What a horrible night to have deja vu.
Naturally, due to being an animated series that has quite a bit of source material to adapt from. It's brimmed to the fangs with Easter Eggs and Mythology Gags from the main game series, that even the wikia has a dedicated page
for it all.
Spoiler alert: This page contains unmarked plot spoilers. Read at your own risk.
NES and SNES Castlevanias:
- The poster seen in this page is a near shot-for-shot recreation of the first Castlevania's box art,◊ albeit with Trevor rather than Simon.
- The series opens with Lisa knifing a bat that flies at her face.
- As Trevor is evading the angry mob, he makes use of several items he finds around the town and on his person which are direct references to various sub-weapons Belmonts are known for, primarily his Knives and the Throwing Axe, plus the Torch from the lesser-known Haunted Castle. When he rallies the townsfolk against the demonic horde, he also makes use of Holy Water in a similar manner.
- When Trevor hits a Night Creature with his whip it explodes into Ludicrous Gibs, similar to how enemies in the NES games burst into flames upon death.
- After entering Gresit, Trevor talks to the various villagers, in a manner reminiscent of gathering quest information from NPCs in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
- When Trevor agrees to recover the body of the Speaker Elder's grandchild (who's spoken of in gender neutral terms), he assumes it's his grandson. After finding out said missing grandchild is his granddaughter, he snarks that he wishes the Speakers would quit having their men and women dress the same, with Sypha saying afterward that it makes it "safer to travel [that way]." All of this is a reference to how Sypha's gender was (mistakenly) left ambiguous in Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse.
- Alucard emerges from a coffin like in Dracula's Curse. The ensuing duel with Trevor also mirrors Alucard being a Boss Fight before he can be playable.
- Trevor taking off his cloak in season 1 episode 3 mirrors the opening of Dracula's Curse, where he whips off his cloak after praying.
- The pillar of fire Dracula envelops himself in before teleporting strongly resembles the beam of light he uses in the final battle of Super Castlevania IV.
- Dracula's special attack is a straight up Dark Inferno.
- Sypha's magic spells resemble Ice Needle, Gale Force and Flame. All classic Castlevanias' magic.
- Several different Night Creatures in Season 2 resemble monsters from the series such as Slogra & Gaibon (who still attack as a tag-team), Malphas (resembling the design used in the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow series) and a Minotaur.
- Trevor upgrades his leather whip with an older heirloom chain whip named the Morning Star, likely a reference to the whip upgrades in the older games. However, the Morning Star already has its max length, so Trevor doesn't need to upgrade it further. The game lore for the most part treated the upgrades as Gameplay and Story Segregation, being that the Belmonts had one special heirloom whip variously depicted as either leather or chain, and called the "Vampire Killer" which is never used in the show, but the show's Morning Star is essentially the Vampire Killer, just renamed.
- In addition, he finds the upgraded whip in a hidden alcove behind a wall that he breaks by accident. While the whip upgrades themselves are in candles, stuff being hidden in walls is a classic Castlevania trope.
- The trio's fight with Dracula's generals inside the castle is backed by a rendition of "Bloody Tears," which has been one of the Castlevania series' most popular and recurring tracks since its debut as the daytime theme for Simon's Quest.
- One of the bandits who attack Isaac in the Season 2 finale is very similar to Grant Danasty.
- One member of Isaac's monster horde is the series' iconic Fishman, complete with a fireball breath attack.
- Season 3 has a running gag of people complaining about a pirate who rides a ship on wheels. Likely referencing the fact that Grant was a pirate who was operating in a landlocked country.
- Season 4 introduces more classic Castlevania enemies such as skeletons and Fleamen.
- Season 4 sees Trevor find a fabled magical weapon that he knows of from his family's books, which turns out to be a sharper than the usual version of the Cross/Boomerang subweapon.
- At one point Carmilla cries a tear of blood from her left eye. In the Classicvanias, she is usually depicted with bloody tears streaming down the left eye of her mask/skull.
- In the blinding explosion caused by Carmilla's death, the lighting makes her face look ever-so-closer to the design of her mask, complete with a single open eye letting loose a bloody tear. Once her body begins disintegrating, her bare skull calls to mind the other appearance she's taken when the mask breaks; a more humanoid woman riding a giant skull.
- Season 4 has Varney's vampire forces create a homunculus to act as the Rebis, in a manner resembling classic depictions of Frankenstein's Monster seen in early games.
- In Trevor's final attack against Death, the Morning Star engulfs itself in fire, essentially turning it into the Flame Whip that caps off the whip's classic upgrades. After he loses the whip, he finishes Death off with a fancy magical dagger that was previously split in multiple parts, calling back how in Simon's Quest, Death was the one to drop the Golden Dagger on being killed.
IGA Castlevanias:
- Dracula's Night Creatures' attack seems to parallel the first stage of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
- In a case of Colour-Coded for Your Convenience, the head art director for the show went with using the NES sprite colors as a palette reference while designing Dracula, Trevor, and Sypha to make them more recognizable for fans of the game. Alucard, on the other hand, uses a slightly simplified version of his Castlevania: Symphony of the Night design instead of his original NES look.
- The series intro has Alucard holding his sword in front of his face, very similar to the box art from Symphony.
- Alucard's sword is shown flying through the air and fighting on its own, much like the Sword Familiar from Symphony.
- Season 1 episode 1 has a moment where Dracula is framed in such a way that it looks identical to his character image in text boxes from Symphony.
- Alucard's coffin directly references Dracula's Curse. But since he hibernates to recover from wounds, it also mirrors the coffin save points in Symphony which fully restore the player's health.
- The artefact Dracula uses to teleport the castle is a polyhedron shape similar to the one found in said save points (before the player uses them).
- Alucard does one of his special moves from Symphony during his fight with Trevor. Specifically, the Alucard Sword's teleport slash.
- Trevor paraphrases Edmund Burke's "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing," a nod to the Good Ending of Symphony which had Alucard using the same quote.
- Blue Fangs, the demon that kills the Bishop, seems to be the show's equivalent of Pazuzu, who appears in Harmony of Dissonance as a boss, and in Symphony as the Lesser Demon.
- Adding into Composite Character, the Cyclops now has an Eye Beam similar to Balore and Medusa.
- When Lisa is arrested by the Bishop, she's wearing the same red dress as in her Symphony artwork and Alucard's nightmare.
- When the holy water from the river floods into the castle, several vampires can be seen hopping backwards repeatedly to get away, in a very similar manner to Alucard's backwards jump in Symphony. Possibly even referencing the way speedrunners would use it to move more quickly (as repeatedly back-dodging allows the player to move faster than just running).
- A collection of tormented souls leaves Dracula as he is killed, similar to soul drops in the Sorrow duology. In addition, it is also similar to Richter's ending in Rondo of Blood, where waves of souls erupt from the windows as Dracula dies, but the castle itself does not collapse. It may also be a reference to his second form, a collection of heads, in Dracula's Curse.
- Dracula's lack of a One-Winged Angel transformation and preference for hand-to-hand combat is a nod to Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, where instead of transforming, his attacks instead grow faster and fiercer.
- When the gang storm the castle, Alucard begins the battle by transforming into his wolf form and charging to the end of the hall. This references the Soul of Wolf and Power of Wolf relics from Symphony.
- While not from a main character, the Asian Vampiress Cho is seen using mist in her attacks, to move around and even to nullify Alucard's swipe through her head by dissipating into mist. Many fans can recall this as the power of Mist Form, something Alucard could use in Symphony and Harmony of Despair to avoid damage.
- The Belmont family archives are all but literally an orgy of gagsnote : Near sprite-perfect renditons of the Cross, Axe, and Holy Water subweapons; as well as several potions and other healing items. A glass cabinet contains the remains of several enemies, from Medusa Heads and Axe Armor to Slogra and Gaibon (again), labeled with their actual bestiary numbers from Symphony.
- Recurring Castlevania boss Legion makes an appearance in the ninth episode of Season 3, as a floating mass of mind controlled humans.
- One of the monsters unleashed in the priory is recurring Metroidvania foe Cthulu (also called Malachi due to a translation error).
- Trevor and Sypha start season 3 fighting a minotaur and a werewolf. While these two have been series staples, specifically pairing them together may be a nod to Symphony, where they were fought together as a dual boss.
- Alucard makes use of his shield from Symphony throughout most of Season 4.
- Gergoth, a boss from Dawn of Sorrow is used as a pack animal by the vampire force invading Dracula's Castle before being unleashed to join the fight. He even uses his Breath Weapon. While this Gergoth is first seen with his midsection intact, Alucard charging his sword with fire magic and throwing it inside Gergoth's mouth causes it to explode inside his torso, exposing his ribs, which is his default appearance in the games he appears in. The purpose of his golden feet shackles is also demonstrated: when the vampire magicians release them, he grows much larger.
- In episode 9, Alucard's cape takes the form of a pair of wings when he uses magic to jump higher, just like in Symphony whenever he used the Double Jump.
- Dracula and Lisa's Surprisingly Happy Ending is a Pragmatic Adaptation of Soma and Mina's relationship. Dracula's resurrected once again, but gives up his evil ways in favor of being with his loving wife.
- When Trevor loses his Morning Star when fighting Demonspawn, he gains the upper hand by performing a breakdancing sweep followed by a horizontal flying kick that greatly resembles Richter's flying slide kick from Symphony.
3D Castlevanias:
- Physically, Dracula strongly resembles Gabriel from the Lords of Shadow games.
- The Speakers are said to have messages from the future, similar to St. Germain knowing of the Battle of 1999.
- On the subject of Curse Of Darkness, the protagonist Hector appears in Season 2. While he never quite changes his allegiance to Dracula nor is he seen in combat, he does uses his devil-forging powers to create a Night Creature much like his Innocent Devil familiar.
- The Belmont crest that Trevor has on his chest and back is near-identical to the Belmont coat-of-arms from the Lords of Shadow continuity.
- Dracula's Night Creatures are clearly based on the Vampire Warriors and Carmilla's monstrous One-Winged Angel design from Lords of Shadow.
- The Belmont clan isn't originally from Wallachia: the family moved to the country when the monsters went east, specifically when Leon Belmont went chasing after Dracula. A painting of Leon can also be seen on the wall.
- Minor example of Curse of Darkness, Godbrand is dressed more akin to Isaac in that game, and funnily enough, Isaac is dressed as the Isaac from the manga prequel.
- Isaac is less similar to his game namesake and more to Death - he is a loyal friend who is willing to lay his life down for Dracula, he possesses necromancy and can revive the dead, and his tall, bald appearance resembles Death's human disguise from Curse of Darkness, Zead.
- Season 3 Episode 10's title "Abandon All Hope" is a quoted reference from Dracula in Lords of Shadow 2, when Alucard and Dracula meet after Dracula defeats the Brotherhood of Light's invasion of the castle.
- Season 4 has a pair of Golem monsters straight out of Lament of Innocence, complete with daggers sticking out their backs.
- Saint Germain is briefly seen wearing the same outfit as his game counterpart in episode 4 of Season 4.
- Right before Hector traps Lenore in a magical cage, he briefly strikes the same "arms to the side, hair blowing back in the wind" pose that he does on the Curse of Darkness cover art.
- Just like in Lament of Innocence, the final battle of the season is a Belmont facing Death one-on-one.
- One of the more prominent of Isaac's Night Creatures is the Innocent Devil Abel from Curse of Darkness. The demon even assists Isaac during his fight with Carmilla, a reference to his and Isaac's status as a Dual Boss in the game.
- Funny enough, the Season 4 running gag of Alucard reacting in horror at the thought of becoming more like Trevor Belmont could be a reference to the Lords of Shadow continuity where Alucard is Trevor Belmont. His shirtless appearance also resembles that of Trevor!Alucard´s outfit as well.
Other:
- In the final scenes of the series, a now living Dracula and Lisa decide to move out of continental Europe and to a small northeastern town of Whitby, England. Whitby is the village where the ship Dracula commandeered in Dracula runs aground (and where Bram Stoker wrote the book). He even mentions finding an abbey there, where novel Dracula uses Carfax Abbey as his place of residence in the book.
- Zamfir's working for what she believes to be the royalty of Wallachia. When we finally see them having been Dead All Along, the King is positioned in a manner similar to Gregoriano IV from the The Battle of Old Castle gamebook.
- A portrait of a very young Alucard shows him with messy hair reminiscent of Kid Dracula's.
- A series-wide reference, during the trio's fight against Dracula in "For Love" (S2E07). If one has a keen eye, they can barely catch a glimpse of a meat dish hidden inside a crumbled section of the wall.note
