PlayStation Doused with Blood by Castlevania Symphony of the Night – Today in Retro Gaming – October 2nd, 1997

Picking right up where Castlevania Rondo of Blood left off, Castlevania Symphony of the Night was a seminal release for many fans of the franchise. This was Konami doing what Konami excelled at- 2D side scrolling action. The difference here was that while there was a lot of action, probably more than any other Castlevania game to this point, the emphasis was clearly on exploration. Another departure is that you are no longer controlling a Belmont in this outing, instead you are controlling Dracula’s son, Alucard (Dracula backwards, get it?). Now, who has beaten this classic?

This was the first Castlevania release on a Sony console and it was one heck of a first impression. The PlayStation console was one of the first consoles to break into the mainstream and this brought in a ton of unfamiliar gamers. Symphony of the Night was the first Castlevania game that many of these new fans played. Konami went all out with this one and it showed.

Another departure from earlier Castlevania games is the leveling up system. Kind of like a “lite” role playing game equipping different weapons and accessories will give Alucard better chances of surviving what is coming. One reason this game is a surprise is that Sony kind of had a “3D everything” mentality with their early releases as they wanted to set the console apart from the past and competition. When Castlevania Symphony of the Night hit it was unique against the many sports games, 3D action platform titles and puzzle games that the Sony PlayStation was known for at the time.

Konami went onto re-release Castlevania Symphony of the Night on the Microsoft Xbox 360 in 2006, then in 2009 released it again in the Konami Classics Volume 1 also for Xbox 360. Back on the PlayStation side of things we got a hidden port of Symphony of the Night within Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (upgraded port of Dracula X from the Turbo Grafx-16 and Super Nintendo).

If you are a completest or are just interested in grabbing a copy of Symphony of the Night for your collection then hit Ebay and let us know if you can beat it!

This article was originally posted on [Retro Gaming Magazine[(http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2016/10/02/playstation-doused-blood-castlevania-symphony-night-today-retro-gaming-october-2nd-1997/), a gaming website I own.