Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania - Symphony of the Night - PS1 - USA.jpg

PlayStation - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo
Publisher Konami
Published 1997-03-20
Platforms PlayStation, Saturn
Genres Adventure, Beat 'em up, Exploration, Metroidvania, Platformer
Themes Action, Adventure, Horror, Vampires
Series Castlevania
Distribution Commercial

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is an action adventure platform game (Metroidvania) released by Konami on the PlayStation on 1997-03-20, and one of many Castlevania games.

Personal

Own?No.
Won?Yes. Kill Richter ending.
Finished2017‎-05-23.

Knowing I was a fan of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, a couple of my friends kept suggesting I play Symphony of the Night because it was a where Circle of the Moon got most of its ideas. I played and beat three other Castlevania games before finally trying Symphony of the Night, and now I really like it.

I own the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Official Guide.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
7 8 8 8 9

Best Version: PlayStation

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The background art is really beautiful, and the designers mesh pixel art very well with polygons.
  • The character animation is amazingly detailed. In addition to movement consisting of numerous frames, there is even a lot of dialog animation.
  • Michiru Yamane composed a solid soundtrack. The music keeps a Gothic style while incorporating a contemporary sound.
  • There are a wide variety of interesting monsters.
  • It's kind of interesting to have to collect items for things that are normally commonplace in Castlevania games, like obtaining items from candles, or seeing a monster's name.
  • Gaining vampire-like powers (turn into wolf, bat, mist) is a really cool idea.
  • The familiars are a great system.
  • The inverted castle is a wonderful addition to the game.
  • The fake Trevor, Grant, and Sypha boss was a good homage.
  • The many icons used in the save card are a nice touch.

Bad

  • The voice acting is just terrible.
  • The items aren't very balanced. The cross and Agunea are far better than the rebound stone or Bibuti. So, the weaker ones just get in the way. And the way item changing is handled is annoying. It's common to accidentally hit a candle with a weapon you do not want, and, if it's near a pit, you lose your desired weapon.
  • Having to equip potions and food items to use them was a poor design choice. You should just use them in the menu.
  • Some of the items are humorous, like a snorkel, a corn dog, etc., but totally out of place, and hurt immersion.
  • It's annoying that your inventory gets filled with old weapons and armor. Since you can't sell them, you should at least be able to drop them.
  • Alucard's spells are annoying to have to input for as little as they do.
  • Having to jump to reach a lot of the candles (and duck in the reverse castle) is annoying. It would have been nicer if they were level with your weapons.
  • A couple of the enemies are a pain in the ass, like the gremlins, imps, and balloon pods.
  • The floor traps in the reverse castle are annoying.
  • With the freedom to roam the entire reverse castle, it kind of makes the second half of the game dull.
  • The gear puzzle in the clock tower is really annoying and difficult to trigger.
  • The majority of the items you get from monsters are useless. Either a weapon/armor that's weaker than what you already have or a healing item that only accounts for 1-2% of your health.
  • The blue and white menu system is quite bland and doesn't fit with the Gothic theme.
  • The CD icon at the top of the rooms when you change sections is entirely out of place.

Ugly

  • Nothing.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Maps

Graphics

Videos

Longplay.

Representation

Strong female character?FailThere are some women, but none are important.
Bechdel test?FailNo women talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?FailEveryone appears to be white.
Queer character?FailThere are no queer characters.

Titles

Language Native Transliteration Translation
English Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Japanese 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 Dorakyura Ekkusu: Gekka no Yasokyoku Devil's Castle Dracula X: Nocturne In the Moonlight

Links

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