Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 5/10
- Offline: 12 [200]
- Online: 0
- Approximate amount of time to 200: 6-8 hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 2
- Number of missable achievements: None!
- Glitched achievements: None!
- Do cheat codes disable achievements: No cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No Difficulty Selection

Introduction:
Welcome to PSX's legendary game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, hailed by many as the best Castlevania incarnation ever. In order to get 200 you will have to complete the game twice, once with Alucard, unlocking the Inverted Castle, using the goggles Maria gives you while battling Richter in Dracula's Room and attacking the orb flying above him and another with Richard himself.

Step 1: Playthrough #1 (Alucard):
The first achievement you get is with Richter in the initial sequence and it is easy. Grab any hearts you can before the big fight (go to the ceiling right after the red stairway using Richter's Super Jump (,+) and take the big heart.

As soon you get to Dracula and after the dialogue, grab all hearts from the chandeliers and the Holy Water. As soon as the white light signaling the appearance of Dracula starts, do an item crash using and hitting him in the head once or twice. This should be enough to beat the first form of Dracula. As soon the second form appears, repeat the item crash, using the invincibility you have thanks to the Hydro Storm to get a few hits with your whip. If all goes well, you will have your achievement.

After destroying Dracula with Richter, you take control of Alucard. This will give you another chance to unlock the "Apprentice", "Rampage" and "Weapon Master" achievements immediately. When zombies start to spawn from the ground, stand on a ladder before exiting or after entering an area, so they disappear without being able to touch you. Carefully position yourself and kill ten of them with your weapon.

Use the following commands to kill ten more enemies:

,,+,+ (Hellfire)
,,,+ (Summon Spirit)

You might need to wait until your magic energy replenishes before you kill all ten enemies. As soon as you pick up a sub weapon, use it to kill ten enemies in a row.

You can buy all spells from the master librarian or you can input them and they will still unlock. You will have to get Soul of Wolf, Sword Familiar and Bat Transformation to input them, but if you want to get the achievement fast, buy them and then reload your game to keep the money.

The money achievement can be attained legitimately (time consuming) or you can use the Sword Familiar glitch with the Master Librarian and a few valuable gems. You must have a bank of 100.000$ at one point. Money spent does not count towards the achievement.

After unlocking the Inverted Castle (equip the goggles Maria gives you and attack the orb, NOT Richter!), go for the "Seeker" achievement using this interactive map and finish the game with Alucard. (Excel or Open Office required for link)

Step 2: Playthrough #2
After ending the game with Alucard, start a new one using the name RICHTER (the game itself tells you this). With Richter, the game is much more straightforward, as you cannot level up or equip items. Your only goal is to find and kill Shaft in the last chamber you fought him with Alucard. Try not to waste time killing unnecessary bosses or exploring, as Richter is quite vulnerable to attack.

Use and abuse Hydro Storm (Holy Water item crash) as much as you can when in need and use any save points you find, as you will have your health restored. Use this technique against Shaft, as a couple of Hydro Storms will kill him. This is the most challenging achievement, as Richter can die with a couple of hits from standard enemies, especially in the inverted castle.

Conclusion:
Most of your time will be spent exploring and looking for the "200.6%" achievement. While in the inverted castle, use the Wolf Form to reach the highest parts in the water. The total number of rooms is 1890, including the final area. One often used technique is to enter this last room and using a Library Card to return to the Great Library and keep a tally of the rooms encountered.

[XBA would like to thank Mantra for this Roadmap]

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Achievement Guide

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There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points

  • Defeat 10 consecutive enemies using the standard weapons without getting hit.

    A standard weapon is any of the melee weapons that you can equip to your right () or left () hand. 

    This achievement is very easy to unlock when you first enter the castle as Alucard. After fighting a few Wargs, you'll come to a point where Zombies spawn continuously. Get to the end of this hallway and there's a point where you can jump up on a low step or platform. From this point, adjust your distance so that your sword strikes can hit the Zombies, but they can't reach you. Once you've found your spot, simply kill ten consecutive Zombies with your weapon and the achievement will unlock.

  • Defeat 10 consecutive enemies using only magic without getting hit.

    There are eight magic spells that you can unlock throughout the game. These spells use Magic Points, represented by the blue bar at the top of the screen. These will recharge over time. If you know the button combinations you can cast almost all of the spells at the outset. I think the easiest spell to cast is Tetra Spirit. It can also kill multiple enemies simultaneously. 

