For all the gamers out there who played Konami's breathtaking Castlevania SOTN on PS one, will feel right at home with Circle of the Moon. The differance between Nathan and SOTN's cool hero Alucard is that Nathan uses a whip not a sword. Konami may have opted to have his default weapon as a whip for nostalgic purposes. You can gain levels and buy weapons giving the game a rpg flavor, and yes there even is some story too. The most important and newest addition are the DSS cards. DSS cards are cards that add abilities Nathan and his weapons, they are hard to find especially the better ones. As a matter of fact DSS cards can either make or break your success against the game's many challenging bosses. My complaint is that later on in the game there are so many useless cards. Not any real reason to bitch but hey its just that Konami wasted their own time.

When a game looks this good a nice view would help but we all should know that the GBA needs to played with a back light. The graphics themself are really detailed, no 3D FX here just good old fashion 2D detail. The enemies and Nathan animate well and everything from the enemies and backgrounds are crystal clear. Too bad Castlevania has always been about dark, notorious settings and unfortunately they are here so seeing with is hard as hell. Countless times I died because I couldn't see, but its my fault for being too damn cheap and not investing in a back light. Oh and the sound is a plus as well, heck its even worth it to play with a nice pair of headphones. The music is moody and adds a touch, even some SOTN tunes are included just redone in a midi style instead of the symphony style of the PS one classic. The sound effects are crisp, ranging from the howls of wolves, to the echoing of Nathan's grunts, and the sound of bells, waterfalls, and wind all have clarity that is beyond beleif.

Here is the best part of this gem, the longetivity it has making it an ideal game to buy. There are lots of hidden weapons, techniques, and locations and it all rolls on for more than 30 hours, beating playstation 2 games like Onimusha, The Bouncer, and Zone of the Enders. The bosses are fun to take on, once again finding tactics to beat the bosses is a must. I felt like 10 years old again, the magical sparkle in my eyes once again shimmered as I screamed in frustration at losing against a boss 12 times and then being so ecstatic by defeating it. I then made it a habit to take this game to work with me, not even with a thought of well would I look like a complete dork playing Game Boy, even if it is "Advance". If you want to expirience a feeling like I did, that old school-gaming feel, then by all means buy a GBA first(No we are not forcing you to buy one beacause we get commissions for each GBA that sells) and then pick this sucker up. It has enough pull to suck you up and never let you go, perhaps I might consider this as the best handheld game ever........wait there is always Tetris, but you know what I am trying to bring across right??? Rating=9.5