Fans of classic games were surprised to see Castlevania: Symphony of the Night drop on the App Store abruptly last month. It was especially odd considering the MIA status of Grimoire of Souls, a mobile game announced two years ago. As Konami never announced their intentions to port Symphony to mobile, most assumed the sudden release was in an effort to help promote the animated Castlevania series airing on Netflix.
Gaming news site Siliconera was able to get a hold of Konami's Katsuya Shimazaki, who directed the surprise port of Symphony, and ask a few questions in an interview here. Shimazaki explains in the interview that Symphony was chosen over other Castlevania entries not because it was easier, but because "Symphony of the Night first came out on PlayStation over 20 years ago, and to this day, fans continue to be quite vocal about it."
If Konami doesn't intend to release the full series catalog for mobile, it makes sense to port big hits like Symphony instead of going in order - it's the seventh game in the series, but knowledge of Symphony is much more widespread than, say, Castlevania: The Adventure.
Shimazaki elaborates on some of the mechanical changes made to the game for the port, such as the new save mechanic before boss fights or the balancing efforts for touch controls as opposed to controller,. However, he ultimately didn't confirm any concrete plans to release further mobile ports of the series within the interview, stating only that Konami is "always looking at content across all platforms".
Regardless of the reason behind the port, Symphony's $2.99 USD price tag on the App Store is more than worth it for another chance to play the classic game, and something for Castlevania fans to chew on while they're waiting for Grimoire of Souls to see a full launch.
(Source: Siliconera)