Castlevania Feeling The Pressure From The Great Hideo Kojima

[D-FENS]

Khuutra said:

D-FENS said:

SOTN "threw that crap out the window?"

Let's see: 4 different forms (Wolf, Bat, Mist, & Alucard); 2 jump power-ups; various other power-ups enhancing Alucard and his forms; an enormous castle requiring jumping/flying to navigate; stairs, ledges, and PLATFORMS to jump up and down; secret areas to unlock; huge number of items to collect; hearts, money, and item drops from enemies/candles/bricks; 2-D, special weapons with various firing arcs; and probably more that I'm not thinking about right now.  That's not a platform style game huh?

Yep, I sure am mad that SOTN was nothing at all like a platform game, I mean, it wasn't like it was some great evolutionary step in 2-D Castlevanias, taking the best of I (Series Genesis, so sub-weapons, many bosses & enemy types, map divided by "levels"), II (RPG sensibilities, Drac's body parts, and relics), III (various spirit forms and an overarching story beyond Simon Belmont), IV (kick ass music and animated backgrounds), whatever the "canon" name of the game that introduced Richter (kick ass art style).  Wow, SOTN was nothing at all like the series of platform games from which it was born.

You make a good argument, but the focus and challenge of Symphony of the Night leaned more toward adventure than platforming - there's a reason it's usually cited as the first Metroidvania. It had platforming, of course it did, but it was an adventure game with different focuses than its predecessors. That's not bad. It's just different.

I call that an evolution of the genre.  We had that way back with Simon's Quest.  I'm confused, what makes a game platform?  Three lives, a high score, and shallow depth?