Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Developer(s)	KCE Tokyo KCE Nagoya (Sega Saturn)
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Toru Hagihara (Producer, Director & Programmer) Koji Igarashi (Assistant Director, Programmer, & Scenario [with Toshiharu Furukawa]) Ayami Kojima (character design & illustration) Michiru Yamane (music & sound effect)
Series	Castlevania
Platform(s)	PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, PlayStation Portable
Release date	PlayStation JP March 20, 1997 NA October 2, 1997 EU November 1, 1997 Sega Saturn JP June 25, 1998 Xbox Live Arcade NA March 21, 2007 EU March 21, 2007 PlayStation Network NA July 19, 2007 PlayStation Portable (part of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles) NA October 23, 2007 AUS October 26, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen CERO: 12+ ELSPA: 11+ OFLC (AU): PG
Media	1 CD-ROM

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a 2D action-adventure game developed and published by Konami in 1997. Its Japanese title is Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasōkyoku (悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲, Akumajō Dorakyura Ekkusu: Gekka no Yasōkyoku^?, lit. "Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight"). It is the 13th installment of the Castlevania series, the first installment released for the PlayStation and is a direct sequel to Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo.

Symphony of the Night was an important milestone of the Castlevania series. It steered the series away from the standard level-by-level platforming formula of older titles and introduced a new style of open-ended gameplay mixed with RPG-like elements that would be emulated by most of its successors. A similar, earlier form of this type of gameplay existed in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. The development of these features can be attributed to Koji Igarashi, the game's director and one of the team's newest members. Igarashi, a noted fan of 2D games,^[1] was instrumental in refining the game's control scheme. He also established a seemingly official Castlevania canon, in an attempt to tie up several loose ends in the series' time line during Symphony of the Night.^[2] Other notable staff include character designer Ayami Kojima and composer Michiru Yamane.

In 1998, Symphony of the Night was ported to the Sega Saturn by Konami Computer Entertainment Nagoya with some extra features. This port was never released outside Japan.

In 2006, Konami announced an Xbox 360 port of the PlayStation version of the game to be distributed via Xbox Live Arcade. The port was handled by Backbone Entertainment.^[3] It was the first Xbox Live Arcade title to exceed the 50 MB restriction placed upon Xbox Live Arcade games (The limit has since been increased to 150 MB). The exception was made for Symphony of the Night to "ensure that the gameplay experience is the best it can be".^[4] Symphony of the Night for Xbox Live Arcade was released on Wednesday, March 21, 2007.^[5]

The PlayStation Network version compatible with the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Sony PSP was released on July 19, 2007 for the price of US$9.99. It is identical to the PS1 version.

In 2007, Konami announced a port of Symphony of the Night would be included in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for the Sony PlayStation Portable. The game was released on October 23, 2007 in North America. The North American version features a retranslated script and new voice acting.^[6]

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Control scheme 1.2 Weapons 1.3 RPG elements 1.4 Music 2 Plot 2.1 Setting and characters 2.2 Story 2.3 Character design 3 Development 4 Version differences 4.1 Differences between Japanese and English versions 4.2 Sega Saturn differences 4.3 Xbox Live Arcade differences 4.4 PlayStation Portable differences 5 Reception 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Gameplay in Symphony of the Night adheres to the standard precepts of 2D platforming.^[7] The main protagonist in the game is Alucard, whose most basic moves are to attack with multiple weapons and jump. As he explores the castle, new abilities, such as the power to transform into a bat, become available.

Exploring the castle itself is an open-ended process,^[8] and perhaps the biggest departure gameplay-wise from past Castlevania titles (with the exception of Simon's Quest for the NES). In Symphony of the Night, the player is allowed to explore many of the castle's side areas (areas that do not lead directly to the game's end) and may at times have to backtrack through previously visited areas after new powers become available. RPG elements introduced into the game also encourage exploration since Alucard can increase his attributes. For example, certain weapons, items, and permanent power-ups can only be found in areas accessible through special abilities (such as double-jumping). These areas are scattered all over the castle, and are often impossible to reach when first encountered.

The nonlinearity of the game proved to be one of its most acclaimed aspects. The gaming press often draws comparisons between the gameplay of Symphony of the Night (and its 2-D successors) with the popular Super Metroid,^[9] which led to the coinage of the term "metroidvania" (portmanteaux of Castlevania and Metroid).^[10]

[edit] Control scheme

Symphony of the Night boasts a very liberal control scheme compared to its predecessors in the Castlevania franchise. The ability to double-jump and change direction in mid-air are especially potent additions.

