A true port of Rondo Of Blood was later released for the PlayStation Portable in but finally, gamers can find it in the Castlevania Requiem pack for modern systems. This is a good thing because it takes the classic Castlevania formula and perfects it almost as much as Super Castlevania IV did.
It would also mark one of the last times the classic formula would be used. One of the most iconic games in the series, Symphony Of The Night sees the return of Richter, who is used by the evil Shaft to resurrect Dracula once again. With no other Belmont left, who will save the day? Well, centuries since his last return, Alucard resurrects to battle his father once again.
With help from Maria from the last game, Alucard destroys Shaft, saves Richter Belmont, and kills his father yet again. All this patricide must be wearying for poor Alucard, as he returns to his eternal slumber once again. This game marked the beginning of the Metroidvania-style of gameplay that most games in the future would follow. The non-linear gameplay combined with RPG elements and a plethora of abilities led Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night to often be labeled as the best game in the franchise, despite horrendous load-times and voice-acting.
This is why nearly all games following would use its formula. In , Dracula's niece Elizabeth and a dark sorceress start World War I as a means to spread death and chaos for Dracula himself. They defeat Elizabeth, the sorceress, and—no shocker here—battle Dracula himself. However, since John Morris is not a Belmont, the use of the Vampire Killer drains him of life with each use. This takes its toll a few years later, and Morris passes away.
An exclusive to the Sega Genesis, Bloodlines is one of the more forgotten titles, unfortunately. If it had been available to more consoles on release, it likely would have been one of the more successful titles.
Castlevania Bloodlines is often praised for its setting and structure: the World War I era and levels across all of Europe instead of just Walachia made for a refreshing experience with the classic Super Castlevania IV template.
Thirty years later, World War II has erupted and is creating even more havoc and death. A vampire named Brauner takes advantage of this, but, for a refreshing twist, it is not to resurrect Dracula. Instead, he raises Dracula's castle and takes control of it to become the new Prince Of Darkness.
Insert Jonathan Morris and Charlotte Aulin, the new playable characters. They work together to unlock the true power of the Vampire Killer, ridding it of its poisoning effect on the user. The two heroes defeat Brauner, only to be ambushed by Dracula and Death, who are also defeated by the Vampire Killer.
Rather than the typical copy and paste clone of Symphony Of The Night , Portrait Of Ruin experiments with controlling two characters at once. This alone made for unique gameplay as well as some puzzle elements but also some challenges. Along with its story which continues from Bloodlines , it proved to be one of the better entries in the handheld era and a strong return for the series.
It honored the legacy of the Belmont and Morris bloodlines, giving fans a proper ending before the Lords Of Shadow series rebooted Castlevania. Aria Of Sorrow takes place in Japan with the hero, Soma Cruz, being drafted into a new war against evil. He teams up with Julius Belmont, who has picked the family legacy back up, along with Yoko Belnades and Alucard under a new alias of Genya Arikado.
The twist here is that Graham Jones, the man who truly believed he was the reincarnation of Dracula, is nothing more than a crazed fanatic. Dracula has actually been reincarnated as Soma Cruz. However, Soma destroys the evil inside of himself, thus stopping the true resurrection of Dracula. Gameplay-wise, fans enjoyed Aria Of Sorrows for its continuation of the Metroidvania style. If it ain't broke, don't fix it is definitely the best way to describe this entry of the series.
At the same time, it was easy to see some fans were beginning to feel burnt out by this point. It didn't help that the story went so different with its concepts and ideas that it alienated some fans.
Now a cultist named Celia Fortner, who wishes to use Soma as a means to resurrect Dracula. Symphony has several different endings, and unlocking the "good" ending opens up a whole new section of the game. This extends a story playthrough to around 12 hours, with a climactic confrontation with Dracula, the true final boss. Symphony of the Night wouldn't be much of a Metroidvania if it didn't have plenty of collectibles for completionists to sink their teeth into.
Hidden throughout Dracula's castle are dozens of weapons , pieces of armor, magic rings, spells and other miscellaneous items for Alucard to add to his inventory. These optional pieces of loot often require players to backtrack to sections of the map that they have already visited and use newly obtained power-ups to explore previously inaccessible areas. Doing so significantly pads out the playtime, with completionist runs taking around 16 hours. Such dedication is a reward in itself, but unlocking over percent of the map also treats players to the best possible ending.
While the playtime of an individual run is important, what makes Metroidvanias so great is their almost infinite replayability. Whether players choose to speedrun for the fastest completion time, sequence break to mix up progression, or play as Richter Belmont instead of Alucard, Symphony has plenty to offer even after the credits roll.
Dying loses all of your map exploration, and until you get to the shop keeper, healing items are pretty rare. Once you start exploring though, the leveling system will overpower you as you retread hallways and collect heaps of experience. There are always enemies that can catch you off guard if you let them do their thing for too long. Just as a couple of examples, in the clock tower there are these harpies that will spam hard-to-dodge feather spread attacks after they fly around for a certain amount of time, and in the underground area there are these sirens that will call down a devastating blizzard if you let them cast their spell — both of which have the ability to stun lock you into a frustrating demise.
Later in the game, Beam Shooting Nova Skeletons can knock off more than a quarter of your life-bar if you let them fire, and there are these freaking annoying imps will make Alucard go berserk — helplessly swinging his weapon into the air — while flying snipers shoot you in the back.
The combat in general is pretty simplistic, with definitely a lot of room for improvement. Alucard is sluggish in general. You are given this dodge that has a ton of lag at the end of it, making it dubious to use as opposed to just jumping, so most attacks can simply be meandered around casually except when the telegraphing is slightly unfair. I think the castle itself more than makes up for this combat weakness however.
The first castle is nothing short of perfection. You can make your way to the boss room at the top of the tower pretty easily, but if you want to see all the game has to offer you need to explore just a little bit more. Symphony of the Night invented the secret ending that has become pretty common in modern Metroidvania games, and its most memorable feature is the discovery that there is a second inverted castle for you to explore.
The trouble with the Inverted Castle is that it just feels too easy for at least half of the content. There are a few good rewards, like some rooms grant interesting upgrades to your mist and bat forms, and of course finding the worldly parts of Dracula is rewarding as much as it is your goal, but the rest of the castle is just fluff.
To me, there are at least two ways to perfect this inverted castle concept. One way is to make all of it optional. Let the player go straight to Dracula from the outset. Then your task in this inverted castle is to level up before your ultimate goal of defeating your father — sort of like what Zelda Breath of the Wild does with its open world.
The other direction is to add a few more power-ups like the Poison Gas form and the Bat Echo, and make the inverted castle much harder — a true test of your abilities — that you can tackle in any order you want, gathering skills that help you with the rest of the challenges. Regardless though, keeping everything exactly the same as-is, Dracula is just too easy by the time you get to him.
Castlevania Symphony of the Night not only drove the series into becoming a standard of a new genre, but it also expands on the Lore and universe of Castlevania in brilliant ways. If it was just the original castle, there really would be very little for me to criticize.
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