The developers of Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse are wearing their love of fighting games on their sleeves, as eagle-eyed fans have spotted some unmistakable references to classic fighting game characters in its demo.
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse released a free demo on October 1, 2026, giving players a brief taste of what the game’s combat will look like. In this game, we take control of Rose Belmont, who navigates the ruined streets of 1500s Paris with a sword and her mother’s magical tarot cards.
If the demo is anything to go by, this game will be a treat for hardcore Metroidvania fans, as it includes a wealth of secret areas to uncover. One of these areas can be accessed in the demo, which gives you a pair of brass knuckle-style MMA gloves called Cestus. The weapon stacks on damage to enemies the more you hit them, encouraging players to go on the offensive.
After Rose finishes an attack using Cestus, she will strike a pose for a few seconds. These poses cycle seemingly at random, but they’re clearly intentional, and each boasts a unique animation. It didn’t take long for players to notice some striking similarities between these poses and the fighting stances of classic fighting game characters, of which there are a good handful.
Twitter/X user and Castlevania fan StockeTepes compiled these poses in a video, showing Rose settling into the idle poses for Ryu, Chun-Li, Oro, and Sagat, as well as Mai Shiranui and Akuma / Oni. Even Spider-Man’s iconic pose from Marvel vs Capcom 2 was included. Other fans pointed out that Rose’s air-to-air combo using Cestus mimics that of Akuma’s in-air fireball attack, Zanku Hadouken (or, in my opinion, M. Bison’s Hell Attack).
Castlevania is a franchise known for tipping its hat to fighting games; if you’ve played Symphony of the Night, you’ll know that the inputs for Alucard’s purchasable spells read exactly like the motions for special moves in a fighting game, and the gauntlet-style weapon Fist of Tulkas basically let you throw out a Hadouken. And in Portrait of Ruin, players can unlock Martial Arts moves that give you special abilities, which require special fighting game-style inputs to pull off. Konami even released a Castlevania fighting game in 2008 called Castlevania Judgment (though whether or not it’s remembered fondly is a matter of personal opinion).
I told you, Castlevania LOVES fighting games 🔥 And the tradition of calling back to them continues with Belmont’s Curse! So I made a lil edit showcasing how the Demo’s secret weapon, Cestus, homages idle poses for many of it’s iconic characters.
MUCH more coming stay tuned 😈 https://t.co/7UVd7OFSTQ
— 🖤 Stocke ❤️ (@StockeTepes) October 6, 2026
Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse officially releases on October 15. In the meantime, there’s no shortage of Castlevania games for you to play as you wait for the latest entry in the series to launch. (My personal favorites are Symphony of the Night, Super Castlevania IV, and the OG Castlevania game — but there’s literally more than 30 to choose from!)
That’s not all; the iconic soundtrack of the Castlevania franchise is getting its own live power rock-symphony in March 2026, with showings in London, Tokyo, and Los Angeles. It’s a great time to be a Castlevania fan — but a terrible night to have a curse.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