Aside from attacking, jumping, and basic movement, Alucard is inherently able to perform both a downward flying-kick and a back-dash. While the downward kick may never be discovered or employed by a player, the back-dash (activated by a single button press) is an easily employed method of evading enemy attacks. Because it is faster than Alucard's normal walking speed, a player may back-dash as a slightly faster method of travel through the flatter areas of the castle. Yet another use of the back-dash is attack cancelling, a technique common in fighting games: by activating the dash just after an attack lands Alucard's attack animation is interrupted, allowing the player to bypass the attack's recovery animation and instead perform another action. Evasive dash moves also appear in later Igarashi-produced Castlevania titles.

Symphony of the Night utilizes directional input combinations (another staple of many fighting games) as a means of performing special moves, also referred to as Magic Spells. Most of Alucard's magic is activated by performing directional input combinations followed by button presses — for example, to cast the spell "Hellfire", the player would press Up, Down, Down-forward, Forward + Attack. The playable alternate characters Richter and Maria also utilize directional input combinations for their own special abilities.

[edit] Weapons

While Castlevania's protagonists have traditionally used whips, Alucard's repertoire is mostly based on edged weapons - typically swords and knives. Knuckles and expendable items (such as neutron bombs or javelins) are less common finds. Richter uses the traditional Vampire Killer whip, while Maria uses energy projectiles and kicks in the Saturn version and owls in the PSP version. Neither of these alternate characters may change their main weapon.

As in previous Castlevania titles, all playable characters can use a variety of subweapons (alternate weapons that consume Hearts) found throughout the castle. These include traditional subweapons from earlier Castlevania games, such as axes, crosses, and holy water. An ability carried over from Chi no Rondo, known as an Item Crash, allows either Richter or Maria to perform a more powerful special move based on their currently equipped subweapon. Item Crashes typically have more spectacular effects than standard subweapon attacks and consume many more hearts. In another hold-over from Chi no Rondo, Symphony allows the player to retrieve a previously equipped subweapon if a new one is collected. This helps the player avoid losing a favored subweapon by accident. Some subweapons have different effects depending on which playable character is being used.

The Saturn version of the game contains some exclusive weapons and items, including Alucard's spear, and a wieldable axe.

During its localization, some of the game's weapons received names based on fantasy literature or mythology, such as the works by J.R.R Tolkien and Michael Moorcock. These include "Fist of Tulkas" (named after Tulkas the Vala), "Crissaegrim" (the home of the Eagles of Thorondor), "Mourneblade" (named after and based on the sword Mournblade from Moorcock's Elric saga) and "The Sword of Dawn" (named after and based on the Sword of the Dawn from the Hawkmoon series).

[edit] RPG elements

Growth elements such as character equipment and experience levels were originally seen in Castlevania II: Simon's Quest for the NES (1987). As Simon's Quest was not very successful, the series instead became focused on mostly straightforward action gaming. A decade later, Symphony of the Night reintroduced RPG elements into the series in the style that was popular at the time (attribute-based stats, item drops). In one form or another, these growth elements have since become a mainstay mechanic of the Castlevania franchise. The "old-fashioned" style of gameplay is still included in some titles, often as an "extra" mode or reward for completing the game. The quests of Richter and Maria fulfill this role in Symphony of the Night.

Alucard is able to enlist the help of familiars (provided that the player can locate the item needed to summon one). Familiars function as complementary entities in the game world; they attack and use their special abilities while following Alucard around, and also gain levels as Alucard gathers experience points. The level of the familiar determines its behavior, as well as what special moves it can use. The North American version of the game includes the Fairy, Demon, Ghost, Bat, and Sword familiars. The original Japanese version of the game included the Nose Devil (functionally identical to the Demon, but with a Tengu mask.) and Pixie (functionally identical to the Fairy; the kanji literally translates to Half Fairy) familiars as well.^[11]

[edit] Music

See also: Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight OST

The music in Symphony of the Night was met with broad praise by Castlevania fans and general gamers.^{[citation needed]} It was composed by Michiru Yamane, who previously composed the soundtrack for Castlevania: Bloodlines. The Symphony soundtrack contains elements from multiple music genres including techno, gothic rock, jazz and many variations of metal. "I Am the Wind", a vocal ending theme performed by Cynthia Harrell^[12], is played during the credits.

