This game has some of the worst numbers you'll ever see.
Circle of the Moon isn't a bad game, and there's a lot that this very early GBA game gets right. The music, even among people who loathe the game, is commonly praised. The graphical direction in this game wasn't tailored for the GBA in the way that future entries would lead towards, but it also means that it's aged better visually than other game that rely on a saturated color pallet to make up for the GBA's lack of backlight. The plot isn't connected to the Belmont clan's exploits, but I see that as more of a strength than something worth condemning the game for. Castlevania lore shouldn't be sacrosanct, and the new characters fit well into the setting. The card system was a cool idea on paper, and one that's critical enough to your progress to where you won't want to ignore it. The map design isn't as complex as SOTM, but there were still interesting setpieces and plenty of Metroidvania games would come after with worse map design. As other reviews have pointed out, this was a B-team production, and there's enough high quality elements to COTM that I didn't even realize that was the case until 15+ years after I first played this game.
This game's numbers take all of that praise and toss it right into the trash for most people. The card system, something that should have allowed for player expression in how they wanted to overcome puzzles/combat challenges fails because of how low the drop rates for these cards are. It's not just that you have to grind for them aimlessly without a guide, the drop rates are way too low. The game's balanced around the card system, ignoring it makes most fights more of a slog than they already could be. They could have adjusted drop rates to what they'd be in future Castlevania games, or made it so they're nice additions to the game but aren't required to progress, both of which could be accomplished by messing around with a few numbers in a hex editor. The most I've ever enjoyed the card system was when I used an action replay as a kid to give myself all the cards, and exploring each of the effects was a lot of fun.
Movement in this game isn't bad, but it is too sluggish even with the dash/backdash feature. Again, tweak a few numbers and have the player move twice as fast by default, and you don't have to adjust anything about the core design of the game to rectify the issue of having to lug this white haired sloth around the castle.
Enemies in this game deal entirely too much damage and sponge damage, even with card support. It's not that the enemy/boss patterns feel that out of place with the rest of the series, even if further GBA games would improve upon them. The final boss fight with Dracula would be really fun, if bursts of high damage weren't constant. You can mostly keep that fight in tact, just tweak some health and damage values and the final fight goes from a low point in the series to a decent little challenge.
Beartank is playable in this game. Even as a novelty, he's worse than easier to get novelties. Nobody's done Beartank runs of this game because you deal so little damage that it isn't fun. You could have a new (and superior) way to play COTM if killing everything with Beartank didn't take twice as long as a default Nathan. Up his damage and make it so he doesn't die in one hit. When I think of "tanks" and "bears", getting one shot does not cross my mind at all.
Even with all of these issues, I still thought the overall experience was decent, there's still enough going on with this game (especially compared to other GBA platforms) to where I didn't feel like I wasted my time. That being said, if you want to give the game a go, on romhacking.net there are two patches, one that adds an auto-dash feature, and one that places cards around the castle in predetermined locations. I'm not sure if the two of them can be combined, but either would go far to relieve some of this game's headaches.
Circle of the Moon isn't a bad game, and there's a lot that this very early GBA game gets right. The music, even among people who loathe the game, is commonly praised. The graphical direction in this game wasn't tailored for the GBA in the way that future entries would lead towards, but it also means that it's aged better visually than other game that rely on a saturated color pallet to make up for the GBA's lack of backlight. The plot isn't connected to the Belmont clan's exploits, but I see that as more of a strength than something worth condemning the game for. Castlevania lore shouldn't be sacrosanct, and the new characters fit well into the setting. The card system was a cool idea on paper, and one that's critical enough to your progress to where you won't want to ignore it. The map design isn't as complex as SOTM, but there were still interesting setpieces and plenty of Metroidvania games would come after with worse map design. As other reviews have pointed out, this was a B-team production, and there's enough high quality elements to COTM that I didn't even realize that was the case until 15+ years after I first played this game.
This game's numbers take all of that praise and toss it right into the trash for most people. The card system, something that should have allowed for player expression in how they wanted to overcome puzzles/combat challenges fails because of how low the drop rates for these cards are. It's not just that you have to grind for them aimlessly without a guide, the drop rates are way too low. The game's balanced around the card system, ignoring it makes most fights more of a slog than they already could be. They could have adjusted drop rates to what they'd be in future Castlevania games, or made it so they're nice additions to the game but aren't required to progress, both of which could be accomplished by messing around with a few numbers in a hex editor. The most I've ever enjoyed the card system was when I used an action replay as a kid to give myself all the cards, and exploring each of the effects was a lot of fun.
Movement in this game isn't bad, but it is too sluggish even with the dash/backdash feature. Again, tweak a few numbers and have the player move twice as fast by default, and you don't have to adjust anything about the core design of the game to rectify the issue of having to lug this white haired sloth around the castle.
Enemies in this game deal entirely too much damage and sponge damage, even with card support. It's not that the enemy/boss patterns feel that out of place with the rest of the series, even if further GBA games would improve upon them. The final boss fight with Dracula would be really fun, if bursts of high damage weren't constant. You can mostly keep that fight in tact, just tweak some health and damage values and the final fight goes from a low point in the series to a decent little challenge.
Beartank is playable in this game. Even as a novelty, he's worse than easier to get novelties. Nobody's done Beartank runs of this game because you deal so little damage that it isn't fun. You could have a new (and superior) way to play COTM if killing everything with Beartank didn't take twice as long as a default Nathan. Up his damage and make it so he doesn't die in one hit. When I think of "tanks" and "bears", getting one shot does not cross my mind at all.
Even with all of these issues, I still thought the overall experience was decent, there's still enough going on with this game (especially compared to other GBA platforms) to where I didn't feel like I wasted my time. That being said, if you want to give the game a go, on romhacking.net there are two patches, one that adds an auto-dash feature, and one that places cards around the castle in predetermined locations. I'm not sure if the two of them can be combined, but either would go far to relieve some of this game's headaches.