Music in the Castlevania series

Castlevania is an action adventure game series currently produced by Koji Igarashi (aka IGA) and published by Konami. The modern music composer of the Castlevania series is Michiru Yamane. Other notable ones include Sōta Fujimori, and Sotaro Tojima.^[1]

Recurring Themes

Most of Castlevania's music changes from game to game, but some themes recur often. These include Vampire Killer, Bloody Tears, and Beginning, three very popular tracks, first appearing in Castlevania, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, and Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse respectively. Several songs, including both Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears were also featured in the soundtracks of other Konami games, including Wai Wai World, Contra: Hard Corps, and Konami Krazy Racers.

Notable Composers

• The music for the first Castlevania game was composed by Kinuyo Yamashita and Satoe Terashima^[2], of Konami Kukeiha Club of composers. Mrs. Yamashita was credited under the pseudonym James Banana on the Famicom Disk System version of the game.
• Michiru Yamane is the most well-known composer of Castlevania, having worked on Symphony of the Night, Aria of Sorrow, Lament of Innocence, Curse of Darkness Bloodlines, and a few tracks in Harmony of Dissonance and The Dracula X Chronicles.
• Kenichi Matsubara worked on Simon's Quest.
• Mikio Saito composed Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
• Sōta Fujimori is responsible for all of the arranged songs in Castlevania Chronicles.
• Taro Kudou (aka Souji Taro) and Masanori Adachi composed Super Castlevania IV's music.
• Sotaro Tojima composed Circle of the Moon.
• Yuzo Koshiro (ActRaiser) worked on Portrait of Ruin.
• Óscar Araujo composed the soundtrack for Lords of Shadow.

References

1. ^ "Who's Who in Castlevania". The Castlevania Dungeon. http://castlevaniadungeon.net/Features/whoswho.html. Retrieved 2010-01-31. 
2. ^ "The Legacy Music Hour: Episode 36: Kinuyo Yamashita". 2011-07-07. http://legacymusichour.blogspot.com/2011/07/legacy-music-hour-episode-36-kinuyo.html. 

Discographies of Castlevania

Akumajō Dracula Best Vol. 1 Castlevania: The Original Game Soundtrack Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight Official Soundtrack Castlevania Original Soundtrack Dracula Densetsu ReBirth & Contra ReBirth Original Soundtrack