The soundtrack contains a few tracks that are remixes of pieces from Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo, particularly "Dance of Illusions", the music that plays during Chi no Rondo's final boss, and "Blood Relations", a variation of the piece heard in the first stage in Chi no Rondo, "Bloodlines".

[edit] Plot

[edit] Setting and characters

See also: List of Castlevania characters

The game, like its predecessor Chi no Rondo, takes place in Transylvania. In the previous game, a significant portion of time was spent traveling through the Transylvanian countryside en route to Castlevania; Symphony of the Night takes place entirely within the castle, with the exceptions of a short introductory sequence depicting Alucard approaching the castle from the surrounding forest, and the game's ending sequences.

Symphony of the Night keeps the archaic and gothic feel of Castlevania accented by the reuse of many of the traditional monsters seen in previous titles. Of particular note, many of the monsters introduced in Chi no Rondo are reused, often appearing exactly as they did in the previous game. The castle itself shifts in scenery and encompasses many of the more traditional stage motifs found in the other Castlevania titles (again, particularly Chi no Rondo), such as an underground passage, a chapel, and the infamous clock tower. An area under Dracula's tower in Symphony of the Night resembles a similar area where Richter fought Dracula in the Super NES remake of Chi no Rondo, titled Castlevania: Dracula X.

About halfway through the game, the player enters an inverted version of the original castle. The scenery in the second castle takes on a more bizarre nature where objects and phenomena such as pools of liquid, furniture, and even a waterfall persistently defy gravity. This inverted castle hosts many unusual (and more powerful) enemies, including Cthulhu, Yorick, and a Dodo. Many of the game's enemies that were presented as bosses in the first castle appear as "normal" enemies in the second castle, illustrating a general increase in the game's difficulty. Symphony of the Night features a recurring Castlevania cast consisting of protagonists Alucard, son of Dracula, the Belmont heir Richter, and Richter's sister-in-law Maria Renard. Death (The Grim Reaper), the dark priest Shaft and Count Dracula serve as the game's principal antagonists.

[edit] Story

The game's story takes place during the year 1797, five years after the events of Chi no Rondo. The story begins as Richter Belmont defeats Count Dracula at the close of the previous game. Four years later, Richter vanishes and is later revealed to be under the control of the dark priest Shaft, who was slain in Chi no Rondo. Richter claims lordship of Castlevania, which, in this installment, is revealed to be more than a simple building - it is an entity of Chaos, evidently with some level of consciousness, that continually shifts and changes to confuse trespassers with each reincarnation.

Such a shift in the balance of good and evil causes the son of Dracula, Alucard, to awaken from his self-induced sleep. Not fully aware of what is happening, he discovers that Castlevania has once again manifested itself and sets out to discover what has transpired while he slept. This is where the real game begins, as Alucard sets forth to brave his father's cursed realm. Meanwhile, Maria Renard ventures toward Castlevania to find Richter. Maria and Alucard meet inside the castle and encounter one another throughout the game.

[edit] Character design

Symphony of the Night marks the first appearance of artist Ayami Kojima in the video game industry. Kojima's role in the game's production was that of character designer, specifically tasked with conceptualizing the game's main and supporting cast in a unique way. Her designs for Symphony of the Night borrow heavily from bishonen-style art. These illustrations proved popular amongst the Castlevania fanbase, which prompted similar bishonen-style designs to be done by Kojima for later titles.

While Kojima's style continues to enjoy success in the Castlevania franchise, it was excluded from both Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005) and Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006) in favor of simple anime-style designs to attract younger audiences.^[13]

[edit] Development

It is rumored that the canceled Castlevania game, The Bloodletting, eventually became Symphony of the Night. With the cancellation of the Sega 32X as a viable development platform, the team was tasked with developing a new game, so what was usable from The Bloodletting was absorbed into the Symphony of the Night project.^[14]

Symphony of the Night is presented via 2D visuals, mainly sprites animated over scrolling backgrounds, with effects such as rotation and scaling being used liberally. Sprites range in size, from quite small to filling an entire screen (primarily bosses such as Galamoth). For backgrounds, parallax effects attempt to simulate depth, and can be observed in many areas throughout the game.

Occasionally, the 3D capabilities of the PlayStation attempt to embellish the largely 2D world. For example - cloudy skies in the Holy Chapel area are rendered as 3D textures moving towards the player's perspective, and a polygonal clock tower visible from the Castle Keep rotates as the player moves. Enemies and spells also sometimes render 3D elements as part of their special animations. As was popular at the time (1997), the game contains some short full motion video (FMV) sequences that mostly showcase the castle from different angles. These FMVs do not appear in the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game.

