Line #35 YMMV/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight


1	%%AlasPoorVillain belongs on the main page.
2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Richter's {{Motive Rant}} when Alucard confronts him in the throne room is unclear as to how much of it is actually Shaft's control... or if what he says is actually a legitimate fear that Richter holds of becoming useless after defeating Dracula once. Given that Dracula is revived once a century, once a Belmont has defeated him, that Belmont (theoretically) will never again face him in their lifetime, meaning their purpose boils down to fathering a family that will continue the war while they no longer take an active part otherwise. Is this just part of Shaft's brainwashing? Or was Richter legitimately afraid of this future, and Shaft simply capitalized on this weakness in his mentality?
3	* AluminumChristmasTrees: The "What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets" quote is actually a ShoutOut to André Malraux.
4	* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Even today, the game still looks absolutely gorgeous, using detailed sprite art that aged very well compared to 3D graphics of the time. ''Symphony of the Night'' was also the first entry of the series to feature the now immortalized, strikingly beautiful gothic artwork of Ayami Kojima.
5	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/{{Castlevania}} Considered one of the best game soundtracks ever.]] The song at the entrance, "Dracula's Castle," is very popular.
6	* BadassDecay: This game marks when Slogra turned from ThatOneBoss in ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' to an easily dispatched weakling [[WarmUpBoss even when you first fight him]].
7	* BetterOffSold: In the Saturn version, equipping jewels alongside the Jewel Sword increases its attack power to high levels, but the Jewel Sword is pretty slow, so it's not as useful as it could be. As a result, the jewels are better off used as ShopFodder.
8	* BrokenBase: Is the PSP version's voice acting genuinely good and an unfortunate victim of the NostalgiaFilter from fans of the [=PS1=] version? Or did the PSP version try to take the game far too seriously? Or is it really not any better than the [=PS1=] version as they sound too generic? (At least the [=PS1=] version tried to sound a bit more European, as nearly everyone in the PSP version sounded too American.) It depends on what you felt about the voice work in the [=PS1=] version or if you are a fan of Californian anime English dub [=VAs=] such as Creator/YuriLowenthal, Creator/WendeeLee, and Creator/MichelleRuff.
9	* DemonicSpiders:
10	** Bone Muskets (known in later games as Skeleton Gunmen). Those little bastards are able to take off around 30 HP a shot and require you to duck and wait until the fire, as well as possibly being in a room full of other enemies to hinder you. It doesn't help in that some of them are encountered early-to-mid game and while trying to input spells to deal with them, they can just snipe your ass (despite them having very low HP).
11	** Azaghal, the strongest sword enemy in the game, who not only is hard to hit, but will probably hit you during his knockback animation, dealing high (about 60-80 when you first meet him) damage.
12	** Valhalla Knights have an annoying tendency of dashing into Alucard from offscreen and sending him flying, especially when you first encounter them in the Colosseum.
13	** The Salomes. They fly around erratically, constantly put up shields whenever you try and attack normally, and sometimes when you don't, spam orbs, skulls, and cats that do surprisingly high damage, and are just a pain in the backside. Your only hope half of the time is just to get out, fast! When you kill them, they turn into a cat and run until the room ends or they hit a wall, and they can still do high damage in this form. The item that nullifies their cat damage is hidden all the way back in the first castle, so it's fairly inconvenient to get if you missed it.
14	** Guardians, who deal slightly less damage than Azaghal, but throw up a shield every time you hit them when they're not in an attack animation. There's only one attack where you can hit it without getting hit as well, but most of the time they're too busy spamming shockwave attacks to bother with it.
15	** Black Panthers. They move fast, deal heavy damage, and have a tendency to just melt into an invulnerable puddle of black liquid whenever you try to attack them.
