What is a rating? A miserable little pile of classifications!
Thanks to the Australian Classification site, the existence of a Castlevania Advance Collection has been leaked. The game is said only to be “multi platform”, with no specifics, so probably across all the same platforms as the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, as well as the PS5 and Xbox SeX.
There’s no word on which games the collection has just yet. But considering the fact that the Game Boy Advance had three Castlevania games, It’s not unreasonable to expect all three to be part of the collection. Though, admittedly, Circle of the Moon has jumped back and forth on whether it’s considered canon or not. They could also toss in the DS games, though its unlikely unless they’ve found an elegant solution to the touch screen dilemma.
So here’s what the collection might contain, at bare minimum:
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
An interstitial game that doesn’t feature any Belmonts. Stars Nathan Graves, and features a unique system called the DSS; spell cards that, when combined, offer a number of different effects, from character buffs to changes to standard weapon effects. Due to being a GBA launch title, it’s a game I have Vietnam flashbacks to whenever someone says a game isn’t “dark enough”. IGA had no hand in this one, and summarily didn’t like it much. And so, he sought to rectify a number of its problems in…
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Follows Juste Belmondo Belmont, together with his friend Maxim, go to Dracula’s castle to save their other childhood friend Lydie. Set 50years after Simon kicked Drac’s ass. As something of an over-correction, features sprites with a bunch of ugly neon borders in an attempt to make the GBA’s lack of a backlight less of a problem. The fanbase has spent considerable effort in getting rid of them via patches. I personally didn’t like this one as much as both its predecessor and its followup, which was…
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
Probably the most unique Castlevania game to date at the time, due almost entirely to setting and tone. Admittedly, however, it was the second game released in the timeline to take place post-Bram-Stoker’s-Dracula (yes, the games actually tie in to the novel despite not being part of the novel’s continuity or even necessarily accurate to the novel; it’s just kinda nifty that way). Notably, it takes place ~35 years after Julius Belmont finally killed Dracula for good in 1999. High schoolers Soma Cruz and Mina Hakuba are transported via a solar eclipse from Hakuba Shrine in Japan to Dracula’s Castle. A number of other characters made the trip as well, with some having designs on becoming the new lord of the castle and all that entails. It’s quite possibly the best of the Game Boy Advance games in the series (definitely another high water mark after Symphony of the Night), and failing to include it, barring a package deal with its immediate followup, Dawn of Sorrow, would basically be inexcusable.
About Author
