Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was released as a Game Boy Advance launch title. And developer Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe’s swan song, for the subsidiary was dissolved the following year. The game kicks off with the protagonist Nathan and his partners walking in on Camilla’s revival of Dracula. Their attempt to interrupt ends with mentor Morris being held as sacrifice as Nathan and Morris’ son, Hugh, plummet down a long shaft to the castle’s underground. The two rivals split up and the player takes control of the whip-wielding Nathan, who leisurely strolls and whips his way past bomb-throwing skeletons fire-spitting bone heads. That is, until you locate the Dash Boots, so Nathan can finally start exploring in earnest.

Circle of the Moon aims to balance traditional Castlevania with Metroidvania-inspired exploration. In addition to your traditional sub-weapons it introduces the Dual Set-up System (DSS). Combining two cards, dropped by enemies, results in a magic enhancement. Sadly, it’s poorly implemented. It relies heavily on RNG with low drop-rates and no hints as to which enemy could potentially drop what card. I finished with only half the cards but also with 23 Leather Armors, which served no purpose as there’s no means to exchange redundant items for money or, say, cards. The game also ramps up its difficulty fast in the second half of the game, mostly by throwing hordes of evolved (recoloured) enemies at you. Boss fights aren’t exactly the cherry on each area’s cake, either. Half of them float around, sparsely animated, firing off projectiles while you dodge and facepalm for losing the Cross sub-weapon yet again.

Conclusion: Circle of the Moon offers a solid but uninspired Castlevania experience. Some unfortunate choices in its design leaves a lot of potential untapped and it might’ve been a great entry in the series with a little more budget (and perhaps love) from Konami’s headquarters.