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Post by edmonddantes on Apr 17, 2018 19:49:20 GMT -5
So I was talking to a friend about Castlevania, and it came up that of the entire Belmont clan, Simon's adventure is the most represented.
Just to illustrate:
Simon first appeared on the NES/Famicom (I use Japanese/USA console names interchangeably)
but also appeared in a completely different game (but basically telling the same events) on the MSX computer.
THEN Simon got a remake of his outing in Super Castlevania IV, but also the Sharp X68000 release (later on PS1 as "Castlevania Chronicles") AND as an arcade game called Haunted Castle.
In other words, not counting ports, Simon's had five unique tellings of his first outing.
Trevor? Only one. Richter? Two (since the SNES Dracula X isn't a pot of the TG16 Dracula X). John Morris? Once. Every other Belmont? Once as far as I know.
This leads me to wonder if Simon, _within the Castlevania universe itself_ , is considered to be special somehow. Like does Dracula hold him in high esteem? Do townspeople say like "Oh man, this John Morris guy is cool but he's no Simon, there's a frood who really knew where his towel was!"?
Because I'm the kind of nerd who asks these questions.
Thanks in advance.
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Post by X-pert74 on Apr 17, 2018 20:07:35 GMT -5
I'm not a Castlevania expert, but is there really anything noteworthy about Simon Belmont in the series, compared to other Belmonts? Aside from the fact that after he defeated Dracula, he got cursed and had to go on a long fetch quest to heal himself.
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Post by GamerL on Apr 17, 2018 20:25:11 GMT -5
Well, Simon did it all by himself, whereas Trevor and Richter had help from others.
Simon single handedly waltzed into Dracula's castle and whomped ass, so that probably did result in him being held in a higher regard.
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Post by chronotigger65 on Apr 17, 2018 22:05:45 GMT -5
And let's not forget he appeared in a cartoon series as a major character (Captain N The Game Master.) But also in a really bad game novelization of Castlevania 2 Simon's Quest.
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Post by edmonddantes on Apr 18, 2018 0:08:11 GMT -5
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Post by bioniccommando83 on Apr 18, 2018 0:17:33 GMT -5
A small bias alert since Simon's still my favorite of the Belmonts and I'll admit to being a Simon fanboy.
What's not to love about a hero who destroys a villain and then resurrects him for the express purpose of putting him down again so he's even deader than before?
Outside of Christopher Belmont and a couple non-canonical Julius scenarios, as well as the cancelled/ret-goned Sonja games, I believe he's the only one that's actually fought and defeated Dracula twice (Both Trevor and Richter were taken out of commission during the fights with Dracula in Curse of Darkness and Symphony of the Night). Harmony of Despair and the new Grimoire of Souls game either doesn't count or offers more evidence of Simon being called on since he's in both. Being one of the few outside Christopher and Alucard to take Drac on twice and win I'd think gives him some fairly high regard in universe, as well as doing it single-handedly both times.
From in universe references, there's mixed feelings about him by the time of Simon's Quest- some people are begging him to end the curse, a few ladies in one town are flirting with him, and others in one town near the end-game are blaming him for the Dracula's curse spreading over Transylvania (A call out too that Trevor required a Devil Forgemaster to reshape and diminish the curse after he defeated Dracula; Simon's method was just a brute force beatdown like the tank, but still something he was able to pretty much pull off on his own and was just as effective). He seems fairly well regarded by Juste and Maxim in Harmony of Dissonance where his adventures are well known- one of the few times that a previous Belmont had been deliberately called out by another (Plus "Simon Belmont Forever" in the bossrush mode in that game- 'nuff said).
Last, he's acknowledged as one of the "Greatest Five" in Portrait of Ruin, which I think is a substantial call out of his regard in universe (Though Juste's spot probably should have gone to Christopher- again, for taking on Drac twice and dealing with Gameboy controls in doing so). I think Richter was acknowledged as the most powerful of the Belmonts in universe until Julius, but partially based on play style in the two Harmony of D- games, one gets the sense of Simon being seen as a tank- blunt, powerful, and effective and probably a runner up to Richter.
