Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Cheats & Secrets for iOS, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Xbox 360

Konami’s 1997 classic Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the best PlayStation games and an important footnote in the Castlevania franchise. Originally released on March 20, 1997, the title would become one of the most important games of the 5th console generation, acting as the genesis for the “Metroidvania” portmanteau and creating that subgenre of action-platformers. The initial releases of the title would be on the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn, with the PlayStation version receiving several re-releases as part of the PSN’s PSOne Classics program. The first true port of the game would come about courtesy of the Xbox 360 version, released in 2006. A version for Android and iOS would follow in 2020.

In addition to being one of the more important games in the PS1 library, Symphony of the Night is also one of the more critically and commercially successful games in the Castlevania series. While other franchises were making the transition to 3D, SotN‘s lead designer Koji Igarashi decided to play to the series’ strengths and stick to 2D, sprite-based graphics. As a result, Symphony of the Night has a timeless quality that evades many other games of the era. Symphony of the Night maintains an impressive 93% review aggregate score, is commonly cited as one of the greatest and most important video games ever made, and has sold an estimated 1.27 million units.

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Premise

The story of Symphony of the Night picks up just a few years after the events of Castlevania: Bloodlines. Following Richter Belmont’s victory over Count Dracula, the vampire’s castle disappears and all seemingly goes back to normal. However, one night the castle mysteriously reappears, prompting Richter to investigate. After entering the castle, Richter does not re-emerge, instead laying claim to being the count of the castle and its lord. Sensing the foreboding evil encroaching the land, Dracula’s son Alucard awakens from a centuries-long slumber to enter the castle and investigate, ultimately hoping to prevent the resurrection of the Dark Lord Dracula and the end of the world.

Gameplay in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is different from previous 2D entries in the series and borrows more from The Legend of Zelda and Super Metroid than its predecessors in the franchise. As such, SotN would go on to become the foundation for half of the portmanteau used to describe games with similar mechanics: the Metroidvania. Players explore a vast, interconnected map and defeat enemies and bosses along the way. Certain sections of the map are inaccessible but become available to players later on after acquiring special upgrades and items (a process known as “ability gating”). Defeating enemies nets the player experience, which translates into leveling up and increased stats.

Symphony of the Night also features a fully-fledged gear and equipment system with hundreds of weapons, armor, and accessories to equip. It’s possible to miss out on the entire second half of the game without acquiring certain special items, after which a special boss fight opens up an upside-down version of the normal castle complete with new bosses, enemies, and items to collect.

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Main Characters

The main character of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night separates it from other games in the series by focusing not on a member of the Belmont clan, but on the son of Dracula himself — Alucard. After a centuries-long slumber, Alucard awakens, sensing a stirring evil indicating his father’s impending resurrection. Alucard’s intuition ends up being spot-on, as the most recent member of the Belmont clan, Richter, has taken up residence in Dracula’s castle and declared himself its lord. Partnering with Richter’s close ally Maria, Alucard heads into the castle to investigate, ultimately uncovering a sinister plot to resurrect Dracula and usher in the end of days. Main characters in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night include:

• Alucard: The half-human, half-vampire son of Count Dracula. Alucard is the main player character of Symphony of the Night and a powerful warrior capable of wielding magic, transformations, and a variety of weaponry. He seals himself away in a state of suspended animation to prevent his vampiric lineage from causing any harm.
• Richter Belmont: Richter is the most recent head of the Belmont clan and wielder of the Vampire Killer whip. After defeating Dracula years earlier, Richter finds himself mysteriously called to Dracula’s castle, entering it and claiming himself its lord.
• Maria: Maria is Richter’s ally and one of his greatest aids in defeating Dracula during the events of Castlevania: Bloodlines. Now older, she returns to Dracula’s castle to work together with Alucard toward rescuing Richter.
• Dracula: The dark lord of vampires, Count Dracula is an immortal being with immense power. He is the recurring antagonist of the Castlevania franchise and is Alucard’s father.
• Shaft: Shaft is a priest who leads a strange doom cult intent on resurrecting Dracula and beginning the end of days. He is secretly controlling Richter to help resurrect the dark lord Dracula.

