It's been a long time coming, but we've finally reached the end of our GBA Metroidvania mini series.
Well, I guess it hasn't really been that long, it's been less than a year since I started this whole thing. I usually take a lot longer to finish stuff like this, if I finish it at all. It certainly helps that almost all of these games have been vey good, but the Quintet Trilogy games were all really good and it took me damn near two years to finish all of those. Sometimes, I don't finish these mini-series at all. But I've successfully worked my way through the Metroid and non-linear Castlevania games on the GBA and it's time to wrap it up with the third and final 'Vania title on my list.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was released for the GBA in May or 2003, a rare example of a title that actually hit the shelves in North America before it did in Japan. It wasn't by much, but it was still a rarity. Even though it's the last game I'm covering from the group, it actually came out a year before Metroid:Zero Mission, which I looked at a few weeks ago. By this point, the Metroidvania style was pretty well established, so AOS couldn't rely on just being different like some of its predecessors could. For me personally, it also had to atone fo the mistakes of Harmony of Dissonance, a game that I found disappointing, while also having to match the high standard set by Circle of the Moon, a game I found to be shockingly good. I am happy to say that not only did Aria of Sorrow meet those high standards, it surpassed them. This was an excellent title and a game I would put up with some of the best of its era, handheld or otherwise.
While it was great overall, I am actually going to start with what I liked the least about AOS, it's story and characters. Look, I don't expect a whole lot of narrative clarity or coherence from this franchise, nor do I believe that the Belmonts need to be front and center in all of its titles. But I think AOS takes things a bit too far. You play as Soma Cruz, an exchange student living in Japan in the year 2035. It's been 36 years since the Belmonts have defeated Dracula (sigh) once and for all, sealing his dark powers inside of a solar eclipse. However, a prophecy reveals that a reincarnation of the count will return to his castle to awaken his dark powers...in 2035.
Soma doesn't know anything about this prophecy when he and his childhood friend Mina visit the nearby Hakuba shrine to view the solar eclipse. It would have been helpful knowledge to have, as the duo are suddenly pulled into the eclipse, awakening in a mysterious castle. They are saved from monsters by a government agent named Genya Arikado, who looks vaguely familiar and seems to have quite a bit of knowledge about their predicamen. He informs the duo that they have indeed been transported to Dracula's Castle. He also knows a lot about the mysterious power that has awakened in Soma, who absorbs the soul of the defeated monster. Apparently, Soma has something called a "power of dominance," which will allow him to use souls of defeated monsters to learn powerful new abilities. Arikado tells Soma that this power will be essential for preventing the reincarnation of Dracula and asks him to find the count's chamber at the center of the castle. Soma isn't interested in any sort of grand quest, he just wants to get home, but with no other leads he sets out to do just that. Along the way, he will meet a bevy of mystetious characters, including the enigmatic Yoko Belinades, seemingly friendly but kind of unsettling Graham, and mysterious amnesiac J, who has been called to the castle for some reason he doesn't understand.
Yeah, they went a little overboard here. Again, not every Castlevania game has to have the same recycled plot. But something about a Japanese exchange studen getting sucked into a solar eclipse to fight Dracula is just...off. This seems like the plot of a very heavily anime influenced RPG, not a Castlevania game. The characters are interesting and there's a cool plot twist or two, but it all felt very confused and forced. I appreciate the attempt to be different and I'm not a huge lore stickler for games like this, but it definitely felt weird, and not in a good way, to me.
The graphics are pretty excellent overall, so I really don't want to count them as a negative. But, and this could just be me, I don't feel like this game looked quite as good as Circle of the Moon. It definitely takes more risks with it's graphics and it's far more dynamic, but I still kind of feel like COTM looks just a bit more visually appealing. Of course, that game looks great, so it's not an issue by any means. AOS is a beautiful title that again pushes the GBA to its absolute limit. The gothic architecture and creepy castle environments look spectacular and the enemy and boss designs are once again exceptional. AOS looks a little more like HOD, but it's much cleaner and more polished. Soma doesn't have that weird, choppy outline like the main in HOD did. And speaking of doing things better than HOD, the soundtrack is absolutely back in tune with what you would expect from a Castlevania game. AOS has an awesome soundtrack with a good mix of creepy, ambient and aggressive tunes. Again, I don't know how they got this kind of sound out of a Game Boy Advance. It may not look the best of these GBA Metroidvanias, but it very well may sound the best.
And at the end of the day, Metroidvanias need to focus on fluid design and strong gameplay, and those are both absolutely on display here. It starts with the map, which is one of the best in the entire series. It's not a confusing mess like HOD, it doesn't have random dead ends like COTM, it isn't a glorified hub world like Metroid Fusion, it's just a well designed map that flows well. It's big and unique enough that it feels fun and challengng to explore, but it's not overwhelming any you will very rarely have to walk from one side of the map to the other for absolutley no reason. There are just enough teleport points and they are all reasonably paced, something that it's predecessor couldn't get right at all. The powerups are all reasonably placed and there are tons of items to find throughout the world. It's a great map that's fun to explore and the way it opens up as you acquie abilities gives you a lot of options on how to attack the game. Unlike HOD, where you were basically only given the illusion of openness, AOS provides you many paths to reach the endgame. Honestly, it did cause me to miss story events, but that wasn't what I was playing for anyway.
