I've Never Played This │ Castlevania Aria of Sorrow (GBA) #1

[@skyblade7438]

Jared is doing more for Castlevania's anniversary than Konami ever did.

[@dullahan_of_light6047]

Thats probably a good thing given Konami's track record.

[@ezeakiodarmey9448]

I mean, they released the collection that he's playing from at the moment.

[@excessmaterial]

Konami is so embarrassed they're changing their name

[@Gabu_]

Not a hard bar to clear.

[@xnamkcor]

I didn't even know this game existed. I assumed it was part of the CastleVania Collection.

[@thelaughman7124]

I'M SO DOWN FOR THIS!!! This need to be the next long Let's play. This is still to this day my favorite Castlevania game!

[@magicalsleeper]

This is def a game that deserves a full play through.

[@AgaricRook]

Fun fact: It's possible to obtain a straight-up handgun in the game and New Game+ does the opening cutscene with whatever weapon you had equipped for the old game. While Soma pulling out a massive holy sword out of nowhere is amusing, it's downright hilarious when he casually pulls out a gun.

[@ubersasquatch2135]

Boost so he sees this

[@BigaloMax]

Oh shit i never knew about that

[@ceedofevil]

There are three guns you can get. You can get the handgun through first run, silver gun new game+, and the positron rifle in boss rush mode under a set amount of time.

[@zachtwilightwindwaker596]

The gun isn't even that great of a weapon.

[@ceedofevil]

@@zachtwilightwindwaker596 The handgun and silver gun aren't that great, but the positron rifle is. Long range and hits twice.

[@justinwalker7418]

Absolutely do a full playthrough of this. And yes. Every enemy besides certain bosses have an ability you can gain. One enemy has like a 1% drop rate for its soul

[@retrofiend4818]

YES!!! I Spent Weeks going for that!!

[@Shooter-The-Emu-With-A-Gun]

When you go for the legion boss make sure you destroy all four segments before the center

[@fabuloussuperstar]

Which one is that?

[@TrueLooneyman]

Woah! This was my first ever Castlevania games (What a game to start off with) and it's a game I absolutely adore this game. I'm hyped to see you playing this. Full playthrough maybe? EDIT: Those pop-ups can be turned off. It's in the gadget settings on that menu you brought up

[@Obstreperous_Octopus]

Everyone, get this comment to the top so Jared learns how to turn off the pop-ups

[@timothymckane6362]

Your edited comment deserves to be seen by Jared with the most popular votes.

[@danielpalwisegamer]

dont forget about the quick saving system for this game which he can exploit for quick soul farming and items as well for later off cam stuff

[@Alteran]

Please do a full playthrough. This is the first game you've played recently that's truly caught my interest. I have minimal experience with castlevania games, and would love to explore them with you.

[@Hei_Darkfire]

"This music's kind of awesome." Yeah... That's one of my favorite things about these games. Not only are they super fun to play, but the music kicks so much ass.

[@kuro-san7237]

I can already tell that this playthrough is gonna be simply incredible! After dawn of sorrow this has to be my second favourite castlevania game, and I can't wait to see you experience it Jared. Oh yeah, the pop up things are only in the advance collection, and they're there to show you if you've collected the soul(which I know you've already figured out), while the number is there to correspond to their number in the games bestiary. Hope this info helped a bit, and I hope you continue to enjoy playing the game!

[@mr.stoneface7699]

15:00 I felt that pretty hard. There's a special place in my heart for pure Metroidvania games that is rarely satisfied. I'm glad you're immediately enjoying your first time playing this awesome game!

[@MaskedGuyCh]

Aria of Sorrow is one of the best games I ever played. Certainly the best game on the GBA. I would love to see a full playthrough! You said yourself that this is fun, so do what you enjoy man. It's gonna get even better! The game isn't that long anyway, you can finish it in like 5-7 hours. The speedrun is like 30 mins.

[@23Scadu]

Jared's reading of Arikado's lines slipped so gradually into Riff Raff from Rocky Horror, I barely even noticed.

[@joelford6382]

The gameplay loop of these styles of games is so incredibly addictive

[@jaretco6423]

This & Metroid: Zero Mission are probably my most favorite games on the GBA and some of my favorite games period. It took everything that was really great from it's predecessors ( particularly Symphony of the Night, Circle of the Moon, Super Metroid & Fusion ), polished up some of it's design an little bit more here & there and add some new mechanics to make it an spiritual and IMO; an superior successor. I love it's predecessors and they're still amazing. Don't get me wrong. But these 2 are very dear to me. Oh! And also Wario Land 4. It's in my top 3 favorite GBA games next to Aria of Sorrow & Zero Mission.

