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} Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance (unremarkably abbreviated HoD) occurs as video game created by Konami for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance system. It was originally freed inside Japan in 2002 under the title Castlevania: Concerto of Midnight Sun (キャッスルヴァニア白夜の協奏曲 Castlevania: Hakuya there are no Kyōsōkyoku), & is a portion of the Castlevania series. Harmony of Dissonance is placed within 1748, and stars Juste Belmont, a member of the legendary Belmont family of vampire hunters.

Story
2 years before a back's beginning, Maxim Kischine left on a step by step instruction expedition sequentially to meet his self doubt when Juste Belmont was chosen across him to receive the legendary whip of the Belmont Clan, the Vampire Killer. 2 years late, Maxim returned from either his how to videos expedition, badly hurt & sustaining startling news: the childhood friend of Juste & Maxim per title of Lydie Erlanger had been kidnapped. Maxim got as well misused much of his memory of the cases of the retiring Two years. Notwithstanding, he was the cappella to lead Juste to the places of the disappearance, in which it found a castle that hadn't been there antecedently. Juste hurried into a castle when Maxim recuperated in the entry way, promising to join Juste late.

When a story unfolds, Juste discovers that Maxim, around his eagerness to prove himself, experienced attempted to emulate a actions of Simon Belmont; he had gathered Dracula's remains in an attempt to resurrect a Dark Count, then that he may kill Dracula himself. Something went wrong, & Maxim himself was possessed per spirit of Dracula. Caring this, Juste placed bent on collect a remains himself & so that he can kill the babies sequentially to save two Maxim and Lydie.

When securing Lydie & a remains, Juste again confronts Maxim, world health organization has once more been overcome by Dracula's spirit. Fallowing Juste defeats Maxim, Dracula seizes a chance to escape Maxim's system & reform himself. Juste manages to kill a Count within battle, however forgoing Dracula's dark pressence, a castle begins to crumble. Juste, Lydie & Maxim escape using their passes.

Gameplay
Gameplay in Harmony of Dissonance followsA model established in the series' "reinvention" sustaining a release of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. In spite of appearance a game occurs as 2nd action-RPG by having level project according to similar lesson to the Metroid series. A streaming video player collects newly devices & skills by researching a bet on's castle setting & fighting progressively mighty enemies & bosses, leading as much as a climactic encounter using the castle's master.

Defeating kid enemies & bosses may procure personal experience points for Juste, & he may level higher, around traditional RPG fashion, when a technical indicator requirements come met. On occasion, Juste may defeat an enemy, & it might develop the placed of armor for Juste's chest, arms, legs, or even face. Devices can too exist as witnessed scattered astir around corners of the castle. These things may contribute to the independent character's stats, like his attack power, & wizardly power.

a streaming video player may too benefit a utilize of whip add-ons, like a Charge Whip, which releases a blast of energy whilst the attack button is held down for a long period, so freed.

Juste primarily attacks at close quarters using the series' traditional whip weapon, a Vampire Killer, which can be brandished to deflect projectile attacks, redolent of Simon Belmont's usage of the weapon in the Extremely Nintendo game, Super Castlevania 4. The kind of ranged sub-weapons come available, one of which may be carried at any given instance. Applying a sub-weapon drains the streaming video player's supply of "Hearts", available by great lamps & candlabras encountered in the castle. When there is there is no hearts come left, a sub-weapon might no hanker exist as utilized.

HoD distinguishes its gameplay from either that of its predecessors across the recently charming patterns, which is displayed super likewise in the 2003 release of the PlayStation 2 game, Castlevania: Lament of Innocence. Various spell books come hidden throughout a castle, & combining any one by owning any of a sub-weapons may provide the streaming video player sustaining a recently wizardly attack far supplementary potent than the sub-weapon itself. This drains the separate stock index of Magic Points (MP).

Unique to Harmony, likewise, is the addition of the dash move. By pressing either of the shoulder buttons on the Game Boy Advance, Juste will either dash send on or even feebleminded by using the short burst of speed. A move is mostly designed for the streaming video player to apply while encountering enemies world health organization uses speedy attacks.

Juste may as well, prefer Symphony of the Nighttime, benefit certain Relics through exploration of the Castle's areas, which will help him to email antecedently unobtainable areas, & too benefit freshly moves to add to his repertoire; an lesson one is the Griffin's Wing, which allows Juste to utilize a extr-go for it that Alucard uses in Symphony of the Nighttime, so letting a streaming video player to shell high drop & shelf.