16	** Frozen Halves: at first they don't seem ''too'' bad if you kill them quickly enough, but if you wait even a little too long to go after them, they will summon a screen-filling ice storm that can easily stun-lock you and drain all your HP in seconds. For added fun, they are sometimes placed in the same room as the aforementioned Salomes, who have a tendency to get in your way while you're trying to target the Frozen Halves, giving them the time they night to rain icy hell down upon you.
17	* DifficultySpike: The [[spoiler:Inverted Castle]] has one when you first get there, which sticks for most of it. New enemies suddenly do significantly more damage and have more annoying placements, as well as the level design being a bit against you at times.
18	* DirectorDisplacement: While this is remembered by many fans as the point where Koji Igarashi really started making his stamp on the series, the game's actual director was Toru Hagihara, who had previously directed ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIBelmontsRevenge'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood''.
19	* DisappointingLastLevel: The reverse castle, which is just the same castle flipped 180 degrees. "The Final Toccata" plays in ''six'' different areas, very little story happens here (save for the final two bosses), and the game suddenly goes from linear to having minimal sense of direction. And you can snag some [[GameBreaker Game-Breakers]] here on your ''first playthrough'', given enough grinding for [[RandomlyDrops random drops]], which destroys the difficulty curve for the remainder of the game.
20	* FanNickname:
21	** "Holy Snorkel" - The Holy Symbol relic from ''Symphony of the Night'', which allows Alucard to survive underwater and happens to resemble a gold snorkel.
22	** Referring to the game as "Soten" when speaking, referring to the abbreviation SOTN.
23	** "Jizz hand" for the holy ash subweapon, due to its...unfortunate appearance.
24	* FountainOfMemes: The whole dialogue between Richter and Dracula at the game's beginning. Every line is a meme in and of itself.
25	* FranchiseOriginalSin: the first of the "IGA-vania" type games and generally the most beloved, but it's also the first Castlevania game to extensively recycle sprites from prior games, in this case ''VideoGame/SuperCastlevaniaIV'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood.'' Thankfully it's pretty easy to overlook here, since it was only the first time these sprites had been reused, many of them got new attacks and animations, and there were more than enough interesting new enemies to make up for it. Later on, subsequent 2D Castlevania games would become notorious for shamelessly recycling sprites en masse, often with no modification. This came to a head with ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDespair Harmony of Despair]]'', a game released in 2010 made up almost entirely of reused assets, some of them still dating back to ''SCIV'' and thus nearly ''20 years old'' by that point.
26	* GameBreaker: Many, many examples. The game is filled with overpowered weapons that can have hidden abilities on top of that. Alucard himself can perform a series of secret moves that are actually available from the beginning. There are temporary stat boosters, a series of headgear that enable you to absorb HP from [[FireIceLightning fire, ice, lightning]], holy, poison and [[BizarroElements cat]] damage, and even a bonus accessory that grants infinite use of all single-use items, although you need to have beaten the game before it's available and it costs a fortune to buy unless you use the Librarian glitch described below. No other game in the series feels like such a playground for the player.
27	** The Crissaegrim (greatly compensates for average damage by striking several times in a row, can be used while moving and has the most horizonal reach out of any non-throwing or projectile weapon in the game), the Runesword (a powerful throwable sword), the Shield Rod + Alucard Shield combo ('''invincibility, damage absorption, and collision damage'''), the Ring of Varda (a strong stat-buffing ring which can only be obtained after beating the game at least once), the Yasustsuna (which, like the Crissaegrim, can strike multiple times per attack), and so on.
28	** The Mourneblade and Sword of Dawn: the former lets you absorb 8 HP with every hit, while the latter has a special attack that can be used to rapidly summon different types of soldiers.
29	** The Beryl Circlet isn't a general GameBreaker, but it is definitely when fighting against [[{{Superboss}} Galamoth]], since it absorbs [[ShockAndAwe electrical attacks]].
30	** The lowly Iron Shield is used in conjunction with the Shield Rod on various {{Speedrun}}s to make short work of bosses. The Iron Shield itself can render Alucard invincible for a few seconds when a projectile comes in contact with it.
