Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Review - Quickies Don't Cut It 

the single thing that gets on my nerves with SOTN is the astounding amount of music tracks in the normal castle vs the embarassing lack of variation in the reverse castle OST.

200.6% was never so satisfying a number.

Took me forever to figure out that the rings said "wear in clock tower" and not "wear clock in tower" so I would use the clock powerup in the Clock Tower.

It's great to still see this game getting different viewpoints even in this modern age; and I love how this is an actual full review video, and not just a 5 minute summary video with a rating at the end. This game is wayyy too easy to find exploits to the point where you have to avoid doing everything once you realize something can break combat(Cough Soul Steal Cough). This was their first attempt, but still. Powerful weapons are everywhere. The Metroidvanias started getting more and more balanced around themselves, but the only one I've found to be quite difficult was the most recent one on the DS, Order Of Ecclesia. Most of the enemies are placed where you can't just plow through the levels, and your full OP powers start coming out during the final phase of the game; which is Dracula's Castle. That's right, most of the game takes place outside of the castle until the final stretch, where it's basically as big as a castle on the GBA games.

soul of woof

I can remember being awestruck by the Majesty of this game when it came out. You just don't know how good this game experience was back then. I wish any of the people who are younger or missed it could feel how good this game felt to play in the late 90's/early 2000's. I can still remember how floored I was playing the open scenes at a friend's how.

What IS a man?

This review made me go tearing through my ENTIRE house to find my old copy Thank you for making me want to play it again! It's been too long

i remember i got this for Christmas in 1997 and when i played it for the first time i was completely blown away. i even told my neighbor i got this game and he immediately came over, we were hooked lol one of my favorite all time playstation game for sure.

I always wondered why the Sega Saturn version of SotN had Maria as a playable character but not in the PS1

Finally got around to playing this game, it's a true masterpiece with the likes of Ocarina of Time, Chrono Trigger, Dark Souls, etc.

That soundtrack.... It really never gets old... Makes me wana play it again right now.

Sorry it took so long for me to find your channel. Your videos are great!

This review is very well put together. Well done. Subscribed!!

So I've watched most of the videos on your channel now. I found it last night while I was pushing through the first 10 hours of Final Fantasy 13 again. I really enjoy your content, and I wasn't surprised when you said that you were inspired by Somecallmejohnny, because he is exactly who you reminded me of. Hope you keep making content and you see some success from it.

they will release a double feature with symphony of the night and rondo of blood for the PSN this Halloween :D

Just found your channel. I'm enjoying your reviews; they're really well made. Keep it up! Subscribed

That was good. I enjoyed that. I'm glad I finally gave it a try this year. One of the most appealing aspects for me was the RPG elements. Particularly getting stronger as I progress. I love games like that. Though I am a newbie to this franchise, I find some bits hard. I will try to finish this next year sometime. Nice work.

Finally got around to finishing this one. I had no idea IGA worked on a dating simulator game. I love how comprehensive your stuff is.

Dracula X Chronicles Dracula Dub, is also the English voice of Dio Brando in JoJo’s bizarre adventure, both in Part 1 and part 3.

Man, there reviews got me through some really tough times when I first watched them, some over a half-decade ago. It still amazes me that there are so few subs and views relative to other in depth reviews that aren't half as good. (And by the way, these reviews may be some of the most influential in the game retrospective-deep dive genre)

Holy SHIT. The saturn version has A DASH!?

The fact that your channel is over a year old and only has 1,500 subscribers disgusts me. Keep up the good work, I've been Bing watching these all day

great review man. Very in depth. Keep it up!

Extremely quality review and channel, bravo and keep it up!

