Topic: The many faces of Dracula

[Heuss]

The many faces of Dracula



Castlevania (NES): Due to the color limitations of the NES, Drac was pretty much a purple head, red cape, and a lot of shadow. The prince of darkness looks like a California Raisin, or perhaps a Moai head.



Castlevania II – Simon’s Quest (NES): In the second game, Simon had to revive Dracula by gathering his body parts and then burn him again in the ruins of Castlevania. When summoned, he looked like Skeletor, had two frames of animation, and basically flew around in circles. Tossing the holy flame immobilized him, and the rest of Simon’s fate depended on how long it took you to finish the game.



Castlevania III (NES): Between the first and third game, the sprite artist learned how to use lighter colors to contour the cape and give it more depth. The result is a more detailed-looking Dracula. In this game, Dracula’s primary color is purple, which seems right out of Sesame Street.



Super Castlevania IV (SNES): Dracula actually has two ‘humanoid’ forms in this game. I didn’t bother drawing both at the time for whatever reason. The last form looks the same except for a more skeletal face. The first form is kind of like an undead Donald Trump.



Castlevania – Bloodlines (Sega Genesis): Konami incorporated Blood Countess Elizabeth Bathory into series canon by making her Dracula’s niece. Other than that, there’s not much to say.



Castlevania X (PC Engine), Castlevania XX (SFC), Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX, Saturn, PSP): So this is the most commonly used Dracula sprite in recent years. Here, the vampire lord is depicted as a very tall, refined gentleman who sips blood with a chalice. Also, he “steals men’s souls and makes them his slaves.”



Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA) and Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (NDS): Soma Cruz is the main character in two of the handheld titles. The year is 2035 and Soma is an exchange student living in Japan. Oh yeah, he’s also the reincarnation of Dracula. Cue lifelong struggle to suppress inner demons.

http://kevinsung.org/castlevania-dracula-over-the-years/

[Kale]

whats no. 2 from? he looks like elvis.

[darkwzrd4]

whats no. 2 from? he looks like elvis.

Castlevania Judgment

[Kale]

oh, that explains it.

[Dremn]

Ha, pretty cool. I like the illustrations.

[Oralox]

it looks like im gonna have to visit kevinsung.org to view these photos

[Richter]

Hotlinking, my favourite 

[Munchy]

Judgment Dracula looks awesome except for his robo nipples.

[Nycterida]

There's an action figure of the EYE??? I know I would smash the thing to pieces! 

I think I like the standard issue Dracula more - pretty human looking, tall, long hair, dressed like a dandy, with boots and cape. Not sure about the facial hair though, depictions of the real Vlad (not to mention Coppola) showed him with a mustache, so I'm OK with that. But I also like the Christopher Lee look of the early games.

[Ahasverus]

You are forgeting one

[VersasoVantare]

Is the last one from Rondo? Poor chap just doesn't look right.

Personally, I like that Dracula can change his appearance a bit from incarnation to incarnation, I tend to like both his suave, younger forms and his older, elegant looking ones and I do like him with facial hair.
I just don't like him with blonde hair, for some reason.

[thernz]

It's actually silver. The flames and lighting are just making it look more yellow in that scene.

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

For Rondo I usually don't use that pic 'cuz they obviously make him seem ridiculously huge after his battle (since he's twice the size of Richter).
I use this one, hee:

[DragonSlayr81]

I recall them mentioning in the Bram Stoker novel that one of Dracula's powers is that he could change his size(appear taller or shorter). I always thought that was the explaination to why his sprite is usually massive compared to that of the heroes going up against him. 

[ShinAkumaXX]

Well when he's mega dracula he's got some mondo shoulders, or perhaps just some 1980s shoulder pads under that cape?