Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Platform: PSP
Initial Release Date: March 20, 1997
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Directors: Toru Hagihara, Koji Igarashi
Designer: Ayami Kojima
Original Version Platform: Sony Playstation
How do I go about reviewing this game? It is widely regarded as one of the best video games ever made. After playing through and clearing it (186.7% - more details later), I have to say that the hype around this game is 100% deserved. It's definitely one of the best games that I've ever played. I'm going to have to let it ruminate for awhile before I can say just where it sits in my personal pantheon, but I can at least say that it's an amazing, must-play game. So, reviewing this game might be kind of pointless, but I'm going to give it a go anyway. Buckle in.
What is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?
Symphony of the Night was first released in 1997 for the Playstation, coming out in March in Japan and then October for the U.S. It was a sequel to Rondo of Blood, the PC Engine CD game that was not released outside of Japan. The game was largely inspired by Super Metroid and the two games together birthed the unofficial and now massively popular genre, "Metroidvania." The game differs from the older games in the Castlevania series in two important ways. First, the stage-by-stage design was replaced with a large open world that can be explored mostly as the player wishes. Second, there are a number of RPG elements in the game: experience points and levels, equippable gear, save points, and magic spells. It initially sold poorly, and rumors were that it wouldn't actually get a US release, which made sense as Rondo of Blood hadn't either. This led to many hardcore gamers in the US modding their Playstations and paying ridiculous amounts of money to import the game. Then it came out in the US after-all only to suffer similarly low sales numbers at first. However, over time it developed a reputation as a cult-classic and has seen release on several different platforms, including Xbox, Sega Saturn, XBLA, and (as in this review) the PSP. Check out the Castlevania Wiki for a comprehensive list of the differences between the versions.
How do you access the game on PSP?
Symphony of the Night was never officially released on the PSP. It is instead an Easter egg hidden inside Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, the PSP 2.5d remake of Rondo of Blood (check out my review of Dracula X Chronicles). This version might actually be the best version to play, as it restores some content from the original Japanese release that was cut for American release. To my knowledge, this content doesn't appear in any of the later American releases, though I could be wrong. So, how do you unlock it, then? It's actually pretty easy to do. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had heard about how to do it on an episode of the Retronauts podcast, but I ended up doing most of it on accident and then going "Oh, yeah!" In the second stage of the game, after you beat the stage's first miniboss, there is a sequence where you are being chased by a giant minotaur. There are holes in the ground that you naturally assume that you're supposed to jump over. However, if you instead fall into the first hole, you land in the sewers beneath the stage. Finish the level and you are now taken to an alternate stage 3. Proceed as normal through this stage until it branches up and down. Take the upward branch. A little later, you'll come to a spot with a skeletal serpent that spits fireballs and strikes at you. Kill that and you'll just barely be able to see that above you is a cage covered in vines or maybe made of vines. You have to hit it, which requires the use of a sub weapon like the axe or Bible. That causes it to fall and become a platform, letting you access a catwalk above this part of the stage. Proceed along until it dead-ends at a tombstone. Break the tombstone to reveal a hidden cache with a copy of Symphony of the Night. After you've collected it, you will now be able to access the game from the main menu.
So, how is it?
Like I said up at the top, I think this is one of the best games I've ever played. It hits all of the right buttons across its various sub-genres. The platforming feels great and lacks the frustrating "Castlevania gravity" of all the previous games. Alucard sort of glides through the air while jumping in a way that feels very similar to the Metroid "spin jump." The visual effect of the glide is neat, as if Alucard's soul is not quite keeping up with his body. When you see a ledge, you just kind of know whether or not you can get to it and you're probably never wrong. The one exception I found was a section on the outer west side of the castle where you are going up a long staircase. There are ledges above the staircase with vases. Some of them are easy to jump to once you have the double jump ability, but one or two are just barely out of reach in a way that feels like you could make it if you stood in exactly the right place. Of course, later in the game you get a flying ability that makes all of that trivial.
