| Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | |
|---|---|
European box art |
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| Developer(s) | KCET (PS), KCEN (SAT) |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Director(s) | Toru Hagihara |
| Producer(s) | Toru Hagihara |
| Artist(s) | Ayami Kojima |
| Writer(s) | Koji Igarashi Toshiharu Furukawa |
| Composer(s) | Michiru Yamane |
| Series | Castlevania |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Xbox Live Arcade |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action-adventure, role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | |
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasōkyoku (悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲, officially translated Devil's Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight),[1][2] is an action-adventure game developed and published by Konami in 1997. It is the 14th installment of the Castlevania series, the first installment released for the PlayStation, and a direct sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.
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 writer and one of the team's newest members. Igarashi, a noted fan of 2D games,[3] was instrumental in refining the game's control scheme. His primary motivation for the abrupt design change was seeing dozens of Castlevania games in the "used" bargain bin in Japanese video game stores, as linear Castlevania games offered limited replay value after completion.[4] He also established an official Castlevania canon, in an attempt to tie up several loose ends in the series' time line during Symphony of the Night. Other notable staff include character designer Ayami Kojima and composer Michiru Yamane.
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Like many installments of the Castlevania series, Symphony of the Night uses a 2D side-scrolling style of gameplay.[5] The objective of the game is to guide primary player character Alucard through the undead-filled castle, as he sets out to defeat the vampire Dracula.[5] Symphony of the Night follows a nonlinear style of gameplay; at the game's beginning, Alucard can only access certain areas of the castle, but by obtaining the three forms (a wolf, bat, and mist) that he can shapeshift into, he gradually explores the castle.[6] A map carried by Alucard automatically updates to reflect the player's progress through the castle.[6] While previous protagonists of the series have traditionally used whips as their main weapon, Alucard can find and use weapons ranging from edged weapons—typically swords and knives—to knuckles and expendable items, such as neutron bombs or javelins.[7] He can also obtain health restoratives, various equipment and items to boost his attributes;[7] all located on an inventory.[6] Relics found throughout the castle will provide him with different abilities, such as being able to double jump.[8] A bestiary kept by the castle's librarian, who also functions as a shopkeeper, shows the different monsters encounted by the player, and the items they dropped when defeated.[9]
Additionally, Symphony of the Night incorporates elements found in role-playing games. His hit points determine the maximum amount of damage he can withstand before dying, while his magic points decide how often a magical attack may be cast. Additionally, he possesses four other attributes: strength, the power of his physical attack; defense, his resilience to damage inflicted by the monsters; intelligence, the recovery speed of magic points; and luck, the frequency of items dropped by enemies. Defeating monsters provides him with experience points, and he will level up after reaching a predetermined amount, increasing his attributes in the process.[6] Alucard may cast eight different spells, which requires the player to input directional combinations and will use up varying amounts of his magic points.[6][10] Over the course of the game, Alucard can acquire the ability to summon familiars: they function as complementary entities, aiding him in battle and exploration. 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.
Alternative modes of gameplay can be unlocked after the completion of the game. By inputing Richter Belmont's name as the user name, the player can choose to play as him; Richter uses a whip as his primary weapon and various subweapons.[7][11] Two other alternative modes see Alucard as the player character, but with certain items, and increased or decreased attributes.[7]
Set in a fictional universe, the Castlevania series revolves around the eternal battle between the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan and the vampire Dracula. The direct sequel to the Japan-only release Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, Symphony of the Night takes place five years after its events; after defeating Dracula and the evil priest Shaft in 1792, Richter vanishes four years later, which triggers a series of responses from the characters.[12][13] Castlevania, Dracula's castle, which, according to the lore of the series, only appears once every century,[14] is revealed to be an entity of Chaos that continually shifts and changes to confuse trespassers with each different incarnation.[15]
Symphony of the Night departs from the general practice of the series of having a member of the Belmont clan as the protagonist, and instead features Dracula's dhampir son, Alucard, in the role.[13] After Richter's disappearance, Alucard awakes from his self-induced slumber and sets out to defeat Dracula.[16] Supporting characters include the seventeen-year-old vampire hunter Maria Renard, who had been held captive in the castle during the events of Rondo of Blood, and in her search for Richter, stumbles upon the re-emerged castle;[17][18][14] and Richter Belmont, the protagonist of Rondo of Blood.[13] Residents of the castle include the castle's librarian, who quickly changes his resolve not to aid an enemy of Dracula, and sells items to Alucard;[19] and the ferryman, who brings Alucard across a river in the castle.[20] Death, Dracula's servant who opposes Alucard's plan to destroy the castle;[21] Shaft, a priest who plans to resurrect Dracula;[22] and Dracula serve as the game's primary antagonists.
