Castlevania: Bloodlines, known in Japan as Vampire Killer and in Europe and Australia as Castlevania: The New Generation, is a platform game developed and published by Konami in 1994 for the Sega Genesis. The game is a gaiden to previous Castlevania series entries, set in a different era with new characters. A vampire named Elizabeth Bartley is orchestrating the beginning of World War I as a sacrificial war to bring her uncle, Dracula, back to life. Players take on the role of Quincey Morris' son, John, and his friend Eric Lecarde to take up the fight against evil.
The development team approached Bloodlines as a unique Castlevania experience tailor-made for the Genesis. In this sense, the gameplay was made more fast and action-oriented. Writer Toshiki Yamamura also took creative liberties to craft what he viewed was a new chapter in the Castlevania saga. The game was the first Castlevania title for which Michiru Yamane composed music. She used her Bach influences to compose a renowned soundtrack, leading to her becoming a recurring series composer.
Bloodlines was released to positive reviews. It was re-released as part of the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, as well as the Sega Genesis Mini.
Plot[]
In 1897, the long war between humanity and Dracula came to an end, as Dracula was laid to eternal rest by Quincy Morris, a distant descendant of the Belmont family. Peace was restored to Europe, until the outbreak of the First World War, which transformed the continent into a dark world filled with massacre and violence. At the beginning of the war, in June 1914 at Sarajevo, the Crown Prince of Austria was assassinated. It was said that a strange beautiful woman was involved, within the shadows. The woman was Elizabeth Bartley, who, in order to revive her uncle, Count Dracula, had conducted an unholy ceremony which caused the war, giving her possession of human souls from Europe.
The game itself takes place in 1917. The characters are John Morris, a distant descendant of the famed Belmont and Morris families who obeyed his fate to fight vampires day and night, and Eric Lecarde, whose girlfriend was transformed into a vampire when Elizabeth was revived. After Drolta Tzuentes resurrected Elizabeth Bartley by using black magic (Drolta is a subservient witch of Elizabeth), they traveled across Europe to conduct the resurrection of Count Dracula. John Morris and Eric Lecarde followed them. Even though the resurrection of Dracula was a success, the vampire hunters defeated him, and his allies.