Awake (Piano Cover) - Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
0Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, known in Japan as Akumajō Dracula: Circle of the Moon (悪魔城ドラキュラ Circle of the Moon Akumajō Dorakyura Circle of the Moon?, lit. "Demon Castle Dracula: Circle of the Moon"), and simply as Castlevania in Europe, is an action-adventure platform game released for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance in 2001. The game was the first Castlevania game for the system. It was the last game in the franchise to bear the classic "Akumajō Dracula" title in Japan until Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow was released. Subsequent entries also adopted the "Castlevania" moniker.
Trivia
This is the only Game Boy Advance installment in the series where Dracula physically appears (not counting his reincarnation Soma Cruz or the Classic NES Series port for the original Castlevania).
This is also the only Castlevania GBA game whose title doesn't have any relationship with music.
The Dual Set-Up System contains a glitch that can be exploited to make use of cards not yet possessed by the player: When activating a card combination, the player must pause the game, go to the DSS screen, and switch to any desired cards. The player will then be able to cast the magical effects from the cards that should have been on the selected positions on the deck.
Unlike other "metroidvania" series, the INT value only affects MP regeneration rate, but not magical damage, which is only scaled with STR value.
There is a known sequence break in this game which allows the player to visit an advanced area they were not supposed to visit yet. After beating Adramelech, it is possible to go straight to the Underground Waterway, even before the water has been cleansed. On regular mode, it is possible to survive the Underground Waterway through judicious use of dash and double-jump, spending as little time in the water as possible and dodging every enemy. On Magician mode, this can be accomplished with assistance of the Pluto + Unicorn DSS cards; and on other modes, the Jupiter + Thunderbird combination can be used to reduce water damage. The main benefit from completing this area early is that the player will be able to obtain the Roc Wing near the end, which pretty much allows to explore all the remaining areas of the castle.
Some players have unknowingly done this, assuming that the Waterway was just a particularly difficult part of the game.
All English versions require roughly 20% more EXP to gain levels, compared to the Japanese version.