31	** Alucard can throw three holy waters at a time. When used properly, this can kill bosses in under 30 seconds.
32	** The Masamune has a special attack which does 2.6x the sword's normal damage, has great range, attacks a large area, and leaves Alucard invincible for its duration. And it's possible to repeat the attack just before the previous one concludes for potentially infinite invincibility.
33	** The Mojo Mail not only increases the damage of your magic attacks, it also increases the attack of your familiars. With a sufficiently-leveled Sword or Demon familiar, you just have to sit back as they do the work for you.
34	** The Muramasa's attack power increases whenever Alucard hits an enemy that spills blood on him when hit with a bladed weapon. With enough time and patience, this has sword has the potential to be the strongest in the game. The Merman pool near the start of the game is a popular area to level the sword up quickly.
35	** "[[CallingYourAttacks SOUL STEAL!]]" This magic attack does fairly heavy damage to all enemies on-screen, killing most regular enemies, with Alucard absorbing the damage dealt as health. The only balancing factors are the high MP cost and [[SomeDexterityRequired somewhat tricky command input to pull off in a pinch]].
36	** In Richter Mode, the Holy Water's Item Crash, Hydro Storm, inflicts massive damage to everything on the screen. Deploying it in boss fights ensures that most of them are over in about five seconds each.
37	** In the Sega Saturn version, Maria had a special move that gave her about 40 seconds of invincibility and added Holy-element to several of her attacks. Unfortunately, it was removed from the ''Dracula X Chronicles'' version and other subsequent remakes.
38	* GoddamnedBats:
39	** Gremlins/Ukobacks leave many stationary fireballs around as they zigzag though rooms, breaking your momentum.
40	** Imps can dodge attacks and stun Alucard for a long while. This is worse than it sounds, because while he's stunned, Alucard will keep rapidly using both attack buttons involuntarily. Had a [use] item equipped to either hand? Watch in horror as your entire supply of it is expended against your will. You CAN shake them off by wiggling the d-pad, but it still takes a lot longer than you'd like.
41	** Flea Armors will prove to be an annoyance at first due to their usual jumping being combined with an axe.
42	** The ever-present Medusa Heads, which now have a golden variety that petrify on contact.
43	* GoodBadBugs:
44	** When playing in 99 Luck Mode, Alucard can skip the conversation with Death and keep his equipment: this is thanks to the greatly lowered defense from the Luck Mode combined with the special knockback animation you get if you take half or more of your max HP in damage from a single hit, allowing you to take a hit from one of the Wargs' charge attacks and be sent flying through the room where you encounter Death. You get the Shield Rod reasonably early in the first castle, which means you get to start owning bosses with the Alucard Shield combo early. Hysterically, this bug is a bit of a an embarrassing spot for IGA, as he personally programmed 99 Luck Mode not realizing this might happen.
45	** The PSP version (which was later ported to the PS4 as part of the ''Requiem'' collection) makes this trick even easier to perform, as the player simply needs to leave the room where Death is in right before the cutscene that announces his arrival. Doing so bypasses the part where Alucard's equipment is stolen; considering that the player can do this on a normal run without using 99 Luck mode (thus bypassing playing with the massively lowered stats it would give the player), this simple trick makes it even easier to break the game in half from the offset.
46	** By using the Sword Brothers spell in Master Librarian's room to enable them to open the menu while within the Librarian's menu, the player can use a glitch that may quickly maximize Alucard's money by selling him gem rings you no longer have, with negative numbers doing funny things when not anticipated by programmers, ending up with 255 of them and then selling those. This was one of the very few bugs actually fixed in the PSP version, unfortunately.