You're now one of my new favorite youtube reviewers, even surpassing SomeCallMeJohnny in my opinion! I was wondering if you've heard of Matthewmatosis as your critical thinking style of examining games actually reminds me a lot of his reviews. Either way I can't wait for your next projects and I'm wondering if you're going to do the other metroidvania castlevanias in order to compare and contrast? Also will you be doing Mega Man X4-6? Thanks a lot for your awesome content and good luck for 2016! (ps. where's your accent from? I can't quite put a finger on it lol)

Why do people treat the inverted castle like it's some big mystery? The clues in the game all but tell you outright what to do. One ring says "Wear...clock..." and the other says "...In...Tower." If you're paying any attention to the item descriptions at all (which you should be, since they tell you items' special properties), you'll know something's up with these rings. From there, it's not to hard at all to work out that they're a set, and the inscriptions work out to "Wear in clock tower." between them. This gets you the Holy Glasses from Maria. Along the way, you'll have had several scenes talking with Maria about Richter. However, the most important comes _right_ when you get the glasses. Maria outright tells you that Richter is being controlled, and that the glasses will pierce illusions, right when she gives them to you. The fact that there's a whole cutscene for this should cue the player in that this is a special story item and not just some generic accessory. The fact that it's related to Richter should clue them in on where to use the glasses, if they don't just put them on and leave them on to be sure, which is also a valid choice, but basically, anyone paying attention should be able to figure out what to do without much trouble.

Not sure if your still looking at comments but, I really like this review. Not just due to the content either, but the presentation factor as well. Makes me want to get to that level one day. It is going to be a long road, but the result is very much noticed and inspiring.

I've watched countless reviews and love letters to this game but your title honestly gave me a hint of curiosity. Sometimes that's all it takes. I honestly would have ignored it if it didn't have the added "Quickies Don't Cut it". Well done. When I first played this as a young teen I certainly found it pretty hard on the first play. And you're totally right. It wasn't until I learned about certain item drops and the odd secret room that the game became extremely easy unless you choose to limit yourself. Oh and bro...you should always be prepared ;P

Didn't expect to see Somecallmejohnny, nice to see another fan.

I am now subscribed to you sir. you deserve better since you have good content.

Annette and Maria being sisters is not cannon.

Nice channel name. I very much appreciate how you pointed out the bad difficulty, upside down castle and that abundance of items & skills isn't particularly a good thing. I think I'll subscribe.

This game by far is one of my favorite side scrollers for sure. Though the spells reminded me of playing MK or SF. Cant wait to play it again

it's really easy to tell when it's Saturn footage, because Sega Saturn could never do transparencies, so they used dithering on the "afterimages" of the main characters. It would have looked transparent on a CRT, but modern LCD and capture equipment expose the trick.

Bought this today, very interested to see if it lives up to its legendary reputation. SC IV was my kind of game on the snes, so should be fun.

All I could think about when I heard Dracula's voice acting in the PSP port was Seymour Flux from FFX

no complaints perfect 10 music art style tons of spells familiars weapons skills man i love it

i finished super metroid and castlevania SotN... before the term 'metroidvania' exist. Great to see that 2 of my favorite games created a strong genre on their own: MetroidVania. The best 'tag' to give a game... once you heard that a game is a 'metroidvania', you know what kind of game it will be, clearly. For the good and for the bad things...

"initionally" lel 1:43

Great review of my favorite Castlevania game. I like your voice :)

I found the second castle organically. I felt a bit let down when I beat the first castle, but I thought (well I found this rather enjoyable) might as well explore it's secrets. I loved the double meaning of the rings, and liked the glass cannon play of Richter.

The peanuts are the best lol. U have to look up to eat it when u throw it into the air. 50 hp. Plus you can collect an infinite amount in the inverted castle where you would fight succubus

I've beaten this game several times and am seeing a bunch of abilities for the first time in your video. Cool.

To know that you're facing a boss, the music cuts off.

Awesome review! I hope you'll have a chance to do the other CV games. Of all of the Metroidvanias, Symphony is my favorite. I feel that it's actually more solid than the rest of the ones going forward. BTW, SOTN as a whole is a shoutout to the series up to that point. Not sure if anyone noticed but after the first game, Konami REALLY started messing with non-linear level design & this game is the result.

I like your video, very detailed. I'm subscribing.

I think I read something interesting in the idea of power escalation of battle manga. A good way to get around characters getting stronger and stronger, and having to be creative with new enemies and villians, the ebst way to do this is to introduce, Likely early on, a *Power Ceiling. Castlevania's leveleing system can take the same idea and put it to fantastic effect with the metroidvania style - "full castle" structure it has going for it. It did do this with alucard being OP in the first minute of the game, it didn't scale the enemies in the 2nd castle to be a match for him, balance wise.

