10 Things You Didn't Know About Castlevania
6. The Credits Are Full Of References To Films
References to other media don't end with the gameplay. In the first game, there are numerous coded references to legends of classic film franchises. This is due to two major points: The original designer, Akamatsu Hitoshi, was a huge fan of western movies, and Konami's rule that no real names could be placed in the credits of their games.
Some of the more prominent names are Vran Stoker and Belo Lugosi: thinly veiled references to Dracula author Bram Stoker, and arguably the most famous actor to play the character in film, Bela Lugosi. We also have Trans Fishers and James Banana, which are references to to Terence Fisher and James Bernard - the former being the director behind Dracula and other entries in the Hammer Films era of horror movies, the latter being the composer for said films.
Also included in the credits is Barber Sherry, a reference to Barbara Shelley, known as "The First Leading Lady of British Horror", who sadly passed away a few weeks ago on January 4th after a bout with COVID-19.