Castlevania: Symphony of the Night | Still Amazing 25 Years Later
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- Опубликовано: 26 июл 2024
- Symphony of the Night still stands tall amongst the Metroidvanias titles that it helped usher in nearly 25 years after its release.
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Released in 1997, Symphony of the Night would help to usher in the Metroidvania style of game (along with the Metroids) that has been an influence not only on the series moving forward, but a foundation for Metroidvania to work off of.
Despite its release in 1997, and many iterations of this type of game, both in the series and outside of it, it still holds up.
From the sense of exploration to the satisfying gameplay, and one of the best soundtracks around, Symphony of the Night is one of those landmark titles that I'm always glad to revisit. Taking inspiration from past Castlevanias like Castlevania 2 and Legend of Zelda, Koji Igarashi and team creating a title that has truly stood the test of time.
This Symphony of the Night review/analysis/critique/retrospective looks how the game came together, its presentation, gameplay, exploration, and more!
Timestamps:
00:00 - Prelude
01:30 - Making of Symphony of the Night
03:21 - Game Intro
04:30 - Presentation of Symphony of the Night
07:19 - Gameplay of Symphony of the Night
10:45 - Exploration in Symphony of the Night
13:20 - Inverted Half
14:32 - The Legacy of Symphony of the Night
Additional Footage:
• Batman: Arkham Asylum: • Did anyone catch the g...
• Bloodstained Pitch: • Bloodstained: Ritual o...
• Bloodstained Gameplay: • Bloodstained: Ritual o...
Castlevania 2:
• • Castlevania 2: Simon's...
• • Castlevania II: Simon'...
• Castlevania 3: • Castlevania III: Dracu...
• Castlevania 64: • Castlevania 64 Gameplay
• Hollow Knight: Silksong: • Hollow Knight: Silkson...
• Igarashi on Link to The Past: • Bloodstained + The Leg...
• Metroid Prime: • Metroid Prime 2: Dark ...
• Michiru Yamane Interview: • Michiru Yamane - 2010 ...
• Super Castlevania 4: • Super Castlevania IV (...
• Super Metroid: • Super Metroid 100% Wal...
• Tokimeki Memorial: • ACTION BUTTON REVIEWS ...
Sources:
• castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/C...
• www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...
• www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...
• www.pushsquare.com/news/2012/...
• www.usgamer.net/articles/cast...
• web.archive.org/web/200711030...
• web.archive.org/web/201712080...
• web.archive.org/web/201705171...
#castlevania #sotn #symphonyofthenight #boulderpunch 
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this game is what happens when all the planets align. Gameplay, level design, soundtrack, art style... everything is just perfect
Fun fact: 25 years ago, most critics complained about the graphics of the game being "outdated", it had average scores, and it didnt sold very well.
Yea, initially Sony was very much against 2D games on the platform. SOTN had a limited initial release.
Funny. I don’t see Toshinden having been re-released on multiple platforms over the past 25 years…
"Outdated". I believe the word they were looking for is PERFECTION.
Idk about that, if you look back on reviews they were very complementary. In fact this game was just as well received as FF7.
@@stacetheface47 LOL! FFVII was probably the #1 reason the Playstation was a success. It sold consoles. Sotn was loved and cherished by those who played it, but they already had a Playstation. I don't remember anyone buying a Playstation just for Sotn, but millions of people who used to play Final Fantasy on NES got a PS1. They would have bought a different console instead if FFVII had been on a different console.
@@customsongmaker It didn't sell well initially however it was as well received as FF7. It was through word of mouth and critic reviews that Castlevania SOTN became a sleeper hit. My comment wasn't on that it was the reason PS1 sold well was because of SOTN (no argument about FF7 being the killer app). I was correcting a comment saying that the game wasn't well received initially due to graphics which simply isn't true.
What is a man, but a miserable pile of secrets???
What is a game, but a glorious pile of fun? That game is Symphony of The Night.
But enough talk
Let's play!
Fun Fact: my grandmother of all people introduced me to this game back when it first came out.
Damn dude your output is unmatched. I didn’t play this game till requiem and got depressed thinking about how many years I went without knowing how awesome it is.
I got SOTN from a Sears department store the day it came out. Then I raced home and fired up the ps1 and was absolutely blown away. The graphics are just gorgeous. The soundtrack has a ton of variety and is filled with one amazing track after another. Combat is simple but still fun and rewarding with so many weapons to chose from. The castle is laid out perfectly and is an absolute joy to explore and to soak in the atmosphere. SOTN is definitely one of my all time favorites and is still a fantastic gaming experience all these years later.
This was a great review Boulder! Thanks for putting out all the awesome content man.
This game is the definition of the word masterpiece.
Fantastic game. I loved the dramatic theatre esque voice acting
Unmatched.
