Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Before Metroid, items in platformers were optional and temporary boosts that made make it easier for the player to get to beat the level. These items did not define the player character or the game world. One of the defining features of Metroid and what set it apart from other platforming games at the time is the acquisition of items and powerups for the long-term that open up new areas and enable further progression through the game world, as in a traditional adventure game.

What sets Symphony of the Night apart from Metroid is that it continued to rely on the old "subweapon system" of the original Castlevania, a type of weapon that is discarded when the player acquires a new one. In that way, Symphony of the Night is actually closer to a traditional platforming game than it is to an adventure game. The fact that Alucard can carry only one subweapon at once is even more nonsensical given that Symphony of the Night is also an action-RPG, where Alucard can carry a whole inventory of items, from weapons, armour, potions, and so on.

So the antiquated "subweapon system" is not only out-place in what is supposed be an adventure game and an RPG, it also requires a lot of suspension of disbelief on part of the player and ruins the immersion of an interconnected game world with intricate detail and deep atmosphere. It was not until Aria of Sorrow years later that introduced the "Tactical Soul System" that Castlevania finally became a proper action-adventure, and thus the first true hybrid of Metroid and Castlevania.

This game requires for some bosses difficult to pull off strategies and combos, which detract from the experience.

Yes, it's a classic. Yes, it laid much of the groundwork for what we now call Metroidvania. It's incredibly fun and feels great to control. The soundtrack is incredible and the level of polish is insane. All of these things have been repeated countless times.

However, it is not a perfect game. It's flaws are numerous and far from insignificant.

The game's code is a glitchy mess. The second half feels rehashed and unfinished, with only a scarce few tracks playing in an endless loop throughout, and enemies haphazardly strewn about with little regard for competent level design. One will often find dozens of reused enemies cluttering every screen, as if the designers just gave up trying to come up with actual challenges for the insanely overpowered player character.

And this last point ties directly into the game's most glaring flaw: a negative difficulty curve that makes the game naturally easier the more progress the player makes, turning the final areas and bosses into absolute jokes (with the exception of the game's optional super boss, which can nevertheless be made into a joke by other means). Worse still is the fact that even though the game will rarely present a challenge in a standard playthrough, thorough exploration presents players with a plethora of options to completely trivialize everything the game has to offer.

So a game designed around exploration rewards said exploration by removing all sense of challenge, and a hidden second half that loses much of the momentum and charm of the first half.

Now, despite all of this, the game still manages to be immensely enjoyable, but it is objectively far from perfect.

Year: 1997
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Console Played: PS3 (a port of the PS1 original)


As a kid I didn't own a Nintendo console and therefore sadly missed out on all the original Castlevania games. When I first got my Playstation I do remember I used to buy the official PS magazine and would read the reviews (in fact this is where my passion for reviewing began, I used to play the games and then go back over my magazine and write my reviews on the magazine pages itself, but that's another story!) I remember this Castlevania game got some seriously high praise and something about it looked intriguing. However I remember clearly thinking at the time that I'd just spent my whole childhood playing 2D games on my Sega Master System and Mega Drive consoles and I was so excited to play 3D games on the Playstation that 2D games didn't interest me as much any more. Crash Bandicoot and Tomb Raider were much more exciting to me at the time because 3D gaming was still relatively new and fresh. It was something I craved. I guess it sounds a little ignorant that I completely dismissed playing a critically praised game just because it was 2D, but I was 10 years old at the time and like I said, I'd already played the shit out of 2D side scrollers, it was time to move forwards. Little did I know, I would be dismissing one of the greatest games I've ever played!

Castlevania actually isn't far off being a Sega Mega Drive or SNES game in terms of graphics and capabilities. Apart from a few 3D backgrounds and cutscenes, the animation style looks incredibly similar to the 16 bit era of gaming. However it uses the power of the Playstation to deliver a truly massive castle which can be tackled all in one go in a non linear journey, doing away with the stages approach of the previous games. It also adds in more RPG elements than ever, including a level up system, the use of magic spells, the acquisition of weapons, armour, clothing, food, potions etc. And the ability to gain new moves, allies and transformations that make areas you couldn't get to before accessible later on. There are barely any loading times which makes the game flow effortlessly.

