The RetroBeat — Castlevania: Circle of the Moon someway grew to become underrated

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon has had some ups and downs relating to public opinion. When it debuted as a launch title for the Sport Boy Advance, it was one of many best-reviewed video games ever. Folks had been so glad to have one other Castlevania sport in that Symphony of the Night fashion.

However then its fame declined. As we bought 5 extra Metroidvania-style Castlevania video games on Sport Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, Circle of the Moon started to really feel a bit quaint and outdated to many. After which Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi famously acknowledged that Circle of the Moon is not canon, which many took as a stamp of disapproval from the man most closely related to the franchise. It gave folks an excuse to discredit Circle of the Moon.

Now now we have the Castlevania Advance Collection, which has given me an opportunity to replay Circle of the Moon for the primary time in many years. You recognize what? This sport is pretty much as good as everybody was saying again when it was new.

Positive, its graphical presentation isn’t as snappy as Symphony of the Night time. You don’t have of these fancy PlayStation 3D results. This fortress and its enemies can generally look a bit easy. However Circle of the Moon nonetheless performs like a top-tier motion sidescroller.

Bloody tears

I additionally recognize the sport’s problem. A whole lot of the Metroidvania Castlevanias don’t provide an honest problem. You possibly can simply farm expertise factors and cash, which you’ll be able to then spend on a large provide of health-refilling potions. That’s not the case in Circle of the Moon. There isn’t a in-game store, and potions are arduous to come back by. This implies you must rely extra ability, timing, and good magic utilization to beat its difficult bosses, particularly the brutal last combat with Dracula.

Talking of magic, I really like the card-based system right here. Some monsters have an opportunity to drop a card which may belong into one among two classes. You then decide one card from every deck, and this provides you with a unique spell or impact. It may make fireballs spin round your character, or it may allow you to regenerate well being when you’re standing nonetheless. There are numerous completely different card combos to experiment with.

There’s additionally a simplicity to Circle of the Moon that I discover endearing. The plot is barebones. Dracula is again, now go cease him (and save your mentor). The fortress doesn’t have many gimmicks like, like Concord of Dissonance’s two-layered map. This simply seems like a quintessential, fast-paced Castlevania expertise.

Oh, and the soundtrack is unimaginable. And since we not need to cope with the GBA’s infamous sound suppression, it sounds higher than ever on this port.

I’ve seen some folks on Twitter say that Aria of Sorrow is the one sport price taking part in within the Castlevania Advance Assortment. I couldn’t disagree extra. I’ll speak about Concord of Dissonance one other time, however each it and Circle of the Moon nonetheless stay top-tier Metroidvanias. Possibly neither of them are the most effective of their sequence, however I’m unsure how you may totally low cost them as subpar choices.

Now I’m excited to check out Aria of Sorrow for the primary time in years. After all, now it has to attend till I beat Metroid Dread. It positive is a pleasant time for Metroidvania followers.

The RetroBeat is a weekly column that appears at gaming’s previous, diving into classics, new retro titles, or taking a look at how outdated favorites — and their design methods — encourage immediately’s market and experiences. In case you have any retro-themed initiatives or scoops you’d wish to ship my method, please contact me.