29 Years Ago, Konami Released One of the Greatest Video Games of All Time, Creating A New Genre
It's March 1997. Gamers everywhere are on the edge of their seat for the latest release from Konami, known for their high-profile IPs: Castlevania, Silent Hill, and several other franchises that dominated conversations in the 90s. Little did anyone know that month would change video games forever, birthing a new genre with one of the greatest games ever released.
Today, March 20, 2026, is the 29th anniversary of the release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on the PlayStation. A direct sequel to Castlevania: Rondo of Blood, players would soon embark on Alucard's quest to stop his father, Dracula, and destroy Dracula's Castle forever, after the disappearance of Richter Belmont.
Symphony of the Night was an evolution of the Castlevania gameplay formula. Instead of taking the safe approach and making Symphony of the Night a classic stage-based experience, the game introduced exploration, RPG mechanics, and two large, interconnected maps that let players roam anywhere.
On Metacritic, Symphony of the Night sits at an impressive 93 metascore. Though there aren't a lot of critical reviews publicly available for the game, given its age.
The game would see particular praise for its level design, RPG mechanics, secrets, tight controls, and a 2D gaming standout in an industry that was slowly turning more and more to 3D design.
Symphony of the Night is often credited with being one of the first games in the "metroidvania" genre, a combination of design elements from the Metroid series (specifically, Super Metroid from 1994) and the Castlevania series. Metroidvanias focus on exploration, finding key items, and returning to previously inaccessible areas with new key items or abilities to progress further.
Recent metroidvania examples include Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Since its release, Symphony of the Night has been re-released on virtually every modern platform, including on iOS and Android, and is often placed on "Best Games of all Time" lists, like as seen on Comic Book Resources, for example.