Aesthetically, Symphony of the Night is incredibly beautiful to look at with an almost anime looking style to it and very detailed backgrounds, layers, sprites and environments. The castle is massive with many different sections including gardens, steeples, bridges, caverns, dungeons, a library and a laboratory. Each part of the castle has its own theme and design. All of the monsters and enemies featured breathe their own character and some of the boss fights are absolutely epic. In particular the giant brain that sheds mannequin-esque bodies is one of the coolest looking and biggest bosses in video game history. There are also very odd creatures, like one that has the body of a naked woman attached to what looks like a crocodile. Though Symphony of the Night didn't really make use of the Playstation's 3D capabilities, it still looks stunning in its own right, and has that Gothic, spooky Dracula's Castle look and feel to it absolutely spot on.

I have to mention as the well the score for this game. It is one of the absolute greatest video game scores I have ever experienced. It is so diverse with a combination of Orchestral, Synth, Electronic, Techno, Neo-Classical Metal, Baroque, Funk and many more styles. Every section of the castle has its own theme that reflects the mood of the environment. Early on you hear the majestic Castlevania theme. Whilst the steeple of the castle has a very sombre and downbeat piano score. The part where you go to the confession booth is really scary and haunting. After I completed this game I just knew I had to track down the score on CD, of which I can see myself playing over and over again.

As for the gameplay, I found this to be one of the most addictive games I have played in a long time, even if I happened to discover it 18 years too late! In fact I have AVGN James Rolfe to thank for getting me into this game, after watching his brilliant 4 part Classic Castlevania video reviews. The game is very hard to track down as an actual PS1 disc, but thankfully it is available cheap on the PSN store. The game actually teases you at the start by letting you play as secret character Richter Belmont for about 10 minutes. He has better weapons and moves faster than the character you play as most. When you first play as main character Alucard (the son of Count Dracula, and his name spelled backwards) he is a little slow and sluggish. But as you progress in the game and get more items, swords and experience, you can become a force to be reckoned with! One thing I love about this game is to some extent the player gets to choose how you tackle the castle. There are many different routes to explore and some areas are only available later on after getting specific items or abilities. But the game does not run on a set path, you get the opportunity to explore at your own pace. It is really cool that you will end up going back to areas you have already been in many times, in order to open a door you couldn't before, or make a jump that you couldn't pull off before. This gives the game so much replay ability. You will end up using your map a lot and trying to plan the best routes to take. It really gets you thinking and you will end up knowing the castle inside out.

Every time you progress to a new area you are faced with tough challenges, more menacing enemies, more wonders in store and more puzzles to work out. The game throws at least 20 really exciting and memorable boss fights at you which become really intense and is one of the best parts of this game. You kind of get that holy shit feeling when you are faced against a giant bat, or a mirror form of yourself, or a giant plant, to name just a couple. Every boss fight is tough and scary, but extremely satisfying and challenging. The game has a near perfect difficulty curve. The better your level gets, the harder the enemies get. Never in the game do you feel like you are more powerful than your enemies and it never gets too easy or too hard. There is also a lack of cheap deaths or unfair moments too. One minor complaint is that you have to sit through a long game over screen before you are allowed to reload from the last save point, so get used to hearing that GAME OVER voice mocking you. There are lots of save points throughout the game, but making it from one to the next without dying can be very intense!

The only real complaint I have about this game is that the poorly dubbed voiceover acting is kind of cringeworthy and the overall plot of the game is a little thin. Cutscenes don't happen often and are usually quite brief. But there is so much actual gameplay that it barely matters. The castle and layout of the game is so brilliantly designed that once you get to grips with the game you will most likely be completely addicted. You will want to explore every single room of the castle. There are so many secrets, easter eggs and cryptic puzzles to solve that backtracking to one area for the 10th time doesn't get tiresome because sometimes you have to go backwards in order to go forwards. There is something genuinely satisfying every time you level up, narrowly escape dying and reloading your progress, or unlocking a new area after much puzzle solving. There were a few times where I felt lost and nearly threw in the towel. But luckily a couple of trips to GameFAQs got me out of some tough jams. Progressing through this game makes you feel like you have really earned it and it is such a brilliant, fun challenge playing this game.

