MAX PLAYS: Castlevania - Symphony of the Night...1st Time! - Part 1

[@onacis80]

In my opinion this game has one of the most beautiful ost in the history of videogames.

[@fptheghost]

I played this when it was first released, I am much older now and I still will randomly have some of the music pop up in my head.

[@shokmusic_AC]

100% agree with you!

[@richie404]

Agreed

[@KidTokyo_]

Agreed 100%

[@ogroto]

Chi no rondo ost is also awesome

[@rogerarteaga2665]

The beginning always gets me. Alucard starts dashing through the forest and Dracula literally wants to close the gates on him so fast till it's too late. In almost every Castlevania game Dracula welcomes all the Belmonts by opening the gates except for Alucard LOL!

[@yoran4067]

@Max+⓵⓻⓵⓶⓷⓹⓸⓺⓺⓽⓷ i dont think you are the maximillion dad

[@JozefLucifugeKorzeniowski]

probably thought "goddamn kid is coming to get back child support, close the gate and tell him I live in Tijuana now"

[@sdjslkdjlsskldjslkdjsl8262]

nice catch, never even thought about that.

[@hanzohasashi8346]

That's actually shaft sense Dracula is dead lol.

[@Vynne96-jg7er]

And Max is still NOOB af

[@jerm5466]

I played this for the first time last year. The game has aged as well as any title I’ve ever seen. It’s still incredible.

[@warren_waters]

Play Aria of Sorrow on GBA next. You won’t regret it

[@Spectre153]

@@warren_waters and Dawn of Sorrow from Ds

[@Zephhi]

@@warren_waters And play Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, Dawn of Sorrow. Those are the best along with Aria and SotN. OoE especially, prob my favorite with SotN and SCV4

[@rexation8952]

@Max⁺⓵⓺⓵⓪⓶⓷⓪⓽⓶⓷⓸ this is not Max, this is phishing...ignore this post

[@sweepingtime]

It's truly timeless. It's such a game play focused game that it's very hard for it to go out of style. In fact platformers as a genre would have to go out of fashion.

[@omaewamoshindeiru616]

This game is a time sinkhole....Hours will go by in a blink of an eye exploring Dracula's castle...Best time of my life..The music.. Oh god, amazing

[@francesfuego6950]

You...are already dead.

[@theprowler18]

I can attest to that, having gone on the coveted 200.6% completion run. It was fantastic to actually beat it fully for the first time since the PS1 days.

[@jjayala5512]

Ahh, it's a family tradition to play this game. It's really deserves it's praise as one of the greatest.

[@andrebaxter4023]

@@francesfuego6950 , I see what you did there.

[@electrominded8372]

Aria of Sorrow, Circle of the Moon and Dawn of Sorrow are other great Castlevanias that I actually played before SotN

[@Rycamcam]

I wish I could experience this for the first time again. Classic!

[@AnthonyKusanagi101]

You can. Got an Xbox it's 10 bucks on the arcade and if you find it on eBay it can be played on the PS2.

[@PingerSurprise]

Everytime I play this it feels like the first time to me. I just love playing it in different ways, sometimes with new challenges, just like Skyrim, Final Fantasy I or Kingdom Hearts II. I know, weird comparisons but I just like going back to these games for that reason.

[@stonecold5373]

you and me both. man the memories of these ps1 masterpieces is timeless

[@akitainu78]

Best Castlevania game ever... and one of the games that make me proud being a former Konami staff member!

[@oneupdawg]

Really? What division were you part of?

[@akitainu78]

@@oneupdawg European Product Management, in Frankfurt!

[@jurgenolivieira1878]

Back in my arcade days (80s-90s) you guys had some of the best arcade games imo. I live in The Netherlands and unfortunately the arcade age didn't last long. But it seems to be coming back a bit in a new form. Anywayz I want my money back! Kidding XD thank you for bringing some joy to my troublesome (pre-)teen days. The Castlevania titles are pure art and a so much fun to play.