[@Macop]

Full playthrough? YES. I haven't played the game myself, so being able to watch you play through it with your commentary would be awesome!

[@heethanthen706]

I recommend getting the game on the switch with the Castlevania advanced collection. And if not, emulate it! It’s a great game, you won’t be disappointed :)

[@True_Lycan]

YOOOO!!! This was my entry into the Castlevania series!! I'd LOOVE to see this game played to completion here!!

[@ExileOfBrokenSky]

One of the few castlevanias that I 100 percented. Zipping around at max level with the best everything is nice.

[@Obstreperous_Octopus]

I would absolutely watch a full playthrough of this game, or even just a partial playthrough. It's an awesome game and I love it! (I'm tempted to play through it again myself)

[@Spaceboy02111]

Keep it going I would 100% watch a full run of this game :O

[@Quantaur]

This is one of, if not my favorite of the Metroidvania Castlevania games! SO stoked to see you play it!!

[@miyokohirosuke9164]

Super fun to watch, good to see you actually having fun and hear the enjoyment in your voice =D

[@Igotjello]

NEVER CLICKED SO HARD IN MY LIFE. Best castlevania game IMO. The spiritual successor and "true sequel" to symphony of the night

[@TheShadowDragon26]

Definitely want more of this. These kinds of games are always fun to just watch and see both how people approach it, but also just the commentary that can spawn from it.

[@raziyatheseeker]

Holy cow! I've played this game so much in my teens. Dude, surprising pick and a great time ahead.

[@Kerrpllardy]

Yes do a full play through! Love this game and your videos. Also you can turn off the side notifications through the “Gadget setting” in the “Pause menu”

[@CountMonsparkle]

I'm playing this game for the first time as well rn so I would totally be interested in seeing your spin on this. I hope they will also re-release the DS games on Steam, I really want to experience them too.

[@Dos2Guys]

My first Castlevania game ever, and still one of my favorites. Very happy to see you playing this!

[@Spider926]

I would love to see a full play through of this. Hope it does get the views as I do love even new series how if it can continue though again hope it gets the attention so we can see a full play through as it is looking really amazing so far. Looking forward to the next upload!

[@Bidoof_7]

My favorite gameplay channel with my favorite host on a full playthrough of my all time favorite castlevsnia? Yes please

[@WillKeaton]

_Dawn of Sorrow_ was my first _Castlevania._ As a result, when I got around to playing _Aria,_ I already knew the plot twists. Now, while I do think that _Dawn_ is the better deigned game, the plot is, in a lot of ways, just spinning its wheels, and lacks the narrative impact that came from the big reveal in _Aria._

[@SemiJuggaloNumber2]

This is easily in my top 5 Castlevania games, and I would totally be down to watch you do a full playthrough!

[@nightsong81]

Jared, go back to where you first met the Peeping Eye. There's a secret room right behind it. You need to break the wall. And if you get the Peeping Eye soul, you can see where the secret rooms are!

[@AgaricRook]

Oh man! I only just made a request for some of the Metriodvania Castlevania game in the Discord Game Request channel just a few days ago! I don't know if that had anything to do with this, but man I am SO happy to see this as Aria of Sorrow absolutely was one of my favorites!

[@genesisSOC]

Love this game and would love to see a full playthrough. I recently replayed all the Metroidvanias starting with Circle of the Moon to Ecclesia and loved every minute of it. I think Portrait of Ruin might be slightly better than Aria but they're both the best in the series IMO. I didn't enjoy Dawn nearly as much. I got every soul in Aria because I just love the game so much, but Dawn I found my self wanting to rush through it and be done.

[@LordZemus]

Jared, you're playing one of my favourites from all time so YES, please do a full playtrhough. Also, you can turn off the enemy soul prompt by pressing L2 (or the equivalent) and then Gadget Settings to OFF. Have fun!

[@mario_maniac9368]

This game is dope af man I loved it and the sequel. I'm down for a playthru I enjoy this game if people don't know it I'm sure the story won't be bad for them

[@ReidTHVx]

Heck yeah to a full playthrough! Aria Of Sorrow is amazing!

[@bellathorne123]

Do it! Full playthrough

[@MizuFujimori]

This is, personally, the best Castlevania!! Glad to see you playing it!

[@mstiefan6996]

Ah, yes, the third game in the GBA era of Castlevania games, and the one they finally got things perfect. I loved this game. It and its direct sequel as canon wise, they are the final games in the timeline. I do wish we could have gotten a game about the events in 1999 that was mentioned, but alas...

