CotM has the comfiest camera distance in all the Castlevania games imo. It makes the Castle feel so much larger because of how much you can see. The backgrounds are also extremely detailed, and its a shame that most people didn't get to see them because of the original GBA not having a backlight.
The camera distance is a great point! I definitely think platformer games now a days tend to have the camera pulled back out a little TOO far? IE, Ori and the Blind Forest. But, CoTM does a pretty good job. There's definitely a healthy medium you have to find.
Circle of the Moon was the first Castlevania game I ever experienced all on my own. SotN is amazing, but so is Circle of the Moon. I loved the card combo system.
Hey I appreciate it! It is what it is. Honestly, that's why the interactions like commenting and liking are so important cause we're all just fighting to get noticed by that RUclips algorithm, so I really do appreciate the comment. But honestly, I just really enjoy making videos. If they're seen by people, that's obviously a huge perk, but I'm also not gonna stress it if they "under perform" either. I'm genuinely happy with how well received this video was. Not sure if it was just a timing thing, a topic thing, or just a weird fluke, but either way, makes me happy knowing people enjoyed it!
@@SimplyAJ just my personal opinion I find it really angering how I can make a crappy meme edit and somehow get more views than something someone probably put days into making. I just honestly think he's really messed up that some may become disheartened due to how the RUclips algorithm works and rewards what is really lazy content.
CotM is so close to amazing but there are two annoying flaws in navigation; fast travel points are sparse, especially at the bottom half of the castle. Also, you need to tap twice to run every time. On the other hand, there are so many cool things like repopulating the castle with stronger enemies.
Honestly playing it on an actual Gameboy Advance SP it's easy to get used to the double tap thing. Now playing the Steam version I see how annoying it feels
This was my first Castlevania game. I purchased it for my non-backlit GBA. This game blew me away. I loved the spooky themes & catchy music. Looking back I can see the gripes people had with this game. But nostalgia is a heck of a drug. Circle of the Moon means a lot to me!
CoTM was my first Castlevania, I found a discounted copy at a K-Mart (because I'm old but not that old) and instantly fell in love with the series. Since than I've play most, if not all the games in the series. Hell just earlier today I finished my replay of Portrait of Ruin in the Dominus collection.
If it makes ya feel any better, I bought my Wii at a KMart haha. (Technically it was my 3rd Wii. There's a whole story there, but still, KMart had them in a time when nobody else did hahaha) I'd say CoTM really cemented my love for the series. I grew up loving the NES games, but then didn't play another CV until SoTN and then CoTM. From there, it was just like "yeah okay, I'm getting every new CV game that comes out" haha
People think that nathan is a very shallow character but to me he's endearing as he did everything a belmont has done and without the vampire killer and arguably fought way stronger enemies. Especially at his age as well its easy to see why he was chosen to use the hunters whip.
Yeah, I always liked Nathan. His design was cool, especially the artstyle. Always liked the idea of the Belmonts needing other people to fight Dracula (like the Morris clan) while they did whatever they were doing to "prepare" for the 1999 battle. Shame that wasn't the case with Nathan per the retcon stuff haha
@@SimplyAJ The reason I think Nathan is a lot stronger than a lot of other characters is because of the bosses in particular. The zombie dragon twins were something Dracula killed when he was in his prime and knowing that Nathan did it while basically being a novice really shows that he's a lot more stronger than we know. I would have loved to see Nathan and Hugh come back in a later game but this game is somewhat no longer cannon so I highly doubt it. Order of eclasia basically took this game and a lot of other castlevania games out of cannon if I'm sure. In my personal opinion this game didn't even need to have Dracula in it. It could have worked perfectly fine with Elizabeth and Death which would also make more sense as this isn't even draculas Castle.
It can be said the Hunter Whip is in ways similar to the Vampire Killer. Both being enchanted weapons iirc. I would reckon his potential and peak power is equivalent to say Richter or Julius in terms of lore but with more versatility with the DSS magic. Even though it’s mentioned he was never able to best Hugh in training. So that’s quite a leap in skill and power. Though it’s possible Nathan could have been holding back since that’s not a life or death situation and it’s pretty clear Nathan cares about Hugh as a friend despite how bitter Hugh acts towards Nathan during most of the game. He likely even sees Hugh as like a brother to him since both his parents were killed when they fought Dracula alongside Morris 10 years prior. And it doesn’t seem Nathan has any siblings So Hugh and Morris are the closest thing he has to family left He’s about 18-19 I think and both Richter and Julius are 19 when they first battle Dracula. They never say exactly how old Nathan and Hugh are. Also with this game being non-canon and having a different continuity it’s possible the Belmonts don’t even exist in this timeline. But being non-canon only means they coulda gave it more of its own timeline. I woulda loved to have a sequel to circle of the moon with a further improved DSS system!
I noticed the stiff controls within seconds of starting the game and it was my first of the GBA trilogy. Also the drop rates are horrendous so the DSS only really shines on Magician mode where you can actually use all the cards. I'd also argue that it was entirely their fault for making the visuals so dark since they were developing a game specifically to be played on GBA and didn't take into account the hardware limitations. Despite all this, I still really like this game.
This is my favorite Castlevania game along with order of ecclesia. Two very underappreciated gems that bring the classicvania difficulty back intot he series
For a launch title?!?!?! Yea, this game delivered. Not super deep, but enough flexibility with the DSS system, if you found all the cards, or even most of them, to keep it interesting. The game is just long enough too. Underrated for sure. A must play for die hard or even newfound fans
I bought the Castlevania Advance Collection yesterday and started playing Harmony of Dissonance. I dig it so far. The consensus seems to be that it’s the worst of the GBA games, and if that’s the case, I have a lot to look forward to. I’ll play Circle next, and then, saving the “best” for last, Aria. I just discovered you today and your reviews are fun and informative. Watched your Harmony review earlier, watching this one now, and Aria’s up next. Big Ups man! I’ve liked and subscribed. Looking forward to more reviews!
I’m not sure I would quite say unappreciated. More so just an overlooked game which got overshadowed by Aria of Sorrow and later games but it did pretty well all things considered.
I adored this game in grade school. The learning curve was steep as hell but I loved learning the enemy and boss patterns. Upgrades felt meaningful and rewarding, which was an issue I had with SOTN and HOD. They could've hinted more about where to find the cards and equipment, but they sort of solved that issue for the re-release. I love the difficulty progession, it feels very well thought out and tight, which is another issue I had with SOTN and HOD. I always felt OP by the time i get to Dracula. Can't say enough about the soundtrack, one of the best of the series and my absolute favorite arrangement of Dance of Illusions.
I really like the art direction in this game over the other GBA games. Sure the stripes have less frames than the others but they are just taken straight up from older games or having one character made from multiple stripes and animated using mode 7 making them look like paper marionettes more than anything else.
Yup! That game is sick as hell. Too dark?play it on GBA SP. No Belmonts? So fuckin what. Too hard? Boo hoo, it’s castlevania. Grab that whip and get it done baby
Funnily enough, I feel like when this came out, nobody REALLY cared that there were no Belmonts, cause everybody was still coming off of the high of playing as Alucard anyway. But now a days, when people look back at it, they used it as a weird complaint, but it's like you said.. so fuckin' what? haha
@@SimplyAJ oh that’s the one I heard the most. From people who’s precious child hood was ruined by Alucard. Where’s Simon? He went home! Lol 😂 all in all CotM is great.
I finally beat Circle of the Moon yesterday and I beat it in Magician mode today. This was the last Castlevania I played on the Advanced Collection and in the end I found it to be the most challenging, which wasn't a bad thing. There was no store. The regular potions only gave you 20 hit points. Most of the bosses were not conveniently right next to save rooms. There was a really limited amount of teleporters. Curse disabled your attack for what felt like forever. And, it was full of enemies that would constantly spawn or throw projectiles. Oh, and I did the poisoned waterway part WITHOUT getting the cleansing necklace first. OMG. A lot of stationary healing I'll tell you that! All 3 games certainly had their own feel which was awesome. The DSS system and the card combos were a lot of fun. A system I honestly prefer more than Aria of Sorrows soul mastery. Grinding the cards was way less grindy and if you did it as soon as you came across a monster that dropped a card, you were able to use those abilities throughout the game. The opposite of what happened in Aria of Sorrows. Most of the grinding was at the end to get the achievement so I never used the majority of those soul skills. Plus, this is exactly why Magician mode in Circle of the Moon was the best post game mode. It gave you all the cards from the start which made it a ton of fun to use all of those abilities for an entire playthrough. Aria of Sorrows could have benefited from a 'all souls' mode so you can play with all of the abilities from the start. Would have been nice. Julius mode and Maxim mode were weak. At this point im not sure which one was my favorite. They were all so different.
Very entertaining video dude! I missed a lot of great GBA games growing up (can't buy anything you want when you're like 8 haha) but with the Switch release of the Advance Collection, I'm definitely looking forward to playing the GBA series of games. Keep up the good work! :)
For an Castlevania of this style not done by Koji Igarashi, it's a surprisingly decent game. He had some limited involvement in other areas for those that didn't know. Circle of the Moon quickly became one of my favorite GBA games.
I love the way you produced this video. Well done bro. Very chill and enjoyable. Just got the Advance collection. Was always a fan of the series but never had a chance to fully play any of them. Starting with Circle of the Moon and having a blast.
