Name: Castlevania III: Draculas Curse (NES): Stream (Extended) @castlevaniamusicforever
Uploaded: 2026-09-27T08:17:00-05:00
Duration: 8 min 17 s
Description: Castlevania III: Draculas Curse (NES): Stream (Extended)

Castlevania III: Draculas Curse (NES): Stream (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2026-09-27 | Castlevania III: Draculas Curse (NES): Stream (Extended)

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Player Out & Unknown Jingle

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-23 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: -

Thanks to RetroPup89 on the discord server for bringing this to me.

It seems I never heard this little jingle that plays after dying in the Boss Rush.
It doesn't appear in any Soundtrack list nor in the Sound Test, so I named it as "Unknown" for the moment.

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Player Out & Never End

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: -

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Lullaby Sent To The Devil (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Sent to the Devil's Requiem (Arcade)

Originally this theme was unused inside the game, and only found in the sound test.
But, in the most recent update, it was repurposed for the Boss Rush.
A very good remix!!!

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Ending - Collapse of the Castle -

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Ending - Collapse of the Devil's Castle (Arcade)

Haunted Castle - Revisited: The Final Battle (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: -

Ok, this is, in my opinion, one of the best Final Dracula forms we've have ever had in the franchise.
My jaw dropped the moment I first played this fight, as it was a massive step up compared to the original.
Now, if only the checkpoint system wasn't so generous, the battle could be considered kinda hard, but dying here simply takes you back to the beginning of this econd phase instead of the whole fight..

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Draculas Room (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: -

Jaelyn Nisperos managed to make this Final Boss theme sound good and menacing, extending the melody past the original 20 seconds!!
As i side note: was I the only one that tried to defeat this first form of Dracula by only attacking the head the first time I played the game??

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Heart of Fire (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Don't Wait Until Night (Arcade)

Am I in the minority while thinking that this remix is a little too close to the original?
It's not a bad thing, but this way it lacks the punch that the other versions that came after had.
Also RIP "Don't Wait Until Night", Heart of Fire becomes the new official name of this theme...

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Clock Tower Fear (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Basement melodies

This song has had many names during the years, but I think we can safely say that "Clock Tower Fear" is the right one, given that they use that in the Sound test of the Dominus Collection.
The remake also finally sets the enviroment of this stage to a Clock Tower (in the original wasn't really a Clock Tower other than one room featuring gears), and it looks dope!

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Basement Melodies (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-22 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Den of Worship (Arcade)

Years ago I was very harsh about this theme, but I changed my opinion the more the time passed.
Now I think it's a neat song, the remake makes it sound even better.

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Bloody Tears (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-17 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names:

THIS is my favorite version of Bloody Tears.
I love everything about it.
Stage 3 is also probably my favorite, both visually and gameplay-wise.
Everything is perfect here.

(In the OST there's also an "alternate loop" for this song, but it's just a version without the intro; please understand that I'm not going to extend that)

Haunted Castle - Revisited: No More Turning Back

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-17 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: No Return (Arcade)

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Lullaby of the Devils (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-17 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Devil's Revival (Arcade)

The second stage is still a mesh of different enviroments, but this time they actually work together and not look horrible to the eye (the og colors were to blame imo, too bright and too different to each other).
The name of the song is, yet again, confusing and is too similar to the map theme.
Why do they keep doing this...

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Lullaby Sent to the Devils (Short Version)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-17 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Sent to the Devil's Requiem (Arcade)

Like the original Castlevania, but more like Super Castlevania IV, the game features animated transitions between stages and uses this little remix of the High Score theme from the Arcade game.
Neat.

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Another Battle

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-16 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Stage Clear (Arcade)

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Demon Resurrection (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-16 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Devil's Resurrection (Arcade)

This time the boss theme sounds very good.
The bosses were also improved in every way from the original, they can actually be a challenge in harder difficulties!

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Cross Your Heart (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-15 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Crucifix Held Close/Cross on the Breast

This version is POWERFUL.
And the second added loop is also soo interesting.
This song really grew on me during the years, and has reached its peak now!

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Wedding March of Tragedy

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-15 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos; Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko (Arcade)
Original Composer: Felix Mendelssohn
Other names: Wedding March Tragedy (Arcade)

Using the Wedding March and warping it at the end to have a tragic outcome is...genius if you ask me.
Simon getting his newly wed wife stolen by Dracula is, on the other hand, super goofy way to start the game off, but I believe it makes the game feel a lot unique.