47	** The original [=PS1=] version of the game has a weird glitch involving a room with Frozen Shades: if you use the wolf form to quickly dash through the room until you hit an underwater wall, avoid killing the first and last Frozen Shade, attack right when you hit the wall and then jump out of the water onto the Ferryman's boat while backdashing back to the Frozen Shade with your shield out, turn into a wolf in mid-air over it and fall on it, the game goes into slow motion until you change screens and all items in the area will respawn infinitely, allowing you to max out your HP and hearts by collecting the respective Max Ups positioned next to each other in another part of the area, along with being able to get additional copies of any other items found in the area. If it sounds too obscure and random to believe, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dmxreEueX0 see this.]]
48	** Using the Faerie Card in a certain manner can cause corrupt save games and mess up the inventory. Using this with a very specific set of items placed in a certain order in the inventory can cause the game to arbitrarily run the hex values of said items as assembly code, telling the game to go straight to the ending -- the best one, to boot. Demonstrated by speedrunner Cosmo in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc56JEd1qxA this video.]]
49	** It's possible to glitch other item effects onto the monsters that are summoned via Monster Vial.
50	* GoodBadTranslation: The original translation appears to have been done by a mildly concussed ''Lord of the Rings'' fan with a very tenuous grasp of the English language. It's still very beloved by fans and is extremely quotable.
51	* GrowingTheBeard: Following [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood its predecessor's example]], the storytelling was revamped and given much more thought. Fully voice acted and with a driving mystery, the game also expanded Dracula's characterization, distinguishing him from being the generic vampire lord he was prior to creating the TragicVillain that the franchise is so well known for. This helped solidify ''Castlevania'''s own narrative identity, separate from [[Literature/{{Dracula}} the works that inspired it]] while still paying homage.
52	* HilariousInHindsight: Thanks to the largely-anonymous nature of video game voice acting at the time, this completely flew over everybody's head, but after years of dedicated internet archaeology it turns out Richter and Dracula are voiced by [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 Chris Redfield]] and [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]], the two preeminent survival horror protagonists of the [=PSX=] era (mind, it was a little easier to notice the similarities between Richter and Chris since actor Scott [=McCullough=] used the same voice for both).
53	* ItWasHisSled: The Reverse Castle. Nothing in the game hints at its existence until you succeed in unlocking it -- the game even tries to trick you into thinking that the normal castle is all there is to see with the map completion percentage. Nowadays, very few players fall for it.
54	* ItsEasySoItSucks: Even without the numerous [[GameBreaker Game-Breakers]], the game is definitely one of the easiest in what was until then a NintendoHard series, annoying many long-term fans. Later games taking Symphonys formula and adding more difficulty, especially ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'', has further exacerbated this.
55	* JustHereForGodzilla: Many people bought ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles Dracula X Chronicles]]'' just for the port of ''Symphony of the Night''. [[BrokenBase A few of them]] [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks were not pleased.]]
56	* MemeticMutation:
57	** Dracula's "[[HumansAreTheRealMonsters What is a man?]]" speech, as well as Richter spamming [[GameBreaker Hydro Storm]].
58	** "This game was disappointingly enjoyable": a paraphrase of part of ''Series/GamingInTheClintonYears'''s review of the game, which was riffed on by WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}.
59	** [[WebAnimation/ADayInDraculasLife Courtesy of Kajetokun]]: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrze-nKw9zQ "What is a man!? A miserable pile of BUUUUUULLSHIT!"]]
60	** "DARK METAMORPHOSIS!"
61	** "Behold my true form, and this pear!"[[note]]A {{Mondegreen}} of "...and despair!" thanks to the VA's over the top line reading[[/note]]
62	* {{Narm}}: When you fight Dracula as the FinalBoss, one of his attacks involves summoning a previously defeated boss, only to crush it in his claws and consume the resulting blood; but the sound effect picked for the crushing is a Hanna-Barbera-style squish sound, which makes the whole thing unintentionally hilarious.
