Because I know you can never have too much Castlevania specific content (hey, stop scrolling!), I’ll share some of my thoughts on where the Castlevania series has been and where it might go next, based on what we know of the series timeline.

I’d like to talk specifically about a couple of gaps in the timeline. Not the inconsistencies, mind you, but rather periods of time when important things happen that haven’t been covered by the many games in the series.

The most significant of these relates to the “Battle of 1999″, which is first mentioned in Aria of Sorrow (GBA). This is the battle where Castlevania appears once again, and Dracula is reborn. Young Julius Belmont does what his family has always done: grabs the mystical Vampire Killer whip that was first given to Leon Belmont in Lament of Innocence (PS2) and heads off to kill the count. Something different happens this time and Dracula is slain in a final sort of fashion, but it is not divulged exactly how. Aria of Sorrow and its one-year-later sequel Dawn of Sorrow (DS) both take place in the future, when Julius is in his fifties. Portrait of Ruin (DS) takes place most recently before the event, in 1944, very shortly after Bloodlines (Gen).

The most logical place to put another Castlevania is right there at Dracula’s final defeat. A lot has been made of this Julius vs. Dracula showdown, and it would be nice to see Julius kicking undead ass in his prime. But Castlevania, as we know, now needs a hook for each episode. Aria of Sorrow had soul collection, Dawn of Sorrow had the token touchscreen functionality, and Portrait of Ruin had the two-player and online stuff. For the final battle, I’m voting for time travel. I would love to see Julius move through time, overlapping in some way with all the earlier games in the series and in some cases with other Belmonts, possibly taking on Death multiple times throughout the timeline… it might be particularly cool to see him take down Death seconds before Christopher Belmont strolls by. Christopher Belmont, in Castlevania Adventure (GB) is the only Belmont who never had to take down Death. It would be an amusing nod to those of us paying attention. The other great thing about having him interact with multiple Belmonts is that the now-traditional unlockable character mode could have a lot of characters to choose from.

Castlevania lends itself to immediate sequels. It was done with Rondo of Blood (TG16) leading into Symphony of the Night (PS1), Bloodlines leading into Portrait of Ruin, and Legacy of Darkness (N64) appearing as a prequel to Castlevania (N64), among others. I’d like to see a sequel to Symphony of the Night starring Maria Renard (pictured above from Symphony) if for no other reason than to see another female protagonist in a Castlevania game, which has not been done enough. Maria was a playable character in Rondo of Blood, but she was not the lead, and no woman has been since Sonia Belmont in Castlevania Legends (GB).

What direction would you like to see the series take?