Collection essentials #348: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)

In the leap to the next generation, although it stayed in 2D, Castlevania reinvented itself. The series started out as an action platformer, where the player typically traversed levels simply moving from point A to point B while fighting monsters and avoiding traps. This was its main identity and how the majority of games played out. There was some experimentation at times with branching pathways, and the second game incorporated some RPG elements and provided a world that could be freely explored. But Symphony of the Night provided a new blueprint that the 2D games would follow for years to come. This game is clearly inspired by Super Metroid, with the whole game basically being one enormous level to explore that you gradually gain more access to as you gain new tools and abilities. SotN also brings back RPG elements by having a level-up system and items to equip to increase stats. So much did fans of retro gaming love SotN that it helped coin the term “Metroidvania” which is commonly used today.

The game offers a wide variety of abilities, weapons and items to find, enemies and bosses to fight, and secrets to uncover. It does well in capturing the Metroidvania joy of returning to previously-visited areas to access things or defeat enemies that were impossible before. The game will pleasantly surprise new players by offering quite a bit more content than it first seems to, although I’m going to be vague about the details on that one. The graphics are mostly illustrated in beautiful 2D, but 3D effects are sometimes used. 

Story-wise, this game is a direct sequel to the previous game, Rondo of Blood, which originally only released in Japan for the PC Engine CD and therefore I haven’t covered that one (yet). The opening sequence is the final boss battle from that game where Dracula is defeated. Then we jump forward to four years later, when the hero who defeated Dracula disappears and the castle mysteriously comes back. Players control Dracula’s son Alucard, who debuted in Castlevania III, as he goes to investigate and defeat whatever evil is behind it. 

SotN is known for its cheesy voice acting, particularly the opening sequence, which is widely quoted by retro gamers. It definitely can get into “so bad it’s good” territory. Future rereleases of the game re-dubbed the dialogue to make it more normal, but I can’t help but prefer the glorious cheese of the original.

Special mention has to be given to this game’s marvelous soundtrack, composed by Michiru Yamane. The game makes full use of the PlayStation’s CD audio to bring incredible crisp instrumentation which really adds a lot to this game. My favorite track is “Wood Carving Partita” which utilizes the harpsichord to great effect.

This is a game my mother got for me at a yard sale as a young teenager circa 2004, the very copy shown in the photo. It’s actually been very many years since I probably played through it, so I’d like to give more detail and impressions about the game but it’s simply been too long. I’m due to replay it for sure. I do have to say that, while I do like it a lot, I did think it fell a liiiiiiittle bit short of the lofty praise that it often gets. I feel a bit mixed about implementing a level-up system onto a Metroidvania like this, since most of those games clearly don’t need it, and it can put you in a situation where you feel like you simply have to level grind rather than explore to find more power-ups and/or hone your skills.