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.

Source link