Castlevania - A joyous little mountain of references

Although seminal series is unlikely to be ever resurrected, its legacy is more immortal than Dracula himself.

Ignoring cameos, crossovers and parodies, let's begin.

Ganbare Goemon 2 - Super Famicom
Stage only becomes available after game is completed.

Lords of Shadow 2 - PC, PS3 and 360
Die monster, you don't belong in this world.

Judgment - Wii
Shanoa can say "I am the morning sun, come to vanquish this horrible night."

Pre-fight dialogue paraphrases infamous text box in Simon's Quest.

"The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night."

Great.

Shame the same thing can't be said about Power Stone wannabe.

Metal Gear Solid - PS1
Providing SOTN is saved on memory card, when Psycho Mantis reads Snake's mind, he states "You like Castlevania, don't you?"

Snatcher - various
Gillian remembers how he was so pissed because he couldn't jump off the stairs.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters - SNES
Wingnut mentions Castlevania 2095.

Why that year?

(Shrugs shoulders).

Evolution Skateboarding - PS2 and Gamecube
In one of several areas taken from universe, we fight a generic Vampire in the castle.

Cutest of all.

Haunted Castle - Arcade
In Stage 3, Simon walks by a female portrait weeping a stream of Bloody Tears.

Guess which theme is playing?

Yeah.

Another example exists. 

Akumajō Dracula - X68000
A giant statue of the Goddess Athena endlessly sheds tears of blood, with each drop transforming into an indestructible red skeleton.

Miscellany

Gods & Heroes (original title of Blood of Zeus) vs original flyer

The 'influence' of a certain Frank Frazetta painting is there for all to see.

The Norseman

Ahem.

From Dusk till Dawn
Sex Machine's trusty whip pays homage.

Game of Thrones

HBO's mega successful series hired linguist David J. Peterson to create the High Valryian language that some characters speak on the show.

One such word is belmon, which means chain.  This is a clear shout-out to Simon's Quest, when hero quickly upgrades from leather whip to the steel variety.

Music

What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse is the second track on The Black Dahlia Murder album Nocturnal.

Song title originates from 2001 demo album of same name.

Finally, Army of the Pharaohs album Ritual of Battle features the song Bloody Tears.

Band gives credit to Kenichi Matsubara.

Video games

Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils - PC
Baron Vladmu is Platine Dispositif's version of Dracula.

Van Helsing - PS2/Xbox
These books chronicle the histories of many of the old families of Transylvania.
One well-worn book entitled, "The Belmonts" catches your eye.

Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening - PS2
3 freakish looking faces are etched in the statue.
2 of the faces weep bloody tears.

Maybe I'm giving Capcom too much credit, but if intentional - bravo.

Cube Gothic - PC

Death

Legion 52

Symphony of the Night - PS1 and Saturn

Journey back to 1792.

The Transylvanian countryside of Romania.

Final stage:

"Bloodlines"

EU/NA

Richter: Die monster. You don't belong in this world!

Dracula: It was not by my hand that I am once again given flesh. I was called here by humans who wish to pay me tribute.

Richter: Tribute!?! You steal men's souls and make them your slaves!

Dracula: Perhaps the same could be said of all religions...

Richter: Your words are as empty as your soul! Mankind ill needs a saviour such as you!

Dracula: ¹What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets. ²But enough talk... Have at you!

¹Stolen from the preface of André Malraux's 1967 work Antimémoires.

²Written for game.

Conversation was subtlety reworked for the Rondo of Blood remake in The Dracula X Chronicles.

Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why'd you steal our garbage?!! - DS/3DS

Prior to Finn and Jake fighting Marceline the Vampire Queen, the Ice King says:

But enough talk... Have at you!

Jake: What a miserable little pile of trash...

And.

Sea of Thieves - Xbox One
Drink too much from the Crimson Crypt Tankard and you'll be asking yourself - what is a pirate? A miserable little pile of sea quests!

HA HA HA!

Japanese dialogue, (recycled from the cut scene after Dracula's defeat in Rondo of Blood) is completely different.

Voice acting, particularly from Norio Wakamoto as Dracula, is brilliant.

Richter: Begone! This world is not yours to live in!

Dracula: It is not by my power that I am revived. It is by the greedy humans that I live once more. Might is the one and only justice that exists, after all.

Richter: That's nothing but your self-centred interpretation! Guided by common beliefs, people seek each other out, gather together and move forward.

Dracula: However, is it not true that greed has driven the humans' development and that faith has led them?

Richter: Power alone cannot lead people. Respect and a loving heart are what truly lead humanity!

Dracula: Foolish drivel. I will prove to you which of us is right... with death!

Not as famous, but serious debate is much better, yes?

The Black Phone - The scoop and digest

After leaving the Doctor Strange sequel due to creative differences, adapting Joe Hill's 2004 very short story of same name became a very personal project for Scott Derrickson.

Mason Thames - Finney

Madeleine McGraw - Gwen

Jeremy Davies - Terrence

James Ransone - Max

E. Roger Mitchell - Det. Wright

Troy Rudeseal - Det. Miller

Miguel Cazarez Mora - Robin

Ethan Hawke - The Grabber

Summary

In 1978, the suburban town of North Denver is terrorised by serial killer The Grabber, who after abducting children in broad daylight, leaves calling card of black balloons at the scene.