    To cast it, press  straight up and hold it there for a second and then rotate the direction that you're facing until it's pointed straight down. As soon as it's pointed down, press  or . This fires off four magic homing balls of energy that will kill weaker enemies in a single strike.

    This achievement is very easy to unlock when you first enter the castle as Alucard. After fighting a few Wargs, you'll come to a point where Zombies spawn continuously. Get to the end of this hallway and there's a point where you can jump up on a low step or platform. From this point the Zombies can't reach you. Simply cast Tetra Spirit repeatedly until you kill ten consecutive Zombies and the achievement will unlock.

  • Defeat 10 consecutive enemies using special weapons without getting hit.

    The special weapons are a variety of weapons that are used by pressing  + . They use up Hearts, which are replenished by breaking objects and killing enemies. You also find the special weapons by breaking objects, but you can only carry one at a time, so if you find one that you like, hold onto it. 

    This achievement is very easy to unlock when you first enter the castle as Alucard. After fighting a few Wargs, you'll come to a point where Zombies spawn continuously. Get to the end of this hallway and there's a point where you can jump up on a low step or platform. From this point the Zombies can't reach you. Simply utilize your special weapon repeatedly until you kill ten consecutive Zombies and the achievement will unlock.

  • Obtain the Bat, Wolf and Mist transformations.

    These items allow you to transform into different forms, each with their own skill set. The Bat can fly and use radar to "see" in the dark, allowing you to easily access new areas. The Wolf can swim, which is key in exploring the entire map. The Mist transformation allows you to pass through fences and gates that you would not be able to in your normal form. These can all be found in the Normal Castle. You can get Soul of the Wolf and Form of Mist as soon as you work your way to their respective locations, but you must have the Mist Transformation before you can reach Soul of the Bat.

    Use the map linked in  Seeker to specifically locate these areas.

    The Soul of Wolf is found at the top of the elevator in the Outer Wall. There is a switch at the very top of the wall, above the elevator, that unlocks the elevator gate when you flip it by walking past it.
    The Form of Mist is found in the Colosseum. After the Minotaur boss battle, go into the room directly to the right.
    The Soul of Bat is found in the Library. Go into the largest room and take the middle door on the left. You will find yourself in a save room. Again take the door on the left and follow the path down and to the left, using the Mist transformation to get through the grate.

  • Collect all five familiars in the game.

     

    The familiars are five little assistents (Faerie, Bat, Demon, Sword, and Ghost) that you can acquire throughout the game and each provides a different ability. You can only have one familiar active at a given time and using a familiar repeatedly gains it experience, so it levels up and gets stronger. All of them can be found in the Normal Castle and are much easier to reach once you've acquired the ability to transform into a bat. Again, reference the map linked in the Seeker to specifically locate these areas.

    Faerie Card: Found in the Library. From the largest room, go to the top-left door. You will need to change into a bat to get there.

    Bat Card: Found in the Alchemy Laboratory. In the room where you fought Slogra and Gaibon, use superjump or bat transformation to reach a door in the upper right corner.

    Demon Card: Found in the Abandoned Mine. On your way down you will notice a switch in, the upper right corner that you can not hit. Go down one room down and to the left of that and you'll find the Demon Card.

    Sword Card: Found in Olrox's quarters. Go into the big room with a fountain, and then take the lower-left door, and keep heading left until you come to an area where the bricks change color from dark gray to a more whitish color. This area is about a screen or so wide, and is a sort of "bridge". Once you're here, slash at the ceiling toward the left of this area. Or, just use the Soul Steal spell to find the breakable area. Once you break the hole in the ceiling, fly up the hole. You'll now be in a small room with the Sword Card.

    Ghost Card: Go to the top of the castle where you'll find the broken staircase. From the bottom of the staircase do a superjump, or bat transformation to get to a door in the upper right corner. In there is the ghost card.

  • Defeat Gaibon and Slorga.

    Gaibon and Slorga are your first real boss fight. They can be somewhat challenging if you havn't mastered jumping and dodging, but, with a little practice, they're easily defeated. Watch the video below for advice.

  • Defeat Dracula in the Bloodlines stage without getting hit.

    The Bloodlines stage is the "mini-prequel" that you play as Richter at the very start of the game. All you have to do is make to Dracula's throne room and the defeat him without being hit. Fortunately, the enemies that you encounter on your way to the throne room are easily dispatched at a safe distance with your whip and Dracula himself can be destroyed using Hydrostrom, the Item Crash () of Holy Water. A Holy Water special weapon is conveniently located in the throne room, you just need to stock up on hearts from the various breakable candlesticks in the area before you get there. Watch the video below to see this strategy in action.

