Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance

In this screenshot, the player character (center) casts a magical attack by combining the dagger and the Summoning Tome.

Harmony of Dissonance makes use of a 2D side-scrolling style of gameplay, similar to many of the previous Castlevania video games.[5] The objective of the game is to lead the player character, Juste Belmont, through the monster-filled castle as he searches for his kidnapped friend.[5] The castle consists of two "layers": Castle A and B. Structurally, each castle has mostly the same room layout, but monster types, items, and other aspects vary between the two versions. Later, the player can use special warp rooms that can teleport Juste to other castle rooms and between castles.[6] The two castles share a connection; for example, the destruction of a wall in one castle can cause a change in the other.[6] The game further divides the castle into various, named areas: the Shrine of the Apostates, for example.[6] Relics and keys found within the castle allow Juste to reach previously inaccessible areas.[7][8] Harmony of Dissonance makes use of the forward dash move, which causes Juste to move forward with a short burst of speed.[9] Unique to Harmony of Dissonance is the ability to collect furniture and collectables to furnish a bare room that Juste finds in the castle.[10]

Juste primarily attacks at close quarters using the series' traditional whip weapon, the Vampire Killer. It can be brandished to deflect projectile attacks, reminiscent of Simon Belmont's usage of the weapon in Super Castlevania IV.[11] A variety of ranged sub-weapons—holy water, a dagger, a holy book, a cross, a gem, an axe, and a thunder gauntlet—are available, one of which can be carried at any given time and combined with one of the five spell books—Fire Book, Ice Book, Bolt Book, Wind Book, and the Summoning Tome[12]—hidden throughout the castle to create a magical attack.[7] Casting a spell renders the player character invincible for a moment.[6]

Harmony of Dissonance makes use of role-playing elements.[13] Defeating minor enemies and bosses procure experience points for Juste, who levels up when statistical requirements are met.[6] Leveling up increases his statistics: hit points, the amount of damage the character receives before dying; magic points, which affects how often he can cast a magical attack; strength, the power of the physical attack; defense, the reduction of damage taken from an enemy; intelligence, the strength of the magical attack; and luck, which determines the rate of items dropped by enemies.[6] Certain relics affect his statistics: the Fang of Vlad increases his defense points, for example.[14] Equipment in the form of weapon modifications, armor and accessories can be found scattered about the castle and contribute to his statistics.[11] Occasionally, an enemy drops an item after being killed.[6] Items can be bought with in-game money from a merchant who appears in various places throughout the castle.[6]

Additional modes can be unlocked in the game. For Boss Rush Mode, the player is required to complete the game once and can fight the bosses from the game in order with the number of bosses depending on the level of difficulty selected.[6] Maxim Mode requires the player to finish the game with the best ending and allows the player to take control of Maxim. Unlike Juste, Maxim cannot equip items and can only use his sword and giant shuriken (sub-weapon) as weapons. Maxim has the ability to triple jump and cast certain spells by inputting certain button combinations.[6] Finishing with the best ending also unlocks an option to listen to the music of the game.[6]

Produced by Koji Igarashi and developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is the second installment of Konami's Castlevania video game series for the Game Boy Advance (GBA).[32] Its predecessor Castlevania: Circle of the Moon had been developed by a different studio, Konami Computer Entertainment Kobe.[3] Igarashi began the game's development with the intention of making an installment of the series for GBA that shared similarities with Symphony of the Night (1997).[3] Ayami Kojima, who had previously worked on the character designs for Symphony of the Night, designed the characters of Harmony of Dissonance.[33]

Harmony of Dissonance incorporates other changes: a fusion-spell system replaced the dual-card system introduced in Circle of the Moon, and the graphics were brightened and controls improved.[3] In production at the same time was Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (2003), and as a result, the two share similar programming engines and gameplay elements.[34]

Originally slated for a mid-June release,[11] Harmony of Dissonance was not released until September 2002.[37] It was released in Japan on June 6, 2002, in North America on September 16, 2002, and in Europe on October 11, 2002.[38] In the United States, about 126,000 units of Harmony of Dissonance were sold,[4] and in Japan, it was not considered a "huge hit" by Igarashi.[3]

Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance was re-released in North America in January 2006, along with Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, as part of Castlevania Double Pack. Both games are contained on a single GBA Game Pak. This pack appeared in Europe later that year. It was picked as the IGN Game Boy Game of the Month for January 2006.[39] It was published on the Wii U Virtual Console on October 16, 2014, in North America.[40]

Metacritic assigned it a score of 87 of 100[42] while GameRankings gave it an 84%.[41]

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave the game a 31 out of 40.[43] At the time of its release, Harmony of Dissonance received positive reviews from English-language critics. GameSpot commended it as "not just a fine Castlevania game—it's also one of the better Game Boy Advance games to come around in a while".[5] GameSpy stated: "Despite its unevenness, Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance is a quality adventure that represents the best attempt yet made at miniaturizing the brilliance of Symphony of the Night."[46] While worrying about the loss of originality of the franchise and noting that "Harmony of Dissonance almost obsessively copies Symphony of the Night", GamePro called it "a fun action game and a fine Castlevania game in its own right."[45] The improved graphics of Harmony of Dissonance, especially the backgrounds, 3D effects, and multi-jointed bosses, received praise from reviewers, who called them "plentiful and visually stunning",[5] and "top-notch".[9][45] It was a runner-up for GameSpot's 2002 "Best Graphics on Game Boy Advance" award.[48] During the 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Harmony of Dissonance for "Handheld Game of the Year", which was ultimately awarded to Metroid Fusion.[49]

The soundtrack of the game was less well received. Critics panned the music as "easily the worst Castlevania soundtrack"[46] and "muddy, plodding, and reminiscent of the days of four-channel NES soundtracks".[45] Conversely, GameSpot found that the music was "decent" and occasionally "fitting or even catchy", but failed to live up to the high expectations of the series.[5] The publication later nominated the game for its annual "Most Disappointing Game on Game Boy Advance" award, citing the music.[48] IGN felt that while not "quite as bad as importers have made it out to be", the songs "aren't nearly as nice as they have been in past Castlevania adventures."[9] Reviewers also disliked the lack of difficulty with GamePro describing it as the game's "biggest flaw".[45][46] Other criticism included predictable and easy boss battles,[5] and "a much smaller explorable area and somewhat less compelling map design".[46]

Retrospective reviews, however, have been more critical of the game. Considering Harmony of Dissonance "one of the more disappointing titles of the series"[50] and "the least-impressive of the three GBA titles,"[32] retrospective critics cited the dull castle design and frequent switching between castle layers as some of the game's biggest flaws.[32][50] PALGN's David Low criticized the inclusion of the "possessed ally" element from previous Castlevania titles along with the game's easier gameplay, the player character's badly animated sprite, and the occasionally gaudy environments.[50] Looking back on the series, Mark Bozon of IGN concluded: "Still Harmony of Dissonance shows off some decent visuals as an in-between, mid-generation game, and paved the way for GBA's strongest Castlevania title, Aria of Sorrow."[32] Game Informer's Tim Turi meanwhile felt that its design was among Castlevania's best despite having among the worst music in the series.[51]

• Official website (in Japanese)