My take on this should be viewed with a grain of salt because I am super late to the party and this naturally does not feel revolutionary in 2024 the way it did in 2007.

Maybe this is a Switch thing, but I find the combat to be pretty futile most of the time. I selected plasmid upgrades that I thought were sensible but maybe I didn't pour nearly enough effort into researching enemies. Either way, there were many instances of me walking into a space, taking damage, and not knowing for the longest time which direction my assailant was coming from until it was too late. I saw the inside of a Vita-Chamber many times. Paired with the lumbering nature of Jack, I found it near impossible to enter a firefight and get by unscathed. Big Daddies especially were a guaranteed one-revive affair, no question. Again, the combat may not translate well to a Switch controller, so I won't judge too harshly what is considered to be a game-changing shooter.

Another thing I don't love is the lack of cutscenes. Any exhibition gets delivered via people communicating with you while the game rages onward. Once I completed the game (happy ending), I made sure to read the Wikipedia synopsis and was shocked to find several important plot points that I missed, most definitely because the game didn't wait for me to slow down and listen while the story unfolded.

Regardless, I can see why this made such a huge splash when it was released. The design of Rapture is remarkable, a real rabbit hole of megalomania and failed utopia. Customization of plasmid upgrades is a very attractive way to tailor your play style to your preference. And the game itself is unexpectedly spooky at times—snapshots of ghostly memories being one of the more unforgettable traits here. I definitely enjoy it more than I dislike it, so I'll move onto 2 in good time.

I bought this entirely for Symphony of the Night. Before this, the only MetroidVania games I had played were Super Metroid and Hollow Knight; the latter of which is one of my favorite games ever. It's crazy to see how close to the golden standard they came from the very beginning. All I'd ever heard about SotN is that it invented a genre and it couldn't be more true. The template is all there in 1997 and I felt the exact same high from exploration-based reward that I did playing Hollow Knight a few years ago. Way ahead of its time. The animation is beautiful, some of the best pixels I've ever seen. When Alucard quickly crouches and you see his long white hair and the fabric of his cape gently follow him, just a second behind... that's some fine detail.

Played to achieve the "good" ending, involving the inverted castle, facing Shaft and Dracula at the end.

I tried Rondo of Blood. Made it to Stage 2. The wolfman boss at the end is an instant no for me. I think I attempted it 12 times and no amount of pattern recognition would have helped me, only luck. This is far back enough that the gameplay is punishing without being any bit fun. Dracula's Revenge is a lot like this in that way. I'll cut my losses and just say hey, I'm very happy to have played Symphony of the Night.