The combat is similarly excellent, once again righting the ship after it veered off course with HOD. It's still on the easier side, but it's far more balanced than its predecessor, largely due to the change in mechanics. The magic system that absolutely shattered HOD into tiny little bits its gone, replaced by the outstanding tactical soul system. That "power of dominance" that Soma has isn't just a plot device, it manifests itself in the moment-to-moment gameplay and does so quite well. Each enemy in the game has the potential to drop a soul when defeated, which Soma can then equip to gain an ability. Some drops are common, others are rare, but almost every single enemy can give you something. These souls are divided into three categories, Bullet, Guardian and Enchant. Bullet souls provide you with special attacks, kind of like the sub weapons that are common throughout the rest of the series. Guardian souls will summon a familiar or grant a continued effect, which will last until your magic meter is drained. Enchant souls act as passive buffs, some of which are required to beat the game. I think this is the best of both worlds, it provides all the fun of collecting that the cards in COTM did without the abhorable drop rates. It also offered the variety of the magic system in HOD without breaking the game or making half of your powerups useless. I really liked it and it always felt awesome to try out a new soul that I had collected along the way.
The bosses are also much more balanced here, most of the later ones were very challenging, but also very fair. This was a huge improvement from both COTM, which had insanely difficult and cheap bosses, and HOD, which had laughably easy ones. Boss and enemy design was great overall here and I think the variety might have been the best I've seen so far in the series. The same is true of the weapons, there were so many different types of swords, daggers, axes, hammers and everything in between and all of them felt unique and different. You can even find a gun, though it isn't all that great. Between the tactical souls and weapon variety, I felt like I had more customization options than ever before in the series, even more than in big brother Symphony of the Night.
So, where does that leave AOS in the scheme of things? It was certainly the best of the GBA Castlevanias and I also liked it better than Metroid Fusion. But was it better than Zero Mission. I'm going to be honest, I may have to do a 10 round fight between these two before the year is over because I can't decide. Because like Zero Mission, AOS was an incredible title that should not be missed. It's odd plot and sometimes awkward pacing are small gripes and I really do regret missing out on this game when it came out all those years ago. This is one of the better Metroidvania games I've ever played, handheld or otherwise, and it's absolutely worth checking out any way you can.
9.5/10
Well, I guess it hasn't really been that long, it's been less than a year since I started this whole thing. I usually take a lot longer to finish stuff like this, if I finish it at all. It certainly helps that almost all of these games have been vey good, but the Quintet Trilogy games were all really good and it took me damn near two years to finish all of those. Sometimes, I don't finish these mini-series at all. But I've successfully worked my way through the Metroid and non-linear Castlevania games on the GBA and it's time to wrap it up with the third and final 'Vania title on my list.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow was released for the GBA in May or 2003, a rare example of a title that actually hit the shelves in North America before it did in Japan. It wasn't by much, but it was still a rarity. Even though it's the last game I'm covering from the group, it actually came out a year before Metroid:Zero Mission, which I looked at a few weeks ago. By this point, the Metroidvania style was pretty well established, so AOS couldn't rely on just being different like some of its predecessors could. For me personally, it also had to atone fo the mistakes of Harmony of Dissonance, a game that I found disappointing, while also having to match the high standard set by Circle of the Moon, a game I found to be shockingly good. I am happy to say that not only did Aria of Sorrow meet those high standards, it surpassed them. This was an excellent title and a game I would put up with some of the best of its era, handheld or otherwise.
While it was great overall, I am actually going to start with what I liked the least about AOS, it's story and characters. Look, I don't expect a whole lot of narrative clarity or coherence from this franchise, nor do I believe that the Belmonts need to be front and center in all of its titles. But I think AOS takes things a bit too far. You play as Soma Cruz, an exchange student living in Japan in the year 2035. It's been 36 years since the Belmonts have defeated Dracula (sigh) once and for all, sealing his dark powers inside of a solar eclipse. However, a prophecy reveals that a reincarnation of the count will return to his castle to awaken his dark powers...in 2035.
Soma doesn't know anything about this prophecy when he and his childhood friend Mina visit the nearby Hakuba shrine to view the solar eclipse. It would have been helpful knowledge to have, as the duo are suddenly pulled into the eclipse, awakening in a mysterious castle. They are saved from monsters by a government agent named Genya Arikado, who looks vaguely familiar and seems to have quite a bit of knowledge about their predicamen. He informs the duo that they have indeed been transported to Dracula's Castle. He also knows a lot about the mysterious power that has awakened in Soma, who absorbs the soul of the defeated monster. Apparently, Soma has something called a "power of dominance," which will allow him to use souls of defeated monsters to learn powerful new abilities. Arikado tells Soma that this power will be essential for preventing the reincarnation of Dracula and asks him to find the count's chamber at the center of the castle. Soma isn't interested in any sort of grand quest, he just wants to get home, but with no other leads he sets out to do just that. Along the way, he will meet a bevy of mystetious characters, including the enigmatic Yoko Belinades, seemingly friendly but kind of unsettling Graham, and mysterious amnesiac J, who has been called to the castle for some reason he doesn't understand.
