Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Developer:

Konami

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Release Date:

2003

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Systems:

Game Boy Advance

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing the 17th 2D Castlevania platformer, Aria of Sorrow!

My gimmick this year is that I'm playing games you can find in a top ten list, and this one can be found in Nintendo Power's 20th anniversary Best of the Best list (in the 'GBA' section). It actually made top three, with the other two games being Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Metroid: Zero Mission. Hey I've played both of them already!

This was the last of three Castlevanias on the GBA, though the first to have a title beginning with 'A'. The series continued on the DS with a direct sequel called Dawn of Sorrow, which cleverly referenced both the 'D' and the 'S'. Sadly the adventures of Soma Cruz didn't get a second follow up on the 3DS, so we never got to see how they would've worked the number 3 into the title.

There'd been handheld Castlevania games for over a decade by this point, ever since Castlevania: The Adventure came out for the Game Boy in 1989, but whenever people talk about the classic 80s and 90s Castlevania titles they're generally talking about the console games. Something weird happened in 1999 though. Veteran game series were making the switch to polygons, with sequels like Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid presenting a good argument for 2D being hopelessly archaic, and Castlevania was no exception. The thing is, Castlevania 64 was bloody terrible (I've been told), especially compared to Symphony of the Night from two years earlier. So when the 2D GBA games started mimicking Symphony's style and carrying on the 'music term of X' naming tradition started by Rondo of Blood, they were ones that came across like the true successors to the Castlevania franchise instead of the 3D games.

Anyway I'm going to play the first hour or so and write too many words about what happened. Plus there'll be screenshots! So many screenshots.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PSX)

Developer:

Konami

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Release Date:

1997

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Systems:

PSX, PSP, PSN, Saturn, Xbox 360

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Today on Super Adventures I'm celebrating the 20th anniversary of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night! It was the 20th anniversary of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series a few days back and it'll be the movie Blade's 20th birthday next year too, so in retrospect the late 90s was a terrible time to be a vampire.

Speaking of things that happened in ages past, man it's been while since my epic marathon of all the traditional Castlevania platformers. "This is going to be the final Castlevania game I'll be playing for a long long time," I wrote at the end of my Castlevania Legends article, but I had no idea it'd take me 6 years to get around to the next one! You could make a third of a Duke Nukem game in that time.  Though in my defence I used to avoid writing about games I'd played before and I've actually beaten this one on the Xbox 360.

If playing all those classic Castlevanias taught me anything, it's that Konami were determined to get those Belmonts onto every system they could, and that each console had to get its own exclusive game. Seriously, to play the whole series up to this point you would've needed access to a NES, an MSX2, a Game Boy, a PC Engine with a CD drive, an X68000, a Mega Drive, a SNES and an arcade with the Haunted Castle cabinet. In this case though they skipped the Sega 32X due to it being dead and put their new 2D Castlevania on two consoles, the PlayStation and Saturn (with the Game Boy getting Legends instead and the N64 getting both Castlevania 64 and Legacy of Darkness two years later).

It was a bit strange though that Konami released this for the PlayStation, at least in the West, partly because Sony of America had a real hate on for 2D and partly because it's the direct sequel to a game that didn't get an English release until a decade later! In Japan the game’s called Akumajō Dracula X: Gekka no Yasōkyoku (Nocturne in the Moonlight), because it follows on from PC Engine game Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo (Rondo of Blood). This 'music term of the vampire-related thing' theme carried on through a couple of the GBA games until they started throwing in words like 'Dawn' and 'Portrait' and ruined the pattern.

Anyway I've waited long enough to give this a replay so I should get on with it. I hope I don't hate it now!

Wai Wai World 2: SOS!! Parsley Jō (NES)

I played the first Wai Wai World game a few months back, and while it was alright, it had massive room for improvement. Getting all the most famous Konami characters together in one crossover platformer is a great idea, and I hope this sequel comes closer to doing the concept justice.

Konami Wai Wai World (NES)

I love Super Mario Crossover (browser game link), and I'm kind of surprised Nintendo hasn't taken the idea for themselves yet. Someone put Mario, Mega Man, Samus Aran, Simon Belmont etc. together in one game, and for once it wasn't in a fighting game or a racing game! Uh, not that there's anything wrong with those genres, it's just not really their natural habitat. So when I found out there was a game called Wai Wai World starring famous (pre 1988) Konami platformer heroes, I thought it might be worth a look.

I just hope they don't make me play as that Captain America wannabe sticking his head through the title screen.

Castlevania Legends (GB)

Castlevania Legends, the final Castlevania released on the original Game Boy, tells the story of the first Belmont to defeat Dracula. Or at least it would have, except that it's been declared non-canon, and no longer part of the official chronology.

It's nice to know that if I fuck up, I won't be ruining the timeline or anything. The Castlevania universe will be safe from my ineptitude for once.

Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss / Dracula X (SNES)

Also known as Castlevania: Dracula X in the US, and Akumajo Dracula XX in Japan (because they already used 'Dracula X' for the title of Rondo of Blood.)

That's a damn weird looking style of writing they've gone with. Also why change the title to Vampire's Kiss anyway? Will this be a tale of Richter Belmont and Dracula's forbidden love?

Castlevania: The New Generation / Bloodlines (Genesis/Mega Drive)

A.K.A. Castlevania: Bloodlines in North America, and Vampire Killer in Japan, confusingly.

The series had already jumped to arcades, C64, MSX, Amiga, PC, X68000, and the TurboGrafx, and with this Sega's system finally got a Castlevania game of its own.

Akumajō Dracula X: Chi no Rondo / Castlevania: Rondo of Blood (TurboGrafx-CD)

Also known as... Castlevania: Rondo of Blood.

Akumajō Dracula / Castlevania Chronicles (X68000)

Another Castlevania game with the Japanese title Akumajou Dracula, retelling the story of Simon Belmont's epic struggle through Castlevania 1. So that's... five of them now, right?

For years this was only available in Japan for the Sharp X68000 computer, but it finally got a western release in 2001 on the PlayStation, under the name Castlevania Chronicles.

Super Castlevania IV (SNES)

This is another game known in Japan as just Akumajou Dracula, along with Castlevania, Vampire Killer and Haunted Castle. Does that mean it's supposed to be a remake of the first game?

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (GB)

Not to be confused with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest on the NES.

15 years after the first Game Boy Castlevania, Christopher Belmont finds that his son has been kidnapped by Dracula and turned into a demon. This makes him a very unhappy Belmont, and he sets off on a roaring rampage of retribution.

Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (NES)

I thought Castlevania II was the one about Dracula's Curse. Though I suppose he can have more than one curse, he is pretty evil.

Castlevania: The Adventure (GB)

The first Castlevania game released on a handheld system, and I'm guessing not the best of them. But you never know, I could be wrong.

Haunted Castle (Arcade)

This shares the same name in Japan (Akumajō Dracula) as both Castlevania and Vampire Killer, and is the first arcade game in the Castlevania series.

There's actually at least five games just called Akumajō Dracula, annoyingly. They could have at least given them different subtitles or something.

Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (NES)

Another Castlevania game that has a film effect on the title screen. I suppose the developers would have gotten a lot of their inspiration from classic horror movies.

Vampire Killer (MSX2)

Apparently this was made about the same time as the original Famicom/NES Castlevania game, and was actually the first of the series to get a release in Europe.

Castlevania (NES)

Like The Legend of Zelda, this is a genuine NES classic that I've somehow managed to avoid playing until now. Or maybe I just always got killed by the first boss, I forget.