Castlevania Symphony of the Night

Symphony of the Night is the 15th Castlevania game if one counts the games released only in Japan and to computer systems, but to us gamers in America, it was the 10th, including Kid Dracula and other games released to the Game Boy. It was, however, the 5th Castlevania game I played upon its original release way back in 1997.

I began my adventures with Simon’s Quest on the NES, and then went to Dracula’s Curse, having skipped the original, Castlevania. Then, I played Castlevania: The Adventure on the Gameboy, as well as Belmont’s Revenge, and finally Super Castlevania IV for the SNES.

Neither Game Boy game was really worthy of the title Castlevania, at least not to me. See, being a kid in the 80s and 90s, I didn’t have internet access, and I didn’t know many gamers, and my parents sure as Hell didn’t get me a subscription to Nintendo Power, so I had no clue what was going on. All I knew was that Simon Belmont was a badass with a whip.

Then came Trevor Belmont in Dracula’s Curse, but I need to segue here.

I knew Simon’s Quest was the sequel to Castlevania, but I thought Simon was the son of the guy from the first game, whomever he was, and I thought that since the 3rd game was called Dracula’s Curse, and Dracula was alive, that that game was actually a prequel, and for some odd reason became convinced that Trevor was the main Belmont, and that Simon was his son.

Well… the whole thing is super confusing, but fortunately, there is a Fandom site that explains everything.

Now, in Castlevania, the first game on the NES, Simon fights and kills Dracula, but because Dracula’s curse afflicts Transylvania, Simon reappears in Simon’s Quest to recover pieces of Dracula, resurrect him in a weakened form, and kill him again in order to dispel the curse. Then, Dracula’s Curse was released.

Am I crazy, or should the 3rd game have had a different title? Regardless, it is a prequel that takes place something like 2 or 3 hundred years prior to Simon’s defeating Dracula, and then I never put too much stock in the Game Boy releases, so I don’t know when they take place, but in Super Castlevania IV, it’s stated, in the game’s opening sequence, that it’s been 100 years since Dracula was defeated, and Simon Belmont is there to kill Dracula… again. Some say this game is a remake of the first, but I find that debatable; it seems to me that Simon is now over 100 years old, and he’s still kicking vampire ass.

Now, finally, I can get to Symphony of the Night, and no, I did not play Dracula X until after I played Symphony of the Night, so while I knew who Alucard was, I had no clue about Richter or Maria.

After killing ole’ Drac as Richter, you take control of Alucard, and man is he different from the guy in Dracula’s Curse; he runs, he swings his blade, he cuts right through everyone and everything right up until Death shows up, yeah, Death, who takes orders from Dracula; he shows up and steals Alucard’s weapons and armor. Why doesn’t he kill him then and there? I don’t know.

Anyway, this game was very different from the action platformers that preceded it. This kind of game has henceforth been classed as Metroidvania, a name I hate, but it is somewhat efficacious; you control Alucard. You proceed as far as you can. Then, you have to find some kind of item in order to progress farther. You collect items and equipment, and in this game, you even gain levels and increase your stats to become more efficient in battle.

Eventually, you confront Dracula once again. Not that it does any good; the guy’s an asshole, and he just comes back again later….

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is definitely one of the most entertaining games in the PS library. Some call it the best game, and some call it the best Castlevania game; I can’t agree with either title. I love this game, I do, but Aria of Sorrow, and Dawn of Sorrow, far outstrip even the greatest factors of Symphony of the Night.

Looking back into 1997, I can agree that Symphony of the Night was the best Castlevania game of its time, but not the best game on PS, and certainly not the best game released at that time.

The Good

Symphony of the Night has great graphics and astounding music. The gameplay is smooth, but I always thought the controls felt a little stiff—still better than Castlevania games predating it. I enjoyed moving through each section of Dracula’s Castle, defeating numerous and varied enemies, collecting items, learning spells, and just playing the game. It truly provides for about 100 hours of game play if you want to cover every possible corner. It also has great replay value.

As a matter of fact, once you defeat Dracula, you can play the whole game again as Richter for a totally different ending. I recall that when I first beat the game at my friend’s house—I didn’t have my own copy—I tried to run through the game as Richter, but my friend said that it was impossible to beat the game as Richter because Richter couldn’t fly or turn into mist like Alucard does. Well, as we all know today, my friend was an idiot; those factors don’t play into Richter’s adventure….

The Bad

Nerd from AVGN mentioned that once you die, you have to wait for the game over screen and then reload your game. That’s a huge pain in the ass, but it doesn’t really detract from the game.

There’s some terrible voice acting, but the characters don’t have much dialogue.

Perhaps, the most annoying thing in the game is trying to collect every item. You might kill 1000 schmoos before they drop the crissagrim, the most useful sword in the game, and item collecting can get boring, but it’s not a necessity, so I can’t really complain about that either.

All-in-all, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a great game, and probably a top 10 from the PS library, but I don’t know that it’s aged well, so I’m hard pressed to give it an A… I’ll call it a B+ game.

If you haven’t played it, you’ve been living under a rock, so go play it!

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