Merchandise of Castlevania

The extent to which Castlevania has influenced the culture of society has even stepped into the daily purchases of what people buy every day. People (fans specifically) have become obsessed to a point where they must have everything related to franchise. On a more cultural aspect, various online stores like Ebay and and everyday store like Hot Topic sell items such as whips and belts related to the series. These fans can be considered truly immersed in the world of Castlevania.

(8-bit Belmont figure)

An emotional experience in Castlevania

Many games can provide a emotional attachement with the player. They sometimes even go a limit that question the morals of gamer (even though these characters are not even real!).  Castlevania has had its share of moments that could make the player weep or two. In Castlevania: Belmont's Revenge for gameboy, the player assumed the role of Christopher Belmont who went on a quest to save his son from being cursed by Dracula's power. In Castlevania: Simon's Quest II, the player assumed the role of Simon Belmont from a curse Dracula has implanted in the land. Both these games had a time affected ending, the faster you finished the game the better ending. The series got more emotional as the current generation of games grew older with time. The creators could create more realistic characters. In the early age of the Playstation 2, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence was released. This game revealed the origins of the Belmonts and their destiny to battle Dracula.  *SPOILER ALERT COMING* In order for Leon Belmont to to acquire the true power of the whip, it would require sacrificing someone tainted blood...

It does cause the player to reflect upon the question; would you be willing to lose the one you love to save

 everyone? Situations like these can create emotional bonds with the characters from a video game (even though they arent real). *END SPOILER* In general, these journies fit in with current society. Are you willing to invest everything you own to save mankind (real life reflection; doctors on their journey to end disease). It also may stop player from continuing further into the game because they do not want to find out what ahppens next. When it all comes down to it, you bought the game, and do you really want to beat it now since you what may happen within the game?

Experiences with Castlevania

Gamers have many different experiences when trying to beat a game. When the first videogames started to come into the social scene, they were much more challenging. Many earlier games did not have an ending or just had an impossible level that no one could beat. The early Castlevania games were among those games that gave peole an unforgettable experience. 

(One gamer's experience with the first Castlevania...)

By the time the player reached the end of the game, he or she most likely had some very sweaty hands. The games get harder with each stage, increasing anxiousness and frustration. The player only feels true satisfaction when the game is finally beaten. It has made a deep impact on today's culture. Gamers wanted a more expansice castle, larger variety of enemies, and stronger lead character the gamer could connect with.The series has now expanded to all current gaming systems around the world.

The Art Style

Many gamers will usually recoginize a Castlevania game by it's art style. The series has retained its' gothic art design through the course of the series. The layouts of the levels themselves also follow this demographic. The games sets up the hero in a dark, eerie castle with bats flying in the dark evening sky. The common full moon loomoing over the castle also gives off the presence of darkness in the area. Some games do not start the hero at the castle but those areas are no less scary. Among these many locales are dark forests, the depths of the ocean, or a deserted island.

(a typical Castlevania evening)

The character designs also show a gothic style to them. It demonstrates a serious personality to the characters that can relate to a more mature audience. Castlevania gamers do not want to play a game that is meant for anyone under the teen ages. It is the one feature that fans of the series will always want to remain the same; the art design.



Death

Although death is a constant presence the player must deal with when progressing through the game, in Castlevania, Death is also an actual physical being the hero must face. In the story, Death is Dracula's right hand man and eternal servant.

(The artwork of Death from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence)





Death has appeared in numerous times throughout the series. His design is reflected upon the cultural belief of what Death would like if it were a real being.

(An example of what Death has been imagined to look like)

Throughout the series, Death's image has grown with the series. he used to look like the standard concept but his design has matured with the gamers. Over the years, his look has gained much more detailed and less like the common skeleton-in-robes-look-with-the-scythe. Some games even give him a transformation. The boss battles against him usually consist of him using his standard move with the scythes raining from the ceiling and various other attacks that were given to him for that one game alone. The hero usually dies from the falling scythes beacause they are the hardest to evade.This means frequent retries and starting over from the last the save point. Death has given, both physically in game and underlying, the real challenges the gamers have faced in the Castlevania  series.





Death in the Castlevania series

All gamers can agree that one experience they always encounter in a game is death. It is the feature that can make gamers stress or determined. In the early Castlevania games, the hero would die by falling to the ground and disappear.The problem when you died in the early games is that when you died, you would have to start back at the very beginning of the game. This feature either encouraged gamers to give up or test their pride and go another round. As the series grew with the current generation of games, the games themselves got easier with the gamer. There were now save points, so when you died, you could start from a save point and not from the beginning of the game. The gamer could take a break so he or she did not have to complete the game in a single run. Does this mean that Castlevania has lost it's power to challenge the player? Of course not. Most bosses in the curret games will make the gamer die several times before discovering a way on how to defeat them finally giving the player the satisfaction of winning. Some games in the series will make you die to uncover certain endings in the game (although, they are not the endings most players desire to get). These factors keep the gamer coming back for more. 

(The two animations the main character makes when she dies in Castlevania:Order of Ecclesia)