Combat is fun and mostly easy, with the occasional miniboss or just tough room that found me dying and reloading over and over, but never in a way that left me frustrated. The gear plays into this. Alucard's different weapons have their own attack animations that actually matter. One-handed swords mostly whip outward in a motion similar to an anime samurai, while maces and rods typically swing over the head, hitting enemies in an arc. Punching weapons sometimes just jab, but some do an uppercut that gives an arc sort of opposite of that of maces. And many weapons have special interactions when used in conjunction with certain off-hand items or other weapons. I read about an especially cheesy combination that I ended up using to defeat Dracula in about 5 seconds, which I actually regret, so I won't say it here.
The magic spells are neat but I didn't really use them very much. Each one requires a button combination reminiscent of Street Fighter II. There was one in particular that was easy to pull off and summoned a ball of energy that would fly around and hit an enemy. I used that a lot when fighting agile, flying enemies, but otherwise mostly ignored the spells. Similarly, the transformations were really neat but I found myself never having any use for the wolf after the one time you have to use it. The bat and the mist, on the other hand, I used a lot. I spent a long, long time just flying around the outdoor sections in batform, finding all sorts of hidden items but mostly just filling in my map. You also get familiars. I used the fairy briefly, the demon the only two times that you need him at all, and the bat and the ghost just once to see their animations. I used the sword familiar for the whole game after I got it, though. The familiars gain experience and level up, becoming more powerful but also gaining new abilities and behaviors as they do. Once the sword reaches a certain level, he says something and flies away. You then have to turn him back on and he comes back, but you'll notice that you now have a very powerful sword in your inventory. Once I got that, it was the only weapon I used (until the above pictured cheese, anyway).
How do you access the game on PSP?
Symphony of the Night was never officially released on the PSP. It is instead an Easter egg hidden inside Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles, the PSP 2.5d remake of Rondo of Blood (check out my review of Dracula X Chronicles). This version might actually be the best version to play, as it restores some content from the original Japanese release that was cut for American release. To my knowledge, this content doesn't appear in any of the later American releases, though I could be wrong. So, how do you unlock it, then? It's actually pretty easy to do. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had heard about how to do it on an episode of the Retronauts podcast, but I ended up doing most of it on accident and then going "Oh, yeah!" In the second stage of the game, after you beat the stage's first miniboss, there is a sequence where you are being chased by a giant minotaur. There are holes in the ground that you naturally assume that you're supposed to jump over. However, if you instead fall into the first hole, you land in the sewers beneath the stage. Finish the level and you are now taken to an alternate stage 3. Proceed as normal through this stage until it branches up and down. Take the upward branch. A little later, you'll come to a spot with a skeletal serpent that spits fireballs and strikes at you. Kill that and you'll just barely be able to see that above you is a cage covered in vines or maybe made of vines. You have to hit it, which requires the use of a sub weapon like the axe or Bible. That causes it to fall and become a platform, letting you access a catwalk above this part of the stage. Proceed along until it dead-ends at a tombstone. Break the tombstone to reveal a hidden cache with a copy of Symphony of the Night. After you've collected it, you will now be able to access the game from the main menu.
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| Once you beat the game, you can play as either Maria or Richter from Rondo of Blood. |
Like I said up at the top, I think this is one of the best games I've ever played. It hits all of the right buttons across its various sub-genres. The platforming feels great and lacks the frustrating "Castlevania gravity" of all the previous games. Alucard sort of glides through the air while jumping in a way that feels very similar to the Metroid "spin jump." The visual effect of the glide is neat, as if Alucard's soul is not quite keeping up with his body. When you see a ledge, you just kind of know whether or not you can get to it and you're probably never wrong. The one exception I found was a section on the outer west side of the castle where you are going up a long staircase. There are ledges above the staircase with vases. Some of them are easy to jump to once you have the double jump ability, but one or two are just barely out of reach in a way that feels like you could make it if you stood in exactly the right place. Of course, later in the game you get a flying ability that makes all of that trivial.