63	* NarmCharm:
64	** The game is infamous for its PurpleProse writing and [[HamToHamCombat extremely hammy acting]], but fans nonetheless love it - the former because it fits surprisingly well with the game's old-timey GothicHorror aesthetic, and latter because it's [[RuleOfFun just plain fun to listen to]]. The [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks rewrites and new voice acting]] in the PSP port irked a few fans.
65	** The original ending theme "I Am The Wind" is cheesier than a Stromboli with its sappy lyrics and Kenny G-ish soprano sax, yet many fans still have a soft spot for it.
66	* OlderThanTheyThink:
67	** ''Symphony of the Night'' is not the series' first foray into {{Metroidvania}}-style outings. That honor goes to ''Vampire Killer'' for the Platform/{{MSX2}} in 1986, followed by ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'' the following year. Given that Creator/{{Konami}} was still experimenting with the subgenre in those games, coupled with the former's general obscurity and the latter's many GuideDangIt moments, as well as the fact that both of them released prior to the seminal ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', ''[=SotN=]'' would overshadow both titles and become the blueprint all future 2D entries would follow (remakes notwithstanding).
68	** [[PopCulturalOsmosis Contrary to what the internet may believe]], Dracula's "What is man? A miserable little pile of secrets!" line is actually a André Malraux quote. This is also NewerThanTheyThink as the quote doesn't appear in the original Japanese dialog.
69	** The famous moment in the above scene where Dracula finishes his wine glass and tosses it to the ground before the fight begins doesn't originate from this game either. It first appeared in the original Platform/SharpX68000 version of VideoGame/CastlevaniaChronicles.
70	** ''Symphony'' might have popularized the "upside-down castle" gimmick to the point where it is referenced in other Metroidvania games like ''Bloodstained''. However, it isn't the first to do so. In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaBloodlines'', a room in Castle Proserpina [[https://youtu.be/wPOLwiF15e4?t=95 inverts the castle's interior]], but to a limited extent (i.e. everything is inverted, [[InterfaceScrew including the gravity]]).
71	* OnceOriginalNowCommon:
72	** Though the games design is regarded as overall solid, there are some parts of the game that many feel have not aged so well including the sometimes [[GuideDangit obtuse puzzles,]] annoying item management, haphazard enemy placement, and ''especially'' how ridiculously easy it is break the game wide open. While still regarded as one of the best games in the series, a lot of fans also regard ''Symphony Of the Night'' as one of the clunkiest games in the series.
73	** The Reverse Castle at the time of release was a huge shock, while there were games that surprised the player with more content after the [[DiscOneFinalBoss supposed final boss,]] hardly any hid half of the game behind it. Playing through a distorted version of everything you had already seen too was a very novel and unique idea. After the Reverse Castle, it became tradition for Castlevania games to have a fake final boss where you got more game after doing specific actions and exploring altered versions of places you had been to became common in metrodivanias as a whole. The Reverse Castle is now hardly a surprise and its implementation can seem highly clumsy given you have to fly and leap constantly to get anywhere, there are only a handful of new music tracks, and other than new enemies and the upside-down gimmick nothing about the castle is different.
74	* PlayerPunch: Dracula might have been specifically going for this in-universe. Think about the fight with the fake [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaIIIDraculasCurse Trevor, Sypha and Grant]] in the Inverted Castle from Alucard's point of view: he is attacked by perfect copies of quite possibly the only real friends he's ever had, and forced to kill them. ''Damn.''
75	* PolishedPort:
76	** The unlockable port of the game included in ''The Dracula X Chronicles''. Maria as an extra boss and playable character (re-imagined from the Saturn version in that she performs much like her ''Rondo of Blood'' incarnation), some touched-up sound effects, and a semi-rewritten translation complete with a re-dub by professional voice actors to keep consistency with the PSP version of ''Rondo''. This also would apply to the Saturn version were it not a PortingDisaster.
