Castlevania Symphony of the Night: Maria Renard

Update: 10/29 Added a Bikini picture of Maria sent in by Landon

Castlevania Symphony of the Night was one of my favorite games and I used to spend hours playing it in my teens. Because of that I developed a huge crush Maria Renard. While I was working on Sypha's tribute this week, I googled Maria as well to see what artwork was available for her. As I mentioned in my last post, Castlevania girls feet are notoriously hard to find. Maria was particularly elusive and even her fanart never depicted her with her footwear off. This week however I came across a barefoot image of her ending a 20 year quest. :-D

In the Sega Saturn version of Syphony Maria is a playable character. She has a variety of Magic and Kick attacks that are part of her arsenal. (Some of which are showcased below. 😁)

(Various webfinds of the Maria found by scouring the net. ^_^)

Bonus:
Some Castlevania Music to go along with this tribute.
Dracula's Theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dh1qqLbuBww

Requiem for the Gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVDv2QYNR8c

I am the Wind (Ending Theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FsFiBXOVK0

Maria first appears the Castlevania game Rondo of Blood (A Japan Only game). She was taken hostage and rescued in the game by the Vampire Hunter Richter Belmont. Upon her rescue she becomes a playable character and helps Richter to defeat Dracula. She's an interesting character to use having more fluid motion tha Richter. Her attacks use magic and animals (such as doves and turtles) to defeat her opponent rather than weapons. It's usually but she's actually much easier to control than the other characters in the game.

Castlevania Symphony of the Night takes place 5 years after Rondo of Blood. Richter has gone missing and Maria journeys to Dracula's castle to look for him. There she encounters the protagonist of the game Alucard and helps him on his quest while investigating the mystery behind Richter's disappearance.

It's worth noting that Maria appears in other games as well including Castlevania Judgement but her  character design in Symphony is the best. Her concept art in that game was done by Ayami Kojima who would go on to do the artwork for several games of the series.

If you guys haven't played Symphony of the night yet, I definitely recommend trying it. It has a great storyline with a lot of twists and fantastic gameplay.  It's really one of the best games out there even after all this time.

-KSC