Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night creator Koji Igarashi once cited The Legend of Zelda series as his biggest inspiration for designing games. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is considered to be not just one of the best Metroidvanias of its year, but of all time, having contributed half of the name of the genre, alongside Metroid. Yet Castlevania started out as a series of standard action platformers before transitioning into something new. Dracula's Castle is one of the most well-designed game worlds in the history of the medium and it can trace its roots back to Hyrule.
Castlevania and The Legend of Zelda franchises technically crossed over in the 8-bit era, in the animated show called Captain N: The Game Master. The show's cowardly version of Simon Belmont interacted with Princess Zelda in one of the episodes where the main cast visited Hyrule. In recent years, the two franchises have crossed over as part of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with Simon and Richter Belmont finally joining the roster, allowing them to battle Princess Zelda, Ganondorf, and the different versions of Link. Alucard is also present in the game, though he is relegated to being a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Assist Trophy.
The Castlevania series existed for years before the arrival of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, with titles like Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood being seen as classics in their own right. It's Castlevania: Symphony of the Night that many fans consider to be the pinnacle of the series and Koji Igarashi was one of the most prominent people involved in its development. Working on many amazing Castlevania games for Konami, before departing in 2014, Igarashi developed Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. In 2020, Igarashi discussed his surprising inspirations in an interview on the Limited Run YouTube channel.
A Link To The Past Inspired Igarashi's Design Philosophy
Igarashi revealed that the main inspiration for games like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night wasn't one of the older Castlevania titles, or one of the Metroid games. Instead, he was inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, describing it as the gold standard for the series. Having played The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past while studying at University, Igarashi realized that the appeal of the games was in exploration rather than just the action.
Koji Igarashi: When I think about the games that I've made versus what Zelda is... the focus on exploration and defining the thing that unlocks the next area... That became the focus behind the core design when making the Castlevania games and Bloodstained.
There are many people who cite The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as the best Legend of Zelda game and often overlook the older entries in the franchise. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is one of the best games on the Super Nintendo and its a master class in game design. The fact that the creator of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night still holds it in such reverence is a testament to the amazing quality of the 16-bit entry in The Legend of Zelda series.
Source: Limited Run/YouTube