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.

Bram Stoker's Dracula (Amiga)

Developer:

Psygnosis

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Release Date:

1994

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Systems:

Amiga + eight other systems

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Today on Super Adventures, Keanu Reeves week continues with Bram Stoker's Dracula on the Amiga! I said I was only going to play three Keanu Reeves games, and this would be the second of them, but things get a little complicated with this one.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was a multiplatform title released to tie in with the 1992 Gary Oldman movie, but not all platforms got the same game. In fact it seems like there's actually five different games here, split across nine different systems. It came out on Amiga, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, NES, Game Boy, Sega CD and DOS PCs, so poor C64 owners were left out this time.

Nine systems in one article is a bit much, so I'm going to focus on the Amiga game mostly and try not to get too carried away with writing about the other versions, but I have to at least take a look at them. Yeah okay, I didn't show off all the different Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure games yesterday, I only played the home computer versions, but in my defence I was busy finishing the entire game three times over.

I'll also try not to spoil too much about the movie, but I get the feeling that's not going to be an issue here.

Dracula the Undead (Lynx)

It's like his face is being eaten away by a swarm of black pixels.

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.