[edit] Version differences

[edit] Differences between Japanese and English versions

The North American and European versions of the game contain some minor changes from the initial Japanese release. In the English versions, the prologue sequence is titled "Bloodlines". Bloodlines is neither the original name of the level, nor the name of the game that the level was based on. In the Japanese version, this segment is titled "Rondo of Blood", the name of the final stage in the Japanese versions of Akumajō Dracula X Chi no Rondo and Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles. The English versions of these games also renamed the final stage "Bloodlines".

The Japanese version has two additional familiars, the Sprite familiar and the Nose Devil familiar. The Sprite is a palette-swap of the Fairy that can sing a song. In the Saturn version, the Lyric Card is required for her to sing, and in the PlayStation The Best version, the player simply needs to sit in a chair and wait. She cannot sing in the original PlayStation version. The Nose Devil is exactly the same as the Demon, but with a different look and voice. The Sprite was removed due to being essentially identical to the Fairy, and the Nose Devil was removed because it was a Japanese pop culture reference that the rest of the world would not understand, in addition to being essentially identical to the Demon. Due to the removal of those familiars, some items were moved around for the English releases.

The Japanese version was packaged with a small manga based on the game, an artbook, and the game's full soundtrack.^[15] The Japanese version also had unlockable interviews with the Japanese voice actors. The North American release did not receive any of these bonuses, but the artbook and a compilation of music from past Castlevania games were included with European preorders. Replacing the interviews in both English versions was a sound test, which enabled players to listen to any of the songs in the game.

[edit] Sega Saturn differences

The Japanese Saturn version of Symphony of the Night includes various new features not seen in the Playstation version. Maria Renard is a playable character and a boss. A new sprite for Richter is featured in addition to the old one, based on Ayami Kojima's depiction of the character. This is the costume Richter uses when he fights Alucard in the Saturn version, and if the player inputs a cheat code, it can be used when playing as Richter. Maria and Richter do not need to be unlocked; they are available at the start of the game. Also, when playing as Maria or Richter, certain areas of the castle play remixes of classic Castlevania music, such as "Vampire Killer" and "Bloody Tears". When playing as Alucard, a "third hand" is available to store food or medicine. A Sound Test option is available from the start of the game, whereas the Japanese Playstation version did not have a sound test at all. Also, in general, characters are more animated during cutscenes than they were in the Playstation version.

Two new areas were added to the castle, the Cursed Prison and the Underground Garden. The Underground Garden area features a new boss, the Skeleton King. A few new weapons, items, and armors were also added for Alucard, such as the Alucard Spear.

There are also some minor animation and gameplay differences. The boss tactic videos in the Playstation version have been removed from the Saturn version. Also, the time in the game is based on the the Saturn's internal clock rather than how long the game is played.

Unfortunately, due to poor coding, there are more and longer load times.^[16] Since the Saturn has limited hardware transparency support, transparency effects, such as the mists and the waterfall, were replaced with dithering effects. ^[17] Also, rather than take advantage of the Saturn's increased resolution, the graphics are stretched to fill the screen, which causes some sprites to be distorted. The overall quality is said to be lower than the PlayStation version due to it being a simple port handled by another team, and not being recoded to take advantage of the Saturn's technically superior 2D capabilities.^[18] Igarashi has expressed his disdain for the Sega Saturn version.^[19]

[edit] Xbox Live Arcade differences

The Xbox Live Arcade version for the Xbox 360 was released on March 21, 2007 in North America and July 25, 2007 in Japan for a price of 800 Microsoft Points. Due to the Xbox 360's superior hardware compared to the PlayStation, many cases of slowdown were reduced or eliminated and added an optional graphical filter that smooths the rough edges on the sprites and polygonal models. With most Xbox Arcade games, it features Leaderboards that track players progress throughout the castle and features 12 achievements worth 200 points. Most of the glitches from the PlayStation version of the game work on the Xbox 360 version. The Xbox 360 version also introduced some new glitches, including some minor sound glitches, and, more notably, the absence of the Vandal Sword enemy (A later patch corrected most of these glitches).