Bullied teenager Finney is tricked by part-time magician and taken to a soundproof basement where nobody can hear him scream.

When a disconnected phone starts ringing, ghosts of kidnapper's previous victims give wee lad advice on how to prevent him going the same way.

Naughty Boy

This doesn't reach the giddy heights of Sinister, but nostalgic horror is still an impressive piece of film-making.

Even though Hawke tends to avoid villainous roles, you can tell he's having an absolute blast.

From the off, Thames is always the underdog, but fights back with admirable gusto.

Vulnerable, foul-mouthed and feisty, McGraw also deserves praise.

Screenplay is perfectly adequate and Mark Korven's score doesn't disappoint.

The interesting aspect is Gwen seeing glimpses of abductions in her dreams, but abusive father Terrence discourages using clairvoyance to help Finney because he believes late wife possessing similar abilities led her to commit suicide.

Jump scares can be effective and there's enough blood to satisfy gorehounds.

Apart from some very obvious nods to Stephen King, I noted additional titbits.

Title sequence has Seven written all over it.

Tom Savini's interchangeable mask bears a resemblance to Lon Chaney portraying The Man in the Beaver Hat in London After Midnight.

Principle of antagonist bundling Finney into his van smacks of Buffalo Bill doing the same to Catherine Martin in The Silence of the Lambs.

'Probably' everything that ripped off Rambo

Ted Kotcheff adapted David Morrell's 1972 novel of same name First Blood in 1982.

Although multiple changes were made, it was great man.

Turkey released their own version Vahsi kan (Wild Blood) a year later.

Okay, on with the show.

Cover art and flyers

Yes there's other stuff going on, but lookalikes are there for all to see.

Bloody Wolf aka Battle Rangers - Arcade

Contra - Famicom

Crack Down - home computers

Heavy Barrel - Arcade

Ikari Warriors - Arcade

Double Hawk - Master System

Red Alert aka Last Alert - PC Engine CD

Thunder Zone aka Desert Assault - Arcade

Headband

Our man first dons shit after Co is killed.

Or if you wanna get technical.

Official trailer.

But Rambo III undoubtedly made it famous.

Cue imitations.

Bare Knuckle III - Mega Drive

Red Alert

Mixing things up.

Snake Eater
The man with the bandanna is Jack "Soldier" Kelly (Lorenzo Lamas).

Years later, Metal Gear Solid 3 would use 'film' for its subtitle.

Now things get weird.

Ultra Street Fighter IV - PS3, 360 and PC

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist

Web series is worth anybody's time.

The above is likely a nod to Ryu's pre-fight animation in Street Fighter Alpha.

Rambo: First Blood Part II

To survive a war, you gotta become war.

Bruno Mattei's Strike Commando (1986) wasted no time to cash in on its success.

Toys

Ja-Ru (a company from Jacksonville, Florida) produced this amusing piss take.

Fighter - Team Xtreme

Adventure Man

Bootleg was made in China, and that's all I know.

Packaging virtually copies and pastes alternative poster.

Artwork gave him a beard, yet figure is clean shaven.

HA HA HA!

Super C - Arcade

Flyer 

Taking aim

ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!

Moving on.

An extremely iconic shot.

Guerrilla War and Rapid Fire

Commando - Japanese guidebook

Oh yeah.

NMK's obscure arcade Riot was hardly subtle. 

Another pose stolen.

Contra III: The Alien Wars (NA) - SNES and Contra Spirits (JP) - Super Famicom

For those who don't know, Appleseed inspired robots Jimbo and Sully replaced Lance and Bill respectively in EU version Super Probotector: Alien Rebels.

Midnight Resistance - Arcade

More. More. More.

Infernax - PC

Total Carnage - Arcade

Ashura (JP) and Secret Command (EU) - Master System
Sega only secured the Rambo licence for North America.

Title screen is lifted from:

NAM-1975 - Neo Geo

Enemy vs Lt. Tay

As a whole.

When Murdock learns that Rambo disobeyed orders, rescue mission is aborted.
Lifer¹ warns Trautman not to be a hero and holds him at gunpoint.

¹Steve Williams' first and only role.

Red Alert

Sharp stuff.

M.I.A.: Missing in Action² - Arcade

Konami's spiritual sequel to Green Beret nicked a few bits and bobs.

POW escape

Soldier and whoever vs Rambo and Colonel Trautman

²unrelated to 1984 film Missing in Action.

Rambo III

May God deliver us from the venom of the Cobra, teeth of the tiger, and the vengeance of the Afghan.

Strike Commando 2 (1988) essentially reworked plot and ripped off multiple scenes from Predator, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom and Lethal Weapon.

No fucking joke guys.

Oh, and lots from Rambo: FBP II too.

Devastators vs poster

New York Warriors - Amiga

The Warriors meets Escape from New York is the best way to describe cult overhead shmup.

Gangs include Ramboids and Ganja (altered version of the former).

Miscellany

Ralf Jones - Ikari III: The Rescue - Arcade

Anonymous - Nitro - Amiga

Cobra - Purple Heart - C64

Rambo and Rambo: Last Blood were left to their own bloody devices.

Hardly surprising really.