Thanks man! Honestly means a lot to see people compliment my editing style haha. But yeah, hope ya dig the Advance Collection, it's honestly a steal having 4 solid games in it.
CotM was the first Metroidvania-Castlevania I played earlier this year through the Advance collection, and it blew my socks off! The DSS system was a joy to explore, and trekking through the castle was a cozy ride with all the wonderful remixes and new tracks. It's also the game that made me realise I prefer difficulty in Metroidvania games and CotM kicked my ass to kingdom come. Loved it :D
I took vacation this week and decided hey it's time to complete Castlevania 1 for NES! I bought PS4 the Castlevania collection and played Castlevania 1 on it instead of the NES classic! Well the advanced collection was on sale for 11 bucks so grabbed it! The advanced collection has all 3 gba titles and dracula x on it!The advance games I never played but started on circle of the moon! So far I'm loving it!
I think following up the classic Castlevania games with Circle of the Moon is a perfect way to do it, because of all the IGAvania titles, it definitely controls the most similar to a classic Castlevania. Glad to hear you're lovin' it!
@@SimplyAJ oh ya man been a blast! I think In the past month I've bought every Castlevania PS4 has to offer! And I loved bloodstained as well and plan to get bloodstained curse of the moon 2 the first was awesome totally felt like Castlevania 3! And bloodstained ritual of the night is totally a sotn continuance, iga is the man!
The main problem with the DSS system is that you only need two cards, to have them all. When you press L+R while Nathan is shining, press start, and change the card arragament, go back to game and voila, you have any combination from the game start basically
I almost brought this up, hence my dumb little text joke at 0:19:34 , but ultimately, a glitch like that wasn't exactly wide spread or known when the game first came out (and really is only known to die hard Castlevania fans anyway), so I'm not really holding it against the game itself for having that glitch. Now, if it was a glitch that was unavoidable entirely and you couldn't NOT do it, then that'd be another story haha.
Good review! Circle of the Moon is an excellent game. The brightness issue was definitely a problem back in the day, but then things like the GBA SP, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Player for Game Cube came around (and even some of us had already bought composite output mods for the OG GBA), so it wasn't an issue for long. What I enjoy the most about this one is, much like Order of Ecclesia later on, it's actually a challenging game. Also, the run and double jump mechanics made for super fun traversal of the castle. Backtracking as a result never felt painful. It's great to see the game get some love! People tend to look down on it, something I've never understood as someone that was there when it released--it was originally quite well regarded, both among avid gamers and the press.
Thanks so much! And yeah, I definitely enjoyed that it has a bit more challenge to it compared to the later games. Difficulty is probably one of the harder things to get right in these games. A lot of indie games that make their own ode to metroidvania style games tend to miss the mark and lean wayyy more into difficulty than necessary, and start drifting more into making "2D souls games" instead, so it's nice to have a good Metroidvania Castlevania game that scales (decently) well across the board. And yeah, that's just how people are, unfortunately. I remember 2001 pretty vividly, and getting Circle of the Moon on my GBA. During that era, I spent a lot of time on various EZBoard internet forums and people definitely loved it when it came out. I think a big part of it, which is just an ongoing issue with all games unfortunately, is that people tend to base their opinions on games based off of video games NOW a days and not when a game came out. It's similar to how Simon's Quest or Zelda II are viewed. At their time of release, they were critical and financial successes, everyone loved them. Decades later people talk about the issues those games had, comparing them to where we're at with game design NOW a days, so they get a bad wrap haha. It'll forever be an ongoing issue, unfortunately.
This game needs a remaster. Updated graphics and animation. Remastered orchestral music and some Qulity of life changes. It is one of my favourite Castlevania games, despite no being an official IGAvania.
Would loooove to see it. I'd hope they'd stick with sprites, but just higher quality, with some more frames of animation (specifically the running animation). Also the extra buttons on modern day consoles would definitely help standardize the control scheme a bit.
I’m not counting on a remaster too soon with the Advance Collection releasing not long ago. But who knows maybe Konami will pull their heads out of their asses and start making Castlevania again lol. Maybe even reconcile with Koji Igarashi for him to work with them on the side on Castlevania games again. I’d love a 2.5D Sequel to Circle of the Moon with a further improved upon DSS system!!
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is my all-time favorite game in the franchise. It's got an interesting gameplay style in the DSS card system, a great aesthetic along with an absolutely KINO soundtrack and did I mention it has four, count them, FOUR additional challenge modes for colossal replay value?! This game it's just *Chef's Kiss* Perfection.
Yeah it's honestly surprising to me that a game that wasn't made by IGA was so well made, honestly. I think it was the perfect blend of Classic and Modern style games. Such a shame that IGA disliked it.
@@SimplyAJ Ol' IGA can say this is non-canon, but it'll always be canon to me; Personally. I like to slot it in between Legacy of Darkness and Order of Ecclesia.
When i heard awaken's remaster in SSBU... I shed a tear in absolute joy. Circle was my first metroidvania, and while certainly not my favorite, the music stuck with me the most. It felt the most in tune with the idea of being a monster slaying badass on your way to take on *the* vampire, and i was sad to honestly never hear it another time
Agreed! The music in Circle really was special, and that's from someone who HAD played previous CV games before hand haha. It just gets you pumped right out the gate, but also had this unique... GBA Era Uniqueness to it.
CotM was what made me buy a kit for my GBA that gave it a tv output. Which made the game so very much more fun to play. Of course I no longer have that kit (or my original GBA, just my SP) since the GBA player rendered it moot. And with the new collection, none of it's necessary at all. I'm so very glad these (and now the DS games) have been made widely available again, even if I still think SotN is the best of the bunch. Great videos!
I finally played this game for the first time and I find it utterly fantastic. I feel like "Igavanias" really suffered by focusing on slower plodding combat. I was amazed at how kinetic and fast this game is, how open all the spaces are, and how difficult it is. It feels like 'classicvania' put into the exploration style, maybe thats why I'm so partial to it. Its great.
Couldn't have put it better myself. I think that's exactly it. I know plenty of people prefer the later GBA and DS titles, which is fine, but I do think that if you enjoy the earlier, original style of Castlevania, then Circle of the Moon is a perfect bridge between the two.
Playing this for the first time right now after i just finished SotN for the first time. Great vid, im hyped on experiencing the GBA trio for the first time. New sub!
I really enjoyed this game but it was so difficult I would not have been able to finish it without the rewind feature in the Advance Collection. Hats off to the people who finished it on the GBA.
Yeah, early GBA games were pretty rough, difficulty wise for sure. At the end of the day though, whatever platform ya finished it on, ya still finished it!
This is the game that introduced me to the series, and led me to seek out and play the older titles at the time. I was enamored. It’s still among my favorite game in the series. The bonus modes effectively being different character classes is really cool. I like the “canon” storyline, but it isn’t terribly important to me because classic Castlevania as a whole doesn’t really have that complex of a narrative.
I remember playing circle of the moon about 4 or 5 years ago, and unfortunatly can't say i enjoyed it that much :(( i do really like metroidvania games, but circle of the moons biggest problem for me when i played it was the DSS system. while it is a really cool system that you can do a lot of cool stuff with, it is also really inaccessible to a new player. so for someone like me who went into the game completely blind, the game didn't teach me almost anything about how it worked and most importantly, how i should go about getting them. all of them besides the 2 first ones you get are rare drops(
Oh yeah that's totally fair. I enjoyed the DSS system like... AS a power system, but the fact that you're at the mercy of drop rates definitely could have been handled a bit better. That's probably why they added things like Magician Mode in so people could play around with it more, but that still requires beating the entire game to access.
I just beat this game at level 62 tonight. The Shining Armor from the Battle Arena definitely helped. It was insane. Even with that armor, I lost so much health every time Dracula hit me. I feel like it would have been impossible if I didn’t have that armor. Damn. That second form of Dracula was no joke. The high jump special move worked wonders when his eye was flying around. Definitely enjoyed Circle of the Moon, but the grinding to level up was a bit excessive at times. That’s my only criticism - how long it often took. Other than that, I genuinely loved the game. Onto Harmony of Dissonance next.
I just got this game in an lot on ebay that I bought for megaman zero, and this ended up being the game I played, I spent 4 days playing it and loved every bit of it (except for that section full of marionettes and bloody swords) really great game, especially if you use that rom hack that auto runs for you
Oh yeah, the marionettes and bloody swords are pretty awful, especially if you get cursed. But, glad you enjoyed the game, definitely would love to see people play it more! Any plans on checking out the other GBA Castlevania games?
I love your personal stories man. So often I watch these gaming retrospective videos and there is just no personality, it's refreshing to hear your thoughts and anecdotes about the games as you were playing them real time. Also I think you hit the nail on the head when describing this game. It's really charming and has such cool aspects about it, and genuinely might be the hardest igavania. But when it comes to the GBA's even HoD in it's complete mediocrity gets talked about more, such a bummer.
I honestly appreciate that so much haha. Sometimes when I write these out, or start recording, I'm like "is anyone really gonna care about some weird story from my childhood 20+ years ago?" so, it's nice to know it resonates well haha.
I’m a professional Magician Main in this game and have completed the Battle Arena without cheesing it. This is my favorite Castlevania game and it’s not even close.
