A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes terror and fear, often in humans. Monsters usually resemble bizarre, deformed, otherworldly and/or mutated animals or entirely unique creatures of varying sizes, but may also take a human form, such as mutants, ghosts, spirits, zombies, or cannibals, among other things. They may or may not have supernatural powers, but are usually capable of killing or causing some form of destruction, threatening the social or moral order of the human world in the process.
Castlevania, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise about Dracula, created and developed by Konami. It has been released on various platforms, from early systems to modern consoles, as well as handheld devices such as mobile phones. The franchise has expanded into several spin-off video games and other media, including comic books and an animated television series.
Van Helsing is a 2004 action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Van Helsing and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. Van Helsing is both an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s, of which Sommers is a fan.
Professor Abraham Van Helsing is a fictional character from the 1897 gothic horror novel Dracula written by Bram Stoker. Van Helsing is a Dutch polymath doctor with a wide range of interests and accomplishments, partly attested by the string of letters that follows his name: "MD, D.Ph., D.Litt., etc.", indicating a wealth of experience, education and expertise. He is a doctor, professor, lawyer, philosopher, scientist, and metaphysician. The character is best known through many adaptations of the story as a vampire slayer, monster hunter and the arch-nemesis of Count Dracula, and the prototypical and the archetypical parapsychologist in subsequent works of paranormal fiction. Some later works tell new stories about Van Helsing, while others, such as Dracula (2020) and I Woke Up a Vampire (2023) have characters that are his descendants.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2003 action role-playing game developed and published by Konami. It is the third Castlevania game for the Game Boy Advance. Producer Koji Igarashi, who had led the production teams for previous Castlevania games, led Aria of Sorrow's development as well. Michiru Yamane returned to compose the music alongside Takashi Yoshida and Soshiro Hokkai. Director Junichi Murakami was new to the Castlevania series.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, titled Castlevania in PAL regions, is a 2001 action role-playing game created by Konami for the Game Boy Advance. Published as a launch title in 2001, Circle of the Moon is part of Konami's Castlevania video game series, the premise of which centers on the eternal conflict between the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan and the vampire Dracula. The game sold one million copies worldwide and was acclaimed by critics. The events of its plot were retconned by former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi, a move which was met with some criticism.
Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is a 2002 action role-playing game developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo and published by Konami for the Game Boy Advance. Part of Konami's Castlevania video game series, it is the second installment of the series on the Game Boy Advance. It was released in Japan in June 2002, in North America in September 2002, and in Europe in October 2002.
Castlevania, also referred to as Castlevania 64, is a 1999 action-adventure video game developed by Konami's Kobe branch for the Nintendo 64. An expanded version of the game, Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness, was released later in the same year.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is a 1993 video game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES, Game Boy, Master System, Sega CD, Game Gear, MS-DOS, and Amiga. It is based on the 1992 film Bram Stoker's Dracula which in turn is based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Most versions are platform games. The Sega CD and Amiga releases are beat 'em ups, and the MS-DOS version is a first-person shooter. The Amiga version was released in 1994 for North America and Europe. A CD-ROM version for MS-DOS compatible operating systems was released in 1995.
Vampires are frequently represented in popular culture across various forms of media, including appearances in ballet, films, literature, music, opera, theatre, paintings, and video games.
Mega Man Xtreme is a 2000 video game developed by Capcom for the Game Boy Color handheld console. It is a spin-off title in the Mega Man X series of video games that originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Mega Man Xtreme takes place within the series timeline during the 22nd century, in which a group of "Maverick" androids called the "Shadow Hunters" hack into the world's "Mother Computer" system, destabilize all of the networks, and allow other Mavericks to cause rampant destruction all over the world. The heroic "Maverick Hunter" X is tasked with going into cyberspace to relive his past missions and put a stop to the group's plans.
Van Helsing is an action-adventure video game for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Game Boy Advance, which is based on the 2004 action horror film of the same name by Stephen Sommers. Hugh Jackman and Richard Roxburgh reprise their roles from the film. The game is one of the few games on Playstation 2 that can run in 480p.
The character of Count Dracula from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, has remained popular over the years, and many forms of media have adopted the character in various forms. In their book Dracula in Visual Media, authors John Edgar Browning and Caroline Joan S. Picart declared that no other horror character or vampire has been emulated more times than Count Dracula. Most variations of Dracula across film, comics, television and documentaries predominantly explore the character of Dracula as he was first portrayed in film, with only a few adapting Stoker's original narrative more closely. These including borrowing the look of Count Dracula in both the Universal's series of Dracula and Hammer's series of Dracula, including include the characters clothing, mannerisms, physical features hair style and his motivations such as wanting to be in a home away from Europe.
Castlevania, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula, is a platform game developed and published by Konami for the Family Computer Disk System video game console in Japan in September 1986. It was ported to cartridge format and released in North America for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in May 1987 and in Europe in 1988. It was also re-issued for the Family Computer in cartridge format in 1993. It is the first game in Konami's Castlevania video game series.
Vampire Season - Monster Defense is a tower defense/strategy video game produced by Colombian studio Brainz. It was released on June 28, 2012 for iOS devices.
Jiangshi fiction, or goeng-si fiction in Cantonese, is a literary and cinematic genre of horror based on the jiangshi of Chinese folklore, a reanimated corpse controlled by Taoist priests that resembles the zombies and vampires of Western fiction. The genre first appeared in the literature of the Qing dynasty and the jiangshi film is a staple of the modern Hong Kong film industry. Hong Kong jiangshi films like Mr. Vampire and Encounters of the Spooky Kind follow a formula of mixing horror with comedy and kung fu.
Keep The Balance is a video game published by JoWooD Productions and developed by Item Multimedia for Windows in 2000 and Karma Studios for the Game Boy Color in 2001. The game is a puzzle game requiring players to balance objects on a pair of scales.
Pocket Music is a 2002 video game developed by Jester Interactive and published by Rage Games for the Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance. The game is a handheld adaptation of the Music series of games released by the developer, and allows players to create tracks of music from pre-recorded samples using a grid-based interface.
Thunderbirds is a 2000 action game for the Game Boy Color developed by Pukka Games and published by SCi Games, licensed from the Thunderbirds franchise, released in 2001 for the Game Boy Advance as Thunderbirds: International Rescue. The game is not to be confused with the 2004 Game Boy Advance title of the same name.
