
This definitive Castlevania game remains a must-play 22 years later
One of the best Castlevania games of all time is officially 22 years old. No, I’m not talking about Symphony of the Night, though this one deserves just as much praise, with some considering it to be better than SotN. Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is a 2003 Game Boy Advance game, being the third from the series to appear on the platform, and it’s wild to me that in ten years, we’ll be in the same year the game takes place in. 2035 seemed so far away in 2003.
Not just a fantastic Castlevania game, Aria of Sorrow is one of the best GBA games , period, being the definitive Metroidvania experience for the platform. There are numerous reasons to compare it to Symphony of the Night, which also celebrated a huge milestone this year, and one of them is its initial release. Both games had a lackluster reception at launch, with Aria of Sorry shifting little more than 27k units in Japan in its first month, though its reception in the West was much larger, with 158k copies sold in the US for the same period.
If you’re not familiar with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, it offers something a bit different, taking place in the future rather than the past, which is a first for the franchise. Speaking of firsts, the Aria of Sorrow introduced the Tactical Soul System, an innovative feature that would go on to appear in some subsequent games.
Continue reading This definitive Castlevania game remains a must-play 22 years later
MORE FROM POCKET TACTICS: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night review , The history of Castlevania: Bloodlines