Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (GameCom)

What do you here?

JP release: N/A
NA release: N/A
EU release: N/A
Developer: Tiger
Publisher: Tiger
Review: N/A
Platforms: Game.Com
Version Played: Game.Com

The Game.Com is a handheld device from Tiger Electronics that differs from their previous ones. It wasn’t a single game with a calculator screen, but a full handheld device with cartridges. The timing was probably the best, as the Game Boy was 8 years old, technology had moved on a lot and the Game Boy Color wasn’t out yet. It was even incredibly cheap, launching at only $70. However, the device being so cheap combined with a focus on PDA features meant that it just didn’t run games well, with a screen that was difficult to see with ghosting issues.

Tiger did try to get developers on board, with franchises such as Sonic, Duke Nukem and Resident Evil on board. However, Tiger’s stance on not wanting to simplify games too much (which made their LCD handhelds so bad) seemed to be in place, resulting in games that just didn’t work on the system. Its rapid failure led to the cancellation of games such as Turok, Metal Gear Solid and Symphony of the Night. The prototype of Symphony of the Night has since leaked, and it’s terrible, but also extremely impressive at the same time.

Frankly, it just doesn’t play well. Alucard’s jump is atrocious, as he doesn’t like jumping to the side. You kind of have to jump upwards then try to move left or right at the height of the jump. Even the leap stone (which you get very early on in this version) doesn’t help much, so some really basic jumps can take over a dozen attempts. Attacking and moving is also very delayed, so you can’t really attack or jump over enemies without getting hit, and with powerful enemies like the Tin Man appearing early on, is a big problem. I tried many times to make it past the Marble Gallery, but just couldn’t.

I do know that the game goes far beyond here, and is a large map similar to the main version (slightly simplified with rooms missing), and even an inventory feature, different weapons, familiars, spells and all that. The majority of the game is here, just with icons in different places (possibly more to do with debugging at this point and not where they would be in the final version). Even the inverted castle and final bosses are here. It’s near enough the full Symphony of the Night experience on a handheld.

But, the Game.Com just couldn’t handle the gameplay. It seems like a ton of effort had gone into putting Symphony of the Night on the System, and it’s astounding as to how much of the game had actually made the transition to this system. But, like with all Tiger products, the limitations of the system were not accounted for. That said, even in its unfinished state, this port of Symphony of the Night is probably the best game on the system.