It's been a while since my last Castlevania game, so I figured it was about time I played the best one of all. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night came out in 1997 on the original PlayStation to not much fanfare, but over the years grew to become a major cult hit and now finds itself placed on many top-all-time-games lists and available as a port on Xbox Live Arcade. It shed the series' emphasis on linear levels for more exploration-based gameplay, following in the footsteps of the Metroid series. While the game is pretty great, the fact that it's successors follow so closely to its core gameplay probably kept me from being blown away by it- there's not much here that I hadn't already mostly seen in Harmony of Dissonance or Aria of Sorrow, games which long-time fans of the Castlevania series surely find inferior for not improving on the established formula. So yeah if you're looking for a somewhat retro gaming experience or looking to play through one of the highest-praised games of all time then give Symphony of the Night a shot, but you can get a pretty similar experience trying out one of the series' many more recent releases on the GBA and DS.
Good to know. I only ever played Super Castlevania, and only the first third or so, so it sounds like the best of the series came later.
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