Series guide
All Castlevania games in order
By Lenn Hodes · founder — every cartridge tested by hand
Castlevania is forty years old in 2026, and in Europe it is the series with the most misleading boxes: two different GBA cartridges are both just called Castlevania, the Mega Drive game has a name nobody else uses, and the story runs in a completely different order from the release order. Below are all thirty releases in order — the GBA, DS and Switch copies are the ones we stock and test — with the European names matched to the games and the cartridge notes that matter second-hand.
The short answer
The NES three (1986-1989) → Super Castlevania IV (1991) → Rondo of Blood (1993) → Symphony of the Night (1997) → the GBA three (2001-2003) → the DS three (2005-2008) → Lords of Shadow (2010-2014) → the collections (2019-2024) → Belmont’s Curse (2026). Start with Symphony of the Night or Aria of Sorrow.
Tested Castlevania games in stock
GBA and Switch copies — every cartridge play-tested on real hardware, the save checked, and listed exactly as it is.
Every Castlevania game in order
- Castlevania · 1986 · NES — Simon Belmont, the whip, the six stages up to Dracula — Europe got the cartridge in 1988, and again on GBA as NES Classics in 2004
- Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest · 1987 · NES — the open-world detour with the day-night cycle and the password system
- Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse · 1989 · NES — Trevor Belmont and three partners, branching routes — the Western cartridges lost the extra sound chip of the Japanese original
- Castlevania: The Adventure · 1989 · Game Boy — the first Game Boy game, slow and hard; Belmont’s Revenge (1991) is its better sequel
- Super Castlevania IV · 1991 · Super Nintendo — the eight-way whip and Mode 7 rooms — a retelling of the first game, and for many the best of the classic style
- Castlevania: Rondo of Blood · 1993 · PC Engine CD (Japan) — Richter Belmont; the West got the cut-down SNES Dracula X (1995) and the real thing only in 2007 on PSP and 2018 in Requiem
- Castlevania: Bloodlines · 1994 · Mega Drive — sold as Castlevania: The New Generation in Europe — the only Sega Castlevania
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night · 1997 · PlayStation, Saturn — Alucard and the inverted castle: the game that turned the series into an exploration RPG and gave “Metroidvania” its second half
- Castlevania Legends · 1997 · Game Boy — Sonia Belmont; later removed from the official timeline
- Castlevania · 1999 · Nintendo 64 — the first 3D game, expanded the same year as Legacy of Darkness — both on N64 cartridge
- Castlevania: Circle of the Moon · 2001 · Game Boy Advance — a GBA launch game, sold in Europe simply as Castlevania — the DSS card system, and a battery save
- Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance · 2002 · Game Boy Advance — brighter, easier, two castles; also a battery save
- Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow · 2003 · Game Boy Advance — Soma Cruz in 2035 and the soul system — the best of the GBA three, and it saves without a battery
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence · 2003 · PlayStation 2 — Leon Belmont in 1476, the origin of the whip — 3D again, this time it worked
- Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow · 2005 · Nintendo DS — Aria’s sequel and the first DS game, with the touch-screen seals
- Castlevania: Curse of Darkness · 2005 · PS2, Xbox — Hector the Devil Forgemaster, set after Dracula’s Curse
- Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin · 2006 · Nintendo DS — Jonathan and Charlotte swapping on the fly through painted worlds, in 1944 — the sequel to Bloodlines
- Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles · 2007 · PSP — a 2.5D remake of Rondo of Blood with the original and Symphony of the Night unlockable inside it
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia · 2008 · Nintendo DS — Shanoa and the glyphs — the hardest and last of the DS three
- Castlevania Judgment · 2008 · Wii — a 3D fighting game with the series’ cast; the one Castlevania on Wii disc
- Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth · 2009 · WiiWare — a download-only remake of the 1989 Game Boy game — gone with the Wii Shop in 2019
- Castlevania: Harmony of Despair · 2010 · Xbox 360, PS3 — six-player online co-op through the old castles — download only
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow · 2010 · PS3, Xbox 360, PC — MercurySteam’s reboot with Patrick Stewart narrating; Gabriel Belmont’s story in a new timeline
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate · 2013 · Nintendo 3DS (HD 2013) — the 2.5D middle chapter, and the only Castlevania on a 3DS cartridge
- Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 · 2014 · PS3, Xbox 360, PC — Dracula in the modern city — the end of the reboot trilogy, and the last new console game for twelve years
- Castlevania: Grimoire of Souls · 2019 · Mobile (Apple Arcade 2021) — a mobile side-scroller with the whole cast; the only new game of the 2010s after Lords of Shadow 2
- Castlevania Anniversary Collection · 2019 · Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC — eight games from the NES, SNES, Mega Drive and Game Boy — including Kid Dracula and both Game Boy games
- Castlevania Advance Collection · 2021 · Switch, PS4, Xbox One, PC — Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow and Dracula X, with rewind — on a Switch cartridge via Limited Run
- Castlevania Dominus Collection · 2024 · Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox, PC — the three DS games plus a rebuilt Haunted Castle — the first time Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia left the DS
- Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse · 2026 · PS5, Xbox Series, PC, Switch — due 15 October 2026 — a new 2D game from the Dead Cells studios Evil Empire and Motion Twin, set in medieval Paris, for the fortieth anniversary
Do you have to play them in order?