77	** While the [[Platform/XboxLive Xbox LIVE Arcade]] version is a direct port of the [=PlayStation=] release that sadly lost the [=FMVs=] ([[BadExportForYou outside of the Japanese version]]) and sound quality is slightly downgraded to fit within the file size limitations of XBLA titles at the time, it also has the usual XBLA bonuses (optional pixel smoothing, leaderboards, Achievements, etc.) while notably having almost no loading times and eliminated the frame-rate issues caused by certain effects.
78	** The 2020 mobile port for [=iOS=] and Android is surprisingly a full, solid recreation of the ''Dracula X Chronicles'' version that even allows for controller support, all for a mere $2.99.
79	* PortingDisaster:
80	** The Japan-only Saturn port. While it adds some extras to the game such as a playable Maria (and boss battle), two new areas and additional items, the novelty is unfortunately soon canceled out by the actual quality of the port itself: the game suffers from constant slowdown when the screen is filled with enemies, most of the graphical transparency effects are lost, and the game loads before and after entering the transition rooms between areas (you know, those rooms that were there to ''lessen'' the loading times in the first place). It also loads when entering or exiting the main menu and due to the fact that the Saturn controller doesn't have as many buttons as the [=PS1=] controller, there's no dedicated button to open the map: as a result, you need to enter the main menu every time you want to check the map, meaning a process that took a second on a [=PS1=] now takes around 30 seconds. This is because the game was originally built on a 3D engine (only noticeable in a few places like the FinalBoss), and the Saturn had trouble handling 3D games.
81	** ''Symphony of the Night'' almost received a port to, of all things, the very ill-fated Platform/GameCom, only for it to be cancelled when the system flopped; the general assumption was that it barely got past proof-of-concept until a beta version was uncovered in 2022. Shockingly, not only is the game largely complete and can be finished, but it managed to retain a lot of the features of the original (around half of both castles, most major bosses, equipment, leveling, subweapons, and the spell and familiar systems) despite working with extremely weak hardware. It's still a Game.com game, though, and suffers from sluggish performance, heavy jump physics, poor hit detection, only one very dinky music track, and a finicky password system instead of saves.
82	* RetroactiveRecognition:
83	** In the original dub, Dracula speaks with the voice of [[VideoGame/SilentHill1 Harry Mason]] and Richter Belmont with the ([[TheOtherDarrin first]]) voice of [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil1 Chris Redfield]].
84	** The woman singing "I am the Wind", the infamous closing theme? None other than [[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater Cynthia Harrell]].
85	* SacredCow: Not as bad as most examples, but many fans still stubbornly consider ''Symphony of the Night'' the best ''Castlevania'' game in the series, and is roughly tied with ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' among fans for the position of the best Metroidvania of all time.
86	* ScrappyMechanic:
87	** Alucard's absolutely ridiculous {{Knockback}} if he so much as brushes against an enemy, along with his overly long hurt animation (at least compared to later games like ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' and ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow''). Coupled with hard-to-hit enemies and tight corridors and later stages can have you pinball between foes until you die, or get stun locked by a perpetual onslaught of weak attacks, or even [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking get knocked back into another room]]. The knockback is so ridiculous, that it actually is part of retaining your starting gear on a luck run, among other exploits (see the main page and GoodBadBugs above).
88	** The way you use healing items: you open the equipment menu, set the item as one of your weapons, and then "attack" with the hand holding the item. Then you'll have to go back into the menu to equip your previous weapon again. Why not let you use items directly from the menu? This does give the option of using reusable items without going into the menu to do so, but has limited application since most healing items are single-use and the player isn't likely to have a large number of them at any given time.
89	** Not being able to sell off any the many, ''many'' items you'll accrue on your quest as they become obsolete is quite an annoyance. Only gemstone rings are salable, making money grinding a very slow and tedious process unless you're aware of a certain exploitable bug. Meanwhile, your inventory will become progressively more cluttered with weapons, armor and accessories that serve no practical purpose once superior replacements are found.
90	* SelfImposedChallenge: Given the number of GameBreaker options at one's disposal, any serious challenge for most players ''has'' to be this.
