Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a critically acclaimed Metroidvania game developed and published by Konami in 2003 for the GameBoy Advance. Led by producer Koji Igarashi and featuring music by Michiru Yamane, the game introduces protagonist Soma Cruz in a futuristic setting. As a potential vessel of Dracula’s reincarnation, Soma battles dark forces to prevent the resurrection of the undead lord. Aria of Sorrow received universal acclaim for its visuals, gameplay, music, and level design, with some considering it the best Castlevania game since Symphony of the Night.

Pros:

Do you like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and wished there was another game almost just like it in the Castlevania franchise? Well, do I have a game for you! Seriously, the best way to describe this game is the spiritual sequel to SotN. Even though it’s for the Gameboy Advanced even its graphics are relatively comparable to SotN and the music is pretty banging too, most of the time. Pretty much everything that I love about SotN is true in this game, minus the few things mentioned below, but what’s really awesome about this game and different compared to SotN is that it has this cool “Tactical Soul System” in which when you kill pretty much any bad guy, there is a small change you will absorb some kind of power up that you can then use. This creates thousands of different attack options and combinations that you can use as you see fit throughout the game. They also do a great job of incentivizing this system as some of these power-ups you have to collect in order to unlock parts of the game, alternate endings, etc. This also creates a kind of “gotta catch them all” collecting drive throughout the game, though some of the souls are notoriously difficult to get and thus make some aspects of this game a bit too grindy for my taste.

Cons:

Heads up, this game does not flip and let you go to 200(.5)%, it’s also a bit limited when it comes to its alternate endings, but these issues are only if you are set constantly comparing it to SotN which is understandable given it’s a blatant copy of it. However, If you take into account that this is all packed into a Gameboy Advanced game these limitations are not only understandable, but personally I find the fact that they still managed to get so much makes it actually really impressive. The Tactical Soul System at the being of the game is so expansive and involved that it made it a bit daunting for me at the start of the game, but once I commit to the classic Metroidvania format of the game I quickly learn to not only enjoy it but loved the dynamic that it brought to the game. The dialog in this game is frankly atrocious, and some of the music that comes up with it is really bad too, the worst in the game in my opinion, but as you can tell I am being really nitpicky here, so that should give you a good indication that this game really doesn’t have many problems with it.

Best Gameboy Advanced Game?

Sadly I do not have a very extensive library of Gameboy Advanced games, so send them my way if you got them, but out of all of the ones that I have and out of all of the reviews I have seen, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is easily in the running for Best Gameboy Advanced game ever. I think anyone who has really played and enjoyed this game would agree with this fact, though where you might exactly place it in that “best of” list, I think that will actually depend more on your preferences in which types of games you generally like. In other words, if you like this type of Metroidvania game, it will be at the top of your list. you might even consider it as one of the best Castlevania games ever made too, only second to SotN of course. In my list of limited Gameboy Advanced games, I would say it is for sure my favorite, at least this far.