Castlevania is one of the longest running and most beloved series of adventure games that have been around for going on fifteen years now! Castlevania is the story of the never-ending struggle between good and evil between Count Dracula and generations of the vampire-hunting clan known as the Belmonts. The series has spanned several systems, from the NES onward. Almost every installment has been considered a classic, though Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (AKA SOTN) for PSX is widely considered to be one of the best games of the series. There were two Castlevania games for N64 too, which took the franchise to 3D, though unfortunately not as smoothly as many had hoped.

Konami seemed willing to make a third attempt at Castlevania in 3D, this time on Dreamcast… Unfortunately, for whatever reason, development on the project was discontinued—perhaps they couldn’t get it right. Although Mario and Zelda made a successful transition to the third-dimension, attempts with Castlevania seemed to do the 2D originals injustice.

Old-school gamers will be delighted to hear that the next Castlevania game returns the series to its 2D roots. Maybe we’ll get lucky and Konami will put some genuine effort into making a decent 3D Castlevania for GameCube but in the meantime, we’ll have to happily settle for Castlevania: Circle of the Moon scheduled to launch with the Game Boy Advance in Japan on March, 21st as Akumajou Dracula: Circle of the Moon. With an all new story on an all new system, Circle of the Moon is shaping up to be a fantastic looking Castlevania that you’ll be able to take any where.

The game opens with Camilla, a masked witch who has appeared in other Castlevania games, summoning Dracula back from the dead. Once resurrected, Dracula resumes his reign of terror from his fabled lair, Castlevania. Two heroes must rise to face the lord of darkness and return him to oblivion.

Initially, there are two characters selectable, Nathan Graves and Hugh Baldwin. Presumably there are differences between the two characters, the specifics of which are as of yet unknown. Nevertheless, these boys have one big thing in common: both were trained by a master vampire hunter (someone who goes by the name Belmont maybe?).

Along with the usual chore of breaking into the evil castle and killing the big, bad Dracula, you must also work to save your mentor, who has been kidnapped by the evil vampire. There is some indication that the captured Belmont may be a playable character to unlock as well.

Another cool feature is that the name of every enemy you attack is displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. This is reminiscent of a similar feature in Castlevania: SOTN, where the names of creatures you fought would be recorded in the Librarian’s book, each accompanied by a brief description. This small touch went a long way in providing atmosphere into the game and its nice to see its return. Overall though, Circle of the Moon seems to have less RPG elements of SOTN and focuses on the action-packed platforming of old. Let’s hope there’s still some cool puzzles to solve…

Naturally, your primary weapon is the standard ol’ leather whip. Luckily, various cards found throughout the game can be used to upgrade your whip. Presumably, the nature of the cards will affect the type of power you receive, so it will be interesting to see what types of cards will be in the game. From the screens we’ve glimpsed so far, one of the cards seems to grant you the power of flame.

Along with the tried and true whip are an assortment of familiar power-ups such as the boomerang and axe. There are also variety of moves that can be executed, including a slide and a double jump. Using the R button, you can also do super high jumps straight up, or execute front kicks to keep undead at bay.

The levels are dark, gothic and downright creepy. Set within the haunted castle, Castlevania-veterans will feel right at home. Each level seems to hold a number of branching paths, which would encourage re-visiting areas to explore uncharted territory. This is quite similar to the “Metroid” type approach seen in Symphony of the Night. Fortunately, you can easily check a map hitting start, which reveals the numerous locales you might have missed as you travel throughout the castle.

Set to launch alongside the GBA in Japan, there’s no word yet on a US release. We think Circle of the Moon will almost certainly be among the GBA’s US launch titles too, or will appear shortly thereafter. Till then, be sure to stack up on garlic and wooden crosses!