The last 2 weeks I played through the Castlevania Advanced Collection again. I play the 3 GBA games on it earlier this year, but stopped after completing the normal modes on each one. Now I came back to do some of the more advanced modes.
Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
Finally played Magician mode that gives you all the cards from the start. This is basically speedrun mode since having some of the cards the late game enemies drop lets you just rush though the game. No seriously, one of the abilities makes your body unable to be injured and lets you just run though all the enemies. Now you wont get any experience from them, but it doesn't matter since when you fight the bosses, you can just spam the Thunderbird summon to cheese all the bosses and the experience they give you will easily catch you up. When I beat Dracula, my overall level was only a few levels lower then my normal playthrough, despite being several hours less.
Then I did Fighter mode, and this mode is basically easy mode. Your whip attack is buffed up so much, most enemies die in a few hits, and your defense is so high can take a ton of damage now. Plus even though it's called Fighter mode, the Cross item also has it's attack power buffed up and just destroys bosses. Seriously, the bosses in Fighter mode died faster with spamming the Cross item then the bosses in Magician mode did by spamming the Thunderbird summon. I also didn't die in any of the bosses except for my first time in the Dracula fight, while in Magician mode I still died several time in some of the bosses including several times against Dracula, since Magician mode nerfs your defense a lot so if you do Thunderbird at the wrong time, the boss could kill you once you lose the invincibility frames. Fighter mode on the other hand you can just stand next to the bosses and keep spamming Cross, and if you get hit it wont really matter since your defense is so high you can afford to take the hits since the bosses will be dead before they even have a change to kill you. The only boss that can still kill you in this mode is Dracula since if you don't time you jumps and Cross throws right, the bats that circle the eye can still catch you off guard like they did my first time, but the second time I was ready and easily got it.
Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
This is my first time playing Soma Hard Mode. Well it certainly makes the game up until the Death boss fight harder. Had to be more careful in during this time since enemies and bosses take more damage and cause it. After the Death boss fight though, you can then gain access so some of the best weapons and armor in the game and at this point have plenty of money to buy lots of potions at the shop, so the second half isn't really that much harder then normal mode.
Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance
Did this games Hard mode as well and it's pretty much the same situation as Aria. The first half of the game is noticeable harder then the normal game, but the second half isn't really that much different. I still have to wonder how the developers didn't notice how cheap potions cost at the shop and didn't even try to put a limit on how many could be bought. I guess if you do a Hardmode run and refuse to buy potions from the shop, it would be a pretty challenging game the whole way through. Of course the fight with Maxim at the end is such cheap BS, that the game is pretty much encouraging you to buy potions. The fact the Maxim fight is the one boss fight that's not in the Boss Rush mode shows you even the devs realized how terrible that thing was, and took it out since it would have made Boss Rush mode impossible had it remained in.
So yeah, that's it for the GBA Castlevania games. I'll eventually do Sniper and Thief mode in Circle of the Moon, as well as Julius Hardmode and Maxim mode in their respective games. But right now I'm burnt out on Metroidvania's.