Released in 2001, Circle of the Moon was one of the launch titles of the Game Boy Advance. The game was very well received during its release and received a very high Metacritic score. Unfortunately, this did not translate into the game becoming a classic.

Sixteen years have passed and not many gamers remember or know Castlevania: Circle of the Moon today. Other portable titles like Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow are generally preferred by the fans along with the classic that inspired this whole generation of games: Symphony of the Night. Why has Circle of the Moon been forgotten? Was it really a good game?

Cast out in the dark

In Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, you play as Nathan Graves. Nathan is one of the disciples of Morris Baldwin, a professional vampire hunter. The game throws you right into the action by reuniting Nathan, Morris and his son Hugh against Dracula and his servant Camila. As the fight is about to start, Dracula breaks the floor underneath Nathan and Hugh and they fall into the catacombs of the castle, leaving their master alone to fight Dracula. At the bottom of the pit, Hugh decides that he will kill Dracula alone and tells Nathan to return home. Alone, your objective is to find Dracula and end his reign once more.

The story of CotM, as it is the case with most Castlevania games, is not its strongest point. All the characters are very one dimensional and most of the story is centered around the protagonist and Hugh’s rivalry. You can easily ignore the superficial story and enjoy the game, though, as there is probably not much more than 5 minutes of dialogue in the whole game. CotM is mostly focused on combat and exploration. Its story is no more than an afterthought.

Was the weak story the major issue that made the game be forgotten? No. Despite the critical success of the game, CotM suffered from two major problems that might have affected its popularity: the GBA technology and a game developer that you might know, Koji Igarashi.

Even in 2001 one of the major criticisms of the game was that it was “too dark”. This issue was caused by the poor combination of the Game Boy Advance’s hardware and the color palette of the game. The original GBA model lacked a backlit screen and CotM used mostly tones of dark in its aesthetic composition, which made harder for people to actually see the game very well on the portable screen. Add this issue to the game’s general lack of detail and some repetitiveness in the background and CotM was bashed for being ugly for a long time.

Not only the technical issues hurt the popularity of the game. Koji Igarashi, who previously worked on Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and is probably the most important name linked to the Castlevania franchise during the late 90’s and early 2000’s was also very critical of CotM. Igarashi took the lead in the production of the series after this game and he was quick to retcon the game and cut it off the official timeline stating that the original authors of CotM intended the title to be standalone.

The best of two worlds

Despite the controversies and the somewhat weak story, Circle of the Moon really shines where it needs: gameplay and world design. Ignoring the failure of the Nintendo 64 and its 3D Castlevania games, the game picks where Symphony of the Night left off, simplifies some mechanics and add hardcore platforming sections. The result is a satisfying 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania that continues the legacy of SotN’s design but will also please classic Castlevania fans with its difficulty and emphasis on platformer gameplay.

Like its predecessor SotN, CotM has many RPG elements like stats (Levels and XP, HP, MP, Strength, Intelligence, Defense and Intelligence and hearts, used for sub-weapons like the axe, boomerang and holy water), so you will be able to develop your character fighting enemies and finding new gear in the castle. Unlike SotN, you can only use your whip in this game so your equipment will be mostly defensive (but some items can raise your strength and intelligence). The only way to change your weapon is using magic.

The magic system is the most interesting addition to gameplay. To use it, you have to gather 20 cards during the game. There are two types of cards that you can combine, which makes for 100 different spells that you can use.

The spells range from simple stat enhancement ones to summoning allies and transmuting your weapons. There are spells that make your attacks cure you, others transform your whip into weapons like a longsword, a fire sword, a hammer or even a revolver. You can also invoke summons (although the card that let you do that can only be found at the end of the game), throw fireballs, light arrows and many other techniques.

The spell system is really diverse and you need to use it well if you want to succeed. You can only equip one spell at once, so that prevents you from being overpowered. This was a common issue in SotN, but the new system that uses magic instead of weapons help to solve it. The only downside about equipping only one spell is that you will probably use only a couple of them during the game and ignore the others because changing them and getting to know all of them can be quite time-consuming.

Another activity that takes longer than it should is getting the cards. Enemies drop them randomly so it can be tiresome to gather them all. The magic system is, by far, the best part of the combat system and it is pretty annoying that you will probably not have all the cards when you finish the game, which will limit your options considerably.

Combat in CotM can be hard. The late bosses, especially Dracula at the end, are very hard to beat if you have not mastered the game’s combat yet. Even during normal fights you will often feel torn between continuing to follow ahead or to go back to a Save Point and heal.

