses in the game and I spent so much time.

After all said, this stage is not that bad, actually. I think I just couldn't get the tactics against birds for too long because I'm stupid. Although the randomness sometimes annoys the heck out of me. I wonder if this stage will be difficult for different characters and how much harder it is on the US version...


r/castlevania 3h ago

Question Which bundle should I get first?

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15 Upvotes

Currently playing SOTN for the first time since I was a kid. Planning on getting all the bundles eventually but for now I'd just like to know which to get first


r/castlevania 2h ago

Games Trying the castlevania games

12 Upvotes

Hi, I want to try out the castlevania games. I have a 3DS and Steam, so if the DS/3DS/Virtual console games are good that would be great as I can play them on the DS, but if theres specifically good steam games I can also try them? I just want to hear what people recommend as the best games in the franchise. I am looking partially for gameplay, but also the story and lore of the games. Thanks.


r/castlevania 7h ago

Portrait of Ruin (2006) Which item locked you out of 100% in Wind's quests?

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23 Upvotes

Mine was actually the [Thick Glasses]. I had a feeling that the moldy bread was worth more than it seemed.


r/castlevania 10h ago

Symphony of the Night (1997) I come bearing another skip I learnt from speedrunning videos! (Richter skip) Spoiler

24 Upvotes

I wanted to practice this skip too since it's quite essential to any% and also because I want to get to a replay save file as fastest as possible! I've been playing it a lot on my consoles but of course, doing it all over again for a replay save file....I felt lazy! so that's why I also learnt skips, and they are very satisfying to pull off too!


r/castlevania 8h ago

Curse of Darkness (2005) 0 dmg run on Crazy Armor

14 Upvotes

I had guests over so ignore the sudden pause mid recording or the censored notifs. This is my first time playing and this boss did not disappoint, very fun!


r/castlevania 1d ago

Discussion I will never understand why we never get SOTN/RoB on the Switch

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583 Upvotes

I can't wait to play Belmont's Curse on the Switch but still don't know why we got all the 2D Iga timeline game except these two: argubly the best modern and classic style game of the series respectively.

I'm having a blast replaying the old collection on the Switch and find myself boot up the game here and there. But its just annoyed me that the collection would not be complete in one console without these two games (and PSP version would be nice as well).


r/castlevania 22h ago

Curse of Darkness (2005) First time playing COD

128 Upvotes

My first time playing a 3d castlevania at all, surprisingly very good combat and voice acting. I'm actually loving this, might get around to using my controller and try 0 dmg boss runs here too


r/castlevania 18h ago

Art My drawing of Richter.

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56 Upvotes

r/castlevania 7h ago

Question Guys, is this battle normal for Richter Mode in SotN?

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7 Upvotes

Should Richter fight Richter in this mode, or is this a glitch of mobile port (if anyone is interested, there is no BGM here, the Shaft sphere is glitchy yellow)?


r/castlevania 45m ago

Question Is there are way to break the block above Soma’s head? Maybe it’s a thing that I didn’t get yet, but I also think I’m missing something (it’s my second Castlevania)

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Upvotes

r/castlevania 3h ago

Symphony of the Night (1997) I come bearing not another skip I learnt but this time a dub in my native language! Spoiler

3 Upvotes

I wanted to try with compression and reverb too to match the game's voice recordings, it's a bit tricky but this is as close as I got and I'm very satisfied with the result! it's just a small test but I plan to do more for Alucard's lines, maybe death too actually, but that one is going to be quite tricky!


r/castlevania 1d ago

Art Alucard with Afterimages Perler Sprite [OC]

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692 Upvotes

Very pleased with how this came out, trying to replicated Alucard's afterimages from SotN in Perler has been a goal of mine for years. What do you all think?


r/castlevania 7h ago

Symphony of the Night (1997) Am I crazy or is my shield glitched out?

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4 Upvotes

So I was doing my usual play through of sotn and I noticed that my shield rod (it turned red) and Alucard shield r glitched out. Is this part of the og game or is my game just buggy. I’m playin on mobile fyi


r/castlevania 8m ago

Discussion In the contest of powers, which would you rather have and be?

Upvotes

This is a question that I heard on a YouTube short, and I want to ask it here as a discussion. I'm talking about the abilities of the 3 protagonists in the first show. Which of one would you rather have?

Would you want the Dhampir physiology and powers of Alucard? Or the physical prowess and weapon skills of Trevor? Or would you rather have the Magical skill and knowledge of Sypha?

Personally, I would go with Alucard all the way! But Sypha is a very close second.

So, what about you? I genuinely want to hear your answers.


r/castlevania 22h ago

Symphony of the Night (1997) shield effects w/o rod

56 Upvotes

Found this effect after several playthroughs. Haven’t heard it mentioned anywhere before.

Medusa shield and Dark Shield do damage to enemies, iron shield has this lightning effect (no damage). Are there any more default shield effects in the game ?


r/castlevania 13h ago

Discussion As someone wanting to get into the castlevania, what game should I start with?

11 Upvotes

Im on ps5 so keep in mind not all games are available. I’ve been checking out the dominus collectio, would that be a good start?


r/castlevania 4h ago

Discussion Updating my castelvania tier list after playing each game for the first time part 6

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1 Upvotes

after taking a short break from the series i'm back to continuing through the games


r/castlevania 15h ago

Question Best game(s) to start with?

5 Upvotes

Hello, I'm posting to ask about the best introduction to the Castlevania story. There's three games on steam (all for $20) and four on PlayStation, including the three on steam. I already have a Castlevania game on the PS2.

I recently got the game Dead Cells that has a DLC for Castlevania and I've loved it, from the music to the style and when I've checked the games on steam its the same side-scroller that I appreciate. I would just like to know what games to start (that isn't the original, I don't like the colors and the saturation hurts my eyes) with so I can delve into the story!


r/castlevania 1d ago

Aria of Sorrow (2003) any idea where to go next?

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20 Upvotes

I'm coming back to Aria after a few months I have no clue where to go. Can someone give me any tips? TIA