Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
- Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1998 on Dedicated handheld)
Description official descriptions
Five years ago, Richter Belmont, the latest in the Belmont lineage and the one destined to be a Vampire Hunter, defeated Dracula in a brutal battle which nearly cost him the love of his life, Annette, and her sister, Maria. Now, Richter has suddenly vanished, Dracula's castle has mysteriously reappeared, and Maria, now a young woman, sets off to find Richter. Alucard, the son of Dracula, is awakened from his eternal slumber after this large shift in power and enters into the castle to find some answers and confront his father.
Symphony of the Night is a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood. Unlike the previous installments of the series, the game is set in a castle which the player can explore freely with many different paths, although often items in certain areas need to be found that will allow passage to others. The action-based gameplay incorporates now strong RPG elements. The hero receives experience points for defeating enemies, gains levels, and becomes more powerful. There is also money to be found in the game, and various accessories to buy. In a separate screen, players need to equip attack weapons, shields, and other items. Magic plays an important role, as well as secondary weapons and a large amount of "special moves" that are executed similar to advanced one-on-one fighting games.
The Saturn release adds two new areas to the castle (the Underground Garden and the Haunted Path), a third playable character (Maria), and a few new remixed music tracks. However, it sacrifices a few of the graphical effects from the PlayStation version, particularly true transparencies. The iOS and Android versions are based on the version found in the Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles release (has the Saturn versions familiars and items). All the other releases are based on the PlayStation version and do not feature these changes.
Spellings
- 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 - Japanese spelling
Groups +
- Castlevania / Akumajō Dracula series
- Enhanced ports / Port differences
- Fictional character: Count Dracula
- Gameplay feature: Bestiary
- Gameplay feature: Multiple endings
- Gameplay feature: Transformation
- Games with original fan translations into English
- Genre: Explorable platformer / Metroidvania
- PlayStation Greatest Hits releases
- PlayStation the Best series
- Theme: Vampires
- Visual technique / style: Parallax scrolling
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Credits (PlayStation version)
82 People (65 developers, 17 thanks) · View all
| English Voice Cast | |
| JP Voice Cast |
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| Producer | |
| Assistant Director | |
| Localization A.D. | |
| Programmers |
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| Designers | |
| [ full credits ] | |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 91% (based on 76 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.2 out of 5 (based on 274 ratings with 6 reviews)
It's better than sliced bread - and sliced bread is pretty damn good!
The Good
An amazing soundtrack, creative enemies, awesome artwork, and addicting gameplay, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night got me hooked from start.
The story is the usual good vs. evil ordeal, but they execute it very nicely. Playing as the half-vampire, half-human Alucard, you must defeat your vampire father Dracula and his demonic castle to save the world once more from his vicious wraith. There are twists here and there in the story and, even if it's not the most prominent thing in the game, it is suspenseful.
Gameplay is a mix of side-scrolling Castlevania action with RPG elements, making it extremely addicting and fun. There is a hoard of equipment and items, each weapon and piece of armor distinct in it's own way. What's more is that there are relics to collect, some of them having everlasting effects and some containing familiars (creatures that follow and help you out). The castle is also very large, having a plethora of areas for you to explore, so the game is very open-ended.
The soundtrack is epic. From symphonic violins to hard guitars, the music is never displeasing (except for one piece, but that will be explained later).
The voice acting was, generally, good and the sound effects were pretty sweet.
All in all, I must say, Castlevania's pros completely over weigh the cons. Of course, however, not all games are perfect...
The Bad
Time for the cons.
The only thing I didn't like was the bad voice acting of the succubus and fairy, which should've been closer to their Japanese versions (in tone and acting).
The only song that I really didn't like was the song in the credits, titled "I Am the Wind". It just doesn't fit in this kind of game.
The Bottom Line
Time consuming (in a good way), Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a game that should definitely be in your top ten. If it isn't, well, you just have bad taste in games.
