Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Illustrated] [Paperback]

J. Douglas Arnold (Author), Mark Elies (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997 | ISBN-10: 1884364365 | ISBN-13: 978-1884364365 | Edition: illustrated edition

Written by the bestselling coauthors of "PlayStation Player's Guide 1 & 2, Super Mario 64 Survival Guide", and "Star Fox 64 Survival Guide", this essential guide to "Castlevania" offers a complete walkthrough of the quest, from start to finish, combat tips and strategies, maps for all difficult areas of the game, and over 500 captioned pictures to illustrate the best strategies and secrets. .

Product Details

• Paperback: 166 pages
• Publisher: Sandwich Islands Pub; illustrated edition edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884364365
• ISBN-13: 978-1884364365
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,796,929 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay away from this guide............, October 19, 1999

By 

Allan W. Brinkmeyer (Jenks, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Paperback)

I would like to give this guide book no stars due to its limited content. The authors openly admit to completing this book under a deadline. Not only that, but the authors provide this walkthrough via the original Japanese version of this game. They openly admit that this version differs from the American version. Misleading information is not something one looks for in a guide book. This admission is prominent due to the hurried walkthrough and horrible annotation of the game itself. Not only does this guide not offer a complete list of all attainable items (does not list all swords, lists no food items), but also it does not even give strengths and weaknesses of of said items, i.e. stats. Not only that, but I know of better strategies for defeating "bosses" that I concocted out of panic. Upon purchasing this book, I assumed I would be getting a completist's guide to the entire Alucard adventure as well as the Richter adventure. It was my understanding that a game guide was designed to offer clues and tricks not easily attained by the average gamer. I myself am no game master, and I have garnered more insight and completion of this game than this guide has to offer. I hope the official guide has a little more to offer than this feeble attempt.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad guide.. but don't rely solely on it., June 5, 2000

By 

"jmhen49" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Paperback)

This is a great book to get you through a few tight spots in the game, but try not to rely on it too much. Once in a while you'll come across something in the game that the guide forgot, perhaps a well-hid item or the like.

It may not be extremely detailed, but it'll get you through the game. There's also tips for beating bosses and there are screen shots of nearly every place in the game.

Despite its lack of detail, this guide is most likely one of the more helpful game guides I own. A must buy if you're having trouble with Castlevania: SOTN.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mostly good, but..., August 18, 2002

By 

Andrew K. Beavin "nevsky41" (LouKy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Paperback)

This book is good for the most part, and can be helpful for frustrated gamers or gamers who just need to be pushed in the right direction. HOWEVER, there are AT LEAST 2 places where the information is misleading. In the areas in the regular and inverted castles where the guide tells you to break a wall and fly through as the bat to unlock a secret door, you also have to walk through the hole as the wolf before the door will open. I wasted an hour trying to figure out how this worked until a friend pointed out the wofl trick. If this error had been made only once, it'd be one thing, but it occurs twice, for both castles, which is not only misleading but really frustrating. Also, the guide takes a very linear view of the game, and doesn't even discuss the alternate endings or how to trigger them. Oh, it teases you about them, but nothing is said about how to trigger them.

For gamers like myself who love this game, but really don't have the time to play the game for hours on end, and have a hard time remembering where you've been and where you haven't (don't tell me to use the map, that's not what I'm taling about), this is a good way to get a handle on the game. But it is not without it's flaws.

You've been warned.