The laugh is well remade here too.

Haunted Castle - Revisited: Dracula Resurrected

Castlevania Music Forever 2025-01-15 | Arranger: Jaelyn Nisperos
Original Composers: Kenichi Matsuraba, Masahiro Ikariko
Other names: Dracula's Resurrection (Arcade)

We finally are starting with the most recent game in the franchise, a remake of Haunted Castle!!!
I was so happy when they announced the remake inside the Dominus Collection, and have since played through the game dozen of times (mostly because I speedrun the game).

The title screen jingle is super dramatic and makes you almost scared of starting this journey through Dracula's Castle (the howl playing when you press a button helps this case tremendously).

I won't be comparing the versions of the song from the original (almost every time is an overkill), but I will point out the differences on the structure of the song or other miscellaneous stuff if there are any.

Every Version of Divine Bloodlines (2024)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-28 | Join the Discord Server: discord.com/invite/uWV7qzX

0:00:00 Rondo of Blood - Overture
0:01:04 Rondo of Blood
0:02:42 Dracula X
0:04:25 Dracula X - Staff Roll
0:06:21 Symphony of the Night - Blood Relations
0:07:51 Symphony of the Night - Blood Relations (Alternate Loop)
0:11:09 Akumajou Dracula MIDI Collection
0:12:46 Akumajou Dracula MIDI Collection - Blood Relations
0:14:22 MIDI Power Pro6 - Blood Relations
0:20:30 Castlevania 64 - Intro - Sign of a Blood Relationship
0:22:17 Portrait of Ruin - Bloodlines Bequeathed
0:24:25 Portrait of Ruin - Bloodlines Bequeathed (Arranged)
0:26:32 The Dracula X Chronicles
0:28:06 The Dracula X Chronicles (Airwave Version)
0:30:09 The Arcade
0:33:43 Pachislot Akumajou Dracula
0:35:25 Harmony of Despair
0:37:11 Akumajou Dracula Tribute Vol. 1
0:41:32 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
0:43:47 Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania
0:46:53 Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania (8 bit Demake)
0:48:33 Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania - Ending
0:52:23 Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania - Ending (8 bit Demake)
0:56:09 Nocturne (Trailer Version)
0:58:43 Nocturne
1:00:27 Nocturne - Reprise
1:03:02 Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania - Bloodlines Bequeathed
1:05:09 BONUS - Rondo of Blood (Audition Tape)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Beginning (OST Exclusive Remix)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Arranger: Konami Kukeiha Club
Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: Distant Triumph Return

Here it is: the first ever Soundtrack Exclusive Remix released for the series, and it's a kickass remix of Beginning!

This track was featured on the "Akumajō Dracula Famicom Best" (which I personally own btw), a CD containing the full soundtrack for Castlevania 1, 2 and 3 (the japanese version of the tracks), the version of Bloody Tears found in Haunted Castle and this remix.

This track has been released also for the followind CDs:
-"Konami GM Hits Factory II" on October 21st 1993 by King Record Co., Ltd;
-"Dracula ~Music Collection~" on March 10th 1997 by Konami Co., Ltd;
-"Castlevania 20th Anniversary Deluxe Music Collection" on November 28th 2006 by Konami Digital Entertainment.

The art featured in the video is a commission from Logalpix (https://x.com/logalpix) (instagram.com/logalpix) who I'll forever thank for his amazing work!

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Life Lost & Game Over

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

NES Comparison: more sound channels = good

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Flashback

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

The best credits theme in thsi early era of Castlevania, by far!
Here are the names of thw wonderful people who contributed to create this game (you can find these names in the staff roll if you finish the game on hard mode).
-Programmer:
H. Akamatsu
M. Takemoto
Y. Okuda
S. Kitamoto

-Character:
I. Urata
T. Fujimoto
N. Togakushi
K. Ogawa

-Sound:
H. Maezawa
J. Funahashi
Y. Morimoto

-Planner:
I. Urata

-Director:
H. Akamatsu

NES Comparison: more sound channels = good

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Evergreen

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Like for the NES version, I'll write up all the Ending scenes in the description (note that the translation is not done by me, instead I'm copying the one used in the english patch for the game by ViceTranslations on Romhacking.net)

Ralph Belmond (Trevor C. Belmont):
"After such a great
sacrifice, the
battle was won.

Dracula defeated,
the evil called to
the land
vanisehd...