PlayStation · by SkysTheLimit (5) · 2006
The Good
I love all about this game, is one's of my bests. The graphics are exellent, the castle is fabulous and to great, they have a multitude of beasts and they are very greats and well designed. The music is the best that i ear of every games. And we have a multitude killing strategics with several magics, magics swords and weapons, items and more. We can combine anything with anything and that's make differents combinations to our characther, ( more strong, more clever, more powerfull in magic and more) that's one of the greatest games for that point.In overrall, is one of the greatest games ever made.
The Bad
There's nothing that i dislike.
The Bottom Line
Is a game like Metroid but really much better to all point, is the best of the Castlevania series.
PlayStation · by Stéphane Papov (2) · 2003
The Ultimate Sidescrolling Platformer
The Good
This game has all of the elements of a great title: silky controls, great graphics, super style points (you can change the color of the interior and exterior of Alucard's cape), great story (yeah, its not much, but it does the job well enough), huge levels, great map design, tremendous replay value, oh, and did I mention that its Castlevania? The inclusion of a combo system, special moves, hundreds and hundreds of items, and a castle that is, literally, in hell, make this game great fun to play. The experience point elements of the game keep you coming back for more and more and more and more. The familiars are really fun too.
The Bad
... If I HAVE to say something here, I'd have to ad that the familiars come along a little late in the game and are very hard to power up into anything that can effectively help you combat drac's demon hordes. Still, I did get my skull familiar up to the 60's in terms of level (it only took three weeks! God, this game was addictive).
The Bottom Line
The best run and jumper ever made that doesn't use guns; Alucard can only use melee weapons (pursuent to the castlevania tradition).
PlayStation · by Seth Barkan (2) · 2003
Discussion
| Subject | By | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Bug or graphical effect? | Unicorn Lynx (181664) | Apr 4, 2012 |
| DS | Wormspinal (619) | Jun 21, 2009 |
| Symphony of the Night/ PS2 memory card problem | Michael Sanders | Jan 12, 2008 |
Trivia
1001 Video Games
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Cancelled Game.Com version
A port of the game was planned for Tiger's short-lived Game.Com handheld console. The game made it apparently to beta state, and several screenshots can be found of it on the net.
CD music
Place the CD into any CD player and play Track 2. You'll get a clip of Alucard saying that this is a PSX black disc, and not to play Track 1. Then comes a remix of Dracula's Castle, the musical piece that plays in the entrance hall of the castle! (WARNING: Do NOT, under any circumstances, play Track 1 of the PSX CD on your CD player, unless you like the sounds of horrible white noise destroying your speakers and your ears.)
Endings
There are 5 possible endings for the game, they are triggered by: killing Richter with the Holy Glasses; Killing Richter without the Holy Glasses; Killing Dracula with less than 200%; killing him with over 200%; and of course, the "Castlevania Classic" Richter ending.
What few people know is that a sixth ending was planned but eventually scrapped from the final game, this ending is a variation of the "vs Richter" ones, and has Maria coming in to his rescue, then transforming into some sort of demon and fighting Alucard. No part of this ending was coded so don't bother looking for it, but the voice files are in the game cd, you can extract it using any PSX-extracting utility and listen to the entire recorded audio (including Alucard mourning Maria and Richter upon victory).
Fan translation
On September 5, 2009, the freelance translators Devil Hackers released a translation patch that fully translates the Japanese version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night into English. The reason for this release is the notoriously low quality of the official translation. Also, since this patch is for the Japanese version, the players can also be spared the poor voice acting of the US release.
The link to the patch can be found under the Links/Searches section.
Map
To map all of the two castles (the maximum is 200.6%), you need to use the library recall card when facing Dracula, allowing you to add his room to your map.
Medusa
The yellow Medusa heads will normally turn you to stone. However, on seemingly random intervals, Alucard will turn into a gargoyle statue. There seems to be no advantage to this, and no actual point to it.
References
- When you have the Shield Rod equipped, press Back, Foward+Attack. Alucard will toss out a little swirling ball, which is actually the Shield from the Gradius series. It even protects you from small projectile attacks.
- Adrian Tepes's last name "Tepes" is Romanian for "impaler", a name attached to Count Vlad Dracul, aka Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), who was Bram Stoker's inspiration for Count Dracula.