[@GrahamChapman]

It's a shame what Konami has become since the 80s-90s... But then again, it's not exactly like Konami is the only developer of fond childhood memories that we've come to feel little more than contempt for over the years... Heck, at present I dare say it's not even like Konami are the worst among the examples, either... **glares at Blizzard**

[@jurgenolivieira1878]

@@GrahamChapman Good point... but this topic is about one of their titles so I thought it appropriate to stick to them. I'm from the 2nd Gen PC@Home waves in the late 80s. I learned myself to program Basic from library coding books (before Internet) and trial and error and am a programmer still. I was mainly driven to it by Commodore 64 (similar programming language) and PC (MS DOS) games. I can name many, many studios that enriched my life and many that were the opposite. I started playing WoW Vanilla in 2004 PvE and later PvP after I played Runescape for a few years. I still have my accounts...

[@jayhighlife]

This game is still a timeless classic. No matter the decades, I still put this in my rotation.

[@taochi100]

Heck yeah nice love this Damm game

[@jayhighlife]

I still remember the moveset by heart, he's gonna have a helluva good time with this

[@Jose-se9pu]

Funny thing is, it was considered "boring and dated" by critics when it came out.

[@taochi100]

@@Jose-se9pu Really?

[@whysosrs5534]

What else is in this rotation of yours?

[@asuna07neros]

I can't count how many times I've beaten SoTN and still never get tired of it. Not only is it the best Castlevania game but one of the best video game ever created

[@GenyaArikado]

play the hard hack of it! it's amazing...really challenging for experienced players

[@GenyaArikado]

beat the hard hack of it! It is a veteran challenge and very enjoyable!

[@GenyaArikado]

@@Agent-Cooper dude..play the hardhack of SOTN instead! It makes the game much more challenging and enjoyable for us veterans and experts! The only cheap boss fight is death!

[@DonYoGi8331]

Definitely going back thru it on Series X. I had it on PS1 but can only remember that hilarious opening sequence.😂

[@wallacesousuke1433]

SotN is amazing and all but too boring and easy, Order of Ecclesia for the win

[@muhmon]

This game has a ton of detailing and hidden little mechanics, that really makes it feel beyond the generation it came from. They put so much into this, that you'd think they thought they were gonna die the next day.

[@ilovethesmelloffire]

Sounds terrible

[@Addyrail]

Funny you should say that...

[@arreng2364]

Max got the Medusa shield in his first playthrough which is one of the hardest items to obtain in the game. He is also not in luck mode which made it more insane

[@notdjamesentertainment4473]

It's the streamer luck!!!

[@procow2274]

He never got a chance to see how good it was :(

[@aaronlefebre5060]

Guy has no idea what kind of luck he had, and lost it due to not saving. It was simultaneously exciting and painful to watch him play.

[@df3kt]

Crissingram, gods garb, witchs hat, ring of fennor, and the ring of varda are the hardest items to get. Especially ring of fennor just because the enemies and how far the area screens are apart

[@Spaced92]

@@df3kt I replayed SotN a lot and didn't know a lot of the drops, first time I lucked into crissaegrim/valmanway was a wtf moment.

[@BebehCookieIcecream]

Coincidentally just finished this a couple weeks ago for the first time. OST, sound, atmosphere, animations, just fucking amazing. Aged like a smooth cabernet.

[@DarkKirby14LP]

same. Absolutely love it. Holy Cross is busted as shhit

[@zero9agent]

I'm glad that back in 1997 I got a chance to experience this masterpiece fresh off the release train. This is without a doubt the BEST Castlevania game ever released and my personal favorite video game of all time. I said it, it's my number 1 game. Also it has the absolute best OST of all time, all time. Court is adjourned!

[@wallacesousuke1433]

Order of Ecclesia >>> SotN but yeah, lucky you for playing SotN back in the day :D

[@DPSnumber1]

2:05:40 I really loved into live the Stream that Max passed plenty of time into the clock tower, because people could enjoy the masterpiece of the music into that section. I think "The Tragic Prince" has the most intense guitar solo in Video Games history.

[@chibilink73]

Your engrish make head hurt big time

[@charleslinlinker1479]

Tragic Prince is a banger for sure.

[@jeremycuddy2778]

Agreed symphony of the night and Curse of Darkness arguably have the best Osts in the franchise.

[@PsilocybePsientist]

Jesus fucking christ i had a stroke trying to read this.

