Everyone always goes on about how amazing Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is, and with good reason. It’s a landmark game, a revolutionary title. Yet it’s not Aria of Sorrow, is it? Castlevania has had an extremely successful career on handheld systems like the Gameboy Advance, which many people would never expect due to how Konami only ever touts the console games for collections and rereleases. That’s seemingly about to change as a new leak is suggesting that something called the Castlevania Advance Collection is on the horizon. Although not officially announced, the source is a pretty good one.
According to the Australian Classification Board, those folks who despise all forms of blood and violence, Castlevania Advance Collection does indeed exist. The listing for the title doesn’t give much away beyond the fact that it’s earned an “M” rating for its themes and violence and that it is published by Konami. In terms of what games it would include, given the name we’re likely to see Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (2001), Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (2002) and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003). All of these games were released on the GBA and draw heavily from the exploratory elements of Symphony of the Night and, in some cases, handle the sprawling castle setting even better than the seminal PlayStation 1 classic.
The only other confirmed nugget of information is the fact that the Castlevania Advance Collection will be available for multiple platforms. Back in 2019, Konami released the Castlevania Anniversary Collection on a variety of platforms but didn’t include some of the best games in the series, including the aforementioned Symphony of the Night and its predecessor Rondo of Blood. It’s unlikely that this Advance Collection will feature these games either but when you have Aria of Sorrow, it doesn’t really matter.
Last Updated: June 21, 2021