Rune Sword
If you have the Rune Sword familiar, then you'll notice that a word appears whenever you throw the sword. That word is "verboten" and it means "forbidden" in German.
Second castle
There is a second castle in the game which is a vertically mirrored copy of the first. To access it you must meet with Maria inside the main clock where whe will tell you the truth behind Richter. The monsters and items in the second castle are much harder than the first and some of the bosses from the first appear as regular monsters.
Title translation
"Symphony of the Night" is not the translation of the Japanese "Gekka no Yasoukyoku", which actually means "Nocturne Under the Moon".
Xbox Live
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the first Xbox Live arcade game to break the Xbox 360's 50MB data limit enforced by Microsoft. This rule was originally set up to make all games transferable to the 64MB memory unit. For those interested, the game weighs in at 95.32MB.
Version differences
In the Japanese release of this game there were two extra familiars. They were a second fairy and a second demon which basically had no difference from the two that remained (and explains why they were removed).
The Sega Saturn version of Nocturne (which only saw a Japanese release) had a small difference in the storyline. When you go to meet Maria in the Marble Gallery, she gives you the Holy Glasses in the PSX version. But in the Saturn version, she won't just hand them to you. She tests you by fighting you first.
Awards
- Electronic Gaming Monthly
- November 1997 (Issue 100) - ranked #12 (Best 100 Games of All Time) (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Game of the Year Runner-Up (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - PlayStation Game of the Year
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Action Game of the Year Runner-Up (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Side-Scrolling Game of the Year (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Best Music Runner-Up (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - PlayStation Game of the Year Runner-Up (Readers' Choice)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Action Game of the Year Runner-Up (Readers' Choice) (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Side-Scrolling Game of the Year (Readers' Choice) (PlayStation version)
- March 1998 (Issue 104) - Best Music Runner-Up (Readers' Choice) (PlayStation version)
- 1998 Buyer's Guide - Best Middle (ie midway through through the game)
- 1998 Buyer's Guide - Best Sequel (PlayStation version)
- 1999 Buyer's Guide - Ranked 4 (Top 10 PlayStation Games)
- January 2002 - Worst Game Line Ever (for "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!")
- Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue #100) - #18 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll
- GameSpy
- 2001 – #20 Top Game of All Time
- PSExtreme
- 1997 (Vol. 3, Iss. 3) - Best Game Music of the Year Award
- Retro Gamer
- Issue #37 - #14 in the "Top 25 Platformers of All Time" poll
Information also contributed by Ace of Sevens, Ben K, Big John WV, CaptainCanuck, Fafnir, PCGamer77, Satoshi Kunsai, Tiago Jacques, Unicorn Lynx and Zovni
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Related Sites +
-
MrP CastleVania Realm!!!
A site with everything you need to know about your castlevania-game! -
New English Translation Patch
The patch translates the original Japanese version into English. -
The Castlevania Dungeon
A hosted fan "shrine" site devoted to all the games of the Castlevania series, including the PlayStation game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Content includes game info/descriptions, plot summaries, various kinds of media (images, MP3s, etc.) and links to other Castlevania-related sites. -
Top 10 Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Secrets
A.J. discusses his favourite secrets in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night -
Video review of the Castlevania series (WARNING: Language)
The Angry Video Game Nerd, James Rolfe, reviews games in the Castlevania series. In part 4, he reviews Castlevania: Bloodlines on Genesis and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on Playstation. -
X360A achievement guide
X360A's achievement guide for Castlevania: SOTN.
Identifiers +
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Satoshi Kunsai.
PS Vita added by Fred VT. Android, iPhone, iPad added by Rik Hideto. PSP, PlayStation 3 added by Foxhack. Xbox 360 added by Ben K.
Additional contributors: PCGamer77, Unicorn Lynx, //dbz:, Wormspinal, Dae, Alaka, LepricahnsGold, Eric Smith, Patrick Bregger, Starbuck the Third, Rik Hideto, FatherJack, Hipolito Pichardo, A.J. Maciejewski.
Game added April 9, 2001. Last modified October 15, 2024.