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Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I actually purchased this game when it first came out nearly a year ago, and was absolutely blown away by the graphics, sound, and especially the gameplay. This is simply one of the best Castlevania games ever--I would even go as far as ranking this one in a close second to Symphony of the Night (considered by most to be the best Castlevania ever). This is mainly due to the fact that there is so much packed into the game. It will take you forever to uncover all the secrets in the game, which range all the way from getting a martial arts ability to turning into a little green bear (which is actually a secret cameo from another Konami game). There are over 80 different spells in all, not including the effects that items have on the wearer, leaving it in 2nd place to SOTN simply by the numbers alone. Interestingly enough, I actually am writing this review after having played the second GBA Castlevania title: Harmony of Dissonance. Though the latter title has better animation and better contrast on the graphics, I still think that the sheer attention to detail and the superior gameplay make Circle of the Moon the better of the two titles. There were only 20 spells in that game, and some of the characters were so downright comical that it ruined the intended eerie atmosphere for the game. On top of that, the sound was no better than a regular NES game. This, particularly, is one of the main reasons why I found Circle of the Moon to be superior. The sound is absolutely superb, from the beautiful choir at the opening of the game to the symphonic score throughout. I was absolutely amazed that such incredible sound could be coming out of such a small cartridge. I would even reccommend wearing headphones while playing the game, as much of the sound detail will be lost without doing so. Anyway, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was an all-around fantastic game and I would highly reccommend buying it if you have the GBA. I would even go as far as saying that it is a reason for purchasing the GBA.

Five stars from a skeptic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania. It isn't my thing, sorry. I've never had a hankering to whip vampires to death, and I hate RPGs.

That said, everyone at EB kept calling it "Metroid sidescrolling action... with vampires!" Since they had used copies, I bit and handed over the cash--and am I ever glad I did. "Circle of the Moon" is an incredibly pleasant surprise, and believe me, I'm ordinarily a staggeringly slow-moving Puzzles Girl. Admittedly, the action was slow-going at first (I didn't have an instruction manual), but the controls are plenty comprehensive and easy to get used to. The Nathan Graves sprite is responsive and quick. I quickly found myself frustrated but fully immersed. The graphics are brooding and macabre, which is definitely a reason to play this on a new, sparkling, frontlit GBA SP.

I can't wait to get started on the other Castlevania offerings for GBA. An incredible series.

A very good early entry in the GBA library

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was one of the most anticipated GBA titles at launch, so there thankfully is little chance of this one becoming a rare title. The game does well on all fronts--namely graphics, audio, and long-term playability. A classic Konami platformer it is not, however, so if you're looking for old school jumping action you'll bore more quickly than those looking for a rousing good Action RPG (as this title is generally classified).

The game controls very easily, allowing you to strike multiple times while airborne; the various special abilities are also simple to use and make traveling about less tedious than it could have been. An interesting wrinkle in the game's system lies in the spinning whip attack you possess as a default ability (attack and hold the button down). It uses no magic...while I would recommend against using for long periods of time without checking (if a worm in the Catacombs gets by your whip - and they eventually will - you'll be poisoned), people have been known to use this in letting the game provide automatic experience points. That said, it's not a terribly useful ability for combat against determined enemies (which precludes most anything at a higher level than bats, snakes, and zombies).

The game tends to provide a good sense of direction for the player, with a glaring exception in the poisoned waterways which many players unwittingly stumble upon and feel they must finish. Unlike other Castlevania games in the style of SotN, this game has less of a focus on corridors and more on wide open areas, with lots of platforming. Completion of the map requires running about like a madman, pounding on all walls at random, but at times you'll note that many placements are very clever. Many people will enjoy going through the game to find all of these, though the incentive for finding these small rooms is slim, with simple MP Max Up or MP potential increase items, and usually the very same graphics as the area they're attatched to - it's an exercise done for the sake of exploration alone. (As a spoiler, try running or falling alongside walls with the Ice Shield combination on. It never misses.)

As far as items go...nothing too spectacular here. Normal monsters occasionally drop one of two types of item, one "common" and one rare. It seems to me that the ability to collect 99 sets of the same set of armor or more than two wrist accessories is an oversight, since there's no way to sell items in this game or trade off extas; one feels that expensive save RAM could have been better utilized or even cut in size had there been a more stripped down system. Interestingly enough, the successor to this game, Harmony of Dissonance, also doesn't improve much upon this system and doesn't allow the sale of extra armor or accessories, despite having a shop system.

There aren't dozens of weapon types to pick up in the game as with SotN. In place of this is the DSS (Duel Set-up System) card combo system, which has been criticized by some as being "Pokemon-like" and received some gentle criticisms from the current head of all things Castlevania within Konami, Koji Igarashi (he was a joint director for the project, interestingly enough). You match up two cards to come up with a spell effect; either with a constant or immediate effect, and corresponding pattern of drain on your SP meter. The SP meter gradually replenishes itself over time. This is in addition to the subweapon system, which is nice in allowing one to switch or combine styles of play.

