PixlBit

I had a long time to decide on what games to pick for this year of 2022. I missed out completely in 2021 and during that time we got a good number of contenders to be considered for game titles. Though I am thinking about “revisiting” some prior game title picks from past years, it has to be said that Octoberween gaming hasn’t been for naught. We’ve seen a good number of remakes, releases, compilations and original content created for the soul purpose to get our freak on. It amazes me when years back I heard that “survival horror” has died, only to see it being revisited or reworked to fit more in line with possible gaming trends. It even amazes me that there are game titles that do their best to add a multiplayer component, something that was shoehorned in prior gaming generations to justify an online connection, as a legit way to enjoy horror gaming. Great strives have been made but today’s Top Pick isn’t from that category. Instead it focuses more on a throwback to a bygone era when you made the most of the 2D graphics, story and soundtrack. Resurrected if you will to be enjoyed again, unshackled from their prior, primitive and possibly hard to get ahold off hardware/software wise trappings when it comes to playing/owning them. I speak none other than a collection of some of Konami’s famous entries of the Castlevania Series for Nintendo’s portable handhelds: The Castlevania Advance Collection.

 

Ah Konami. Indeed falling on hard times when it comes to the goodwill of gamers. No longer it seems to be interested in making anything new of their IP themselves, but instead farming them out for others to make of them as they will. Be it with gambling machines, mobile titles or actual continuances of their IP’s (I’m looking at you Contra: Rogue Corps) it would seem Konami is determined to do nothing themselves than just own the IP’s that gamers cherished. It’s a shame really but some good is coming out of this inaction it would seem. Banking on the nostalgia bucks of gaming’s yesteryears they’ve seen to re-releasing some of their older titles in complication collections as of late. And thanks to the work of Developer M2, they’ve released a good number of faithful ports of Konami Classics. Gradius Collection, Contra Collection and even a Castlevania Collection as of late.

But choosing their latest Collection release of game from the Game Boy Advance (and a bonus SNES title) was something I indeed wanted to get ahold of. Though I do own all three Castlevania cart titles that were released on the Game Boy Advanced, I’ve always wanted to have the pleasure of playing them on the big screen. Sure I do have a GBA Player on my Nintendo GameCube but the gamepad associated with the system isn’t exactly ideal for enjoying these 2D titles and I’ve yet to find a decent controller replacement. I usually find myself revisiting these titles on a small GBA micro off and on but the urge to play full screen plagued me. Several options were available, some costly, some “experiment”, in trying to get GBA games to play on a big screen but thankfully Konami saw fit to see on having the Castlevania Advanced Collection to be released during the last gaming generation.

 

I have to admit I wasn’t disappointed.

I didn’t even know of the announcement but made sure to buy them as soon as I was able. Normally I don’t buy such titles for full price (especially digital only no less) but when it comes to old skool Castlevania I have no choice. I’m addicted. I’m hooked. Castlevania was my childhood and one of the few titles I could play back in the day that set the mood right for any night of Octoberween gaming. And since Konami has decided to let the series die on the vine, I can at least revisit them in an easier and convenient way. The Castlevania Advance Collection consists of 3 games from the Game Boy Advance that are Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow. All faithfully ported over with quality of life enhancements that one can expect from M2. Aside from the excellent porting job allowing the games to be played on more modern consoles, they added extra settings that one expects with complications. Aspect ratio settings, screen sizes, button remapping, gaming rewind features, they are all here. It just amazes me how I can finally play this timeless classics on a familiar controller on a bigger screen. When I play it’s like being taken back to trying to play these titles on a non-backlit GBA, then later an GBA SP, a DS Lite and finally on the GBA Micro.

You couldn’t have asked for a better Collection. Kinda. Please allow me to explain.

Though this collection does faithfully port these GBA titles to the big screen, they are indeed exactly that: faithful ports. There are somethings I didn’t much care for when it came to the original releases that I had hoped might’ve been reworked, or set up as a secondary game mode setting. Case in point: With Circle of the Moon, the game’s screen moved constantly as to keep your player character on screen at all times. This of course was done due to the screen size of the GBA. You can’t see much of the environment if the player character didn’t force the screen to move as you jumped around in the level. Playing this now on the big screen feels a bit more confusing as a result since the screen is a big enough size to accommodate the level design and the smaller sprite character. It was probably hoping too much that they could rework the game so that it would scroll/play much like other Castlevania titles that followed after it.  

With Harmony of Dissonance the player character still has the annoying glowing blue outline around themselves as a means to make it easier to find them to be seen while playing the game on a non-backlite, enemy heavy level in the game. I’ve known of some hacks that remove this and it’s a shame that M2 didn’t make this an option during gameplay (an option that I haven’t seen yet that is as of this writing) since that feature isn’t really necessary on a big screen.

With Aria of Sorrow I had hoped they’d clean up the music a bit to have the music truly excel given how the game play and level design feel more on par with what we’d expect when it came to “Metroidvania” gameplay that was Castlevania at the time.

 

Aside from this small nitpics this Collection is still a joy to play regardless of staying faithful to the original ports from back in the day. It even includes the ability to play different version of these games if you wanted to see how the Japanese and European versions faired. Also adding a gallery and music box to enjoy some of the finest 2D sprite artwork and GBA audio was a nice touch and welcome feature.

But what really won me over in enjoying this Collection, and decided to place it here on my Top 5 list was the bonus game they packed in. Back when Castlevania Requiem was released on the PS4 I thought it was a missed opportunity that the game didn’t include the SNES version of the Turbo Duo version of Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. Dracula X on the SNES was my first taste of that long lost Castlevania title us gamers didn’t get the pleasure of enjoying back in the day. And despite it not exactly meeting the expectations made by its Turbo Duo counterpart, it was a decent attempt to show what we gamers were missing out on. I actually owned an original cart of the game for my SNES back in the day. But as hard times fell I found myself buying a digital version of this title on the Wii U and 3DS, and parting ways with it despite still owning Super Castlevania IV. I honestly don’t understand why Dracula X for the SNES fetches such a high price. It wasn’t the best the game could offer but it certainly wasn’t the worst. I mostly enjoyed it for the sprite work and the musical score. And given we had better means to enjoy these titles digitally I still find myself coming back to it again and again on the Wii U and 3DS.

So what’s one more version available to me then?

 

And thankfully like with the rest of this collection, Dracula X plays just as it did on there like it did on the SNES. It oddly shouldn’t fit in this collection given the GBA titles were much more advanced, no pun intended, and yet somehow it works. It all comes together in a nice, neat digital package. A package that I would indeed pay for physically once I can find a copy. Moreso since I’ve caught myself double dipping. I actually own this title on my PS4 and my Nintendo Switch. The reason: It’s great to have the Castlevania Collection, Advance Collection and Requiem all on one system and have a portable version of Advance as I need it.

Perhaps I’ll buy a physical cart for the Switch or the disc version on PS4. It all depends on what I find first and what funds I have at the time. Would I triple dip to get this game yet again? Yes. Yes I would. As mentioned above I’m an addict when it comes to Castlevania. I love it, I enjoy playing it and it’s why I’ve added it as my #5 in my Top 5 Octoberween Game Titles for 2022. If you have a fleeting curiosity when it comes to past 2D portable Castlevania titles, and have had your fill of the first Castlevania Collection, the Advance Collection is a welcome continuation to the continued conflict against the personification of evil on any Halloween night.

#5: Castlevania Advance Collection - $19.99 digitally, $60+ physically.