Castlevania Advance Collection Reviews

I've only beaten Aria of Sorrows and I've very much enjoyed my time. Also the ancient books giving you clues was interesting. The grinding was eh but doesn't drain to much away.

Not as good as the Dominus collection but there is fun to be had here. It's the start of the RPG-ness of castlevania titles along with what Symphony of the Night gave us. Aria of sorrow is certainly the best title in the lot. Even with saying that I think I personally enjoyed Circle of the Moon the most. Really the whole game is a slightly downgraded experience of the Dominus collection.

This was a very fun collection to play. I owned a GBA but sadly had to give it away because I had a hard time seeing the screen. (Have bad eyesight.) When I saw this collection I picked it up after watching other people play and complete it. I got to say I was happy to be able to play them. Though I admit some of the gimmicks they added in to try and make it more interesting was more or less frustrating to deal with. -The souls drop in Aria of Sorrow. (They are NOT LUCK BASED! They are fixed on a certain drop rate system. So be ready to grind for a while. No I am not joking when I say that either because there is an achievement for collecting all the souls in the game.) -Harmony of Dissonance with hidden furniture. (You can look up a guide if you desire to get the achievement for this.) -In Circle of The Moon there are specific cards that you will not be able to find without looking it up or where to find the enemies. (There are 2 cards specifically dropped by 2 unique enemies that only appear in one part of the castle. So be ready to run through that dozens of times to collect them if you are looking to get the achievement.) That said though I did have fun playing them over all. I went out of my way to 100% it like I did the others. Though looking back I regret that decision... Anyways this is a must for anyone who loves Castlevania or Metroidvania genre type games. If you may of played them back in the day then pick this up for some Nostalgia purposes. I high recommend it!

Konami ready to add anything to the collection just to not release Rondo of Blood on pc :sob: :skull: :pray:

Todavía me queda el Rondo of Blood y como 8 logros más, además creo que me volví autista y demasiado adicto a Castlevania. Una inversión bien hecha!

i know i know ye came for the cotm, stayed probably for the aria, but dear god. what is wrong w dracuLa X? its stuttering both frames & music. its not the easiest cv ever & stuttering is rough. items ending up in weird places. ug. have it on 3ds & its fine there. idk if its the same on the dEck or not. swoop in on the bundle its still on sale. get all these for $30. would cost thousands to round up used copies on ebay. lol.

