Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was the Game Boy Advance’s most ambitious launch game. It was also virtually unplayable on the original GBA, but by no fault of its own. The game’s dark color palette and small (but detailed) sprites paired with the system’s lack of a backlight meant that, even in an ideal lighting situation, players were left straining their eyes at this otherwise beautiful game. While the GBA SP and the Game Boy Player did make the game more playable back in the day, the Wii U Virtual Console version brings it to modern day. Circle of the Moon has the distinction of being the second post-Symphony game in the series, but did not involve series stalwart Koji Igarashi. Despite that, it is arguably better than the Igarashi-produced Harmony of Dissonance. The environments are interesting and well-rendered, and character sprites are lovingly crafted. This is a slower-moving Castlevania game than most, but the large map is very Metroidvania in design—hero Nathan Graves can travel around the castle at will, though he’ll need equipment won from boss fights to really get around.

There is a clear focus on finding HP, MP, and Heart upgrades. They are literally everywhere, though most require some degree of backtracking. Enemies drop a variety of loot, including better armor and “Duel Set-up System” cards—this game’s magic system. The cards are split into two sets, and equipping a card from each one gives Nathan a shield, elemental attack, summon, buff, etc. Half the fun of this game is finding new card combinations and figuring out their effects (there’s no shame in consulting a FAQ).

The game does not actually look great on your TV, even with pixel smoothing. It’s much more enjoyable on the GamePad with some headphones. Save states are nice, especially when you’re about to be confronted by the game’s most irritating boss (Zombie Dragons).

Overall, this is a fairly standard Metroidvania game. It’s gorgeous, but the music is understated and largely forgettable. Some areas go on too long, and the castle’s warp points are unevenly distributed. Circle of the Moon features an interesting reward system—beating the game unlocks a new game type where your stats are remixed and you have all the magic cards. Beat it under those conditions to unlock another new game type...and so on. There are five unique remixes, and the last one is purely for masochists.

I’ve always liked Circle. It’s not the best post-Symphony Castlevania by any means, but it’s definitely one that every lover of the Metroid-style design should play.