Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Akumajo Dracula: Circle of the Moon in Japan
Release: June 2001
System: Game Boy Advance

Castlevania Adventure
Legend of Dracula in Japan
Released: 1989

Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge
Legend of Dracula II in Japan
Released: 1991

Castlevania Legends
Legend of Dracula: Dark Night Prelude in Japan
Released: 1998

Oh, look. Our little Game Boy is all grown up! Who would have thought that up against school yard bullies like the TurboExpress, Sega Game Gear, and even the Atari Lynx, our little greyscale portable would grow up to be so big and strong. Well, no doubt, it's because he ate his vegetables - and because Konami developed three Castlevania games for the system: Adventure, Belmont's Revenge, and Legends.

Only two of the three Game Boy carts continued the Belmont storyline. In Belmont's Revenge, you are Christopher Belmont out to save your son Solieyu. In Legends, you play the very first Belmont, Sonia. In Adventure, you went after Dracula; no Belmonts in this one. These games are small, mostly due to the Game Boy's memory limitations, but they looked great and play well, even if they were incredibly difficult.

In Castlevania Adventure, you traveled through a forest, a cave, a tower of traps, and Dracula's Castle, jumping on ledges and climbing on ropes. It was really short, but maddeningly difficult, especially with all the giant eyeballs that roll at you in level 2. Along the way, you battled a mecha knight, a mole, human bat, and Drac.

Castlevania II Belmont's Revenge had you battle through four castles - air, rock, crystal, and planet - in any order, dodging knights, bats, and something that threw daggers and looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. Once you finished all four castles, you enter Dracula's lair. In the end, Christopher and Solieyu looked on as a castle crumbles.

There were five stages in Castlevania Legends; six if you counted the secret stage. You, as Sonia, traveled through a forest, a library, a clock tower (yes, another clock tower), the inner halls, and Draculas's cave. The secret level split off from the cave. Standard fare for bosses, except Alucard appeared in the inner halls to, perhaps, test Sonia fighting capabilities before she battled Dracula. (Remember, Alucard is Dracula's forgotten son who helped Trevor in Castlevania III.)

The Game Boy Castlevanias, while popular, were quite difficult. The most apparent problems were slow and unresponsive jumping and uneven collision detection. In some portions of Castlevania Adventure, for instance, you had to put nearly your whole body over the edge of some platforms before you could jump to others safely. In Castlevania Legends, it sometimes seemed like molasses stuck Sonia to the floor. You pressed the button - then jumped. Not good for timing.

The question is: Did many Game Boys survive the frustration? Only our landfills know for sure.