History Videogame / CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance

* VoiceGrunting: Limited to enemies, as both Juste and Maxim have spoken lines (sadly all in Japanese) and Lydie stays out of this by way of the SayMyName above.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:After the usual teleports-and-fireballs shtick, Dracula Wraith turns into a giant brain in a half-skull, with a clawed tentacle and a giant [[FrickinLaserBeams laser]]-[[EyeBeams shooting eye]]]].

* SequelDifficultyDrop: Compared to ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', this game is several shades easier.

* SayMyName: Lydie when [[spoiler:Death captures her]].

* SequenceBreaking: It's possible to visit the Gate in the castle entrance sooner than you're supposed to by using the Ice-Fist fusion. You can't actually use the Gate to get to Castle B (or anywhere else) until after you encounter Death in the Clock Tower, but once you do, you can pull a few shenanigans to get equipment you theoretically shouldn't have. And even in the early stages of the game, you can use the candle just outside to grind for cash, and grab the Platinum Tip for your whip.

* MeaningfulName: In French, "juste" means "just", making it a fitting name for a hero.
** Interestingly, it means "just" in both senses of the word, including "only". So his name could also be interpreted as "just Belmont", ie only another Belmont.

* NewWorldTease: Some areas offer a sneak-peek on them before sending you backtracking for items that let you properly inside.

* RareRandomDrop: ...rare items. There is even an item which is exclusively a rare drop from a monster that's [[MetalSlime rare itself]]. Fortunately, the other drop which is exclusive to it can be found in the castle.

** DarkWorld: It's subtle, but Castle B is more decayed-looking than Castle A, many environments have [[PaletteSwap unnatural]] [[RedSkyTakeWarning colors]], and the whole place generally looks slightly creepier. [[spoiler:That said, since you see the B version of some areas first — especially the middle part of the castle — the A version will actually be the more dangerous one.]]

** Death's OneWingedAngel form is reminiscent of the first boss from ''VideoGame/{{Strider}}. Maxim plays like Hiryu in some respects.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: It's the first portable ''CV'' game to have a SuspendSave feature, but it does it differently from later games; instead of being a true suspend save, it just saves everything except for your current location, so when you reload your file, you'll respawn at the last save point you touched but with all other progress kept.

** It's possible to get the Ring Of Vlad early using the Ice-Fist Fusion. [[DevelopersForesight The developers even planned for it]] by rewriting a later conversation, but that's actually rather minor.

** At one point, you get slightly different dialogue with Maxim depending on whether or not you'd found one of Dracula's relics. Most of the relics are inaccessible at that point, and the one that can be found is not easy to reach[[spoiler:, unless you're smart enough to know the Ice+Fist Fusion propels Juste forward]].

** At one point, you get slightly different dialogue with Maxim depending on whether or not you'd found one of Dracula's relics. Most of the relics are inaccessible at that point, and the one that can be found is not easy to reach[[spoiler:, unless you're smart enough to know the Ice+Fist Fusion propels Juste forward.]]

** DarkWorld: It's subtle, but Castle B is more decayed-looking than Castle A, many environments have [[PaletteSwap unnatural]] [[RedSkyTakeWarning colors]], and the whole place generally looks slightly creepier. [[spoiler:That said, since you see the B version of some areas first--especially the middle part of the castle--the A version will actually be the more dangerous one.]]

* DungeonShop: A wandering merchant got lost in the castle,and so he set up shop there. No idea who the rest of his customer base is, though.
* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:Maxim in the BittersweetEnding, compared to the DownerEnding where he's taken over, and the GoldenEnding where he lives.]]
* EarnYourBadEnding: The worst ending is harder to get than the "average" ending, since it requires all of Dracula's remains. [[spoiler:That said, it's easier to get than the golden ending, which requires you to equip two relatively inferior pieces of equipment, one of which was a part of his starting equipment!]]

* EnemyWithout: The eventual explanation for [[spoiler:why Maxim's been acting so strange.]]

* FragileSpeedster: Juste himself is already pretty damn fast, but Maxim is even faster, but has much less defense, and speed based attacks.