I prefer richter mode. but my only complaint is that there isn't any story despite the amount of potential there was for one for Richter.

I just finished this game twice again, and it still holds up. SOTN also makes a great handheld experience too.

i played this game back on the ps1 when i was 6. GREAT TIMES were had because of this game. Just bought a psp go, supposed to be arriving today. Excited to start up this gem again.

I hear so many people say peanuts are useless and do nothing. Peanuts are HARD to use. Using it tosses it up in the air, you must position beneath it and tap the up button as it would hit his head and he catches it in his mouth. If I remember it, each peanut heals 50-100 health.

Metroidvania Such an Amazing word for an Awesome sub-genre

LOL! I'm too addicted to this game haha. I keep coming back to watch vids on it and I'm curious about where you got the funny looking mask for the demon familiar? :)

I have seen many reviews on the Castlevania series and a few on Symphony of the Night, and this is one of the best and most informative on Symphony of the Night that you can find out there. Great job

27:02 I guess Richter's portrait-accurate coat sprite also did meet his quality standards? :P Seriously, why didn't they fix that in the PSP version? That's the outfit Richter's *supposed* to be wearing. Just look at how he looks in the Colosseum.

"alucard cannot do item crashes" i don't think you ever got the cross, did you?>

18:25 "getting slothered" LOLOL

One thing to point out, just because I see it all the time in the video: That ring that shoots lighting? Hold down the attack button to make it a constant stream of attacks.

Without question: the BEST Castlevania Game ever made! Period!

Alien Solder, Gunstar Heroes, Symphony were the first three reviews I watched and ALL of them were extremely well done and fair reviews. Truly enjoyed these. Thank you! I subbed after the second review and this is one of my favorite channels. I'm glad someone else has that magical feeling when replaying Symphony. I recall having no job and winter was approaching in Ontario, Canada. The air was crisp and cool. Halloween was just around the corner and I was a night owl! I was hyped for this game when it was announced in Gamefan magazine with a whopping 6 or 8 page spread on the game. I nearly fainted out of glee at its magnificent 2D splendor!! Then...the game came out. At night, solitude and quiet, playing this haunting masterpiece, in between seeing my girlfriend and being a bump in the night, I was infatuated with all it dark mysteries. Ahhh...I do love Symphony.

This game was in the trash when I was working at Blockbuster in about 99’ or 00’, because it was skipping. I cleaned it, and took it home. Had never heard of it. I knew of NES Castlevania. This game blew me away! It was so much fun. There was always a ledge you couldn’t quite reach or a door you couldn’t open yet. The music was fantastic, and its the type of game that you can figure out if you just persist a bit. This is a definite top 5 PS1 Classic.

I don't remember Maria's game, but on the PS1 version Richter does gain addition hp from getting the health up potions (whatever they're called)

First played it blind a while back while visiting my grandparents. Late at night, headphones plugged in and the volume cranked, the confessional prank actually made me jump out of my chair, awkwardly trying not to yelp since everyone else was asleep. I love little moments of discovery like that in Symphony, makes me want to play more games blind. And if you thought THIS Castlevania was easy, check out Harmony of Dissonance on the GBA! Item crashes are ridiculously overpowered to the point of being pretty much infinite screen nukes!

Symphony of the Night is just such a highly enjoyable game for me. I love everything about this game, even its few weaknesses. Games don't need to be difficult. Kirby isn't difficult either, but never becomes boring. Same with SotN. Besides, this game was just beyond beautiful, back in the good old days. There are so many details and the soundtrack is nothing short of amazing. Not just the music, but also the sound effects. But it doesn't end there! The game also controlled incredibly well and it was HUGE for its time. There were so many small things to discover. I have played this game countless times on original hardware and to this day, I did not know that you could catch peanuts with your mouth. And the game is full of little details like that. I remember how proud I was, when me and a friend discovered the angel of the holy sword. I guess my eyes were just so much better when I was ten years old. Today, I do not see the angel. I know that it's there so I can use the map screen to catch it, but back in the days, I simply spotted it. I was like "Hey! Do the special attack again! I think there's something there!"