DSS card combinations fall into a variety of types. Some provide stat bonuses - these are mostly worthless as it is generally a good idea to bulk up your character's offensive means instead of resigning yourself to taking damage. Others create magical shields of various types or change the properties of your whip - these are actually useful as they act in an elemental fashion, with such things as a natural Thorn Whip that sheds rose petals when flung, and when targeting the right enemy these make the difference of a few whip strokes and do more damage. You may even summon special attacks. Troubling oversights at often make the system more trouble than it is worth; the healing spell does not simply converting spell points instantly into health, but instead forces the player to stand perfectly still for a good minute as their SP meter depletes itself to fill a fraction of your HP meter. On the plus side, the summon combinations really are special, with large attacks that fill the screen.

Many of the game's graphics were outsourced to a company outside of Konami, with the apparent difficulty of finding artists skilled in bitmap art during the 3D age cited as a reason (of course, the next Castlevania shattered any such barrier). These graphics do not look bad but have nothing of the classic Castlevania style, and look quite generic instead. I generally found backgrounds to be superb, but they can be difficult to see on a standard GameBoy Advance (players now have three ways to play the game without eyestrain, with the SP, the GB Player, and the DS). The game also diverges from regular Castlevania titles with repetitive graphics: paralax scrolling backgrounds tend to be a single picture, but the foreground environment tends to be repetitive as well with columns placed evenly one after another for the entire length of a hallway. There is virtually nothing of the signature detailed graphical tile work found in almost all 2D Castlevanias released before and since. That said, many areas look stunning. The Castle Entrance, or Triumph Hallway, is a favorite area, with large drapes, windows looking out onto deep clouds, and a great evergreen forest beyond. It's a shame that many more frequented areas are drab and rely heavily on various types of colored brick. Finally, CotM also changes the standard formula of Castlevania in having a small main character and relatively small enemy sprites; this does have the benefit of allowing a larger, more dramatic viewpoint. Harmony of Dissonance feels cramped in comparision.

Director-composer team Takeshi Iwakiri and Sotaro Tojima have created an upbeat soundtrack dependent on classic Castlevania tunes excellently redone for the GBA's system. The 22KHz PCM sound found here is a bit scratchy but many of the tracks are highly listenable in addition to being amazing. Versions of The Sinking Old Sanctuary (for the Abyss Stairway), Vampire Killer (the Observation Tower BGM), and Aquarius (from Castlevania III) are stunning. Original compositions aren't bad either - the first area's BGM, Awake, is fantastic, as is the credits theme (Repose of Souls). Note that the music isn't taken only from NES games - Sign of Blood Pulse, the music playing during the story sequence with the castle in the background, is taken from the N64 Castlevania games, while the vocal music from the data selection screen is right out of Dracula X: Chi no Rondo, never released outside Japan, and is an amazing achievement on the hardware. This really was an incredible demonstration for the game and the hardware at the time it came out.

Pack along a power adapter for this one! You might end up playing it for quite a long time (as I did); do yourself a favor, and save those batteries.

With hidden characters (including a cannonball-shooting bear from Konami's overseas fighter Rakuga Kids, and a lowly skeleton, among others) and what are still among the best music tracks found in a GameBoy Advance title, CotM is certainly a worthwhile purchase for fans of SotN looking to get a little CV action on their GameBoy Advance. It is a fairly easy game, but provides enough content and sheer playtime to allow it to compete with older Castlevania titles for a gamer's attention and affection.

Should have been 5 stars, but it's too f-in' hard!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I won a Game Boy Advance SP in a door prize drawing last week. I'm not new to video games, I've had an NES, Super NES, Sega Saturn and now a PS2... but I'm also not really a "video game guy" either. That being said, the second game I bought for my GB (after Madden 2004, 5 stars for that btw) was Castlevania Cirlce of the Moon. How fondly I remembered the original Castlevania on the NES and the even better Castlevania 2 and the hours upon hours I spent playing them. The graphics and sound on this pint-sized version are better than them both, and had the potential to be better too... BUT IT'S TOO HARD! Now, I certainly don't want to whip through it in an hour, but I can't even play 5 minutes without dying (and subsequesntly restarting from the very beginning after watching the agonizing intro again and again) If you're the kind of guy or gal who can beat the most difficult run-punch-kick-and-shoot games in an afternoon, than by all means this game is for you. BUT if you're like me and enjoy games like Super Mario than Castlevania is one to avoid!

Castlevania's Back!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: December 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The reason for my title is fairly simple; "Circle of the Moon" successfully pulled the Castlevania series out of a dry spell that gave us the mediocre "Legends" and N64 offerings.

