English
Like many installments of the Castlevania series, Symphony of the Night uses a 2D side-scrolling style of gameplay.[6] The objective of the game is to guide primary player character Alucard through the undead-filled castle, as he sets out to defeat the vampire Dracula.[6] Symphony of the Night follows a nonlinear style of gameplay; at the game's beginning, Alucard can only access certain areas of the castle, but by obtaining the three forms (a wolf, bat, and mist) that he can shapeshift into, he gradually explores the castle.[7] A map carried by Alucard automatically updates to reflect the player's progress through the castle.[7] While previous protagonists of the series have traditionally used whips as their main weapon, Alucard can find and use weapons ranging from edged weapons—typically swords and knives—to knuckles and expendable items, such as neutron bombs or javelins.[8] He can also obtain health restoratives, various equipment and items to boost his attributes;[8] all located on an inventory.[7] Relics found throughout the castle will provide him with different abilities, such as being able to double jump.[9] A bestiary kept by the castle's librarian, who also functions as a shopkeeper, shows the different monsters encounted by the player, and the items they dropped when defeated.[10]
Additionally, Symphony of the Night incorporates elements found in role-playing games. His hit points determine the maximum amount of damage he can withstand before dying, while his magic points decide how often a magical attack may be cast. Additionally, he possesses four other attributes: strength, the power of his physical attack; defense, his resilience to damage inflicted by the monsters; intelligence, the recovery speed of magic points; and luck, the frequency of items dropped by enemies. Defeating monsters provides him with experience points, and he will level up after reaching a predetermined amount, increasing his attributes in the process.[7] Alucard may cast eight different spells, which requires the player to input directional combinations and will use up varying amounts of his magic points.[7][11] Over the course of the game, Alucard can acquire the ability to summon familiars: they function as complementary entities, aiding him in battle and exploration. The North American version of the game includes the Fairy, Demon, Ghost, Bat, and Sword familiars. The original Japanese version of the game included the Nose Devil (functionally identical to the Demon, but with a Tengu mask) and Pixie (functionally identical to the Fairy; the kanji literally translates to Half Fairy) familiars as well.
Alternative modes of gameplay can be unlocked after the completion of the game. By inputing Richter Belmont's name as the user name, the player can choose to play as him; Richter uses a whip as his primary weapon and various subweapons.[8][12] Two other alternative modes see Alucard as the player character, but with certain items, and increased or decreased attributes.