Castlevania: Circle of the Moon

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon (commonly abbreviated CotM) was created by Konami for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance system. The game was released in 2001 and is the first Castlevania game for Game Boy Advance. This game is called Akumaj&#333; Dracula: Circle of the Moon in Japan, and simply Castlevania in Europe (albeit the American name has become a standard when referring to the game). It was the last game in the franchise to bear the "Akumajō Dracula" title, as subsequent entries adopted the "Castlevania" name, even in Japan (this continued until Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow).

Storyline
The year is 1830. At an old Austrian castle, the worshippers of Chaos were attempting to revive the Lord of Darkness, Count Dracula. The Vampire Hunter Morris Baldwin and his apprentices, Nathan Graves and Hugh Baldwin, heard of this and headed to Castlevania to stop Count Dracula from coming back to life and uniting the powers of darkness. However, they arrived a few seconds too late since Camilla, a minion of Count Dracula, had already started the rite to revive her master.

In order for Dracula to regain his former power, he would need to wait until the full moon ritual was completed. Before the group could fight Dracula and seal him again, Dracula destroyed the floor under Nathan and Hugh, causing them to plummet down a long shaft leaving Morris alone with Dracula and Camilla. Fortunately, Nathan and Hugh survived the fall. Hugh runs off to save his father after telling Nathan to get out of the castle. Nathan decided not to, as he wanted to rescue his mentor more than anything. He then explores the large castle, fighting Dracula's minions along the way.

He eventually arrives at the ceremonial room and attempts to vanquish Dracula and save his master from being sacrificed as a part of the dark ritual. While he was fighting Dracula, Hugh freed Morris and together they escaped the castle, leaving Nathan to fight Dracula alone. He succeeds in beating Dracula and his ultimate form. Before he was sealed, Dracula stated "It is a wasted effort. I will never be truly gone. So long as there is darkness and desire in the soul of man. I will continue to be revived". Nathan replied, "And we will be there to stop you. You can bet on that". Dracula dies and the castle crumbles. Nathan then leaves to continue his training with Morris and Hugh.

Note: The storyline from Castlevania: Circle of the Moon has been retroactively removed from the official Castlevania'' timeline. For more information on the removal see the Castlevania Timeline article.''

Main characters

 * Nathan Graves
 * Hugh Baldwin
 * Morris Baldwin
 * Dracula
 * Camilla

Gameplay
The gameplay in Circle of the Moon is similar to that of other post-Symphony of the Night Castlevania titles, in which the player must explore a gigantic castle filled with undead enemies and evil aberrations in a non-linear fashion. Generic enemies defeated by the player drop useful items and equipment, and also provide Experience points which increase the player character's power. Boss enemies provide plot progression, and their defeat allows the player to acquire new abilities such as a double-jump with which to progress further in the game.

The game is based around the classic Castlevania action style. The main character, Nathan, uses a whip to attack the enemies, alongside the classic side weapons: Axe, Cross, Holy Water, Knife and Stopwatch. One of these sub-weapons may be carried at any time by the player, draining a supply of "Hearts" when used. In addition, the player may boost their character's statistics through equipping items such as armour. These statistics are Strength, which determines physical attack power, Defense, which determines resilience to damage, Intelligence, which determines potency of magic and the Magic Point (MP) recovery speed, and Luck, which modifies the frequency with which items are dropped by enemies.

One of the game's distinguishing aspects is its DSS (Dual Set-up System) for magic, based around magic cards. This gameplay mechanic allows the player to unleash several interesting abilities via a combination of two different magic cards: one Action card and one Attribute card. For example, the player can combine the "Mercury Card" (Action card with the power of [whip] enhancement) with the "Salamander Card" (Attribute card with the power of fire), obtaining a fire elemental whip attack as a result. Each of these cards is dropped by certain enemies, with a probability based on the player character's "luck" statistic, thus adding another search element. Use of DSS cards drains the player's supply of MP.

The Battle Arena
The Battle Arena is an optional bonus area in the castle, consisting of 17 rooms. Each room contains a selection of standard enemies which must be defeated for the player to exit, however the Dual Step-Up System (DSS) is unavailable, with the player's MP dropping to zero as soon as they enter the Arena. Each room contains a tougher selection of enemies than the last. While completing the Arena as a whole is a stiff challenge, the player can leave the Arena between certain rooms, making the area ideal for gaining Experience.

When the player is about to enter to the Battle Arena, the following text is displayed:

To step beyond will be to test your ability in the battle arena. ''Your Mind Power will be drained. You will not be able to use DSS.'' Once you enter, you will not be able to leave until all are defeated. Though, you may be rewarded for you efforts.

Completing the entire battle arena grants the player 291,582 experience points in total from enemies defeated, and the "Shinning armor" [sic], a body equipment that significantly increases the player's Strength, Defense, Intelligence, and Luck.

There are also two DSS cards which can only be gotten from enemies in the arena.

Music
The music of this game, often considered the best among the three Game Boy Advance Castlevania titles, consists of numerous remixes of tracks from earlier games, such as "Vampire Killer", "Aquarius" (from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse), and "The Trick Manor" a.k.a. "Clockwork Mansion" (derived from combining "Rotating Room" and "Spinning Tale" of Super Castlevania IV). Also included are some original pieces such as "Fate to Despair", "Awake", and "Proof of Blood". The soundtrack was prepared by Sotaro Tojima.