History VideoGame / CastlevaniaSymphonyoftheNight

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In certain corridors in the castle, the player will see an ornate crest on the wall with the initials "CD". This is a reference to the fact that these are [[DynamicLoading loading corridors]], where the game is reading the next area from the [[UsefulNotes/CompactDisc disc]]. However, the initials could also stand for "Castle Dracula" or simply "Count Dracula", avoiding an outright [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall break]], as long as one ignores the circle with a tiny hole in the center, in the middle of the crest right under the letters.

** The Shield Rod in the Colosseum (which can cast unique spells depending on which shield is equipped alongside it) is pretty useful for most of the game, but it becomes an example of this after getting the late-game Alucard Shield. With the Alucard Shield's spell, you can shield bash enemies for a ludicrous amount of damage while healing yourself and turning invincible. You can literally walk through any boss if its weakpoint is exposed. The one downside is that the Shield Rod itself is somewhat weak, but later in the game it can be replaced with a random-dropped Mablung Sword that is stronger while still being able to cast shield spells.
** The Muramasa starts off weak, but becomes more powerful every time you hit an enemy and draw blood with it equipped. Through grinding, [[MagikarpPower it can become obscenely powerful]].

* MaleFrontalNudity: There are nude statues for both sexes.

* AHeadAtEachEnd: Diplocephalus is a crocodile-like beast with the upper body of a fireball-slinging human woman attached to its tail.

** In both the Final Stage and the normal campaign, the Castle Keep has a hidden switch which drops an extendable staircase to a hidden attic, a call-back to the hidden room in ''Rondo of Blood'' that you could use to farm points and hearts. In ''Symphony'', Alucard finds some elemental resistance and the Platinum Mail.

''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}: Symphony of the Night'' (''Devil Castle Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight'' in Japan), a Platform/PlayStation game released in 1997 (and later re-released in Japan with extra content on the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn), has since become regarded by critics and fans alike as one of, if not the absolute best game in the ''Castlevania'' series. ''Symphony'' helped coin the term "{{Metroidvania}}", provided the earliest known entry in the series to avert the ExcusePlot trope (well, first [[NoExportForYou released outside of Japan]]), and contained a number of [[MemeticMutation oft-repeated lines]] about the [[NarmCharm nature of mankind]] that helped seal its place in gaming history.

* The [[Platform/PlayStationPortable PSP]] game ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles'' [[EmbeddedPrecursor included]] ''Symphony'' to round out the ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo]]'' saga. The ''Chronicles'' version included its own additions such as a new SecretCharacter, and redone script and voice acting. This updated version of ''Symphony'' and the original version of ''Rondo'' were re-released for the Platform/{{PlayStation 4}} as ''Castlevania Requiem: Symphony of the Night & Rondo of Blood'', featuring HD and 4K support, added vibration feedback, optional background borders, and full trophies support. The PSP version of ''Symphony'' was also released for [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and [[Platform/AndroidGames Android]] devices on March 4, 2020, one day prior to [[WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017 the Netflix animated series]][='=] Season 3 premiere. In addition to the PSP's changes, the mobile port introduces onscreen virtual controls and a "continue" feature which allows players to quickly load the last room they entered.

** The prologue is called "Final Stage: Bloodlines", (incorrectly) referring to the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game, ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines''. However, instead of fixing it in later releases, the final stage of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood'' was changed to "Bloodlines" once the game was released in English, even though it was "Rondo of Blood" in the original Japanese, thus making the Bloodlines name retroactively correct.

* ShearMenace: The Underground Garden area in the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version of the game has gardeners wielding huge shears as enemies.

* VideoGameSliding: Although Alucard lacks this ability, Richter Belmont has an extremely fast sliding maneuver. Maria Renard also has a slide, although she's only playable in the UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version, and the ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles'' version on the UsefulNotes/PlaystationPortable.