E140: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow sits tucked away in the middle of 30 different Castlevania games.  First released for the Gameboy Advance in 2003, it takes strong inspiration from Symphony of the Night - yet is running on far weaker hardware.  It introduced the Soul System - where killing enemies grants you their powers - a mechanic so ingrained into popular games today that it's almost ubiquitous.  You would be forgiven for thinking this is yet another Castlevania game.

But it isn’t.  Many cite Aria of Sorrow as the best handheld Castlevania game, and some even have it as their absolute favourite.  Does Aria of Sorrow have some secret sauce that makes it so special, do all of its elements come together beautifully, or are people just remembering playing into the night while hiding their GBA under their bedsheets?

On this episode, we discuss:

Music.
Music is important in most games, but especially so in Castlevania, which started to include music references in their game titles after SOTN.  How good is the music in Aria of Sorrow, and is it a good fit for the GBA hardware?

Aesthetics.
How well does Aria deliver a beautiful Castlevania game for the gba, from sprite work to animations?  What are the gameplay implications of having cleaner, less busy graphics?

Souls.
How dark are they?  But actually, how does this system function in terms of giving the player novelty versus usefulness?  Is it frustrating that souls don’t level and scale with the player, or is this an essential part of what makes them work?

We answer these questions and many more on the 140th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

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Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Aria of Sorrow OST - Michiro Yamane
Symphony of the Night OST - Michiro Yamane

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Was Aria of Sorrow one of the best Castlevania games you ever played, or just another one in the pack?  Were there any ridiculous secrets we missed?  What Metroidvania should we play next?    Come let us know what you think on our community discord server!

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