The gameplay is more fluid than it seems. Your character moves slightly less freely than Alucard in SotN but much more than in the older games. The game retains the speed and agility of its predecessor while maintaining the challenge of a good platformer, requiring timing and precision. This makes CotM one of the few Metroidvania Castlevania games that can be really hard. Unfortunately, many new gamers mistook this need for precision as “bad controls”.

The design of the world follows the Metroidvania formula, but with heavy platformer elements that make the game harder than other Metroidvanias, which will please old-school Castlevania fans. Initially, you will have limited abilities to explore the world, but they will increase with time and you will be able to reach new areas and find new rooms if you backtrack and use your new abilities.

The game provides a more limited range of abilities than SotN. You will not be able to turn into fog or a bat (because, unfortunately, you play as a human, not as the vampire Alucard), but you will be able to double jump, break rocks with your tackles and do mega jumps that basically let you fly in the end of the game, which is almost the same as being a bat.

While the early game is pretty linear, there is space for choosing where you want to go after you get upgrades. This sense of freedom enhances the exploration of the game immensely. It is important to state that this was not a trend at that time. Metroid Fusion, released in 2002, ditched the freedom of Super Metroid for a more guided and linear experience and is a much worse game for that. Fortunately, CotM nails it.

Even if you are walking in a linear path in the early parts of the game, you feel so free to explore that is as if the game is not really that linear. Add many secret rooms to that and CotM might not be as good as SotN or classics like Super Metroid, but it still a fine Metroidvania for its time.

There are many secret passages and you will only find all of them if you attack all the walls and floors of the game or if you look them up online so you can spend quite some time exploring the castle. The secret passages are vital for your progression because they generally contain HP, MP and heart power-ups that are necessary for your character to be strong enough to progress in the harder parts of the game.

You will hardly need more MP than you already have after two or three hours of gameplay, but HP and hearts will be very important for your survival, especially in the late game, when you will find areas like the Underground Deposit, the Underground Waterway and the late part of the Observation Tower that can be especially hard to beat.

Circle of the Moon is a tough game. You will probably die a lot unless you are a really hardcore platform player. Some bosses can be quite hard if you have not mastered the magic system and the last fight with Dracula is very rough. Be prepared to die a lot. The platformer sections can also be really hard as the game is very vertical and you will have to jump many times while fighting enemies.

The only problem in the world design is that there are no teleports in the underground part of the castle. The developers probably did not put them in there because the game starts in the underground and end of the game is mostly in the towers where most of the teleports are, but it can be a nuisance to move from the bottom of the map to the top without teleports.

The soundtrack, following Castlevania’s tradition, is really good. Prepared by Sotaro Tojima, it includes classic and new songs. The best of the new ones is Awake, the soundtrack of the first level, the Catacombs. It is one of the best songs in the game and it completely puts the player in the mood for the game.

The last area, the Observation Tower, evokes nostalgia with Vampire Killer, one of the most classic songs of the series that exists since the first game. Another area in the end of the game, the Underground Waterway, has another classic song from Castlevania III, Nightmare. Not all of the songs are excellent, but they make for a good package, especially considering the capabilities of the Game Boy Advance in its initial years.

Fun after Dracula

The game offers interesting options for players that want to play more after they beat the game. There are four special hard modes that you can play when you finish. The first is the Magician mode, in which your strength, defense and HP are severely lowered and your magic powers are improved. You begin the game with all the cards for the magic system and you almost have unlimited MP. This mode is fun if you want the game to be harder and intend to master the magic system if you have not done it yet.

The second hard mode is actually quite easy: the Fighter mode increases your strength but does not let you use any magic. In the end, you can just attack every enemy to death easily. Much more interesting is the Shooter mode. It makes all of your stats weaker, but increases your hearts and the power of your sub-weapons while making them use fewer hearts. This is possibly the harder mode of the mode.

Finally, there is also the Thief mode, in which you are very weak, but have a very high luck and will acquire 99 of most items. In this mode, you can use items like potion or food to heal and overcome the obstacles and will find cards and good equipment sooner.

A forgotten classic

If you loved Symphony of the Night, but never played any of the later Castlevania games or maybe only others of the portables ones, give Circle of the Moon a chance. Don’t pay attention to Koji Igarashi. CotM is a really good game and it offers mid-term between the post-SotN games and the classic ones, retaining the difficulty and the platformer elements while focusing on the exploration. Yeah, the story is disposable and the game could look better, but this is one of the finest installments of the series.