Castlevania Sound Team - Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003)

Composer: Castlevania Sound Team [Soshiro Hokkai, Michiru Yamane, Takashi Yoshida, Masahiko Kimura and Yuka Watanabe]

Console: GBA

Game Release Date: 2003-05-06

Soundtrack Release Date: 2019-04-24

Runtime: 2:19:16, 58 Tracks

Here's another paid one although it won't be available for long. This is an official soundtrack made available on Google Play Music for only $8.49. I say it won't be available because in December this year GPM will be ending in favour of YouTube Music. From what I understand this means Google will no longer have any service to purchase music on. This only leaves a handful of DRM-free high quality music purchasing sites (others being Bandcamp, eMusic, Qobuz and 7Digital). iTunes also exists but the quality sucks compared to those, plus you have to deal with Apple's annoying format. The quality is also only like 256kbps. 320 is much better. Really sucks because GPM has tons of stuff only available elsewhere on iTunes. But enough of lack of DRM-free options. 

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow is one of the GBA/NDS metroidvanias and 3rd game in the series (in front of Harmony 1, Circle and Symphony). It is the most futuristic Castlevania game set in the year 2035. In the game you play as Soma Cruz. On the eve of the solar eclipse, he and his childhood friend Mina are visiting a shrine in Japan. As they watch the eclipse they are pulled in it and awake in the courtyard of some Castle. A mysterious agent, Arikado is waiting for them. He defends Soma from a horde of creatures. One manages to sleep by and almost attack Mina but Soma slays it. He then gets some strange power from the slain creature. Mina faints. 

Arikado explains to Soma that they are in Dracula's Castle. In 1999 after the last Belmont slew Dracula his powers and castle were sealed in the eclipse. He tells Soma he needs to get to the throne room to escape the castle and that absorbed the enemies soul and now has its powers. He will stay back and watch Mina. And with that Soma ventures into the castle, ready to save his friend and find some answers. 

I played this game a LOT when I was much younger. Aria of Sorrow is one of the best Castlevania games ever made. I would even put it up against the hailed Symphony of the Night. This whole 'series' of  metroidvania games (Symphony → Circle → Harmony 1 → Aria → Dawn → Portrait → Order → Harmony 2 → Grimoire) has to be one of the best runs in video games of all time. I'm still hoping they one day adapt the sequel to Dawn of Sorrow. Let's get back on topic though. 

The game is typical metroidvania stuff. You play as Soma Cruz, go around the castle obtaining new abilities, weapons, meeting people, backtracking, finding secrets, fight epic bosses and imaginative enemies and build an arsenal of weaponized souls, swords, guns, armor, accessories and more. 

It was released only on the GBA but it made full use of the platform. Aside from a great story with several different endings, the castle came chock full of secrets, tons of weapons and over a hundred different enemy types. There was so much here. I remember playing it for hours and hours collecting everything. There's also the souls gimmick where every enemy in the game has a unique ability which can do anything from stopping time to being able to consume rotten food. There's even boss rush modes and several different playable characters just to switch things up. I never found the game really difficult but I did consult walkthroughs to solve some puzzles (such as the door mouth and how to kill an iron golem) but I never found it too difficult. The castle has tons of variety from an entire colosseum to space-bending gardens to an entire chaos dimension where the map does not exist. I can't think of anything I had issues with in the game. If I knew where the cartridge was I'd pop it in and see how far as got but as I recall I did beat the game. I may have also gotten all the souls and best boss rush rewards but I cannot recall right now. I always found the Claimh Solais and the Laser Gun to be the coolest things ever. The Claimh Solais is like the RYNO/Moonlight Sword of the Castlevania series. Sucks it's not in more games.

I replayed it for a second time back in 2017 with the recently released randomizer for the game. It randomized item locations, enemy souls and Hammer's shop. It completely re-vitalized the game for me. Went for a full soul run. Took me about 15 hours. It was hilarious seeing things like ghosts having Death's soul and finding a handgun really early. It also forced me to do the area order differently. I found the Puppet Master soul where I should have found double jump forcing me to go to the Marble Gallery instead of that area above the start. Earlier this year I let my sister do a run of the randomizer. It was her second Castlevania game she ever played (Portrait being the first). If you are looking for a fun metroidvania to get lost in I would 100% recommend this one. I've played Symphony and it was quite good but I enjoyed Aria way more. 

The music was excellent. It was lo-bit 16-bit music..if that makes any sense. It's hard to pin down a genre as it has its own sound. I'd say it's a little like tracker-made dungeon synth with Japanese folk influences? It's hard to say. Really lo-fi stuff. My favourite track has got to be the Forbidden Area. It's almost like a hip hop beat the way it makes use of the drums. It's a great reward for managing to find the Forbidden Area. 

On digital storefronts the release is credited to the Castlevania Sound Team. On RYM it is credited to Soshiro Hokkai, Michiru Yamane, Takashi Yoshida, Masahiko Kimura and Yuka Watanabe. I'm not 100% who composed what track. That info is in the 2006 CD release which I do not have scans of. All those composers were employees and Konami. Michiru Yamane is the most famous of the credited list. He was the man who composed the soundtrack for Symphony of the Night, the most defining Castlevania game. 

As far as I know this soundtrack can only be purchased digitally on GPM (320kbps), iTunes (256kbps) so the time to obtain this legally is running out. Hopefully it is just a misunderstanding on my part and it's just the GPM streaming wing that's getting shut down but we will see. 

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Castlevania_Sound_Team_Castlevania_Akatsuki_no_Min?id=B3lmtsltmriyk7vw7vrpojrr7ji

Bonus / Aria of Sorrow Randomizer: https://github.com/abyssonym/aos_rando