Good, now release Curse of Darkness and Symphony of the Night

Man, I really WANT to like Harmony of Dissonance. I'm an Igamaniac, an Igaholic with diagnosable Igavania Mania: the man knows how to craft an experience that cuts right to the core of what I love in a game, so I cherish every release headed under his helm dearly. And I have, in fact, played Harmony of Dissonance on GBA within the past handful of years -- quite extensively, in fact, having completed the map fully and grinded (ground?) enough money to buy the infinite jump boots. However, I distinctly remember finishing the game becoming a chore, and, despite my wishes now, Harmony of Dissonance simply has too many core design problems to be an enjoyable experience overall. And really, that's a damn shame, because the first 45 minutes of the game are actually a blast. The music legit bops, the the first handful of areas form an easily navigable loop, and there are some very cool aesthetic choices (like the Room of Illusion) you won't quite find in other Castlevania games. It's a showcase for the game HoD could've been, and I actually found myself lulled into a false sense of security upon starting my replay of the game. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe HoD isn't as bad as I remember. Maybe I'm going to really enjoy this playthrough! Nope. I was right. HoD is as bad as I remember. I'm not so sure I'm going to enjoy this playthrough. Despite the strong start, the wheels fall off as soon as you go through your first teleporter. From thereon, all the ugly aspects of HoD rear their head in full force. The greatest sin of the game is its utterly terrible map design. HoD strictly alternates between long, flat hallways spammed with the exact same enemy and large, boxy rooms composed of endless, nondescript zig-zags. As a result, navigation times are deceptively dilated: sure, you may only need to go a few rooms away, but, since internal layouts invariably double back on themselves many times, traversing those rooms will take a lot longer than it would compared to any other Castlevania game And you're going to be traversing those rooms a LOT, because HoD's second great sin is its constant dead ends. Now, I KNOW getting lost and turning back is a core part of the Metroidvania experience. That's not my contention. My contention is that HoD is actually a linear game PRETENDING to be an MV; as a result, you're expected to follow a very strict critical path, but the game does nothing to communicate it to you. In its attempts to appear like an MV, HoD will offer you a lot of exploration choices at any given juncture, but they're all smoke and mirrors - only one of several junctures is the viable way forward, and the others will only waste your time. This would be bad on its own, but, coupled with the tedious level design, you have this unholy synergy where the two worst aspects of the game only amplify each other. I know 'slog' is a word thrown around a lot, but it really does describe exploration in HoD -- working through the game feels like wading through sludge, constantly backtracking through viscous muck. The room layouts are boring and repetitive, and poorly placed teleporters mean you'll be subjected to them constantly. I have other nitpicks, like the floaty jump, awkward airborne whip momentum, and clunky melee in general. The music, too is a nitpick, not for composition (which is overall actually quite decent), but for the grating soundfont that will slowly grind your sanity to the bone as you zig your one millionth zag. If these were the game's only issues, I'd be willing to look past them, but the core level design of HoD is so bad that these are merely more straws on a camel's broken back. And again, it's a shame, because there ARE some shining highlights to HoD. The spellbook system is AWESOME; magic in HoD is deep yet intuitive, offering you a litany of spells that seamlessly integrate into the existing subweapon system. There is also a wide swath of unique areas thanks to the game's big gimmick, leading you through environments you won't encounter in any other Castlevania game. And, of course, there's the usual Igavania drip feed of Max Ups, equipment, and other goodies to keep that dopamine flowing. Unfortunately, though, these things are not enough. Exploration IS the Metroidvania genre in its totality, and exploration in HoD is bad. As a result, the game is bad, and nothing else stands. Would I recommend HoD? No, I wouldn't; not to an average player, at least. There are SO many great MVs you should be playing before you get to HoD. I would ONLY recommend HoD to diehard Castlevania fans like myself, and ONLY if you have played literally every other DS/GBA/SotN title before, like I have many times. If you have also done so, give HoD a go, but be wary, and don't commit to 100%ing the game if you're not having fun. So, am I going to finish my current playthrough? Maybe, but I don't think so. I can feel all the frustrations I experienced during my first playthrough returning once again, and I'm just not enjoying the game all too much. Finishing it once back in the day was already tedious; I'm not sure I want to do it again. /// Luckily, HoD isn't the only game in this collection! Aria of Sorrow is, rightfully, lauded as one of the best Castlevania titles. It's really a perfect MV in so many ways, with a great flow to the castle layout and an absolute embarrassment of riches in terms of player abilities and collectibles. With HoD, you can feel the technical compromises the developers had to make to create the game; conversely, you feel none of these contraints in Aria, which offers a wealth of content nearly on par with the DS titles. Aria is a MUST play, not just for Castlevania fans, but for Metroidvania fans in general. Trust me, you will love this game. I've played it on GBA many times and always have a blast, like I'm sure I will when I get around to it in this collection. The critical path of the game is undeniably short, maybe 4-6 hours, but those are very quality hours, and there's a lot to sink your teeth into with soul hunting if you like to 100% these sorts of games. I actually think Circle of the Moon is great, too! It's rough around the edges in a lot of ways, but the core gameplay is very good. The DSS card system is a neat, if slightly cumbersome, way to include magic in the game, and the castle layout features a lot of great verticality, including what might just be my favorite Clocktower in the entire franchise. There are also some legendary boss fights, like the notorious Twin Zombie Dragons. Also, between the expansive heights and the lack of any permanent merchant NPC or hub area, CotM captures a sense of loneliness that a lot of other Castlevania games don't. My primary complaints stem from some clunky controls (double tap to run, grrr), the need to constantly menu to switch your card setup, and the need to farm for both cards and consumables (given the aforementioned lack of merchant NPCs). Still, while CotM isn't a "true" Igavania (as Iga isn't involved), fans of the experience will nonetheless find everything they like about Igavanias in CotM, too. It's definitely worth a go! /// So, this collection is defined by high highs and low lows. To be clear, I absolutely think it's worth the asking price. You have a great game, a good game, and a bad game -- you could certainly do worse. While I do think the Dominus collection is the superior tripartite of Castlevania games, the Advance collection is still a welcome addition to a Metroidvania fan's library, and, of course, a must for us die-hard Castlevania fans.

you cant config sound volume, window size or screen resolution. you can rebind character controls but the menu controls dont change, feels super weird this is basically just a glorified emulator. quicksaving feels like cheating and isnt even quick - takes like 30 seconds. also why are all 4 games combined into one and share the achievement package... dracula x, circle of the moon and harmony of dissonance are crap and i don't wanna play them for 100% completion. the only worthwile game here is aria of sorrow. we also got ZERO bugfixes with this rerelease. luck stat still does nothing

Very good time with the collections; if you like these games you'll not regret playing them and likely enjoy them. My favorite one is Aria of Sorrow then Circle of the Moon second. Harmony of Dissonance is too boring and sad for me for the majority of the story and the sf/snes Dracula X is a really short unsatisfying game that does have some good tunes though. You have the option to choose different versions of the games you want to play such as the Japanese or American versions. They even included the instruction manuals from different countries and languages in the picture gallery viewer that look like they were scanned in from the actual physical manual books too; with all the scratches and wrinkles and little imperfections. There is not much you can do about changing the music and sound quality nor the screen aspect thing; it offers very few options. There is no option to enhance the pixel graphics to higher quality definition either. Neat collection for the akumajou dracula fans and even newcomers and others alike. You most likely will not regret it and have a blast playing them. I know I did.