I really enjoyed this review man! I have never actually played this game, but I'd love to try it someday. You should definitely do some Metroid reviews too!

I only just discovered this game on the xbox one marketplace last year. Started it up one weekend and fell in love.

The inverted Castle is a treat. It make alucards best skills somewhat necessary and you can fly through with all the power and knowledge you've gained so far.

I find that regarding the power fantasy of Symphony of the Night, the game that most people seem to be talking about in the comments here is Order of Ecclesia. I love the game, and it's certainly as difficult as the others give it credit for, but if you play the game with two extremely fast, powerful weapons, you still need to pay attention and focus to get past everything, but you get the euphoria of absolutely obliterating something. The bosses and enemies have a lot of health for this purpose in particular, I feel. With the souls you can get and the buffs you can put on Shanoa, and the ability to spam two rapiers constantly, the numbers and damage you deal keeps going up but you can't disregard the boss/enemy because they'll at the very least hit you before they die, and at the most they'll still have most of their health left anyway.

The fairy past lvl 50 makes all your potions usable without you equiping them. She will use them on you when you enter, lets say, the lower fire area. SHe will use the fire potion on you to basically null fire damage.

Kindred spirit. My negatives after the first time through were the same, and we also share the same favorite pieces of music.

Regarding the difficulty, during my recent playthrough the normal castle was a cakewalk. Enemies only hit me for 1 dmg and whatnot. But the reversed castle kicked my ass, was a crazy spike in difficulty for me. That is, until i spent 45min farming for Crissagrim! So much worth.

holy shit, I've never noticed this before, but Alucard is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in the PSP version!

Started this game this week and I'm nearing the end, great game

Godsmack and Disturbed being chaotic and aggressive help me calm down. Slow and easy country music (that doesn't have a positive nostalgia effect on it) frustrates the heck out of me until I NEED to leave or have it shut off.

I would love to see a Castlevania game that takes on a randomizer. I've played and beaten SOTN about 5-6 times now, not counting previous save-loads. and While I do like that the game is the same all the time, I would love to see a game in the series that completely changes each runthrough, making it so that you'll never play the same game twice. However to unlock this ability, the player must beat the game at least one time, or enter a specific name code, similar to the DraculaX, AxeLord, and 99-Luck name codes.

I got a question to ask and i sorry for my bad english: The other version of SOTN that you mention is Akumaju? o another one? because i got the Akumaju version and i don't know why i can't play neither maria nor ritcher. thank you!.

In which platform are you playing at to have all the stages?, Thanks!

Richter is more durable if you collect the HP Max Potions (they are in the same places they were during Alucard's run). If you don't collect those potions, you will die very fast. Heck you still die fast without. Anyways, the game hints at the existence of the upside-down castle in the fact that some rooms in the normal castle have things that are upside down... statues, etc. Go to the room where you fight the Hellhound (or Death) and look at the ledges there. Note how the statues are upside down. I always thought that was strange... until I found the upside down castle and then I was like "OOOOH that's why those are upside down..." Also, if you go to the Colisseum, you'll note that the numbers on the doors are written backwards and upside down... well simply put when the castle gets flipped upside down, the numbers are written on the floor underneath the door. Also the "Loading Corridors" have an upside down secret in them too, one of the features on the wall looks more appropriate when flipped upside down.

