Posts Tagged ‘symphony of the night’
Podcast: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Game Club
Fred is joined by Austin and guest John Learned to discuss what most consider to be the best game in the Castlevania franchise. As usual the discussion begins with the development, then onto the main castle, the inverted castle, and final impressions. After the end of the show there are also special announcements involving RetroActive Magazine, live shows, and June on the site.
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Podcast: Genre Study – Platformers (Part 2)
This week Fred and Jam wrap up the platformer genre study. They start with analysis the 16-bit era, which many consider to be the pinnacle of 2D platforming, and then move on to 3D. 3D platformers were an interesting impasse in that they marked the future of game technology and design while also making way for a strong batch of platformers that refused the third dimension.
Double Fine Has Some Awesome Game Dev Videos
I have always been meaning to watch the fantastic Double Fine Adventure! series spanning more than 20 videos at current that gives you the most in depth look behind the creative process I’ve ever seen. Always a likable team with an equally likable and charismatic leader in Tim Schafer, Double Fine nails it in this series about Kickstarted title Broken Age and all of the business and developmental setbacks along the way. I have posted the full run (playlist) below as an in-browser window for your convenience.
What you should also check out is the fantastic Devs Play series that spans 25 videos of development guys playing old games (like The Lion King and Doom) and even how to hack a ROM (they use Legend of Zelda), which I find fascinating. Probably the best episode, and a rightful finale to the first season, is a more than 2 hour video with Koji Igarashi (Iga) on the development of Symphony of the Night to kick off his new project. You can also see that below:
Koji Igarashi is Making the Spiritual Successor to Symphony of the Night
As Konami continues to sink into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the United States, its famous creators are coming out of the woodwork with new games. Enter Koji Igarashi – or “Iga” as we’ve come to call him – who is the man responsible not only for Symphony of the Night, but also the man who created the MetroidVanaia (or IgaVania) sub genre. Quite possibly the best Playstation game to release (we shall see when that Top 10 comes around), it’s no shock that fans were overjoyed when his newest creation, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, popped up on Kickstarter yesterday and fully funded the title in a handful of hours. Touted as the spiritual successor to Symphony of the Night, Bloodstained puts you in the role of Miriam, an orphan who has been cursed by an evil alchemist and is slowly becoming a crystal being. The first to receive this curse, Gebel (voiced by David Hayter thanks to stretch goals), set out to make Miriam a castle of her own to live in, but as his curse progressed he’s gone mad and filled the castle with demons and trapped her inside. As Miriam (and potential other protagonists that could become a co-op partner if the stretch goal is met) you fight through the castle in that classic style we’ve all come to love from Iga. While Fred does not participate in Kickstarter, the funding having reached triple its original request means that hopefully within the next two years we’ll all be able to get our hands on this game that is coming for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mac, and Linux. If you want a more tangible reward, head on over to the Kickstarter to secure your digital copy for $28 and your tangible disc copy for $60 plus plenty of other rewards for different backer amounts.
Podcast: Castleroid?
This week we tackle the “MetroidVania” titles in the Castlevania franchise to follow up our initial episode (Devil’s Castle Dracula). Fred and Jam briefly define MetroidVania as a genre, discuss some titles that originated it, and discuss Symphony of the Night – the most prolific of the series – as well as the multiple portable titles that followed.
Podcast: The Final Countdown – Part 3
We continue our Final Countdown series that swaps the wonderful stories associated with some of the most beloved games of all time. We still couldn’t quite wrap it up, but we crank through games 39-10 and break down some of the biggest titles ever released. This time around Fred from Gaming History 101 is joined by Trees from EZ Mode Unlocked and Jake/Jacob from Gameranx.
Review: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
Console: Sony Playstation (also released on Sega Saturn in Japan only)
Released: 1997
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Japan? Yes (as Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasokyoku Translation: Devil’s Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight)
Instruction Manual: Not necessary – Link
Difficulty: Moderate
Played it as a child? No
Value: $22.87 (used) $64.45 (new) (pricecharting.com) – NOTE: There are two versions: original and greatest hits. Original is much more rare and expensive, so adjust your buying habits appropriately.
Price: $15-25 (used GH) $35-$60 (used original) $90-$130 (new GH) $400 (new original) on eBay
Digital Release? Yes – released as PSOne title on PS3/PSP and on XBLA – $10.00 for all versions. Also available with Rondo of Blood in the Dracula X Collection for PSP – $15 digital, varies on UMD.
***We also did a podcast on this and other Castlevania titles like it here.***
While Rondo of Blood may be the hidden gem of the Castlevania series, Symphony of the Night is anything but. There wasn’t a Playstation gamer around that didn’t see this release back in 1997, bringing a much-needed change to the traditional formula. Every Castlevania game that released on consoles seemed to push the hardware to do things it was never intended to do and usually had amazing results, so it was interesting that in a world consumed by 3D polygonal graphics Symphony of the Night was a 2D side scroller. In Japan, the series has a much easier way to identify the games that go together – main campaign titles often wore Akumajo in the title and in this case Dracula X – but in America we had not received (and most of us had not played) Rondo of Blood. The game starts out with you climbing the stairs to Dracula’s chamber at the end of Rondo and you re-create the final fight with Dracula (of which you cannot die). Then a long bit of lore scrolls the screen and next thing you know you’re playing as Alucard, Dracula’s son, and you’re rushing to Castlevania to rescue Richter from its curse. It was like being dropped into the middle of an epic you had not previously learned the story of. Frankly, it didn’t matter, and even today playing Rondo of Blood only assists in giving you background detail because like all other Castlevania games it’s the gameplay and level design that keeps you hooked.
Feature: Castlevania Retrospective
Few titles that started life on the NES still exist today. Of those titles there are even fewer that weren’t developed by Nintendo. Konami is one of the few companies that has a list of titles like this, although many of them suffer from very few updates and recent iterations such as the Metal Gear (Solid) series and Gradius. Castlevania does not have this problem. In fact, it still seems to withstand the test of time and despite trying to reinvent itself so many times, celebrates at least mild success with each new iteration. As a gamer who got his first console, an NES, in 1988, I have literally grown up alongside the series and played most titles it has to offer. If you don’t know Castlevania or have never played a single game, this will hopefully explain why you need to.
Gaming History 101 