Today’s Gaming Memory, the first for October (which will all be about games that have some themes of Halloween, horror, etc.) is Castlevania: Symphony of the NIght.
I honestly could spend a month gushing about this game. The story is so much fun, and the original voice acting while cheesy was in its own way great. Some lines still live on to this day (you can hear a slight variation of one in Simon Belmont’s character trailer for the new Smash Bros.)
The graphics in my humble opinion are gorgeous, everything in the game is eye candy. The monsters are wonderfully designed, Beezelbub being one of the few bosses in video games to actually make me feel sick to my stomach, which is amazing! The character portraits are gorgeous as well which is all thanks to the artist Ayami Kojima.
The music in this game is also phenomenal and it has one of, if not the best soundtracks out of the Castlevania games and out of games on the Playstation 1 which is only rivaled by the Final Fantasy series. Still, I may actually put Symphony of the NIght as number one on the list.
What about the gameplay though? Well, I rarely use the word perfect, but I may be inclined to use it here. Playing as Alucard is different than playing a Belmont. Gone are the whips and replaced with a variety of weapons you find throughout the castle (either from enemy drops, behind hidden walls, or purchased from the librarian) some weapons have hidden abilities which are activated through either button inputs (such as down towards attack) or other means. Sub-Weapons do return and are true to form with the exception of the Cross which for Alucard isn’t a boomerang, but more of a screen clear item which uses a lot of hearts.
The variety of weapons can add a lot to replay value of the game. Want to play only using nunchucks or knuckle dusters? go for it? only two-handed swords? feel free. You can play to whatever style suits you.
Weapons and Sub-Weapons aren’t the only things in your arsenal though. Throughout the game, Alucard will gain familiars which either aid him in battle or in the case of one of the fairies (or only fairy depending on which version you’re playing) help you find hidden secrets. Alucard can also gain permanent power-ups that allow him to shapeshift into a Wolf, Bat, or Mist which allow you to access even more areas on the map of Dracula’s Castle.
The game has insane replayability due to all the different items or weapons you can find because of all the secrets that are hidden in the game. If you play through the game and consider that you’ve beaten it I can almost guarantee you that you haven’t, due to the secrets in the game. So many powerful weapons like the Crissaegrim can be incredibly hard to come by. Not to mention a new game+ option where you can play as Richter Belmont.
The Map (or should I say...? nah) has tons of secrets to explore. It took several playthroughs before I felt like I had found everything, and even then I still hadn’t found it all.
This was a game that I fell in love with the first chance I played it. I bought my PS1 to play Final Fantasy games, but Symphony of the NIght made me fall in love with the PS1. It’s one of the few games I replay every year (usually around this time) I’ve re-bought it countless times and plan to re-buy it again once it’s released on the PS4.
Symphony of the Night is truly a game I can never get tired of, every time I find a new way to play it and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Castlevania, Metroid, or really just loves games and is looking for another great game to play. I know I’ll be starting up my 6,000th playthrough here pretty soon.
Gameplay: 10/10
Sound/Music: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Story: 10/10
Replayability: Extremely High
Overall: 40/40 [S]
