This Week In Retro: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (Patreon)

May 6, 2003: Just let your soul glo

by Diamond Feit

At the dawn of the 21st century, Konami’s Castlevania series of video games had found itself a comfortable, predictable pattern. The franchise was approaching its 20th anniversary and, whether presented in 2D or 3D, on home consoles or handhelds, players had come to expect certain features as a given. Each new Castlevania adventure would star a vampire hunter, they would fight their way through Dracula’s castle, and eventually destroy the Count before escaping and watching his chaotic abode crumble into dust.

Beginning with the 2001 debut of the Game Boy Advance, Castlevania made a second home for itself on Nintendo’s latest portable device; Konami released Circle of the Moon as a launch title, then followed with Harmony of Dissonance the following year. Both of these titles sought to carry the torch of the transformative 1997 PlayStation game Symphony of the Night which reimaged the series as an exploration-heavy quasi-RPG instead of as a linear arcade-style action experience. While Konami continued to experiment with converting the franchise into the third-dimension on home consoles, these handheld versions remained 2D games featuring colorful sprites.

We know Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance both sold well enough for Konami to keep the Castlevania factory open, but neither title truly clicked with fans. The first game starred two apprentice vampire hunters, neither one a member of the series’ celebrated Belmont family, and the magical system depended too heavily on random drops. The second gave us dashing Juste Belmont—literally, the man could move—but the castle layout and boss designs disappointed.

Series producer Koji Igarashi took the criticism levied at Circle and Harmony to heart as he and his team designed what would become the series’ third game in as many years. Against all odds, he made subtle yet formative changes to the Castlevania formula, pushing the aging franchise in a bold new direction and delivering one of the most beloved Metroidvanias to this day.

To begin the tale of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, we should start with its hero, Soma Cruz. After years of whip-wielding Belmonts and other expert vampire hunters taking charge of the series, Soma Cruz stands out by his very nature: He is merely a teenage boy with no knowledge of combat, magic, or slaying the undead. The game kicks off with Soma in Japan where he lives as a student, walking up the long steps of the Hakuba Shrine; the only thing he expects to see at the top of this staircase is a traditional torii gate.

While opening the game in Japan already served as a deviation from series norms, Aria of Sorrow also takes place in the future, specifically the year 2035. Again, the events of every previous Castlevania game occurred in the distant past, with Bloodlines being the most “recent” entry as it transpired during World War I, a mere 75 years prior to its 1994 release.

The future setting carries extra relevance shortly after the game begins, as Soma along with his friend Mina pass out during a solar eclipse at the shrine and awaken inside a strange European-style castle. Attacked by monsters, Soma defends himself with a pocket knife only to discover he can absorb the souls of the castle’s inhabitants, with each one granting him new powers. He learns that the castle belonged to the famed vampire Count Dracula before he was destroyed in the year 1999 and his lair sealed away inside an eclipse; Soma has no choice but to explore the mysterious structure and find out who its new master might be in order to escape with Mina back to Japan.

The narrative of Aria of Sorrow does not rank highly on the complexity scale in the annals of vampire fiction, but compared to most Castlevania games, this chain of events qualifies as a major shake-up. The threat of Dracula had been a constant since the series began in 1986, as he never fully succumbed to death and routinely found a way to return to our world time and again. Yet Aria of Sorrow presents his defeat in 1999 as permanent, making Dracula canonically deceased, and none of the characters roaming the castle halls in the game expresses any interest in resurrecting him. On the contrary, they suggest he might already be walking amongst them in another form.

Soma's new-found abilities directly impact gameplay and represent a significant change from past Castlevania titles. Whenever Soma eliminates an enemy, he has a chance of drawing its essence into his body, empowering him in some fashion or another. Each monster's soul has a unique quality, but they fall into three distinct categories. Bullet souls launch an attack, replacing the subweapons of previous games in the series. Guardian souls offer a continuous effect, one that drains Soma's magic meter over time while active. The remaining souls offer passive abilities that do not require activation, such as improving Soma's stats or producing odd effects like turning spoiled food into a healing item instead of a hazard.

As mentioned above, Soma only carries a pocket knife when he awakens in Dracula's former home, so he must find new weapons as he searches the castle. These range from typical fantasy fare like swords, spears, and hammers, to more modern equipment such as a handgun. He never finds a whip, but another adventurer inside the castle has that field covered (more on that later).

With three equipment slots and three soul slots, Soma's potential inventory arrangements number in the thousands, offering players a wide variety of character builds. Aria of Sorrow is not a particularly long game, lacking a second castle to explore like in Symphony of the Night or Harmony of Dissonance, but the soul collecting and deeply customizable combat encourages players to play and replay the game. Aria even includes a New Game+ option, allowing players who finish the story to restart from the beginning with all their equipment and resources intact.

Should players have their fill of grinding for souls with Soma, a second, more traditional option exists in Julius Belmont. A supporting character in the main game, Julius is the latest in a long line of vampire hunters, relying on the legendary family whip and an assortment of subweapons as seen in many previous Castlevania games. Anyone who completes Aria of Sorrow with Soma can enjoy a distinct experience by choosing Julius, for while the castle and monsters remain the same, Julius moves and attacks completely differently than his teenage ally.

Koji Igarashi also took great strides to make Aria of Sorrow sound as good as it looked, hiring famed composer Michiru Yamane, her first return to the series since her groundbreaking work on Symphony of the Night. Circle of the Moon relied heavily on remixes for its soundtrack, while Harmony of Dissonance had a heavy chiptune sound akin to the original Game Boy which put off a lot of people. Aria of Sorrow managed to thread the needle by offering a slew of original compositions featuring sampled instruments that give each tune its own mood and feel. In a franchise known for good music, Aria of Sorrow's soundtrack signaled a return to form (those of you listening to the audio version of this column know exactly what I mean by now).

Two decades later, fan opinions remain split on Circle of the Moon and Harmony of Dissonance; some swear by the first and deride the second, while others feel the exact opposite. Yet Aria of Sorrow has a sterling reputation with nary a dissenter to be found. Critics welcomed the game as a refreshing change of pace, lauding it as not only the best portable Castlevania title, but naming it as one of the top games in the series. IGN went even further, highlighting Aria of Sorrow as the second-best game on the Game Boy Advance.

Even as I fervently defend Harmony of Dissonance to anyone and everyone within earshot, I freely admit that Aria of Sorrow blew me away when I tried it. Konami saw fit to package the two games together on a single cartridge which is how I first played them back-to-back on my Nintendo DS. It was a one-two punch that reminded me how much I loved Symphony of the Night and 2D games that gave me a world to explore—even if that world is just a spooky castle, it's enthralling to take a journey into a hostile space and tame it one room at a time.

While I was already seeking to complete my degree when I played Aria of Sorrow, I doubt I had any notion my future would involve buying a home in Japan. Yet 20 years after its original release, here I stand, much closer to the year 2035 than 2003. At this point it seems like a safe bet that I'll still be here to gaze up at that solar eclipse—a very real event according to astronomers. Given the popularity of Castlevania in general and Aria of Sorrow in particular, I have to wonder if shrines around Japan will be overrun by cosplayers that day.

Perhaps I will be among them.

Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but is forever online, sharing idle thoughts about video games, films, and dessert.