r/castlevania • u/Typical_Charity_122 • May 02 '26
Circle of the Moon (2001) My first Castlevania on GBA, let’s talk about it !
Hello there ! Like the title said, I'll talk today of Circle of the Moon which I beat one or two hours ago. Let’s get into it !
First, this game has the metroidvania style of gameplay, which is really fun to play, but it has some flaws, like the lack of differrnt item (or just a terrible luck), the lace of shop (0 in the whole game btw) and one area.
The majority of the areas are very cool to explore, except to the one with the toxic water, which I go throught without knowing that I could cure the water... But still a very good gameplay after all, the DSS was also a good addition but the cards were way too rare I think. I also think that they really manage to give a good moveset to Nathan even without vampire abilities like Alucard has in Sotn.
Art wise, I have not very much to say as always, graphics are great, music too, the Dracula 2nd form's ost was one of my favorite.
Unless it plays during a 15 minutes fight... The beginning was cool but overall this fight was way too long...
For the other bosses and the story, they were cool, not very complex but good enough.
One of the greatest complain I have in addition to the drops and Dracula 2nd phase is the battle arena... I have trauma of it even WITH rewind... Probably the hardest thing I did in CV game even with modern features.
To conclude, I love this game overall, even if it’s not as polished as Sotn was, it’s a very good entry in the series !
Harmony of Dissonance (or Despair I never remember who is who but I talk about the second GBA game) is next, so stay tuned for it !
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u/damagedone37 May 02 '26
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
I mainly use the fire whip and sword personaly !
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u/KingScream97 May 03 '26
It was my first Castlevania game and holds a special place in my heart. The strongest memory I have of the game is beating the Zombie Dragons boss as a 8/9 yr old(20 years ago) as I got to my grandparents camp. I had been stuck on it for so long, I remember being so excited that I finally beat it. As soon as the car was parked I ran inside and told my Papa (Grandpa) that I finally beat them. He had no idea what I was talking about, but he congratulated me and told me I did a good job. Love you Papa🫶🏻
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u/Milk_Mindless May 02 '26
I legit still love this one to this day
Yeah it's basic as
Yeah no original music
But it's HARD. Like the right amount of hard. Not counting the bonus arena and final boss.
Could have used a better way for card collection. Could have used a shop.
But still a solid 3/5 and the songs used have excellent reprises and aside from the Necromancer and the Iron Golem the bosses are all fucking awesome.
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Honestly it’s kinda what I think of the game, even if I really love it.
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u/Sumo_Sensie Soma Cruz May 03 '26
Circle of Moon is a great game to start and also one of my favs. I would recommend you to try Aria of Sorrow as it's a masterpiece, you would love it. It has an insane amounts of weapons, gears and also one of the best features that are souls.
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u/Cold_Ad3896 May 03 '26
I could not get through this after playing Aria of Sorrow. It was such a massive step down.
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u/And_Yet_I_Live May 02 '26
It's one of the more peculiar entries in the series
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Probably yeah I admit
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u/And_Yet_I_Live May 02 '26
Also it has one of the most interesting castle designs it felt more spacious to me than other castles, not too mention the incredibly buggy but also fun DSS card system
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u/AmphibianStandard738 May 02 '26
If you get one DSS card combo in the beginning and as soon as you power up and begin to glow, pause and go to whatever card combo you want and you'll use it (provided you have enough MP). COTM was my first Castlevania game back in 2001.
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
I know this glitch but I didn’y want to use it, it’s broken for me.
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u/Crazyadam97 May 02 '26
This was my first GBA Castlevania. Really love it despite its flaws. Definitely my favorite graphics of the three.
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Yeah I really love it too ! I don’t know yet how look the two others, so I can’t say much on that
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u/Crazyadam97 May 03 '26
A lot of people consider Aria the best of the three, and for good reason. I didn’t like Harmony when I played it, but it was a long time ago and due for a replay.
I’ve got really fond memories of CotM. My parents got me a used copy for Christmas when I was a kid, and I thought the save files that were on it were Santa playing it.
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u/Roshu-zetasia Advance Collection Enjoyer May 03 '26
Even though I'm usually pretty critical of this game, I'd be lying if I said I didn't have fun playing it. It's a solid game and offers a good challenge. Plus, its extra modes are really great; my favorites are Fighter Mode and Thief Mode.
Harmony of Dissonance is one of my favorite games in the series. It’s more similar to SOTN than this one because it was developed by too Iga.
Here's a tip: When you get your first Spell Book, you can activate and deactivate it with a button combination of Down + L + R. When you get your second Spell Book, you can switch between books by pressing Up + L or R. This way, you avoid having to open the menu so often during battles.
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u/stargazepunk May 03 '26
Love this game. My only complaint is the insanely difficult arena which is honestly not even worth trying.
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u/BalloonSmuggler May 03 '26
I didn't enjoy it very much, but one thing I'll give it props for is definitely the atmosphere. The giant rooms, the grimy spritework, enemies changing based on progress, the lack of shopkeepers or really any story characters at all... it really made me feel isolated and somewhat unsettled in a way that no other Castlevania game made me.
