Update: On October 12, 2021 I gotten the final achievement for this game.
On October 24, 2021 I finally gotten all GBA Castlevania games' completions in game. Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is virtually double that at 200% completion.
Hello everyone I'm Jack Red aka XboxClown89, it took me nearly a week to fully play all four Castlevania games included in Castlevania Advance Collection. Ever since Castlevania Anniversary Collection's release, a lot of people thought they were going to make GBA or DS compilation. We recently gotten Castlevania Advance Collection, all three games plus Castlevania Dracula X.
I actually want to start with Dracula X first. A lot of people were mixed because some thought this was going to be a port of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Instead they pulled TMNT: The Hyperstone Heist on them. Personally I rather play that over Dracula X. You play as Richter Belmont on your journey to slay Dracula.
This game doesn't tell you, there's two people you can save. Which will affect the ending as well as some bosses getting replaced as well. Sadly, Dracula X is widely known for it's difficulty. The game as a whole felt like a major step backwards for the franchise. Especially if you played Super Castlevania IV, there's no debate which SNES Castlevania game is better.
Thank god for save states because some parts especially Dracula's boss fight is a nightmare to play through. I do need to point out the key needed to rescue both characters also a joke sub weapon too. I will say the soundtrack at least is the best part of the game. It just felt like a few changes then we would've had a decent game.
Now considering all three GBA Castlevania games are similar in many ways. Unless I specify state one of them, most of what I have to say is for all three games. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon follows Nathan, an vampire killer who isn't an Belmont. Although Dracula himself is in this game. Yet in different ways he's sorta there in the other two GBA games.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, Maxim made contact with pieces of Dracula. Which caused a merge to start between two souls. Which is exactly why you have two similar castles with differences. It's almost like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Except neither castle is inverted this time. Also you have more areas to switch between both castles.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, Soma is revealed to be an descendant of Dracula himself. Which was an interesting point twist, even threw an Belmont off. All three GBA games have massive maps, it will take hours to fully explore the castle or just enough to finish em. I do need to point out, Harmony of Dissonance has the most bosses between the three games.
Yes some of them are alternate versions like Minotaur or Legion for that matter. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was actually made by a different team from the Symphony of the Night team. Although they did made both Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. There's a lot of content to keep you busy.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon uses cards that can make combination of attacks. This concept was revamped into the souls systems for Aria of Sorrow. Circle of the Moon also has alternate versions of the game after you beat it a few times. You start a new state with that code as your name, there you go.
Which is also how you play as Maxim in Harmony of Dissonance and Julius in Aria of Sorrow's case. They took so much from Symphony of the Night. Honestly I'm impressed all three of them were very decent games. Death is in all four games here, which reminds me of a surprise I prepared prior to writing my own review.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8vGuhRohK-IxmAqHmhx7FBqe_wLXh5AS
Yes you can change the controls to suits your game play style. There's more options emulator wise that makes you feel like a collector or given respect by Konami. There's no surprise delays in getting your saves going unlike at times in Castlevania Anniversary Collection. Also there's more actual achievements/trophies this time around too.
I felt M2 knocked this out the park like they usual do in their work to port classic games. There's no question by default, Dracula X had it's own problems. Even if it didn't have those, the other three games are way better in comparison too. I felt parts of things are done better between the three GBA games.
Aria of Sorrow had the best written story as well told the best as well. Harmony of Dissonance had the best merchant. One major problem I had with Symphony of the Night is the merchant only in one spot the entire game. But in this case, he's in a couple spots. Circle of the Moon had a great intro to kick things off.
Yes Harmony of Dissonance can be the most confusing due to how similar both castles are. A few areas didn't matter like Juste's room, I love it guys and where you face Maxim. Like Richter's boss fight, if you have the right stuff equipped. When you win, you'll be treated to an even harder final boss fight.
Aria of Sorrow does this as well. Chaos was an intense final boss. I felt Harmony of Dissonance was the most item friendly out of the three. Also you can get a lot of items. But in Aria of Sorrow, there's a clear limit how many of that item you can have at one time. At first this could be seen as an negative but overtime getting additional stuff.
It quickly becomes nonexistent, Soma gets some sick abilities. Even a greater degree than Alucard in Symphony of the Night. All three of them have amazing soundtrack with great sound effects. Some amazing artwork overall despite playable characters in game wise has no faces. There's no voice overs unlike Symphony of the Night which had that with text dialogue.
Honestly I highly recommend all three of them. I really had a lot of fun playing these games. I would say hands down, Harmony of Dissonance to me was potentially the longest for a good reason. Aria of Sorrow was potentially the shortest overall. Unless you really take the extra time to collect every soul making it the longest Castlevania game of your life.
The controls are decent enough to help keep you going. Yes some stuff you may need to use your head or look up online. There's a lot to remember in these games. I would say Aria of Sorrow had the most interesting overall map with Circle of the Moon being my second favorite. You had these separate floating areas that teleports you to each other.
One of them connects to Clock Tower, where Death is located. Aria of Sorrow seems to help you out the most abilities wise. Circle of the Moon by default is the most challenging in it's own right. Harmony of Dissonance had Dracula Wraith that had the evil soul tried claiming Maxim's soul. I personally liked the concept that someone else could potentially revive him in a way no one expected.
Aria of Sorrow had a more interesting boss selection. Control wise, Aria of Sorrow wins hands down. Also those warps were more limited in Harmony of Dissonance's case. But I loved in Aria of Sorrow, you can actually choose which area you want to warp to. Now I absolutely loved that being in the game.
Honestly, you should play all three of them. But if I had to choose one you should play first or the most, it has to be Aria of Sorrow. To me, it had the best of all worlds. I don't even have a big enough issue to point out. Although from trying to collect all the souls, I done most of my playthrough as a much higher level player than expected.
It doesn't mean you can't lose, Julius himself is clear proof of that. Circle of the Moon does have a great whip spinning animation. It's a shame Harmony of Dissonance didn't keep that. Aria of Sorrow when you change weapons, you see Soma use em even without using souls. Speaking of souls, some of them doesn't even require anything at all to work.
Aria of Sorrow has some impressive visuals as well. If you didn't have Aria of Sorrow, it would be debatable out of Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance you liked more. I kinda liked Nathan a lot as I was playing. Of course, Juste in his own right was fun too but Soma was easily the most entertaining to me.
Not just from the game play but also from the story. You can tell they really put a lot of thought into that story, it's so beautifully told. Yes it might be a little weird that Japan gets Dracula's castle during a solar eclipse. There's a great variety of creatures with a large amount of them found in all three games.
Surprisingly Circle of the Moon had it's version of the Creature as a regular enemy in the game. But they only appeared in select location following Death's defeat. I should point out, all three of them had Golem bosses too. I would say Aria of Sorrow with Big Golem was easily my favorite golem either.
Speaking of Golems, Aria of Sorrow has a couple variations of golems in the game too. The strangest one is Flesh Golem? From my understanding, an golem is made of rocks or dirt hardened. How can you reanimate dead people in a way that isn't well an zombie? They somehow found a way through this particular golem.
Overall, I could talk hours among hours about these games. But you really getting more than you would expect for just twenty bucks. Five per a game is a great deal already plus additional stuff like information on many things. I would even dare to say this quickly between the previous Anniversary Collection away.
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