91	** A common challenge is to avoid obtaining super-powerful weapons like the Crissaegrim or the Shield Rod.
92	** The 1-kill playthrough, which requires you to kill only ONE enemy throughout the entire game. You're still beating it at 200.6%; you're just limited to killing a puny Blademaster. This is quite difficult, as the mandatory boss fights count as kills. Once you become extremely adept at glitching through walls, it's not terribly difficult, but it will give you a run for your money if you aren't mentally prepared.
93	** 99 Luck mode, Alucart equipment only, no LevelGrinding or major buffs like the [[ArtifactOfPower Ring of Varda]] is one that provides a nice, meaty challenge without being hair-pullingly frustrating (your other stats are at rock-bottom, but 99+ Luck does wonders for your critical hit rate) or necessitating the player to find and exploit numerous glitches.
94	* SequelDisplacement:
95	** ''Symphony of the Night'' was basically the sixth "main" ''Castlevania'' game and was released ten years after the very first game, but this is the game that informed what the ''Castlevania'' name came to mean in the zeitgeist at large. The earlier games certainly weren't unpopular, but none of them hold a candle to ''Symphony'''s influence on the series or even the wider adventure-exploration genre.
96	** This also applies to its direct predecessor, ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood Rondo of Blood]]''. Ask most people about Maria, Richter, or Shaft, and their ''Symphony'' incarnations are what usually come to mind. While it's gained a lot of acclaim thanks to the ''Dracula X Chronicles'' release, it's mainly celebrated as the best Classicvania, whereas ''Symphony'' tends to get the credit for introducing exploration. Even Iga has said he feels ''Rondo'' is where the series first grew into its exploration era, ''Symphony'' just took it to the logical conclusion.
97	* SignatureScene: The playable opening where Richter Belmont confronts Dracula is very iconic and quotable, which leads to the odd situation where the most famous part of ''Symphony'' is technically from ''Rondo of Blood''. It helps that the scene was completely new to English audiences, since ''Rondo'' did not get localized until long after ''Symphony'' was released.
98	* SlowPacedBeginning: Being the first {{Metroidvania}} ''Castlevania'' game, it takes a while before it truly opens up, to ease those used to the classic games into the idea. To wit, the first half-hour-to-hour of the game consists of following a linear path in the style of the classic ''Castlevania'' games, complete with ''two'' boss fights in between. It isn't until you reach the library and the shop there does the game start to open up and give the player a choice in what area they want to explore first.
99	* SoBadItsGood: The original voice acting had this going for it for quite a good chunk of the fans. IGA saw to this being averted in the PSP version. In an interview, he admitted that though he may not know English, even he could tell that the dub was horribly awkward. The main exception is Robert Belgrade as Alucard, whom most seem to consider pretty good in the role (it's seemingly [[VocalDissonance incongruous]] with the character's {{bishonen}} looks, but Belgrade's very deep, commanding voice definitely makes Alucard sound like the supreme badass that he is).
100	* SoBadItWasBetter: The original version's dub was somewhat ridiculous between the PurpleProse and hammy voice acting, [[NarmCharm but people really liked it because of that]]. The PSP version was rewritten and redubbed to be far more competent, but this also meant that it [[SoOkayItsAverage turned out to be fairly unremarkable]]. Many feel like the game lost a lot of its charm as a result of the redub.
101	* SoOkayItsAverage: A common reaction to the rerecorded voice acting in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaTheDraculaXChronicles''. But again, see BrokenBase.
102	* StrawmanHasAPoint: Possessed Richter says that he wants to resurrect Dracula so he can fight him for all eternity, because Dracula only respawns every 100 years and Richter has already beaten him. While said under possession and certainly out-of-character for a guy who's not a BloodKnight (by all indications given in the previous game, [[HappilyMarried he was content to hang up the whip and settle down with Annette]]), Richter raises an interesting point. What is his worth once he's fulfilled his purpose? At best, he can train his heir to take on Dracula, but even then his son/daughter probably won't get to fight Dracula either. Once he's done his part, Richter essentially becomes worthless.