Symphony of the Night opens with the final stage of Rondo of Blood[16] in which Richter fights and defeats Dracula.[23] Five years later, Alucard arrives at the castle. Inside, he meets Dracula's servant Death, who warns him to stop his quest to destroy the castle;[21] Maria, a seventeen-year-old vampire hunter on a quest to find Richter;[18] and the castle's librarian, who sells him various items and equipment.[19] Periodically encountering Maria throughout the castle, he meets Richter, who claims to be the master of the castle and forces him to do battle with two monsters.[24] Alucard defeats the monsters, and finding Maria again, tells her about Richter; upset, she leaves him to confirm it for herself.[25] Convinced that Richter is under the control of another, she meets up with Alucard again, and urging him not hurt Richter, gives him a item which allows him to see past illusions.[26] In the keep of the castle, Alucard confronts him, and learns that he plans to resurrect Dracula so that he may battle the vampire for eternity.[27] Alucard breaks the spell controlling him, and Dracula's servant Shaft appears; he reveals that despite ending his spell on Richter, Dracula will be resurrected soon, and summons an inverted version of castle.[22]
Leaving Richter to Maria's care, Alucard enters the inverted castle to find and destroy Shaft.[28] Along the way, he defeats Death, and eventually finds Shaft.[29] Shaft admits that he planned to end the threat of the Belmont clan by controlling one as the master of the castle and forcing them to fight each other.[30] As Alucard defeats him, Shaft reveals that Dracula's resurrection is complete.[31] Alucard then faces his father, who vows to destroy humankind because Alucard's mother, Lisa, was executed as a witch. Alucard refuses to join him in his revenge, and the two battle.[32] Alucard defeats him, and suggests that he lost the battle because he lost his ability to love after Lisa's death; Dracula then quotes the biblical verse Matthew 16:26, and learns that Lisa's final words were of eternal love for him and a plea not to hate, or at least harm, humanity.[33] As Dracula vanishes, he asks for Lisa's forgiveness and bids his son farewell.[34] Escaping the crumbling castle, Alucard rejoins Maria and Richter outside. Maria expresses relief that he escaped, while Richter blames himself as the reason for Alucard's fight with his father. Alucard reminds him that "the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing," and resolves to disappear from the world because of his "cursed" bloodline.[35] Depending on how much of the castle the player has explored, Maria will either resign herself to his fate and leave with Richter, or chase after him with Richter's blessing in the hope of changing his mind.[36][37]
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.
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 bishōnen-style art. These illustrations proved popular amongst the Castlevania fan base, which prompted similar designs to be done by Kojima for later titles.
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.
According to Koji Igarashi, Symphony of the Night started out as "...something of a side story for the series, we were able to break alot [sic] of Castlevania conventions and introduce a lot of new elements that we still use today."[38]
Released first, the Japanese release of Symphony of the Night was packaged with an artbook (which also contains a small manga based on the game), and a soundtrack compiled of most of the Castlevania games released before Symphony of the Night.[39] It contained two more familiars than the subsequent English-language release.[10] The English release mistakingly titled the prologue sequence with Richter as "Bloodlines", in reference to the wrong Castlevania game.[40] Symphony of the Night was released in Japan on March 20, 1997, in North America on October 2, 1997, and in Europe in November 1997.[41] It was re-released in Japan under the "PlayStation the Best" label on March 19, 1998, and in North America under "Greatest Hits" in 1998.[41]
In 1998, Symphony of the Night was ported to the Sega Saturn for a Japan-only release. It includes various new features: Maria Renard becomes a fully playable character, and along with Richter, is available to play as for the start of the game.[42] When playing as Alucard, a "third hand" is available to store food or medicine.[10] Alucard can also use exclusive items in the port, such as the "Alucard Boots".[10] An exclusive new boss, the Skeleton King, was added to the castle, as well as two new areas: the Cursed Prison and the Underground Garden.[10][42] The game also contains remixes of previous Castlevania songs.[40]
Unfortunately, due to poor coding, there are more and longer load times in the Saturn version.[43] However, in most cases, slowdowns were noticed after the player has occupied more than three save slots, so these issues can be avoided by careful walk through and save progress planning. Since the Saturn has limited hardware transparency support, transparency effects, such as the mists and the waterfall, were replaced with dithering effects. [44] 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.[45] Igarashi has expressed his disdain for the Sega Saturn version.[46]
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.[47] 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 2 GB). The exception was made for Symphony of the Night to "ensure that the gameplay experience is the best it can be".[48] Symphony of the Night for Xbox Live Arcade was released on Wednesday, March 21, 2007.[49] With most Xbox Arcade games, it features Leader boards that track players progress throughout the castle and features 12 achievements worth 200 points.
