Castlevania Double Pack review

[Misty]

So, a bit back I was browsing a large ROM site looking for various games, and I stumbled upon the newly released Castlevania Double Pack. Ever since my experience with Super Metroid, I'd been wanting to give Castlevania a spin, so I downloaded it and started playing. For those of you who don't know, the CVDP is a rerelease of Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow for the GBA.

Harmony of Dissonance: I played this first, and wow, the story is very impressive. Both games have multiple endings, but this game makes the best use of them. I was especially blown away when

Spoiler

I realized the dual-castle gimmick. I actually didn't think to go in that door behind Death, so I looked at the game map on GameFAQs, and I was like "WTF?". That was crazy.

The gameplay is good, although the weapon variation is a bit limited compared to AoS. There are a lot of bosses in this game and most of them are quite good. The music is pretty nice to listen to, though the boss themes are kind of weak, I think. On the plus side, it comes with some secret themes in the sound test, and Vampire Killer 2K2 is downright awesome.

Aria of Sorrow: Contrary to the above, the story here is good (until the true ending, which is awesome), but not "WHOAMG". On the other hand, the gameplay is better, mainly because of better bosses (though there are fewer of them) and the various weapons you can use (<3 the Whip Sword). I like the music here too, and right now I'm addicted to Heart of Fire, the theme that plays when you battle

Spoiler

Julius Belmont

. Also, the true final boss is a major WTF moment.

Overall, two great games, and now I'm going to have to play SOTN, and Dawn of Sorrow if I ever get a DS (or a good emulator comes out)...