Circle of the moon did a lot right but it's equal to harmony of dissonance imo. Where Harmony had the annoying floatiness cotm has the stupid slow walk. Where harmony had poor music and lack of teleports cotm has lack of shop and a very weird vertically inclined jumping method (despite the GBA resolution) But I love this game to bits still. Nathan Graves is a cool character. Wish they mishmashed this game with order of ecclesia somehow to keep it cannon. Nathan and the Baldwins and the Hunter whip, it's all cool stuff. The music is fantastic in this game. it looks amazing. For a launch title it's a pretty awesome game. I just wish both this game and harmony of dissonance could see justice through a remake.
Honestly, I do think that removing this from the canon was a bit of a petty move on IGA's part, but ultimately, it still works well as a "what if" story or, you can just ignore what he says and pretend it exists haha.
i like the gameplay of it, however the card system is what kills it for me, why are all of them rare drops? they are super crucial to beat the game and yet they are rare drops and you have no idea which random enemy drops which cards. the funny part is that you dont really need them, you can get through the entire game without them just fine, its just dracula thats the issue, you need a good card combination to beat him as a casual player, trying to hit the eyeball while free aiming your cross, or even worse, trying to hit this thing with your whip is just a nightmare, this boss is the sole reason why the card system doesnt work. it should either be optional and random, or mandatory and static. not this weird mix where for 99% of the game the cards are optional, but to beat the final boss of the game you suddenly need them, and not just any, you need the cards that let you do this full screen summon thing, that way you can properly hit the stupid eyeball, its just awful.
Circle of the Moon is definitely a good game, but a little rough. It'll be very helpful If you could backdash, and running could be toggled with a button. A lot of my frustrations came from the running mechanic, especially. Walking is far too slow. I think it'll be better if walking was the same speed as running, and running was a bit faster. As for the soundtrack, I definitely like it. However, I think there's just not enough to differentiate each area like the others did.
this game just looks the best, sounds the best, feels the best, has an awesome system with the cards, very challenging, and strikes a great balance between linear and non linear gameplay. its just the best overall game
Like yoy, I overlooked the series growing up, and recently discovered some love for metroidvanias. Decide to play the collections on the switch. I haven't played symphony of the night yet, but I'm playing this game for the first time. Although I'm enjoying the game, my bigest problem was that as you find new cards, the game doesn't tell you how they work. You have to guess, experiment on them to find out what they do. This made the game a little hard for me, because I mostly ignored them until I looked up how they work. I would never have guessed that to activate some of the cards I actualy had to do a a fighting-game-like motion on the controler. Other than that, it's a straight foward metroidvania. I'm curious to play the other games as well.
Though it was not considered a cannon Castlevania I did enjoy the mechanic of Circle of the moon. The soundtrack was amazing, the plot was not that bad.
For sure. I do think that making it not canon was a bit petty on Iga's part, but, at the same time, ultimately it doesn't change my enjoyment of the game.
This game was pretty awesome at the time, a huge upgrade going from GBC and GG being a launch title (or close?). Still one of my fave igavanias and you can mod out some of the issues with it
@@SimplyAJ There’s nothing really major. But there’s one where you play as Hugh but the dialog works the same so it’s a little weird. Lol. And then someone made a hack making the DSS Cards placed items in place of a bunch of the max up items. But it would be nice to see a full rom hack of the game that makes it kinda like playing a whole new game but with the same core mechanics. I wonder if modding the game would be more possible with the Steam PC release of the Advance Collection
@@Gamerdude535 sadly modders have put all their attention into Aria of Sorrow. You can even randomize it and you have hacks that completely change the game such as Aria of Sorrow Alter. Sadly CotM is overlooked also in terms of hacks
my issue with DSS system is you can only activate one effect at a time. Sure, I can understand the combo that give 25% atk and the one that boost atk based on map rate percentage can't be stacked, but why do I need to choose between 25% atk, and a rose sword? Oh, and some combos are useless, too. I remember one give 1 xp every time you walk, but only 1 xp? in a game where people will most likely run through out the whole game? There's no shortcut to pick few of favorite combo, so every time I need different combo, it's time to open the menu and readjust DSS again, which is why HoD added one. The story is pretty much non-existence. They can remove everyone aside Nathan and Dracula and nothing will change. Call me picky, but it's awkward to see ridiculous amount of damage every time you one-shot weak foe, but strong one? nope, not even close.
Haha, well, it's a good thing I covered that game too! I actually really think the gameplay in Harmony is great, but yeah, agree to disagree on the music, cause whew. Except for the remake of the Vampire Killer theme for Simon mode. That's great.
This was my first gba game, came bundled with the gba I got for christmas. Lots of fond memories. Still to this day I’ve never beaten the battle arena, or dracula himself. that 2nd form is tough. I remember finally getting fed up enough to borrow my friends action replay, and I tried with cheats. The invincibility cheat us buggy, so if you take enough damage that you’d die, the game doesn’t know what to do, and the background goes to a staticy tv with all the foreground elements still present. At the point I’d got to dracula 2, I had played //.hack a bit on Playstation 2, and thought it was a cutscene transition at first. Nope, just a “game caught you cheating” moment lol. Good times.
First off, great video quality I hope your channel grows man. Watched the advance reviews and dawn. Good stuff, gonna definitely get the advance collection. Second, and I hate to be this guy, but your pronunciation of "akin" is incorrect xD It's like uh-kIN, not like ay-kin. 8:20
Ahah, yeah, I know. It's something I randomly do sometimes. I try to be concious over it, but depending on how I feel editing wise, just figured, whatever wasn't gonna re-record haha. Glad ya liked the video, though!
Imagine blaming a Dracula game loaded with demons and monsters by calling it too dark. Aria of Sorrow was the easiest of the bunch, and the final boss wa boring. Many people say Aria of Sorrow > Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon. But I tend to go Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon > Aria of Sorrow
One of my biggest complaints about COTM is that there are only 3 frames for both the walking and running animation. It really does look bad and it's the animation you'll be seeing the most.
This was actually the first Castlevania game I ever played Only until now when they re-released all of the game boy advance games, I had never gotten the chance to play any of the sequels This game however did lead me to eventually play Symphony of the Night. Pretty sure I did cheat my way through it with a game shark way back when, but it was still one of my favorite games ever. Super excited to give it a try again, as well as finally play the rest of the game boy advance sequels Even if the game hasn't aged as well as I remember, it's always going to hold a very special place in my heart I hope Konami releases the Nintendo DS games in a separate package sometime soon Oh and also great video!
100% agree with wanting them to release the DS games as another pack. Like, they absolutely need to do that. Honestly, some of my favorite games of all time I played through using a gameshark for the first time, cause it was just "normal" to do so back then. In 1997, I legit played FF7 for the first time using a Gamehark to give myself infinite gil, so I feel ya haha. Hopefully replaying this lives up to your memories though! And thanks, glad ya enjoyed the video!
I'm playing it right now on the advance collection, and I'm enjoying it. Maybe its a product of its time, but there are far too few warp points. It makes traversing and backtracking in the castle extremely tedious
Going down the rabbit hole of video game videos now, I stumbled across this after just beating this game again for the first time in a long while. Definitely a great game, and this was a great video, thanks for the uploads on these, will check out your others on one of my also Fave game saga's of all time. P.S - You kinda look like Nathan Graves haha ;]
I honestly love this game and cannot shake the feeling that some of Iga's criticism has a mixture of resentment or envy. My preferred aspect of CotM is its simplicity: its a bite size metroidvania and you can beat it in one sitting if you know what you're doing, leaving a really great replay value. This must be the metroidvania I finished the most times. Only great flaw I see on this game is the Pluto card, you should be able to get it ways before the endgame.
Haha, yeah I was kicking myself after I released this because it was only mere DAYS after I put this video out that they announced the Advance Collection.
And for most western fans circle of the moon woulda been the first time they’ve heard requiem lol. Cuz the original rondo of blood was Japan only for the longest time and the alternate version of the game we did get, Dracula X on Snes didn’t have that tune.
Indeed. It's just one of this weird mandala effect situations where Prayer and Requiem sound similar, especially if you heard them at a young age and essentially years apart from one another. Basically I think it was as simple as "oh a choir? Must be the same song!" to my brain at the time.
Might not be the best Castlevania according to people who "knows about games" and critics. But it is my favorite, for sure. I've been beating this game in different ways and rules every six or so months in like a decade already.
I"m sure this is nostalgia speaking on my part, but there's just something so incredibly memorable about early GBA games in particular. Sure the latest Castlevania games are a bit more "developed" so to speak, but CoTM still had such great atmosphere, that I don't really feel like was truly captured in later CV games. The SCALE of the rooms is a big part of it, I think.
Not sure about the "perfect blend of old and new tracks". This game has like 2 original songs (in the main areas at least), Awake and Fate to Despair. Both are amazing, sure, and the rest is also good remixes, including the best versions of Sinking Old Sanctuary and Big Battle, but still. Not that many original ones. Anyway, good video as usual.
Honestly, that's awesome. It's a much more preferable outcome when it turns out to be a pleasant surprise, as opposed to having amazing memories of it, only to return to it and find it to be lackluster haha.
