(Well, i already tested the Article function, time to see my reviewer potential)
Castlevania Symphony of the Night was...no, IS the greatest Castlevania game on the Metroivania subgenre and one of the best in general next to Dracula's Curse or SCV IV, that was because it sticked to what they knew while givign it a proper polish instead of the Nintendo 64 tumblings that were Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness, so when it was time for the games to reach the portable market, they decided to go experimental, the results... were mixed, however nowadays most games deemed as trash nowadays are appreciated and played nowadays be by GOG or by... means
i love Castlevania, be equally the Metroidvania ones or the Classicvania ones, i even love the infamous DMCvania Lords of Shadow ones,however i always disliked this one as a teen, my only castlevania i got in a legit card was "garbage", but now we will be the judges to see if this game deserves its reputationHISTORY: HOW MANY TIMES WE HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON OLD MAN?
(AFAIK this game is non canon according to IGA, then again i play them without minding the lore so...)
1830, Recurring boss Camilla tries to ressurect Dracula (Big surprise) With an aging Vampire Hunter called Morris Baldwin next to his apprentices Hugh Baldwin and our player character Nathan Graves try to stop him, however they fail and Dracula uses a 6000+ IQ move to destroy the floor below them and throw Nathan and Hugh into a pit, sadly for Drac plot armor keep them from ending as patty, while in the bottom of the pit they decide to split and seek for Morris, who is going to be used as a sacrifice for Dracula, however Hugh harbors some resentment towards Nathan since he is always the favorite of Morris, and if you played Castlevania, you know ol' Drac can manipulate evil thoughts, you know who will be the rival
The story is kind of bland, and not only because it come from the actually neat SOTN one, but because the plot feels robotic, for starters you don'r even use the iconic Vampire Killer, the game instead flatout calls it Leather Whip, that's right, Dracula gets his head whipped with a mere cowboy instrument, yet Hugh in a scene calls you for being strong only for it... MAN THE GODDAMN WHIP IS MERELY LEATHER OF A COW STRETCHED INTO A RETRACTABLE WEAPON YOU HAVE THE SWORD AND THE BS YOU PULL IN...whoops spoilers
Not exactly terrible, but forgetable, the game is not canon anyway
GAMEPLAY: WHAT AN HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE
Gameplay 1/2: Controls
The first thing you notice is the fact that the whip is rigid, if your last Classicvania was Super Castlevania IV where you could control it freely it comes as a letdown, you cand hold B to spin it in a circle, but that is all, the second one is that you literally stroll, not a fancy run, a stroll, you walk slowly, but worry not, you can eventually run
With an item
And you need to press a direction twice
Every
Single
Time
at least the controllers works properly, you get upgrades that allows for the castle to be explored even better, my favorite being a Wario-esque tackle, but now, the main gimmick of the game: the Dual Setup System, abbreviated as DSS, basically you get 20 cards, ten for type of magic (Protection, Augment, Familiar...) and ten for each element, get one of Element and one of Magic, get them together and see the pop, alas one of the biggest flaws of the system is the fact that they are random drops and only 20 enemies drops them, to make it worse some of them are brutal to find without a guide
Gameplay 2/2: Difficulty
The main reason why the game is loathed, the game manages to be as bad in terms of fake difficulty as the NES games, even basic mobs hit like a truck, the classic orb doesn't heal so if you got hurt too much you are SOL, saving is too spread and there is no money
"No money? then where are the stores, how you resupply?"
I can answer that maboy... YOU CANT!!! you need to rely on very rare drops or finding HP MAX jars (That i will never unsee that they look like grape juice jars) to manage to take more than two hits, you could rely in magic, but as mentioned, you will need to struggle to make the enemy that drops a useful component card to drop, and that is if you find which enemy drops cards, so you can either waste time praying to RNG or play an unintentional minimalist run, alas...