[@NocturneCesarito]

Been playing it for 25 years and always come back, that's how good this game is!

[@AlluMan96]

It's actually kind of incredible watching someone so new to this game and (seemingly) the whole series. Having been a fan of the series for well over a decade now and having basically combed Symphony backwards and forwards more times than I wash in a month, it's crazy just seeing someone, that doesn't know a thing about it. Seeing someone's first reactions to enemies and their ludicrous death-animations, hearing insane statements like "Holy Water is garbage," seeing someone genuinely exploring the castle and looking for secrets as opposed to just auto-piloting through it, it's actually quite fun. Reminds me of when this game was new to me.

[@AlluMan96]

Upon watching the whole thing through, it's crazy that I realize just how unintuitive this game can be for a beginner at times. For the most part, the cryptic stuff's not the worst, because it usually only gates off optional stuff. However, there are two parts that are particularly bad at just being incredibly mean to people who simply don't know. Firstly, I actually even remember having issues with the barrel skeleton at the underground chambers. You click that thing, the monkey throws the barrel immediately and in that one, very quick instance, you have to realize what happened and know to act on that confidently enough, that you'd go out of your way to lure the skeleton at the other spot. If you're particularly unlucky and miss the jump back without the bat form, you'd have to go all the way around again and by that point you might have even forgotten all about that clue and get stuck. To this day, if I'm away from the game for long enough, I might even forget about that and waste 5 minutes scratching my head until I remember. For the longest time though, I thought that was the only really bad spot, but watching Max play made me realize how the path forward after getting the Leap Stone can be very dickish. There is just this really tight, specific set of events you gotta do to get past that bit. Leap Stone, Mist Form, Bat. From there, exploration becomes completely self-explanatory. Getting to that point though is really messy. Getting the Leap Stone bottlenecks you into the far-off corner of the map, where you gotta teleport to get out. This would take you closest to the library or clock tower, so you go there expecting to get something from the spots you needed the double jump for. Instead, you either hit your head on a dead end or loop back to square 1 essentially. There is only one room in the map that matters now, and it's one you ran past an hour ago and could easily forget about. Not only that, but the path will periodically close and open, so if you don't notice that, you can just get lost by being there at the wrong time. I get the idea, that the cutscene happens in that room, so that you're stalled for long enough to see the path open and close. However, the cutscene takes so much of your attention starting off, that it ironically works counter-productively to that, where you now just don't notice anything else that happened in the room. And the cherry on the top is the fact that the underground enterance is placed between the teleport and the clock room, so to the oblivious beginner, that can be a distracting diversion that leads to another dead end, which just drops your focus and gets you lost again. The only thing I hate about that whole bit nowadays is alot of the back and forth it forces you through. You get the leap stone, make a 180 back to the Colosseum, trek back to the library, *then go all the way back* to explore Orlox' quarters. It's not the worst, but it can be tedious and usually a spot I call the session at for the time. Although most of the time I save myself the backtracking by exploiting the wolf form to drop kick my way into Orlox' place early, so that the path becomes a straight line through. However, watching this again reminded me of how much this game gets better on the second playthrough, because some of this stuff can be really annoyingly laid out for the first time through.

[@miserablepileofsecrets]

@@AlluMan96 I dont agree nor disagree, because of a perspective yeah if youre new to the series and genre, you're kina bummed on the lore and flavor text is nothing in the game, BUT! The game is the sexy gigachad daddy of the metroidvania, backtracking is a thing in those games, and exploration and experiment are important. The game gives you so many hearts to try weapons, magic fills itself so its not wasted, and a save point every 5 minutes, try things! Also, this is a 1997 game, it came with a manual to remind. Modern ports dont though, and the manual was extremely explicative

[@hiotsobo]

This is such a special fucking game, man. I've lost count the amount of times I've played it over the years. I'm so jelous that this is his first playthrough!!

[@InitialDL84]

Haven't even watched the video yet and I already know you're gonna love this game! I envy you that you're experiencing it for the first time, I've beaten the game multiple times and still go to play it from time to time. It's definitely on my top 10 list of favorite games of all time. Just bought it to play on my PS5 as well as it's on sale right now for like 4 bucks. Enjoy!

