Sentient musclebound beard Adam Fernandez, Magical Drop champion and rental store regular, made a splash in the first half of the Classicvania Challenge with 1CCs of Castlevania 1 and Haunted Castle Revisited.

In 2022, Altaz Fernandez achieved a deathless run of Castlevania: Bloodlines using John. In 2023, he pulled off a deathless run of CV1. In 2024, combined these two feats and added two playthroughs of Rondo of Blood, which he loved, with Richter and Maria. Whether he will have the time in his busy schedule to upgrade said runs to 1CCs or golds remains to be seen.

Known power gamer and Castlevania expert G Aulin has made a triumphant return in 2024 with hard mode runs in Haunted Castle Rebirth and Bloodlines, version M of Haunted Castle, and hard mode with classic controls in Rebirth. No one tell him you don't get extra points for hard mode.

Ultimate Dizzy and DROD gamer BillBull once again showed off his preternatural ability to play Grant Danusty in the US version of Castlevania 3 this year. What's more, he took the much more difficult lower path, breaking Alucard's heart on the path the victory.

Of the many sins that weigh heavy on the back of challenge impresario Dot Level is the fact that she infected Liz Lastname with the loathsome Speedrun Virus. Liz walked away from the 2023 challenge with a 1CC of Castlevania 1, and in the intervening year, they became a Castlevania 1 speedrunner. They kicked off their run in the 2024 challenge with their first-ever sub-13 time, upgrading their silver stamp from last year to a gold. They hope to cap off the challenge with at least one more silver stamp this year.

Little bunny Cala had never beaten a single Classicvania game before 2023's challenge, and look at him now! By week 2, he had already completed two deathless runs (CV1 and Rondo).

There's more to newly-christened vampire hunter and Floigan veteran Crungo Belnades than style; he's got plenty of video game chops, too. He followed up a 1CC of the first Castlevania with a 1CC of the brand new Haunted Castle Revisited and a first-time playthrough of Rondo of Blood using Richter Belmont.

D00bius Danusty was wise enough to skip Castlevania: The Adventure and Castlevania Legends last year. Unfortunately, he has resolved to fill out the card this year, meaning he had to beat those games this time around. Dot will one day pay the piper for making so many people play Castlevania Legends.

Indie game developer and cat lover Deep Lastname had zero Classicvania experience before the 2023 challenge and by the end of it had beaten the lion's share of the games. This year, he hopes to at least 1CC Castlevania 1.

Eden Renard, whose name is emphatically not short for "computer," completed a deathless run of CV1 and walked away with the coveted moniker of Belmont. This year, they managed a 1CC of the game as well as a red stamp run of the very difficult Sharp X68000 remake. As their next target is Haunted Castle, we should all endeavor to give them our energy as the planet gave Gokou its energy during his showdown with the dastardly Freeza.

Eltrioch Morris put on a show last year with seven deathless runs. This year, failed gambling company Konami came crawling back with an 11th-hour remake of Haunted Castle, a game all of four people liked in its original form. So Eltrioch had to let 'em know and opened up his 2024 run with a deathless clear of the game. Take that.

Greffery Lastname's card might look similar to his 2023 card, but do not be fooled; his gold run of Belmont's Revenge was damageless, which is in fact a feat he's achieved twice. The first such run also used no subweapons at all. We wish him luck on his Castlevania 1 endeavors.

Though she has vowed to threepeat her funny feat of the Castlevania Legends deathless run, Hannah has achieved a deathless run of Castlevania 1 for the very first time. It must feel strange to play a real video game for once.

Having overcome the most daunting boss in all of video gaming -- tracking down capture cards that are compatible with 40-year-old consoles -- Becter Belmont has his sights set on a deathless run of Castlevania 1, which features the most dangerous Dracula fight in the series. Said goal now in the rear-view mirror, the world is Becter's oyster.

I was going to write a bio for Hoborg Fernandez, but I got so distracted by A) the fact that his one deathless run was of the agonizing The Castlevania Adventure and B) his avatar was from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I love Galactic Heroes so much and am torn between whether to congratulate Hoborg on his deathless run of a Sisyphean nightmare game or his taste in ancient anime.

I met a traveller from an antique land, Who said--"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert....Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these cards, The vampire that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name is Lavender, Queen of Queens; Look upon my Works, ye Undead, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Bomberman champion, Blanka expert and endlessly persecuted Donkey Kong 64 connoisseur Lively Schneider has finally dipped his toes into the Castlevania waters with a 1CC of the first game. He intends to aim for a deathless run, and where the wind blows from that point, only the champion himself can say.

