Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Title - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Platform - PSX, PSP (Unlocked in Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles), PSN DL ($9.99), Sega Saturn

ESRB Rating - T

Genre - JRPG, Action RPG, Hack'n'Slash, Side-Scroller

Personal Rating - 9/10

It's time I summed up all of my feelings about this gem of the 90's. SotN is one of the most addicting games I've ever played, proof being that I have played through the PSP version at least 5 times, and the PSN DL version at least twice. SotN is the turning point of how Castlevania would be played from then on, making inspiration for most of the portable Castlevania's in terms of gameplay. SotN created the term "Metroidvania", which is a Metroid style map system, power up system, and epic boss fights. SotN is also the first Castlevania to feature voice acting, and it also features a very interesting protagonist.


(Artwork by Ayami Kojima)

Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, or Alucard, is the son of the dark lord Dracula, who is the ruler of the evil-infested Castlevania. Alucard sets on a solo mission to destroy his father's castle and remove him the world. Alucard also happens to find out what happened to the previous man to destroy Dracula and mysteriously disappear, Richter Belmont. Alucard is a very powerful half-vampire, wielding his trusty heirloom, the Alucard Sword, which was given to him by his mother Lisa, who was burned at the stake by her village when they discovered she had been charmed by Dracula and given birth to Alucard. Alucard has every ability his father wields, including but not limited to teleportation, regeneration through blood, and transformation into different forms and he uses these abilities to destroy his father.

Alucard is virtually limitless by the end of the game, being able to access every nook and cranny in the entire game, and wielding so much power, that the final boss WILL go down in only a few hits. That is, IF you do everything right to get to the final boss. That's right, SotN is one of those games that are pretty damn cryptic on how exactly you beat the game, but I find that stuff fun. SotN's Metroid style map system leads easily to the player becoming...lost. But, once you've played enough of the game, you'll have the map memorized...and then the game throws you upside down...literally. If you do everything correctly, you will find yourself in a literal upside down version of the castle, filled with much stronger enemies and much more epic boss fights, but not without priceless rewards. And once you've cleared the game, you can play through once again, but with Richter Belmont. In the PSP and Sega Saturn versions, you can play Maria as well.


To activate Richter mode, type RICHTER in the name entry screen after clearing the game once.
Watch for Richter Mode Speedrun

Richter mode is a very fun thing to try out. Not only is it played like a traditional Castlevania, but Richter comes with some sweet moves. Certain button inputs can make Richter uppercut, tackle, or slide kick. Richter is known as the strongest Belmont, and his martial arts seem to prove it (disagree, but it's still fun). Richter also, as a Belmont, comes with the Vampire Killer whip, and his weapon improves every time you pick up a Heart upgrade, and his health increases when you pick up a Health upgrade. Richter mode is definitely something to try out after beating the game, if you're a traditional Castlevania player, or just looking for the same game but in a different way.


To play in Maria mode, type MARIA in the name entry screen.
Click for Maria gameplay footage.

Other things you can do after clearing the game once is playing as Maria Renard, the little girl who helped out Richter in Rondo of Blood. Maria functions much like she did in RoB, except like Richter, she has some new abilities and a new design that is spectacularly beautiful. Maria uses animals as her weapons, her default being throwing an owl in front of her, and all of her subweapons are boss-crushers, or in Layman terms, broken. Her presence in SotN is crucial, since she opens up the path to the inverted castle, as well as giving you the assistance to save Richter. Her drive for invading Castlevania is to save Richter, and along the way she meets Alucard, and decides to help him out when she realizes that he is not evil. She is a very interesting character to use, and also turns out to be a miniboss at one point in the game.

Other various after-game perks are the Duplicator accessory (available in the shop for 500,000 Gold), which sets USE items to infinite, the AXELORD entry name (try it out, it's amusing), and luck mode.

The last perk for beating the game in terms of replay value, is Luck Mode. Luck Mode is essentially SotN's Hard mode, but with a silver lining of its own. Luck Mode reduces all of your stats and stat increases are smaller when levelling up, and starts you off with the Lapis Lazuli accessory, which grants about 30 Luck, which will cause items to drop more frequently and yields a lot more critical hits. The main reason to play Luck Mode is to beat the game with restrictions. Other than that, there really isn't much reason to do it, but if you have fun making a little challenge for yourself, then I highly recommend trying it out.

The last thing I'd like to bring up is the music. SotN has probably my favorite soundtrack of any game on the PSX. Every piece of music fits the situation or location perfectly, and I have to say that there is not one song on SotN that I don't like. My favorites are I Am The Wind, Lost Painting and Black Banquet. I Am The Wind is the ending song that plays during the credits, and is one of two songs that actually have lyrics. It is my reward for beating the final boss and I am slightly upset that it is not on the PSP version, because it's beautiful and could put me in a deep sleep. Lost Painting is an example of why the PSX has my favorite sound system, because this theme is serene, calming, and absolutely beautiful. The mood Lost Painting puts me in could only be described as true relaxation, because I could be in the middle of a 3 force hurricane and I wouldn't give a damn if this theme was playing in my head. Black Banquet is the final boss theme, and without giving away any spoilers, it is epic, terrifying and absolutely tense. It reminds you of what is at stake if you fail, and gives you the drive to beat the game and save the world.