I absolutely hate the final Dracula fight. When he gets below half health, he just starts spamming that invulnerable dash move that does 300+ damage. It's so slow and annoying to finish him off from there. In general, I feel that enemies in this game are too tanky. Even just the generic fodder enemies take so many hits to kill when you are at level. But stats scale up super fast too, and even coming back just 5 or 7 level-ups later, you'll have gone from taking 8 to 10 hits to kill an enemy to two-shotting that same enemy. It's so weird. I also think the castle doesn't have enough warp points. The entire left side of the castle, and entire bottom 40% of the castle doesn't have a single warp point. What the hell? The movement in general is so slow and stiff, too. You get those dash boots like 4 rooms into the game. Why bother with that being an upgrade? Why isn't the sprinting speed just your normal movement speed instead? Nathan's walking speed is so slow that it's agonizing. Ain't gonna lie though. The music absolutely slaps. It really is probably the best OST of the entire series.
Yeah, the final Dracula can be pretty rough. I do think it's easily one of the hardest in the series, especially when it's your first time fighting him. That dash can instantly kill you, and you're just left there like "welp, guess I'll start over." But yeah, I mean the game isn't exactly the BEST at it's balance, but I do also love the fact that leveling up DOES feel so good. A quick level grind really shows its results fast, which isn't often that common in the future games. As for the boots, my guess is it was playing off the giving people a "CLASSIC Castlevania experince!" but it was kind of a fake out instead, with them supplying the boots a couple rooms in. Probably not the best choice, in retrospect, but back then, it never really bothered me all that much, so because of that, still doesn't really bother me to this day haha.
@@SimplyAJ Yeah, the fight is difficult, but that’s not what annoys me so much about it. I dislike how grindy it becomes because of how frequently he uses an attack that makes him invulnerable. He’ll use that attack up to four times in a row.
The Statue in the Clock Room in Symphony of the Night moves the very first time you enter the room and talk to Maria. Its the reason the conversation is held there, to force the player to see the Statue move, its right above Alucards head and even makes a loud grinding noise as it opens. Its kind of impossiboe to miss actually lol. What happened was yoy saw it and either didnt register it, or you forgot, and theres an argument to be made there that the Clock room hint is too far away from the time you actually need to enter that part of the Castle. Those two events should probably be closer together so you're more likely to remember it. Should probably have just shifted one of the Maria conversations some where else or made a new introductory one for her and put a different one in the clock room later in the game.
i'm so sad... 'cause i'm playing this game for the first time now and i just wanted more SOTN at the time i had a GB advance at the time but never gave it a chance... oh my i feel so dumb for that but i think the dark pallet is great it bring a nice, spooky atmosfera
A quick grind to get potions!!! what game were you playing?? man I'm probably at the best farming spot for regular potions Farming the Devil Towers which have a 1.25% drop rate regular potions There are only two creatures in the game with a higher drop rate fox Archer with 1.4% and Hyena with 1.5% and I'm using two luck rings and the rainbow robe it is not any kind of quick grind Love the videos keep up the good work that one comment really Just got to me man
Hahaha, that's fair. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing about RNG, some of us just have better luck than others. But just think of all that sweet, sweet EXP you're gettin' while grinding!
And I would say the advance collection on switch is an even better way to play it than the wii u version. You can also play it as a handheld or docked for a TV or monitor and it includes other games for a fairly low price! And the non-Nintendo players can get this too albeit on mostly less versatile platforms. Obviously it seems most natural for nintendo switch. And some other little quality of life features like rewind and quick saves. The toggleable DSS gadget which is nice for newer players who don’t know what monsters drop the dss cards. Aria of Sorrow has a gadget for Souls but that’s not quite as needed since you’ll figure out right away just about everything can give souls. And having it pop up constantly might get a little annoying after a while lol. And Harmony of Dissonance has a gadget for relics. And the Music Player, Encyclopedias and artworks are neat. And you can save replays if you want too.
Yeeeeup. This video came out literally RIGHT BEFORE the Advance Collection was announced. Talk about crazy timing, yeah? But I mean, I'm happy it exists, regardless. If I could go back and edit it and say "Advance Collection is the best way to play this game" I totally would haha.
So, I always have a hard time like "ranking" games, cause I think it depends entirely on my mood at the time. It's like picking a favorite song or something haha. If I had to, I'd say it's extremely close between CoTM and Aria, followed by HoD. I definitely have more nostalgia for CoTM, since it was the first of the GBA games. Aria is just a very GOOD game, but in a weird way that almost makes it like a little (and I mean very little) more "boring?" It's so safe. It looks, and sounds amazing, and hands down probably has the best gameplay, but I think CoTM still ranks higher for me because it just capture a bit more of that "Castlevania Magic" I wanted. It feels like a perfect blend between the classic games and the new. HoD coming in last is mainly just due to the fact that music is extremely important for me to get immersed in a game, and unfortunately, as I mentioned in that vid, the music of HoD is just not... great. That and the back and forth between the two castles can be kind of a mess, when really not much changes besides enemy placement. So yeah I guess for now let's just say 1. CoTM 2. Aria 3. HoD haha
@@SimplyAJ Awesome, thank you for the breakdown! I bought Castlevania Advance Collection a few days ago and currently am a few hours into HoD. The music is horrible, like its composition but especially the actual sound quality. No good lol. And the characters being outlined is weird too. But I’m enjoying it a lot and will play CotM next and then Aria. Thanks again man and Big Ups!
@@BlondeMcGuinn For sure! I think the character outlines was just to help make them stand out a bit more. Coming off the heels of CoTM, IGA kind of "overcorrected" as CoTM was constantly talked about as being "too dark" and hard for people to see. But really that was due to the fact that the GBA had no backlight when it came out, so when you go to play it on the Advance Collection, you shouldn't have any issues, visually speaking anyway.
CotM has the comfiest camera distance in all the Castlevania games imo. It makes the Castle feel so much larger because of how much you can see. The backgrounds are also extremely detailed, and its a shame that most people didn't get to see them because of the original GBA not having a backlight.
The camera distance is a great point! I definitely think platformer games now a days tend to have the camera pulled back out a little TOO far? IE, Ori and the Blind Forest. But, CoTM does a pretty good job. There's definitely a healthy medium you have to find.
I never thought about it that way. Good point.
This honestly one of the best Castlevanias ever made imo. Played this countless times and drove my sister nuts playing this game on long car trips.
Yeah, it really is fantastic. Honestly, it's one of the games I like to just go back to and play every couple of months.
i think its the very best, its definitely in the argument
SotN, Ecclesia and both Sorrows utterly dominate Circle.
Your opinion is bad and you should feel bad.
Edgelord.@@zephyr8072
@@zephyr8072while im with you in those games are better ( I still love cotm), the last part just make your opinion bad and you should fell bad
Circle of the Moon was the first Castlevania game I ever experienced all on my own. SotN is amazing, but so is Circle of the Moon.
I loved the card combo system.
This is also a pretty well made video.
Its really messed up how RUclips tends to bury videos like this.
Hey I appreciate it! It is what it is. Honestly, that's why the interactions like commenting and liking are so important cause we're all just fighting to get noticed by that RUclips algorithm, so I really do appreciate the comment. But honestly, I just really enjoy making videos. If they're seen by people, that's obviously a huge perk, but I'm also not gonna stress it if they "under perform" either. I'm genuinely happy with how well received this video was. Not sure if it was just a timing thing, a topic thing, or just a weird fluke, but either way, makes me happy knowing people enjoyed it!
@@SimplyAJ just my personal opinion I find it really angering how I can make a crappy meme edit and somehow get more views than something someone probably put days into making.
I just honestly think he's really messed up that some may become disheartened due to how the RUclips algorithm works and rewards what is really lazy content.
CotM is so close to amazing but there are two annoying flaws in navigation; fast travel points are sparse, especially at the bottom half of the castle. Also, you need to tap twice to run every time.
On the other hand, there are so many cool things like repopulating the castle with stronger enemies.
Honestly playing it on an actual Gameboy Advance SP it's easy to get used to the double tap thing. Now playing the Steam version I see how annoying it feels
Fast travel spots being sparse is good on one thing : the long corridor feels long the first time around haha
Also, the drop rates for cards is just abysmal.
Oh, and you end up with tons of duplicate items that have no use. They should stop spawning when the player has one, or the game needs a shop.
@@ZenMonkeyGod I think it's only bearable when the D-pad is light and quick like in SP, but never preferable.
This was my first Castlevania game. I purchased it for my non-backlit GBA. This game blew me away. I loved the spooky themes & catchy music. Looking back I can see the gripes people had with this game. But nostalgia is a heck of a drug. Circle of the Moon means a lot to me!
Love this game, you did a good job covering what is probably the most overlooked games in the entire series. Keep it up!
I appreciate it, thanks!
And here I thought, I was the only one who sees Circle of the Moon to be a great Castlevania game
Haha, definitely not! It really is an awesome game.
CoTM was my first Castlevania, I found a discounted copy at a K-Mart (because I'm old but not that old) and instantly fell in love with the series. Since than I've play most, if not all the games in the series. Hell just earlier today I finished my replay of Portrait of Ruin in the Dominus collection.
If it makes ya feel any better, I bought my Wii at a KMart haha. (Technically it was my 3rd Wii. There's a whole story there, but still, KMart had them in a time when nobody else did hahaha)
I'd say CoTM really cemented my love for the series. I grew up loving the NES games, but then didn't play another CV until SoTN and then CoTM. From there, it was just like "yeah okay, I'm getting every new CV game that comes out" haha
People think that nathan is a very shallow character but to me he's endearing as he did everything a belmont has done and without the vampire killer and arguably fought way stronger enemies.
