Insert Coin

After a positive experience revisiting an older critical favourite, I thought I would finally dig into ’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami 1997). Originally released on the Playstation, I purchased the XBLA port last year but got distracted, as often happens, by other games before I had a chance to play. It is, quite possibly, the nadir of the Metroidvania style of game and finally illuminates for me why the term encompasses both Metroid and Castlevania. I had always felt the Metroid games were a more complete example of the mechanics the Metroidvania label is supposed to describe, but I suspect that SOTN – and the earlier Super Metroid for the Super Nintendo – must have been the two titles that originated the label.

I am impressed how the game feels both traditional and fresh. I suspect that the high quality of animation and the huge array of weapons, armor and special items you can collect play a large part in that. I also think that the variety of different endings is fascinating. It is entirely possible to “beat” the game by killing Richter without realizing that there is fully half the game that you haven’t explored and that there is a more . The story and cut scenes are pretty laughable, even for the time at which the game was released, but it is terribly satisfying to put the clues together to unlock the inverted castle and the chance to defeat Dracula. Of course, I wasn’t wise enough for that myself and had the secret inadvertently ruined when my curiosity got the better of me when checking a FAQ to determine the effect of one of the rings I found.

Unlike Psychonauts, which I talked about in an earlier post, it is the mechanical gameplay and level design of SOTN which make it a classic. The controls are spot on, and the variety of weapons and the equipment system as a whole gives you a lot of choices. Certain weapons do more damage to certain types of enemies. Using certain items together will open up brand new attacks or even a new area in the game. On top of the equipment, are raw abilities (like double jump), new magic spells, health and heart power-ups, familiars and even new forms to collect. When you encounter a difficult boss, you generally have the option to backtrack a little bit to find an easier path or some power-ups to soften the boss up a little bit. Sure, SOTN was not the first game to dole out abilities to open previously inaccessible areas of the game – and far from the last – but rarely has it been so effectively implemented. Much like Psychonauts however, there is a lot to be learned about game design here.