The premise of the game pretty much remains unchanged, with some new characters thrown into the mold; basically, Dracula's Dark consort, Camilla, decides to kick things off a little early this century by resurrecting Dracula in the year 1830. Surprisingly, you're not a Belmont in this game; you play as a character named Nathan Graves. As Nathan, you'll explore Dracula's huge castle and collect DSS cards; these cards, when combined with each other, lead to an absolutly incredible number of special attacks. Nathan will also learn special moves from defeating boss enemies, such as the slide kick, the high jump, and the ability to break through stone blocks.

"Circle of the Moon" is the hardest Castlevania game since "Bloodlines;" with health-restore items few and far between and, with a suspicious lack of any merchants, Nathan is going to have his work cut out for him.

One other gripe about the game; it's incredibly dark. As in you need direct overhead light to see what you're doing. I suggest playing this on an SP (which has a back light) or on a Game Boy Player for the Gamecube.

Best game for Game Boy Advance!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: June 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I'd been anticipating this game for quite some time since I really enjoyed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night for the PSX. This game's graphics actually rival SotN too, the game is fun to play and will provide you with hours playtime. The game can be bit a hard at times though and can be really dark at some times (you need really good light to play this game) but these are only minor irks. This has to be the best game out there right now for the game boy advance, so if you pick up only one game skip Mario Advance and head straight for this.

A Damn Fun Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: February 01, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This was not the first GBA game I got. That was Super Mario, which (after I beat it, which took only about three days) was boring and had no replay value. However, that turned out to be a good thing, because when I got bored with Mario, I decided to go out and buy a new game, and of course that new game was none other that Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. Since then I have bought Mario Kart for GBA (also a good game, you will play it for hours at a time, even after you beat it), but this remains my current favorite. I decided to play this game without looking at any guides or maps or anything (sometimes I'm in acomplete all out cheating kind of a mood, but for whatever reason, I decided to play this game the old fashion way), so it took me quite a while to beat it. Which is good because it is a great game. It has this thing towards the end called the Battle Arena which is a huge series of rooms with all kinds of creatures in them. You don't necessarily have to beat it, but it helps you level quickly and easily, and if you beat it you get some kick @$$ armor, oh yeah, and it's just plain fun (for those of you who are playing the game, stock up on the crucifix secondary weapon, it is the best thing to use in the battle arena because you can't use DSS in there!). Also, there is this thing called a DSS (Dual Setup System), which I think is brilliant. Basically, there are a bunch of cards-two different types-hidden in creatures throughout the game. When you find them you can use the DSS to combine the two different types of cards to perform all kinds of different special moves, get special weapons, and summons. It's really cool.
Also, after you beat the game, you get a code for a different mode. There are about four different modes, I think, each one does something different. The first gives you these heat-seeking throwing daggers, and the last gives you every DSS card. I can't remember the others. This really prolongs the replay value because basically it's like playing three different kinds of games.
Some reviewers have been complaining about the graphics, but they aren't that bad at all. They aren't as good as Golden Sun's or Mario Kart's, but they are at least as good as any Super NES game. Probably better. And gameplay is just like the old NES's, you know, where the screen scrolls from left to right as you walk.
Anyway, if you just got a GBA, make this your first game, you will be hooked on the system after playing this. And if you already have a GBA and don't have this and are into RPG's, God only knows what you are waiting for! Go out and get this right now!

Awesome Game. Period.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: September 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Nothing else to say. I am done here.

castlvani now that was my moneys worth

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: July 31, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Castlevania Now that was my moneys worth

I bought Castlevania and after five minutes i called my friend {he has a Gba } and i braged for twenty minutes this is my second reviwe because i didn't think my first one expressed how good it actually is Right now im writing this review because my bateries are recharging for my GBA and i have nothing to do but when there done Its Castlevania time!! I recomend you are 11 or older to play this game because it get kinda dificult at times but nothing you can't pass. If You want your moneys worth get this game.

MUSIC 4.5 Music on a Gameboy now thats a new thing

SOUND EFFECTS 4.0 you can here your foot steps of the Floors but don't depend on the Gba's speakers grab a pair of headphones for the best sound

GRAPHICS 5.0 Im impressed here people say the games to dark so i bought a wormlight it helps a lot i sugest getting one Great Gothic Backgrounds in some places you can see the moon peaking through a window and many other amazing things

CONTROLS 5.0 The controls are set up right from the being but if you don't like them you can change them

RE-PLAY ---- I played for about 40 hours and im barly half done it will be a long time until im ready to re play so i can't rate this

All in all this game is the best side scrolling game out there and i will recomend it to anyone Castlevania deserves a 5.0 and thats being totally honest

This might have been a good game...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 9
Date: October 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

If only you could see something. The Graphics are so dark it is absolutley impossible to play.

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