Castlevania: Symphony of the Night—one of the all-time videogame greats—is now available on mobile devices for just a few dollars, thanks to a surprise release from Konami.
Originally released for PlayStation in 199, Symphony of the Night is responsible for the “-vania” part of “Metroidvania”. It coupled the non-linear exploration and upgrade-based progression that defined Nintendo’s Metroid series with RPG systems and the gothic atmosphere of Castlevania. More than 20 years since its debut, Symphony of the Night still stands out as one of the best examples of the genre it helped create.
The mobile version is available on both Android and iOS, for US $2.99 / NZ $4.99. It supports both touchscreen controls and controllers, with revamped menus designed for mobile screens. It also comes with a new Continue feature, allowing you (optionally) to continue from the entrance to your current room in the event of death, instead of being sent back to your last save point. For better or worse, it’s based on the PSP translation of the English script, rather than the original PlayStation one—meaning no more “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.”
These sorts of surprise releases aren’t unusual for Konami. It released Pixel Puzzle Collection in a similar fashion back in 2018, celebrating the company’s rich history with a free, very good picross game. Hopefully Konami will see fit to follow this Symphony of the Night release with some of the other iconic games that followed it on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, which still aren’t readily available on current platforms.