Castlevania (universe): Difference between revisions

The next entry is a direct continuation of  ''Rondo of Blood '', released in 1997 for PlayStation and Sega Saturn as  ''{{iw|wikipedia|Castlevania: Symphony of the Night}}''. This game was primarily overseen by up-and-coming employee {{iw|wikipedia|Koji Igarashi}}, who joined Konami in 1990 and had worked on several PC projects. Development began in 1994 for the Sega 32X add-on for the Genesis, going under the tentative title of ''Castlevania: The Bloodletting ''.  After the add-on's commercial failure and the dawning of a new console generation, Konami decided to cancel this project and transitioned the remains into what would become the final product three years later. The plot sees Richter Belmont disappear in the years following his battle with Dracula, whose castle suddenly reappears. With no Belmont to face this issue, Alucard reawakens and returns as an emergency back-up plan to deal with the crisis himself. Gameplay is a drastic departure from what came before, taking inspiration from  ''Simon's Quest'' and refining the experience into an action RPG based around exploring the castle and backtracking after acquiring new abilities to overcome previously impossible obstacles. The game was a massive success for Konami in a world where a 2D game like itself was seen as archaic and stuck in the past. Praise was given to its genius level design and worldbuilding, providing more insight into the histories of Alucard, Dracula, and their tying into the history of the Belmonts. This game would even solidify a genre of gaming alongside its direct inspiration, Metroid, colloquially dubbed “Metroidvania” by fans.

Despite the franchise still doing well by sticking to its 2D roots, Konami wanted to break the franchise into 3D gameplay. This resulted in the title simply known as  ''Castlevania'' in 1999 for [[Nintendo 64]]. The game is a departure from the series due to its design based on 3D exploration and combat. The team behind this game had little experience in 3D game design, which shows in the final product with clunky controls, awkward level design and a cumbersome camera that made the game frustrating to play. Sales were decent, but the game left a permanent mark on the franchise. The game received a sequel only a few months later titled ''Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness''. The game is mostly the same as its predecessor, but with some quality-of-life improvements and reintroduction of some cut content. Though these marginal improvements were not enough to save face and the game sold even worse, now considered a rare collector's item. Both titles have also been struck from canon after the fact.

Also in 2008, the [[Wii]] received a new entry titled ''{{iw|wikipedia|Castlevania Judgement}}'', an arena-based fighting game that notably had ''Death Note'' writer and illustrator Takeshi Obata redesign the entire cast. The game was poorly received at launch due to its awkward controls, shallow gameplay, incoherent plot, and unappealing redesigns. In hindsight, many fans consider this game the breaking point for the series.

This game received a spin-off for [[Nintendo 3DS]] titled ''{{iw|wikipedia|Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate}}'', which combined gameplay elements of the first game into a 2D Metroidvania style of game. This entry would be remastered in high definition for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC less than a year later.

==In ''[[Super Smash Bros. Ultimate]]''==