PS1 Castlevania: Maria’s Symphony (Hack) PSX ISO

[Spike's iconSpike]

This hack replaces Richter Belmont with Maria Renard. When you start a new game you have to name the file RICHTER. Source: https://github.com/Xeeynamo/sotn-decomp/wiki/Maria-PSP-for-PSX-‐-How-to-install

Download from Repo​

• Castlevania: Maria’s Symphony (Hack) PSX ISO
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[roundtree]

It's interesting to get to play the PSP version of Maria from SOTN for someone who is never going to be able to play that version anyway. I can't deal with the screen border on the PSP version.

 

[Kane of Runefaust]

well, maybe what you should be asking yourself is why does this seem to bother you at all.
as you just said, it1s up to personal choice, and it is still up to personal choice wether someone wants to work on this project or not.
as a matter of fact, this is just a small part of a much bigger project.
its a decompilation of SOTN and what its doing is picking every readily available version of the game to try and make the ultimate version, not only to be ported to the PC natively, but also to be brought to every possible platform if possible.
them being able to produce a working rom of SOTN for the ps1 with a playable maria is just one of their early achievements, as they want to do much more, specially considering the fact that SOTN was coded with the equivalent of paper and spit.
Long story short, this is a much bigger project, one that aims to do justice to a great game and which might make good on some of the things that people have been wanting for almost 30 years (me included) and just like many other decompilation/ recompilation projects (ocarina of time and majora's mask come to mind) its something that should be celebrated as yet another form of being able to have access to a great game.
If you don't like it, cool beans. It still doesn't invalidate what should or should not be done/ played by anyone.

What people can manage to do even when they lack the source code of a game never stop to amaze me.
So many different types of works: good old translation, restoration, editing, porting. Of course eternal gratitude to emulator makers and rippers too.

This people keep gaming flame strong. Is like a letter of love to a past better era of games.

 

[Qbert]

Thanks for sharing this Spike.
but one problem comes is that I can't convert it into .vcd for Popstarter PS2.
I hope there'll be a solution.

 

[retroechidna]

I assume you are using a command file (bat) to simplify the process to just drag n drop.

Are you okay with working with the terminal because that is how i converted mine. Also I am using Linux and I remember .bat files are for Windows, so you're mileage may vary. On linux, I followed this guide. What it basically tell you to is to get the chdman library (what convert cue bin to chd) in one way or another (on linux is installing MAME tools, but I think Windows is different) then run a command to tell chdman to look at the cue file to know what bin file then convert to chd. If you open the bat file in notepad (or any text editor) you'll probably find that command in there.

If you're uncomfortable with code and terminal. I suggest trying namDHC (chdman backward ). It is a Windows front-end for chdman so you do not have to fiddle with any code or terminal. I have used it before on Windows. In my experience, the UI might be a bit overwhelming (and sometimes the window rendered weird if you have some weird display settings) but I always got 100% success rate and the default settings are okay out of the box.You can easily find guides and tutorials about it online if there are things you're confused about.

Thanks with namDHC I was able to finally convert it although I did need to do some name changes.

 

[Zen341]

When I drag the cue file to the cue2chd.bat it just doesn't work. I've checked the cue file in a text editor for issues and it looks fine too. I have no idea why it won't convert for me.

I assume you are using a command file (bat) to simplify the process to just drag n drop.

Are you okay with working with the terminal because that is how i converted mine. Also I am using Linux and I remember .bat files are for Windows, so you're mileage may vary. On linux, I followed this guide. What it basically tell you to is to get the chdman library (what convert cue bin to chd) in one way or another (on linux is installing MAME tools, but I think Windows is different) then run a command to tell chdman to look at the cue file to know what bin file then convert to chd. If you open the bat file in notepad (or any text editor) you'll probably find that command in there.

If you're uncomfortable with code and terminal. I suggest trying namDHC (chdman backward ). It is a Windows front-end for chdman so you do not have to fiddle with any code or terminal. I have used it before on Windows. In my experience, the UI might be a bit overwhelming (and sometimes the window rendered weird if you have some weird display settings) but I always got 100% success rate and the default settings are okay out of the box.You can easily find guides and tutorials about it online if there are things you're confused about.

 

[retroechidna]

What kind of problem are you facing?

When I drag the cue file to the cue2chd.bat it just doesn't work. I've checked the cue file in a text editor for issues and it looks fine too. I have no idea why it won't convert for me.

 

[Zen341]

Is anyone else having trouble converting this to .chd?

What kind of problem are you facing?

 

[retroechidna]

Is anyone else having trouble converting this to .chd?

 

[Zen341]

Not the fastest but I earned my waifu :P

 

[vinbob87]

at the end of the day its a free world, and people are going to do what they want to. But if anyone wants to play the game as maria, I would imagine they would rather do it by the creative minds and developers that made the game in the first place. And that was and is on the saturn. Whether or not the performance is better on ps1 vs saturn, is anyone's guess, I for one have played both and enjoy them equally. And as others have stated, they did do a performance hack a while back, and the saturn version performs just fine.

I have no idea how much time and work, or effort it took the individual to make this, but I could think of many better things they could be putting that kind of talent into.

well, maybe what you should be asking yourself is why does this seem to bother you at all.
as you just said, it1s up to personal choice, and it is still up to personal choice wether someone wants to work on this project or not.
as a matter of fact, this is just a small part of a much bigger project.
its a decompilation of SOTN and what its doing is picking every readily available version of the game to try and make the ultimate version, not only to be ported to the PC natively, but also to be brought to every possible platform if possible.
them being able to produce a working rom of SOTN for the ps1 with a playable maria is just one of their early achievements, as they want to do much more, specially considering the fact that SOTN was coded with the equivalent of paper and spit.
Long story short, this is a much bigger project, one that aims to do justice to a great game and which might make good on some of the things that people have been wanting for almost 30 years (me included) and just like many other decompilation/ recompilation projects (ocarina of time and majora's mask come to mind) its something that should be celebrated as yet another form of being able to have access to a great game.
If you don't like it, cool beans. It still doesn't invalidate what should or should not be done/ played by anyone.

