10 Things You Didn't Know About Castlevania

10. Castlevania Is Full Of References To Other Franchises

If you've played the original Metal Gear Solid with Castlevania save data on your memory card, then you got to witness Psycho Mantis ask Snake if he liked the other Konami franchise. Of course he does, it's a mostly great series. But did you know that the references go in the reverse, too?

Castlevania games are replete with random Konami references, such as being able to kneel in various spots of the first game to summon small Moaui head statues from Gradius. In Dawn of Sorrow you can kneel between two sets of spikes to summon Konami's old mascot 'Konami man'. There are even some deep-cuts, like an item in Circle of the Moon which will turn the character into Beartank, a character from the 1998 fighting game Rakugakids, that likely few have even heard of.

But the references don't end with other Konami titles. In Aria of Sorrow, the player can acquire an item from the Cagnazzo enemy - named after a character from Dante's Inferno - which calls forth a Cagnazzo-like entity which punches enemies repeatedly while yelling 'Ora, ora, ora' like the Star Platinum stand from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.