This game is the sequel to Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003) and the first Castlevania game for the Nintendo DS.
The secret bonus Julius mode pays homage to Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse. The party members are Julius Belmont (descendant of Trevor Belmont), Yoko Belnades (descendant of Sypha Belnades), and Genya Arikado in his Alucard form. While there is no one that plays like Grant D'nasty in this mode, looking through the game's ROM reveals dialog that suggests Hammer was going to take his role.
The enemy "Chronomage" was inspired by the White Rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland". His description reads "Rabbit that uses a clock to stop time. Strict in regards to tardiness."
During the player's initial run of the game, the Japanese version disallows you the ability to skip cut-scenes, but you can skip cut-scenes in the international versions by pressing "Start."
One of the boss characters, Zephyr, utilizes time stopping abilities in conjunction with knives, much like Dio Brando from the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. In the Japanese version of the game he shouts "Time has stopped"(Toki yo Tomare) which is one of Dio's catchphrases.