Especially at his age as well its easy to see why he was chosen to use the hunters whip.
Yeah, I always liked Nathan. His design was cool, especially the artstyle. Always liked the idea of the Belmonts needing other people to fight Dracula (like the Morris clan) while they did whatever they were doing to "prepare" for the 1999 battle. Shame that wasn't the case with Nathan per the retcon stuff haha
@@SimplyAJ The reason I think Nathan is a lot stronger than a lot of other characters is because of the bosses in particular.
The zombie dragon twins were something Dracula killed when he was in his prime and knowing that Nathan did it while basically being a novice really shows that he's a lot more stronger than we know.
I would have loved to see Nathan and Hugh come back in a later game but this game is somewhat no longer cannon so I highly doubt it.
Order of eclasia basically took this game and a lot of other castlevania games out of cannon if I'm sure.
In my personal opinion this game didn't even need to have Dracula in it.
It could have worked perfectly fine with Elizabeth and Death which would also make more sense as this isn't even draculas Castle.
It can be said the Hunter Whip is in ways similar to the Vampire Killer. Both being enchanted weapons iirc.
I would reckon his potential and peak power is equivalent to say Richter or Julius in terms of lore but with more versatility with the DSS magic.
Even though it’s mentioned he was never able to best Hugh in training. So that’s quite a leap in skill and power.
Though it’s possible Nathan could have been holding back since that’s not a life or death situation and it’s pretty clear Nathan cares about Hugh as a friend despite how bitter Hugh acts towards Nathan during most of the game.
He likely even sees Hugh as like a brother to him since both his parents were killed when they fought Dracula alongside Morris 10 years prior. And it doesn’t seem Nathan has any siblings So Hugh and Morris are the closest thing he has to family left
He’s about 18-19 I think and both Richter and Julius are 19 when they first battle Dracula. They never say exactly how old Nathan and Hugh are.
Also with this game being non-canon and having a different continuity it’s possible the Belmonts don’t even exist in this timeline.
But being non-canon only means they coulda gave it more of its own timeline. I woulda loved to have a sequel to circle of the moon with a further improved DSS system!
I noticed the stiff controls within seconds of starting the game and it was my first of the GBA trilogy. Also the drop rates are horrendous so the DSS only really shines on Magician mode where you can actually use all the cards. I'd also argue that it was entirely their fault for making the visuals so dark since they were developing a game specifically to be played on GBA and didn't take into account the hardware limitations. Despite all this, I still really like this game.
I'm fairly certain I read that the GBA was intended to have a backlight from the get-go and was dropped due to battery drainage.
This is my favorite Castlevania game along with order of ecclesia. Two very underappreciated gems that bring the classicvania difficulty back intot he series
For a launch title?!?!?!
Yea, this game delivered. Not super deep, but enough flexibility with the DSS system, if you found all the cards, or even most of them, to keep it interesting.
The game is just long enough too. Underrated for sure. A must play for die hard or even newfound fans
Yeah the DSS System was such a fun tool to play around with. Only downside was not knowing which enemies dropped which cards haha.
I bought the Castlevania Advance Collection yesterday and started playing Harmony of Dissonance. I dig it so far. The consensus seems to be that it’s the worst of the GBA games, and if that’s the case, I have a lot to look forward to. I’ll play Circle next, and then, saving the “best” for last, Aria.
I just discovered you today and your reviews are fun and informative. Watched your Harmony review earlier, watching this one now, and Aria’s up next. Big Ups man! I’ve liked and subscribed. Looking forward to more reviews!
It’s definitely the worst GBA game BUT it probably has the most fun movement in the series
A great deep dive into this unappreciated Castlevania game! Well done
I appreciate the compliment, thanks!
I’m not sure I would quite say unappreciated.
More so just an overlooked game which got overshadowed by Aria of Sorrow and later games but it did pretty well all things considered.
I adored this game in grade school. The learning curve was steep as hell but I loved learning the enemy and boss patterns. Upgrades felt meaningful and rewarding, which was an issue I had with SOTN and HOD. They could've hinted more about where to find the cards and equipment, but they sort of solved that issue for the re-release. I love the difficulty progession, it feels very well thought out and tight, which is another issue I had with SOTN and HOD. I always felt OP by the time i get to Dracula. Can't say enough about the soundtrack, one of the best of the series and my absolute favorite arrangement of Dance of Illusions.
I really like the art direction in this game over the other GBA games.
Sure the stripes have less frames than the others but they are just taken straight up from older games or having one character made from multiple stripes and animated using mode 7 making them look like paper marionettes more than anything else.
Totally agree! I feel like the art style of this game is a lot closer looking to "classic" Castlevanias, which is why I think I like it so much.
Yup! That game is sick as hell. Too dark?play it on GBA SP. No Belmonts? So fuckin what. Too hard? Boo hoo, it’s castlevania. Grab that whip and get it done baby
Funnily enough, I feel like when this came out, nobody REALLY cared that there were no Belmonts, cause everybody was still coming off of the high of playing as Alucard anyway. But now a days, when people look back at it, they used it as a weird complaint, but it's like you said.. so fuckin' what? haha
@@SimplyAJ oh that’s the one I heard the most. From people who’s precious child hood was ruined by Alucard. Where’s Simon? He went home! Lol 😂 all in all CotM is great.
Audio quality aside, the music in CotM is GOAT
My grandmother showed me this game! It was one of my favorite handheld Castlevania games!!
Oh wow, that's an awesome grandma! haha
@@SimplyAJ Truly! She's also how I got into Pokemon and other things! Gamer Grandma ftw!
I finally beat Circle of the Moon yesterday and I beat it in Magician mode today. This was the last Castlevania I played on the Advanced Collection and in the end I found it to be the most challenging, which wasn't a bad thing. There was no store. The regular potions only gave you 20 hit points. Most of the bosses were not conveniently right next to save rooms. There was a really limited amount of teleporters. Curse disabled your attack for what felt like forever. And, it was full of enemies that would constantly spawn or throw projectiles. Oh, and I did the poisoned waterway part WITHOUT getting the cleansing necklace first. OMG. A lot of stationary healing I'll tell you that! All 3 games certainly had their own feel which was awesome. The DSS system and the card combos were a lot of fun. A system I honestly prefer more than Aria of Sorrows soul mastery. Grinding the cards was way less grindy and if you did it as soon as you came across a monster that dropped a card, you were able to use those abilities throughout the game. The opposite of what happened in Aria of Sorrows. Most of the grinding was at the end to get the achievement so I never used the majority of those soul skills. Plus, this is exactly why Magician mode in Circle of the Moon was the best post game mode. It gave you all the cards from the start which made it a ton of fun to use all of those abilities for an entire playthrough. Aria of Sorrows could have benefited from a 'all souls' mode so you can play with all of the abilities from the start. Would have been nice. Julius mode and Maxim mode were weak. At this point im not sure which one was my favorite. They were all so different.
Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s my favorite series were Mega Man and Castlevania
00:09:01 could just be on a 10 hour loop for me
I'm on it
Very entertaining video dude! I missed a lot of great GBA games growing up (can't buy anything you want when you're like 8 haha) but with the Switch release of the Advance Collection, I'm definitely looking forward to playing the GBA series of games. Keep up the good work! :)
For an Castlevania of this style not done by Koji Igarashi, it's a surprisingly decent game. He had some limited involvement in other areas for those that didn't know. Circle of the Moon quickly became one of my favorite GBA games.
I love the way you produced this video. Well done bro. Very chill and enjoyable.
Just got the Advance collection. Was always a fan of the series but never had a chance to fully play any of them. Starting with Circle of the Moon and having a blast.
Thanks man! Honestly means a lot to see people compliment my editing style haha.
But yeah, hope ya dig the Advance Collection, it's honestly a steal having 4 solid games in it.
CotM was the first Metroidvania-Castlevania I played earlier this year through the Advance collection, and it blew my socks off!
The DSS system was a joy to explore, and trekking through the castle was a cozy ride with all the wonderful remixes and new tracks.
It's also the game that made me realise I prefer difficulty in Metroidvania games and CotM kicked my ass to kingdom come. Loved it :D
Happy to hear that you've enjoyed it!
I took vacation this week and decided hey it's time to complete Castlevania 1 for NES! I bought PS4 the Castlevania collection and played Castlevania 1 on it instead of the NES classic! Well the advanced collection was on sale for 11 bucks so grabbed it! The advanced collection has all 3 gba titles and dracula x on it!The advance games I never played but started on circle of the moon! So far I'm loving it!
I think following up the classic Castlevania games with Circle of the Moon is a perfect way to do it, because of all the IGAvania titles, it definitely controls the most similar to a classic Castlevania. Glad to hear you're lovin' it!
@@SimplyAJ oh ya man been a blast! I think In the past month I've bought every Castlevania PS4 has to offer! And I loved bloodstained as well and plan to get bloodstained curse of the moon 2 the first was awesome totally felt like Castlevania 3! And bloodstained ritual of the night is totally a sotn continuance, iga is the man!
The main problem with the DSS system is that you only need two cards, to have them all.
When you press L+R while Nathan is shining, press start, and change the card arragament, go back to game and voila, you have any combination from the game start basically
I almost brought this up, hence my dumb little text joke at 0:19:34 , but ultimately, a glitch like that wasn't exactly wide spread or known when the game first came out (and really is only known to die hard Castlevania fans anyway), so I'm not really holding it against the game itself for having that glitch. Now, if it was a glitch that was unavoidable entirely and you couldn't NOT do it, then that'd be another story haha.
