Topic: Can I give my two cents on what CV means to me?

[Neobelmont]

Well, the look of the game was inspired by classic horror movies, but the concept of the game and the movie seems to similar to be a coincidence. Not to mention it's probably where they got the idea of the main character using a whip, choosing Dracula as the big bad (Count Magnus Lee), and the ending where the castle crumbles is also ripped straight from the movie. There's no way those similarities were accidental.

Vampire Hunter D... Castle destruction (Castlevania ending).


On a side note Dorris needs some dang clothes, sonia as well ....... wait a minute the heck did I just say?

Yeah the original VHD movie has a lot of delightful scenes for the Castlevania fan that just scream inspiration. Always thought the second one was kinda dumb though. OP you should really watch the first Vampire Hunter D.

Also as a fellow lifelong Creature Feature fan I can appreciate your love of the classic monster influences in the games. But you can't say that a Japanese game suddenly "became too Japanese". And let's face it, the franchise would get stale if they didn't explore new things. Not to mention the Universal and Hammer horror films just don't have as much cultural cache as they did even 20 years ago. The resurgence of popularity in the Universal films (which led to the creation of the Hammer films) in the 60s and 70s was due to them being rerun on late night local television, something which stopped in the late 80s with wider distribution of cable TV and the advent of infomercials. Most people today simply haven't seen these movies and as such they're increasingly irrelevant to the pop culture discussion. The popular view of monsters, vampires in particular, has changed. That stinks but hey, at least the movies are now more readily available than ever for those who do want to watch them.
 
One of my most favorite movie influences/references in Castlevania isn't even from a Hammer/Universal movie. But from 80s Chinese horror comedies. Which were very popular in Japan for a time and also inspired Hsien-Ko/Lei-Lei, my favorite Darkstalker.

Playing vampire hunter darkstalkers revenge my fav one of my favs would be Gallon. And even if I have not played her... Lilith. I just like her over Morrigan for what she lacks in    not your usual girl.

Oh and this pic I found



And one more thing welcome to the dungeon superhunter   

[Ratty]

It took quite a lot of time for Jiang-Shi to appear in the series.

Indeed. Unless you count their appearance in the Kid Dracula games. They were so popular at the time though that they even appeared in a Mario title, specifically Super Mario Land.

[Lelygax]

That end with the castle crumbling and the hero walking in the sunrise remembers me of Rondo's Richter ending.