[@Gabu_]

I'd rather not have modern Konami ruin Julius' backstory. All we need to know is that he's crazy strong and his battle with Dracula was epic.

[@Mihaen]

Absolutely want a full go on this one. AoS was my jam back in the day, and you genuinely seem like you're having a good time with it! Soul collection absolutely is addicting, I remember maxing out as many souls as possible.. tests your sanity, but hell yeah, definitely want more of this one.

[@Kaldin0203]

Yes to a full playthrough! Seeing this, I just realized how extremely Bloodstained has been inspired by this, you could basically call it a reboot, lol. And by that I mean SPECIFICALLY by this Castlevania. (Or Igavania, as the man would say.)

[@Drhanave]

Bloodstained was made by the creator of the Castlevania series. When he quit Konami, he made the Bloodstained series, due to Castlevania being the IP of Konami.

[@Kaldin0203]

@@Drhanave Aye, I know. I followed the Kickstarter, wanted to back back then when it was further along, but couldn't afford it at that point until it closed. It really shows, but we also have someone acclaimed to be the daddy of Mega Man who spearheaded a renowned shitty game called Mighty No.9 through Kickstarter, so saying that as credit is always a bit meh. I mean, I am referencing him with calling it Igavania at the end. Still waiting for the promised Co-Op in Bloodstained though. But yeah, I just didn't realize just HOW close the formula was since it had been decades or so since I last played Aria of Sorrow.

[@sleepingkirby]

I've actually never played any castlevania past the original NES one. And yeah, it's amazing how much bloodstained is like this. I still need to play it through as Zangetsu. And same here, would love to see the co-op. But also, Curse of the Moon is soooo good.

[@Kaldin0203]

@@sleepingkirby True it is indeed. Curse of the Moon would also be great for Jared on this channel, me thinks. XD

[@AgaricRook]

Also another important point about the souls is the more you have of them (up to a maximum of 9) the stronger that ability will be. Possibly why the Merman ability was stronger then the Winged Skeleton one because he had 2 of one and 1 of the other.

[@riemaennchen]

Never played but I always wanted it for my GBA back in the day. Looking forward to this playthrough.

[@AgaricRook]

Also yes, EVERY monster has an obtainable soul. Some are much better then others obviously, some less so (The Killer Fish soul if I remember correctly summons a fish to attack for you, it's only useful in water as on land it just flops around and dies).

[@FenexTheFox]

Yes, Jared. _All_ the enemies have souls to acquire. Also, you seem misguided on the reception of this game. This is actually one of the most beloved games in the franchise. It's considered just as good, and sometimes better, than Symphony of The Night. SoTN definitely wins in sheer amount of content, but a lot of it is completely useless and purely cosmetic, although charming (like boots that make you a few pixels taller, or a cape that can have its color customised on the menu), and others are just completely broken equipment, in an already very easy Castlevania game. Aria of Sorrow, on the other hand, definitely doesn't have that as much, but it's a lot better balanced because of it, and the soul system definitely compensates on the content department. So basically, SoTN is just a mess of shallow but charming and funny systems, while AoS focuses on a single deeper system. The critique really comes from Dawn of Sorrow, but that game is still really good, I think all the critiques from that game are superficial, like the original artist not being present, so it has a much more generic looking anime art style, and it's on DS, so it has forced touch controls. That said, yes Jared, I want a full playthrough of this. That's one of my favorite Castlevania games.

[@madwaltz9812]

Yeah. I like SoTN and AoS about as much, but for very different reasons. SoTN is like a big fun toybox with a ton of cool stuff, but there's not much challenge there unless you impose your own rules. AoS provides a much better structured challenge where you really get to use all the toys you are given, even if it has less "toys" overall. SoTN could be all over the place in terms of balancing, while I feel Aria is balanced very well. Sure, there are some totally overpowered lategame weapons in Aria, but I feel that's intentional and fun. As for Dawn of Sorrow, there are some subtle reasons why I personally prefer Aria, even if in a lot of ways DoS is like a bigger and better AoS (and is ultimately still a very good game). As someone who doesn't like grinding souls, Dawn's "use souls to upgrade weapons" system really annoyed me. Relatedly, it felt like there were fewer unique weapons in DoS, because they were trying to fit all the weapons into distinct weapon types. I also preferred Aria's "1 soul means you get the full benefit" rather than Dawn's "every soul powers up the ability" approach, again because I don't like soul grinding. Dawn had some cool bosses, but at the same time, they felt more gimmicky. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I really appreciate the simplicity of Aria's bosses. Aria's bosses generally feel very beatable even on the first try, because they telegraph their attacks in an intuitive way. In Dawn, it felt like a fair number of bosses you needed to spend a few attempts just to learn their telegraphs, but once you do they become very easy -- Abaddon probably being the best example of this.