Games in the Castlevania Series

Despite flirting with some similar mechanics in the series’ past (specifically, in Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest), Symphony of the Night would mark a major turning point in the Castlevania series. Not only is it the first game to adopt the open-ended exploration and interconnected map of the Metroid series, but its popularity and impact among gamers would help it become one half of a portmanteau for all future games with similar elements and mechanics: the Metroidvania. Following SotN‘s success and acclaim, several other games in the series would adopt similar gameplay, helping to establish the franchise as one of the foundational pillars of action RPGs with ability gating, character progression, interconnected maps, and plenty of non-linear exploration. Games in the Castlevania series include:

• Castlevania (1986)
• Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest (1987)
• Castlevania: The Adventure (1989)
• Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse (1989)
• Castlevania II: Belmont’s Revenge (1991)
• Super Castlevania IV (1991)
• Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (1993)
• Castlevania: Bloodlines (1994)
• Castlevania: Dracula X (1995)
• Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (1997)
• Castlevania Legends (1997)
• Castlevania 64 (1999)
• Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (1999)
• Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001)
• Castlevania Chronicles (2001)
• Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002)
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)
• Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (2003)
• Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2005)
• Castlevania: Curse of Darkness (2005)
• Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin (2006)
• Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (2007)
• Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia (2008)
• Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth (2009)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (2010)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate (2013)
• Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 (2014)
• Castlevania Requiem (2018)
• Castlevania Anniversary Collection (2019)
• Castlevania Advance Collection (2021)
• Castlevania Dominus Collection (2024)

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Cheats & Secrets

Similar to other games in the Castlevania series, Symphony of the Night has several secrets, unlockables, and cheat codes that players can use. While the secrets and naming cheats are standard across all versions, the PlayStation version has the advantage of having Game Shark cheats players can use.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Unlockables

In addition to there being 4 different endings, there are several unlockables players earn for beating Symphony of the Night at least once while meeting certain conditions.

Endings

Unlockables

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Cheats & Passwords

Note that for any of these name passwords to work, players must first beat the game with at least 180% completion. After, loading the CLEAR file to start a new game and entering the following names will activate the corresponding cheat.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Secrets

Easy Early Game Boss Kills

To kill some of the early bosses quickly, pick up the Throwing Knives as your secondary weapon and stand some distance away. Throw the knives as quickly as possible to deal a considerable amount of damage each time.

Walk Through Walls

This trick requires two Heart Refreshes, a Duplicator, and a Library Card. Equip both of the Heart Refreshes and the Duplicator. Jump into an open doorway as if you are going to go through it. When you think you are about to go through, use one of your Heart Refreshes. While the first one is active, hold the button to activate the second one. When the second one is now active, hold the button for the first one repeatedly. Alucard should begin to slowly go under the ground. Once you are inside the floor, make sure to not sink too deep. When you are down far enough, you can move around freely and clip through walls.

Hidden Save Room

Use the above Walk Through Walls trick in the first area (with the drawbridge) and fall below the map. Go towards the drawbridge and you will fall into a hole leading to the Underground Cavern. There are only two ways to go; up, which leads back to the main floor, or right, which takes you to a glitched save point that still works.

Easy “Bloodlines” Achievement

The “Bloodlines” achievement in the Xbox 360 version of Symphony of the Night is one of the harder ones to get unless players nail a perfect boss run. However, there is a trick players can use to make the fight easier. Before entering Dracula’s chamber, hit the first lamp and get the Cross sub-weapon. Hit all other lamps to collect Hearts until you have 90-100. His first attack is almost always a stack of three fireballs. Before he fires off the attack, jump and throw the cross at him, then duck to hit the fireballs before they can damage Richter. If he fires the two large black fireballs, duck under the first and jump over the second. Repeat these steps for both attacks until he transforms. Once he transforms, activate the Cross superattack until Dracula falls.

Invincible (and Invisible) Alucard

For this trick to work, players will need both the Axe Lord Armor and a Library Card. Equip Alucard with any other armor and the Library Card. Use the Library Card and then equip the Axe Lord Armor while the beam of light is still teleporting Alucard and quickly switch back to the normal armor. Once the screen goes completely white, walk into another room. If done correctly, Alucard will be both invincible and invisible. To turn this effect off, Alucard will need to teleport, transform, re-equip the Axe Lord Armor, or any other action that changes his sprite.

