Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow Secrets
ut of all of the three Gameboy Advance Castlevania games, Aria of Sorrow has not only the most unlockables, but also the most remarkable unlockables. On the other hand, you won't find yourself playing as Simon Belmont or any other classic hero.
There's a boss rush, secret character, sound mode, hard mode, and other modes that limit Soma's capabilities. Read up on all of the secrets below.
Boss Rush
In this mode, you will be pitted against all of the bosses up to Graham. The objective is to beat them as quickly as possible. KCET really fleshed Boss Rush out since HoD. In Harmony, the Boss Rush was an entertaining digression from the main game, but other than that, it had no real bearing. This time, players are rewarded with rare and powerful weapons that can be used in the main game for completing the Boss Rush quickly.
If you finish Boss Rush in less than 4 minutes, you will obtain the Valmanway. This sword has a somewhat low ATT stat and short range, but can be used to deliver hasty, constant attacks, even while Soma is running. This swift blade permits you to rack up incredible damage within a short period of time.
Beat Boss Rush in below 5 minutes to get your hands on the Positron Rifle. This is a good gun, with decent ATT, superior range, and the potential of nailing foes with a double hit combo. One of the interesting things about this weapon is that it has absolutely no element.
Completing this mode in below 6 minutes awards you with the Excalibur, the most powerful sword in the game. It has great range, but is rather slow. Like the Positron Rifle, it, too, has no element. Not even the "hit" element.
To get a good record, it's best to use the Red Minotaur bullet soul, Black Panther guardian soul, Lubicant enchanted soul, and the Chaos Ring accessory.
For whatever reason, in this mode, the Manticore appears in The Arena instead of the Chapel.
Another curious facet of this mode is the addition of the Man-eater. This thing was never a boss in the main game. I have no idea what it is doing in the Boss Rush, or the Dance Hall, for that matter.
The last challenge of this mode is Graham.
Watch your health. Boss Rush limits what items are available to you, and no matter how fast you go, it is all for naught should you happen to perish under the trials.
Clear the mode fast enough to reap valuable rewards!
Sound Mode
Sound mode allows you to listen to all of the music tracks and sound effects from Aria of Sorrow. To unlock this, you must first beat the game.
This mode is found in "Special" on the title screen, right along with Boss Rush.
Julius Mode
As a bonus, you're able to play as Julius Belmont after getting the good ending as Soma. Julius is quite different from Soma in many ways. He does not collect souls, use equipment such as armor and swords, level up, or use items.
If this is sounding familiar, then that is because it's exactly like Richter Mode in Symphony of the Night, and Maxim Mode in Harmony of Dissonance. I guess by now, KCET feels it is an obligation to include another playable character. Now, that is not bad at all, but what sucks is that the negative attributes of those games' optional character modes are carried over, meaning that this is an incredibly stripped down alternative to the main game.
It's just. . . there. There is no story to the quest, or fun things to collect, buy, and use. And since Julius has all of his abilities at the onset, you are not hindered in any way when traversing the Castle.
Despite those… setbacks, playing as Julius is still pretty cool for a whim. As was mentioned, he does not use souls, but instead relies on the power of his sub-weapons. These are the Holy Water, Axe, Cross Boomerang, and Cross Item Crash. KCET decided to discard the Stopwatch, and even more surprising is the absence of the near always-present Dagger.
Aside from the Axe, all of the sub-weapons have the Holy attribute to them. At the beginning, Julius is carrying all of them by default, and you can cycle through the set with the R button to select which you would like to use at any moment. Given that Aria does not employ a heart meter, all usage of sub-weapons will deplete Julius' green magic gauge.
As his primary weapon, Julius utilizes the Belmont family Vampire Killer whip. Like the Axe, it always has the "Hit" attribute to it. It would have been nice if Julius could affix tips to his whip like Juste did. It wasn't the most breakthrough scheme, but it did allow for a wider range of capabilities for the whip. Like Juste, Julius can swing the whip in any direction you press on the d-pad if the B button is held down.
Instead of performing a back dash like Soma does when the L button is pressed, Julius will carry out an odd maneuver where he becomes invincible for a time, and will glide in whatever direction he is facing. Also, as mentioned, Julius does not level up. Instead, he gets more powerful from collecting the orbs that are dropped by bosses.
Julius cannot circumvent the barrier in the Floating Garden that leads to the Chaotic Realm; therefore, Graham is the final boss in this mode.
A peculiar disparity that is seldom mentioned is that "Can't Wait Until Night" plays in the Castle Corridor area, and "Ruined Castle Corridor" plays in the… Clock Tower? I'm not quite sure why they put that theme in the Clock Tower; it isn't nearly as fitting as the theme "Clock Tower."
Julius' stats:
 |
|
| Level | 0 |
| Max HP | 800 |
| Max MP | 500 |
| STR | 15 + 25 for each boss orb collected. |
| CON | 12 +20 for each boss orb collected. |
| INT | 10 + 18 for each boss orb collected. |
| LCK | 20 |
Actually, KCET wasn't really trying to keep this a secret, but it is an unlockable. After you beat the game, directions will appear at the bottom of the Name Entry screen for activating Julius. Simply start a new game and input your name as "Julius".
People often say that Julius' Cross Crash is the same as Richter's and Juste's, but this is totally wrong. Julius' is completely different, and Richter's Cross Crash from Rondo of Blood is different from Juste's, too.
You can play through the game without using items or souls that aren't of the silver ability type. Disabling the souls makes the game pretty barebones, though.
Entering your name as "NOSOUL" will stop you from making use of souls that aren't needed to complete the game.
Hard Mode
After completing the game, you are given the option to play it on Hard Mode when you create a new file. In this mode, enemies noticeably deplete more health, and the amount of damage that Soma deals is lessoned. Also, there are some items that are only found while playing Hard Mode. These are the Silver Gun, Death's Robe, Death's Sickle, Kaiser Knuckle and Tear of Blood.
This one is pretty straightforward. When you make a new file, the game will ask you to select either Normal Mode or Hard Mode.