@@SimplyAJ 100% agree. But yeah when you know it you can break the game very easily, early bosses become a joke
@@SimplyAJ It was probably a debug tool used by bug testers left in the game. Some of these glitches are actually debug testing modes.
@@Relugus That's also entirely possible, yeah. QA Shortcuts that never got removed. Konami Code all over again.
Very cheesy lol. I don’t like abusing that myself XD.
If you want all the DSS Cards right away I say do it the legit way and play Magician Mode lol
Good review! Circle of the Moon is an excellent game. The brightness issue was definitely a problem back in the day, but then things like the GBA SP, Nintendo DS, and Game Boy Player for Game Cube came around (and even some of us had already bought composite output mods for the OG GBA), so it wasn't an issue for long. What I enjoy the most about this one is, much like Order of Ecclesia later on, it's actually a challenging game. Also, the run and double jump mechanics made for super fun traversal of the castle. Backtracking as a result never felt painful. It's great to see the game get some love! People tend to look down on it, something I've never understood as someone that was there when it released--it was originally quite well regarded, both among avid gamers and the press.
Thanks so much! And yeah, I definitely enjoyed that it has a bit more challenge to it compared to the later games. Difficulty is probably one of the harder things to get right in these games. A lot of indie games that make their own ode to metroidvania style games tend to miss the mark and lean wayyy more into difficulty than necessary, and start drifting more into making "2D souls games" instead, so it's nice to have a good Metroidvania Castlevania game that scales (decently) well across the board.
And yeah, that's just how people are, unfortunately. I remember 2001 pretty vividly, and getting Circle of the Moon on my GBA. During that era, I spent a lot of time on various EZBoard internet forums and people definitely loved it when it came out. I think a big part of it, which is just an ongoing issue with all games unfortunately, is that people tend to base their opinions on games based off of video games NOW a days and not when a game came out. It's similar to how Simon's Quest or Zelda II are viewed. At their time of release, they were critical and financial successes, everyone loved them. Decades later people talk about the issues those games had, comparing them to where we're at with game design NOW a days, so they get a bad wrap haha. It'll forever be an ongoing issue, unfortunately.
just discovered this video in 2024, and i loved it. instantly subscribed. left me wanting more!
Thanks so much, and welcome! There's plenty more, from when this one was posted, and more on the way!
This game needs a remaster. Updated graphics and animation. Remastered orchestral music and some Qulity of life changes. It is one of my favourite Castlevania games, despite no being an official IGAvania.
Would loooove to see it. I'd hope they'd stick with sprites, but just higher quality, with some more frames of animation (specifically the running animation). Also the extra buttons on modern day consoles would definitely help standardize the control scheme a bit.
@@SimplyAJ Funny that the GBA Collection appeared just after this video.
@@Relugus Dude, I was saying the same thing. Literally moments after I say the "Wii U is the best way to play this game" haha
I’m not counting on a remaster too soon with the Advance Collection releasing not long ago.
But who knows maybe Konami will pull their heads out of their asses and start making Castlevania again lol. Maybe even reconcile with Koji Igarashi for him to work with them on the side on Castlevania games again.
I’d love a 2.5D Sequel to Circle of the Moon with a further improved upon DSS system!!
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is my all-time favorite game in the franchise. It's got an interesting gameplay style in the DSS card system, a great aesthetic along with an absolutely KINO soundtrack and did I mention it has four, count them, FOUR additional challenge modes for colossal replay value?!
This game it's just
*Chef's Kiss*
Perfection.
Yeah it's honestly surprising to me that a game that wasn't made by IGA was so well made, honestly. I think it was the perfect blend of Classic and Modern style games. Such a shame that IGA disliked it.
@@SimplyAJ Ol' IGA can say this is non-canon, but it'll always be canon to me; Personally. I like to slot it in between Legacy of Darkness and Order of Ecclesia.
When i heard awaken's remaster in SSBU... I shed a tear in absolute joy. Circle was my first metroidvania, and while certainly not my favorite, the music stuck with me the most. It felt the most in tune with the idea of being a monster slaying badass on your way to take on *the* vampire, and i was sad to honestly never hear it another time
Agreed! The music in Circle really was special, and that's from someone who HAD played previous CV games before hand haha. It just gets you pumped right out the gate, but also had this unique... GBA Era Uniqueness to it.
One of my all time favorite games, Wish Konami would sell Nathan's boots and shin guards those baseball slides are OP.
Just sell Nathan's whole ass outfit, I'd wear it.
The smash ultimate version of Awake gives me hope of a circle of the moon remake
Time for some Java baby!
Best part of wakin' up~
Thanks for video suggestion Reb. Definitely love it!
@@themgrir9329 right? Dudes underrated as hell
@@themgrir9329 Really glad you liked it! And yeah, thanks Rebel!
CotM was what made me buy a kit for my GBA that gave it a tv output. Which made the game so very much more fun to play. Of course I no longer have that kit (or my original GBA, just my SP) since the GBA player rendered it moot. And with the new collection, none of it's necessary at all. I'm so very glad these (and now the DS games) have been made widely available again, even if I still think SotN is the best of the bunch. Great videos!
I finally played this game for the first time and I find it utterly fantastic. I feel like "Igavanias" really suffered by focusing on slower plodding combat. I was amazed at how kinetic and fast this game is, how open all the spaces are, and how difficult it is. It feels like 'classicvania' put into the exploration style, maybe thats why I'm so partial to it. Its great.
Couldn't have put it better myself. I think that's exactly it. I know plenty of people prefer the later GBA and DS titles, which is fine, but I do think that if you enjoy the earlier, original style of Castlevania, then Circle of the Moon is a perfect bridge between the two.
Playing this for the first time right now after i just finished SotN for the first time. Great vid, im hyped on experiencing the GBA trio for the first time. New sub!
Thanks so much! Hope you end up enjoying it, and well, if not, there's always the other GBA ones for you to try haha.
I really enjoyed this game but it was so difficult I would not have been able to finish it without the rewind feature in the Advance Collection. Hats off to the people who finished it on the GBA.
Yeah, early GBA games were pretty rough, difficulty wise for sure. At the end of the day though, whatever platform ya finished it on, ya still finished it!
Dude, hermit crabs really were the big thing. We are definitely the same generation.
Ahaha, THANK YOU! I was really hoping my hermit crab comment wouldn't go to waste. Glad that somebody else experienced the era of hermit crabs.
@@SimplyAJ hermit crabs and geckos haha
Late to this party, but HELL YES, IT'S A MASTERPIECE!
That is Mandela effect because I remember that song from symphony also. I've never played rondo so that's weird.
This is the game that introduced me to the series, and led me to seek out and play the older titles at the time. I was enamored. It’s still among my favorite game in the series. The bonus modes effectively being different character classes is really cool. I like the “canon” storyline, but it isn’t terribly important to me because classic Castlevania as a whole doesn’t really have that complex of a narrative.
Circle of the moon is really good my second favorite castlevania game on GBA and I love how it is the fastest Castlevania in the series.
I remember playing circle of the moon about 4 or 5 years ago, and unfortunatly can't say i enjoyed it that much :(( i do really like metroidvania games, but circle of the moons biggest problem for me when i played it was the DSS system. while it is a really cool system that you can do a lot of cool stuff with, it is also really inaccessible to a new player. so for someone like me who went into the game completely blind, the game didn't teach me almost anything about how it worked and most importantly, how i should go about getting them. all of them besides the 2 first ones you get are rare drops(
Oh yeah that's totally fair. I enjoyed the DSS system like... AS a power system, but the fact that you're at the mercy of drop rates definitely could have been handled a bit better. That's probably why they added things like Magician Mode in so people could play around with it more, but that still requires beating the entire game to access.
I just beat this game at level 62 tonight. The Shining Armor from the Battle Arena definitely helped. It was insane. Even with that armor, I lost so much health every time Dracula hit me. I feel like it would have been impossible if I didn’t have that armor. Damn. That second form of Dracula was no joke. The high jump special move worked wonders when his eye was flying around. Definitely enjoyed Circle of the Moon, but the grinding to level up was a bit excessive at times. That’s my only criticism - how long it often took. Other than that, I genuinely loved the game. Onto Harmony of Dissonance next.
I just got this game in an lot on ebay that I bought for megaman zero, and this ended up being the game I played, I spent 4 days playing it and loved every bit of it (except for that section full of marionettes and bloody swords) really great game, especially if you use that rom hack that auto runs for you
Oh yeah, the marionettes and bloody swords are pretty awful, especially if you get cursed. But, glad you enjoyed the game, definitely would love to see people play it more! Any plans on checking out the other GBA Castlevania games?
@@SimplyAJ Oh absolutely, I also plan to pick up the ds ones
I love your personal stories man. So often I watch these gaming retrospective videos and there is just no personality, it's refreshing to hear your thoughts and anecdotes about the games as you were playing them real time. Also I think you hit the nail on the head when describing this game. It's really charming and has such cool aspects about it, and genuinely might be the hardest igavania. But when it comes to the GBA's even HoD in it's complete mediocrity gets talked about more, such a bummer.
I honestly appreciate that so much haha. Sometimes when I write these out, or start recording, I'm like "is anyone really gonna care about some weird story from my childhood 20+ years ago?" so, it's nice to know it resonates well haha.