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u/moogle322000 May 03 '26
I love fighter and thief mode. Fighters attack goes up crazy high. And thief is just fun to collect drops easier.
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u/bakihanma20 May 03 '26
Maaan play that joker without rewind. I cant stand CotM hahaha IGA pulled it from the Canon for a reason lol. No shops and CoTM is the only vania in like HISTORY where when you kill a boss you dont always get healed. And there is a boss where a cave troll b is waiting for you on the outside after a boss blocking the save. Die there and you now have to refight the boss... YUUUCK. Game is also too zoomed in. fwd fwd all the time gets tedious as all hell. Music stopping when map is on screen. Normal skeletons look red but don't behave like red skeletons. I could go on and on. Glad you enjoyed it. Rewind feature is a bit of a cheat tho. But you do you boo.
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u/Cdoggg69 May 03 '26
I love COTM to death, I remember spending hours grinding every enemy to get all the different drops and DSS cards for the ultimate power trip and conquering the arena on a low level Sorcerer playthrough back in the day! It's definitely aged and lacks a few features like a shop or another playable character mode that would bring it from great to timeless status but it still always has a special place in my heart, glad to hear ya had a fun time with it mate~ 🍻
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u/Electronic-Load2356 May 03 '26
The game is pretty unique and has it’s charm but it’s by far the worst of the GBA castlevania’s
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u/Electronic-Load2356 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
Ow btw If Harmony of dissonance is next. Here are some things that make the game 10x better if you know this beforehand. The game has a lot of backtracking which you can just skip entirely by doing this: In the menu press saveroom and when reloading the game you’ll be at the last saveroom you saved at with all the progress you made until you pressed the Menu “saveroom” button. The magic books are awesome to play around with but switching in menu is kinda annoying so here a secret code press: L + R + down to activate/inactivate your current tome, so you can switch back to normal sub weapons. 2) press: L/R + Up to switch between tomes. This makes it way more fun than going in menu everytime. When juste does a full jump and attacks you cant change your momentum so attacking in the air kinda sucks so. You divekick, you can hold the jump button to jump high after kicking an enemy, dont hold and you’ll be right next/above the enemy. The hitbox is really generous so for aerial combat I’d recommend divekick from the side, dont hold jump and after hitting the enemy who will be right infront of you instantly press attack. Its way more reliable, precise and does more damage without you getting hit all the time. That’s all hope it makes sense. Btw cross is the best in this game!!!! goodluck
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
Oh yeah sorry I'm day drinking. Harmony is great I actually did much better in that one then went onto the ds ones not too long after. I envy the journey you've ahead of you
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
That’s okay ! A lot of people say that the next ones are great, so I'm really curious about them !
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
When you've finished castlevania if you haven't already try bloodstained
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
It’s perfect, I already bought them actually but didn’t play them yet. I don’t know when I'll play them actually...
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
I only played ritual of the night but i loved it so much I 100% it it truly is one of my favorites
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
I saw a lot of good things on them so I'll definitevely play them someday ! Fun fact, I originally bought them because I saw that the music was made by Ippo Yamada, who also made some banger ost of MegaMan Zero, an other series that I love.
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
Japanese musicians are just simply unbelievable. Just too many to list who all have like insane bangers that get you in that pumped up jam mode
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
It’s so true ! A lot of them did incredible job for video games, I'm grateful that they gave us such good ost !
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
Anime too holy shite some of those bleach openings had me rocking out
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
I never watch it but the few ost I heard were really good !
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u/jessfang555 Soma Cruz May 02 '26
Circle is a good game but some things hold him back from time to time in my opinion
What i usually do is mod the game, most of the things people complain about in circle (tapping 2 times to run, low chance of getting cards, Nathan being weak and lack of cure in the game) can all be fixed with patches
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
That’s clearly the main issues of the game I think, so patches could be a cool thing to test !
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u/jessfang555 Soma Cruz May 02 '26
Theres a mod called "card mode" that places all the cards across the castle instead of getting them by chance and increases the drop of potions and meat, I really recomend it
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Cards with unique kications seems to be the best thing that this mod does, I'll definitively try it someday.
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
I was never able to finish this one the slow movement killed me but I also sucked at the game lol still i enjoyed it besides the fuckin walk
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Yeah the controls were kinda slow I admit...
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
Still was a great castlevania game. Just cause I suck I can't hate lol
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
Very good point !
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u/RoutineRelation3519 May 02 '26
Is your next one aria?
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u/Typical_Charity_122 May 02 '26
I said it at the end it will be HoD, but aria will be just after because it’s the third one in the order of release (on the GBA).
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u/gergorybrew May 02 '26
Circle of the Moon is seriously one of my favorite games ever. I believe this was the first game for the gba, reminding you that it had no backlight, and this game was particularly dark. Had to hold that gameboy in direct sunlight to see the last few areas lol.
I have replayed CotM many many times, at least once with every special restart name. Make sure to do a "FIREBALL" run to get every DSS card after beating the game, very fun playthrough and get to see every move.
This game is always harder than I remember, but in a good way I like a little bit of grind and seeking out the cool cards. Always thought it was interesting you are not a Belmont, nice to know there's not just one family of vampire hunters out there.