What a Wonderful Night to Have a Curse!
Castlevania: Journey Through the Years – 9‑Year Anniversary Edition
I started writing this on Jan. 4, 2026. Wow, this took a while to finish!
What a Wonderful Night to Have a Curse!
Castlevania: Journey Through the Years – 9‑Year Anniversary Edition
I started writing this on Jan. 4, 2026. Wow, this took a while to finish!
If there’s one game series I could honestly and truly say is my favorite of all time (or the GOAT as the kids say), it would be the Mega Man series. I love that little blue guy and those wacky Robot Masters with their rock-paper-scissors weakness loops. What a great friggin’ series! There’s a new one coming out, you know. It even features a “Design Your Own Robot” contest. I’m kind of worried that it’ll be drowned out by AI slop, but the worst part of it is that you can only submit contest entries on X. Ugh. Looks like I’m out.
But if Mega Man is getting a new game, where’s my damn Castlevania? Not a reboot. Not an interpretation. Just a continuation of the core series that basically ended with Order of Ecclessia.
I want a prequel to the Soma games, where Julius Belmont kicks some Dracula butt in 1999. Or something else related to the Belmonts. In 2026, it seems like Castlevania is just as undead as many of its enemies (unless you like musicals).
3 Castlevania DS games plus arcade classic dug up for ‘Dominus Collection’
Anyway, nine years ago I wrote a multipart retrospective series about my other favorite video game series: Castlevania. It began with the lines: “What a horrible night to have a curse.” Original and creative, I know. (Cut me some slack; it was among my first bit of professional video games journalism. Since then, I’ve been replaced by AI multiple times, worked for a number of different sites, and launched a Let’s Play parody YouTube series.)
Nine years. Damn. That’s a long time. I still enjoy the series, although I would say that my favorites from back then have not stayed the same. I did, however, manage to find a way to finally replay Symphony of the Night, so that was cool. It wasn’t as much fun as I remember, but still great.
I was having a blast with it until I got to the inverted castle, and it just got way too easy. Only one of the bosses really gave me any challenge. I couldn’t remember most of the spells, but it didn’t really matter much in the long run. Alucard still looks great, and it’s fun to hack and slash your way through the castle, but it just left me a bit cold after not playing it for 20 years. I didn’t get all the way through Richter mode.
I added new installments for some time, with the most recent being in 2024. It was a pretty small news blurb, though. Not really what we’ve come to expect from this series. But what’s there to say about Castlevania that hasn’t already been done to death, resurrected, revamped, and done again?
Not much. But we’re back, almost a decade later, to celebrate the series (and our work) once again.
My favorite games are the original, Dracula’s Curse (III), Bloodlines, Symphony of the Night, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin. That hasn’t changed much. But there is a new game coming out. In October 2026, in fact.
I’m looking forward to checking it out and (maybe) providing a review.
In the meantime, I think I’ll start a replay of the series, starting with a very unique version of the first game I found, that’s playable on the Super NES. Stay tuned…
The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night!
Castlevania: Journey Through the Years
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 1: Dracula Rises
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 2: A Dark Symphony
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 3: Circle, Lament and Harmony
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 4: Portraits of sorrow
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 5: Dracula Rises No More
Castlevania – Journey Through the Years, Part 6: Resurrection
It’s a dead man’s party: the music of Castlevania
