Jefklaks Codex

“Guacaaameleeeeee! Super Turbo Championship Editiooonnn!” yells the narrator as I boot up the (enhanced edition of the) game. Woah. Even the title screen immediately makes it clear: this game is lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously, the complete opposite of other metroidvanias like Hollow Knight.

You enter the Castle Corridor with a knife, handed to you by Aluca—erm, right, Genya Arikado—who ushers you in, to “go to the throne room, all will be revealed”.

After finishing Hollow Knight, I rather fancied playing another metroidvania—one I actually, to my big shame, never really touched: the granddaddy of ‘vanias, Super Metroid.

I hope they get divorced. That’s my review, condensed into a single sentence. As much as I loved my deep dive into the world of Hallownest, as the end came near, I tried stopping playing three times.

One year later, Ritual of the Night is still unplayable on the Nintendo Switch. Numerous patches later, the game still stutters and crashes, with its most popular screen being the loading one. We're off to a great start here...

As the hunt continues, from Aria of Sorrow to the beginning of Castlevania’s appearance on the GBA, Circle of the Moon, I have the uneasy feeling that my whip offers less solace in this scarier version of the castle.

Calling Aria of Sorrow the best handheld Castlevania is quite a bold statement: they’re all great in their own way. But after replaying this again (and again…) I’ve made up my mind: it is the best Castlevania - period.

It’s been over 20 years since I last touched any of the Wario Land games. I vaguely remember them being one of the most exciting platformers I’ve ever played as a kid.

Castlevania games tend to pop up each year on Nintendo’s Handheld platform. The last entries: Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, followed the story of Soma, who mysteriously inherited Dracula’s dark abilities.