I bought Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

[Mak-X]

I bought Castlevania: Circle of the Moon for GBA today at Target because it was on sale for $19.99. I was going to buy it the day GBA launched but it was $40 and I already had spend a lot buying GBA and Oracle of Seasons. This is my first actual Game Boy Advance game. I also spent $20 on a Worm light and GBA carrying case.

The game ispretty cool. The sound isn't as good as SNES with a bit of static or scratchy sound, but its really good like with the voice in the title screen.

The worst part about the game so far is how dark it is. Even a game light doesn't help. Luckily I found a spot in my room where I can sit underneath a lap. But even that isn't bright enough. The worm light helped a lot when I tried playing Oracle of Ages, but you see the light as a glare and the light doesn't fill the whole screen. I'd really love to get that backlight from www.portablemonopoly.com and I'd really enjoy playing GBA games.

C:CoTM feels a lot like Super Metroid with the way the levels are designed, connecting into one big area. There are rooms that contain powerups and save points like Super Metroid. I like how there's a experience system and you can equip armor.

I played for about an hour so far and died fighting Cerberus. Stupidily, I didn't realize I could save when I went into those empty rooms and had to start over. I died again at Cerberus but I saved this time!

The only other Castlevania games I've played are Dracula X (SNES) and Castlevania 64 and Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness (which I own). But the gameplay feels a lot like Dracula X, and feels very traditional. The 2-D graphics and old gameplay make me want to start trying to make games again.

[Saffith]

Took you long enough.

Have you tried using headphones or PC speakers? The sound is better that way. But, yeah, it isn't quite as good as SNES. That's just the game, though, there are others that sound better. Golden Suns's music is excellent, and I hear Wario Land 4's is pretty good.

What? You haven't played Symphony of the Night? Ah, you don't know what you're missing... It's the same kind of thing as CotM, with the Super Metroid kinda stuff, but there's so much more of it. Plus visible graphics!

Yeah, CotM's way too dark. White Night Concerto will probably be better; I have Gradius Galaxies, and it's obvious from that that Konami's learned from their mistake.

[Daarkseid]

Originally posted by Saffith
Took you long enough.

Have you tried using headphones or PC speakers? The sound is better that way. But, yeah, it isn't quite as good as SNES. That's just the game, though, there are others that sound better. Golden Suns's music is excellent, and I hear Wario Land 4's is pretty good.

Yeah Wario Land 4 is very good. The opening theme to the game is vocalized! I haven't heard anything like that on the SNES except for Clay Fighter, and the quality of sound for the digitized speech was terrible, not so much with Wario Land 4.

Also, the opening singing for CotM should be another indicator of the GBA's superior sound processing; its the exact same gospel theme that plays in the menu screen in Dracula X: Rondo of Blood, and that is a CD quality track thats playing, mind you(the medium that Dracula X: Rondo of Blood was made on the was PC Engine CD-Rom).

If you're finding the sound to be less, its most likely one of two things, the fact you are playing 1st generation GBA games, or you're only listening to the tiny mono-speaker on the GBA. Listening to the game through headphones makes a huge difference.

Oh, BTW, I've already beaten Cotm three times since I bought it. Once on Vampire killer mode, once on Magician mode(quite tough), and once on Fighter mode(very easy). I'm about beyond the halfway make in Shooter mode(weak magic and attack, except sub-weapon damage is quadrupled and each shot costs half the hearts they normally do, plus you can get a second level of dagger that shoots like a homing missile for half the damage).

[Arcayn]

I got Circle of the Moon with my GBA together with F-zero. Must say CotM was the better purchase. And yes, you do want headphones if you play GBA games, the sound is very good, but the speaker's crappy.

Daarkseid: whew. I beat the game on normal mode(99.7%), which took me long enough. I got about halfway through on magician mode, but I stopped playing it soon after.

[Mak-X]

Originally posted by Saffith
Took you long enough.

Have you tried using headphones or PC speakers? The sound is better that way. But, yeah, it isn't quite as good as SNES. That's just the game, though, there are others that sound better.

What? You haven't played Symphony of the Night? Ah, you don't know what you're missing... It's the same kind of thing as CotM, with the Super Metroid kinda stuff, but there's so much more of it. Plus visible graphics!

Yes, I still used the headphones that came with the original Game Boy. Its just the way sounds are produced, its very good but there's some static scratchiness, kinda reminds me of a mod file. Its not the headphones, its just the way it sounds. The sound of the GBA sounded the same on Extended Play too when they did they're GBA roundup. I'm not putting down the sound, its really good in Castlevania, I'm just commenting that its not as good as SNES in, um, sound like I explained.

I don't have a Playstation and I'm planning on getting a PS2 someday so it will have to wait.

[vegeta1215]

CoTM was the first GBA game I bought, and I thought my GBA was broken cause it was so dark!

CoTM is an excellent game though. You just gotta listen to it with headphones, the music is awesome. It also has great replay value, with 4 different modes after you beat it as a Vampire Hunter.

Sadly, I finished them all not long ago, with 100% on each, all the cards, best armor, and finishing the battle arena (whihc was a btich as the Thief!)

But, it's an awesome game.