Castlevania: Symphony of the Night/Entrance

Area Briefing

 * Save Rooms: (15,32), (3,34), and (1,39) (PS "the best" re-release only)
 * Warp Room: (13,33)
 * Exits: (15,31) to, (18,31) to , (12,36) to , and (1,39) to  (Sega Saturn only)
 * Powerups: Life Vial x2,  Heart Container x3
 * Relics: Cube of Zoe (17,31),  Power of Wolf (0,33)
 * Enemies: Bat, Blade, Bloody Zombie, Bone Scimitar (conditional), Gurkha, Merman, Owl, Owl Knight, Warg (conditional), Zombie
 * Bosses: Slogra and Gaibon (optional)
 * Items: Pot Roast, Turkey, Holy Mail, Jewel Sword, Life Apple, Shield Potion

First visit

 * Intro:After running a long distance, Alucard will jump over a drawbridge and get into the castle, then the main gate will be shut behind. If you are playing as Richter or Maria, they will ride horses until reaching the drawbridge, and jump off the horse and cross over the drawbridge.
 * Start - (0,35):Right below you is a hatch shut, just ignore that now. It will only open later if you are playing Sega Saturn version.  As Alucard, check your shiny gear, which nets you ease for quite a while.  Slash the Warg blocking the path and proceed.
 * (2,35):At first, the lighting in the hallway is off, but you can see the lurking Wargs. At the center of hallway, the lighting will be turned on, along with the music.  Zombies will start poping out from the floor everywhere.  Proceed to the right.
 * (9,35):Ignore the hole in the ceiling, but beware of the Bats around. There is a huge rock in front, and you can break the left end for a Pot Roast.  Inside the rock is a tunnel and the right end can also be broken, making a shortcut.  The lower area has Mermen popping out of water endlessly.  While you can farm them for EXP and Zircon, avoid touching water, as it hurts.  You can use Dark Metamorphosis to get HP recover from the Mermen.  You can visit (12,36) as well, but nothing can be done inside.
 * (12,35):Another long hallway, but you will only encounter Wargs. At the end of hallway, break the leftmost block of stairs for a Turkey.


 * (18,35):As Alucard, you will meet Death here. After conversation, he will rob your starting gears (other than those obtained with special codes) and escape.  Now you will have to proceed with bare hands.  If you are playing Sega Saturn version, the hatch leading to  will open now, but it is suggested that you proceed and find a save room first.
 * (19,35):Just climb the platforms and move left.
 * (18,33):Jump over the hole and proceed. You may want to start from the right and jump into the hole while holding left, if you do, you may land on a platform at (18,34), and collect a Heart Container in (17,34) early, then return to below and move on.
 * (17,33):You will find two special Bone Scimitars here, who always drop a weapon. The white one below drops Short Sword, and the orange one above drops Red Rust.  They will only respawn if you save the game, reset and load again, but it is not necessary.  Rather, get into (15,32) and save your progress.  After that, move to (17,31) to find your first relic, Cube of Zoe.  Now you can find hearts and money bags from candles.  You may want to check (15,33) which is blocked from the other side, but you will eventually leave this area from (15,31) and move to.
 * Sega Saturn only - (1,35): You may wish to explore  early, but beware that you are now very weak against Wargs and even Zombies.  If you do, you may grind EXP inside, and return by activating the Warp Room, and get the Heart Container in (15,33) earlier.

Afterwards

 * After visiting once, the Wargs will be gone forever, though they carry nothing.  Meanwhile, Bloody Zombies will take over the hallways, an Owl Knight will bring his pet Owl to guard (1,35), and the upper hallway (8,34) will be occupied by Blade and Gurkha.
 * After visiting Alchemy Laboratory, and before starting a boss fight, if you return to (18,35), to your surprise, you will encounter Slogra and Gaibon duo. They behave the same as later, but after taking enough damage, Gaibon will snatch Slogra and escape together, while you have no method to finish them here. If you do this after having skipped Death taking your stuff with the 99 Luck trick, Death won't be there, and you can then safely cross this room later as often as you need to, so it's recommended that you fight this optional battle in 99 luck mode.

Collect-a-thon
It is suggested to return here after collecting Soul of Bat, and maybe Gravity Boots as well.
 * (17,31):Access here from the zig-zag corridors of, you can collect a Shield Potion, and step on the switch to open a shortcut connecting both areas.
 * (18,32):Here is a Life Vial.
 * (15,33):Any other Warp Room will let you appear from the left. Now you can collect the Heart Container and step on the switch to remove the wall.
 * (17,34):Collect a Heart Container if you have missed it before.
 * (11,35):Look at the tunnel where you have collected a Pot Roast before. In order to unlock (8,36) the hidden room, transform into Bat and enter the tunnel from the right, then in the middle of tunnel, transform into Wolf and exit from the left, then, the wall to (8,36) will be broken silently, and inside will be Jewel Sword and Life Apple.  It is possible to reverse the process, by entering the tunnel from the left as Wolf, and exit from the right as Bat.
 * (12,36):Accessed from, you can step on a switch to connect the two areas, and collect a Life Vial.
 * (9,34):Fly into this room and proceed to the right. You will encounter a Blade and a Gurkha in the corridor at (8,34).  At the other side of corridor, you can find a Save Room (3,34), and Holy Mail at (3,33).
 * (1,33):Fly to top of the very first room, and you can find a cellar with Power of Wolf and a Heart Container.
 * (0,35):While you can move down to normally in Sega Saturn version, there is also a shaft below in PS "the best" version, but you can only use a certain glitch to access it.  If you do, there is only a Save Room at (1,39) and you cannot proceed further.  This shaft does not exist in regular PSX versions.