2D Castlevania: Of Belmont Metal and Metroidian Symphonies

I thought recently about an 2D topic, and with the release of The Advance Collection I anticipate new or rekindled interest.

The title is no joke by the way. I do consider the platformer with the Belmonts akin to metal music. Harder, not for everyone, yet very gratifying. The Symphonies offer more linieance, and exploration. Something I myself are not much keen on anymore, but I wouldn't seperate here since it's both 2D.

I think the Advance Collection is a fine offer for those who are inclined. I will pass on it, since I already have every game from the original release. 3 are metrovain and the 4th is a bit odd in this mix. It's Dracula X/ Dracula XX/ Vampire's Kiss for SNES, a platformer. It's an , a-hem, interpretation of Chi no Rondo for PC Engine, and should not be confused as a port of that game. It's, well...if the original wouldn't exist maybe it would score more. Yet it isn't, and Rondo beats it in every way considerable. That is what makes it odd. I suspect the team wasn't alloted much developing and this is the result. Try it out, if you dare.

Short bites:

Circle of the Moon. The first to follow Symphony playwise. Not by the same team. It plays a lot more stiff than it needs to be. The castle layout is same in tone.

Harmony of Dissonance. Iga reclaiming. Tries to focus more on action, with two kind of dashes. Focuses on many bosses, without giving them much to do or be of any threat. It's what's called a mixed bag.

Aria of Sorrow. Close in quality to Symphony, but with a new system that invites more of a-grinding. If that's your thing you will be very happy. They made another game for NDS (Dawn of Sorrow) with the same play system, which doesn't do much but looks and sounds very nice, indeed. Low in anything new, they were cocksure of that one.

I will focus more on the metal side. Bought the game for PSP. Cannot say when I get to play it yet.

I ended up getting it because why not. Already have close to 40% on circle of the moon, really short game. Pretty sure I finally figured out what annoys me about these Iga CVs(yes, I know this game technically isn’t one): the weird, almost non-platforming. Almost every room is just a few repeated structures, like a long hallway; or platforms stacked a certain way, with next no environmental hazards. On top of that, the rooms are usually big enough to where the enemy placements aren’t a threat when you’re maneuvering. The individual rooms and sections are usually pretty braindead, to focus more on the RPG stuff.

I’ve noticed other weird things, I’ll go long stretches without finding any new equipment, and then I’ll find two suits of armor in the span of 20 seconds. Enemies tend to be almost completely stationary, or very mobile, there’s not a lot of in-between. I know these sound like nitpicks but this is how I get sometimes.

Not to say that there isn’t fun to be had, the game plays fine and there’s some fun things to use, but after having recently played the new Ghosts N Goblins, I’m craving some games that really do action and platforming together. Either way, I’m going to try and finish all three before Dread.

Please do. I would be interested to hear about your impressions.

About Circle of the Moon: You will see after clearing it that further re-plays are encouraged by changing up stats. If some could call that motivational. I mean it's cool that all games getting an wider (and younger) audience with this. But some are not easily convinced by a legacy status.

 I'm looking forward to you ripping verbally through Harmony of Dissonance. It has easily some really glaring things.

Quick thoughts about CotM and AoS, as I’ve now beat them both…

CotM:
-Game is surprisingly challenging in spots, though not always for the best reasons. There’s two bosses in particular who love to hit you from off screen, and later on you tend to have decent runs to save point after a boss.
-The card system is a cool idea but having the cards be such low drop rates from enemies and not items you find was a terrible mistake. You don’t find new weapons since you only use the whip, so the cards would have been a perfect way to encourage exploration. Unfortunately all you really find is health and MP upgrades. By the end of the game I only had about 8 or 9 cards total, so I just used the glitch to experiment with the ones I never found.
-Problem I have with all Metroidvanias: no threat to backtracking. You go back through an area and completely annihilate enemies by looking at them. I get that’s part of the appeal with RPG mechanics but it just makes backtracking an uninteresting chore.
-The progression of key items was kind of lame. You kill a tough boss about 60% through the game only to be able to push boxes? And then amulet that cleanses water in one spot. Not to mention the high jump completely makes wall jumping moot.
-Can’t help but feel that hearts and the MP bar should have been combined, like how Aria did it. I also am not a fan of these games having MP that charges on its own.
-The whip spin is cool, though the damage doesn’t seem to really make sense with what you have equipped or how much damage you’re doing with your normal swings.
-The music is pretty fucking great.

All in all, I enjoyed it, but probably won’t play it again. As for AoS:

-MUCH easier than CotM. Though I found the difficulty progression better; the last couple areas really turn things up, and the arena has some legitimately great encounters, something you would find in a more dedicated action/platformer.
-Solid boss fights all around, good variety, patterns, nothing with stupid amounts of health like the Dragon Zombies from CotM.
-A lot of samey/not good souls. Plenty of decent and great ones too, but a lot of junk. I know the obvious answer to this is “don’t use them/ignore them”, but I can’t help but wonder why there’s so many lackluster tools.
-CotM has these two problems as well and I mentioned them earlier, but I’ll say them again: lack of environmental hazards, and most enemies just being fodder for most of the games. You think a lot less moment to moment than you do in classicvania, despite the games having more stuff, because there’s just not enough of a threat, especially when you backtrack.
-The castle layout and individual areas are extremely SOTN. Start in the castle hall with mermen at the bottom floor, you eventually go to a library, a garden where endgame story events take place, an underground waterway, an arena, and then another castle/world. It worked though, really enjoyed most areas in this one.

I tried playing HoD but honestly the game is so hideous I don’t even want to attempt it. I’m just going to wait for Dread at this point.