This game was the perfect storm for me, the gothic theme, ambiance, masterful sprites and environments, the music. I still wonder if we will ever see the likes of this kind of game in the future again.
I make a habit of replaying this pretty much every Halloween. One of the all time greats. Also speaking of music and merchants I've got to give a shout out to the merchant song in Dissonance, quite possibly the most catchy shop song in any game.
Boulderpunch: **covers Resident Evil games**
Also Boulderpunch: **ignores Chris Redfield's voice actor as Richter in SotN**
(The Librarian was also the Narrator for RE 2 and 3)
Played this for the first time a few years ago, and it’s now in my Top 10 games of all time.
Such a fantastic game. Was also my first MetroidVania, which has opened up a whole treasure trove of amazing games for me to enjoy now that I can appreciate what they’re trying to do.
What metroidvanias have you played since then? Have any of them made as much of a mark on you as this one?
@@abstractdaddy1384 I would say Hollow Knight has made the biggest impression on me since then. The atmosphere is insane.
I also played Super Metroid for the first time and loved it. Aria of Sorrow was great as well.
This game is a masterpiece. I only have a few complaints:
-Playable Maria, some additional levels and content were Saturn exclusive and didn't make it to console.
-The lack of inverted castle music, they kept reusing the same 2 tracks on every level. I heard they ran out of space, couldn't they have used a second disc like other games?
-Richter's health is ridiculously low, basic enemies can kill him in like 2-3 hits. Also some bosses weren't balanced for him such as Galamoth where you basically have to cheat to beat him.
-You can't unequip sub weapons as Richter, meaning that once you pick one up, you can't ever use his fire whip throughout the entire game.
The soundtrack of this game brings me right back to when this dropped and blew my mind
Symphony of the Night shows that good design and perfected 2d artwork can live through decades. Most of 3d titles of the time nowadays look dated and clunky, while Symphony of the Night is mostly smooth and plays well. Mostly. Menu is still from that era - it's basic, slow and not really intuitive, however, it's still well made - all info is there, access to all abilities and information is there.
My only gripe with Igarashi would be that after making Symphony of the Night he basically just kept making more Symphony of the Night.
Then again, it reminds me old joke with Quentin Tarantino:
"Mr. Tarantino, what can you say to people who think that you never filmed anything better than Pulp Fiction?"
"What? Has someone else done it?"
What I mean - if you're looking for good Metroidvania - you're still pretty much limited with Igarashi's works aside of couple strong contenders, but most have shortcomings that make them less desirable.
Also, I cannot say that I will forever remember other takes on Metroid formulas, at least in 2D form (3D, gladly, has many great contenders - System Shock, Powerslave, Metroid Prime, 2017 Prey etc. but those are different).
What is interesting that Symphony of the Night remains this important almost 2 decades later - you still can pick it up and play without many issues. And it is remains on being great game.
Back in the late 90's or early 2000's, I'd heard of SotN, but I had not played it. It wasn't until 2008 or so that I actually played SotN for the first time, and it was on the PSP. At first, I played the version of SotN that was unlocked in "Dracula X Chronicles," then I just downloaded the PS1 classic from the PSN store.
SotN was one of the games that made my PSP worth owning.
Had to get the vinyl soundtrack, so good.
It's been 25 years? Holy crap. I still remember my friend and I borrowing this from a friend of his. We stayed up into the next day and finished it on our first run. Still play it at least once every other year, still one of my absolute favorites ever. Outstanding game.
The demon familiar voice acting is the gold standard
The backdash is a pretty good way to get around early game, but once you get the bat transformation and learn how to do wing smash, you can get around much faster like that.
One of the best games ever made
It doesn't matter who or what the subject is. I see Castlevania video review on YT and I'm watching!
Of course Super Metroid was a huge inspiration. It’s such an obvious inspiration. I think the reason he must deny that it had such a major influence on the design of SOTN is that he believes people will think less of him as a creator.
You hit the nail on the head. It's also the same reason that he dismissed Circle of the Moon for so many years all down to the fact he didn't have anything to do with it's success.
Till this day, i still remember the full script on the intro and deaths first appearance where he took Alucard items, that's how iconic the dub was.
I've played this game this year and can EASILY say that it instantly turned into my favorite metroidvania
The only Metroidvania that topped this for me was Hollow Knight. I don't know why, but this game is so addictive with a balanced difficulty, enemy variety and phenomenal soundtrack. Oh and that spritework, so beautiful even after two decades and a half later.
