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Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is a 2D action-adventure game developed and published by Konami for the PlayStation 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, lit. "Demon Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight"). It is the 13th installement of the Castlevania series, and is a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood for the NEC PC Engine.
Symphony of the Night was a massive critical success, and still maintains a large internet fanbase. 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).
Symphony of the Night was an important milestone in the development of the Castlevania series. It steered the series away from the standard level-by-level platforming formula of older titles, and instead introduced a new style of open-ended gameplay mixed with RPG elements that would be emulated by most of its successors. 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, was instrumental in refining the game's control scheme, and also in legitimizing Castlevania canon, as he attempted to tie up several loose ends in the series' timeline during Symphony of the Night . Other notable staff include character designer Ayami Kojima and composer Michiru Yamane.
In 1998, Symphony of the Night was ported to the Sega Saturn as a Japan-exclusive game containing some extra features.
Storyline
The game's story takes place during the year 1797, five years after the events of Dracula X. The story unfolds as Richter Belmont defeats Count Dracula at the end of the Dracula X timeline. However, a curse cast by Shaft causes Richter to fall under his control and effectively become a demon. Richter claims lordship of Castlevania, which, in this installment, is revealed to be a malevolent entity under Chaos' sway that periodically (each incarnation) alters itself internally to confuse invaders.
This causes the son of Dracula, Alucard, to awaken from his self-induced sleep, to find Richter Belmont missing, and to begin searching for clues to his disappearance. The trail leads to Dracula's castle, Castlevania, which has reappeared after only five years of banishment instead of the traditional century. This is where the game begins, with Alucard deciding to brave his father's cursed realm and find Richter and determine what happened to him. Maria Renard, Richter's sister-in-law, also ventures into Castlevania to find Richter.
There are four separate endings to the story (five in the Sega Saturn version), depending on Alucard's level of exploration of Castlevania itself. If a certain sequence of events is followed, Richter is revealed to be under the influence of Shaft's will. After the latter is defeated, an inverted version of Castlevania, the Inverted Castle, appears from the heavens. This castle contains another entire series of adventures, crowned by the ultimate face-off between Alucard and his revived father, Dracula himself.
Gameplay
Gameplay in Symphony of the Night adheres to the standard precepts of 2D platforming (such as gravity). Alucard's most basic abilities allow him to move in either direction, attack, 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, and perhaps the biggest departure gameplay-wise from past Castlevania titles. 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 areas after new powers become available. RPG growth elements introduced into the game also encourage exploration by boosting Alucard's attributes. For example - weapons, items, and permanent power ups are a common find in areas only accessible through special abilities (such as double-jumping). These areas are scattered all over the castle, and often impossible to reach when first encountered.
Open-ended gameplay proved to be one of the most acclaimed aspects of Symphony of the Night. The gaming press often draws comparisons between the gameplay of Symphony of the Night and the popular Super Metroid, which is how the terms "castleroid" and "metroidvania" came about (as a portmanteau of Castlevania and Metroid).
Control scheme
Symphony of the Night boasts very liberal controls compared to those of its predecessors. Amongst other things, the ability to double-jump and change direction in mid-air (as many times as the player wishes) are especially powerful mechanics.Aside from attacking, jumping, and basic types of motion, Alucard is inherently able to perform a downward flying-kick and a back-dash. While the downward kick is rarely used, the back-dash (activated by only one button press) is an often-employed method of evading enemy attacks. Since it is faster than walking, players sometimes back-dash as a means of travel throughout flat areas of the castle. Another use of the back-dash is attack Transwiki:List of fighting game terms#Cancel, a technique common in fighting games; by activating the dash just after an attack lands, Alucard's attack animation is cut short, which allows him to bypass the attack's recovery animation and instead perform another action. Evasive dash moves appear in later Igarashi-produced Castlevania titles.
Symphony of the Night utilizes directional input combinations (also originally from fighting games) as a means of performing Transwiki:List of fighting game terms#Special move. Most of Alucard's magic is cast by performing directional input combinations followed by button presses - for example, to cast Hellfire, one would press Up, Down, Down-forward, Forward + Attack. The movesets of Richter and Maria are also dependant on directional input combinations.
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 smart bombs) are less common finds. Richter uses the traditional Vampire Killer whip, while Maria uses energy projectiles; neither may change their main weapon.As in previous Castlevania titles, characters can use a variety of subweapons (alternate weapons that consume hearts) found in various places throughout the castle. These include traditional types from earlier games, such as axes, crosses, and holy water. An ability carried over from Dracula X, known as "item crash", allows either Richter or Maria to perform a more powerful special move based on their current sub weapon. Item crashes typically have more spectacular effects than standard subweapon attacks and consume many more hearts. Subweapons have different effects depending on which character the player is using.
The Saturn version of the game contains some exclusive weapons and items, including Alucard's spear, and a wieldable axe.
RPG elements
Growth elements such as character equipment and experience levels were not included in Castlevania games for some time after the release of 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.During its localization, some of the game's weapons received strange translations based on figures from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings universe. Examples include Crissaegrim, Fist of Tulkas, Nauglamir, and the Ring of Varda.
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 Faerie, Demon, Ghost, Bat, and Sword familiars. The original Japanese version of the game included the Tengu (functionally identical to the Demon) and Pixie (functionally identical to the Faerie) familiars as well.
Graphics
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 (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 clocktower 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 FMV sequences that mostly showcase the castle from different angles.
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 notably excluded from Dawn of Sorrow (2005), which features simpler, anime-style designs. In an interview with game development website Gamasutra, Producer Koji Igarashi explains the new aesthetic as an attempt to attract a younger audience to the franchise.
