Dracula (Castlevania)/Synopsis

Villain Overview Synopsis

The story of Count Dracula from the Castlevania videogame franchise.

Role in the Canon Castlevania Games

1094: Lament of Innocence

Mathias Cronqvist, before becoming the Lord of Darkness.

This game set in 1094 describes Dracula's downfall, still as Mathias Cronqvist (a probable nod to King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary). Being a tactical genius, he formed an undefeatable company with his best friend Baron Leon Belmont, a peerless warrior.

Mathias lost his wife Elisabetha to illness and became bedridden with grief. One year later, Leon’s betrothed Sara Trantoul vanished. Having long studied occultism, Mathias told Leon that he knew this was the doing of Walter Bernhard, the Vampire Lord of the Forest of Eternal Night, prompting him to go to her rescue.

However, after Leon kills Walter, Mathias reveals that he had set the entire quest. Blaming God for the death of his wife, he became a vampire and gained the Crimson Stone: an alchemic artefact that absorbs the soul of slain vampires. Mathias manipulated Walter into abducting Sarah for Leon to slay him, leaving his soul, powers and the Crimson Stone controlling darkness he owned for him to steal.

He expected Leon to side with him, for they share the pain of grief. However, an outraged Leon swore in Sara’s name that he and his descendants would hunt him and the Night. Disappointed, Mathias turned into a bat and flew away, ordering Death to deal with him.

Aftermath

Mathias renamed himself Count Vlad Tepes Dracula and created his Haunted Castle, the Castlevania, in Transylvania. According to the game designers, he laid low, biding his time while his power was growing. He was not yet fully evil though, for around 1430, he fell in love with a woman named Lisa Fahrenheit (possible reincarnation of Elisabetha). His son later states that this restored his humanity.

They married and birthed a son, Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, and lived happily. Alas, Lisa's medicine was branded as "witchcraft" and she was burned at the stake before her son’s helpless watch. Enraged beyond belief, Dracula declared war against mankind, becoming irredeemably evil. He later became the King of the Night, monarch of all Evil. Despite emulating his father early in life, Alucard eventually chose to follow his mother's steps instead. He changed his name to "Alucard" ("Dracula" spelled backwards), marking his opposition to his father.

1476: Dracula's Curse

Dracula has been waging war against mankind, taking over many countries, wiping out the holy soldiers sent by the Church, and slaughtering the Transylvanian population, which is decreasing at an alarming rate. However, Trevor Belmont is leading an attack against him, defeating the legions he sends against him, and eventually storming the Castlevania itself.

During his quest, Trevor sets free the sorceress Sypha Belnades, who was turned into stone, as well as the pirate Grant DaNasty, whom Dracula turned into a monster under his control when he tried to avenge his family, and allies with Alucard. The four of them confront Dracula and manage to destroy him.

Dracula is considerably difficult to defeat. He traps the heroes between two pillars of energy and conjures a bigger third where they stand, then teleports next to them, making his attacks hard to avoid.

He later turns into a multi-faced monster, floating and spilling acidic blood. The heroes must strike each face until it rots into a skull, but he spills more blood with each wound.

His hardest form is a giant demon looking like an Oriental idol. He fires beams that deal crippling damage, while two platforms break from the ground and circle around him, which the heroes must use to strike his head, while minding the pits left open.

1479: Curse of Darkness

Just before dying, Dracula cursed Transylvania, spreading his influence on the land and its denizens. He intended it to destroy his foes and waste the world, ripe for him to take over as he returns. Hector, a Devil Forgemaster who deserted Dracula's ranks, regains his discarded powers to hunt his former comrade Isaac, who had his wife killed.

It turns out that they were both manipulated by Death, who needs one of them to revive Dracula. Hector beats him and faces Dracula, reborn through Isaac’s corpse. Hector manages to destroy his former liege and dispel his curse.

Dracula is pretty hard to defeat. He teleports or turns into a swarm of bats, and he can bite Hector to heal himself, launch a wave of icicles or a blazing beam that track down Hector or conjure a powerful fire whirlwind, among others.

Dracula's demonic form is considerably more dangerous. He generates a giant black hole that relegates Hector onto a very small area, greatly hindering his movements.

