List: Best 30 GBA games (whats in your pocket?)

[ninjainspandex]

We definitely should

[Sarge]

Objectively speaking, the best GBA Castlevania is Aria. I like the other two as well, but we really should debate whether the others fall within the top 30.

I haven't tracked all the discussion, but I generally lean against some of the ports, like the Super Mario Advance games. I'd also not include the King of Fighters games. I realize they're quite good for the system, but there are better versions of KoF on almost every platform imaginable.

Including at least one Mega Man Zero game is probably fine. I realize there's the collection version on DS, but it also has very little in the way of enhancements. The only definitive part of it is that it includes all four of them, which to be fair may be enough.

[Exhuminator]

Objectively speaking, the best GBA Castlevania is Aria.

Don't know about that my man.

If you are talking from a purely numerical standpoint, Circle Of The Moon holds an 88.11% review aggregate on GameRankings and a 91 on Metacritic. Whereas Aria Of Sorrow holds an 87.90% on GameRankings and a 91 on Metacritic. So based on reviews alone, Circle slightly nudges Aria out of the way. If only just barely.

It's true that Aria has higher production values, an adventurous atmosphere, and more gentle game design. I think that's why most people prefer it. However, Circle with its darker palette, tougher gameplay, and macabre atmosphere is more true to the series' soul. I for one enjoyed actually being challenged in Circle, whereas I blew through Aria's joke ass difficulty in a day. I enjoyed all three Castlevanias on the GBA, but Circle Of The Moon reigns supreme.

[Sarge]

Well, to play devil's Dracula's advocate, a lot of the review scores were astoundingly high for Circle of the Moon because people were floored by anything resembling Symphony of the Night in portable form. And I was one of them! My ideal game would take aspects from all three of the GBA entries. All of them have merits in their favor. I still think that Aria is the sort of ur-example of that genre on GBA, even if I have quibbles about it, too.

You're also right that it's really easy. But then, Symphony of the Night is also ridiculously easy, so I'm not sure that's a negative point.

[Exhuminator]

But then, Symphony of the Night is also ridiculously easy, so I'm not sure that's a negative point.

Without an additional Playstation Castlevania also created in the "metroidvania" style yet having challenging difficulty, it's hard to know.

What would you say are Aria's defining merits that rise it above Circle or Harmony?

[Sarge]

Without an additional Playstation Castlevania also created in the "metroidvania" style yet having challenging difficulty, it's hard to know.

What would you say are Aria's defining merits that rise it above Circle or Harmony?

I guess the fact that it just feels a bit more like Symphony than the others. It plays buttery smooth, it looks fantastic, it actually sounds really good, and the soul system allowed for a lot of experimentation without being as restrictive as the DSS mechanic in Circle. Harmony is regarded by most to be the worst, although I certainly enjoyed it. The music is pretty bad, and a lot say the level design is pretty haphazard. Circle is a little tough and relies on some pretty low drop rates for some of the cards to get through effectively. Not that I ran into that problem, because I played the mess out of it back in the day. (Seriously, I played through the base game and every single alternate mode the game had!) Some probably also hold up the fact that Iga wasn't involved, but I don't hold that against it.

Personally, I think they're all fantastic in different ways. I loved the dash in Harmony, and janky music be darned, they do some really interesting stuff in there compositionally. Circle had its flaws, but you're absolutely right that it was really challenging, and getting the "Shinning" Armor was tough!

I do have some knocks on Aria, though. The aforementioned difficulty is one, and it's also really short compared to the others. At least that's what my save times say.

[Exhuminator]

Maybe Aria felt the smallest because it was a breeze to play through? Though I thought Harmony felt the shortest, because to me it was even easier than Aria. If Aria had a more serious/darker tone and was harder, it would nudge out Circle for me. I think I'm just a fan of Igarashi in general. I mean he came back to produce Ecclesia and it's my favorite in the DS trilogy. All of the GBA and DS entries are great though (with the exception of Portrait), so we're really just splitting hairs here. Man if another "metroidvania" styled Castlevania came out for 3DS, I'd buy that immediately.

[jmbarnes101]

The Castlevania double pack is the best Castlevania game available on the GBA.

[Sarge]

The Castlevania double pack is the best Castlevania game available on the GBA.

True. That's how I've got those two.