Game Informer - Replay – Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

Game Informer - Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of my top ten games of all time, and I've wanted to take it down to the Replay room for some time now. That's why I got so excited when Reiner came by my desk to let me know that it was this week's episode. Alucard's 1997 adventure is a classic that plays as well today as it did 16 years ago, and is considered by most to be the best entry in the series.

[Becuzisaid]

Never played SotN. Don't really want to pay $10 for it on PSN, but I can imagine this being awesome on my Vita.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Dude, you are insane. Ten dollars is a drop in the bucket for the game you are getting in exchange. I implore you don't rob yourself of a gratifying experience.

[miyamoto]

one of the greatest 2D game ever made.

this game defied the 3D trend back in the psone days. and it still holds its own today.

Dragon's Crown today carries the torch of 2D game excellence

[kewlkat007]

Dude, you really are insane..go steal one if you have to..Great 2-D game and awesome music...

[Becuzisaid]

@kewlkat007 @kyosuke_Sanada well now I feel like I've really missed out on something! Alright, I'll stop pinching pennies just this once. I blame you both if I go hungry.

[clrlite]

It's amazing and probably worth $10 for the music alone. I would probably go with a physical copy and if I'm not mistaken the Ps1 version had some kind of hidden audio track or something.

[FamilyGuy]

O.o

SotN is probably my favorite game of all time...

Anyway, it's worth the $10 but if you want it cheaper you could look for the original PS1 disc as all PS3s play every PS1 game. Not sure if anyone would sell it for under $10 but it's an option.

I love every single aspect of this game:

The music
The art style
2D side-scrolling with RPG elements
All the hidden things to find
(weapons, armor, familiars, secret pathways an bosses)
Visually seeing your armor an weapon choices
Randomly learning spells, you could go the whole game without knowing about them.
The multiple endings and surprise of there being double what you initially think there is to explore.
The HUGE puzzles in the game that actually make you think of how to get to new areas.
The easter eggs like seeing your character frozen by a Medusa head as a demonic statue some times.
THE FREAKIN LIBRARY
The special moves and abilities you learn.
The epic boss fights
The special moves that come associated with some weapons. For example: there's a sword that lets you summon a flock of zombies to attack enemies for you. There's a dark black shield with lightning coursing on its surface that does damage to enemies if you touch them with it. There are swords that send magical projectile attacks out. The first sword you have at the start of the game (Alucards Sword) allows you to do a teleporting attack.

The game is beyond a doubt the best in the series and one of the greatest games of all time.

[adorie]

Don't forget the power of sire with the duplicator thingy. Love seeing raver-Vlad Tepes clearing out rooms. :)
(PoS is pretty OP though)

The only thing I don't like is the OP Crissaegrim that melts anything in your path as you spam attack. I felt that when you get this OP Godly weapon, the games enemies become paper, even bosses.

Other than that, this game is perfection and deserves a sequel from IGA!

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

God tier in animation, enemy design, music and gameplay. I still play this game traditionally ever year in October to make sure Dracula stays at rest by Hallow's Eve.

[FamilyGuy]

LMAO, we all thank you for your October services!

[adorie]

You too, huh?

I run the first 3 RE games, the first 3 SH games, Castlevania 1,2 and 3. Super Castlevania and SOTN during the month of October. Here's a bubble for being like-minded. :)

[arbitor365]

downloaded it in my vita and played through it again, last year. it has aged beautifully. such an epic game

[MEGANE]

best game ever!

[MEGANE]

what is a man? .....compared to this game!

[MEGANE]

The good thing about playing this game back in the day!... there was no internet or at least not for me ... no cheat codes, nothing, only worth of mouth. A year after I beat it for the first time somebody told me" did u reverse the castle?".... WHAT!... is that even possible.. .. I thought he was joking.. that make no sense! i saw a 99% ....that was i turning point for me . I still play that gme on a normal basis and beat it at least once a year.
Now im working on finishing with Richter, wish me luck! ... BTW playing it on Vita

[Der_Kommandant]

What is a man?

A miserable little pile of secrets. But enough talk… Have at you!

[TheEvilWithin]

I literally JUST 100% this today. My wife bought me an original copy for my Birthday cause my other copy was stolen. LOVE THIS GAME!!!

Going to go back and farm every monster for all there random drops to fill out the library monster index!

Already have an EPIC gear setup. Just need to raise my luck up and don't want to put in the code to start second play through with 99 luck.

[FamilyGuy]

100%?

You know it goes to 225% though right?

[TheEvilWithin]

Well yes I mean as In got the full percentage that you can get lol

[Hicken]

Oh, man. A classic in every sense of the word. Still among my favorite games ever, with one of the best soundtracks ever created, PERIOD.

It's a game I go back to at least once every year. It's just so damn good.