Meadow began their 2024 Classicvania run with the most nerve-wracking bat bridge seen in quite some time -- one which hinged upon a likely frame-perfect jump that they hit like it was nothing. They also repeated their deathless Rondo feat, using Maria again this year.

Missa Danusty opened her 2024 season with another deathless run of the first Castlevania, this time with a twist -- the Axe was the only subweapon she used! According to her, it's actually not that bad, either. Her sights are now set on 3, 4, and Rebirth hard classic. I feel guilty that more than one person is attempting hard classic. That's on me.

Last year, Neo earned a silver stamp on Castlevania 1 and red stamps on Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, Bloodlines, Rondo, Haunted Castle and Legends. This year, they've upgraded Adventure (why do you guys keep doing this to yourselves?), Revenge and Bloodlines to 1CCs and added a red stamp run of 4. Let us wish them luck in pulling off a 1CC of Legends and completing Chronicles.

After encouraging Dot to rebalance the cards to better reward players for achieving 1CCs in 2024, Radd Aulin went on to render this balance change completely pointless by beating a bazillion of the Classicvania games deathless. While he was no slouch last year, he is on track to become the most improved player between 2023 and 2024.

Did you know it's possible to beat Castlevania 1 without using your whip a single time? Roto knows. If you missed the run and you have no idea how this could be possible, please tune in to the Classicvania wrap-up marathon this Halloween. For the remainder of the challenge, they will be focusing on the scant few Classicvania games they haven't already beaten the tar out of.

Just last year, cunning nyafiosa Sara was a Classicvania neophyte, having beaten only Rondo and Dracula X Chronicles legit. In October of 2023, she went on a tear, beating every game on the Classicvania list -- even the US Castlevania 3, which was counted as a separate game until the release of Haunted Castle Revisited. This year, she's focusing on quality over quantity, having upgraded her Rondo run to a 1CC and achieved a deathless run of the newest game in the series.

Better known for their Makaimura skill, Devil Dumper Danny is no slouch when it comes to Castlevania; they achieved their deathless runs of Vs. Castlevania, Haunted Castle and Haunted Castle Revisited in a single stream. They hope to follow up this feat with 1CCs in Rondo and Bloodlines.

Though no one in their right mind would doubt Sarzac's ability to fill out a card with nothing but gold stamps, the ever-wise necromancer is content to "only" fill out the card, sprinkling in a few 1CCs. If only he'd had the foresight to pick up all of these carts in his legendary tenure at forgotten retail titan FunCoLand.

16 days into the 2024 challenge, Speedy had already dramatically improved his card over 2023, upgrading his runs of CV1 and Akumajou Densetsu (this one allegedly "accidentally") from silver to gold. Tremendous improvement on an already-impressive Classicvania lineup.

Last year, Taveshi beat their very first Classicvania game -- Castlevania Bloodlines using Eric Lecarde. The wheel granted them the name Morris, so this year, they returned to the game and repeated their feat using John Morris. I doubt that's why they picked John, but I've been basically making up lies about everyone in their bios, so that's on me. They also added red stamp runs of Castlevanias 1 and 3 in the first half of the 2024 challenge, so they're one red stamp away from the Wooden Stake rank. In a freakish stroke of luck, the wheel granted them the name Lecarde this year -- the same name as the vampire hunter they piloted to victory in 2023.

2023 gold carder Kenster Schneider has wisely decided that, rather than duplicate his 2023 feat, he will recline on the beach with a martini glass with a little umbrella in it in the manner of beloved mascot, merchandise maven, Halloween special star and fat cat Garfield. That doesn't mean he's slipping, though; he already knocked out a few deathless runs and 1CCs in the first half of the 2024 challenge.

You might think TL Lastname is new to the Castlevania series, but you'd be sorely mistaken. He is, in fact, the world record holder for Castlevania: Resurrection. What's that, you ask? Why, it's the unreleased Dreamcast game that recently got leaked! He got on the board with a red stamp run of the first Castlevania, but his next goal is to perform an "all maidens" run of Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP.

Retro indie gamer Voxandra Tepes amazed her adoring public last year by completing Castlevanias 1, 3, and Rondo with a IIDX controller. This year, she's moved on to normal person controllers, and as a result, upgraded her 1 and 3 stamps to gold. Her gold run of 3 came as such a surprise that she forgot to record it locally, in fact. That's just how life is for gamers.