---- ~Spell Books

---- Fire Book Ice Book Bolt Book Wind Book Summon Book

---- ~Relics

---- Lizard Tail Sylph Feather Griffin's Wing Soul Orb Fairy Journal Monster Tome Eye of Vlad Heart of Vlad Rib of Vlad Nail of Vlad Fang of Vlad Ring of Vlad

Graphics

the game employs a wider range of techniques that virtually all players noted existence non-apparent within its predecessor, Circle of the Moon. Whereas critics hammered CotM for existence as well dark to understand on the screen of the handheld, HoD has been respected for non exclusively presenting brightly colors & favorite enemy attacks, however likewise for its wider kind around architecture, & greater distinction around between areas.

HoD likewise ups a ante by using results like multi-jointed animals & rotating fairy. A animations of everthing characters keep around been changed to include extra frames of animation.

the castle areas as well home further results & oddities within the backgrounds; arcane details, like the skeleton cornered in a wall up the Chapel area, or unknown paintings in the Clock Tower, contribute to a further horror-depending game, a departure from either the majestic sense of last efforts. Multi-scrolling makes additional of an appearance, & occurrences rather lightning & luminescence too pop up at times.

Despite everthing of this, HoD's graphics however keep around been criticized by occasionally players for using overmuch gray & red colorize the areas, & too for the independent characters' faerie typically existence unrefined (rumour keep around circulated claiming this can be due to the game existence resized, fallowing even existence developed for the personal console originally).

Level design

CotM was notorious for bringing back a hair-pulling difficulty of the old games' platforming, & usually existence very much other demanding inside its structure. Its GBA descendent decides to take a sir thomas more placed back approach.

HoD presents the good deal further corridor-rather structure, by using virtually all of the platforming occurring in the Clock Tower. This, naturally, leaves good deal supplementary emphasis of the challenge in enemies.

Regrettably or even fortuitously, based on the viewpoint, HoD has super little around terms of secret rooms & breakable bulwarks, which is somewhat of an oddity, seeing how else a former games of similar nature and severity contained and then numerous of the children.

HoD presents a idea of the Castle getting deuce spirits; of these Chaotic & negro spiritual, & of these that is Earthly & further natural. Juste could just access 100% areas of a Castle by traversing across multi-dimensional portals to enter the Chaotic Castle's realm, & open higher antecedently untouchable stores in the Earthly realm in this dimension.

Virtually all reviewers & players criticized a way this was handled, & claimed it to exist as needlessly convoluted.

Castle areas

Harmony of Dissonance hearkens back to SotN around its castle areas, & this is probably due to the equivalent team existence present in that creation.

Influences from either its PlayStation ascendant may be evident in situ prefer a Chapel of Dissonance, by having its blazing clouds in a sky, using the scrolling consequence similar to SotN's Royal Chapel's sky background. There exists besides similar architecture in situ rather a Marble Corridor & Wailing Way.

HoD besides houses the cavernous, underground labyrinth, continuing the tradition of the subterranean region in the games, & potentially the burial ground, which a select few keep around known as a straight court to Castlevania 3.

A Castle's environments may too transform to signify which dimension of the castle Juste is within. Virtually all typically, a Chaotic realm may display lot further grays & reds, broken architecture, & besides transition other incongruously from either 1 room to the next.

----------- ~The Castle Areas:

-----------

Entrance - A obligatory foremost locality of Dracula's Castle. Big windows reveal the cone-bearing outdoors outside, along by having lightning. Within, a place is comparatively little, & is chiefly composed of cobble & brick corridors. One of a rooms occurs as storage place for Dracula's wine.

-- Marble Corridor - The place quite like to an attic. A colors come grim, & virtually all of the rooms seem to become for storing certain things.

-- Room of Illusion - Supplementary of a transition place, than a confessedly region, the Room of Illusion will bring the teleporter necessary to farther Juste's progress. There is the room by having streams, lakes, and wells throughout of lava, along by using a big hall sustaining psychadelic results in the background.

-- A Wailing Way - The graveyard/tomb. The dark, cloudy sky shifts in the background, & broken apart, brick structures come scattered astir. Little towers & hills may be seen in the few feet away.

-- Shrine of the Apostates - The continuation of the Wailing Way, however by using thomas more of an architectural sense.

-- Castle Treasury - Long, gray, pillared corridors produce higher this place, along sustaining a few hall brimming by using vast crystals. Ethereal mist is apparent inside occasionally rooms. Juste's room is besides set on text.