Dracula alternates between landing punches leaving a poisonous trail behind, and flying away for a devastating attack: such as a huge long-lasting ray, a tremendous shockwave, and a barrage of energy projectiles. He can only be harmed at close range, but Hector will need a mighty familiar to back him.

1576: Castlevania the Adventure

Dracula returns and resumes his reign of terror but Christopher Belmont, Trevor's descendant, rises against him.

The non-canon comics Castlevania: the Belmont Legacy expands his story, albeit with an even worse Dracula. The Count is brought back by the Bartley Clan (probably related to Elizabeth Bartley) and abducts Christopher's beloved Illyana, before turning Christopher's allies into vampires. After his destruction, Dracula's spirit enters Illyana's womb to possess her first-born child.

Dracula poses little to no threat in this game, if not for Christopher's very slow movements and the two spike chasms in the room. He teleports and hurls four fireballs around him in an X or + pattern. Dracula's second form is that of a giant bat who spawns three smaller ones downwards.

Castlevania: the Adventure ReBirth

Dracula is much harder to defeat in this remake. He fights in the usual way, by teleporting and shooting three fireballs that can be tricky to dodge. Christopher must jump to strike him.

Dracula second form is a bat-like variation of his most common transformation, and he can prove quite challenging. He tries to trap Christopher into a corner and attacks by breathing fire and by jumping to crush Christopher, while releasing four green rays on the sides.

Dracula's hardest form, not fought in Easy Mode, is a gigantic devil head who conjures lightning bolts and fiery blasts throughout a wide chains of pentagrams, forcing Christopher to hide in a safe spot. Christopher must strike his jaw until it breaks, but the next stage is even worse.

Dracula harasses Christopher from all sides with homing lightning spheres, blue bubbles and rolling eyeballs he must destroy, a circle of lightning bolts and a chain of pentagram releasing fiery blasts. Christopher must use the rising platforms to strike Dracula's eyes, but he is increasingly resilient and his attacks make him hard to reach.

1591: Belmont's Revenge

Foreseeing defeat, Dracula turned into mist and feigned death. He was too weakened to assume a physical form, but still alive. He waited for the coming of age of Christopher's son Soleil to make him disappear and corrupt him. He creates four Elemental Castles as obstacles, drains Soleil's force to heal and prepares to make him his new vessel. Christopher is forced to storm each castle to weaken the Count's control over his son, before battling him.

• Soleil is highly hard to defeat. He strikes with his whip, and launches three flying, homing swords in succession. Christopher must stay away, easier said than done for Soleil his very powerful, fast, agile and unpredictable.

After freeing his son, Christopher must defeat Dracula, who has regained his physical form and engages a nightmarishly hard battle. He teleports and fires a cluster of rotating energy balls, very hard to dodge. Christopher must always be out of Dracula's reach and away from the spike chasms. It is highly advised to learn Dracula's moving pattern before trying to defeat him and to attack at long range.

1691: Castlevania (and its remakes)

The first game of the franchise, which was remade several times due to the popularity of its hero Simon Belmont; it sets the classical scenario, with the hero storming the Castlevania to end Dracula's reign of terror. In Haunted Castle, Dracula starts the conflict by abducting Simon's betrothed the very day of their wedding.

Castlevania

This very hard final battle sets Dracula's fighting style: He teleports (twice ahead of Simon and where he stands), casts Hellfire (his signature triple fireball) and Simon must jump to strike his head, a small target.

Dracula later assumes what would become his most common demon form, a highly dangerous enemy. He is powerful and deals heavy damage but he is slow. He jumps, breathes three huge fireballs downwards, and Simon must avoid getting trapped into the corners, passing under him when he jumps high. The holy water is useful to slow him down.

Vampire Killer

Dracula is very difficult and fights just like in Castlevania. Simon cannot jump over his fireballs, forcing him to get away and go between as they spread.

When defeated, Dracula possesses the huge painting in his likeness on the wall, and the fight becomes way much harder. Simon must dodge the Count's waves of bats then climb the platforms on the sides of the room to jump and strike the jewel on his forehead, as many times as needed.

Haunted Castle

Fitting the game, the battle is a nightmare. Dracula flies, throws two daggers, then turns into a swarm of bats and fly to the other side of the room.

