Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Walkthrough

This is a critical path walkthrough intended to show an efficient sequence of events to complete the game as thoroughly as possible. All relics and bosses are included, but it's up to the reader to find most other items along the way. The path is designed to minimize backtracking while allowing for a completionist playthrough, if that's what you want to do. As such, there are some "optional" steps listed, which are steps off the beaten path which are not required to complete the game, but will lead you towards any items you might otherwise miss.

  1. Defeat Dracula in the introductory sequence.
  2. From the Entrance starting area, proceed until you obtain the Cube of Zoe.
  3. Enter the Alchemy Laboratory.
  4. Fight your way to and defeat the first boss, Slogra&Gaibon.
  5. Optional: Take the elevator down to unlock a shortcut, and obtain the Sunglasses and Basilard.
  6. Enter the Marble Gallery.
  7. Take the lower path, finding the Spirit Orb.
  8. Optional: Continue to the Entrance and unlock a shortcut.
  9. Proceed to the Outer Wall.
  10. Fight Doppleganger10.
  11. Climb to the Long Library.
  12. Obtain the Faerie Scroll.
  13. Speak to the Librarian, buying goods including the Jewel of Open.
  14. Return to the Outer Wall.
  15. Climb and hit the switch to open the path to the Soul of Wolf.
  16. Take the warp room to the Entrance, then travel through the Alchemy Laboratory and past the magically sealed door to enter the Royal Chapel.
  17. Climb your way to the Hippogryph and defeat it.
  18. Continue to the Castle Keep.
  19. Find the Leap Stone.
  20. Take the warp room to either the Outer Wall or (if you unlocked the shortcut) the Entrance and proceed to the center of the Marble Gallery.
  21. Use your new double jump ability to reach Olrox's Quarters and activate the warp room there.
  22. Enter the Colosseum.
  23. Fight the Minotaur&Werewolf and earn the Form of Mist.
  24. Return to Olrox's Quarters and use the warp room there to return to the Long Library.
  25. Use your double jump to reach the Lesser Demon, then use your mist power to claim the Soul of Bat.
  26. Optional: Take a side trip to retrieve a few items with your mist and double jump powers in the Outer Wall, including the Mirror cuirass which will be invaluable in the Clock Tower.
  27. Proceed to the Clock Tower.
  28. Claim the Fire of Bat and defeat Karasuman.
  29. Return to the Castle Keep to claim the Ghost Card and Power of Mist.
  30. Warp to Olrox's Quarters.
  31. Defeat Olrox and earn the Echo of Bat.
  32. Find the Sword Card on your way to the Royal Chapel.
  33. Return to the Colosseum and claim the Holy sword on your way towards Olrox's Quarters and the Marble Gallery.
  34. While passing through, grab the Gravity Boots.
  35. Optional: Return to the Long Library and use a gravity boots jump below the Librarian to earn a Life max up.
  36. Hit the switch behind the magically sealed door to open the path to the Underground Caverns.
  37. Use your bat form to reach and defeat the Succubus, earning you the Gold Ring.
  38. Take the ferry to retrieve the Merman Statue.
  39. Optional: Unlock the shortcut to the Entrance and explore the area with your bat power to find items that were previously inaccessible.
  40. Head back the other way and defeat the Scylla wyrm and then Scylla.
  41. herself.
  42. Take the second ferry to find the Holy Symbol.
  43. Make your way to the Abandoned Mine.
  44. Defeat Cerberus and find the Demon Card.
  45. Continue on to the Catacombs.
  46. Use your bat echo ability to retrieve the Spike Breaker armor, then head the other way and defeat Granfaloon.
  47. Use the warp room in the Abandoned Mine to return to the Entrance, then head towards the Royal Chapel via the Alchemy Laboratory.
  48. Use the Spike Breaker and your mist ability to obtain the Silver Ring.
  49. Equip both the Gold Ring and the Silver Ring and head to the clock at the center of the Marble Gallery.
  50. Obtain the Holy glasses, then equip them and return to the Castle Keep.
  51. Destroy Shaft's controlling orb to free Richter Belmont from his power and gain access to the Inverted Castle.
  52. Travel from the Reverce Keep to the Reverse Clock Tower.
  53. Defeat Darkwing Bat to earn the Ring of Vlad.
  54. Continue to the Reverse Outer Wall and fight The Creature.
  55. Optional: Explore the Forbidden Library.
  56. Enter the Black Marble Gallery, following it to the Reverce Caverns.
  57. Optional: Take on Doppleganger40 and earn the Dark Blade.
  58. Make your way to the Cave and fight Death.
  59. Optional: Enter and explore the Floating Catacombs, and defeat Galamoth to earn the Gas Cloud relic.
  60. Return to the Reverce Caverns and proceed to the Reverse Entrance.
  61. Continue to the Necromancy Laboratory.
  62. Optional: Defeat Beelzebub and earn the Ring of Arcana.
  63. Move on to the Anti-Chapel.
  64. Optional: Enter the Reverce Colosseum and take on Trevor&Grant&Sypha.
  65. Enter Death Wing's Lair to take on Akmodan II.
  66. Return to the Anti-Chapel and fight Medusa.
  67. Return to the Black Marble Gallery and open the path to the final fights with Shaft and Lord Dracula.