With no one
to share the
joy of
victory,
Ralph watches
as the castle
collapses and
prays for
those he met...

And so, the
Belmond
family name
became legend..."

Grant Danusty (Grant Danasty):
*same two paragraphs*
"...Helping each
other, the
two achieved victory.

With peace
restored,
Grant rebuilt
his village.

Ralph, having
won, left.

And so, the
Belmond
family name
became legend..."

Sypha Velnumdes (Sypha Belnades):
*same two paragraphs*
"... Because of
her calling,
Sypha hid her
true form.
But after
meeting Ralph,
she felt peace
inside, and
so did he...

The had
fallen in love.

And so, the
Belmond
family name
became legend..."

"Alucard" Adrian F. tepes:
*same two paragraphs*
"...Both Ralph and
Alucard won
the battle.

Although he had
been raised to
be evil, Alucard
had killed
his own father.
He stands in
shock, as Ralph
thinks of
his future...

And so, the
Belmond
family name
became legend..."

NES Comparison: more sound channels = good (but NES is still good)

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): All Clear

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Final Battle (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Dracula's third phase is a lot easier here than on the NES because the lasers are smaller, but even then it's not a cake walk if you don't have much health left from the first two phases.
Fun fact about Dracula's sprite: the tip of it's left wing has a bugged tile (making it seem tilted to the front); this was corrected in the International release.

NES Comparison: sped up Big Battle with more sound = better

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Big Battle (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-19 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

BIG BATTLE.

NES Comparison: the Famicom version plays the part right after the intro in a slightly higher key compared to the NES one (credits to TheCuttingRoomFloor - tcrf.net/Castlevania_III:_Dracula%27s_Curse/Regional_Differences#Music)
This little fun fact puts the japanese version a little bit higher than the international release.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Overture (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-18 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Picture this:
You finish the second part of block A;
The infamous stair appears, along with a raging storm on the horizon and the machinegun-wielding moon;
Overture starts playing.
This song knows how to prepare someone for the final battle.

NES Comparison: no comparison to really make here, the Famicom version has no competition.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Pressure (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-18 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Listening to this for 15 minutes is an experience I would not recommend to anyone (still salty about the missed opportunity to have another song from the end game play in the last block btw).

NES Comparison: the international release features a different BPM and makes the song play faster.
I don't see it as a + or -, but it's a neat fun fact nonetheless.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Riddle (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-15 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Riddle is the final stage BGM in my heart and no one will take it from me.
Instead of this, though, it is used in the most rage inducing set of stages of the entire game (every annoying gimmick is here except for the falling blocks, thank god for it).

NES Comparison: this is the most complete version between the two, melody wise and in actual song lenght, there's really no comparison to be made.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Deja Vu (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-15 | Composer: Satoe Terashima
Arrangers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: Vampire Killer

The composers of Castlevania 3 managed to elevate the original song by Satoe Terashima even more than the version in CV1, props to them!

NES Comparison: sadly for the NES believers, this version is too good compared to the international one.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Aquarius (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-15 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

This is a top 10 theme in the franchise, there's no discussion there.
But can we talk about the gourgeous backgrounds sported by the Sunken City and the Castle Courtyard???
In my honest opinion, these stages are really the best this game has to offer.

NES Comparison: It was hard for the american version to reach the peak of this verion, but they tried for sure.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Demon Seed (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-14 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Chill with the skeletons, mermen and moving platform to this masterpiece of a song.

NES Comparison: the waves in this version elevate the song even more than what it becomes on the NES.
Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Nightmare (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-14 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

The most daunting, creepy and atmospheric song in the game without a single doubt.

NES Comparison: the extra waves transform a very good song into a fantastic one!

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Dead Beat (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-14 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Maybe this is the shortest and easiest block in the game, but Dead Beat surely doesn't go easy on you.
Love this song! (Not so much the Giant Toads)

NES Comparison: Like for the previous theme, Dead Beat works great on both sound systems, so it's a tie again!

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Stream (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

A nice short level with a neat short song going along with it, you couldn't ask for a better compromise.

NES Comparison: both versions of this song are good in their way, I couldn't pick a winner.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Rising (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

This game knows how to make a simple action like going up the stairs frustrating, but the music makes up for the struggle.