Oh man the room with the 3 note melody scared the living ghost outta me XD
I still have this game from the year 1997 it came out (which was my aunt’s at first), and glad I never sold or traded it 🧛♂️
Wow.so cool man! A true castlevania og fan ! 🦇
@@SpectralSound. Thank you 😊
@@tayray88 np man and btw if your aunt had the game first,cool aunt man 🦇! Im a huge castevania fan and hope for a revival sometime in the future.till then...cant wait for castlevania nocturne on netflix. 🦇🔥
@@SpectralSound. I was 9 years old in 1997 and my aunt use to play a lot of PS1 games.
"This switch hasn't been pressed yet!"
Got me a PS3, and a 500 GB hard drive the other day, installed hen. Got retroarch and rompacks for all old-school systems. And about 100 PS1 games so far, this is the first game I decided to play again. Blast from the last man 💯
Fun fact about the confession room that I didnt know until my second full playthrough! If a blue priest shows up when you sit down, he actually leaves behind a juice item for you to use! Its random which one shows up, by the way.
This is still one of my all-time favorite games. It's up there with iconic games like OoT, MM and SM64. It's simply such an amazing game. Sure, there is fair criticism (like most weapons being kinda useless, but in the most important aspects (exploration, enemy variety, platforming, controls, music and graphics) the game really shines. It's also one of those games where you will always discover something new. No matter how many times you've played this game, there is always a small little detail that you did not know about, waiting to be discovered. I've played through this game countless times but I did not know that Alucard could actually eat the peanuts until I saw it in a video in 2020.
This is also one of those rare games where everything comes together. The game even looks great, 27 years later. Aside from the cgi cutscenes, this game can still rival modern pixel art games. Just look at Alucard's animation.
Such an amazing game.
I find myself saying the dialogue along with Richter and Dracula at the start. Can't ever forget those lines!
This was a superb, mature review - worthy of such an epic title. Well done.
Played this in the 90s when it came out and was obsessed with it.
25 years later and while there are other great metroidvania games out there,none of them can beat this one.🦇
This game brings up a lot of good memories in the 90s, seeing my cousins and uncle play this while trying to figure out the secrets of the game. Ironically, it's videogames that had us gather and be more social, this gem was one of them.
This is easily a Top 5 of all time game for me. I think back quite a lot to my 6th birthday as a kid when I was given a PS1 with FF7, SotN, RE2, and MGS1 and how drastically each of those games changed my life and my perspective and had a part in who I am today. I replay RE2 and SotN like once every 2 years or so and they never get old.
If you wanna talk about "modern" Metroidvanias the biggest example I think you can possibly point to is the original Dark Souls. Its a giant, open, interconnected map that gives you the freedom to explore and go anywhere but gates your real progress through the acquisition of items from other locations (the crest of artorias, the lord vessel, etc) to proceed, but also lets clever players sequence break the hell out of things if they want to. Its also a "action" game with RPG elements that prioritizes skill and forethought over "big number" similar to SotN, using levelups to even the playing field rather than make you blatantly OP.
Its also significantly worse in the second half, just like the Inverted Castle 😂
My Favorite metroidvania game
The soundtrack is just badass in every way.
I'm playing the mobile version and it's awesome! I can play it anywhere and I still gotta beat the game as Richter and Maria
I must’ve purchased this game at least 7 times
I played this game many times on PS1 when i was a teen and it blew my mind. GBA, DS titles and Bloodstained ROTN are really cool too :)
I got the itch so i downloaded it from the PS store. Did a non-glitched playthrough for a 200.6 ending with 2 rings of varda in a single saturday. Felt good!
Ah good to know I bought the anniversary collection yesterday
One of my favourite games for sure. Played it on the PS1, PSP, PS3, mobile, PS4. As much as I hate Konami, I hope they remake this.
My all time favorite video game. Best of the best!
Marble gallery theme sounds a lot like aeon flux music.
I got my PS1 mod chipped specifically to be able to import and play this 6 months before the US release, and it was totally worth it. It's surprisingly playable even without being able to read or speak Japanese (pretty much just scroll through the items and see what gives you the best stat boosts), but I did need some online assistance on how to avoid the bad ending and get to the inverted castle.
The standard for gaming 🤘🤘 I remember being upset that it wasn't linear and then was soon pleasantly surprised beyond my hopes
this game is embeded in the deapest recesses of my brain especially 'the lost painting" such nostalgia
Best game on Sony PlayStation hands down. No PS game has the replayability that SotN has. Fun to pick up anytime.
While I'm personally more of a fan of the classic style Castlevania games, there's no denying that Symphony of the Night is a great game that had a massive impact on the series.
Also, I seem to have quite the relationship with Metroidvanias as I always make a decent amount of progress but then find myself wondering where to go next at a certain point.
You also gotta love that 90s voice acting! 😂
Play The Messenger. Amazing levels, soundtrack, dialogue. Definitely my favorite metroidvania game in recent years.
i love this game so much i got a full back tattoo!
that's soo cool and def love this game too
I love this game so much i bought Castlevania requiem collector for 190$, damn
I played the PSP version first so that's the one I grew up with.
