10 Video Games That Only Get Better With Age

2. Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8dUbR597C0 "Metroidvania" is the term for a sub-genre of 2D platforming games that is quite often heard around the gaming community. The "Metroid" portion of the term (surprise surprise) indicates a game that, like Metroid and Super Metroid, has a series of interconnected areas that give the player a sense of freedom by allowing them to explore in a non-linear fashion. Also, many parts of these in-game areas are inaccessible until a certain item, weapon or ability is gained, encouraging backtracking and thorough exploration. The "Vania" portion of this term comes from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the first, and still the best Metroidvania game of all time. Castlevania: SotN was a unique game. For one thing, this was a 2D side-scrolling game releasing in 1997. This was in the midst of the 3D gaming revolution, and 2D platformers were not exactly a hot commodity at the time, hence the relatively timid commercial reception the game received. Secondly, this was a different style of Castlevaina game. The layout of the castle you are exploring was much more open-ended and non-linear, resembling the structure of Super Metroid as opposed to that of any previous, more linear Castlevania game. And thirdly, the game added elements of action RPG's into the mix, allowing you to level up your abilities, get stronger weapons and armor, cast magic, and even shape shift. The game did all of this while still maintaining, and even improving upon, the near-flawless gameplay of the previous games in the Castlevania series. The end result was Symphony of the Night, one of the most influential, timeless, and greatest video games ever created. Castlevania: SotN is a shining example of a game that gets better with age. The massive castle and its surroundings are still very easy on the eyes. The soundtrack by conductor Michiru Yamane, who also scored the amazing music for the Suikoden games on PS2, remains one of the best soundtracks in all of gaming (notice how this is a common trend for most of the games on this list?). The gameplay hasn't aged a bit. Exploring that impeccably-designed castle with Alucard and his wide range of weapons and abilities is as joyous as it's ever been. Even the game's cheesy cinematic sequences still retain quite a bit of charm - this was the early days of voice-acting in games, after all. Disc copies of even the Greatest Hits re-release on Playstation are rare and fetch a very high price. Luckly, the game is available on the PSN and XBLA. It was my very first digital purchase upon entering the PS360 era, and continues to be a game I replay every couple of years. You really can't go wrong with any of the post-Symphony of the Night 2D Castlevania games, especially the excellent trilogies on the GameBoy Advance and the Nintendo DS. But Symphony of the Night is the granddaddy of them all, and remains well worth your time.