The well-known game developer, Japanese company Konami, has a rather ambiguous reputation. On the one hand, the company has occupied its rightful place in the history of gaming, having developed such iconic game projects as Silent Hill, Contra, Metal Gear and Castlevania (Akumajo Dracula) in the last decades of the twentieth century. On the other hand, the company has considerably damaged its karma and alienated a fair number of fans, making profit-making not just a goal of its work, but an end in itself, even a fetish. However, the developer’s influence and importance in the gaming world is still considerable to this day, despite its tarnished reputation.
The excitement of the gaming community
And the game’s 2020 project simply shocked gamers. Admittedly, the shock was a pleasant one. The company re-released one of their most famous games for mobile platforms – Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Released on the PlayStation in 1997, the game was a landmark event. Moreover, the game was talked about both positively and definitely negatively. The grounds for negative and ironic reviews was the disappointing English voice acting, which gave the gaming community a lot of catchy expressions that would now be called memes.
Some time later, the company re-released the game for the Sega Saturn, creating an updated version exclusively for Japan with two new locations and a new character, Maria Renard. In time, to release on more modern platforms, the developers had to completely change the game’s soundtrack, which upset a lot of fans, because the original soundtrack was full of, to put it mildly, strange verbal constructs, but people loved it, and the game in this soundtrack was very popular.
The difference between Castlevania on mobile and PC
The fundamental difference between the mobile version of the game and the console version: in the mobile game, the player can choose any character for himself from the start. The original version did not have this option. Some characters, like Richter Belmont, could only be played as a bonus after completing the game.
Connoisseurs advise you to choose Alucard as your character for the first time and play the game with him.
Strengths and weaknesses
One of the game’s strengths is undoubtedly its control system. It is so user-friendly and well thought out that it is a sight to behold.
Despite the first release back in 1997, the game has not lost its attractiveness to this day, as it is created in such an interesting and incredibly difficult genre as metroidvania. These games are characterized first of all carefully developed and large-scale world, as well as thought-out and verified scenario and character system. Therefore good metroidvaniya game will not lose its popularity and a few years after its creation. After all, there are very, very few good games in this genre.
Conclusion on Castlevania
The action in Symphony of the Night is dynamic, full of obstacles and battles with numerous enemies. In comparison with modern games, some moments of the game, especially combat system, look naive and even primitive. But this is compensated by such a well-designed overall gameplay that very few modern games can match Symphony of the Night in this respect.