Striking him before he flies away is considerably hard, yet a breeze compared to his second form: a gigantic vampire head breathing an endless onslaught of bats. The only way to win is to have enough energy left and strike like a maniac, to try and kill the Count before getting overwhelmed.

Super Castlevania IV

Dracula is a very tough enemy. He teleports and hurls energy balls which split into four, flying energy balls that splits into a barrage but provides a healing chicken when struck, and homing, flying flaming faces that must be destroyed.

When Dracula's face turns to a skull, the battle gets harder. He conjures four devastating bolts of purple lighting without end, making him harder to reach.

Castlevania Chronicles

This game itself is adapted from the home computer game Dracula X68000. (In this game, Dracula looks like a tall vampire in a suit, while in Chronicles he sports robes.) He teleports and casts Hellfire following Simon's position.

When beaten, he becomes a demon similar to the one in Castlevania, who jumps and tries to corner Simon, strikes with his claws, jumps high while firing poisonous rays under him, and breathes streams of fire.

1698: Simon's Quest

Once again, Dracula cast a curse upon the land when defeated, cursing Simon as well this time. The curse eats away the life-force of both Simon and Transylvania and threatens the Belmont line, the only one who can face him.

Dracula had his followers guard his remains in haunted mansions to prevent the curse from being lifted. Simon must collect the remains and burn them, but out of nowhere, Dracula's spirit manifested from one more remain which is his fang, Simon then battles the Vampire Wraith to the death.

Without golden daggers or holy water (which wounds and paralyze him) the battle proves very hard. Dracula flies around quickly, leaving little space to move, and fires hard to dodge and very damaging spinning projectiles. Simon must distinguish Dracula from his many afterimages.

1748: Harmony of Dissonance

Possessed Maxim

The warrior Maxim Kischine gathers Dracula's remains to burn them, hoping to prove worthy and to relieve his friend Juste Belmont from his family's burden. Alas, he gets corrupted by Dracula's spirit and partly resurrects the Castlevania, conjuring a reflection of it in a spiritual realm.

Dracula's wraith attempts to take full control of his host, by drinking the blood of Maxim's and Juste's childhood friend Lydie Erlanger whom he just abducted. Fortunately, Maxim manages to break free from his control and to hide Lydie away before warning Juste, who steps into action.

Juste gathers the remains, fighting his possessed friend who just bit Lydie. If he wears his and Maxim's bracelets, Maxim expels Dracula's wraith from his body. If not, Maxim and Lydie die in the worst ending. Dracula Wraith covets Juste's blood to become whole, only to get destroyed.

• Maxim is highly dangerous, fast and swift. He attacks with his sword, kicks, shuriken throws and clones. He can overwhelm Juste with clones. (Target the real one.)

Dracula Wraith is easy to defeat. He teleports slowly and he casts Hellfire or six Dark Inferno orbs at different heights.

His second form is a conglomerate of his remains who attacks with his clawed tentacle and an enormous beam from his eye. If Juste gets behind Dracula, the Count will not be able to reach him.

1792: Rondo of Blood (and its remakes)

Dracula, who was once again given flesh by Shaft, spends some time laying low and learning about Richter Belmont, before launching a preventive attack on his hometown, but fortunately, the young man was training away.

Dracula abducts four maidens from the village, including Richter's girlfriend Annette, whom he plans to make a vampire, and the mage girl Maria. Richter saves Maria, and together they defeat the Count, who deems their effort futile and knows that he is bound to return.

Dracula is quite easy. He teleports slowly, casting Hellfire or Dark Inferno: two pulsating spheres of dark energy. (Duck then jump.)

He assumes the most famous depiction of his recurring demonic appearance. He jumps, breathes three giant fireballs in succession, and hurls a devastating ring of energy that must be ducked under.

Dracula X

In this remake, if Richter fails to save the three captive girls, Annette falls victim to Dracula's curse and is fought as a boss.

Despite having a different vampire and demon forms, the Count fights in the same way. However, the battle is much harder since it takes place on many pillars of different height, greatly hindering Richter's movements and punishing all mistakes with instant death. It is better to be at one corner of the Throne Room when he transforms and to stand on a lower pillar to pass under him.

The Dracula X Chronicles

Like in Dracula X, if Richter and Maria fail to save the captives, Dracula's curse turns Annette into a vampire and she is fought as a boss. If that happens, Shaft will barge in after Dracula's second form is defeated and take the Count to safety, leading to the bad ending.

Dracula fights like in the two other games, but after defeating his Demon form, he grows six wings and the battle gets considerably harder.

Dracula flies, teleports and uses very dangerous attacks which he can combine. He can turning to a wolf, send a wave of bats, huge fireballs, space-ripping slashes able to kill in one blow, and Blood Hydro Storm: a deadly rain of acidic blood that can only be dodged below him. After a while, he will conjure floating orbs to distract the hero and turn into a swarm of bats for a deadly dive.

1797: Symphony of the Night

Shaft, who survived his battles against Richter and Maria, brainwashes Richter and uses him as a puppet-king of the Castlevania. He then creates a Reverse Castle, where he attempts to bring back Dracula once again.

Since no Belmont can handle the threat, Alucard awakes from his three-hundred-year slumber, and storms the Castle, befriending a teenage Maria investigating the disappearance of Richter. With Maria's help, Alucard can see through Shaft's deceit to free Richter and storms the Reverse Castle, killing Shaft and confronting his father. Dracula tries to talk his son back into his side, but Alucard refuses, holding to the last will of his mother.

When defeated Dracula asks what where Lisa's last words and, upon hearing that she wished him not to harm mankind, expresses genuine regret for his actions.

Dracula does not exactly transform for the final battle but turns his cloak into a conglomerate of monsters to fight for him.

He attacks in a defined order; swiping his giant claws, summoning a fallen boss and healing himself with its blood, flying to the background to launch a gigantic energy ball, and sending a wave of triangle-shaped energy blasts. Dracula's attacks deal huge damage but he is not that hard to defeat.

Early 1800s: Order of Ecclesia

In the early 19th century, the Belmont clan mysteriously vanished. Orders of mages assembled to fill the void and prepared to face Dracula when the time would come.

The mages of the powerful Order of Ecclesia were tasked to guard Dracula's remains, sealed to prevent his revival. Alas, its founder Barlowe (probably corrupted by Dracula's leaking energy) wanted to bring him back. He harnessed the Count's Dark Power into the Dominus Glyph, hiding its origins and presenting it as a way to destroy him for good. Barlowe's disciple Shanoa eventually sees through his deceit and is forced to kill him. Alas, he uses his soul to break the seal. Shanoa has no choice but to storm the Castlevania and challenge the Count, but she cannot destroy him without Dominus, surviving its use thanks to the sacrifice of her brother figure Albus.

Barlowe's disciple Shanoa eventually sees through his deceit and fights him. Alas, he sacrifices himself to break the seal. Shanoa challenges the Count but cannot destroy him without Dominus, surviving its use thanks to the sacrifice of her brother figure Albus.

Dracula is considerably difficult. He teleports and attacks with a barrage of Hellfire, four Dark Inferno, Fatal Ray (green beams falling from above), or giant fire pillars.

When damaged enough, the battle becomes much harder. He starts chasing Shanoa to kick her or grab her to drain her life and uses dangerous attacks including waves of shadow bats on either side, hordes of Hellhounds that must be destroyed, and Destruction Ray (purple beams falling in succession).

When the battle is over, Shanoa must combine the three Dominus Glyphs, and use them before Dracula obliterates her with his mightiest attack: Demonic Megiddo, a tremendous explosion of dark energy.

1917: Castlevania Bloodlines

Quincy Morris, Dracula's killer in Bram Stoker's novel in 1897 is a relative of the Belmonts in the Castlevania lore. The witch Drolta Tzuentes later revives Elizabeth Bartley, who in turn brings back Dracula.

The Count leaves the Castlevania for her niece's castle in England, spreading his evil influence throughout Europe, but Quincy's son John Morris alongside his best friend Eric Lecarde track him down and defeat him.

Dracula is not a big threat. He attacks with several types of fireballs, but is very easy to track when he teleports.

He first transforms into a challenging, flying, wizard-like vampire, who fires energy balls on both sides and conjures doubles of himself blasting energy pillars. The heroes must get under the real one, who does not attack. (Many fans believe that this form is the witch Drolta Tzuentes sent as a distraction, due to it looking like her artwork.)

Dracula's last form is a huge and dangerous demon who jumps to crush the heroes. He changes his color and his attack when wounded: pink (exploding projectiles), red (fire breath), and grey (waves of bones). The best way to deal with him safely is to keep away from him and attack at long-range.

1944: Portrait of Ruin

The Vampire Lord Brauner uses the souls of the victims of World War II to resurrect the Castlevania and takes it over with his bewitched paintings. Brauner prevents Dracula's return and plans to overthrow him but he is defeated by Jonathan Morris and Charlotte and Dracula return.

Dracula and Death.

Dracula fights with Death in a very hard battle. Dracula teleports and casts waves of Hellfire or Dark Inferno, and also Bat Moon (a charge transformed into a swarm of bats), while Death strikes from above and from the sides. They can combine their power in devastating moves: a wave of scythes becoming a barrage of Dark Infernos, and Dracula turning Death into a scythe with which he strikes the ground to unleash Demonic Megiddo. Striking one foe harms both.

Dracula later takes the willing Death's soul to transform into a formidable demon. He flies around and lands punches, but can be harmed after. When he traps his enemies between his wings, they must each strike one repeatedly to repel them. He also attacks with Death's scythe and a rain of fireballs.

1999: The Demon Castle Wars

As predicted by Nostradamus, the last battle between Dracula and the Belmonts took place in the last year of the millennium. Julius Belmont led a coalition of the world's armies helped by the Church and Alucard. They defeated Dracula and his forces after an apocalyptic conflict, and a Japanese priest sealed the Castlevania in the darkness of a solar eclipse. Dracula was destroyed once and for all, but several men born this day inherited some of his powers, and he would eventually reincarnate...

2035: Aria of Sorrow

Soma Cruz, Dracula's next incarnation

Dracula was reincarnated as a young man named Soma Cruz, who wields his power of Dominance. While Soma is his own character, he must struggle to avoid his dark legacy. During a solar eclipse, he and his friend Mina Hakuba are dragged within the Castlevania, which seeks a new lord and sensed Soma's connection with Dracula.

After learning the truth, Soma kills Graham Jones and unwillingly absorbs the Castle's powers.

2036: Dawn of Sorrow

One year after defeating Chaos, Soma is involved in Celia Fortner's plan to awake the new King of the Night. In the bad ending, Soma suffers the same fate as Mathias Cronqvist when Celia pretends to kill Mina and takes Dracula's throne (swiftly killing Celia whom he dislikes). This triggers the "Julius Mode", in which Julius Belmont and Soma's other friends must destroy Soma, now the King of the Night, as they promised him.

Dracula is truly reborn.

As the Dark Lord, Soma fights like Dracula did in a very difficult battle. He is assisted by a Gaibon Familiar who cannot be harmed. Soma teleports and uses Giga Twister the final form of the Great Axe Armour's Bullet-type soul: a giant axe rotating several times around him.

When defeated, he turns into the blue demon from Rondo and Symphony, this time a formidable foe. He uses Aguni's, Larva's, and Abaddon's Bullet souls: a flaming wave along the ground, many larvae when he jumps, and a swarm of locusts. Worse, he synchronizes his attacks with that of his invincible Harpy Familiar.

After 2036: Grimoire of Souls

In this IOS game, Alucard, going by his human alias Genya Arikado, is called by Elgos, an organization of mages gathering Dracula's artefacts and recording his battles with the Belmont Clan in grimoires. Seward, the director of Elgos and his second Lucy Westenra (both nods to Bram Stoker's characters) explain that their grimoires are abnormally overflowing with dark energy. Elgos' magic enables Alucard to enter the grimoires in his real form, fight through the echoes of the recorded events, destroy its core monster to gain its Vital Soul, in order to purge the grimoire from darkness. Doing so, he awakes echoes of heroes from these eras, who fight alongside him and can manifest out of their grimoires.