[@AlexTheRed1985]

Still shocked this was your first time playing. One of the absolute best games of the genre if not the best.

[@41tinman41]

It was so good that it became it's own genre of platforming games.

[@guilhermeradiske4869]

i thought it was impossible at this point that someone, specially who's so active and passionate about games, didn't played yet one of the best games of all time. But tbh, i am envy, i wish i could experience this game for the first time once again.

[@41tinman41]

@@FreeFlow__ Exactly. Hence MetroidVania

[@neloverg3774]

I still think Rondo and Vania 1 are better just because they don't have those rog mechanics

[@alexknight81]

@@neloverg3774 rog mechanics?

[@AlarSenpu]

Literally just wrote an essay about this game, glad to see Max play this 😊

[@hiotsobo]

That's pretty sick!

[@createprince2093]

plz share i wanna read

[@BenCanto]

I almost woke my wife up by screaming KEEP PUSHING THAT F*CKING BOOKCASE, MAX!

[@d.g.6147]

He plays like an absolute clown.

[@xtlm]

Oh my, he was literally one step away too lol

[@kevinhurd6756]

I've found that a huge reason why I've loved games like this is really the music. That's the biggest nostalgia factor for all these old classics. Makes sense because I became a musician so that bug was always there, but I didn't realize the real reason these old games like Zelda and Metroid and Final Fantasy had their hooks in me was because the OST's were so dope.

[@crispy_asch7110]

I play this game multiple times a year ever since I was 11. So freaking good

[@thehound1359]

I play every October around Halloween.

[@kevinellis8017]

25 year old game it STILL holds up beautifully.

[@phoenixlich]

one of my favorites is how much work went into the animations. so many enemies have blink and you'll miss it animations too or ones they do only in certain circumstances. for example the owl knight, if you kill the knight or the owl first changes how the partner reacts. completely unnecessary but amazing small details.

[@TK-zd7ym]

This is one of those rare games you wish you could erase your memory, and experience again for the first time. It was transcendent.

[@doublestarships646]

If you haven't touched it in years I recommend playing it again because you probably don't remember most of it lol. I haven't touched this game in eons and it felt like I was playing it again for the first time when I picked it up again a few years back.

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

I did that too, but as soon as I installed it (PS4) I remembered --- I can't remember his name, but he was the biggest and toughest boss in the game. He was in the either the bottom or the top of the reverse castle.

[@TK-zd7ym]

@@LegendaryDarkKnight602 Galamoth, he’s at the top of the inverted Castle

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

@@TK-zd7ym This was the first game I've ever played in which the final boss was not the strongest.

[@AL_EVOz]

This is actualy the best Castlevania game ever made. Its amazing for him to play this. I loved SOTN. I can always play this anytime with the music and game play.

[@CyberDragon10K]

Symphony is *king* in terms of music and aesthetic. There's a _reason_ all the GBA and DS games kept trying to bottle that lightning again and again.

[@wallacesousuke1433]

@@CyberDragon10K Order of Ecclesia is better, it's actually challenging and has excellent atmosphere (and the only game that has a plot I could care about)

[@AL_EVOz]

@@CyberDragon10K I agree. The music is just one of the best. The thing with this game is you can alwasy come back to it and it still looks so beautiful and sounds beautiful.

[@BlazeReborn2]

The gold standard for all Metroidvanias...this game is a timeless gem.

[@stevetheblobman]

An opinion I can't fault you for but also don't agree with, I personally think Aria may have superceeded it in general and, for my own tastes at least, Portrait of Ruin is my gold standard for the genre, but I don't think you can go wrong with any of the IGA castlevanias

[@AlynRapi]

@@stevetheblobman to me the things that i cant like from the ds/gba vanias over sotn are the restrictions that their platforms have like no cd quality music or their scenarios not being as detailed but i'm in no way saying that i dislike them, i still play a lot of them, specially now that people have been making fun rom hacks and even if not cd quality i still listen to most of their music as well, i mean its still michiru

[@williambargery5855]

I still feel like there is so much more freedom with sotn compared to aria because of the equient system and the fact sotn is incredibly broken make it alot more entertaining for me

[@mrcodpwns]

Yes and no, amazing art, music, animations, secrets, but very poor dialogues, lore, progression Is broken and one of the easiest games ever.

