It's the portable Symphony of the Night you always (?) wanted.
Harmony of Dissonance, the second of the three GBA Castlevania games, was hailed as Koji Igarashi’s return to the series. Clearly not impressed with Circle of the Moon, Igarashi brought the whole concept back to Symphony of the Night—to the point where many enemies and bosses from that game make cameos, and the game’s second half takes place in an inverted castle. Many background effects from Symphony return, and the equipment system seems lifted wholesale as well.
The problem is that, in an effort to atone for the dark color scheme of Circle, Igarashi has turned the colors up to 11 in this game—everything is bright and garish, and hero Juste Belmont is surrounded by a thick blue outline and a blue “mouse trail” wherever he goes. Plenty of enemies are multi-segmented, but the sprite rotation does not look good. This aesthetic is off-putting, and the character sprites—larger than they were in Circle—are awkward and pixelated, even with screen-smoothing turned on. Compared to Circle of the Moon and Aria of Sorrow (the next game in the series), Harmony of Dissonance stands out like a sore thumb. It’s an ugly game.
The music is either charmingly retro or decidedly unsophisticated. If there’s a way to say the music sounds pixelated, that’s what it sounds like. The smooth harmonies of Circle of the Moon, seemingly composed on actual instruments, have been replaced by synthesizers with an 8-bit filter. Again, by comparison to Circle and Aria, there’s just no contest.
Happily, the castle is enormous, and there’s plenty of equipment and items to find. Juste uses a combination of traditional Castlevania subweapons (now including a “punch”) plus element-based spell books to mix up the combat. There are some interesting combinations here, but unfortunately you have to go into the menu every time you want to turn on, turn off, or change spellbooks. Most of the time, I left them off for this reason. You’ve also got the usual HP/MP/Heart upgrades strewn about.
While you have plenty of combat options, the game is never difficult. This is one of the easiest Castlevania games in recent memory—Symphony of the Night was more punishing (but not by much). The most enjoyable part of this game is the exploration, as you’re constantly finding new equipment and upgrades. This is not a bad game; it’s just completely outdone by its adjacent entries. You’ll get some enjoyment out of it, but it’s also okay to skip Harmony of Dissonance.