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Post by edmonddantes on Apr 18, 2018 0:33:26 GMT -5
"defeating Drac twice and dealing with the Gameboy controls in doing so" Yeah and he apparently had even worse back problems than Simon.
I... actually have never heard of Julius Belmont. Not unless he got stabbed on the fifteenth of March, but I think I'm getting him confused with someone else.
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Post by GamerL on Apr 18, 2018 2:01:48 GMT -5
"defeating Drac twice and dealing with the Gameboy controls in doing so" Yeah and he apparently had even worse back problems than Simon. I... actually have never heard of Julius Belmont. Not unless he got stabbed on the fifteenth of March, but I think I'm getting him confused with someone else. Julius Belmont is from Aria of Sorrow. |
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Post by Owlman on Apr 18, 2018 3:14:17 GMT -5
Simon is the only Belmont who doesn't suffer from arthritis (in Super Castlevania IV).
Joke aside, aren't/weren't the people of Transylvania scared of the Belmonts because of their supernatural powers?
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Haruka
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by Haruka on Apr 18, 2018 8:01:08 GMT -5
According to the official timeline, Simon is the most famous of all the Belmonts. He's also world famous, apparently. Not sure why that is but I'm guessing it's influenced by his out-of-universe status of being the most well-known Castlevania character.
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Post by Snake on Apr 18, 2018 12:29:30 GMT -5
I like how Simon Belmont dresses himself like a barbarian in most iterations. Whereas Leon Belmont, he is a well-to-do, nobleman son of a bitch.
Sonia Belmont and Trevor/Ralph Belmont are somewhere in-between in balancing fashionable functionality.
In some ways, one could take it as a sign of their decline in wealthy and stature in society. Then again, Richter and Juste seem to be doing well for themselves. And then the Belmont family fades into obscurity until Julius shows up for 1999.
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Post by edmonddantes on Apr 19, 2018 1:11:00 GMT -5
Speaking of Belmont decline... I've always wondered something, because I didn't keep up with the Castlevania franchise, but... Okay like... from this point on, there's gonna be a lot of Spoilery discussions. Yeah I still remember the flap about accidental spoilers from a month ago and want to be cautious. Regarding Symphony of the Night: Okay so at the end of the game, Dracula basically learned that his wife's final words were to NOT be mad at humans and to not take revenge. This seems to have an affect on him and he even asks for forgiveness, which... well, always parsed to me as Dracula has no more reason to attack humanity. So like, how is Dracula still returning in games set after SOTN? (One of my friends told me that its because future games basically either A) took place before SOTN or B) tried to do a thing where its not really Drac or else he's getting reincarnated so he's basically a new person now, but I'd like to hear what the real fans know) |
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Haruka
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by Haruka on Apr 19, 2018 3:04:51 GMT -5
The former producer of the series, Koji Igarashi, actually answered this question years ago. Basically, Dracula's soul is influenced by this entity called "Chaos", which is the manifestation of all the negative emotions of humanity. This causes his negative emotions to be amplified. There's also in-game evidence that supports that. In Aria of Sorrow, Soma, Dracula's reincarnation, fights Chaos as the final boss. If he loses, there's a special bad ending where he becomes evil. That is basically what happened to Dracula, too. |
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Post by edmonddantes on Apr 19, 2018 3:47:32 GMT -5
It seems funny to me that a lot of recurring video game antagonists seem to get that "there's a larger entity making them evil" thing grafted onto them. I recall reading somewhere that Legend of Zelda said that too but I don't recall which game.
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Post by dsparil on Apr 19, 2018 9:59:29 GMT -5
It seems funny to me that a lot of recurring video game antagonists seem to get that "there's a larger entity making them evil" thing grafted onto them. I recall reading somewhere that Legend of Zelda said that too but I don't recall which game. Demise in Skyward Sword |
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