Considering how much desire there is for Castlevania and how little has been done for this series in so many years now, we are faced with a Castlevania review: Advance Collection, a collection that brings together some of the best "recent" chapters, is a good thing in itself. It is, moreover, a collection that fans of the series have been requesting for some time and has arrived with the addition of an extra chapter and within a framework that is also well cared for, carrying on an excellent trend started by Konami with other operations. similar, as we have seen with Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection and the Castlevania Anniversary Collection itself, which in a sense represents a "first chapter" compared to this new collection.
Considering the current situation of Konami and the short-term prospects, the fact that at least one tries to recover the traditional Castlevania with a certain criterion is already something positive, especially when this operation has been carried out with considerable care.
Castlevania: Advance Collection contains Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss ,. The latter is something of an extra addition, as this is the chapter originally released on the SNES as an adaptation of Rondo of Blood, also known as Dracula X.
The adaptation operation, as in other previous cases, was entrusted to the team M2, now a real guarantee when it comes to recovering games from the past. Also in this case the work done is commendable. This is the perfect re-proposition of the titles released on the Game Boy Advance (and SNES) without any sensitive changes made to the code, but with some tricks designed to make the old chapters look their best on modern platforms, including three different display options and one good amount of extra content.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Released in 2001, it was one of the launch games of the Game Boy Advance, able to immediately demonstrate what the new Nintendo machine was made of. It is a substantial evolution for the series in the portable field, presenting a graphics that exceeded, for the richness of sprites and animations, even some of those seen on 16-bit, moreover based on a very particular characterization. Castlevania: Circle of the Moon it stands out for its particularly dark tones, even from the graphic point of view, which made it rather difficult to play on the non-backlit screen but which still makes it very fascinating and perhaps, paradoxically, even more enjoyable from an aesthetic point of view on modern platforms.
Its main peculiarity is the card system: enemies killed can leave cards, of different rarity and power according to the level of the creature, which can be combined in pairs to give a special ability to the protagonist Nathan Graves. Considering the not very high drop rate, this system encourages the fight with the greatest amount of enemies possible and also stimulates backtracking in search of all the cards. It still remains one of the chapters less linked to the slightly overused tradition of Symphony of the Night and also for this reason it is perhaps one of the most interesting to play now.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Considered one of the best of the GBA era, seeing it again today is even clearer how Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance was a bit of Konami's response to those who wanted a real follow-up to Symphony of the Night given how much it draws from the famous title released on 32-bit. On the one hand, this is an obviously positive feature, given the indelible value of the game in question, but on the other hand it determines a bit of an identity and characterization deficit that is now perhaps more evident than before, when the enthusiasm for a SOTN portable was still a lot.
More refined and balanced than Circle of the Moon, it also corrected the shot in technical terms trying to contrast the poor visibility of the laptop display with a brilliance of colors and brightness that, although functional at the time, is now all too strong on modern displays. , resulting in tones and color choices a little too bright. In these respects the aged chapter could be a worse one, precisely because it is specifically calibrated on the GBA hardware. However, it remains a very large and multifaceted Castlevania, with a remarkable variety of settings and situations, in addition to the very solid action structure with RPG elements that we know well and always represents a guarantee.
Castlevania: Aria or Sorrow
Another heir to the Symphony of the Night tradition, Castlevania: Aria or Sorrow at least it stands out for atmospheres and for some peculiar ideas, such as the characterization of the main character, Soma Cruz, the setting placed in the future (at least as regards the timeline of the protagonist) and some game mechanics such as the possibility of absorbing the souls of the enemies to use them as secondary weapons and modify the statistics of the protagonist, recovering in this sense the idea of the Circle of the Moon cards. Although it came out only a couple of years after the launch of the console, it is already a game belonging to the stage of the maturity of the GBA, able to take full advantage of the hardware with truly remarkable graphics.
For the rest, it manages to retain a strong identity, so much so that it has a direct following on the Nintendo DS which recovers most of the ideas with Dawn of Sorrow. In this sense, it represents a cornerstone for the history of the series, a new starting point developed by Kojima Igarashi to evolve the Symphony of the Night experience following a slightly different path between characters, setting and introduction of the "tactical souls", which like Circle cards have the advantage of stimulating clashes and backtracking. As a balance of the parts, between attention to level design, hybridization of RPG elements, bosses and more, it can still be considered one of the best chapters.
Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss/Dracula X
Descendant of the most classic tradition of the series, Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss it clearly demonstrates its belonging to a decidedly different era. The game is a real 2D action game of the 16-bit era, still looking good thanks to the excellent adaptation made by M2 also in this case. It has a somewhat controversial history, as it is a rather different adaptation from the original Rondo of Blood for PC Engine, in several respects inferior: in fact, some innovative features of the original in the management of objects were removed and the level design is modified in a little understandable way, with a somewhat out of phase balance that makes it a very selective challenge, especially to reach the positive ending.
However, it remains very interesting also as a testimony of the old school of Castlevania, compared to the style that has come to be defined following the great watershed represented by Symphony of the Night. Detached from the adventure ambitions of Castlevania 3 and less dizzying than Super Castlevania 4 with its daring use of Mode 7 but artistically richer and more coherent, in this collection it represents an excellent outsider, able to compensate the hybrid mechanisms of the most recent chapters with a dose of healthy classic platform action, ideal for detaching a bit from the GBA trilogy that may seem too cohesive in stylistic and structural terms.
The operation of collection and adaptation
Konami and M2 continue with the positive approach also seen in the previous collections, offering the games in the collection with a remarkable completeness. From the initial menu it is possible to choose the version to be used for each of the chapters between Japanese, USA and PAL, with specific saves for each edition, a choice that is certainly in favor of the most demanding fans. Technically, the game play is almost perfect, with excellent response to commands and a good job of adaptation to modern displays: the choices for all chapters include the possibility of squeezing the image to cover the entire screen, absolutely not recommended, the "pixel perfect" mode that precisely replicates the original format and an intermediate mode that widens the screen by implementing a filter in able to maintain aspect ratio and avoid excessive pixel relief. Among all three, we would like to recommend the "pixel perfect" mode in particular if you use Nintendo Switch in portability, while the standard one can be ideal on larger displays.
In addition to the excellent technical adaptation, the "documentary" content present in the collection, which substantially enrich the value of the package. For each chapter we can see packaging, original instruction booklets in all three versions for each game and above all a huge amount of illustrations, concept art and various drawings that deepen the knowledge of the series.
Through a technical menu "external" to the games it is possible to record sequences and review them, save the game status separately and also access some sort of useful encyclopedia which explains in more detail the functions and characteristics of objects, weapons and elements belonging to the four games in question. In essence, it is like having a strategic guide included and always available.
Among the main options, there is also a music player that allows you to listen to all of them separately music of the various chapters. This good implementation also allows us to talk about this aspect: although the tracks are of a good standard, as per tradition for the series, the hardware of the Game Boy Advance has never particularly shone in terms of quality on the audio front and the direct transposition of the music. it only confirms the not-so-positive memories in this respect, but the option itself is interesting.
Comment
Tested version Nintendo Switch Digital Delivery Steam, PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, Nintendo eShop Price 19,99 € Resources4Gaming.com8.4
Readers (8)8.5
Your voteCastlevania: Advance Collection is another collection of value for the nostalgic but it can also work very well to appease Castlevania in general given the somewhat bleak outlook on the series at the moment. The present chapters are less "ancient" than those seen in the previous collections, less seminal and characteristic from a historical point of view but also more enjoyable as almost "current" titles, obviously considering their technological limitations. The assortment allows for a good variety of experiences, given the differences between the individual games ranging from the more classic and action tradition of the series to the different implementations of RPG elements seen below. To the good assortment must also be added the excellent recovery operation, which confirms the positive collaboration between Konami and M2: the ports are practically identical to the originals with perfectly functional graphic adaptations, to which are added extra contents and additional options that apply the right tone. "documentary" to this collection.
PRO
- The four Castlevania present are still well enjoyable today
- Excellent operation of adaptation and recovery of the original extra materials
- Good assortment as a variety of gameplay shades between one chapter and another
- The technical limitations of the Game Boy Advance are quite visible today
- Less seminal than the classics and yet not quite modern, the games featured are somewhere in between