No. Almost every Castlevania is a self-contained fight with Dracula in a different century, and the story order — which starts with Lament of Innocence in 1476 and ends with Dawn of Sorrow in 2036 — has nothing to do with the release order. The only real sequels are Dawn of Sorrow after Aria of Sorrow and the three Lords of Shadow games, which are their own timeline. What the release order shows is the style: stage-based whip games until 1994, exploration castles from Symphony of the Night through the six GBA and DS games, 3D detours in between, and a long silence after 2014 that the collections and now Belmont’s Curse have ended.
Which Castlevania should you buy now?
- The essential one: Symphony of the Night — on PS1, or inside the Dracula X Chronicles and Requiem.
- On a GBA: Aria of Sorrow — the best handheld Castlevania, and it saves without a battery.
- On a DS: Order of Ecclesia if you want a challenge, Dawn of Sorrow if you want Aria’s sequel.
- Three at once: the Advance Collection on Switch — Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow and Dracula X with rewind.
- The classic style: Super Castlevania IV on SNES, or the NES Classics cartridge on GBA for the 1986 original in your pocket.
Buying Castlevania second-hand
Two European boxes just say “Castlevania”
The GBA cartridge sold in Europe as plain Castlevania is Circle of the Moon (2001). The GBA cartridge marked Classic NES Series: Castlevania (2004) is the 1986 NES game. And the Mega Drive box called Castlevania: The New Generation is Bloodlines. Our listings use the international name next to the box name, so you know which one you are buying.
Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance save on a battery — Aria does not
The first two GBA games keep their save in battery-backed memory, and a dead battery means a cartridge that forgets your game when you switch it off. Aria of Sorrow saves without one, and the NES Classics cartridge has no save at all — the 1986 game never had one, so nothing can be lost. We test the save on every GBA cartridge before it is listed and say what we found.
The DS games are region-free; the 3DS one is not
Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin and Order of Ecclesia play on any DS, DS Lite, DSi or 3DS from any region. Mirror of Fate on 3DS is region-locked, so a European 3DS needs the European cartridge. All four also exist digitally now — the three DS games in the Dominus Collection — but the cartridges are the only physical form.
A physical Advance Collection exists, but not in shops
The Advance and Anniversary Collections were released as downloads; the cartridge and disc versions came from Limited Run Games in small numbers. A boxed Switch copy is therefore a print-run item — it plays like any other cartridge, region-free, but check that the cartridge inside is the real one and not a download code in a case.
Every copy tested before it is listed
Booting, gameplay, saving, disc and label condition — checked on real hardware. We have been doing this since 2019, with 1400+ verified reviews at 5.0★, and we ship tracked to all 27 EU countries. Originals only; if something ever turns out not to be genuine, you get your money back.
Browse tested Nintendo gamesQuestions we get asked
What is the story order of the Castlevania games?
Lament of Innocence (1476) → Dracula’s Curse (1476-1479) → Curse of Darkness (1479) → Castlevania Adventure and Belmont’s Revenge (1576, 1591) → Castlevania and Simon’s Quest (1691, 1698) → Harmony of Dissonance (1748) → Rondo of Blood (1792) → Symphony of the Night (1797) → Circle of the Moon (1830, unofficial) → Order of Ecclesia (1800s) → Bloodlines (1917) → Portrait of Ruin (1944) → Aria of Sorrow (2035) → Dawn of Sorrow (2036). The Lords of Shadow trilogy is a separate timeline.
How many Castlevania games are there?
Around thirty main releases from Castlevania (1986) to Belmont’s Curse (2026), counting the handheld games, the Lords of Shadow trilogy and the three collections. With the Japan-only games, the arcade Haunted Castle, the mobile games and the pachinko-era spin-offs the total is well over forty.
Which Castlevania should I start with?
Symphony of the Night for the exploration style; Aria of Sorrow if you want that on a GBA; Super Castlevania IV for the classic stage-by-stage style. The Advance Collection gives you three of the four best handheld games at once, with rewind.
What is the newest Castlevania game?
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse, due 15 October 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch — a new 2D action game made with Evil Empire and Motion Twin, the Dead Cells studios, for the series’ fortieth anniversary. Before it, the newest release was the Dominus Collection of August 2024.
Which Castlevania games are on Nintendo cartridges?
NES: Castlevania, Simon’s Quest, Dracula’s Curse. Game Boy: The Adventure, Belmont’s Revenge, Legends. SNES: Super Castlevania IV, Dracula X. N64: Castlevania and Legacy of Darkness. GBA: Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, Aria of Sorrow, the NES Classics cartridge and the Double Pack. DS: Dawn of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia. 3DS: Mirror of Fate. Switch: the three collections in their Limited Run cartridge form, and Belmont’s Curse from October 2026.
Do you ship outside the Netherlands?
We ship to all 27 EU countries with track & trace. Parcels leave from the Netherlands, there are no customs charges within the EU, and your country’s exact rate appears at checkout before you pay.
Years given are the first release, usually in Japan; European dates were sometimes a year or more later. Onze Game Boy Advance-collectie in het Nederlands.