Alucard meets an echo of Soma Cruz as the Dark King, summoned by the witch Hermina who betrayed Elgos. Hermina steals the Vital Souls, in fact fragments of Dracula's power leaked from the eclipse. As she confronts an echo of Dracula, she reveals herself as a descendant of the Lecarde Clan aiming to destroy Dracula's essence. She summoned an echo of the real Soma to her aid, but he got corrupted by the grimoire's darkness.

• Dark King Soma fights just like he did in Dawn of Sorrow, by flying, teleporting and using Giga Twister, but he also casts Hellfire. In latter battles, he conjures Abaddon's Larvaes poisoning heroes at contact, and summons his Gaibon familiar then his Harpy familiar, both needing to be destroyed. Gaibon drops down and breathes fireballs, and the Harpy fires slicing feathers and pushes back the heroes with violent gusts of wind.
• Dracula's Echo fights as usual, but he is easy to beat. He teleports fast and casts Hellfire and Dark Inferno (that can curse the heroes). Only his head is vulnerable, so aerial combos striking many times at once are best.

Hermina reveals that Elgos was in fact founded by Death, as an intricate plot to rewrite Dracula's final demise. After the heroes purify Soma's Echo, Seward unmasks himself as Death, and steals the Vital Souls, or Crimson Moon Souls, reuniting them to channel Dracula's essence through the grimoires and give it a new existence.

Alucard faces his father in the final grimoire, but like in Portrait of Ruins, Death lets him drain his soul to transform. Dracula is killed before he could return, but Hermina needs Lucy's help to seal him. As his and Death’s essence get sealed in the Eclipse with the Crimson Moon Souls, he welcomes this respite and bids farewell to Alucard.

Dracula is considerably challenging. He teleports fast casting Hellfire, Dark Inferno (curse status), Bat Moon (turns into a slow swarm of bats pulsating with dark energy), and conjures many lasting fire pillars. Alucard must get away fast when he casts Demonic Megiddo or suffer massive damage.

His transformation is much tougher. He jumps, stomps his foot, strikes with his stinger tail or his energy-infused claws. He breathes normal fireballs or homing purple ones, orbs of green light slowing down Alucard, a powerful fire stream or a gigantic and devastating purple beam.

When wounded enough, Alucard must pummel him when he prepares a super attack and rush to a safe spot: Fire pillars, ice spikes and a blizzard (freeze), many lightning crosses, whirling dark spheres and homing Dark Infernos. If he casts Giga Demonic Megiddo, it means near-certain death.

Role in Alternate Continuities and Other Games

1450: Castlevania Legends

Dracula's armies have been laying waste on Transylvania for years, and he eventually sent them on the Belmont Mansion. The sole survivor, Sonia Belmont, an old friend of Alucard, sets out to destroy the Count.

Dracula teleports and hurls lightning balls, easier to dodge when away. He later transforms into an immense and very dangerous demon made of the souls of his victims. He does not move but his head separates itself from his body, teleports much faster and fires lightning balls in all directions. Beware the two pits in the room.

17th Century: Order of Shadows

In this mobile phone game, taking place in the late 17th century, Dracula gets resurrected by the mage Rohan Krause, the fanatical leader of the eponymous Order of Shadows.

Dracula is very easy to defeat since his entire body is vulnerable. He teleports and casts his recurring attack Dark Inferno: five spheres of dark energy at variable heights, forcing Desmond Belmont to duck under or jump over. Dracula can also conjure bolts from the sky.

1830: Circle of the Moon

Dracula rose again in 1820 but was sealed back by Master Morris Baldwin and the Graves family, at the cost of the Graves' life. Ten years later, Carmilla resurrects Dracula in her Dark Castle.

Morris Baldwin, his son Hugh and Nathan Graves barge in to challenge them. Dracula, who recognizes Morris, captures him to sacrifice him under the full moon and regain his full power, before casting Nathan and Hugh into the depths of the Castle. Hugh reaches Dracula first but the Count uses his jealousy to corrupt him, sending him to battle Nathan.

• Hugh is very powerful and dangerous. He attacks with his sword and the dagger, ax, cross and holy water sub-weapons. Using an elemental shield is advised. When wounded enough, Hugh becomes even faster and mightier; now launching two sub-weapons at the same time and summoning eight Sword Spirits.