Despite the Cursed Prison and Underground Garden being included in the Sega Saturn version of SOTN, they were not put in the Xbox 360 version as it was a port from the PlayStation version of the game. As with the PlayStation version, Maria is unplayable. To save on space, all FMV sequences were removed from the United States version of the game; they have been added back to the Japanese version, which is approximately 25 megabytes larger. A later patch replaced the original ending song, "I Am The Wind," with "Admiration Towards the Clan," the ending song from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. The unpatched version still features "I Am The Wind."

[edit] PlayStation Portable differences

The PlayStation Portable version of the game, as an unlockable part of Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, is generally a port of the PlayStation version, but contains some additions and changes.

As in the Saturn version, Maria Renard is a playable character and boss. In contrast from her Saturn appearance, her gameplay style is closer to her Rondo of Blood counterpart. She uses owls as her primary means of attack and the four beasts as subweapons. Her sprites are also redrawn, though her original sprites are still used during cutscenes.

The Nose Devil and Sprite familiars from the Japanese versions return, titled "N Demon" and "Fairy" respectively. The first Fairy familiar is renamed "Faerie." Like the Xbox 360 version, "I Am The Wind" is not played over the credits. A new song, "Mournful Serenade", is used instead. Some sound effects have also been altered.

The game's English script has been re-translated and re-recorded with new voice acting. The prologue text is slightly altered and is narrated by a voice over. The game has the option of using the original Japanese voices. Some enemy voices, such as Axe Lord and Medusa, were not redubbed and retain their original Japanese voices on both language settings. There are also some subtle changes to item and enemy descriptions, and the Librarian's bestiary has been reorganized.

The PlayStation Portable version also introduces many new glitches, many that cause the game to freeze, especially with certain familiars activated.

[edit] Reception

At the time of its release, Symphony of the Night received a great deal of critical acclaim, yet was inexplicably low-balled as a prospect for domestic release. In the time since, however, it has developed a large cult following, and copies of the original PlayStation version are considered collector's items. It is most notable for demonstrating the continued popularity of 2D games during the fifth generation of video game consoles (the 32-bit era, which saw rapid advancements in 3D gaming).^[20]

During the game's release in 1997, the overwhelming trend in console video gaming was towards 3D graphics. Thanks to the powerful new hardware found in fifth generation consoles, well-established gaming franchises such as Mario and The Legend of Zelda received highly successful 3D face lifts, while 2D games began to fall out of favor with publishers as it was speculated that they would no longer sell.

Although it received limited funding for its North American production, and was initially not a major success from a financial perspective, Symphony of the Night eventually proved to be a massive critical and public success, and the game later went on to join other popular PlayStation titles as part of the "Greatest Hits" line of re-released best-selling PlayStation games.^[21]

In 1998, Symphony of the Night was awarded PlayStation Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly.^[22] It was also ranked 4th place on EGM's 100 greatest games of all time, and the highest PS1 game on the list. It was also named Game of the Year by PSM in its list of the top ten games of 1997. It has made a number of "greatest game" lists, notably GameSpot's "The Greatest Games of All Time" list, being one of the first inductees.^[23] It also placed 16th on IGN's "Top 100 Games of All Time"^[24] and 18th in Game Informer's "Top 100 Video Games Ever".^[25]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of Castlevania characters
• Castlevania#Game list

[edit] External links

General resources

• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night at GameFAQs
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night at MobyGames
• The Castlevania Dungeon's SotN section
• Castlevania Realms SotN section which includes info on the Sega Saturn version.

Reviews

• "SOTN video review" at Gamespot.com
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night at Metacritic (Playstation Platform)
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night at Metacritic (Xbox 360 Platform)

v • d • e Castlevania series Console Castlevania  • Vampire Killer  • Simon's Quest  • Haunted Castle  • Dracula's Curse  • Super Castlevania IV  • Kid Dracula  • Chi no Rondo  • Bloodlines  • Dracula X  • Symphony of the Night  • Castlevania (1999)  • Legacy of Darkness  • Chronicles  • Lament of Innocence  • Curse of Darkness Handheld The Adventure  • Belmont's Revenge  • Legends  • Circle of the Moon  • Harmony of Dissonance  • Aria of Sorrow  • Dawn of Sorrow  • Portrait of Ruin  • The Dracula X Chronicles  • Order of Shadows  • Order of Ecclesia Characters Castlevania characters  • Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow characters  • Dracula  • Simon Belmont  • Alucard  • Soma Cruz Staff Koji Igarashi  • Michiru Yamane  • Ayami Kojima  • Kinuyo Yamashita