* GoldenEnding Collecting and placing all the furniture [[spoiler:slightly changes the best ending by making Lydie snuggle up to Juste, apparently attracted to his sense of Feng shui.]]

* ICannotSelfTerminate: Happens in one of the bad endings. [[spoiler:Juste finds Maxim barely holding on to himself, and Maxim begs Juste to kill him before his EnemyWithin takes over. Juste refuses, and (predictably) Maxim's evil side ''does'' take over, and you have to fight him]].

* KingMook: Quite a few of the bosses qualify, even more so than is normal for this series, with the Giant Merman, Peeping Big being candidates, but the worst being Max Slimer, which is just a big slime.

* MightyGlacier: [[spoiler:Simon Belmont still hits like he used to in the Boss Rush. Justified since he also still moves like he used to. The only new move he gets is the double jump. The drop kick and the slide will wait in the next Harmony game, ''Harmony Of Despair''.]]
* MirrorBoss: [[spoiler:Maxim]]. While he uses a katana and a giant shuriken instead of your whip and subweapons, he's overall close enough to count.

* MoreThanMindControl: [[spoiler:Evil Maxim is based on Maxim's own jealousy of Juste and (corrupted) desire for Lydie. Where the real Maxim is a friendly rival to Juste and is willing to step aside since Lydie wants Juste instead, Evil Maxim kidnaps her and uses her blood in a failed attempt to surpass Juste. This ultimately fails since, even as the Dracula Wraith, he's STILL no match for Juste.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: In the bad ending, [[spoiler: Maxim and Lydie are both dead]], and Juste believes he's failed as a vampire hunter.

** The game as a whole takes significant cues from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'' with its quest for [[PlotCoupon Dracula's bodyparts]]. Searching the actual castle for them, though, is lifted from [[spoiler:the Inverted Castle]] from ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight Symphony of the Night]]''.

** The backgrounds in several rooms (mostly in the skeleton cave) contain MythologyGag sightings of Medusa, Slogra, Gaibon, Carmilla's mask from Simon's Quest, Dracula's final form from ''Castlevania III'', and the three-eyed skull from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaRondoOfBlood''.
* NewWorldTease: Some areas offer a sneak-peek on them before sending backtracking for items that let you properly inside.

* PeninsulaOfPowerLeveling: There's a room full of skeletons in tanks in Castle A's Skeleton Cavern. These enemies are called Skeleton Glass, and once they burst out of the tank they're not much more dangerous than [[TheGoomba regular skeletons]], and [[OneHitKill go down as fast]]. But their experience drop, while not the best, is pretty high up there.

* PowerOfFriendship: If you remember to wear Juste's and Maxim's bracelets when going to the final battle, you can clear Maxim's mind of the darkness - which turns out to be Dracula himself! It also saves Maxim from his needless death after his defeat.

* RareRandomDrop: ...rare items. There is even an item, which is exclusively a rare drop from a monster that's [[MetalSlime rare itself]]. Fortunately, the other drop which is exclusive to it can be found in the castle.

* SpaceFillingPath: Several rooms have layouts with no obvious purpose beyond making it take longer to go through the room. Often there aren't even actual threats, just lots of walls or floors to go around. For most of the game, the castle itself is an example, as despite its appearance, it's effectively a winding linear path with copious dead ends. The passages that make the castle less linear can only be opened late in the game, and while something like the standard Metroidvania warp system does eventually show up, you spend the first half the game with warps that only go to one destination. However, after TheReveal, and after you find the proper warp rooms, you have far more mobility around the castle.
* SpeedRun: Taken to absurd heights with Maxim mode, which has provided shortest ''Castlevania'' speedruns to date.