NES Comparison: One outlier in this soundtrack is Rising, where I think the extra channels add too much to the melody and make me like the NES version more.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Anxiety (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Anxiety is indeed the word that comes to my mind when I think about playing these stages, whether I'm talking about the tilting platforms on the ghost ship or the stairs made out of falling blocks in the mines.
Once I considered this theme one of the worsts of the game, but it grew on me during the years and now I enjoy it a lot.

NES Comparison: both versions convey the spookiness of thei areas, this one can convey it better through the VRC6.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Mad Forest (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

My favorite song in the game: it was number 1 in the NES soundtrack, it is the GOAT on the Famicom!
Enjoy 15 minutes of pure peak!!!

NES Comparison: both versions are very good, but the extra channles, as always, are the dealbreaker here.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Encounter (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Starting from Castlevania 3, the series began adding small dialogues during the gameplay to give the player some more immersion beyond the story written in the instruction manual or the animated title demo screen.
"Encounter" plays in the background of these moments and I think captures the mysterious feeling that all three companions share quite well, even for a 13 seconds loop song.
Compared to the international versions, I believe the characters say a little more things in japanese, but given that I don't know the language that much yet and cannot translate the majority of the words here, I'm not 100% sure about it.

NES Comparison: more channels = good

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Clockwork (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-13 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

*(Description taken from the NES video)*
A Clocktower this early into the game?? An odd choice, but a welcome one in CV3 especially, where the damage of enemies scales with the block counter, and having to move through Medusa Heads that could kill you in 4 hits would not be fun....am I right Hard Mode???????
A nice track nonetheless. The descent of the tower makes me appreciate it more than when ascending.

NES Comparison: no competition, this one wins.

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Destiny (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-12 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Choose your path...
Will you go to the Clocktower? Or to the forest?
Would you prefere to traverse the swamps, or to rescue a fellow Vampire Hunter?
And what about the Sunken City? Would you pay a visit to it, or stick to climbing the mountain?
The choice is yours...

NES Comparison: more sound channels = good

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Stage Clear

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-11 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

NES Comparison: more sound channels = good

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Boss Battle (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-11 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Everything I've said for the NES version still applies here: I can tollerate this song and find the boss varying a lot in difficulty a good thing (just never try solo-ing the Doppelgänger with Alucard, it still feels like the hardest thing to do in the world)

NES Comparison: For the first time I'm going to give it to the simplier melody of the NES, but they are not that far from each other!

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Beginning (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-11 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

The definitive Famicom theme for Castlevania, in my opinion, is this song.
It's so iconic and always fun to listen to, nobody can't tell me otherwise.

This version specifically was used in all three Akumajou Dracula Pachislot games (I believe it has a chance to play in a specific section of the "gameplay" together with the original Vampire Killer and Bloody Tears, but I've not found footage of it yet) and in the menu of the Anniversary Collection.
All other versions in franchise up to 2020 can be found in this video instead:
youtu.be/HPpiDfYhO4M

NES Comparison: This is the ultimate form of Beginning, it stomps the NES version so hard...

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Prayer

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Epitaph (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-11 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

"Epitaph" plays in the Name select and Password input screens, and what a fitting name: like someone wrote under the NES version, this looks like you're writing your own epitaph (for those who don't know, it's an inscription wrote on a tomb in memory of the defunct) before playing the game, a cool but also kinda grim fact to think about.
Oh and if you're wondering, yes, all passwords and names shown in the video (except for CMF) work in-game, try them yourself!

NES Comparison: This version sounds way richier than the international one, I like it more (the demonic laugh also sounds more in tune with this version than the other, but maybe it's just me).

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

Akumajō Densetsu (Famicom): Prelude

Castlevania Music Forever 2024-11-10 | Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

Castlevania III is the first game in the series to have a true narrated introduction to it (CV2 technically has one too, but it's just flat text going back and forth with the title screen), and Prelude is its theme.
The story is divided in two segments not only by the text itself, but also by the music, which follows the parts along:
-At first, the narration covers the legend of Dracula, and the evil he brought to Wallachia, with the theme being slow and kinda mysterious;
-When the Belmont name is shown though, the song takes a turn and acquires an epic feel and becomes more cheerful.
At least, that's how I see "Prelude", which I think it's a great first song for this soundtrack (Description copied from the CV3 vers.).