  • Unlock/Cast all eight of Alucard's spells.

    There are eight spells that Alucard can cast. Technically, you're supposed to unlock them by buying them from the Librarian. In actuality, you can cast them without having purchased them and that will also unlock them. Five of them can be cast from the start of the game, but Wolf Charge and Wing Smash require the Wolf and Bat transformations respectively and Sword Brothers requires you to have the Sword Familiar activated.

    The button combinations for all eight spells are listed below. I personally found it easier to use  instead of rolling my thumb around the D-Pad, so that's something that you can try if you're having trouble.

    Dark Metamorphosis: +++

    Hellfire: ++

    Summon Spirit: +

    Tetra Spirit:  (two seconds) +++

    Soul Steal: +++

    Wolf Charge: (in Wolf form) ++

    Sword Brothers: (Sword Familiar active) ++ (hold two seconds) +

    Wing Smash: (in Bat form) hold  +++, release  and then press 

  • Unlock the Inverted Castle.

    Castlevania has four possible endings and it is possible to end the game without unlocking the Inverted Castle. To unlock the Inverted Castle, you must acquire the Holy Glasses from Maria. With these equipped, proceed to the fight with Richter. If you have the Glasses equipped, you'll see an orb floating around the room with Richter. Focus your attacks on the orb and destroy it. Once you do, you'll free Richter from it's spell and unlock the Inverted Castle.

  • Collect a bank of $100,000.

    This achievement is not cumulative. You must have a total of $100,000 at a single time. You can make money by selling items like jewels to the Librarian. You can either grind for items to sell or use the following glitch to get a huge number of gems to sell at once.

    1. Try to have only one of any valuable gem in your inventory and equip the Sword familiar.
    2. Stand in front of the Master Librarian and use the Sword Brothers spell (see Warlock).
    3. Quickly approach him to bring up selling menu.
    4. Go to the jewel selling menu and press . Equip the jewel you want to sell.
    5. Press  again to close the menu and sell the jewel, then exit the shop. You now have 255 of that game to sell and makes a big profit.

    Use this approach as many times as you need to to get the $100,000.

  • Seeker

     

    35

    Explore 200.6% of the game.

    This is the most time-consuming achievement in the game. You have to access every single square of both the Normal and Inverted Castle. There is an excellent map HERE that you can use to keep track of your exploration. You'll need to open it in Excel (Read Only) to view it. 

    If the achievement doesn't unlock by the time you fight Shaft in the Clocktower of the Inverted Castle, then you've missed a room, so use a Library Card to teleport out of the fight with Dracula and return to the Normal Castle. From there, study your in-game maps to figure out what you missed. There are a total of 1890 rooms in the two castles combined, 942 in the Normal Castle and 948 in the Inverted Castle.

  • Finish the game, including the inverted castle, as Richter.

    Before you can play as Richter, you need to have completed one playthrough of the game as Alucard with at least 180% exploration. Once you've done that, start a new game in a new save slot and enter "RICHTER" as the name. This unlocks Richter as a playable character.

    After playing with Alucard for so long, Richter can feel like a very different experience. He cannot level up or equip any items or weapons, so there's no experience to be gained or loot to be collected. Fortunately, his default weapon - the whip - is quite powerful and has a very long reach. He, however, is quite weak and cannot sustain much physical damage. In fact, common enemies in the Inverted Castle can kill him in just one or two hits. He also can't double jump, but he can both super jump and chain super jumps to effectively fly across large open spaces, which makes up for the fact that he can't transform into the Bat or Mist.

    There are two factors, however, that make the Richter playthrough much faster than playing with Alucard. First of all, since he can't equip items, there's no need to go collect things to advance to new parts of the castle. You can simply walk directly to the teleport room of the Normal Castle, teleport to the Inverted Castle, walk to the Clock Tower, and kill Shaft. Secondly, he's capable of using Item Crashes by pressing . You probably got a taste of this in the Bloodlines stage when you played your first game. The Holy Water Item Crash (Hydrostorm) can kill even bosses in a single use. As long as you farm hearts along the way, you can Hydrostorm everything in the castle to death as you make your way to Shaft. 

    The shortest route and necessary strategies are nicely laid out in a thread that can be found HERE. Following this, it took me just under an hour to finish the Richter Playthrough from start to finish. That includes time spent farming hearts and a few untimely deaths. Additionally, always use nearby Save Rooms because they will restore your health.

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  • Andrew x360a, Bopher1, Crash

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