Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
This is a good game. The statement is something that you already know, since the game has been out since 1997. It created the formula and mold that all following Castlevania games attempted to follow, and yes I am ignoring the missteps into the 3D realm they were on the N64 which only had 6 good games.
Castlevania was responsible for introducing RPG level up and equipment management elements to Super Metroid’s open exploration theory. Anyway, back in ’97 what made this game so great for me was the fact that it was the first Super Metroid clone I owned. Let me set the scene.
Back in my formative gaming years the system of choice were the Sega Genesis and the Game Boy before that The only exposure to the Metroid idea of gaming was in Metroid II for the Game Boy, and short play times of Super Metroid at my friends house. The game that really illustrated to me how much I enjoyed gaming as a hobby was Metroid II for the Game Boy. Yes it was a horrible iteration of the series, since they zoomed in the game screen so tightly. But, hey, it was all I had. No other game I got my hands on until then allowed me to roam and explore the world openly. I had to copy maps out of Nintendo Power to figure out how to get to the end of the game. When Super Metroid was released I was only able to beat it after a rather cutting deal to borrow a SNES and the game for a month.
So, when I played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (SotN) I was quite excited that I was allowed to explore the game world with the same openness and on a PlayStation, a system I actually owned. Upon seeing the fluid animations of the highly detailed characters, I was puzzled why more games went perusing 2D options in the 32bit age. But I digress.
Playing SotN was the first collaborative gaming experience I had. Needing to talk with other gamers who were farther along in the game to progress further myself was a new experience. Just as the Metroid games had done before, I was out of my depth on how to get beyond the bad ending, and starting to resent losing an hours worth of progress because of an inopportune boss fight. This all resulted in me taking home scribbled notes and waiting until a copy of the map was published in a magazine to answer all our remaining questions.
So honestly I am biased when I say that SotN is a great game. Having gone back through the castles and exploring 200.6% of that castle again I know nostalgia is adding to the game experience. Though it still is, and has always been, a great game.
Now, I have just finished earning the last achievement for SotN’s Xbox incarnation. All that is left for me is to climb to the top my friends high score list in the conquering of the castle. Please excuse me… Important work to do…