NES Comparison: This version sounds way richier than the international one, I like it more (Disclaimer: you will see comments like this almost throughout the whole playlist).
Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)

CMF Community Popularity Contest #2

Castlevania Music Forever 2022-03-17 | Join the Discord Server: discord.com/invite/uWV7qzX

Notes:
-* means that 1 vote was added due to a tie
-** means that the votes that accounted the 2 N64 games were split (this will change in Contest #3)
-Because of how broken the Google Sheets' graphs are, some names aren't displayed properly (more specifically, the second "Thrashard in the Cave" in Akumajō Dracula for the Sharp is the SC-55 version, and "Divine Bloodlines" in DXC is actually the Air Wave Version)
-The graph for LoS 2 is correct, but the note shows wrongly 45 votes instead of 46

Legend of the graphs:
2.3/2.2% = 1 vote
4.5/4.4% = 2 votes
6.8/6.7% = 3 votes
9.1/8.9% = 4 votes
11.4/11.1% = 5 votes
(Add 2.2~ for each subsequent vote)

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:54 Castlevania (NES)
0:02:05 Haunted Castle
0:03:16 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
0:04:26 Castlevania: The Adventure
0:05:47 Akumajō Densetsu
0:07:22 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
0:08:56 Castlevania 2: Belmont's Revenge
0:12:01 Super Castlevania IV
0:15:24 Akumajō Dracula (Sharp X68000)
0:18:36 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
0:21:18 Castlevania: Bloodlines
0:23:49 Castlevania: Dracula X
0:25:59 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
0:30:28 Castlevania: Legends
0:32:23 Castlevania (N64)/Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
0:34:29 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
0:36:45 Castlevania: Chronicles
0:41:02 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
0:44:38 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
0:47:20 Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
0:51:23 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
0:55:46 Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
1:01:12 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
1:03:43 Castlevania: Order of Shadows
1:04:51 Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
1:08:04 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
1:11:04 Castlevania: Judgment
1:14:18 Castlevania: The Arcade
1:17:31 Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
1:19:26 Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
1:26:34 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
1:29:21 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
1:32:38 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
1:36:12 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
1:41:22 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
1:43:47 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
1:46:41 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

CMF Community Popularity Contest #1

Castlevania Music Forever 2021-12-28 | Join the Discord Server: discord.com/invite/uWV7qzX

Legend of the graphs:
2.8% = 1 vote
5.6% = 2 votes
8.3% = 3 votes
11.1% = 4 votes
(Add 2.8~ for each subsequent vote)

Timestamps:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:18 Castlevania (NES)
0:02:20 Haunted Castle
0:03:45 Castlevania II: Simon's Quest
0:04:55 Castlevania: The Adventure
0:06:53 Akumajō Densetsu
0:08:20 Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse
0:10:06 Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
0:13:17 Super Castlevania IV
0:16:30 Akumajō Dracula (Sharp X68000)
0:21:10 Castlevania: Rondo of Blood
0:24:10 Castlevania: Bloodlines
0:26:09 Castlevania: Dracula X
0:29:18 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
0:36:52 Castlevania: Legends
0:38:18 Castlevania (N64)
0:40:06 Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness
0:43:33 Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
0:46:09 Castlevania: Chronicles
0:49:31 Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
0:51:53 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
0:56:54 Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
1:02:24 Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
1:05:16 Castlevania: Curse of Darkness
1:10:51 Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin
1:15:47 Castlevania: Order of Shadows
1:17:50 Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles
1:20:35 Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
1:23:01 Castlevania: Judgment
1:26:31 Castlevania: The Arcade
1:30:34 Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
1:32:48 Castlevania: Harmony of Despair
1:37:28 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow
1:42:51 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate
1:44:34 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
1:47:58 Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
1:52:26 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon
1:54:46 Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
2:00:34 Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2

Castlevania III: Draculas Curse (NES): Clockwork (Extended)

Castlevania Music Forever 2021-07-20 | Join the Discord Server: discord.com/invite/uWV7qzX

Composers: Yoshinori Sasaki, Jun Funahashi, Yukie Morimoto, Hidenori Maezawa
Other Names: -

A Clocktower this early into the game?? An odd choice, but a welcome one in CV3 especially, where the damage of enemies scales with the block counter, and having to move through Medusa Heads that could kill you in 4 hits would not be fun....am I right Hard Mode???????
A nice track nonetheless. The descent of the tower makes me appreciate it more than when ascending.

Some versions of this song exist in CotM and Judgment, so I had to make a video for it: youtu.be/Tm27NO62M8I

FC Comparison: sadly, no competition this time: Famicom rules!

Game Footage Recorded on Retroarch 1.9.4 (FCEUmm)