Keep Alucard’s Starting Gear

Alucard begins Symphony of the Night with some great equipment but quickly loses it after running into Death. To keep the equipment and use it for roughly the first half of the game, players need to quickly enter and exit the room where they first meet Death. As soon as Alucard enters the room, use the backdash button to quickly exit. If done quickly enough, Alucard will skip the encounter with Death and keep his equipment. The starting equipment remains some of the most powerful gear until players reach the Inverted Castle.

Max Money

In order for this trick to work, players will need the Sword Familiar, a gem (we suggest a Diamond), and enough MP to cast the Sword Brothers spell.

As a reminder, the Sword Brothers spell can be cast by equipping the Sword Familiar and using the following input: Down, Down-Forward, Forward, Up-Forward, Up (Hold for 2 seconds), Down + Attack

Head to the Librarian’s room. Stand near him but not so close as to activate/open up the shop menu. Cast the Sword Brothers spell, and as the sword starts to spin walk toward the Librarian to open the menu. Sell off all but one of any gem, then press start to enter Alucard’s menu while in the Librarian’s menu. Have Alucard equip the last remaining gem of the type you just sold. Return to the Librarian’s menu and sell that last remaining gem. Since you are selling a gem that you technically don’t have, the game changes the quantity to the max: 255. You can now sell off the extra gems to quickly earn gold. Again, using the Diamond for this trick works best since they net the most gold.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Game Shark Codes

The PlayStation version of Symphony of the Night has several Game Shark codes players can use. To activate these codes, players will need a Game Shark device if playing the game natively. Alternatively, players using an emulator can enter any of the following cheats into the “Cheat” menu of the emulation software.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Achievements

The Xbox 360 version of Symphony of the Night has several Achievements players can unlock by completing the following during gameplay:

Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night Cheat FAQs

What’s the strongest weapon in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

In terms of pure damage output, no weapon can come close to the Crisseagrim. This sword has lower base damage stats than some of the other powerful weaponry players acquire in the Inverted Castle portion of Symphony of the Night. However, the weapon’s signature ability makes it a force to be reckoned with. The Crisseagrim’s specialty is delivering a flurry of attacks with a single press of the attack button, meaning players can quickly lay waste to enemies (including bosses). Players can find the Crisseagrim as a rare drop from the Schmoo enemies in the Inverted Castle’s Library.

How do you increase Luck in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

The Luck stat in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is interesting in terms of how it works. Instead of affecting the quality of items that drop, higher Luck translates to higher drop rates. Each enemy in SotN typically has one common drop and one rare drop (sometimes more). Higher Luck increases the chances that enemies will drop one of these items, as well as increasing the likelihood that players will get rare item drops. To increase Luck, one of the easiest ways is to use the naming cheat to name the player character X-X! V”Q. This will give the player a massive boost to the Luck stat as well as a Lapis Lazuli item. Alternatively, players can equip the full Alucart set after obtaining it. This will raise the base Luck stat by 30 points.

Who is the hardest boss in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

While difficulty tends to be subjective and is dependent on several factors, it’s hard to argue against Galamoth being one of the more challenging bosses in Symphony of the Night. Outside of the final confrontation with Dracula, the Galamoth fight is perhaps the hardest single encounter in the game. What makes Galamoth so challenging is his size in comparison to his boss arena. Players have a relatively cramped space in which to fight the beast, and his lightning attacks can easily trap and pin Alucard, quickly draining his health. Thankfully, players have some tricks they can use to trivialize the fight.

How long to beat Castlevania: Symphony of the Night?

For most players, completing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and getting the “good” ending (completing both the regular and inverted castle segments) will take between 8-10 hours. However, to achieve the maximum 200.6% map completion and fully “complete” Symphony of the Night, players can expect to spend nearly double that amount of time. Most 200.6% playthroughs take players between 15-16 hours.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Castlevania: Symphony of the Night key art.