Konami‘s brilliant PlayStation game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, was released for the Sega Saturn in 1998, but it was only ever released in Japan (under the title “Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku“). Thankfully, an English translation patch is available to make the game playable to those who can’t read Japanese. The patch – created by ‘Knight of Dragon’ – also features numerous bug fixes and improvements.

For those who’ve never played Symphony of the Night before: it is a direct sequel to Rondo of Blood and is rightly regarded as one of the best Castlevania games in the long-running series (if not THE best).

In the ‘vanilla’ game the default player character is Alucard, the white-haired, black-clad “dhampir” son of Dracula (the product of a union between a vampire and a human). Alucard can use a variety of weapons that are dropped by defeated enemies and equipped via the inventory page. Some weapons are better than others, which you have to work out as you play. A rusty sword, for example, will fail once in a while and open you up to attack, so it’s worth knowing which weapons are the most reliable, powerful, and have the best reach. He can also use secondary weapons that are activated by pressing fire and up.

If you enter your name as “Richter” before you start a new game you can play as Richter Belmont, and the game begins differently. This hidden character uses the traditional Castlevania chain whip as his main weapon, plus a variety of secondary weapons, and can dash with a double-tap of the d-pad. Unlike in the PlayStation original, in the Saturn port he’s available from the start.

Finally, there’s a third playable character – Maria Renard – who is an unlockable in some versions of the game, but in the Saturn port she is also playable from the start. Maria has a long pony tail that is nicely animated as she jumps (she can do a useful triple jump and a jump kick); she fires magic bolts from her hands, and can also dash.

The game is different, depending on which character you’re playing, which greatly adds to re-playability. And you’ll meet the other characters as you explore Dracula’s castle.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is predominantly a platform game but it also has numerous Role-Playing Game elements, like experience points and levelling (and the ability to grind); usable weapons, armour and accessories; potions and magic items; an automap; spellcasting; Relics (that when collected enable useful abilities); Familiars (summoned creatures that fight with you), and even having two hands in which you can equip two weapons, or a weapon and shield, which is extremely useful.

There are teleporters, save rooms (where you can also replenish your health), some stunning 3D backgrounds, monsters and bosses, and lots of secrets and spectacular set pieces. There’s also a shop where you can buy items, read through a Bestiary of monsters you’ve killed, or sell collected jewellery. And – once you’ve obtained the relevant powers – Alucard can also transform into a wolf, a bat, and even mist (for passing through otherwise impassable doors).

Symphony of the Night has so many subtle and cool touches – like the elevator cables going slack, and then becoming taught again as the plummeting cage hits the ground; or character outfits that change their appearance – that observant players will really appreciate the polish that has gone into it. The Saturn version also has a number of exclusive weapons and items, and a couple of unique explorable areas. Read a guide if you want to know the differences between versions; need help getting everything, or want to deep dive into the game’s subtleties.

To top it all off, after hours of play – when you reach what you think is the end of the game – there’s a twist… If you complete the final battle a certain way, Symphony of the Night reveals its biggest secret… I won’t reveal what that is, but it’s pretty amazing. Anyone who’s made it through the entire game will know what I mean.

In my opinion Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the greatest games ever made, which in turn makes it one of the best games on the Saturn. The graphics and animation are fabulous; the sound and music are superb, but best of all the gameplay is absorbing, challenging and varied, and all three player characters feel great to control. The difficulty curve is also very well judged. Symphony of the Night is a must-play game, either on the Saturn or the PlayStation.

Note: there’s also another fan-made patch for the Saturn version of Symphony of the Night, called “Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight – Extended” that improves the game dramatically, as well as translating parts of it into English. It doesn’t look like these two hacks are compatible with each other (yet), so you can only use them separately. At least: at the time of writing. It could be a matter of time before they’re both rolled into one, to create the best possible version of Symphony of the Night for the Saturn. It could also be that this never happens. We’ll just have to live in hope and wait and see…

More: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night on Wikipedia