10-2-1997		3-20-1997
	11-1-1997		-

It was Richter Belmont, the legendary vampire hunter, who succeeded in finally ending the menace of Count Dracula, Lord of the Vampires who had been brought back from the grave by the dark priest Shaft. However, one night 4 years later, under the glare of a full moon, Richter mysteriously vanished. With no idea of where to begin her search, Maria Renard set out to look for him. It was then that fate intervened. Castlevania, the castle of Dracula, which is rumored to appear once every century, suddenly materialized from out of the mist as if to show her the way. Meanwhile, powerful forces were struggling for the soul of a man named Alucard. The very same Alucard who had teamed up with Trevor Belmont to battle his immortal father, Count Vlad Tepes Dracula. Alucard, in order to purge the world of his own cursed blood line, had submerged his vampiric powers and entered into was supposed to be an eternal slumber. But now, he is awake and aware of the evil once again at work in his homeland. This time has once again come for the forces of Good and Evil to engage in their ancient battle. Dracula's castle beckons you. And no man can say who shall emerge victorious.

When Symphony of the Night was released, it was durring the time of massive pushes towards the 3-D tewchnologies of the gaming world at the time. This seemed to be everyone's only problem with it. But other than the simple 2-D graphics (which are hands down simply amazing) the game got great reviews all around.
Perhaps the single best high point of the game is the score of music found within. It is in one word...perfect. I cannot personally think of another PS1 game that had such an exsquisit musical score. Each was melodic, beautiful, and fit the respective stages of the game perfectly. Konami went above and beyond with this great title. Not only were there new numbers, but there were some remastered versions of older songs from the series. This gave it a bit of a nastalgic feeling for the player of the series.
And as for those 2-D graphics, that seemed to be the large complaint of the reviewers. Obviously this was the only 2-D game they have ever seen. The graphics for SOTN are just beyond what you would think for a 2-D game. This is as good as 2-D gets, without crossing over to 3-D. The characters, enemies, and animated objects moved very seamlessly in their enviroments. The backgrounds are ritchly detailed, and have a great 3-D feel to them. There is even great additions such as lighting and shadows in the spriting, to give it even more realism. Also the poor cuse of the series where you cannot do too much while on stairs has finally gone by the way of the dodo. The stairwells are now part of the enviroment, thus you can move seamlessly onto and off them, as well asperform any function you wish.
The gameplay is something of a mix between Castlevania's standard of games, and an RPG. This might seem a bit odd for the series, but it was done brilliantly in this title. You play Alucard, rather than one of the Belmont's. As he travels through the castle, in search of his father, he will gain EXP, garner a host of weapons, armor, and accessories, and level up which increase his vital stats and attacks.
The stages can be visited in almost any order, and can be revisited at any time. This gives the open-ended feel of a RPG. But the way the stages are done, and the enemies help to allow the player to forget they are playing a RPG hybrid.
The voicing of the main charactes was simply superb. These voices match their respected character as if it were the character themselves talking. I remember playing Dracula's Curse, thinking how Alucard would sound. His voice in Symphony of the Night was pretty darn close to how I imagined it!
The only real downfall is the challenge. There is a good deal of challenge, but there are so many ways to increase stats, levels, and other things, that it might make it too simple. It might take a new player some time to completely finish it, but after a couple of run-through's, they will know where booster items, and such are located, and get through the game in record time.
Symphony of the Night is indeed one of the greats of the series, and has been called the greatest in the series by many fans. (Including this web host) If you have not had a chance to play this title, find a way to do so! You can find it on the PS1 usually at Ebay, though you will pay for it. In 2007, It was included as an extra in Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for PSP. Though there are several modifications and additions to the game, it is still Symphony of the Night. You have not played Castlevania, until you have played this title.