-- Cave of Skeletons - Eventually, all the haggard denizens of Castlevania acquire their have resort! Bulwarks overflowing by owning skulls come present inside a select few chambers, along by having appearances of the skeletons of previous Castlevania baddies. A bit of rooms feature big skeletons of animals that Juste must move sequentially to progress.

-- Castle Top Floor - The continuation of the Castle Treasury. Two or three elevator rooms come placed on this button, along sustaining corridors exposing thomas more of the outside outdoors & clouds. Dracula's chamber is uninhabited, & a wall in is broken away, exposing big, turbulent clouds. A Clock Tower may, when most common, exist as viewed from either a staircase before his room.

-- Luminous Cavern - Super similar to SotN's have Underground Caverns. A moo part is overflowing using a stream, which Juste must make their way eliminate sequentially to progress. In the backgroud, big, jolting formations glow from either luminescent a river. Around of these room, Juste must strike the switch to crush the immense monster, & use its blood fill higher the vertical corridor & raise the platform, sequentially for him to pass on.

-- Sky Walk / Chapel of Dissonance - Again, similar to SotN, in a main ascribable the background borrowing the scrolling clouds system, though it is good deal supplementary active on text. Majestic, gothic architecture is virtually all of this front yard, along by using the room containing an old, worn organ, & the big room featuring myriads of stained-glass windows.

-- Aqueduct of Dragons - A stake's sewer vicinity. Falls pop in a foreground, & mucky, amphibious enemies inhabit the place's rusty, slimy rooms.

-- Clock Tower - This dark place features myriads of complex cogs & such, along by owning two or three unique interactions, one of the children existence in which Juste might whip an panoplied knight into the mechanism to obtain its armor. A Marble Gallery's clock room hall is back, as well.

Enemies

Rather SotN, a game draws heavy from either former games for its enemy choice. About 60 of the castle's dweller develop been drawn from either SotN, &, consequently, a Japanese-simply Dracula X: Rondo of Blood.

Due to a game existence created within the formulas by using tremendously less of the capacity to cover the myriads of details seen in SotN, HoD's reuse of the characters is perceptibly different. Results own been downgraded to healthy a requirements of the bet on's space, & a bit of enemies own misused a utilize of a bit of of their former repertoire of attacks. Occasionally develop non been such drawn blatantly from either anterior creations, every bit keep close at hand been upgraded. Castlevania 3's Owls produce a go to inside the lot further telling fashion, coincidently, lone inhabiting the punt's burial site.

HoD's newly enemies come even the oddest denizens however seen within a Castlevania game, & contribute farther to the horrific influences of the game. Their designs keep close at h& been described when occult and indefinable at days.

A legion of bosses is too drawn from either former games around virtually all legal actions. SotN's Legion/Granfalloon beast makes the link to, though inside a less mammoth fashion, when does Castlevania 3's Skull Knight. A multi-form boss, Shadow, can potentially exist when described as existence similar to ''The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening'''s final boss in its concept. Despite a reuse of ideas, HoD's bosses stand been praised extremely for allegedly displaying occasionally of the better character graphics for the handheld.

The Enemy Listing:

Bat, Diminutive Sludge, Gunk, Medusa Head, Zombie, Skeleton, FleaHuHuman, Bone Soldier, Armor Knight, Ghost, Bone Pillar, Large Ghost, Whiten Dragon, Rock Armor, Whiten Dragon Lv2, Lizard Man, Ectoplasm, Skeleton Blaze, Large Skeleton, Flying Bone, Peeping Eye, Skeleton Flail, Skeleton Spear, Red Skeleton, Skeleton Rib, Bone Thrower, Skeleton Ape, Gate Guarder, Diminutive Devil, Strawman, Skeleton Spider, Man-Eater, Ax Armor, Witch, Siren, Bomber Armor, Balloon, Big Balloon, Bone Archer, Ruler Steel, Disc Armor, Merman, Fishman, Arabaki, Ruler Steel Lv2, Father Demon, Tutelary Armor, Boomerang Armor, Fleaman Armor, Gold Medusa, Mimicker, White Dragon Lv3, Skeleton Mirror, Cypher, Harpy, Ax Armor Lv2, Specter, Bronze Guarder, Melty Zombie, Bone Liquid, Ruler Blade Lv3, Poison Lizard, Spriggan, Gorgon, Blaze Master, Anthro Skeleton, Uncommon Ghost, Skeleton Glass, Triumph Armor, Hammer-Hammer, Disc Armor Lv2, Pixie, Sylph, Master Lizard, Bird of night, Clear Bone, Jp Bonepillar, Simon Shade & Pike Master

The Boss Listings:

Giant Bat, Residing Armor, Golem, Skull Knight, Minotaur, Devil, Giant Merman, Max Slimer, Peeping Heavy, Legion (Saint), Shadow, Pazuzu, Minotaur LvTwo, Legion (Remains), Talos, Dying, Demise 2, Cyclops, Maxim, Dracula Wraith, & Dracula's Final Form

Characters

Juste Belmont Maxim Kischine Lydie Erlanger Death The Merchant Dracula

Music

Sure, HoD's virtually all heavy disputed region.