[@Gabu_]

Yeah, Dawn of Sorrow's main critique has always been the god awful change of art style - from the classic, somewhat Gothic look, into a generic flat anime style.

[@FenexTheFox]

@@Gabu_ I never minded it, but it was my first Castlevania game after all

[@jaretco6423]

Madwaltz. I agree. I liked both SotN & AoS for an different reason you mentioned and it sums up perfectly. There still some of my favorite games of all time. As for Dawn, again I agree. Still an great game. But you're critiques as to why I don't love it nearly as much as SotN or AoS is spot on.

[@nicholaseverill2441]

I would love a full playthrough of this! and symphony of the night!

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Ugh. One of the many Castlevania games that forgot what made the original so good. Oh well. Still happy to watch Jared hack and slash.

[@timrosswood4259]

What made the original good?

[@renatocorvaro6924]

@@timrosswood4259 Linear gameplay.

[@HayatoEvoker]

No, one of the many Castlevania games that followed in on the game that reinvented the wheel so as to not make the games stale These are still fantastic games

[@joelford6382]

So excited for this! Saw you say you were loving playing this on your stream so I'm super excited to see this!

[@RedSoul001]

*L2 -> Gadget Settings -> Off*

[@ProJaredPlays]

Thank you

[@LanEXHikari]

Hey Jerd, glad you're taking this one for a spin! I hope you continue with Dawn in the near future 🦇

[@ShuryouMW]

Full playthrough: Yes. Seems like it'd be a good match for you.

[@LilleTotte]

For a second I thought that Jared would bumble his way into finding a secret room when the wall behind the peeping eye started to crumble when the spear hit it, but Jared being Jared he just went along without hitting it again...

[@flamesofhell6449]

It's easy to get right into this game and lose track of time. So much fun exploring and doing the boss battles.

[@somemong989]

Why am I watching someone play a game I've already beaten as a kid and as an adult? Why is it so comforting to watch?

[@jackiebunny3029]

Honestly, I used to not be huge huge into projareds let's olays, but recently I look forward so much to new episodes, I think it's my taist changing but also all the funny edits and just Jared's charisma makes this really enjoyable and one of the best parts of my day

[@AgaricRook]

Probably goes without saying, but god yes full playthrough please. Man I hope people watch this.

[@afrothekobold]

I would love to see more! Aria is one of my favorite Castlevania games and it's always fun to see someone experience it for the first time

[@Blade12113]

I'm super excited to see you play this game. By far one of my favoritr games of all time. Also that jump near the end IS possible just extremely difficult

[@D1gital-ZER0]

Hell yeah, Jared! I'm here for the full play of it!

[@EtherSalad]

Please have a full playthrough! It's such a fun game and I'd love to watch more!

[@andrewmcreynolds4341]

YES PLEASE FULL PLAYTHROUGH! This looks SOO good! I kinda want to find a way to play it myself honestly.

[@Dicorays]

My all time favorite Castlevania game! So excited to see you experience it!

[@trident042]

I'm in the same boat! I started with the DS 'vania games, never did go back for the GBA titles I missed, just because my time and money were otherwise occupied during the GBA era. Same goes for series that followed GBA > DS like Advance Wars and such. Glad to see this, I hope to watch the whole dang playthrough!

[@Plasmos]

A full playthrough of AoS would be a dream come true! And yes! EVERY monster has a soul to collect!

[@reelequalsreal7323]

Even though I've beaten this game is one of my favorites and I want to watch jerd do a full playthrough of this

[@KingVampireZero]

I would say HELL YES to a playthrough!!You won't regret it Jared,this is an amazing game!Go for it,i can't wait to see you play this!

[@Slionr]

I will admit that I am biased since I love Castlevania, but I also love your LPs (me and GF watches em all the time) so would love to see more! :D

[@Rosa_Canina]

I will watch this later, but THIS GAME was the biggest surprise I missed back in the GBA days. I stumbled upon it YEARS later (around the time the 3DS hit its third year or so) and beat it like... 4 times in a row. And around 7 times after that. Its my most played non-nostalgia-driven game I own... Cant wait to watch this :)

[@LuccianoBartolini]

Heard much about this game, enjoying this so far and I would love a full playthrough. I hope you get the views Jared.

