The Devil Familiar (sometimes called Demon, Imp, Tiny Devil or Mini Devil) is a familiar in the Castlevania series. It allows the player to summon a Tiny Devil or Imp which follows them around and attacks enemies every once in a while.
Game specific information[]
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night[]
Alucard can summon a Devil Familiar with the Demon Card. The demon is rather mischievous but loyal to him and attacks with a spear. By leveling him up, he can unlock new attacks and moves, from basic slicing and dicing to elemental attacks, while also becoming more aggressive. After level 35 it will start to use a random sequence of his non-elemental attacks in a combo-like fashion. His damage on each ability has separate values but they all are amplified to 1-250% (based-off its own level) of Alucard's INT. However, its A.I. doesn't take into account enemies' resistances; as such, he is likely to use attacks than the enemy may be resistant to or can heal off to.
The Devil Familiar aids Alucard by dealing damage, dashing in and using his spear to execute his two basic attacks, with base ATT ratings of 5 (single target) and 10 (cleave swing in front), both dealing CUT-type damage. It gains a Fire-based attack at level 20 (cone shape hits 2-3 times), an Ice-based attack at level 40 (rectangular shape, hits once), and a Thunder-based attack at level 60 (rectangular shape, hits 3 times), all of which have a base ATT of 30. A multi-hit (8 hits total) attack at level 30 that deals CUT-type damage, ATT 4 (single target). At level 80, it gains another Thunder-based attack with an ATT of 45 (3 spears than travel trough terrain, apparently only hits once).
His curiosity will cause him to find and push otherwise inaccessible switches without a thought of the consequences in the Abandoned Pit to the Catacomb and the Reverse Castle's Cave. It thus speaks two lines:
- Hmmm... a switch! Why don't I press it and see?
- This switch hasn't been pressed yet.
The Japanese version of Symphony of the Night, and also The Dracula X Chronicles version, contain an alternate version of the Demon Familiar called an N Demon (鼻悪魔 Hana Akuma?, "Nose Demon"), which is essentially a demon with "funny" nose glasses (a gag which was repeated later with the Proboscis Fairy Innocent Devil in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness).
Alucard was shown to have a demon familiar (called "Imp") before and after the events of Symphony of the Night in the radio drama Castlevania: Nocturne of Recollection. It helped him defeat Magnus (and also insulted Maria Renard).
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon[]
Nathan Graves is able to summon an Imp familiar with the Saturn + Black Dog DSS cards. When it has been summoned, whenever Nathan spins the whip and then stops, the imp will send out a number of projectiles which quantity is based on how long the whip was spun.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow[]
Imp Familiar and Delicious Curry interaction.
Soma Cruz can summon an Imp familiar by gaining dominance over the Imp guardian soul. It attacks by launching itself against the enemy, dealing both Darkness and Sword (Slash) damage with its trident. Even though it has a good base damage if obtained early in the game, its poor A.I. makes it rarely attack enemies, and the Dark element makes it unreliable against most enemies.
However, the Imp familiar can be forced to move and attack enemies if the Waiter Skeleton's soul, Delicious Curry, is used, making him move to its location, dealing damage per second to all enemies while it travels and stands there. His A.I. will also become very aggressive if enemies are near the curry, which they will due the curry's attraction ability. His sprite also deals damage actively, so it can destroy projectiles, candles, and damage enemies if Soma just passes through them.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow[]
Mini Devil Familiar and Flying Guillotine interaction.
Soma Cruz can summon a Mini Devil Familiar by gaining dominance over the Mini Devil's guardian soul. It can be powered up three times:
- At Level 1, it will fire a sonic wave aimed at the nearest enemy, cursing them.
- At Level 2, it turns into a female-looking Mini Devil. Her sonic wave turns into a Heart-shaped shot, and both its fire rate and power are increased.
- At Level 3, fire rate and power are drastically increased.
The Mini Devil soul has a special synergy with the Guillotiner's soul, summoning another copy of Flying Guillotine in front of it every time Soma uses this ability.
Like the Harpy Familiar, the Mini Devil Familiar can be controlled by holding it on the touchscreen and moving it at any point on the screen so its shots may reach enemies sooner and Flying Guillotine can hit enemies properly.
Item Data[]
| Item Data: Devil Familiars | ||||||||
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| Image | Name - Game Type - Users Description |
Attributes / Consume | Statistics / Sell | Found | Notes | |||
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| Summons "Devil" familiar | Attrib: Cut (thrust/swing); Fire (flame); Ice (ice blade); Thunder (thunderbolts/thunder spears) |
ATT +5 (thrust), ATT +10 (swing), ATT +30 (flame/ice blade/thunderbolts), ATT +45 (thunder spears) |
Find: Abandoned Pit to the Catacomb |
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| Summons "N Demon" familiar | Attrib: Cut (thrust/swing); Fire (flame); Ice (ice blade); Thunder (thunderbolts/thunder spears) |
ATT +5 (thrust), ATT +10 (swing), ATT +30 (flame/ice blade/thunderbolts), ATT +45 (thunder spears) |
Find: Colosseum |
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| An imp familiar that has power up attacks when attack is held. | Attrib: Darkness Consume: 4 MP/Shot |
Create: Saturn + Black Dog |
Effect: Summons an imp that charges its attack while the attack button is held. When it is released, the imp unleashes a huge blast of energy. By jumping before attacking, Nathan can cause it to charge without having to sit still. | |||||
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| Summons "Imp", the familiar. (Summons "Imp" the spellmaster.) | Attrib: Sword, Dark Consume: 3 MP/sec |
10 ATK |
Drop: Imp |
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| Summon Mini Devil as a familiar. | Attrib: Slashing, Curse Consume: 5 MP/sec |
Rarity: ** Drop: Mini Devil |
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Gallery[]
Animations[]
Trivia[]
- The original Japanese version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and its enhanced port on The Dracula X Chronicles feature a variant of the Devil Familiar called "N Demon" (which likely stands for "Nose Demon"). It is a parody of the anime character Boyacky Butsukusa from the classic 1970s anime series Yatterman.
- The Devil Familiar and N Demon Familiar were voiced by Jōji Yanami in the Japanese version of Symphony of the Night, who was the actual voice actor for Boyacky in Yatterman.
- The Devil Familiar was voiced by Brian Beacock, while the N Demon Familiar was voiced by Kyle Hebert, in the English The Dracula X Chronicles version of Symphony of the Night.
- Due to the fact that the N Demon shared Boyacky's voice actor in the Japanese version of Symphony of the Night, the late Jōji Yanami, Kyle Hebert's casting in the English dub for The Dracula X Chronicles version is an allusion to how Yanami also served as the narrator of Dragon Ball Z up until his retirement, with Hebert narrating in the English dub as well.
See also[]
- Devil-Type (Innocent Devil)
- Tiny Devil, Imp (enemies)