* TechDemoGame: After ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'' was praised for its gameplay but derided for its dark and simplistic graphics, Konami gave the development team a single directive - [[FollowTheLeader emulate]] ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' as much as possible. To the team's credit, they got damn close despite the GBA's hardware limitations and lower-res screen - several maps in the game are downright ''[[SceneryPorn beautiful]]'' - but the improved graphics came at the cost of a significantly downgraded musical score. Due to the GBA lacking a dedicated sound chip[[note]] (In reality, the GBA's hybrid solution of the NES/Famicom era audio chips and processing alternate sound channels through the CPU itself.)[[/note]] and the CPU already under heavy load processing the advanced graphics, the compositions sounded very much like its predecessors on the original UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem. It would take the following entry, ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Aria of Sorrow]]'', for the team to find the proper balance between visual effects and atmospheric music.

* TrueFinalBoss: If certain conditions are met, [[spoiler:you fight Dracula Wraith after beating Maxim to get the GoldenEnding. Also counts as HijackedByGanon.]]

** Castle A, the "Okay" ending: [[spoiler:Juste arrives before Maxim can completely succumb. Maxim begs Juste to kill him, but Juste refuses, so Maxim pretends to succumb (complete with using Evil Maxim's portrait) to force Juste's hand. Afterward, Maxim confesses that he wanted Juste to be the one to kill him, acknowledging his superiority, and asking him to take care of Lydie as his body expires. This ending is "okay" since at least Lydie survived.]]
** Castle B, the MyGreatestFailure ending: [[spoiler:Juste confronts Evil Maxim with any equipment he would have replaced with his and Maxim's bracelets in the Golden Ending, and thus, after losing, Evil Maxim is still in control, laments his failure even armed with Dracula's power, and laughs at Juste's fate to hunt vampires alone for the rest of his life. Maxim dies, and since Lydie wasn't freed, she goes to Hell with him. Juste curses that he couldn't save anyone and wonders what he's going to do now.]]

* AwesomeButImpractical: Juste decorating a vacant room in the castle. By the time you collect all the furniture for it, it looks very nice, but what's the point of all that when it's gonna go down with the castle?

* TheXOfY: Both of the game's subtitles, ''Harmony Of Dissonance'' and ''Concerto Of The Midnight Sun''. ([[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle And yes, "concerto" is a word.]] For space reasons, we'll just advise you to look it up.)

* ViolationOfCommonSense: [[spoiler:The path to the best ending (and also to the worst) has you choosing the ending scenario in which Lydie appears to be dead. In the path to the somewhat-bad ending, she is still obviously alive. On the other hand, being GenreSavvy may tell you that the former is how to get to the best ending, since you need Dracula's body parts to unlock it while the latter does not require them.]]

* OddballInTheSeries: Despite actually being canon and having Igarashi's involvement unlike its predecessor ''Circle of the Moon'', it still sticks out by IGA's standards:

** At one point, you get slightly different dialogue with Maxim depending on whether or not you'd found one of Dracula's relics. Most of the relics are inaccessible at that point, and the one that can be found is not easy to reach (and, unless you're very clever, requires some backtracking to get).

* DoppelgangerAttack: Maxim's ultimate move, where he fires ''a lot'' of shadow clones on you.

* EarnYourBadEnding: The worst ending is harder to get than the "average" ending, since it requires all of Dracula's remains.

** Let's not forget [[SummonMagic Summon]], now! [[note]]If you can find it[[/note]]

* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: [[spoiler:Any time you use one of the ''Symphony of the Night''-style warp gates, you change castles as well as teleporting.]]

* {{Irony}}: The title itself. Harmony and dissonance are exact opposites.

* LudicrousGibs: There's one particular instance where you're just exploring some caves, you flick a switch... [[spoiler:a scream is heard, blood starts pouring down like a waterfall, all this blood makes a platform rise, and you must ride it to the top. Once there, you get a glimpse at the source of all that blood.]]

%%* {{Metroidvania}}
%%* MightyGlacier: [[spoiler:Simon Belmont.]]

%%* MoreThanMindControl
* MultipleEndings: Depending on which castle you enter the final boss room in (and what items you have equipped), the ending can change. There are three in total.
* MyGreatestFailure: In the bad ending [[spoiler:if Maxim and Lydie are both dead]], Juste believes he's failed as a vampire hunter.