 

[FillerBunnyNinjashark]

seriously, you guys need to focus on projects that are actually worth the time and effort. You gotta be fucking kidding me?! maria on psx? just play the saturn version. This is the dumbest horse radish, Ive pulled out of the garden this year.

What hacks are you working on?

 

[Zen341]

I think I saw someone mention a cheat code to get Richter mode (Maria in this hack) without having a Clear save. I think that putting in an clear save or using a cheat code is fine, but not very exciting.

Personally, I have gotten a Clear save before (I lost it when I reset my PC), actually beat the game as intended. That took quite a while. But we all love SOTN and we all know that it has a lot of glitches. So why not run the game again but this time using glitches to get the Clear game as fast as possible. Thinking about having Maria waifu as a reward for getting a clear game is pretty fun (even though the version here is kinda weak)

I followed this amazing video to get it.

Spoiler: What I would do about the last skip

Admittedly, the last skip is kinda hard for me. I am going to try it out but if all else fails, I can just have the Infinite Money Glitch to stack up items and the Shield Rod to blow through the last 5 bosses.

 

[Deleted member 13809]

you mean play the very gimped version of the game?
look, I Played both versions of the game and if I could have the choice, it'll be the ps1 version of the game most of the times.

at the end of the day its a free world, and people are going to do what they want to. But if anyone wants to play the game as maria, I would imagine they would rather do it by the creative minds and developers that made the game in the first place. And that was and is on the saturn. Whether or not the performance is better on ps1 vs saturn, is anyone's guess, I for one have played both and enjoy them equally. And as others have stated, they did do a performance hack a while back, and the saturn version performs just fine.

I have no idea how much time and work, or effort it took the individual to make this, but I could think of many better things they could be putting that kind of talent into.

 

[vinbob87]

seriously, you guys need to focus on projects that are actually worth the time and effort. You gotta be fucking kidding me?! maria on psx? just play the saturn version. This is the dumbest horse radish, Ive pulled out of the garden this year.

you mean play the very gimped version of the game?
look, I Played both versions of the game and if I could have the choice, it'll be the ps1 version of the game most of the times.

 

[Albert]

You have, really, lovely, face, ma'am.

Hehe. Her name is Privaty, in case you want to know more about her.

 

[Juiceala]

You've never played the game at all but you've been curious to play Maria's campaign??

That's what I said.

 

[Scnew]

I have never played symphony of the night and I'm unfamiliar exactly how you unlock richter or alucard in the gane, how exactly does this work? I've always been curios to play maria's campaign.

You've never played the game at all but you've been curious to play Maria's campaign??

Anyway, the way it normally works is aside from the prologue you have to play as Alucard. Once you finish the game with him and have a cleared save file, you can start a new game and name yourself Richter to play as him instead. It sounds like this mod replaces Richter with Maria (as opposed to making her an extra option) so likely you still have to beat the game with Alucard to use her.

 

[Deleted member 13809]

How accurate is this to the Saturn version?

seriously, you guys need to focus on projects that are actually worth the time and effort. You gotta be fucking kidding me?! maria on psx? just play the saturn version. This is the dumbest horse radish, Ive pulled out of the garden this year.

 

[isummontheleftarm]

Nice! One step closer to getting Saturn Maria on PSX lol. Super cool tho. Thanks for the upload!

 

[Goshikk]

I find it lovely that to this day Spike himself still shares stuff with the community

 

[JustCallMeConstantin]

Thank you for sharing this, sir.

You have, really, lovely, face, ma'am.

 

[Max]

How accurate is this to the Saturn version?

 

[ChronoCloud]

Finally i can play her without suffering from bad glitch graphic and loooooong loading screen(looking at you SATURN ver.)

there's a big overhaul for the saturn version on this very site that fixes it

Post automatically merged: Jul 27, 2025

Just a note, I believe you need a "Clear" save file on your memory card to play this correctly. When I originally tried this on a fresh save in Retroarch, with a new game named "RICHTER", it started me out as Maria in the "Bloodlines" opening act, but after finishing that scene, the game then proceeded as usual, with Alucard. Since the "RICHTER" mode in the OG game requires a "Clear" save present, I tried again with an .srm file containing one, and the new "RICHTER" game I started skipped the "Bloodlines" scene and opened at entrance to the castle, the way the Richter run is supposed to start, with Maria.

that means that an unlock richer cheat code should work too

Post automatically merged: Jul 27, 2025

I have never played symphony of the night and I'm unfamiliar exactly how you unlock richter or alucard in the gane, how exactly does this work? I've always been curios to play maria's campaign.

Play Alucard first.

 

[meninzera]

Finally i can play her without suffering from bad glitch graphic and loooooong loading screen(looking at you SATURN ver.)

Yes, but unfortunately this version of Maria is very weak. I'll keep waiting for either a hacked version of Saturn Maria on PSX, or a complete version of Maria with a leveling system, like they recently made for Richter.

 

[YoShoeMitsu]

I know it's crazy but I just want a hack to get rid of Alucard's psychedelic trailing effect.

Wait for the decomp to complete, then all will be possible.

Post automatically merged: Jul 27, 2025

No Duckstation works.

And MiSTer FPGA works.

Post automatically merged: Jul 27, 2025

I'd like that.

Once the decomp is complete, all of this will be possible.