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Castlevania: Circle of the Moon gba Game Reviews
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Critic Score
Metascore: 92 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.5 out of 10
based on 21 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 15 votes
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Rate this game

The evil Count Dracula has been resurrected and unless you can stop him, evil will reign supreme. As the heroic Nathan Graves, players do battle with the Count and his minions in an expansive variety of richly detailed environments. Grab your whip, grab a Game Boy Advance, and get ready to rid the world of evil once and for all. [Konami]

PUBLISHER: Konami
DEVELOPER: KCEK
GENRE(S): Adventure
PLAYERS: 1
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE: June 11, 2001

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
G4 TV
2D adventure gaming at its best.
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100
GamePro
Set against a myriad of beautifully rendered 2D environments, the detailed visuals convey a feeling of dread.
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100
Gaming Age
One of the best games of the year on any platform.
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100
GamePen
I loved Castlevania: Circle of the Moon, as I’ve loved every other Castlevania game. The gameplay, which is the most important factor in a game, is right on.
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96
Gamer's Pulse
This is by far the best Gameboy Advance game that I’ve played so far, and to top this would be a Herculean feat.
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96
GameSpot
Picks up where "Symphony of the Night" left off and stands out as one of the best portable adventures ever created.
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95
GamerWeb Nintendo
Circle of the Moon has truly broken new barriers in portable gaming, offering just plain, unadulterated fun in its purest form. This is the greatest use of silicon ever.
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95
Media and Games Online Network
With it's astounding gameplay and unbelievable fun factor, it's a game you won't want to put down, even when given it's slight graphic downfalls.
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95
Nintendophiles
The best GBA game so far, and it'll keep you busy for a long time.
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94
TotalGames.net
Despite being on a handheld, the visuals and music in the game really astound – they create just the right mood for a game about vampires and other nasty stuff.
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91
netjak
Outstanding musical splendor. The score, like the graphics, is a compliment to the game’s dark setting. The excellent sounds are loud and clear, and they don’t struggle to be heard.
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90
IGN
The world is huge, the boss creatures are massive in size and challenging to defeat. And the overall quest is extremely fulfilling.
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90
Hot Games
Features fun gameplay with more depth than you’ll find in most GameBoy games so far.
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90
GMR Magazine
A complex card system governs your special abilities. [Feb 2003, p.97]
90
Electric Playground
The patented pacing, mechanics and rewards of the adventure go down like a perfectly aged fine wine.
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90
All Game Guide
With the ability to store up to eight different quests, and a quest time that will require at least 12-15 hours to complete, fans are in for a genuine treat.
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84
My Gamer
An immensely entertaining game. For those gamers who crave classic side-scrolling action it provides a more than adequate fix.
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82
N-Insanity
Circle is a surprisingly deep game and certainly sets the bar for its descendant games.
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82
GameSpy
A deep, engrossing, RPG-platform amalgam that's also perfectly portable.
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80
GameCritics
The game was solid, addictive, and incredibly likable. However, in the greater scheme of things, Circle Of The Moon is a small step for the Game Boy Advance, and nowhere near a giant leap for videogames.
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70
Yahoo! Games
There's so much to have a go at and so much detail and addictive gameplay that fans of the series won't be disappointed - in fact you may just think that it's fang-tastic!
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

George S. gave it a10:
I was so excited about this game I bought a GBA right when they came out FOR this game. I wasn't even a big Castlevania fan UNTIL I played this. First Castlevania game I ever played and as far as I can tell (havent played all of them but ive played most) one of the best. Its a shame that Konami listened to people whining about the difficulty which resulted in the average pathetic difficult bright colored Harmony of Dissonance.

Squall gave it a10:
The difficulty was intense and rewarding. I loved the secret classes that you could unlock, much better than the secret characters in SOTN or HOD in my opinion. The spell system was awesome except for the fact that it is extremely hard to track down all of the cards. Music was brilliant and I was glad to hear remixes of popular tunes such as 'vampire killer.'

Mark B. gave it a9:
Very difficult game. Level of difficutly was just a bit too high and some of the features (The Summoning abilities with DSS) made the bosses too easy. Very good game otherwise. A hint to all players who play on magician mode. When you fall down that big hole in the start of the game, well, do that when you are level 50 and keep doing it while swingining you whip on the left side. There is an opening and when u find it, Roc Wing at the ceiling there. Another opening will appear. In this room, you have like five seconds to jump up into the room, run to the skeleton medalist and kill him in one hit. Kepp doing this until you get it and combine pluto and griffon to get faster speed. He will sometimes drop the bear ring. And if you put it on and use pluto and Black dog cards, you will find you turn into a cute fuzzywuzzy bear!

MP83 gave it a9:
One of the first GBA games that made me to buy myself a Gameboy Advance couple of years ago (I now own the SP version of it). Castlevania: Circle of the Moon is THAT good. =)

Jon H. gave it a10:
Another masterpiece Castlevania game, It plays so well on the gamebody advance.

Death gave it a 0:
This game is like hell!!! the graphics are not so good and the gameplay is..well..its no good,and who is Nathan Graves?and who are the Graves clan?what are their role with the belmonts??

Marc gave it a 9:
Dracula and the Belmonts...some of the most recognisable gaming icons in history. Thankfully...its fun too.

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