** The game as a whole takes significant cues from ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaIISimonsQuest'' with its quest for [[PlotCoupon Dracula's bodyparts]].

* NoOntologicalInertia: [[spoiler:In the Castle B endings, if you do not force Dracula to leave Maxim's body, the bite that Lydie has received kills her. If you force Dracula out and defeat him, the bite disappears and Lydie lives.]]

* OddballInTheSeries: Despite actually being canon and having Igarashi's involvement unlike its predecessor ''Circle of the Moon'', it still sticks out by Iga standards:
** You can dash ''forward'', unlike in other Iga games where you can only backdash.

%%* RivalTurnedEvil: Maxim.
* RunDontWalk: You will likely spend more time dashing than walking. Unfortunately, because of the control scheme, this means that you will spend long stretches mashing one of the buttons, as opposed to holding it down. You can also slide, which is about equal and mash a instead. Fortunately, if playing on a Game Boy Player accessory for the Nintendo Gamecube, you can set the controls so that the more accessible, comfortable, and durable X and Y buttons do the dashing.

* ShapeShifterSwanSong: The Living Shadow boss, after you defeat it, cycles through all its forms before petering out.

* TechDemoGame: After ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'' was praised for its gameplay but derided for its dark and simplistic graphics, Konami gave the development team a single directive - [[FollowTheLeader emulate]] ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' as much as possible. To the team's credit, they got damn close despite the GBA's hardware limitations and lower-res screen - several maps in the game are downright ''[[SceneryPorn beautiful]]'' - but the improved graphics came at the cost of a significantly downgraded musical score. Due to the GBA lacking a dedicated sound chip[[note]] in reality, the GBA's hybrid solution of the NES FM-era audio chips and processing alternate sound channels through the CPU itself[[/note]] and the CPU already under heavy load processing the advanced graphics, the compositions sounded very much like its predecessors on the original UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem. It would take the following sequel, ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', for the team to find the proper balance between visual effects and atmospheric music.

%%* VoiceGrunting

* WarmUpBoss: The Giant Bat. Which also happens to be a SkippableBoss (unless you want to get the best ending).

* TheXOfY: The game's subtitle.

** Progression early on requires you to attempt to use a warp room despite not having visited any others. Woe to [[DamnYouMuscleMemory anyone who has played the other Metroidvania games in the series]] and skips over it thinking it is useless...
*** In ''every'' other Metroidvania game in the series (except a couple of the last ones, which came out years later), the first warp room you find always sends you back to another warp room that had previously been inaccessible. With that in mind, the only people who might get stuck are the ones who have ''never'' played any of the other Metroidvania games before.

* LudicrousGibs: There's one particular instance where you're just exploring some caves, you flick a switch... [[spoiler: a scream is heard, blood starts pouring down like a waterfall, all this blood makes a platform rise, and you must ride it to the top. Once there, you get a glimpse at the source of all that blood.]]

** The ratings you get from the boss-orb-things seem to be reminiscent of VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution.

* TechDemoGame: After Videogame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon was praised for its gameplay but derided for its dark and simplistic graphics, Konami gave the development team a single directive - [[FollowTheLeader emulate]] ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' as much as possible. To the team's credit, they got damn close despite the GBA's hardware limitations and lower-res screen - several maps in the game are downright ''[[SceneryPorn beautiful]]'' - but the improved graphics came at the cost of a significantly downgraded musical score. Due to the GBA lacking a dedicated sound chip[[note]] in reality, the GBA's hybrid solution of the NES FM-era audio chips and processing alternate sound channels through the CPU itself[[/note]] and the CPU already under heavy load processing the advanced graphics, the compositions sounded very much like its predecessors on the original UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem. It would take the following sequel, ''Videogame/CastlevaniaDawnOfSorrow'', for the team to find the proper balance between visual effects and atmospheric music.
* TrainingFromHell: Implied by Maxim [[spoiler: after fighting him on the good ending path]] that he and Juste underwent this when becoming vampire hunters. He states that compared to the training they went through, the pain he was feeling was nothing.