103	* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
104	** "Metamorphosis I" reuses the main leitmotif from Creator/DavidLynch's ''Film/Dune1984''.
105	** The song from the credits of the original game, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyXhNmsgigM I Am The Wind]], sounds a lot like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpZkY47-cVI Because You Loved Me]] by Celine Dion. Similarities include the melody and the sidesticks on the snare, which later transition to full-on hits.
106	* ThatOneLevel:
107	** The game is known for not being very difficult, but watch out for places such as an optional corridor in the inverted Castle Corridor with a pair of Blue Venus Weeds shooting roses all over the place while being helped by powerful Nova Skeletons.
108	** The Inverted Clock Tower keep is a chaotic clusterfark loaded to the brim with flying Cloaked Knights and Gold Medusa Heads-- your Mirror Cuirass can prevent stoning from the latter, but has poor defense which leaves you more vulnerable to attacks from the former. Just getting through this segment without losing a lot of HP can be tough enough, but trying to solve the gear puzzle in order to unlock the hidden room in here is a ''huge'' pain in the ass.
109	** Black Marble Gallery can be a pain, due to being full of ludicrously deadly Nova Skeletons and spike traps, and the architecture being much harder to traverse compared to most inverted areas. It also has [[BossInMookClothing Guardians]], as well as [[GoddamnedBats numerous another annoying enemies]].
110	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: As far as many purists of the PSX original are concerned, any change to the classic game is unacceptable. The re-dubbed script is particularly contentious, and prior to the release of ''Castlevania Requiem'', the original was easier to find as a digital download.
111	* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Olrox could have served as a more significant {{Climax Boss}} for the first castle aside from Richter. The fact he has his own specifically designated section and appears to be another type of vampire ([[LooksLikeOrlok if his name and design are any indication]]) would imply he might have been another of Dracula's chief lieutenants alongside Death and Shaft. Unfortunately he has zero narrative involvement in the story and his encounter isn't treated as any more consequential than most of the other lesser bosses. To highlight this further, when you enter Olrox's room you can sit across from him at his table and he even makes a small welcoming gesture before the fight starts, but he has no dialogue at all.
112	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Alucard's sprites are some of the most iconic in the series, with a whopping thirty frames of running animation. His cape is beautifully animated, and a late-game cape item lets you change its color, too. While the addition came later, Maria's animations in the ''Dracula X Chronicles'' port are also easy on the eyes in how smooth she looks.
113	* WatchItForTheMeme: Play it for the iconic prologue dialogue between Richter and Dracula, or rather, the original [=PS1=] English dub of it.
114	* {{Woolseyism}}:
115	** Dracula and Richter's conversation in the original Japanese was [[http://legendsoflocalization.com/lets-investigate-a-miserable-pile-of-secrets/ significantly rewritten]] for the English version, but this led to some [[MemeticMutation very memorable lines.]] Then the PSP version didn't actually translate the scene closer to the Japanese, instead going for a "smoother" version without said lines. The original Japanese conversation is similar to the version in ''Rondo of Blood'' (set after they fight, [[{{Retcon}} not before]]).
116	** Out of many of the changed enemy names from Japanese-to-English, the skeleton enemy chasing its head was unimaginatively named "Soccer Boy" in the original. The localization changed its name to "[[Theatre/{{Hamlet}} Yorick]]," going from a bland joke to a rather clever [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] reference.
117	** Nearly all the famous swords had different names in both the Japanese and English versions; the English names were all references to [[Creator/JRRTolkien Tolkien]] lore (Icebrand, Sword of Hador, Dark Blade, Crissaegrim and so forth), while in later games the original Japanese names stuck for the localizations.

Context YMMV / CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight