Board 8 > Castlevania Advance Collection gets another rating in Taiwan

(+) Yeah! (+)

CotM also has a really bad map and incredibly uninspiring abilities

and even with help, a ton of the DSS cards are still in stupid spots
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ninkendo posted...

and thankfully this collection has those indicators when an enemy can drop a card so it's not as frustrating as it used to be

Wait, are there changes to the actual games in this collection, besides the inclusion of the Load/Rewind things?

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it's more an overlay that's part of the emulator they're using

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What are the things that are added to this collection that weren't in the original games?

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Save States, Rewind and CotM at least has an indicator pop up when an enemy can drop a card.

I don't know yet if the other games have something similar like for collecting all the enemy souls in Aria.

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Yeah I always thought the DSS card system was cool, but a little too grindy / required too much research. But calling them "cards" makes the abilities more fun for some reason.

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OK, finished Aria, 99.1%, 3 hrs 57 mins. Wow, that was so fun. Hadn't played all the way through since the late 2000s probably, I pretty much always dive for the DS games when I need a metroidvania fix.

What I had forgotten about Aria compared to the DS games though, is, there's really no annoying side stuff getting in the way in Aria. It's just go go go, uncover the map and win. OoE has the villager quests, PoR has that ghost's quests, DoS has all the crafting required to get your favorite weapons.

Another thing I forgot, is how fun the Claimh Solais is to use. I remember it being fun, but god you can just seriously stomp the back 25% of that game if you remember where to go get it.

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th3l3fty posted...

CotM also has a really bad map and incredibly uninspiring abilities

and even with help, a ton of the DSS cards are still in stupid spots

Nah, I think the map isn't as bad as, say, HoD's.
You're right about some of the cards, though. Here's another spoiler: when you go to revisit some areas later, and there are stronger monsters around again, check the whole area.

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I havne't bothered to check, but is the DSS glitch still in there to let you use any card combination immediately as soon as you have 1 top card and 1 bottom card

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Yes

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Epyo posted...

Another thing I forgot, is how fun the Claimh Solais is to use. I remember it being fun, but god you can just seriously stomp the back 25% of that game if you remember where to go get it.

It also helps that 90% of the enemies is weak to Holy.


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I wasn't going to say it, but thankfully Polygon did

https://www.polygon.com/22692213/castlevania-advance-collection-aria-of-sorrow-symphony-night-release-circle-moon-konami

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accurate polygon article, can't remember the last one of those I saw

i don't see a lot of polygon articles

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ninkendo posted...

I wasn't going to say it, but thankfully Polygon did

https://www.polygon.com/22692213/castlevania-advance-collection-aria-of-sorrow-symphony-night-release-circle-moon-konami

The article made a ton of comparisons of Aria to other Castlevania games, but there isn't a single mention of Dawn of Sorrow...which is my favorite Castlevania game. As someone who hasn't played Aria, I'm worried it will feel like a downgrade of DoS.

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Well, it is a downgrade of DoS

Every game is
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I would say the things Aria has over Dawn is the art style, the castle design, and no forced touch screen puzzles.

Dawn has the edge in graphics sound and gameplay though which I guess is where it actually counts

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I always gave Aria the edge in my heart for enjoying the story

like ofc the game is very minimal on storytelling, but what's there does give the game and its characters a bit more that sticks with you

ofc playing Dawn first will uh spoil that for you though

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Yeah story also goes to Aria, which is already ruined for those who already played Dawn first

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I missed this but the official trailer Konami put out for Advance Collection is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5KIHngxiBk&ab_channel=Konami

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Oh wow you weren't kidding

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amazing

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I approve of that trailer. Someone was having a ton of fun making that.

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The announcer sounds kinda like Mr Lobo from Cinema Insomnia, I can't tell if it's him or just someone mimicking the same sound

Wow they really should've put that trailer into the Direct, it would've been super memorable and fun.

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TomNook posted...

The article made a ton of comparisons of Aria to other Castlevania games, but there isn't a single mention of Dawn of Sorrow...which is my favorite Castlevania game. As someone who hasn't played Aria, I'm worried it will feel like a downgrade of DoS.

That's exactly how it feels and why personally it would be DoS > SotN > Aria.

Maybe if I played Aria first. But yeah, honestly I thought Harmony was basically just as good when I played them back to back. Maybe I'll feel differently now.

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I'm thinking Aria > Dawn because of story but also because I really do hate that weapon crafting system in Dawn. IIRC you kinda stop finding good weapons and instead you gotta grind out some souls to get better ones, maybe even having to google what you need.

Then again, I also just played Aria so that might be benefitting.

Dawn does have some cool areas, IIRC I loved the tower on the right hand side of the castle.

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I didn't mind the weapon stuff in Dawn because it's purely optional. The game is not hard to beat even with weapons that you just find.
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I don't remember how you get it, but that weapon that's just like a circular boomerang you can throw while moving was the absolute best and once I got that I stopped caring about new weapons.

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I just didn't like Dawn bc I couldn't finish it

Those stupid touchscreen puzzles to kill the bosses never worked right for me, I got to a point where I KO'd the boss like 6 times but I just couldn't draw the seal and I eventually lost.

Hopefully when they make a DS collection there's an option to turn them off

So with the Castlevania Anniversary and Advance Collections, the only 2D Castlevanias that are not on modern compilations are the DS games, Symphony of the Night, and Rondo of Blood (the PCEngine and PSP versions), yes? I wonder if Konami will package those all together or try to milk two more games out of them.

SotN and Rondo got their own separate collection, but it was only on PS4

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ninkendo posted...

SotN and Rondo got their own separate collection, but it was only on PS4

Which is why despite the fact that I wouldve preferred to play the other collections on Switch I bought them on PS4, to have them all together.

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ninkendo posted...

SotN and Rondo got their own separate collection, but it was only on PS4

Ah, I see. It looks like they are essentially just ROMs of the PSP release, so it makes sense that it's a PlayStation exclusive.

ChainLTTP posted...

So with the Castlevania Anniversary and Advance Collections, the only 2D Castlevanias that are not on modern compilations are the DS games, Symphony of the Night, and Rondo of Blood (the PCEngine and PSP versions), yes? I wonder if Konami will package those all together or try to milk two more games out of them.

Vampire Killer (MSX)
Castlevania (X68000) (the best 2D Castlevania), and its updated PS1 version, Castlevania Chronicles
Castlevania Legends (Game Boy)

Haunted Castle is on the Konami Arcade Collection that came out at the same time as the Castlevania and Contra Collections but they could release it again

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That Polygon article is kind of terrible. Not because they're wrong that Aria has advantages over the other two GBA games or Symphony of the Night but because those are pretty soft targets and they failed to even acknowledge the DS games exist.

It's the equivalent of arguing that one of the NSMB games is the best 2-D Mario by comparing it to Mario 1 and the Mario Land games.

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WazzupGenius00 posted...

Castlevania Legends (Game Boy)

Oh hey this is the one I already own!

Surprised this was not in the anniversary collection

Also WTF this is going for $900 complete? Jesus

Oh also, Castlevania Adventure Rebirth (Wii)
and I guess Castlevania Harmony of Despair technically but that would probably be a stand-alone rerelease rather than be in a collection

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Don't forget Castlevania: Order of Shadows for Java phones!

WazzupGenius00 posted...

Haunted Castle is on the Konami Arcade Collection that came out at the same time as the Castlevania and Contra Collections but they could release it again

It also has it's own stand alone release

https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/arcade-archives-haunted-castle-switch/

Still better off getting the Arcade Collection cause extra games.

MrGreenonion posted...

Don't forget Castlevania: Order of Shadows for Java phones!

Don't forget Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night!

https://castlevania.fandom.com/wiki/Castlevania_Puzzle:_Encore_of_the_Night

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Arcade Archives version gives you all variants of the game (as all ACA titles do) while the Collection only gives you the version for your region. The US version of Hainted Castle is horribly balanced, designed to instantly take your money

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