Key

As is probably obvious by now with both my Circle of the Moon and Harmony Dissonance posts, I like Castlevania games. And when I saw they were rereleasing the Game Boy Advance games, I was stoked. And I got the collection as soon as I could. And boy, so far it has not disappointed, though there have been a few noticeable flaws. Nothing that takes away from the experience as a whole though. I'd also like to point out that while I have done separate posts for Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, I am posting this prior to going deep in Aria of Sorrow. Once I go through that game more, there will be a separate post for it as well. All opinions on games are of my current status of where I am with those games, and right now I have enough experience with only Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance to give proper posts. Opinions may change over time.

Going back to the Castlevania Advance Collection, as I mentioned before, there are but a few flaws that could take people out of the experience, however it doesn't really bother me that much. The one big one is that the mapping of the controls is not always familiar at first, but you get used to it. I know you can change them to what you like, but I don't really want to do that for each game. So I figured I would try to learn it and get used to it, and I'm starting to get it down. Fortunately you don't have to go into your menu all too often in these games, though there are times where you will do so many times. Depends on how you play the games I suppose. Graphically speaking, I am enjoying the look of the games, but I imagine that has to do with more of my nostalgia for the games as well as being far more forgiving of older graphics especially when the games are mechanically strong, which so far with my experience with Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance, I'd say these games are tremendously mechanically strong. However, the graphics are definitely older, so some may not like that. But it really just depends on what kinds of games you like. If you don't like metroidvania games on the Game Boy Advance fun in general, then this isn't for you. But if you had a great time playing these games and want to relive them? Hell yes this is for you. Not to mention that I honestly think that these games hold up even today. I'm playing through the collection right now and I can easily see these games being released today. Again though, it's all personal taste at the end of the day. Unfortunately though, because it is such an older game or collection of older games, screen tearing is a thing. It's far more noticeable when you want to play in full screen however they have options to set the screen ratio to smaller. And I'm sure it's hardly noticeable if at all in those options. But again, for me, it hasn't hindered my enjoyment of the games so far, so I don't see it as much of a problem as some others would. But it's definitely noticeable if you're paying attention.

On the flip side, while the controls can take some getting used to, it also feels very natural to play these games on consoles, especially when playing it on a bigger screen. Sometimes games don't translate all too well when switching between small and bigger consoles, however these particular ones translated very well. I'm having an absolute blast playing these on my Xbox on my big screen. And it doesn't feel like some lame port, or that they sort of forcibly threw it together. It feels natural to play them on console, and the controls work to its advantage, instead of its disadvantage. Again though, I could easily see these games being released today and doing as well if not better than they did upon original release. Just an example of what makes these games great in the first place.

I also feel like while simultaneously being able to see these games released today, it's sort of an odd feeling actually playing them on console. It's a collection I absolutely did not think I needed however as a fan of Castlevania and metroidvanias in general, it's definitely a nice addition to my collection. And it's just a great collection in general. If you're a fan of Castlevania games at all, I'd highly recommend it.