Enemies
There are 146 different enemies in the Symphony of the Night game world. Many originate from outside sources of fiction, such as Lovecraftian and Greek mythos. Some examples are Cthulhu (renamed Malachi during western localization), Scylla, Dhuron (Dullahan), Cerberus, and Medusa.Some more unusual enemies include the dodo bird, a skeletonal Yorick from the play Hamlet, and even characters from The Wizard of Oz.
Many monster designs from Rondo of Blood (the preceding game in the series) were reused in Symphony of the Night. Similarly, designs from Symphony of the Night have appeared in later Castlevania titles. The boss enemy "Granfaloon", (a floating ball of human bodies) for instance, has appeared in several later games (with its original Japanese name of "Legion").
Impact
During the game's release in 1997, the overwhelming trend in console videogaming was that of progression towards 3D graphics. Thanks to the powerful new hardware found in fifth generation consoles, well-established gaming franchises such as Mario and Final Fantasy received highly successful 3D facelifts, 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 not a major success from a business perspective, Symphony of the Night proved to be a massive critical and public success.
Music
Symphony of the Night was scored by Michiru Yamane, composer of Bloodlines.
Trivia
- When played as an audio CD, track 2 of the game's disc contains a warning from Robert Belgrade (Alucard's voice actor) to not place the game in a CD player, as well as a hidden song. Track 1, which contains game data, creates white noise when played by a CD player.
- In the Japanese version, the library contains humourous audio clips from the voice cast, replaced by a soundtrack in the US version.
- If you have the Runesword, you'll notice that a word appears whenever you throw the sword. That word is "verboten", and it means "forbidden" in German.
- There is a hidden passage at the beginning of the castle. Presumably, this is an unfinished section that would have led to the Underground Gardens (apparent in the Saturn version). The area can be accessed by starting a game as Richter, entering the castle, and quickly running back as the gate door closes.
- Both Alucard and Richter can quickly go behind the closing gate door when entering the castle. This allows for limited exploration of the area Alucard runs through in the beginning.
- A glitch allows Alucard to explore the roof of the castle and increase the map percentage above 200.6%. Alucard must have a level 90 sword familiar, and use its "Sword Brothers Spell" in a specific hallway while changing into a bat and flying upwards. Using other methods, players can double their map percentage to 400.0%, and higher. A lot of fans still use this glitch to look for undiscovered areas of the castle. This can also be done in other CV games that use SotN's map system, such as Aria of Sorrow.
- There's a one-time use item known as the Power of Sire. This is a magical spell that displays a portrait that kills all the enemies on the screen. By using the "duplicator", an item purchased from the Librarian for a large amount of money, you can use this item for an unlimited amount of uses. The portait is of Vlad Tepes, the real-life man who inspired the legend of Count Dracula.
- The boss, Count Olrox, was known in the original Japanese as "Oorokku" (オーロック), i.e.: Orlock, the vampire from the classic vampire film, Nosferatu.
- Equipping the Secret Boots (Platform Shoes) carries a description saying something like "Discreetly increases your height". In fact it does what it says and will actually increase the height of Alucard's sprite by several pixels, noticeably stretching his the pixels for his face, torso, and both his upper and lower legs.
- Fake versions of Trevor Belmont, Sypha Belnades, and Grant DaNasty from Castlevania 3 all make cameo appearances as bosses.
- In the Japanese Sega Saturn version, the scene where Maria gives Alucard the Holy Glasses is a little bit different. Instead of just handing them over, she tests Alucard's will by fighting him first.
- In the North American version, the prologue sequence is called "Bloodlines". However, Bloodlines is neither the name of the level nor the name of the game it came from. In the Japanese version this part is correctly called "Rondo of Blood", tying the game back to its predecessor, Rondo of Blood.
- The game's intro stage and initial boss battle with Dracula is lifted straight from Dracula X, albeit with a graphical facelift.
- In the game Metal Gear Solid for the original PlayStation, during the confrontation before the fight with the pyschic boss character Psycho Mantis, he will read the player's "mind" (in reality, the statistics of the player's game up to that point). If the memory card inserted into the PlayStation has any Konami game like Symphony of the Night saved on it , Pyscho Mantis will make a short comment about it, saying, "You like Castlevania, don't you?"
- The Japanese version of SoTN employed a graphic of a Crucifix (i.e. an image of Jesus crucifed on the cross) when using the "Holy Cross" item in an Item Crash. This was edited in the English version to appear as only a cross without the crucified Christ. However the English version of the game did show a crucifix at the GAME OVER screen. Incidentally, the original voice sample was "Grand Cross" instead of "Holy Cross" in the Japanese version.
- In 1998, Symphony of the Night was awarded Game of the Year by EGM. Recently, it placed 16th on IGN's Top 100 Games of All Time.
- A version of the game was planned for the ill-fated Game.com but was cancelled before it could be released.
- Due to technical reasons , many monster sprites (as well as Alucard's sprite) were taken from Symphony of the Night and re-used in the Nintendo DS game Dawn of Sorrow (Demon Castle Dracula : Cross of the Blue Moon)
Packaging artwork
Image:Castlevania SotN Japan cover.jpg|Japanese box art
(PlayStation version) Image:Castlevania - Symphony of the Night (gamebox).jpg|North American box art Image:Castlevania SotN Europe cover.jpg|European box art Image:Castlevania SotN Saturn cover.jpg|Japanese box art
(Saturn version)References
- Konami KCET. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Konami, 1997.
See also
External links
- Coverage
- Videos
- Other
1997 computer and video games | Castlevania games | PlayStation games | Sega Saturn games
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲 | Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
"Castlevania: Symphony of the Night"