[@1982Hiei]

Overrated game, there is much better "Metroidvania" games.

[@thewinterprince1731]

The gun-totin' skeleton bros are extra awesome because they use muskets, and rotate between each other during reloading to keep up a regular rate of fire, just like a real musket crew would have if they were attempting suppressing fire.

[@protodevilin]

I have played through SoTN over a dozen times. I never get tired of it. Watching you experience it firsthand for the first time makes me wish I could completely forget about it and rediscover it all over again.

[@sethwarrior9719]

i remember sitting on my dads lap while he played this when it was new , i love this game

[@senormarston]

The person/team was/were blessed the moment they created the OST for SotN; it's outstanding

[@greed13X]

Michiru Yamane she worked on several games in the series.

[@picc9000]

@@greed13X Yes, very talented. Shame she is a Qanon.

[@CopMorty]

@@picc9000 TDS Much?

[@mikadube266]

This is a crazy good game with amazing music! I got the true ending like an hour ago, quite the coincidence! :P

[@theprowler18]

The intro start is appropriate as a recap of the finale of Rondo Of Blood. Makes sense the music pops, as the Boss Gauntlet with Shaft and 3-4 other bosses in a row was absolutely brutal as hell before that. And yes, the final boss for Rondo Of Blood with Dracula was this piss-taking easy too! X)

[@gamerkingdom1442]

WOAH! I didn’t know you’ve played this game! This is a masterpiece…. I hope you truly enjoy it! And yeah, through ALL OF IT!! Flipped castle included!

[@gokaury]

Symphony of the Night and Super Metroid: two of the greatest games of all time that defined an entire genre.

[@vernontk]

I'll play them both over and over again. Amazing.

[@cashordeals3672]

Yo max playing symphony of the night nice 👌🏾 lowkey got me wanting to install the castlevania collection back 😅

[@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777]

For me, this made me rewatch the anime because I got no immediate access to the games anymore. 😂 Also, Its sad how that "Max" bot up there isn't dealt with yet.

[@Kikkoman85]

Konami needs to put out a third Castlevania Collection with Rondo of Blood and SOTN. Or maybe even re-release the one they put out on PSP.

[@AlynRapi]

@@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777 you've got sotn on mobile! its got some cute stuff to it like maping spells to a single button and playing richter on mobile is actually pretty fun even with touch controls because of the button shortcuts

[@logiclunacy606]

@@Kikkoman85 They did several years ago, it's just a PlayStation exclusive

[@Pensive_Scarlet]

That Hippogryph fight was absolutely enthralling. Makes me wish I could flip a switch and experience this game for the very first time completely blind all over again.

[@blackcephie1800]

oh man that opening guitar riff. So epic. sets the tone for real.

[@MrDark086]

Ive played through this so many times i've got every secret and breakable wall carefully etched into my memory

[@pacothemajestic]

The movement in this game is still my favorite of any metroidvania. Please check out the randomizer and check out speedrun movement strats, even casually they're super fun to pull off.

[@Domna7]

A timeless masterpiece, when I did start it, it did have same effect on me as FF7 ( it was around the same time as well): I was playing it without any expectations....My mind was blown afterwards.

[@AnubisDark]

I have the original cd. I do at least a playthrough every year since 1999. Masterpiece

[@andrebaxter4023]

Nice.

[@SupermanNew52]

SotN is one of the greatest video games ever made. Perfect gameplay. Perfect soundtrack.

[@wallacesousuke1433]

Perfect gameplay? It's a joke of a game, zero difficulty, laughable bosses, a mess of a RPG system

[@bryin7]

Watching this brings me great joy. It's so cool seeing Max play one of my all-time favorites blind.

[@DoublemanFM]

I saw this stream pop up in my notifs and I was like "PLEASE LET THIS BE ON YT"

[@azenar1894]

Max please do more of these, I love them

[@NicolasSilvaVasault]

my favorite game of all times, i've finished both the prequel and this like 20 times

[@shoken4421]

I haven't seen max play this since he and Simmons played it wayyy back in the day . I'm definitely saving this. Thank you max!

