06 Jun 2002
06 Jun 2002 - Game Boy Advance
16 Oct 2014 - Wii U
19 Feb 2015 - Wii U
Nearly fifty years has past since Simon Belmont rescued the land from the curse of Dracula. Now, Simon's descendant Juste Belmont, must acquire the relics of Dracula to unravel the disappearance of his childhood friend Lydie. The castle's enchanting mysteries and danger await all those who dare enter.
Juste meets Maxim at a castle where Lydie is being held captive; after a brief talk, he leaves Maxim outside and begins to explore the castle. Within the castle, Juste encounters Death, who confirms that the castle is Dracula's. He then meets up with a dazed Maxim, whose memory is slowly returning to him, and they split up to cover more ground. While trekking through the castle, Juste notices that the castle sometimes has different atmospheres. He continues to encounter Maxim, but is baffled by how his friend seems to change personalities periodically. Regardless, in one of their meetings, Maxim reveals that he went on a journey to find and destroy the remains of Dracula, something Simon Belmont had previously done, but when he collected all six, his memory went blank. Juste encounters Death again, who explains that the castle has been split in two "layers" to accommodate the two spirits living in Maxim's body: his original spirit and an evil one created from Dracula's remains and his suppressed jealousy of Juste. Maxim later confirms this and admits to being Lydie's kidnapper. Juste meets his friend again in the other layer of the castle where he reveals that he lost his memory to protect Lydie. He then gives Juste his bracelet to help him locate her in the castle. However, when Juste finds her, Death kidnaps her to use her blood as a means to unite the two castles by destroying Maxim's spirit. Juste defeats Death, and proceeds to search for Maxim. Along the way, he accumulates Dracula's remains, which are scattered throughout the castle. In the center of the castle, he finds Maxim with an unconscious Lydie. Three endings exist. In the first, Maxim, possessed, has already bitten Lydie. With Maxim's defeat, Juste escapes the collapsing castle alone and curses his inability to save either friend. In the second, Maxim struggles against the possession and urges Juste to kill him. In his final moments, he thanks Juste for killing him and reveals that he had wished to save him from his fate as a Belmont. Outside the castle, Lydie awakens, unharmed, and tells Juste not to blame himself for Maxim's death. The third ending begins the same as the first, except that, during the fight, Maxim notices that Juste wore his bracelet and resists the possession. Dracula flees into a weakened form using the gathered remains and fights Juste, planning to use his blood to return himself to full power. Vanquishing him, Juste escapes the castle together with Maxim and Lydie, whose bite marks disappear by the time she regains consciousness. Outside the castle, the three resolve to return home.
Audio | Subtitles | Interface | |
---|---|---|---|
Japanese | ✓ | ||
English | ✓ |
This entry has some of the most complex metroivenia maps i ve seen , with 2 alternative maps that changes the aesthetics , loots and enemies in each section which is kind of crazy considering the age of this game , but sadly it suffered heavily cause of this , mainly the boss quality has gone down a lot , not only the game is way easier and streamlined compared to it contemporaries , but also the boss designs and move sets are pretty limited , and visually they look and move like the earlier bosses of the other games , even final bosses which was a disappointment imo .
On a positive note the game ditched the DSS system from Circle moon for a more fun one , DSS was too unbalanced imo , relying on luck to get special attack and bonuses with some of them trivilazing the bosses . The sub weapon/Elemental books system is a far more balanced system imo , in addition to that all special combination are feasible , bit reliant on rng and farming , you just to have to explore the map thoroughly and find the books .
Story wise it is as classical as it can get , with the bad , neutral and good endings respectively . Some soundtracks are nice and all bit they are nowhere near as memorable as it predecessor let alone it successor .
In conclusion , another solid addition to my metroivenia record 7/10