Yeah, they went a little overboard here. Again, not every Castlevania game has to have the same recycled plot. But something about a Japanese exchange studen getting sucked into a solar eclipse to fight Dracula is just...off. This seems like the plot of a very heavily anime influenced RPG, not a Castlevania game. The characters are interesting and there's a cool plot twist or two, but it all felt very confused and forced. I appreciate the attempt to be different and I'm not a huge lore stickler for games like this, but it definitely felt weird, and not in a good way, to me.
The graphics are pretty excellent overall, so I really don't want to count them as a negative. But, and this could just be me, I don't feel like this game looked quite as good as Circle of the Moon. It definitely takes more risks with it's graphics and it's far more dynamic, but I still kind of feel like COTM looks just a bit more visually appealing. Of course, that game looks great, so it's not an issue by any means. AOS is a beautiful title that again pushes the GBA to its absolute limit. The gothic architecture and creepy castle environments look spectacular and the enemy and boss designs are once again exceptional. AOS looks a little more like HOD, but it's much cleaner and more polished. Soma doesn't have that weird, choppy outline like the main in HOD did. And speaking of doing things better than HOD, the soundtrack is absolutely back in tune with what you would expect from a Castlevania game. AOS has an awesome soundtrack with a good mix of creepy, ambient and aggressive tunes. Again, I don't know how they got this kind of sound out of a Game Boy Advance. It may not look the best of these GBA Metroidvanias, but it very well may sound the best.
And at the end of the day, Metroidvanias need to focus on fluid design and strong gameplay, and those are both absolutely on display here. It starts with the map, which is one of the best in the entire series. It's not a confusing mess like HOD, it doesn't have random dead ends like COTM, it isn't a glorified hub world like Metroid Fusion, it's just a well designed map that flows well. It's big and unique enough that it feels fun and challengng to explore, but it's not overwhelming any you will very rarely have to walk from one side of the map to the other for absolutley no reason. There are just enough teleport points and they are all reasonably paced, something that it's predecessor couldn't get right at all. The powerups are all reasonably placed and there are tons of items to find throughout the world. It's a great map that's fun to explore and the way it opens up as you acquie abilities gives you a lot of options on how to attack the game. Unlike HOD, where you were basically only given the illusion of openness, AOS provides you many paths to reach the endgame. Honestly, it did cause me to miss story events, but that wasn't what I was playing for anyway.
The combat is similarly excellent, once again righting the ship after it veered off course with HOD. It's still on the easier side, but it's far more balanced than its predecessor, largely due to the change in mechanics. The magic system that absolutely shattered HOD into tiny little bits its gone, replaced by the outstanding tactical soul system. That "power of dominance" that Soma has isn't just a plot device, it manifests itself in the moment-to-moment gameplay and does so quite well. Each enemy in the game has the potential to drop a soul when defeated, which Soma can then equip to gain an ability. Some drops are common, others are rare, but almost every single enemy can give you something. These souls are divided into three categories, Bullet, Guardian and Enchant. Bullet souls provide you with special attacks, kind of like the sub weapons that are common throughout the rest of the series. Guardian souls will summon a familiar or grant a continued effect, which will last until your magic meter is drained. Enchant souls act as passive buffs, some of which are required to beat the game. I think this is the best of both worlds, it provides all the fun of collecting that the cards in COTM did without the abhorable drop rates. It also offered the variety of the magic system in HOD without breaking the game or making half of your powerups useless. I really liked it and it always felt awesome to try out a new soul that I had collected along the way.
The bosses are also much more balanced here, most of the later ones were very challenging, but also very fair. This was a huge improvement from both COTM, which had insanely difficult and cheap bosses, and HOD, which had laughably easy ones. Boss and enemy design was great overall here and I think the variety might have been the best I've seen so far in the series. The same is true of the weapons, there were so many different types of swords, daggers, axes, hammers and everything in between and all of them felt unique and different. You can even find a gun, though it isn't all that great. Between the tactical souls and weapon variety, I felt like I had more customization options than ever before in the series, even more than in big brother Symphony of the Night.
So, where does that leave AOS in the scheme of things? It was certainly the best of the GBA Castlevanias and I also liked it better than Metroid Fusion. But was it better than Zero Mission. I'm going to be honest, I may have to do a 10 round fight between these two before the year is over because I can't decide. Because like Zero Mission, AOS was an incredible title that should not be missed. It's odd plot and sometimes awkward pacing are small gripes and I really do regret missing out on this game when it came out all those years ago. This is one of the better Metroidvania games I've ever played, handheld or otherwise, and it's absolutely worth checking out any way you can.
9.5/10
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