Nathan saves Hugh and defeats Dracula, who retreats to the chaotic planes where he can use his full power. As Hugh is taking his father to safety, Nathan chases after Dracula and manages to destroy him.

Dracula poses little threat and his entire body can be struck. He hurls fire bats, two ice bats (duck then jump), and a fast swarm of lightning bats in all directions.

Dracula's devil-like form is nightmarishly hard. He fires two beams setting the ground ablaze, poisonous fumes (whirl the whip) and a long-lasting rain of meteors. His attacks are devastating, and his weak point is the eye on his belly that opens when he warps away.

When wounded enough, Dracula attacks with energy-infused dashes that can kill in one hit, before turning to a flying eye surrounded by bats, vulnerable for a short while. Powerful defence and offence magic is mandatory.

1844: Legacy of Darkness

Dracula is brought back in incomplete form by Death, Actrise, and Gilles de Rais. (Whether this is Dracula or an avatar of some sort is unclear.) He unlocks Ortega's beast-man power in exchange of Ada, the adopted sister of his former friend Cornell, as a sacrifice to fully restore him.

Cornell sets out to rescue his sister and eventually defeats what appears to be Dracula, who attempts to grab the crystal holding Ada captive, forcing Cornell to sacrifice his wolf power to save her. This leads Dracula to seize it instead. Death, Actrise and Gilles de Rais later sacrifice the wolf power to ensure Dracula's reincarnation and true return.

Dracula is not that hard to beat and striking him stops his attacks. He teleports a lot, captures lightning to attack, and vacuums Cornell to drink his blood, heal himself and cause the Vampire status. Striking his fireballs can provide supplies.

His demon form is way harder. Cornell has very little space to move, and can only damage the head inside his chest appearing as he attacks.

He alternates between close-range attacks and waves of projectiles from afar that Cornell must destroy, always in the same order. If he punches or grabs Cornell, he throws him in the air and bombards him with energy blasts. Cornell must strike him before he launches his last attack: an absolutely deadly exploding beam.

1852: Castlevania 64

Malus, a seemingly innocent boy

Dracula was reincarnated within the soul of a child named Malus, born the day of the ritual. His followers raze many villages and abduct children, looking for him. Dracula overwhelms his host when he turns eight and orders Gilles de Rais to play his role, while he pretends to be an innocent boy who gets slowly corrupted by evil.

If the heroes take too long to reach Gilles de Rais, he will have vampirized the arrogant vampire hunter Charlie Vincent. So, upon slaying his decoy, they take Malus to safety, not knowing that they fell right into his trap.

If the heroes reach Gilles first, Dracula reveals his identity and rejuvenated form. When defeated, he turns back into Malus and feigns to have been possessed. Fortunately, Vincent barges in, having seen through his deceit. He douses "Malus" with holy water to reveal who he truly is. Writhing in agony and livid, Dracula drops the charade and warps his foes in a dark dimension where he unleashes his demon form, but is destroyed.

When Dracula teleports, several lights confuse the heroes about where he will appear. His fireballs might provide supplies when struck but mess with projectiles, and his shockwaves or walls of green fire are powerful. While his vampire form is challenging, his demon form is considerably harder.

He keeps conjuring a floating energy sphere causing a tremendous atomic blast when struck, making projectiles unsafe, and hurls fireballs or waves of dirt. The heroes must strike him close and flee before he retaliates with a claw strike, a flaming breath or a very damaging shockwave of dirt.

After a while, he will summon two fire dragons, who erupt from the ground and chase the hero endlessly. They can be destroyed but Dracula always summons them back, so it is best to keep only one alive.

1870: Moonlight Rhapsody

This IOS game only available in Asia in demos features the best warriors from organizations opposing Dracula, the Demon Hunter Guild and the Mage Tower. Elvis, a half-human half-demon warrior is joined by the mage Leah Fernandez, then oddly enough by Fidel Belmont and his sister Florrie, despite their clan's disappearance. They investigate the newly risen Castlevania and Thelma, a mysterious alchemist girl worshipper of Dracula.

Death and his human followers opened a Rift in Time and Space, drawing power from it to resurrect Dracula once more. But the Rift also works in favour of the heroes, by dragging characters from the past and the future as party members. Together, they destroy the revived Dracula once again, despite Death’s best efforts.

