Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Japanese: 悪魔城ドラキュラX 月下の夜想曲, Hepburn: Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasōkyoku, Devil's Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight) is a platform-adventure action role-playing game developed and published by Konami in 1997. It is the sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and features Dracula's dhampir son Alucard as the protagonist. Its initial commercial success was limited – particularly in the United States where it was not strongly publicized – but it was critically praised, gained sales through word-of-mouth and eventually became a hit. It has since been re-released on several gaming consoles and is now usually considered a sleeper hit and a cult classic of video gaming.

Gameplay

Like many installments of the Castlevania series, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night uses a 2D side-scrolling style of gameplay. The objective of the game is to guide the main player character Alucard through the undead-filled castle as he sets out to defeat the vampire Dracula. The game uses a non-linear style of gameplay; however, at the beginning, Alucard can access only certain areas of the castle. By obtaining the three forms (wolf, bat, and mist) that he can shapeshift into, he gradually explores the castle. A map carried by Alucard is automatically updated to show the player's progress through the castle.