Long-running horror legends such as werewolves and vampires have also found their place in gaming. Perhaps the most notable is Castlevania – known in its original Japanese as Akumajo Dracula, or Devil’s Castle Dracula – which is obviously based on the legend of Count Dracula. The series, which started in 1986 and continues today, has been developed and published by Konami. The story primarily focuses on the Belmont family and their never-ending fight against Dracula himself.

In the original Castlevania game for the Nintendo Entertainment System, the player controls Simon Belmont, who travels through Count Dracula’s labyrinth of a castle to defeat the likes of the Grim Reaper and Queen Medusa before taking on the Count himself. Once he defeats Dracula, he must make his escape from the castle as it crumbles around him.

The game was an instant smash hit in Japan and was quickly ported to the U.S. Castlevania was such a success worldwide that it prompted numerous sequels and has become Konami’s single longest-running series.

Most recently, an animated series based on the series made its debut on Netflix. The Castlevania series consists of four episodes that follow Trevor Belmont, the last living member of the Belmont family, who seeks to restore his family’s reputation. Eight more episodes will be arriving in a second season sometime in 2018, which goes to show that the popularity of Castlevania has certainly endured over the last three decades.