Progress is often gated by boss fights and useful items and skills, like being able to break walls or push blocks. In true Metroidvania fashion ( Castlevania is half of that portmanteau, after all), Circle of the Moon sees players, as Nathan Graves, explore a 2D non-linear space full of secret passages, monsters, and treasure. Both of the above claims are true Circle of the Moon is visually dated and has some annoying menus, but it’s otherwise a hugely entertaining part of the Castlevania Advance Collection. To set the bar high: modern 2D Castlevania games are almost always excellent, and Circle of the Moon is a standout among those. To set the bar low: Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is a Game Boy Advance launch title from 2001, and it looks every bit like one. Rather than have a single reviewer try and tackle all three titles, we decided to get one Castlevania veteran and two series newcomers to look at how each game holds up and see if this collection of Metroidvania games is worth your time.Ĭastlevania is the most intense saga of trick-or-treating in video game history. In the Castlevania Advance Collection, we get Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance, and Aria of Sorrow in one jammed-packed collection. However, aside from their Wii U Virtual Console rereleases, the GBA titles were never available outside of their original system. And frankly, they hit it out of the park, releasing a total of three Metroidvania titles for the GBA, and three more for the Nintendo DS. It wasn’t until four years later that Konami seemed to realize Symphony of the Night had been a hit, so they revisited this 2D genre mashup on the Game Boy Advance. Both were exceptional games in their own right, but no one could have guessed how their evolution would eventually converge a decade later.Īfter 1997’s Castlevania: Symphony of the Night successfully combined the world of Castlevania with the non-linear exploration of Metroid, the series attempted to move into the 3D space with mediocre entries on the Nintendo 64. Metroid was a rousing space adventure with relatively fluid controls, while Castlevania was a gothic homage to the Dracula novel and myths that controlled like a stubborn rock. ![]() ![]() Aside from that, there was little to connect them. In their first outings back in the ’80s, Metroid and Castlevania had basically two things in common: they were both released on the NES, and they were both side-scrollers. ![]()
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