Topic: What is the best Castlevania game for GBA?

[sirius_black]

I have a micro and just received a gameshark for christmas...so I've been entering codes and playing all day.
I've only played 2 of the castlevania games: Circle of the Moon (GBA) and the remake of the first game(online). I just beat CotM today and started playing in magician mode....anyway I was just wandering what is the best castlevania game for the GBA?

[crisis]

Aria of Sorrow is the most balanced, but if you just care about challenge, then CotM.

[A n t r a x x]

To me, CotM embodies a good mix between the IGA era and the old-school-CV era. The difficulty is solid (even if the controls are not so much), the music quality is top notch (although most are remixes), and the DSS card system offers lots of flexibility. While the graphics aren't quite as polished as AoS', they're decidedly darker and moodier. People have made many comparisons with Super Castlevania 4, and CotM's soundtrack conisists of as much.

IMO, it's the best GBA experience.

While AoS was a cleaner, more balanced production, it also had some boring level design, or at least off-putting layouts. The music is much better than HoD, but most songs aren't as memorable as CotM's. And though the soul system was its crowning jewel, the act of trying to get them all would unbalance the game as you'd level too fast.

HoD was mostly a mess. The magic book system and dual-world was cool, but the level design made no sense (maybe on purpose), repeated too often, and the difficulty was low. One of the worse things about it is its presentation: the sprite design and animation sucks, even if there is some nice technical effects here and there in the backgrounds. The music is almost entirely forgettable. Despite that I give it credit for being unique and dark, it mostly grated on the ears and made levels feel too long and tedious. There's a couple of good tracks, but no standouts here.

CotM FTW.

[silvermoonlight]

In Reply To #1

Aria of Sorrow was the best in my opinion. HOD definitely comes in second. Plus, if you're ever looking into buying a DS, Soma's story continues in Dawn of Sorrow. However, Aria isn't all that difficult. It definitely has the best music tracks of the three, and maybe the best graphics. The soul system is great and the structures are nice.

[paletteswapmonster]

Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance. Aria has great level design and the nice little soul system. Harmony has a great feeling and fantastic atmosphere.

[sirius_black]

I have looked at Aria of Sorrow, but can't find it anywhere except online. Harmony looks good but I have heard mixed reviews of it.

[cecil-kain]

In Reply To #1

Aria of Sorrow remains the best Castlevania since SotN IMO.

[uzo]

Harmony has a few stellar points, but then a few really bad flaws that push it down on the list. Horrible character sprites. Horribly animated. Stupid neon 'glow' that is ALWAYS on. Super bright and faded colors. Low quality music samples. Etc. On the plus side the background art was excellent. Great mood. Great level design. By all means don't skip it, but its got some big annoyances.

Circle is an all around good game. Great difficulty balance. A little too much enemy reuse. Like armor enemies. There are a lot of different forms, such as Light, Dark, Axe, Forest, Fire, Ice, etc etc. They all look the same, but have a different color. Some backgrounds are very repetitive and dull, but it was a GBA near launch title, so that is forgivable. The card system is nice, but you likely wont find all the cards on the first run. Because they are super rare drops, you wont be able to get them easily. That was a huge pain.

Aria is the best of the GBA trilogy. Its good points are all balanced very high. There are very few complaints about the game.

[Super Waffle]

I'm just going to be weird and recommend Lydie of Dissonance.

[Profbeanburrito]

Aria of Sorrow, it has Julius Belmont!

[paletteswapmonster]

Harmony has a few stellar points, but then a few really bad flaws that push it down on the list. Horrible character sprites. Horribly animated. Stupid neon 'glow' that is ALWAYS on. Super bright and faded colors. Low quality music samples. Etc. On the plus side the background art was excellent. Great mood. Great level design. By all means don't skip it, but its got some big annoyances.

Circle is an all around good game. Great difficulty balance. A little too much enemy reuse. Like armor enemies. There are a lot of different forms, such as Light, Dark, Axe, Forest, Fire, Ice, etc etc. They all look the same, but have a different color. Some backgrounds are very repetitive and dull, but it was a GBA near launch title, so that is forgivable. The card system is nice, but you likely wont find all the cards on the first run. Because they are super rare drops, you wont be able to get them easily. That was a huge pain.

Aria is the best of the GBA trilogy. Its good points are all balanced very high. There are very few complaints about the game.

How hypocritical. You excuse CotM's repetitive and dull backgrounds because it was a launch title yet you don't excuse HoD's low quality music because the cartridge couldn't take anymore?

[The Last Belmont]

You excuse CotM's repetitive and dull backgrounds because it was a launch title yet you don't excuse HoD's low quality music because the cartridge couldn't take anymore?

Hod's music was bad bro especially when compared to the other 2 games. That's something I couldn't forgive either, I would have gladly accepted a shorter game if space was an issue over a longer one with bad sound.

My fav. gba game would have to be AOS because I like the new plot twists and the addition of other characters that help you out and give you info along the way. Gave it a sort of simon's quest feel.

[Bloodreign]

Aria of Sorrow is the most balanced, but if you just care about challenge, then CotM.

He has a Gameshark, I doubt he/she is looking for challenge.

[shelverton.]

In Reply To #1

Harmony of Dissonance, hands down. It's odd and unpredictable and feels a bit random, almost unfinished at times, but I LOVE the atmosphere and the level design and the attention to detail. People who hate on it are flat out wrong.  And contrary to popular belief the game has a rockin' soundtrack! It's the sound quality that is somewhat off, but I like the NES feeling of it all.

Aria of Sorrow is arguably the most polished and complete game of the three and the soul system is actually one of the best things to happen to the franchise (though after DoS I've had enough of it) but that doesn't necessarily make it more enjoyable. I prefer the chaotic nature of HoD Some areas in AoS are kinda boring, like the inner quarters and the ballroom. The music is very underrated though.

Circle of the Moon is a great game, but it's my least favourite on the system. Nathan is stiff and poorly animated and some of the level design is not especially interesting. The music in the Chapel Tower is incredible though, and IMO it has the best version of Vampire Killer ever.

[uzo]

In Reply To #11

Computer technology learning time. Today's subject: Cart space does not equal RAM!

OK kids, gather around.

RAM (the random access memory) is not affiliated with the storage space of a game cart. RAM is what they ran out of with HoD (due to all the graphics data), thus having to make the samples lower quality. RAM is a good thing, because unlike Windows, when a GBA runs out of RAM, you run out of fun. It will completely crash.

In this case, they decided to do this. They made the decision to sacrifice sound RAM for graphics RAM. They had the option to fix it, or to plan the game better and balance it more.