To save on space, all FMV sequences were removed from the North American version of the game. They have been added back to the Japanese version, which is approximately 25 megabytes larger. When the unpatched version still features "I Am The Wind" as a ending music, a later patch replaced it with "Admiration Towards the Clan," the ending song from Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.
In 2009, Konami released Symphony of the Night alongside Super Contra and Frogger on the Konami Classics Vol. 1 for Xbox 360.
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 English translations outside of the Japanese release features a redone (not quite re-translated) script and new voice acting.[50]
The PlayStation Portable version of the game, as an unlockable part of The Dracula X Chronicles, is generally a port of the PlayStation version, but contains some additions and changes. As in the Sega Saturn version, Maria Renard is also a playable character and a boss in the PSP version. In contrast from her Sega Saturn appearance, her gameplay style is closer to her Rondo of Blood counterpart. She uses owls as her primary means of attack and her four animal friends as subweapons. Her sprites are also redrawn, though her original sprites are still used during cutscenes. She was even given some new moves such as the ability to dash (can also be done in mid-air), drop-kick and superjump with one of her owls.
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, "Serenade of Sympathy", is used instead. Some sound effects have also been altered.
The port features redone sound effects. Also, the English script has been reworked: not quite re-translated, as the basis is very much the first English translation, instead of the original Japanese script. The dialogue has also been 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.
A version for the Game.com was cancelled.[51]
The PlayStation Network version, which is identical to the PS1 version and is compatible with the Sony PlayStation 3 and the Sony PSP, was released on July 19, 2007.
| Character | Japanese Original (All releases) | English Dubbing (Original) | English Dubbing (PSP re-recording) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alucard | Ryōtarō Okiayu | Robert Belgrade | Yuri Lowenthal |
| Richter Belmont | Kiyoyuki Yanada | Michael G. | David Earnest |
| Maria Renard | Chisa Yokoyama | Kimberly Forsythe | Michelle Ruff |
| Lisa | Rica Fukami | Barbara Whitlow | Wendee Lee |
| Succubus | Allison Lester | ||
| Master Librarian | Masaharu Satō | Unknown | Unknown |
| Ferryman | |||
| Death | Dennis Falt | Travis Willingham | |
| Shaft | Kiyoyuki Yanada | Jeff Manning | Kyle Hebert |
| Dracula | Norio Wakamoto | Scott McCulloch | Patrick Seitz |
The music in Symphony of the Night was met with broad praise by Castlevania fans. It was composed by Michiru Yamane, who had previously composed the soundtrack for Castlevania: Bloodlines. The soundtrack contains elements from multiple music genres including techno, gothic rock, new age music, classical, jazz and many variations of metal. "I Am the Wind", a vocal ending theme performed by Cynthia Harrell, 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 last boss. There is also "Blood Relations", a variation of the piece heard in the first stage in Rondo of Blood, "Bloodlines".
The original PlayStation version of Symphony of the Night includes an audio track featuring an arranged version of the tune "Dracula's Castle" called Alucard's Vengeance, which can be played on an Audio CD player after listening to Alucard's warning. Also, the PlayStation Version has an alternative ending originally coded for the game, but it was unused.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 93.41%[52] |
| Metacritic | 93 / 100[53] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 9.25 / 10[52] |
| GamePro | [52] |
| Game Revolution | B+[52] |
| GameSpot | 8.9 / 10[52] |
| IGN | 9.0 / 10[52] |
| Official PlayStation Magazine (US) | 5 / 5[52] |
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).[54]
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.[54]
The gaming press often draws comparisons between the gameplay of Symphony of the Night (and its 2-D successors) with the popular Super Metroid,[55] which led to the coinage of the terms "Castleroid" and "Metroidvania" (portmanteaux of Castlevania and Metroid).[56]
In 1998, Symphony of the Night was awarded PlayStation Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly.[57] 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.[55] It also placed 16th on IGN's "Top 100 Games of All Time"[58] and 24th in Game Informer's "Top 200 Video Games Ever".[59] GamePro listed the discovery of the inverted castle as the twenty-sixth greatest moment in gaming.[60] WeDoLists ranked Symphony of the Night as the second greatest soundtrack of all time for the video game genre.[61]
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