Collection essentials #515: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA)

Castlevania was originally a series of fairly straightforward action platformers, and made a  name for itself in that form. Then, Symphony of the Night came along in 1997 with a whole new style that took clear inspiration from Nintendo’s Super Metroid, making the whole game into what is basically one huge level that the player gradually gains more access to through new abilities. Some RPG elements were thrown in like leveling up and equipping gear, and a new template for 2D Castlevania was born.

Symphony of the Night was the only one of its kind for a few years, but with the launch of the Game Boy Advance, Konami decided to turn this style into a trend. One of the biggest launch titles for the system was Castlevania: Circle of the Moon which had the same core design as Symphony. In the following year, they would give us Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance. I really thought about including both of those games on this list, and I still might go back and do that in the future. It’s been very many years since I played through Circle of the Moon, and I remember liking it but not loving it. It’s one that’s due for a replay one of these days before I can give a real properly-informed evaluation of it. Harmony of Dissonance I actually skipped back in the day and played it for the first time fairly recently, and I did enjoy it quite a bit, but it didn’t leave a strong lasting impression and I already struggle to remember any real specific moments from it at all.

But then we got the third GBA Castlevania in 2003, Aria of Sorrow, and I think most would agree that it’s the best of the bunch.

The game features a teenage boy named Soma Cruz. Most other Castlevania take place in centuries past, but for Aria of Sorrow they actually set it in the future, as the game takes place in 2035. At the start of the game, Dracula had been long defeated, but a prophecy was made that he will be reincarnated in the year 2035 at full power. At the start of the game, Soma and a friend are enjoying an eclipse which mysteriously whisks them away to Dracula’s castle, and Soma quickly discovers he has the power to absorb the souls of monsters. He decides to explore the castle and hopefully figure out what the heck is going on.

Aria of Sorrow, again, uses Symphony of the Night’s gameplay style of giving the player a large castle to explore, giving them gradually more and more access as they gain new abilities. The player gains experience points and levels up to become stronger, equips weapons and armor, and uses items to help them along the way, not unlike an RPG. Weapons may vary from small and fast with low damage output to big and powerful but very slow, letting players pick whichever one suits their preferred play style.

The big gameplay feature introduced in Aria of Sorrow is the “Tactical Soul” system. Every normal enemy in the game has a soul that can be absorbed, which has some random likelihood of happening every time Soma defeats one of them. Once Absorbed, Soma gains a new technique or attribute that he can equip from then on. Many times these provide new special attacks that can be performed at the cost of some “magic points”. Others may provide some kind of power-up, summon a creature to fight by his side, or let him transform into a creature himself. It’s a pretty neat gameplay system, and the only criticism I have of it is that it can be a little tedious when there’s a soul that you definitely want but you have to repetitively fight the same monster over and over again until you get it. 

Like Circle of the Moon, it’s been very many years since I played Aria of Sorrow, as I did so when it was still fairly new, over 20 years ago. So it’s a little hard for me to critique the game in depth nowadays without giving it a replay. But it definitely stood out to me back in the day as one of the best Castlevania games, well made on all fronts. Aside from the occasional tedium noted above, the only other complaints I can think of is that maybe it’s on the short side in terms of length, and it’s not intuitive how one can reach the game’s true ending which every player really ought to do.

Aria of Sorrow is one of the gems from the prime days of Castlevania. It’s one I’ll likely replay someday, perhaps in the year 2035 when the game actually takes place as that’ll feel only fitting. It’s been rereleased alongside its two GBA brethren on modern platforms as part of the “Castlevania Advance Collection”, so it’s quite accessible and recommended. The original GBA release is definitely an essential part of my collection.