Man I don't know what everyone else saw in this game that I didn't but I just hated my overall time playing this one. The map design is so bland and boring, the movement is so limited, the card system is a neat idea if you can actually get enemies to drop the damn things. And while it is their first attempt at a metroidvania on the GBA, it really felt like it. The removal of currency and having no game shop made this game unnecessarily hard. If I weren't playing this one on the emulator I don't think I would've beaten it. I filled out like 90% of the map and even by the end I was struggling. I hear people really enjoy the card system but I could never get these damn things to drop. I feel like drop rates in this game in general are so rare and scuffed that It doesn't matter how well you play, you'll reach a bullshit section due to how underleveled you are and don't have the appropriate armor to take care of the threat.

Also, you can ONLY use a whip in this game, Idk man that's just lame, I get it, he's considered to be a belmont but this just makes him less fun to play as. I think the devs may have realized this so for Aria you actually play as a non belmont, and further down the line if you do play as one they give you the option to use different weapons like with Jonathan in Portrait of Ruin.

Yeah I didn't like this one, at all, I wish I could see what all the 3-4 stars people saw in this one but as it stands this is my least favorite metroidvania i've played.