That old rascal Dracula is at it again.  He’s causing havoc and only one man can stop him: Nathan!  This is in the new style of Castlevania with you leveling up, collecting items, and exploring.  New in this iteration is the card system with different combinations giving you buffs to help you on your mission.  Along the way you’ll battle all sorts of enemies and bosses while trying not to get lost.  Eventually you’ll stumble upon upgrades to help you traverse the world.  It’s a pretty beefy game for the Game Boy Advance but that is what the system really was known for!

Visuals:

I’m kind of torn with the way it looks.  The images are super crisp and the world looks amazing.  The sprites are little, for the most part, but that’s to help make the environment huge.  The thing that irks me the most is the animation.  Nathan moves so stiffly and with like three frames of animation.  The enemies are nicely varied and different with each one of them being annoying and unique in their own rights.  It’s a solid visual experience and fits in the new style of Castlevania.

Audio:

I love the way everything sounds.  The music and sounds throughout the game is just an experience for your earholes.  It does get a little repetitive with the way enemies die but that’s only because you’re killing them over and over again.  But the music sets the bar super high and it’s nothing short of a masterpiece.

Completion:

I’m working on it!  I’ve been playing it for about an hour every night and I’m working my way through the castle.  Nathan has been upgraded quite a bit and I’m able to move around much faster.  I’m also stronger so enemies really don’t hold a candle to me.  I’m not a fan of traversing the castle because I’m having to go from one opposite end to the other while battling weak enemies who do nothing but impede my speed.  I’m loving the vibe though and I can’t wait to see where it takes me!

Update: 04/10/2026

I FINISHED THIS GAME! It was a pretty good Castlevania game but the combat was fucking horrible. It’s been a while since I played one of these so I wasn’t used to having to be more deliberate with your attacks. Nathan attacks SO SLOW so every time I was trying to get my final hit in, I’d get knocked back and fall off a platform. It was quite annoying. Regardless, it was a hell of a game!

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Link is back in another adventure throughout Hyrule.  Only this time he has the ability to shrink down into the world of the Picori.  These beings inhabit random spaces throughout the world which allow you to see parts of the environment in pretty interesting ways.  The story kicks off with a nice little festival celebrating these beings only for it to turn dire when an evil sorcerer turns Zelda into stone.  It’s up to you to try to lift the curse and defeat Vaati to restore peace to Hyrule in this nice little handheld romp that plays like the old 2D Zelda’s of yore.

Visuals:

Minish Cap is a nice blend of the artstyle that was famously hated in Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker for the Nintendo GameCube with the universally loved way that Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System looks.  The worlds are highly detailed with all the characters having that Wind Waker type charm to them.  I will admit Link looks a little weird as his sprite looks like he’s wearing a sleeveless shirt but that could just be my colorblindness.  I do love how everything looks in this world with it being a nice blend between the normal and macro levels of view.  You’ll see flowers the size of buildings and puddles being massive uncrossable lakes.  Nintendo did a real treat with Minish Cap.

Audio:

Minish Cap brings some of the best music the Zelda franchise can muster.  The happy go lucky tracks of the Picori festival and the Hyrule Overworld are some of the best of the game.  That’s not to say nothing else is memorable.  There’s just too many to list with all of the dungeons being amazing.  I love also hearing Link’s Wind Waker-esque grunts and yells.  Always brings a chuckle to me.  I just wish the Game Boy Advance’s audio was better because all the digitized samples are just low quality and scratchy.  Oh well!

Completion:

I FINISHED THIS GAME!  It had been one of the games I wish I finished, or even had, when the GBA was the system to have but I never got around to it.  I think at the time I was just done with 2D games but in hindsight I was just silly.  This game is truly a joy to play and see all the way through.  It’s not very short either so it totally brings a full experience to the handheld.  What a game!

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It’s bad chess for the Game Boy Advance. It’s slow and the controls are terrible.

Visuals:

It’s bad chess for the Game Boy Advance. The board looks like something from the Atari 2600.

Audio:

It’s bad chess for the Game Boy Advance. It makes a horrible noise when you make a bad move.

Completion:

It’s bad chess for the Game Boy Advance. I lost completely on my first game.

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