Castlevania: Symphony of the Night gets a surprise release on Android and iOS

What is a port? A miserable little pile of touchscreen controls! At least if its Castelvania: Symphony of the Night coming to Andorid and iOS, which happened as the morning sun vanquished the horrible night.

This mobile release of the classic 2D action-platformer came as a big surprise. It costs $3. And if the prospect of playing the game with touchscreen controls sounds awful, don’t worry. It does support controllers.

Symphony of the Night first came out for PlayStation back in 1997. Its blend of classic Castlevania action and monsters with exploration and RPG mechanics made a phenomenal title, and it helped coin the Metroidvania genre, which is a thriving market segment (especially in indie games, with the critical and commercial success of Dead Cells and others).

This mobile port is based on a version of the game that first came out for the PlayStation Vita. Sadly, this includes an updated localization, so you won’t be hearing infamous lines like Dracula’s “what is a man” monologue. On the bright side, this version has save states that help you get back into the action faster after death (restarting after death in the original was a lengthy process).

The port also coincides with the Season 3 launch of the Castlevania animated shown on Netflix, which debuts March 5.