These are all only a fraction of what SotN contains. It is a game worth playing and I highly recommend you play it at least once in your life. It's a game I'll remember forever. I have to point out that the main reason my personal rating is only 9 out of 10 is the voice acting in all the English versions. It is absolutely laughable in the PSX version, and much improved in the PSP version, but not really spectacular. That's my only beef with this game as I can find nothing else to dislike about it.

So if you have a PS3 (360 possibly), download this game and have fun. I promise you'll either love it, or hate it.

I agree that Alucard is by no means a limited character in SotN, but the game isn't so much a cakewalk when you activate luck mode without abusing the Lapis Lazuli. lol The Metroidvania style really appeals to me since I'm a sucker for the classic Metroid games for one, but the ability to have that big a range with a balanced level up system and an infinite list of possibilties with the equipment made this game a real experience to play. Playing in luck mode decreases your stats exponentially, but you get the Lapis Lazuli which grants a ton of luck.

As for Maria, you can't use her in the US version of the PSN download, since it's the PSX version, and only Richter was playable in that one. The Sega Saturn version had Maria, and the PSP version has pretty much everything except for the items that were on the Sega Saturn. Maria's still playable in the PSP version, but like Richter, you have to beat the game first.

True. The control of the older games were the main reason the game was so difficult. Proof of this is the original game's map appears as DLC in Harmony of Despair, and all of the characters have NO problem moving around and doding techniques, so they had to revamp the entire stage and make it a huge pain in the ass to beat. However, once you have everything, and you have the game down to a muscle memory, you can still unequip everything, or equip items that downgrade you status and make it difficult for yourself. That's what I do to make things interesting, anyway. That's something I like about RPGs, cause they leave the overall difficulty in the hands of the player and not the game itself. The player can choose to level up and equip items before handling a hard boss, and they can choose exactly how much they want to level up to make the boss epic.

Yet, Alucard is still broken, and his range of abilities and weapons make the game feel like a breeze, but that's what Richter mode and Maria mode are for. For example, Richter has no double jump and can only whip enemies horizontally without using uppercut, or sub weapons, but the player can ignore those. He starts out with VERY low health, and moderate attack power, and beating bosses becomes a whole new experience, or rather a nostalgic one since he is a Belmont. I, personally found Richter mode to be more fun than using Alucard because the game felt just like the old Castlevania's, except Richter is still lots more broken than Jonathan Morris, Simon (debatable because of Super Castlevania 4's awesome control setup) or Trevor ever were. He can control direction midair, for one, and he has martial arts. :/

I can't blame the original setup, because the NES was still sort of new when Castlevania hit the shelves, and the control made it memorable, because it was difficult as hell and kept it from being over in a matter of minutes.

Hydro Storm is a boss-crusher, but so are any of Maria's item crashes. Except Hydro Storm, needless to say is holy-elemental, which deals almost double to every enemy in the game, at least the enemies that Richter and Maria are allowed to fight. And yeah, Maria and Richter have no healing items aside from save points and health upgrades. No wall chicken in SotN. lol

And if you wanna play Maria that badly, find a Sega Saturn emulator. I've only ever seen Maria played in Japanese, though.

I'm personally not fond of the current belmont, but Alucard rounds him out quite nicely. Hideo Kojima is said to be the director for Lords of Shadow.

I've yet toplay Lords of Shadow, but I hear really good things about it, except for Zero Punctuation comparing it to a mix of God of War, Dante's Inferno and Devil May Cry. I enjoy hack'n'slash from time to time, but I got sick of DMC, so hopefully this one turns out to have interesting combos and storyline like GoW had.

Apologies, Zane, but I lost my taste for DMC after the first one cause the game just sort of lost its taste once Dante proved he's more badass than anyone on the planet. The gameplay felt a little stale too, in ways I can't put in words. GoW felt like the reverse of it with an asshole character I couldn't wait to see die, but the gameplay was truly awesome, and the story was actually written pretty well, along with sating my appetite for blood and gore.

Anyway, I hope I get the chance to play Portrait of Ruin, someday cause I'd like to see if they have any info on why no Belmont wielded the whip after Richter. NO SPOILERS, PLEASE, I wanna experience this myself.

Use these if you have to.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

With the world being so torn by war at the time.

And Erel:
Dunno if you got to play Lament of innocence, but that game outlines dracula's motives pretty well. Won't spoil it, but his reasoning is very interesting, more so than Celica in Dawn of Sorrow...

One thing Lament of Innocence kept to the original attraction of the Castlevania franchise is epic boss fights. I remember Queen Medusa being my favorite so far, and she is no less the awesome challenge she was in the original game. That's what convinced me to play Symphony of the Night as my first Castlevania (sorry, I didn't have a huge library of games back in the NES and SNES days.), not only trying out the Metroidvania style. The boss fights were all exciting and challenging the first few times around, and still continue to make me walk away with a feeling of accomplishing something.

And I'm very excited to try out Lords of Shadow, as soon as I can find it at my local GameStop (lemme know if you find it, Zane). I like the hack'n'slash genre, because it demands you to figure out the boss pattern, and after a while, the character becomes an extension of yourself. I'll come back to that once I find the copy, if you guys want, you can start another topic on LoS so we can keep from talking about that in this topic.