[@DerekEidahl]

I love this game so much! Absolutely would love to see more of this game

[@Jackulie]

Yessss!!!!! Awesome I can't wait to see your playthrough

[@nelsonm.22]

woot! love this game also, remember that first peeking guy you saw? the wall behind it reacted funny when you hit it

[@Loganstonez]

One of my fave metroidvania games. This and the sequel both rocked. I'll watch the whole series.

[@arkadarkartist]

DEFINITELY KEEP GOING on the full playthrough!

[@artyu13]

Yes! I am down for a full playtrough of this game, I remember playing this game on emulator when I was a kid and just getting lost and never actually progressing in the game :P

[@RichterBelmont12]

Oooh my favorite Castlevania game!! Nice pick also the reason your doing the same damage on the Axe armor is because all enemies have weakness like the armor enemies are weak to Striking weapons (hammers and staffs) and lighting. Also hit walls sometimes they are breakable like you did when you threw the spear at the peeping eye.

[@ZttackFrmBhind]

Jared, I think it was about a week ago that I said that I wanted you to play games that you haven't played yet... Thanks, you are a gem of a content creator.

[@HaussmannComics]

Also yes. Full playthrough of this please. And SOTN at some point

[@Shadeogray1113]

Full Playthrough? Definitely. Give us the joy of a metroidvania that is not only amazing, but also one of the best games ever made. Also, Randomizer of Symphony of the Night?

[@nesspurr6931]

So glad that you finally get to experience how good this game is! Word of advice though, Luck is super bugged in both Sorrow games making it so that it literally takes thousands of Luck points to even improve soul drop rate by 1% (save for 1 special piece of equipment you get later), so any piece of equipment that boosts luck should be immediately thrown in the trash. I still like to use luck items tho for that placebo effect.

[@nesspurr6931]

And yes pls do a playthrough

[@biohazard2236]

Would love to see this series continue. I'm a big Castlevania fan and you said you were enjoying it, so I'm all for more.

[@Chugalg]

Full playthrough? Absolutely yes. This game is amazing!

[@ImSoFookinGreat]

Excellent first episode. This is one of my favorite games ever, and would definitely love a full play through. Your humor and sense of adventure should combine for a heck of a series.

[@The16bithero]

This one's up there with Symphony of the Night as my favorite Metroidvanias. By adding the monster abilities, main weapon, secondary ability and passive abilities, it's just incredible! Super Castlevania 4 is still my all time favorite, but man, this game just rips!

[@PhobiaSoft]

Full playthrough ABSOLUTELY!! I'm always down for Metroid or Castlevania, but Aria of Sorrow is legitimately one of the best games ever made. You will love it.

[@VegetaHitsGirls]

Dude, I always love seeing people play games they really like. This is a good one. I'll definitely watch if you decide to keep going.

[@Malkior]

Yes! Would love a full play through of this! This is just a chill time to watch

[@KairuHakubi]

2:55 "why would I have that power?" "you have gained the power" nice to see Castlevania English dialogue sticking to its roots.

[@GarrigKitten]

Jared, if your XBox works with the capture device, then I'm fairly certain you can get Symphony of the Night from the 360 marketplace and play it through there. That's how I was finally able to play the game myself, back when I used my XBox 360 more often than actually never.

[@Kapputmacher]

UUUUH nice, one of my most played GBA Games. This game is a treat.I would love to see you play through it.

[@Dhyfis]

I would absolutely love if you're able to do a full playthrough of this.

[@godislove102887]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!! FULL PLAYTHROUGH! This is one of my favorite Castlevania games and one I've played MANY times. It's quite a treat and one I think we'd all love to see you experience, Jared ^_^ It's totally good times.

[@ReddFang]

I just finished this game myself and you are going to have so much fun with it! Please do a full playthrough. As someone who also played the hell out of Dawn of Sorrow you owe it to yourself to play this all the way through.

[@jonathandamattamoreira6324]

I would love the full playthrough!! Always love to see new content from your channel!!

[@Altalus]

A full playthrough, always down for it :D

[@yuranashi]

WHAT!?, my fav castle? from nowhere?, i want all of it! And yes, ALL of them have souls to grab, some are more rare, part of the fun is going pokemon on those and complete the bestiary, something that i miss Dearly on Symphony of the night. Also, enjoy the MANY fake walls with treasure x3

[@natebetts9426]

Yes full playthrough! I love this game, played it almost weekly. Giving Alucard that voice is great

[@Keshin4539]

This is one of those fun games to just play for hours and enjoy. With Jared's particular playstyle, it'll be even more fun to watch. Good times ahead. So more plz and ty!

[@karstmage]

Oh man, my first Castlevania, also probably my favorite.