Combat is fun and mostly easy, with the occasional miniboss or just tough room that found me dying and reloading over and over, but never in a way that left me frustrated. The gear plays into this. Alucard's different weapons have their own attack animations that actually matter. One-handed swords mostly whip outward in a motion similar to an anime samurai, while maces and rods typically swing over the head, hitting enemies in an arc. Punching weapons sometimes just jab, but some do an uppercut that gives an arc sort of opposite of that of maces. And many weapons have special interactions when used in conjunction with certain off-hand items or other weapons. I read about an especially cheesy combination that I ended up using to defeat Dracula in about 5 seconds, which I actually regret, so I won't say it here.
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| "So I tragically sacrificed all I held dear just to be cheesed to death before I could finish this sente--?" |
The story to the game is nothing special, but that's not really what you come to a Castlevania game for, is it? You're the dhamphir son of Dracula. You come to his castle to collect his body parts and destroy him once and for all. Meanwhile, an evil wizard named Shaft (not one bad mother--) is trying to resurrect him and is using Richter, the hero from the previous game, to do so. You battle your way through and eventually fight Richter. If you do it the wrong way, as I did, you get the bad ending and then need to go back to your last save and do it a different way that I won't spoil. This then brings you to some sort of alternate reality, upside down version of the castle. It's at this point that you start actually collecting parts, which also act as items that increase your base stats. Finally, you fight Shaft and then Dracula, who seems honestly sad about having to fight you and about the monster he has become. It's not bad, as such things go.
The game is also full of a vast amount of references, Easter eggs, and secrets. You'll find references to the previous games, of course, random jokes that only make sense if you're Japanese, and weird combinations of items that are never explained. Late in the game, there is an extremely hard boss who is constantly hitting you with electric attacks. But there is a crown you can wear that causes electricity to heal you. To get it, you just have to randomly walk into a specific tunnel while in wolf form, then fly out of it as a bat. Of course! Why wouldn't you just randomly do that? Once you beat the game, you can also play as either Richter or Maria from Rondo of Blood. Doing so totally changes the game, as these characters actually play like they did before and don't use gear or have experience. Maria is very fast, has ranged attacks, and naturally jumps better than you can do with the Gravity Boots, but she also dies in four or five hits from anything and doesn't appear to have any way of upgrading her health or defense. Fun times.
The game is also full of a vast amount of references, Easter eggs, and secrets. You'll find references to the previous games, of course, random jokes that only make sense if you're Japanese, and weird combinations of items that are never explained. Late in the game, there is an extremely hard boss who is constantly hitting you with electric attacks. But there is a crown you can wear that causes electricity to heal you. To get it, you just have to randomly walk into a specific tunnel while in wolf form, then fly out of it as a bat. Of course! Why wouldn't you just randomly do that? Once you beat the game, you can also play as either Richter or Maria from Rondo of Blood. Doing so totally changes the game, as these characters actually play like they did before and don't use gear or have experience. Maria is very fast, has ranged attacks, and naturally jumps better than you can do with the Gravity Boots, but she also dies in four or five hits from anything and doesn't appear to have any way of upgrading her health or defense. Fun times.
Final Thoughts
So, as I said before, this might be one of the best games ever made. In all likelihood, you've probably already played it and are thinking that I'm an idiot for reviewing it 21 years after its release. If, however, you're someone who never got around to it, never owned a Playstation, whatever the excuse, you absolutely need to play this game. If you like Metroid games, Castlevania games, or any of the many Metroidvanias currently filling up the indie games space, you need to play this game. It blends platforming, combat, exploration, and RPG elements in a way that I've never seen in any game before or since. Good hunting.
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| We, however, WILL meet again, I hope. |