I’m a professional Magician Main in this game and have completed the Battle Arena without cheesing it. This is my favorite Castlevania game and it’s not even close.
JRose11 sent me. Before watching, absolutely this game was an overlooked masterpiece.
Aha, I appreciate it! It is indeed, one of my favorite GBA games, easy!
6:58 🤣🤣🤣
8:39 🤣Agreed🤣
Fantastic coverage in this video. You did it justice.
Haha glad ya enjoyed it!
Circle of the moon did a lot right but it's equal to harmony of dissonance imo. Where Harmony had the annoying floatiness cotm has the stupid slow walk. Where harmony had poor music and lack of teleports cotm has lack of shop and a very weird vertically inclined jumping method (despite the GBA resolution)
But I love this game to bits still. Nathan Graves is a cool character. Wish they mishmashed this game with order of ecclesia somehow to keep it cannon. Nathan and the Baldwins and the Hunter whip, it's all cool stuff. The music is fantastic in this game. it looks amazing. For a launch title it's a pretty awesome game. I just wish both this game and harmony of dissonance could see justice through a remake.
Honestly, I do think that removing this from the canon was a bit of a petty move on IGA's part, but ultimately, it still works well as a "what if" story or, you can just ignore what he says and pretend it exists haha.
100% agreed with this video! one of best games of 90s children. Kudos from Pakistan!
Hey thanks so much!
i like the gameplay of it, however the card system is what kills it for me, why are all of them rare drops? they are super crucial to beat the game and yet they are rare drops and you have no idea which random enemy drops which cards. the funny part is that you dont really need them, you can get through the entire game without them just fine, its just dracula thats the issue, you need a good card combination to beat him as a casual player, trying to hit the eyeball while free aiming your cross, or even worse, trying to hit this thing with your whip is just a nightmare, this boss is the sole reason why the card system doesnt work. it should either be optional and random, or mandatory and static. not this weird mix where for 99% of the game the cards are optional, but to beat the final boss of the game you suddenly need them, and not just any, you need the cards that let you do this full screen summon thing, that way you can properly hit the stupid eyeball, its just awful.
Circle of the Moon is definitely a good game, but a little rough.
It'll be very helpful If you could backdash, and running could be toggled with a button.
A lot of my frustrations came from the running mechanic, especially. Walking is far too slow. I think it'll be better if walking was the same speed as running, and running was a bit faster.
As for the soundtrack, I definitely like it. However, I think there's just not enough to differentiate each area like the others did.
this game just looks the best, sounds the best, feels the best, has an awesome system with the cards, very challenging, and strikes a great balance between linear and non linear gameplay. its just the best overall game
I'm 36 and I had this at launch. One of my favorite games ever. I named my bloodborne character Nathan Graves!
I remember beating this game finally and getting the fireball name to start again as a skeleton. Good times and a whole summer draining AA batteries 😂
Like yoy, I overlooked the series growing up, and recently discovered some love for metroidvanias. Decide to play the collections on the switch.
I haven't played symphony of the night yet, but I'm playing this game for the first time.
Although I'm enjoying the game, my bigest problem was that as you find new cards, the game doesn't tell you how they work. You have to guess, experiment on them to find out what they do. This made the game a little hard for me, because I mostly ignored them until I looked up how they work.
I would never have guessed that to activate some of the cards I actualy had to do a a fighting-game-like motion on the controler.
Other than that, it's a straight foward metroidvania. I'm curious to play the other games as well.
Weirdly enough, deleting that Alec Baldwin joke aged pretty well.....
Aha, yeah, completely unintentional, but most definitely!
Though it was not considered a cannon Castlevania I did enjoy the mechanic of Circle of the moon. The soundtrack was amazing, the plot was not that bad.
For sure. I do think that making it not canon was a bit petty on Iga's part, but, at the same time, ultimately it doesn't change my enjoyment of the game.
This game was pretty awesome at the time, a huge upgrade going from GBC and GG being a launch title (or close?). Still one of my fave igavanias and you can mod out some of the issues with it
I actually haven't looked into any rom hacks or mods, but would be curious to see what's out there.
@@SimplyAJ There’s nothing really major. But there’s one where you play as Hugh but the dialog works the same so it’s a little weird. Lol.
And then someone made a hack making the DSS Cards placed items in place of a bunch of the max up items.
But it would be nice to see a full rom hack of the game that makes it kinda like playing a whole new game but with the same core mechanics.
I wonder if modding the game would be more possible with the Steam PC release of the Advance Collection
@@Gamerdude535 sadly modders have put all their attention into Aria of Sorrow. You can even randomize it and you have hacks that completely change the game such as Aria of Sorrow Alter.
Sadly CotM is overlooked also in terms of hacks
my issue with DSS system is you can only activate one effect at a time. Sure, I can understand the combo that give 25% atk and the one that boost atk based on map rate percentage can't be stacked, but why do I need to choose between 25% atk, and a rose sword? Oh, and some combos are useless, too. I remember one give 1 xp every time you walk, but only 1 xp? in a game where people will most likely run through out the whole game? There's no shortcut to pick few of favorite combo, so every time I need different combo, it's time to open the menu and readjust DSS again, which is why HoD added one.
The story is pretty much non-existence. They can remove everyone aside Nathan and Dracula and nothing will change.
Call me picky, but it's awkward to see ridiculous amount of damage every time you one-shot weak foe, but strong one? nope, not even close.
Harmony of Dissonance is one of the best games and soundtracks
i WILL stand on this hill
Haha, well, it's a good thing I covered that game too! I actually really think the gameplay in Harmony is great, but yeah, agree to disagree on the music, cause whew. Except for the remake of the Vampire Killer theme for Simon mode. That's great.
@@SimplyAJ
huh, didn't know, i'll watch it as i liked this video
@@marx4538 Aha I appreciate it! Yeah I covered all three GBA Castlevanias. Ideally, one day, I'll cover'em all haha.
This was my first gba game, came bundled with the gba I got for christmas. Lots of fond memories.
Still to this day I’ve never beaten the battle arena, or dracula himself. that 2nd form is tough.
I remember finally getting fed up enough to borrow my friends action replay, and I tried with cheats.
The invincibility cheat us buggy, so if you take enough damage that you’d die, the game doesn’t know what to do, and the background goes to a staticy tv with all the foreground elements still present. At the point I’d got to dracula 2, I had played //.hack a bit on Playstation 2, and thought it was a cutscene transition at first. Nope, just a “game caught you cheating” moment lol.
Good times.
First off, great video quality I hope your channel grows man. Watched the advance reviews and dawn. Good stuff, gonna definitely get the advance collection. Second, and I hate to be this guy, but your pronunciation of "akin" is incorrect xD It's like uh-kIN, not like ay-kin. 8:20
Ahah, yeah, I know. It's something I randomly do sometimes. I try to be concious over it, but depending on how I feel editing wise, just figured, whatever wasn't gonna re-record haha. Glad ya liked the video, though!
Subscribed! Your channel is criminally undersubscribed. This is high effort content.
I appreciate it!
Imagine blaming a Dracula game loaded with demons and monsters by calling it too dark. Aria of Sorrow was the easiest of the bunch, and the final boss wa boring.
Many people say Aria of Sorrow > Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon.
But I tend to go Harmony of Dissonance > Circle of the Moon > Aria of Sorrow
COTM is heavily underrated, personally its my 2nd best castlevania after SOTN
Good content btw, subscribed ✌️
Thank so much, glad you enjoyed it, and welcome!
It's nowhere near underrated. It was rated with universal acclaim from both critics and consumers.
One of my biggest complaints about COTM is that there are only 3 frames for both the walking and running animation. It really does look bad and it's the animation you'll be seeing the most.
The holy sword does 999 damage to final Dracula
I really enjoyed this review. Fun & informative!
Hey thanks so much, glad you enjoyed it!
This was actually the first Castlevania game I ever played
Only until now when they re-released all of the game boy advance games, I had never gotten the chance to play any of the sequels
This game however did lead me to eventually play Symphony of the Night.
Pretty sure I did cheat my way through it with a game shark way back when, but it was still one of my favorite games ever. Super excited to give it a try again, as well as finally play the rest of the game boy advance sequels
Even if the game hasn't aged as well as I remember, it's always going to hold a very special place in my heart
I hope Konami releases the Nintendo DS games in a separate package sometime soon
Oh and also great video!
100% agree with wanting them to release the DS games as another pack. Like, they absolutely need to do that.
Honestly, some of my favorite games of all time I played through using a gameshark for the first time, cause it was just "normal" to do so back then. In 1997, I legit played FF7 for the first time using a Gamehark to give myself infinite gil, so I feel ya haha. Hopefully replaying this lives up to your memories though!
And thanks, glad ya enjoyed the video!
@@SimplyAJ I return to you 2 years later to rejoice that they released the DS collection 🙌🏽
I'm playing it right now on the advance collection, and I'm enjoying it. Maybe its a product of its time, but there are far too few warp points. It makes traversing and backtracking in the castle extremely tedious
Going down the rabbit hole of video game videos now, I stumbled across this after just beating this game again for the first time in a long while. Definitely a great game, and this was a great video, thanks for the uploads on these, will check out your others on one of my also Fave game saga's of all time.
