Gameplay from the Saturn version, showing the full intro, Dracula fight from Bloodlines, Entrance, Alchemy Laboratory with Boss, Marble Gallery and Outer Wall with the doppelgänger Alucard boss. Truth be told Symphony of the Night is an incorrect title translation with the correct name being Castlevania: Nocturne in the Moonlight, however it appears it may have been a deliberate mistranslation to make the name sound more catchy. Castlevania is known in Japan as Akumajo Dracula X.

The developers at Konami Nagoya were largely made up of a first time development team and the port ended up being rushed and delayed at the same time as well. Sega of Japan also instructed publishers to stagger release dates as Saturn releases were slowing up heavily at this point too. The developers even included notes on the disc about the development and you can read it on the cutting room floor: [ Ссылка ]/Developer_Notes

None of the original PlayStation team from Konami Tokyo got to work on this port and there's clearly some bitterness over that fact. With the PS1 version suffering from cuts, unfinished elements and a huge amount of bugs, that they would try to fix in each later release. The Saturn port would have been a chance to address all this, but they weren't given that chance.

The myth that the Saturn version didn't have transparencies is utter rubbish, about 1/3 of the transparency graphics seen in the PlayStation version remained in tack. There's also some new effects added, but it's clear different developers worked on different bits which explains, why some effects work, some don't and others were just removed or changed. The layering for the game is also wrong in this port with flames effects that were behind Alucard, now strangely in front of him in the Saturn version, such as the Warg/Fenrir death flames.

The irony being that a large check of the supposed transparencies in the PS1 version were in fact flicker or layer effects. Problem was Konami's team at Nagoya didn't get the memo and mishandled this Saturn port badly. It's clear the studio didn't fully understand how the PlayStation version actually worked in many areas with layering level being incorrect and features like on the fly loading not used at all. The Nagoya team that ported Saturn's Vandal Hearts did a much closer port.

The slowdown seen in the PlayStation version was also badly increased in the Saturn release. Elements like familiars increase the slowdown as do the poor coded shadows that follow the characters around. Turning off the familiars and using the clock sub weapon to turn off the shadows drastically increases performance. The game also uses the Saturn high resolution mode for no clear reason and due to the resolution changes the graphics are part stretchered while at the same time elements have been re-tiled and some areas have added graphics at the top and bottom of the screen, making it a strange mismatch in places.

Despite the problems, the Saturn version is on the face of it a better game the new dash power up for Alucard means he can bolt through castlevania much quicker. Maria is made a playable character and added in as a boss battle near the end of the first castle. Richter gets a new outfit, there is four new areas two in each castle, but only one new boss in the normal garden, new enemies, new music and new items. The map is pushed to the menu and the button is swapped for a quick use item button, making using items far easier to use at the expense of quick map access.

It would be the best version of the game if the engine was better, instead it end up a bit of a flawed best version and even the developers knew this in their notes. Even the Saturn version had cuts as a dark version of Maria was planned to appear in game. To date the Saturn extras haven't appeared in any other version and it appears Konami may no longer have the source code for them as Konami Nagoya was closed in 2002.

Also known as: 悪魔城ドラキュラＸ ～月下の夜想曲～(Japan) Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasokyoku (Japan)

Release: 1998
Developer: KCE Nagoya (Original game KCE Tokyo)
Publisher: Konami Computer Entertainment / コナミホールディングス
Format: Sega Saturn (SS) / セガサターン

The Sega Saturn version of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is not available on any other platform. However the PS1 and PSP versions are both available on PSN, as is the new PS4 release based on the PSP release. A cut down PS1 port with the intros removed and compressed audio is available on the Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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Footage is captured directly from original hardware in this case a PAL Sega Saturn console at 60Hz, via an Elgato Game Capture HD60 Pro using a RGB Scart to HDMI upscaler. Upscaled to 4K to improve YouTube video bit rate playback.

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