History VideoGame / CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance

** 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 unless you use the Ice Book/Sacred Fist combination to propel Juste forward. Even without that method, it is possible to backtrack as soon as you get the DoubleJump ability and score the relic that way (all before meeting Maxim in the relevant cutscene), but many players won't think to do that.

* {{Cyclops}}: One of the last bosses is a blue cyclops that uses [[DropTheHammer a giant hammer]].

* DropTheHammer: The imaginatively named Hammer-Hammer AnimatedArmor uses one. Whenever it strikes the ground, it summons three Fleamen to pester you.

* 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 Game Boy Color-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/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'', for the team to find the proper balance between visual effects and atmospheric music.

* 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 Game Boy Color-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.

* OurMinotaursAreDifferent: One boss room in both Castle A and B has an undead minotaur boss waiting for you there. The one in Castle A wields [[AnAxeToGrind an axe]], and the one in Castle B is stronger and has [[EpicFlail a ball and chain]].

* 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.

** The soundtrack uses the Game Boy Color's audio hardware resulting in a more "primitive" sound, resulting in a sound not heard since the 8-bit and Game Boy ''CV'' games.

* TheCameo: If you input the KonamiCode when the Konami logo appears on the title screen, you can play as 8-bit Simon Belmont in BossRush mode, complete with limits on which subweapons he can use, the trademark Belmont strut, and unforgiving JumpPhysics. He can still kill every monster the game throws at him, mostly because he can take the most damage, deals the most per hit, has the highest max heart total, and requires less hearts to use his subweapons than the other teo characters, which allows him to spam his crosses (and Holy Waters, which are more accurate and damaging than Juste's) with impunity. When he dies, the death jingle from the original ''Castlevania'' plays and he slumps over instead of exploding into a RainOfBlood.

* VendorTrash: The various jewels that can be traded to the merchant for cash.

* ALoadOfBull: One boss room in both Castle A and B has an undead minotaur boss waiting for you there. The one in Castle A wields [[AnAxeToGrind an axe]], and the one in Castle B is stronger and has [[EpicFlail a ball and chain]].

** The soundtrack uses the GBA's PCM chip resulting in a more "primitive" sound, resulting in a sound not heard since the 8-bit and Game Boy ''CV'' games.