[@bboyhanvzla]

this game still looks amazing, and the soundtrack is godlike

[@Mad_Oph]

One of my favorite games of all time, and still the gold standard for its genre. Death: Your son is attacking the castle, my lord, what would you have me do? Dracula: Run him for his foams and ditch his ass.

[@MrDrdiaz81084]

As I'm watching Max play through this game, I keep scratching my head at how this is his FIRST playthrough.

[@carloszagal1934]

I am a big fan of your channel since the MVC3 days. It was shocking to see that you have never played SOTN! it's my personal GOAT video game and why I chose to study music in school (Yamane makes the OST sound godly). Glad you dig it!

[@MezTZO]

I finished playing this game a long time ago, but I never realized Alucard could do that forward dash-teleport thing.

[@LegendaryDarkKnight602]

If you have the Alucard sword, the button input is performed like a Hadoken from Street Fighter.

[@sonjeh14]

The dialogue, the music, the gameplay, the absolute nostalgia. One of Playstion's absolute best games of its era, imo.

[@richie404]

Surprised to see this is your first time playing Castlevania: Symphony of The Night. This game has an amazing Ost.

[@causmosis]

Holy hell, that Hippogriff fight was incredible. Was on the edge of my seat the whole time!

[@d.g.6147]

ಠ_ಠ

[@clockworkEsper]

27:02 Something about the idea of Alucard walking into the first boss room, seeing that pair of complete jokers and just going "Kiss my ass!" before annihilating one of them in a stream of fireballs just sends my soul up to heaven with joy, we're off to a great start.

[@Punkmanprime]

Max playing SOTN! My favorite game of all time. Im glued to my screen. Watching you discover and learn is a real treat. The gameplay never gets old even after 25 years. I hope you get to appreciate all the little nuances and fun this games has to offer. A dozen playthroughs since i was a kid and still find little things i never knew where there , and new fun ways to play. Iga and team put so much into this game. Its Legendary! Enjoy Max!!

[@fearlesscheshirecat1411]

I’ve never played a Castelvania game, but I’ve been told it’s one of the greatest ever.

[@MrJohnDoe2525]

Playing Rondo of Blood then Sotn is a great experience 👌

[@Triwaan]

I remember the first time playing this my BFF, and oh my God. We totally fell in love with the gameplay and the amazing soundtrack. I hope you find this game just as amazing as it is! GLHF!

[@MaskedGuyCh]

Castlevania SotN is a defining game in my life. Easily one of the best games I ever played. The soundtrack is top tier too, one of the best videogame soundtracks of all time. Other IGAvanias (Castlevania games made by IGA) are also pretty good, games like Aria of Sorrow, Portrait of Ruin, Order of Ecclesia, Harmony of Dissonance, and Bloodstained. Those are all really good games, especially for those into the genre.

[@puniopenetrante]

The good thing about watching old Max's videos is the few times i can catch him live and Ripley appears on stream i can see how grown she is. Max have a nice family. i'm happy for him.

[@elec8101]

A masterpiece, the game that made me a fan of Castlevania, along with Aria of Sorrow and 4.

[@ratiounkn3210]

Just started playing this again on an emulator my wife bought. Never been on twitch before but after watching you do this I understand the appeal. This was a great time. Much appreciated.

[@LordQuadros]

Architect: "Milord, are you certain about this entire empty room to store a single pot roast in the wall?" Dracula: "I don't tell you where to keep your pot roast."

[@Locostacos6930]

I want to somehow add this line into the book I'm writing

[@solomon9655]

Played this game last year with my friend for the first time and I gotta say, it's aged great. We had such a good time vibing in Dracula's castle, it really enhanced the spooky season.

[@MagodoCaos1]

Yes, I was waiting for this one. Symphony of the Night is one of my favorite games of all time. I'm very happy Max got to play this masterpiece

[@Legend41589]

SOTN is one of my favorite games of all time. Normally I only watch max for fighting games but here were are. Not even an hour in and im crying, this is one of the greatest playthroughs I have ever seen. I love Max, and dude has been submitted as probably one of the best of all time in my books.

