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Castlevania's Portable Past
Written by Louise Yang on Wednesday, January 3, 2007
Games like Super Castlevania IV on the SNES or Symphony of the Night on the PSOne might get most of the attention, but the Konami franchise actually has a storied handheld history...
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Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001)
A Castlevania game that has nothing to do with the Belmonts. Circle of the Moon features a story that runs parallel to the previous Castlevania titles. This story revolves around vampire hunter Nathan Grave and his quest to save the man who brought him under his wing and into the Baldwin family. One key characteristic of CotM is the Dual Set-Up System (DSS) for magic. Players can pick up randomly dropped cards from enemies. The cards come in two types: action and attribute. By combining one card from each type, they are able to unleash different abilities.
Many regard Circle of the Moon as the beginning of the golden age of portable Castlevanias despite not featuring the famous Belmont clan. Dracula's castle is divided into several areas and each area has its own theme music. After beating the game the first time, players unlock the option to play through the game again with the Magician character, who has more Intelligence, which lets him utilize the DSS better than Nathan can.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002)
Just when people were thinking nothing could top Circle of the Moon, out comes another Castlevania game: Harmony of Dissonance. HoD brings focus back on the Belmont family. This time, Juste Belmont, grandson of Simon Belmont, has to venture into Dracula's castle to rescue a friend. In HoD, players can combine secondary weapons such as holy water, crosses, and axes with the help of spell books to give the weapons special abilities. Different enemies favor different abilities to beat.
While people may say Harmony of Dissonance is a tad too easy, its saving grace is the fact that upon completion, a more difficult mode can be unlocked and the player also gets the choice to play as a different character, Maxim. Since Maxim has different stats, playing as him forces the player to adopt a different fighting style, so while the surroundings are the same, it's like playing a (slightly) changed game.
Did you notice? Starting with Harmony of Dissonance, the series leans toward a more anime-like art style? Compared to Circle of the Moon, which was had a dark color palette, Harmony of Dissonance featured a bright spectrum of colors.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)
Finally, the trifecta of GBA Castlevanias is complete. Aria of Sorrow is most like the PlayStation Castlevanias. The player controls Soma Cruz, who inexplicably wakes up in Dracula's castle with a classmate, Mina. Even though he's not a Belmont, he holds his own. Soma is able to absorb the souls of enemies he beats. The game boasts over 100 souls to collect, which means over 100 different abilities to use.
While the game is definitely not long, multiple endings and collecting every soul may keep players on the game after the first ending screen.
Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow (2004)
The sequel to Aria of Sorrow, Dawn of Sorrow brings Soma Cruz back. The soul collecting ability is also back, so it should feel familiar to those who played Aria of Sorrow. The dual screen is utilized with the action taking place on the bottom screen while character stats are at the top screen. Also added to Dawn of Sorrow are seals - by drawing the correct seals on the screen at the appropriate time, bosses can be banished.
For those who felt that the soul collecting in Aria of Sorrow was lacking in some way, Dawn of Sorrow will make up for it. Players can not only collect one soul from an enemy, but they can also collect up to 9 souls. The more souls from a particular enemy, the stronger that soul ability.
posted March 2, 2007