Symphony of the Night has that added fun where if you just really don't feel like fighting too much, you can "visit" the areas of the game, same way as you can just drive around the countryside / cityscape in a modern Grand Theft Auto game.

the music has to be some of the best ive ever heard in a video game

Fucking great review! On one of my favorite games of all time

Hiding in the fog Where darkness meets the moonlight I will sing a melody 'til the morning comes Living for you only Take my hand and show me There will be much sorrow when the morning comes [Electric guitars play] Fearless I’m fighting the pain burns inside of me Find the forces of my soul No one can understand me Am I condemned to ride the blackest night alone? Tragic painting on the walls In this castle where affliction reigns So many died in vain Hear their distant cries Never again! This is my symphony My dark blessing falls from the skies I hear the voice Rising from the void Of the memories gone by Dark is the path for me I’ll find my peace another way Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day Torment and sadness unleashed through these corridors Fear is leading to the night Bloodline of vampires doomed to fulfill their need Once united by the light Father! Look into my eyes I shall kill you tonight to avenge All those who died in vain Hear their distant cries Never again! This is my symphony My dark blessing falls from the skies I hear the voice Rising from the void Of the memories gone by Dark is the path for me I’ll find my peace another way Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day [3 Minute Guitar Solo] This is my symphony My dark blessing falls from the skies I hear the voice Rising from the void Of the memories gone by Dark is the path for me I’ll find my peace another way Under the stars where we’ll shine again some day 'Til the stars where we’ll shine again some day 'Til the stars where we’ll shine again some day

I just 100%'d Rondo of Blood innthe Castlevania: Requiem bundle, and the second part of the port is SotN which I'm on now and I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but not knowing where I should be going is certainly part of the challenge!

Man, it makes me so happy to see so many people inspired by SomecallmeJohnny. So great to see it wasn't just me

I wish there could be a game like this again, same look, same character, just new areas, enemies, and great music.

peanuts recover a small amount of hp but you have to get into Alucard's mouth when they fall down

28:29 Hey that's Sasuke Uchiha's voice!!! Kind of uncanny... Now all i can think of is Dracula saying "Hey Alucard you wanna know why you'll never defeat me???"

FYI the pixel AR of SotN wasn't 1:1, much like the NES and SNES wasn't. Thus the 1:1 screen captures of the game are inaccurate. Imagine scaling 256x240 to a 4:3 AR, preserving the 240 but wideneing the 256 without artifacts due to it being represented in a NTSC signal designed for a horizontally-moving electron gun hitting static phosphor patterns. The 240 - 224 = 16 vertical black bars (eight rows on each side) were generally not noticeable due to the inherent overscan of a CRT TV. Anyway, it was pretty cool when you saw it like that.

Does anyone know where I can find a review of sotn that’s over 50 minutes long and of good quality? A certain review of this game was called the best review by RetropolisZone

I noticed videos older from 2015 that I just stumbled across

The game definately needed a hard mode, and going to hell to really finish off castlevania would be awesome (as a non canon scenario). There definately needs to be an overhauled remake. So many things that can be done; Vs. Mode, Co-op, hard mode, crazy mode, Boss rush, new game plus, more areas, more weapons, more spells, perhaps a new game mechanic, perhaps in crazy mode your life can constantly drain, play as various bosses/enemies, let Alucard obtain souls/summon demons, maybe have a map editor for people to make their own levels (perhaps even their own games), etc.

Square din't file for lawsuit at Konami because they had partnership and ideas given forth to each other associate behind the scenes.

Yes I got this game in 1998. Yes I watched this entire review in 2021 and loved every minute of it....BTW, 13:48 what is this room you're in??? Doesn't ring a bell one bit.

I wish we mentioned more about the familiars.

The difficulty curve was acceptable for the first couple of times, but after that it became WAY too easy to beat so i have to limit myself to not use any armor or stat-improving items in the game

18:25 getting slothered LOL

I would have appreciated the inverted castle a little more if they had altered the interior more (statues, reliefs, ornate motifs and design) in addition to changing the colors of everything.

this was only the first generation of consoles that made saving mandatory. So just be happy that it was even possible.

this is three years late , but the one time use items are supposed to be for when you get the duplicator which allows you to use these for infinity and become super powerful . (like filling an entire room with bats on the screen with monster vial 2 while also using the attack potion which multiplies their attack power, and also using Strength position and shield potion to duplicate the damage and on top of that Using the 1 time use Power of Sire which you can use for infinity. The game is a lot deeper. (with all that you can destroy shaft in 1.5 seconds dracula in 5 seconds) And once you level up to level 99, to show off, we can take everything off and bitch slap dracula with only punches. I did that lol.