[@raulbanos918]

I'm so surprised nobody taught him the soul steal spell command. Would have come in handy in so many scenarios

[@zombied3stroy3r9gaming4]

Then you have me, mostly running through like it's a classic Castlevania game and only using the main weapon and the subweapon XD Very rarely would I bother with using the spells, and even then, I think using the spirit was my go-to

[@d.g.6147]

He would somehow still manage to die repeatedly even if he knew it.

[@SBaby]

11:08 - That's actually how it went down. They turned into a photograph and the photo caught fire. The end.

[@glthegamemaster4197]

These solo/single-player playthroughs where it's just Max and the chat vibing with some of the best games of all time, seeing him experience them for the first time, are my absolute favorite videos of his! Love this stuff :)

[@lazaroskarmaniolas7410]

Me too, it's the best! I'd love to see Max do more of these, maybe with Final Fantasy games? If he loves VII, he'll love VI.

[@daimionhollins528]

Max! Once again,.. a blast from the past. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was my favorite Castlevania game ever. I'm glad that you took the time to stream this. Watching you play this brings back memories. You're the best! 👌😉👍

[@CakeSublime]

God, I love this game.

[@cadencedavis7510]

Let's go these first time playthroughs of anything older are my favorite

[@xDTHECHEMISTx]

better late than never. Classic i still have. timeless flawless soundtrack to remember

[@Caen-MK]

Such a masterpiece of a game. OST is one of the best ever made. Glorious. Fun to watch too!

[@StockeTepes]

Absolutely loved watching Max play this one live. Was awesome & interesting to see a fresh perspective on SotN and honestly really fun. Definitely understandable if you preferred Super Metroid over this one too, they’re both VERY different and tackle so many "Metroidvania" elements in ways that would shape & make the genre forever. SotN is one of the few games I think will age incredibly well as the years go by 🥲

[@James-oj6ru]

It is an interesting watch to how someone who’s truly completely oblivious to Castlevania plays like and uh… huh, is it that obtuse or hard for others? I don’t… know

[@marcellosilva9286]

This is my favourite game of all time and coincidentally enough, I was born 15 days before it came out in Japan. Now that's what you call fate. Hope you enjoy it, Max.

[@zhaf]

Faerie familiar uses consumables when appropriate. Like when Alucard have negative status she will use appropriate item to heal it. When Alucard is under 25% hp she will occasionally use healing potion. She will use resistance potions when fighting enemies with elemental attacks. She can even revive Alucard if he dies in boss battles. Just need to keep using her to level her up. The higher her lvl the more frequent and better items she will use. She will also hint at breakable objects/walls.

[@hakketmcz3861]

As a hard core fan of symphony of the night I really like the nostalgia and just want to sit down coach him what him to go around in Dracula's castle 😂

[@DavyTempest]

I'm pissed I missed the live stream for this, but I'm glad I can watch the vid for it while I'm doing my temp job. Thanks so much, Max, hope you had a blast with this

[@krasussien]

i just love the ost from this game !

[@JBNagis]

FIRST TIME?!?! Maaaan enjoy. I play through it once a year for the fun of it. great game

[@zhaf]

Fun fact: Alucards starting heath,hearts and mana is determined by how well you do in the Richter vs Dracula fight in the prologue.

[@andrebaxter4023]

Oh. Didn't know that!

[@phoenixlich]

@@andrebaxter4023 Lots of factors go into it. Did you pick up any items before the fight? how many? use any items during the fight? take damage? get saved by the girl? etc. There's guides that tell how you can use manipulate that fight to start with super high luck stat, etc.

[@joaodala549]

That sounds awesome

[@andrebaxter4023]

@@phoenixlich , good to know. Jumped down the retro gaming rabbit hole recently and this game is part of my back log. Cheers.

[@phoenixlich]

@@andrebaxter4023 I really hope you enjoy it! there's so many rare items we definitely won't see in Max's playthrough that make exploring and replaying the game really fun. there's a sword that kills bosses in literally 2-3 seconds, a shield rune combo that makes you literally an invincible murder machine, and my personal favorite weapon in the entire game drops off a dodo.