When you think about how beautiful it looks, how complex the design is, how breathtaking the score is and how chilling the monsters are, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is just such a complete package. Though it didn't look much more than a 16 bit game at the time, SotN goes further than any Mega Drive or SNES game possibly could. It has endured the test of time and has even dictated the path of many Castlevania games since. It's kind of a shame I missed out on this game as a kid due to my desire to play the best 3D games of the time. I actually missed out on one of the true video game masterpieces. And with a secret character still to play as, and the infamous "Inverted Castle" still to play through, My Castlevania experience is still dictating my life right now. Utterly unmissable. A true masterpiece. A haunting, Gothic symphony of excellent gameplay, intelligent design, wonderful music and beautiful visuals.

metroidvania might be the first faux-genre for videogames to receive. Music has plenty of obscure, nonsense genres (like "neofolk") and film has a numerous amount ("new wave"). Its a nuisance but its a nuisance that portrays a vein attempt to pigeonhole originality -- originality being a prerequisite. There is certainly no prerequisite for Super Metroid [スーパーメトロイド] or Symphony of the Night. Many games have borrowed elements from Super Metroid, but Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the only game to act as a true spiritual successor (until the many handheld Castlevania sequels of the 00s). Even Metroid Fusion, the most literal sequel that Super Metroid ever got, pales in comparison. SotN was always destined to appeal to the niche crowd that hungered for more of that classic 2D game design. Yet, if you put it in most people's hands it suddenly becomes a game that anyone can become hopelessly addicted to.

SotN is a classic case of the stellar sequel that no one thought they wanted. Despite massive critical acclaim, I was one of the many PSX owners that overlooked the game due to its graphics and attachment to the Castlevania series. Like many, I was spoiled by Final Fantasy VII [ファイナルファンタジーVII] and Metal Gear Solid and was too stubborn to go back to 2D platforming. I was completely right -- SotN is a subpar PSX game when you hold it to the standards of the system: cinematic presentation, impressive 3D graphics, and progressive storytelling in video games. Instead, SotN is a near flawless SNES game that came a generation late but had all the time to correct its mistakes because of it. Rather than being stuck with dated, ugly textures and a low polygon count, we have a great looking 2D game that recalls the previous generation's best.

The game tries to continue the Castlevania story by paying tribute to its mythos and building future nonsense, but the only good that comes from it are unintentional laughs. At least, the dialogue is brief and laughable instead of just plain boring. Despite a beyond bad story, SotN is a very strong game aesthetically. Yamane's score is one of the best of its time, filled with cryptic baroque, acid jazz, and some imaginative takes on old themes. The soundtrack combined with the each area of the castle's design, helps add variety and personality to the game world. The gameplay will suck you in, so it's all the better that you have great audio and visual candy to feast on for the next 8 hours.

While I hinted at SotN upstaging Super Metroid, it's really in the details rather than in grand strokes. Like in Metroid, you are waiting for that next power-up but you also have all sorts of things to get excited over on the way to that. Leveling up, finding new familiars (little demons that help you fight), and buying new spells/weapons helps flesh out the moments that lay before your next destination. Even though SotN fixes some of Super Metroid's faults, the game sadly lays victim to many of the same problems (that only the Metroid Prime series would fix, ironically).

After the first third of the game, you have explored the better part of the castle and are left to guess where to go next. You'll recall a hole in the ceiling you can now double jump up to but find it only leads to some sort of bonus (oh great, sushi!) You'll often find yourself lost and frustrated, with no sort of hint system or logic leading you to the next location. Even with a FAQ, the game is confusing and misleading. It's enough to make me give up on the game, the first time through in 2006. Despite SotN falling victim to some bad design, minor issues that make major problems, the core game is near flawless and ageless in its fun factor. Even with its issues, there is no game like SotN. You have to congratulate Konami for making a game that had everything against it, in 1997, and have it hold up so well more than a decade later.