Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Beta – PSX Saturn]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Beta – PSX Saturn]

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The images below are from an old E3 Beta demo of Castlevania: SotN that was sold on ebay some time ago. The description said: “This auction is for the Castlevania E3 edition. Only one known to exist in collector’s hands this could be the highlight of many game collections. This disc was an early development version of the title which was released in the us as Castlevania SOTN. Early development titles such as this were run on test consoles by developers and game testors. If you lack the hardware required to play developmental software game do not bid.

The game gives 2 options. Normal and Special. Normal mode starts out at the end of the Bloodlines story but the text is in English while the voices are still in Japanese. I am unsure if this remains throughout the entire game or just for the first cutscene. Special mode starts you off further along with items and relics already as part of your inventory. In either mode dying brings up a different game over screen which instead says “To be continured September 1997″. I have not determined what other differences may exist and leave that all up to the buyer.”

Some more differences were noticed by Torentsu:

  • Alucard levels much more quickly
  • spells are still usable in special mode but they start out not being in the menu
  • Lead in to the music track in Catacombs is VERY different

This beta demo was leaked online sometime ago and you can download it if you search it on Google. If you play it and find some  more interesting differences, let us know!

Images:

Videos:


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6 thoughts on “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night [Beta – PSX Saturn]

  1. RichterB

    Borman wasn’t the one that leaked it and more than one copy exists in the hands of collectors. The one that was sold on eBay by some AssemblerGames/DigitalPress chaps was just one of three copies that are currently known to be circulating and the only reason why it took so long to wind up on the internet was because no one that had it knew that it hadn’t been released already.

    Once the one popped up on eBay then someone else from DigitalPress that had it in their collection started sending it out to anyone and everyone that was even remotely interested in trying it out for whatever reason. Hope the eBay buyer didn’t feel too miffed about spending almost $3800 on something that everyone now has thinking that it was a sound investment. :)

  2. monokoma

    Interesting story, thanks Richter :) So it looks like that this demo is leaked from some time already… does anyone found out any good differences from the final version?

  3. RichterB

    1- The save is cross compatible with the japanese retail release. At the game breaking points (missing item, end of demo, etc), you can fire up your save game, pass the point in the japanese version, and come back to continue playing.

    1a- The serial number of the game is the same as the Japanese version, which is why the name of the file when it was first ripped and uploaded was “Castlevania – Symphony of the Night E3 Demo [U] [SLPM-86023]”.

    2- A few missing items/enemies that make completion of the game impossible without the use of either cheating or using the Japanese retail version.

    3- I believe the text at the end of the first castle stops synchronizing with the japanese voices and begins displaying very slowly.

    Thankfully, a lot of people have played the demo since it was widely released. Other people have most likely created detailed lists of differences between it and both the Japanese and US retail editions.

  4. alucard_11

    I think Buyatari helped the buyer alot, and he is really thankful, I think lots of people asked Buyatari if he could take better pictures and stuff, but they didn’t ask the buyer, but he would of helped anyone, he is very friendly and member at ASSEMbler, he did not buy it as an investment or something, he is just a big fan of the series like other collectors.

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