Virtually all of the general yell against the music in the game is due to the game utilizing a healthy quality remindful of computer game existence produced about both decades ago, &, so, ceases higher sounding super similar to Game Boy or Nintendo Entertainment System video games.

A 2nd component of this tilt is the actual melodic compositions themselves. A music is quite improper & gloomy; it stops higher existence near depressing at points. the way a instruments come listed besides has provided a few source of discomfort for population; a songs come quite heavy layered by using multiple melodies, & this every now and again gives a feeling of dissonance.

Despite a general dislike for a music, occasionally players st& been known to readily defend a songs, and too to proclaim a soundtrack to contain a select few of the right the series has however experienced, like Juste's theme, "Successor of Fate," & a Chapel's theme, "Chapel of Dissonance."

The lasting faithlessly rumour is that Mana, guitarist of Moi dix Mois and Malice Mizer, composed the music for this game. In point of fact, Manthe did non write any music that appears in the game itself; he exclusively wrote a promotional cell phone ringtone "La nuit blanche". This ringtone was just freed inside Japan.

Odds and ends

In a Cave of Skeletons, many background details produce information to more games in a series; virtually all notably, the big statue, redolent of Dracula's final form in Castlevania 3, and a skeletons of the dynamic duo from either Super Castlevania 4, Slogra and Gaibon.

There occurs as monster late in a game known as the Simon Wraith. It's dressed when a original Castlevania hero and wields the whip. Nonetheless, inside Japanese, its name was "Shimon," which is how else wise shoppers write "Simon" inside Japanese. A kanji literally means "Gates of Death." This occurs as nature and severity of paronomasia unique to the Japanese language. Busy people'll likewise understand a whip-wielding skeletons known as a "Gates of Death" in the English Castlevania 3 manual.

There come two or three things that refer to characters from either older Castlevania games. Sypha's Crystal will increase your systems magazine, when Christopher's Soul occurs as whip attachment that may let wise shoppers thrown fireballs when you're at to a full health (such as the old Game Son games). Unluckily, these list were changed for the American release.

The menu screen music occurs as remix of the title entry screen in the Famicom disk version of Castlevania. A Game Over music is also from either a 1st both Game Boy games.

The Thunder & Bible Spell Fusion will give you shields upright prefer in the Gradius games.

When Juste halts in the sloping surface, or even lands from either the fall, he'll strike a pose displayed in the older games' protagonists (Simon Belmont, Trevor Belmont, etc.).

Alternative endings
Such as a few computer game, HoD has multiple imaginable endings, based in various conditions met per streaming video player:

Kill Maxim around Castle The - Juste doesn't fight Dracula & Maxim doesn't escape a castle.

Kill Maxim within Castle B - Juste doesn't fight Dracula & neither Lydie nor Maxim escapes.

''Kill Maxim & Dracula within Castle B sustaining MK's & JB's Bracelets equipped'' - Juste fights Dracula, tons ternion escape a castle.

Other modes

Maxim Mode
Fallowing beating a game when, a streaming video player might enter his title when "MAXIM" sequentially to play when Maxim in the independent game. This mode includes none of the story elements of the independent game.

Boss Rush Mode
Fallowing beating a game when, a streaming video player might play in the Boss Rush Mode. This guide allows a streaming video player to face a game's bosses within the instance test.

To play when Maxim in a period test, hang on to a L & R buttons when that you choose the difficulty. To play as an Simon Belmont from the number 1 Castlevania for the NES, enter the Konami Code (Higher Up Down Down Left Perfect Left Best B The) on the Konami logotype screen.

GameSpy.com
Reviewed by Benjamin Turner, including screen shots. Score: 87 out of 100.

eLook
Provides a list of cheats.

GameSpot
Reviewed by Greg Kasavin. Includes screen shots, cheats, gameplay movies, and reader ratings. Score: 8.2 out of 10.

Gamer's Hell
Reviewed by Andreas Misund. Score: 8.4 out of 10.

eLook
A summary of cheats.

Games: Video Games: Console Platforms: Nintendo: Game Boy Advance