P.S - You kinda look like Nathan Graves haha ;]
my favourite GBA game. And I played it, on the GBA. Still have it too :)
I honestly love this game and cannot shake the feeling that some of Iga's criticism has a mixture of resentment or envy. My preferred aspect of CotM is its simplicity: its a bite size metroidvania and you can beat it in one sitting if you know what you're doing, leaving a really great replay value. This must be the metroidvania I finished the most times. Only great flaw I see on this game is the Pluto card, you should be able to get it ways before the endgame.
Now the best way to play it is on the switch!
Haha, yeah I was kicking myself after I released this because it was only mere DAYS after I put this video out that they announced the Advance Collection.
And for most western fans circle of the moon woulda been the first time they’ve heard requiem lol.
Cuz the original rondo of blood was Japan only for the longest time and the alternate version of the game we did get, Dracula X on Snes didn’t have that tune.
Indeed. It's just one of this weird mandala effect situations where Prayer and Requiem sound similar, especially if you heard them at a young age and essentially years apart from one another. Basically I think it was as simple as "oh a choir? Must be the same song!" to my brain at the time.
Might not be the best Castlevania according to people who "knows about games" and critics. But it is my favorite, for sure. I've been beating this game in different ways and rules every six or so months in like a decade already.
I"m sure this is nostalgia speaking on my part, but there's just something so incredibly memorable about early GBA games in particular. Sure the latest Castlevania games are a bit more "developed" so to speak, but CoTM still had such great atmosphere, that I don't really feel like was truly captured in later CV games. The SCALE of the rooms is a big part of it, I think.
That dance. 🤣
The first gba game I played. Circle of the moon and aria of sorrow are flawless games
I love circle of the moon and it Was (beside aria of sorrow it was the reason I bought the collection
Circle of the Moon really is such a gem
Not sure about the "perfect blend of old and new tracks". This game has like 2 original songs (in the main areas at least), Awake and Fate to Despair. Both are amazing, sure, and the rest is also good remixes, including the best versions of Sinking Old Sanctuary and Big Battle, but still. Not that many original ones.
Anyway, good video as usual.
Idk why i remember this game as a bad game, i just recently replay it and it became my second favorite of all the franchise just after Aria and SOTN.
Honestly, that's awesome. It's a much more preferable outcome when it turns out to be a pleasant surprise, as opposed to having amazing memories of it, only to return to it and find it to be lackluster haha.
I absolutely hate the final Dracula fight. When he gets below half health, he just starts spamming that invulnerable dash move that does 300+ damage. It's so slow and annoying to finish him off from there.
In general, I feel that enemies in this game are too tanky. Even just the generic fodder enemies take so many hits to kill when you are at level. But stats scale up super fast too, and even coming back just 5 or 7 level-ups later, you'll have gone from taking 8 to 10 hits to kill an enemy to two-shotting that same enemy. It's so weird.
I also think the castle doesn't have enough warp points. The entire left side of the castle, and entire bottom 40% of the castle doesn't have a single warp point. What the hell?
The movement in general is so slow and stiff, too. You get those dash boots like 4 rooms into the game. Why bother with that being an upgrade? Why isn't the sprinting speed just your normal movement speed instead? Nathan's walking speed is so slow that it's agonizing.
Ain't gonna lie though. The music absolutely slaps. It really is probably the best OST of the entire series.
Yeah, the final Dracula can be pretty rough. I do think it's easily one of the hardest in the series, especially when it's your first time fighting him. That dash can instantly kill you, and you're just left there like "welp, guess I'll start over."
But yeah, I mean the game isn't exactly the BEST at it's balance, but I do also love the fact that leveling up DOES feel so good. A quick level grind really shows its results fast, which isn't often that common in the future games.
As for the boots, my guess is it was playing off the giving people a "CLASSIC Castlevania experince!" but it was kind of a fake out instead, with them supplying the boots a couple rooms in. Probably not the best choice, in retrospect, but back then, it never really bothered me all that much, so because of that, still doesn't really bother me to this day haha.
@@SimplyAJ Yeah, the fight is difficult, but that’s not what annoys me so much about it. I dislike how grindy it becomes because of how frequently he uses an attack that makes him invulnerable. He’ll use that attack up to four times in a row.
the game is one of my best games in the past
For sure! It's such a fantastic entry into the series.
The Statue in the Clock Room in Symphony of the Night moves the very first time you enter the room and talk to Maria. Its the reason the conversation is held there, to force the player to see the Statue move, its right above Alucards head and even makes a loud grinding noise as it opens. Its kind of impossiboe to miss actually lol.
What happened was yoy saw it and either didnt register it, or you forgot, and theres an argument to be made there that the Clock room hint is too far away from the time you actually need to enter that part of the Castle. Those two events should probably be closer together so you're more likely to remember it. Should probably have just shifted one of the Maria conversations some where else or made a new introductory one for her and put a different one in the clock room later in the game.
Circle isn't bad, It's a really good Castlevania Game ohyeah
Most definitely. Circle is hella fun
I absolutely love this title and and always going to be a little frustrated that it was removed from the
I'm gonna assume you meant to say "removed from the canon" and it got deleted haha. But yeah, I agree. I think it should have stayed as well.
i'm so sad... 'cause i'm playing this game for the first time now and i just wanted more SOTN at the time i had a GB advance at the time but never gave it a chance... oh my i feel so dumb for that
but i think the dark pallet is great it bring a nice, spooky atmosfera
No need to feel sad if you're enjoyin' it now though!
A quick grind to get potions!!! what game were you playing?? man I'm probably at the best farming spot for regular potions Farming the Devil Towers which have a 1.25% drop rate regular potions There are only two creatures in the game with a higher drop rate fox Archer with 1.4% and Hyena with 1.5% and I'm using two luck rings and the rainbow robe it is not any kind of quick grind Love the videos keep up the good work that one comment really Just got to me man
Hahaha, that's fair. Yeah, I mean, that's the thing about RNG, some of us just have better luck than others. But just think of all that sweet, sweet EXP you're gettin' while grinding!
@@SimplyAJ Yeah you're definitely right about that appreciate you taking the time to respond that's really awesome Of you dude
Sure thing! Thanks for takin' the time to watch the video haha @@Blitz_Ryu
And I would say the advance collection on switch is an even better way to play it than the wii u version.
You can also play it as a handheld or docked for a TV or monitor and it includes other games for a fairly low price! And the non-Nintendo players can get this too albeit on mostly less versatile platforms. Obviously it seems most natural for nintendo switch.
And some other little quality of life features like rewind and quick saves.
The toggleable DSS gadget which is nice for newer players who don’t know what monsters drop the dss cards.
Aria of Sorrow has a gadget for Souls but that’s not quite as needed since you’ll figure out right away just about everything can give souls.
And having it pop up constantly might get a little annoying after a while lol.
And Harmony of Dissonance has a gadget for relics.
And the Music Player, Encyclopedias and artworks are neat. And you can save replays if you want too.
Lol didn’t realize this video was pretty soon before they announced the Advance Collection XD.
Yeeeeup. This video came out literally RIGHT BEFORE the Advance Collection was announced. Talk about crazy timing, yeah? But I mean, I'm happy it exists, regardless. If I could go back and edit it and say "Advance Collection is the best way to play this game" I totally would haha.
You're selling the game pretty well... Hm I guess younger me really did miss out on lots of these games
'Requiem' is a historic prayer by the name 'Kyrie Eleison'. That translates to "Lord, have mercy".
I think this game's version of the Bloodlines track absolutely trounces the original, and I usually find cover versions inferior.
I’ve watched all three of your GBA Castlevania reviews but I don’t think you ever rank them. What do you think is the best/worst?
So, I always have a hard time like "ranking" games, cause I think it depends entirely on my mood at the time. It's like picking a favorite song or something haha.
If I had to, I'd say it's extremely close between CoTM and Aria, followed by HoD. I definitely have more nostalgia for CoTM, since it was the first of the GBA games. Aria is just a very GOOD game, but in a weird way that almost makes it like a little (and I mean very little) more "boring?" It's so safe. It looks, and sounds amazing, and hands down probably has the best gameplay, but I think CoTM still ranks higher for me because it just capture a bit more of that "Castlevania Magic" I wanted. It feels like a perfect blend between the classic games and the new.
HoD coming in last is mainly just due to the fact that music is extremely important for me to get immersed in a game, and unfortunately, as I mentioned in that vid, the music of HoD is just not... great. That and the back and forth between the two castles can be kind of a mess, when really not much changes besides enemy placement.
So yeah I guess for now let's just say 1. CoTM 2. Aria 3. HoD haha
@@SimplyAJ Awesome, thank you for the breakdown! I bought Castlevania Advance Collection a few days ago and currently am a few hours into HoD. The music is horrible, like its composition but especially the actual sound quality. No good lol. And the characters being outlined is weird too. But I’m enjoying it a lot and will play CotM next and then Aria. Thanks again man and Big Ups!
@@BlondeMcGuinn For sure! I think the character outlines was just to help make them stand out a bit more. Coming off the heels of CoTM, IGA kind of "overcorrected" as CoTM was constantly talked about as being "too dark" and hard for people to see. But really that was due to the fact that the GBA had no backlight when it came out, so when you go to play it on the Advance Collection, you shouldn't have any issues, visually speaking anyway.
Been playing CV since nes. SotN is my all time fav. CotM is pretty good. I liked more than HoD.
Yeah I'd definitely agree with liking CoTM more than HoD.