[@dopedswaggproduction]

just picked up this masterpiece after wanting it for years. first play through is going so amazing. cant wait to get richter after beating the inverse. your in for a treat max. SHINE ON!!!

[@chaffXgrenade]

This'll be interesting to see. My first time was the Android version (not as bad as it initially sounds, believe me--still a great game).

[@Kabamaru2000]

First time? What the hell!!!You are in for a treat

[@williambargery5855]

Amazing game! I'm more of a classicvania guy (I prefer the harder difficulty,and rondo of blood exists) but so good. After tiring of fighting games its nice to see you play something like this.

[@logiclunacy606]

Same, symphony at best is easy but when you come across the imbalance the game has to offer it can become way too easy. Decent game, I like some of its more cryptic puzzles but the openess it has, has both the games biggest strength and its biggest weakness.

[@rakino4418]

I think the key to this games design is context. As a streamer trying to playthrough the game in a timely and entertaining manner or just as a 2022 adult who has limited time it can be a little frustrating. But imagine you're a teenager (or younger) in tbe 90s. You have a unlimited free time. You don't have a giude telling you where the secrets are. This kind of game is a perfect match to your attention span and free time.

[@javelin9979]

This is one of the best games ever made.

[@seankerr2394]

YESSSSSS THANK YOU!!! So stoked for this gameplay. SPOOOOOOKY

[@ericd.beckhamsr.2305]

My all time favorite Castlevania game!!

[@xtlm]

The older I get, the more I appreciate all the little things this game does. It's so cool that they implemented so much.

[@CeHee123]

Max becoming a Metroidvania fan just warms my heart.

[@CalciumChief]

He's arguably already been that. Played Gucamelee way back in the early days.

[@CeHee123]

@@CalciumChief I mean as he goes through the classics that started the genre.

[@CalciumChief]

@@CeHee123 Wouldn't that still be Metroid? Wasn't the whole reason this one was called "Metroidvania" cause it played like Metroid?

[@CeHee123]

@@CalciumChief yes. He played super metroid not too long ago and the "vania" part comes from this game.

[@vsoco4921]

I knew there would be a reaction for the way the introductory level music hits

[@omegaprime8612]

this game is the perfect example of a masterpiece it has zero flaws and still full filling to play to this day

[@PyroInTheFace21]

Whoa there cowboy, it's alright to take off the rose tinted glasses and recognize this game has it's faults. For one, the map. It isn't labeled at all, and you can't mark anything on it. Max makes a point around the 1:20:00 mark, big middle finger if this is your first playthrough, you stop playing for a bit, and don't remember where you are or where you were going. Second, if you DO know what you're doing the game is pretty easy without self imposed restrictions like no spells or no saving ect.. even if you don't know what you're doing it's easy to become over leveled by killing everything in between you and your objective. Also, no matter how well versed you are at the game you can't deny having one merchant is a pain in the ass, especially when you get to the second castle. Teleporting to him is fine and well but getting back to where you were will take several minutes of back tracking through enemies that pose no real threat. Don't get me wrong, I love the shit out of SotN, but claiming it's a flawless masterpiece is a stretch. I could go on and on about the things that make this game amazing like the art style, music design, yadda yadda, but flawless? Nah fam.

[@omegaprime8612]

@@PyroInTheFace21 sotn is a masterpiece or as close as you can possibly get to one..

[@Locostacos6930]

"How does it go from butt-lady to cow?!" As a woman, I guarantee you that is a question we often ask ourselves too. Thank you for this blind playthrough, I know it must have been frustrating so many times but you did amazingly finesse through quite a few battles and your commentary/first experience was fantastic.

[@SPACECOWBOY705]

5:13 Having a kid didnt change this man one bit🤣🤣

[@justinhasnoloveforem]

What I enjoyed about watching this walk through was: your experimentation. You did things and found secrets that I never have and I beat this years ago. The chat was awesome too. Wait 30 seconds...really? It makes me want to play this game again!!!

[@matthagen67]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Never heard of it. But now when you're playing it... well... I'm interested in this.

[@RedXStrider]

Man oh man. Me and my dad absolutely love castlevania. Especially this specific one. We've both beaten it several times and still continue to do so to this day. Its great to see you play it!