as much as I couldn't give a cup of dried piss for modern Konami, I love each and every one of their anniversary collections; both castlevania collections, contra, and their arcade collection. It just makes me feel sad to be reminded just how bloody good Konami were at the top of their game :(
Great review, of the games Circle of the Moon has always been my favorite probably because it was the first Castle Vania game I ever played. I totally agree about the potions though, unless you have loads they are hardly worth bothering with.
Yep - same here. The Advance games complement each other really well, and there are so many hours of gameplay in just one of the games on offer here. It's a steal at the price.
@@RoseTintedSpectrum In a sense, Dracula X gets the short end of the stick but I still like it for a few things. Aria of Sorrow blew me away, I love it. Circle of the Moon was my second favorite man.
@@xboxclown8922 I get the feeling they never know what to pair Dracula X with - I mean, it's the black sheep of this collection by a long shot, but it's such a good standalone title. I hope folk don't just bounce off it because it's not the same as the other three.
Yeah - very much the same and it's one I put a tonne of time into. I was also, initially, confused as to why it's one I didn't return to as often... And then it hits me around the 6 hour mark. It's just that grind curve. It's one that go massaged out of later titles, and it's easy to forget that it's there until you come up against that wall.
I really enjoyed the grinding elements of Circle of the Moon. It was satisfying leveling up , finding cool items, and unlocking new classes. The game had so much content and encouraged exploration. The 100 different card combinations were my favorite part though.
This collection was a whirlwind of emotions for me, having only played Aria of Sorrow and Dracula X fully on the collection before its release it was a joy to play Circle and Harmony, though I think the more frustrating aspects of the time I had to build a tolerance to- at least for Circle of the Moon and its grindingly hard sections (I tried to do the sewer without making it not poisonous, clearly a big brain move), and Harmony for getting lost between where I was just exploring and where I was actually meant to go. Aria? Fantastic. Forbear to some of the best Igavania mechanics like Dawn of Sorrow, Bloodstained and so on and so on. Dracula X? Complete testicular tortion that pissed me off just that right amount enough to get me through it. I'm really really likely living in denial but I hope somehow the DS games get ported. Though they'd have to smooth out the stylus stuff. No big loss that stuff was mostly gimmicky rubbish anyway.
Aria of Sorrow is pretty much the consensus best of the series on offer. The level design is second to none, guiding you while encouraging and rewarding exploration. The weapons and spirit powers all feel like they got a bit of extra attention...it's the only game in the series where it felt worthwhile to collect everything, even if it wasn't practical to actually use. (Still the most stylish and flexible difficulty select ever made.) And it'd probably be considered the best of the Symphony style games overall, if it wasn't for the GBA's limits. It's own sequel suffers from mandatory touch screen gimmicks that kill any sense of immersion and punish anyone with a shaky hand. And there's a lazy effort to switch to a less detailed, higher contrast art style at the last minute, which has more in common with The Master of Spirits games. If it wasn't for Aria's aggressively mediocre character writing, which rivals Shenmue for characters just going through the motions? It'd be near perfect.
Awesome addictive games, but the time gone into porting them seem less than Death takes to kill me in every Castlevania game (we’re talking seconds without serious grinding). It looks like they’ve slapped some roms onto an emulator and gone to lunch.
as much as I couldn't give a cup of dried piss for modern Konami, I love each and every one of their anniversary collections; both castlevania collections, contra, and their arcade collection.
It just makes me feel sad to be reminded just how bloody good Konami were at the top of their game :(
2 years later they seem to be doing decent now with the recent DS ports now and the SH2 remake doing well let's hope they learned.
Great review, of the games Circle of the Moon has always been my favorite probably because it was the first Castle Vania game I ever played. I totally agree about the potions though, unless you have loads they are hardly worth bothering with.
Agree, Circle of the Moon is awesome!
Dracula X < Rondo of Blood
Honestly I loved this more than Castlevania Anniversary Collection. I highly recommend this compilation to people.
Yep - same here. The Advance games complement each other really well, and there are so many hours of gameplay in just one of the games on offer here. It's a steal at the price.
@@RoseTintedSpectrum In a sense, Dracula X gets the short end of the stick but I still like it for a few things. Aria of Sorrow blew me away, I love it. Circle of the Moon was my second favorite man.
@@xboxclown8922 I get the feeling they never know what to pair Dracula X with - I mean, it's the black sheep of this collection by a long shot, but it's such a good standalone title. I hope folk don't just bounce off it because it's not the same as the other three.
Makes me kinda sad that we aren´t getting Castevania games like these anymore.
Same. I'm not sure if a DS collection will ever come around either, due to the forced stylus stuff that was implemented into them.
Loved this review, thanks. I must admit I have a soft spot for CotM as it was also my first GBA game.
Yeah - very much the same and it's one I put a tonne of time into. I was also, initially, confused as to why it's one I didn't return to as often... And then it hits me around the 6 hour mark. It's just that grind curve. It's one that go massaged out of later titles, and it's easy to forget that it's there until you come up against that wall.
I really enjoyed the grinding elements of Circle of the Moon. It was satisfying leveling up , finding cool items, and unlocking new classes. The game had so much content and encouraged exploration. The 100 different card combinations were my favorite part though.
This collection was a whirlwind of emotions for me, having only played Aria of Sorrow and Dracula X fully on the collection before its release it was a joy to play Circle and Harmony, though I think the more frustrating aspects of the time I had to build a tolerance to- at least for Circle of the Moon and its grindingly hard sections (I tried to do the sewer without making it not poisonous, clearly a big brain move), and Harmony for getting lost between where I was just exploring and where I was actually meant to go.
Aria? Fantastic. Forbear to some of the best Igavania mechanics like Dawn of Sorrow, Bloodstained and so on and so on. Dracula X? Complete testicular tortion that pissed me off just that right amount enough to get me through it.
I'm really really likely living in denial but I hope somehow the DS games get ported. Though they'd have to smooth out the stylus stuff. No big loss that stuff was mostly gimmicky rubbish anyway.
Yeah, I hope for the DS stuff too but I'm just not sure we'll see it - mostly because of the stupid gimmick rubbish.
It has come 🫴🏽
@@AD3SPG heck yeah they did. Fackin love Dominus!
Will you be covering the dominus collection ?
Yeah, this one was pure bliss!
Good job Rosie. I've not played any Castlevania or Metroid games!
These are the perfect entry point imo
Trying to rank these games is silly. But your correct
THE BEST KIND OF CORRECT
Aria of Sorrow is pretty much the consensus best of the series on offer. The level design is second to none, guiding you while encouraging and rewarding exploration. The weapons and spirit powers all feel like they got a bit of extra attention...it's the only game in the series where it felt worthwhile to collect everything, even if it wasn't practical to actually use. (Still the most stylish and flexible difficulty select ever made.)
And it'd probably be considered the best of the Symphony style games overall, if it wasn't for the GBA's limits. It's own sequel suffers from mandatory touch screen gimmicks that kill any sense of immersion and punish anyone with a shaky hand. And there's a lazy effort to switch to a less detailed, higher contrast art style at the last minute, which has more in common with The Master of Spirits games.
If it wasn't for Aria's aggressively mediocre character writing, which rivals Shenmue for characters just going through the motions? It'd be near perfect.
Awesome addictive games, but the time gone into porting them seem less than Death takes to kill me in every Castlevania game (we’re talking seconds without serious grinding). It looks like they’ve slapped some roms onto an emulator and gone to lunch.
100% - the minor additions that have been made are wonky, though... So I'm sort of glad they largely left them alone?