I always thought it would be strange for a vampire to go to confession.
I was playing Mirror of Fate and Bloodstained Ritual of The Night not too long ago but the charm has already discovered long time with SOTN.
This game need to be remastered!
The doppelganger Alucard fight was great until I realized that you can just crouch and bait him to jump constantly and hit him with your sword.
I never properly experienced the dopleganger fight.I just froze the time and went full auto on him LMAO
25 years?!...shit I'm getting old.
I poured myself into bloodstained and loved it. It's for now my only metroidvania as I usually do not like these types of games at all. Backtracking and long games usually aren't my cup but I'm interested in seeing where it all came from.
Castlevania 2 was actually my favorite of the original NES trilogy. It was the roots of the metroidvania genre.
ORIGINAL VOICES ARE STILL THE BEST FOR ME
This is only $5 on PSN for PS4/PS5 - tremendous value for the dollar!
replaying this again after Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth left me wanting more (a great metroidvania in its own right and as a homage to SOTN, but it's a bit short lol)
Death looks so cool in this game...
I played this game and beat it 2 or 3 years ago for the first time. That made me go back and play Castlevania 1, 2, and 3 (on my psp and those games were BRUTAL)
The mainline games after Symphony of the Night ended up on handheld platforms, a decision well made
This brings me to my argument: SotN is like RE 4 in many ways: it revolutionized the series and became the model for the later games... and was not as fun as the later GBA and DS games
I think what hurt Symphony of the Night the most in terms of aging was the unfinished feel of the inverted castle
If you guys haven't played the rest of the Castlevania games (and Lords of Shadow is NOT Castlevania after you go back to the series's roots) because NINTENDO, give them a shot smile smile
this IS THE BEST Castlevania game of all time and the music....oh boy
I still prefer the Soundtracks of Super Castlevania 4, Castlevania Dracula X Rondo Of Blood, and Castlevania Chronicles on PS1 (a port of a Japanese Home Computer Sharp X6800) and selecting the 3rd soundtrack version from Roland CM-500 synthesizer.
One of the greatest ever made. Nothing comes close.
I hope you play Castlevania Legacy of Darkness, which was a more improved 64 game. It might not have aged as well as the Zelda games, but it's still a lot of fun.
Outstanding game Outstanding video!!!!!😎👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
I remember playing this in my mother's womb back when it came out!
Jk, while it came out when I was in the womb, I played it in a DVD player that I had which for whatever weird reason could emulate a series of NES and SNES games depending on which DVD disc I inserted. Don't ask why that works but there were a lot of cool random emulators back in the 00s and 2010s in Asia lol
Castlevania 64 is HORRIBLY UNDERRATED !
Castlevania symphony of the night is one of my favorite Castlevania games like 140 BTW.
This game also makes a good handheld experience as well :)
This games insane
Considering to buy this on PlayStation store and doing a twitch stream 😁
Best ps1 game for me
Jokes on you,I have finished replaying this gem just last month XD
I'm interested in this
Back in the day, I had played Castlevania X, and a few other earlier titles. Never finished them, I actually didn't like them too much (the more rigid movement wasnt young me's thing, being a Megamanaholic). I have no idea how I came to own a copy of Symphony of the night for hte original playstation, but I remember that I had approached it rather skeptically, expecting to be bored soon as I had been of earlier Castlevania titles.... it is hard to describe how glad I was to be proven wrong back then, this was one of those titles I just couldn't put down at all.
This is what S-tier game design looks like
I forgive the stuff after the bad ending for not being quite as good as the first portion of the game, as the idea and the fact that the game didn't necessarily spell it out for you absolutely blew my mind.
I’m interested in this
Only thing you have to remember the map where to go and open all secrets doors
Classic game.
Nice video please make a video for the evil within games
"Do you know Hgckrichter Belmont?"
correct german pronunciation of "Richter"
We have this game to thank for Dark Souls.
I fucking love Tim Rogers! Action Button!
This game run on emulator at 4k it amazing.
I was never into these types of games myself, maybe it's time to chage that
For sure, you won't be disappointed.
Oh anyone else think Dracula is just this guy's self-insert but with longer curlier hair and paler skin?
Where can i install resident evil survivor on pc? I had once a cd from my grandfather who buy it in china but i lost the cd and i want to have my childhood memories back.
And where can i install RE Operation racoon city with ALL the dlcs since i cant buy it from steam because of localization?
And where can i play all the other games that aren't on pc. I know from emulation, but from which sites should i take the emulation? And those emulation can run with mouse and keyboard?
Hell yeah bois, BP dropped another fire azz banger!
Did I say that right? I'm old enough to remember this game so I'm too old to understand what I just said.