I’m in a school assembly when a friend of mine brought out a Gameboy Advance, which he was playing this dark game on it. It was Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. It looked just like another well known game in the series, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It had leveling up, exploration, and whip-based combat, with a magic system. I was instantly intrigued and asked my parents for a Gameboy Advance that holiday season.
I got mine with two games. Circle of the Moon and a little RPG called Golden Sun that I’ll inevitably review.
This is the first game that turned Metroidvania (A Castlevania game based on exploration and the acquisition of gear to improve your ability to explore) into an actual genre. Most people like to say Symphony of the Night started things, but it remained a one-off thing until Circle of the Moon. Because, in between Symphony of the Night and Circle of the Moon, there were three Castlevania games; Castlevania Legends, Castlevania 64, and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness.
Editor’s Note: Symphony of the Night was actually the second exploration-based Castlevania and Castlevania 2: Simon’s Quest was the original. So, yes, Symphony of the Night did start the trend.
The big change with Circle of the Moon was that the game was now portable. It wasn’t just on consoles, it could be taken anywhere you wanted to go. Of course, little did people know this would become the norm for this genre, but it had a new appeal to it. Being able to take Castlevania with you, and not just the vintage sidescrollers like on the Gameboy.
The game starts with a short cutscene that just explains the usual. Dracula is back, before he should be, and you play a new hunter, named Nathan Graves, as he fights his way through Dracula’s Castle. You and your friend, Hugh, get brushed aside as annoyances, sent to the Catacombs to work your way back to the Throne Room. Which, oddly, is in the entrance rather than the tower now? How often does this man redecorate his castle? And why would you put the throne room so early, where any vampire hunter could get to in record time? Regardless, Nathan winds up in the Catacombs and has to fight his way back up, defeating Dracula’s minions to get into the Throne Room once more.
The game is a stripped down version of SotN. The weapons have been removed in favor of a single whip that you can power up. However, in its place is an expanded magic system, where Nathan can use magical card combinations to give himself new abilities, insert Yu-Gi-Oh joke here. This can include having a fire whip, fighting with poison claws, or becoming invincible. These cards are dropped by the various enemies and every card expends Nathan’s magic, adding either new elements, like holy and ice, or completely new effects, like projectile bombs and transformations.
Like Symphony of the Night, there are many variables to this game, even if you’re limited to just a whip. And the card system truly is the star as, while there is equipment, the equipment doesn’t give anywhere near the buffs the card system does. Even the weakest buffs raise a stat by 20%, which may not seem like a lot, but when you have a natural strength of 5000, jumping to 6000 is really nice. Or a later buff that increases your strength or defense by a percentage equal to your map completion, for an eventual doubling bonus.
But the real star of the show is the intelligence stat. Intelligence not only increases the damage of your spells, but also your MP regeneration rate. So, eventually, your regeneration can get so high that it completely nullifies the costs of those buffs I just mentioned. It doesn’t take long before you can keep the 20% boosts on at all times, only switching out for bosses that require a little more oomph.
And smart use of the card system can also lead to progression and secrets, such as using the ice whip to scale on enemies to items you shouldn’t be able to get until later, like requiring a double jump or high jump. Sometimes, you need a double jump to make a distance jump and you can’t freeze enemies to get over because they’re too low, but you can use a card combination to increase your knockback, then jump on an enemy just right to get knocked onto the platform. This allows for creative implementation and mastery of the game’s mechanics and puzzles, which feels great when every puzzle put in front of you has multiple solutions or even unintended solutions you can find by messing with the game’s systems.
But the best part about Circle of the Moon isn’t the mechanics. It’s that victory is only the beginning. Circle of the Moon has not one, not two, but five unique gameplay modes. Upon beating the game for the first time, you unlock Magician mode. This is notable because of the following;
HP: 100
MP: 100
Hearts: 50
Strength: 100
Defense: 100
Intelligence: 100
Luck: 100
These are your starting stats in Circle of the Moon. And upon level up, you gain +10 to all of them, except for Hearts, which goes up by +2. Why is this important? The alternate modes change your stats. In Magician mode, you have the following;
HP: 50 (+5 per level up)
MP: 400 (+40)
Hearts: 50 (+2)
Strength: 71 (+7)
Defense: 50 (+5)
Intelligence: 400 (+40)
Luck: 100 (+10)
Moreover, you begin Magician mode at level 1, but you start with all the DSS cards. This allows you to use all the magic in the game from the get go, leading to lightning fast progression.
The other modes are;
Fighter mode – No cards, but you have high HP, Strength, and Defense, at the cost of Intelligence and MP. Luck and Hearts are still untouched. Beat Magician mode to unlock.
Shooter mode – Sub-weapons are greatly strengthened and half of them have reduced Heart costs. HP, Strength, and Defense are all lowered, though you start with a ridiculous 250 Heart maximum. MP, Intelligence, and Luck are unchanged. Beat Fighter and Magician mode to unlock.
Thief mode – Start with a ridiculous amount of Luck (1600, goes up by +160 per level up), but nearly all other stats are reduced. HP, MP, and Defense are cut in half, Strength is the same as Magician mode, and though Intelligence and Hearts are unchanged, this mode is ridiculously hard. The ultimate challenge from Circle of the Moon. Beat all previous modes to unlock.
Circle of the Moon has some great replayability, as every mode but Thief mode offers a new experience. And I only say Thief mode doesn’t because the drops were never really interesting enough to me to find a high luck mode fun. At least Magician and Fighter mode make you feel like an unstoppable beast while Shooter mode offers a brand new experience akin to old school Castlevania, where the subweapons were the meta of the game while your whip was sub-optimal.
It might also offer the most additional gameplay modes in the series as well, though I am not counting Boss Rush or harder difficulties. Nor am I counting New Game Plus. Things like Richter mode and Maria mode for Symphony of the Night would apply. I am also ignoring Luck mode in Symphony of the Night because I don’t think that mode is even possible without divine intervention. At least I could never complete it, while I can beat Thief mode in Circle of the Moon. It’s quite possible I’m just not good enough and other players can beat Luck mode. If so, more power to you, I’m just not that hardcore in Symphony of the Night.
And this is coming from a guy who beat Contra on Xbox 360 without dying and I even have the achievement to prove it.
Highly Recommended
The Professional Protagonist 