Dracula fights just as in Rondo of Blood, and is just as easy, if not more for his entire body is vulnerable. He teleports to cast Hellfire and Dark Inferno, but he is easy to anticipate and he can be pummelled without trouble. His true form hurls exploding green rays as he jumps and emits a painful roar before firing his energy ring, but his attacks are telegraphed by red areas and he can be bashed with powerful combos or knocked-out.

Harmony of Despair

In this medley game, the Grimoire recording the games' story gets cursed and heroes from every era must battle throughout its chapters, featuring locations and monsters from many games. Dracula appears under the Vampire and Demon forms from Rondo of Blood, then as his cape-monster form from Symphony of the Night, albeit considerably harder.

Vampire Dracula casts Hellfire or Dark Inferno and conjures many flame pillars. Demon Dracula sends green, poisonous beams downwards as he jumps, spits tormented souls and a flaming wave along the ground, and fires a gigantic and devastating Death Beam. The heroes must avoid getting cornered and dodge the beam at all cost.

Final Dracula is immune to certain types of attack when he glows blue and casts a spell that turns the female heroes against their allies. He also unleashes an onslaught of attacks, including pillars of fire which he can combine with lightning onslaughts, and a dangerous array of beams. When he casts Demonic Megiddo the heroes must rush to the corners to avoid the blast or risk instant death.

Dracula is also fought at the end of the chapter "Origins", consisting of the first Castlevania game in its entirety, where he goes by the name of "R. The Count". Dracula looks exactly the same but is way harder to defeat. He fires more fireballs (three waves in different directions in Hard Mode) that are quite difficult to dodge. His demon form is fast, resilient and deadly. He breathes a triple stream of fireballs and dashes forwards, being vulnerable after he attacks. Should a hero leave the room, a star-shaped array of fireballs deals huge damage.

Castlevania for the Arcade

Dracula poses a considerable challenge in this arcade game. He flies, teleports, hurls fireballs and strikes the player from behind, while calling forth Knights that must be destroyed.

He later becomes a much faster, mightier and harder winged vampire. He turns to a wolf or a bat swarm to charge at the player, casts Hellfire in barrages or Demonic Megiddo (an explosive sphere of destruction that must be destroyed). It is crucial to keep away and attack without stop.

Castlevania Judgment

Dracula is playable in this fighting game. Moreover, he serves as the final boss of the "Castle Mode", which emulates a normal Castlevania game, in which he is fought in the Throne Room stage.

Contrary to the other characters, Dracula was not adapted for close-range melee. He is very slow but he can teleport and uses powerful attacks, deadly when used in succession in between teleports:

• Dark Void: Teleport.
• Dark Psychic Blast: a Telekinetic wave that blasts his foe away.
• Demonic Cleansing: Powerful flaming pillar around him.
• Hellfire: Three fireballs.
• Dark Inferno: Homing spheres of dark energy.
• Dark Blaze: Column of dark energy under his foe.
• (Hyper Attack) Demonic Megiddo: A giant sphere of destruction causing a tremendous dark blast.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Dracula in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Count Dracula is featured in this medley battle game. His shadow is seen on the stained-glass of the Castlevania stage. He is a boss for Sephiroth, the final boss for Luigi, Pac Man, and of course Simon and Richter Belmont in the Classic Mode, and as a boss in the Adventure Mode: World of Light.

Like in the classical games, Dracula throws his glass of blood on the ground and rises from his throne to fight.

He is powerful, teleports fast, casts Hellfire, blazing pillars around him, Dark Inferno at variable height, circling waves of Dark Inferno spheres in all directions, and Bat Moon, a fast charge transformed into a swarm of bats that is tricky to dodge. He can only be harmed when hit in the head.

Dracula's true form.

Dracula's demon form is very fast, strikes with his claws, jumps to stomp the ground, causes a shockwave with a ground punch, spits fireballs generating pillars, player-seeking tormented souls, and a very powerful energy blast.

When defeated, he is usable as Assist Spirits. His Vampire Lord form gives a power boost and can be upgraded as Soma Cruz. His Demon Form enables the player to charge Smash Attacks without flinching.