The gameplay feels satisfactory in a twisted way, coming from the NES titles i come to enjoy being bonked, i mean they are bosses i despise like the two dragons, but some of them feel like great pattern learning excersices, the platforming sections also provide brain teasers that i feel they were absent or were easly breakable in SOTN, the challenge is a hit-or-miss, if you dislike challenges, you may want to reconsider playing it, but of you like challenges, give it a shot
MUSIC: CRISPY BUT GREAT
The music and the sounds are awesome to listen, i can ensue you will love at least some of them, my personal ones are these bangers
granted, for obvious reasons a GBA cart can barely offer the quality of the PSX speakers, but for what they do, they do everything right
GRAPHICS: NO WONDER THEY CALL DRAC CREATURE OF DARKNESS
Another reason the game was panned was due to the GBA being dark screened, yet Konami soehow got the...
BRIGHT
(Ok i shut my mout) idea of making the graphics as dark as possible, nowadays is a non-issue, but as someone that grew with a original GBA, needing to play next to a lightbulb, in the sun or use those battery eater plug-in lamps that barely helped must make the game unplayable for some, that said the graphics are in fact crisp, the bosses are imponent, the enemies looks samey but unique and the Nathan looks great, the magic also looks as if i were playing Final Fantasy or Lunar
BOSSES: DIE MONSTER, YOU DON'T BELONG IN THIS WORLD
Now my favorite part, the first boss theme is meh but the second one is fire, beign the literal final boss theme of Dracula's Curse, and i ove most of them (FUCK ADRAMELECH AND THE ZOMBIE DRAGONS) but most of the time they are challenging bur fun puzzles, Hugh's battle is one the best rival battles of the Metroidvania games, Death is a relative pushover yet still frenetic and Dracula...oh god, first phase is meh, the second one... FIRE, FIRE, not only the background is epic, the final boss is imposing with devastating attacks, the music, simply a bomb, and the best way to close a game this hard
REPLAY VALUE: FIVE GAMES IN ONE...SORTA
The game lacks Hugh mode (Considering his story is that he wants to suprass you, is ironic)
Instead beating the game nets you a password, introduce said password as your name and you will unlock a "Class", beat the game as said class to unlock up to four alternate playmodes, those being:
Fighter, a tank class that hits like a truck, no DSS for you
Mage: All the DSS cards aviable from the beggining, but you can't take that much damage
Shooter: Subweapons hits more...yay
AND... Thief mode, similar to Symphony's Luck mode, you practically get a drop with every kill, to compensate even the beggining's mobs can kill you, proceed with care
Conclusion
Circle of the Moon came to mixed reviews in its time, even without the shadow of Symphony of the Night the game is still flawed, let's be thew Devil's Advocate though, the game is the first game on the Handheld market, and while you can give me the "Other games did the transition better" that spiel is mostly a exception than a rule, so be patient with it, the main attraction is basically luck locked and the game is a literal stroll unless you are willing to press Left or Right twice every literal turn, overall, the game is a definite black and white, no inbetweens, if you love it, congrats, but i don't blame you for having it as not your favorite, by the end of the day tho, i have come to see more people appreciate it being more different and at least giving you stakes with its high difficulty, so if you dislike the Metroidvanis for being too easy, pick these and rejoice, or Order of Ecclesia, but that is another story for another time,,, for the tiem being...
Bakuma out
Pros
- + Creative gimmick with the DSS system
- + Music is fire
- + Best Dracula fight on the GBA Trilogy
- + Bosses are threatening
- + Challenge oriented for challenge seekers
- + Controls are responsive
- + For all its flaws, the game is still good for a first game in the console
Cons
- - DSS is luck based
- - Difficulty can be too high
- - Nathan's speed is slow
7
Gameplay
Rough around the edges, but still fun
8
Graphics
Bosses are neat looking, but mobs couldn't be more generic even if they were drawn by toddlers
4
Story
Dry and generic, no big twist and flat characters
9
Sound
Neat remixes of previous games' music and mostly enjoyable new tracks
5
Replayability
Four extra modes, yet i doubt someone would play an already restrictive game with more restrictions
7
out of 10
Overall
A definitive case of "Notforeveryoneitis", no middle ground, either is the worst of simply not that good
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